Will Tivo control a newer version Virgin media box?

[AndyWilson]

My Series 1 Tivo has been controlling a Pace 4000 Virgin Media box for a long time now without any problems. Recently though, the picture has been breaking up on half a dozen channels. There’s an engineer calling tomorrow who I suspect will replace the set top box, and probably with a different model. I’m now worried that I’ll be given a box that Tivo can’t control. I don’t know whether to leave it as it is since the channels I’m missing aren’t used that much.

Anyone know the possible boxes I might be given and if Tivo will control them?

[tagnald]

Hello, you may get a Vbox, as this is what I was given when needing a replacement in similar circumstances (albeit some while ago - see viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1544 for previous post on this).

Hope this helps.

[AndyWilson]

Hi, and thanks for your response and links.

My STB was replaced with a V Box HD. The engineer was surprisingly helpful and certainly knew what he was talking about. I explained the situation to him before he did anything and he told me that the old Pace box remotes will control the new V Box HDs so there shouldn’t be a problem with my Tivo controlling it. He was also kind enough to plug a box in so that I could do a quick check before I committed to having the boxes swapped.

I’ve been struggling to get the dongles positioned properly though to get consistent results, but having read those previous posts I’ll try on the left hand side.

Unfortunately I’m really disappointed with the picture quality of this new box compared to the old one and wish I’d just put up with the odd dodgy channel.

I’m tempted to have a look on ebay to see if I can get hold of a Pace 4000, in the hope that it might work with my card. Has anyone got any experience of trying this? (Although I appreciate that the boxes are owned by Virgin (NTL etc) so the ebay ones will more than likely have been stolen).