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Old 26th Jul 2020, 11:24 pm   #1
paulsherwin
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Default Virgin Media V6 boxes

I have just come across one of these boxes dumped outside a shared house by somebody moving out - this happens a lot in Oxford, which has a very transient population. I was surprised that it didn't have a specifically cable TV interface, but I guess cable TV is just a streaming service nowadays. The box didn't have a remote or PSU, so wasn't very functional. However, it did contain a 1TB SATA drive, and will also make a useful project box. Well worth grabbing if you come across one.
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Old 26th Jul 2020, 11:47 pm   #2
Paul Stenning
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

They have a aerial type socket and are supplied with a short F-socket to aerial-plug lead. I doubt it would do anything useful if connected to an aerial.

Live broadcasts are over the cable (similar to Freeview and Sky), it is only streaming for catch-up services.

Without the PSU and remote, and without a Virgin cable service, it is only useful for parts. Mine have Toshiba disks but it probably varies.

Technically they are rented and should be returned when the service is terminated, but I doubt many actually are.
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Old 26th Jul 2020, 11:59 pm   #3
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

Presumably Virgin would have to pay to have them recycled under the WEEE rules, so would prefer it if they just 'disappeared'.

I was surprised that the primary interface was a Belling-Lee coax socket rather than an F connector.
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 12:12 am   #4
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

They supply a large pre paid bag (literally!) and everything is chucked in and you take it to one of those drop off shops. Cable uses it's own standards, so the box is useless on anything else. I can let you have a PSU, I found a couple dumped without boxes.
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 12:36 am   #5
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

Thanks for that Bill, but there's probably not much point without a Virgin contract, as Paul says.
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 10:25 am   #6
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
I was surprised that the primary interface was a Belling-Lee coax socket rather than an F connector.
Same, I was surprised when the installer connected them up with little leads like this...
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 1:15 pm   #7
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

I dismantled it this morning. Nice 1TB Western Digital drive in there, though not much else salvageable.
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 2:35 pm   #8
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

According to my modem, the cable is operating 8 channels around 300MHz with QAM256 modulation, IIRC that is 16 amplitude levels on each of the 2 quadrature signals to make 256 symbols (8 bits less error checking interleaving) per clock per channel. These channels are identified as channels 17 - 24.

I guess the TV portion is just more similar channels ?

I guess its not very far from that belling-lee connector to the receiver or it would be big trouble !

dc
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 2:43 pm   #9
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

As well as the TV, the coax is split to feed the broadband hub. It can record three programmes whilst simultaneously playing back a fourth and carrying high speed broadband. Clever stuff.
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 3:12 pm   #10
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

Despite all this going on, the inside of the box is mostly air. The top half only contains the HD. It could easily have been built to half the size if the designers so wished, though then it might have been tricky to find room for the external interfaces.

Everything is held together by 4 Torx headed security bolts - they were quite difficult to undo. The designers obviously don't want people looking inside.
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 3:31 pm   #11
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

The remote is Bluetooth, so it could be reduced and relegated to the forest of boxes and PSU's hidden behind the TV stand, but presumably they want it to be prominent.
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 4:39 pm   #12
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
Despite all this going on, the inside of the box is mostly air. The top half only contains the HD. It could easily have been built to half the size if the designers so wished, though then it might have been tricky to find room for the external interfaces.
I suspect despite the branding (which is limited to the fake remote window and firmware) it is probably a standard cable box supplied to cable companies around the world.

For Virgin Media the "SCART OUT" (mini-DIN) and USB sockets aren't operational but are probably part of the stock design so just disabled in firmware or by leaving some parts out.

Versions for other countries may have more things in the box.
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 7:29 pm   #13
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

They sell it as a Tivo box. when I upgraded I got a box to return the old one,
but I didn't bother I took the HD out and skipped the rest
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Old 27th Jul 2020, 9:12 pm   #14
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

Old pay-tv set top boxes are a cheap source of hard drives. I've been using them for years. You can find old boxes in car boot sales for next to nothing. Once the customer has cancelled their subscription, the box loses most or all of its functions and thus becomes practically worthless. As people often change pay TV providers when a better deal comes along or when they move house, there's a lot of surplus unwanted equipment around.

In the past, Virgin Media insisted that customers must return the set-top box or else they'd charge a fee for its replacement cost, but now they only seem to want the latest equipment to be returned. If it's not a current model, Virgin won't re-issue it to another customer and would instead have to pay to have it recycled as commercial e-waste, so they've been telling customers to dispose of old Virgin kit at a household waste recycling centre, which private individuals can do for free, thus saving Virgin the expense of recycling it themselves. Of course, not all of it gets recycled. Some of it gets dumped on the street or taken to car boot sales / secondhand shops.

The boxes normally have anti-tamper screws to stop customers meddling with them. You'll need a Security Bit Set, available from Toolstation and many other suppliers. With Sky and Virgin boxes it's simply a matter of opening up the box and taking out the hard drive which can then be reformatted and re-used in a desktop PC or external drive enclosure. BT Vision box hard drives are 'locked' and can only be re-used once you've done a 'secure erase' in a desktop PC with HDAT2 software. You'll also need the master password. I've posted the unlocking method on here before.

When stripping an old box, don't forget the power supply can yield some useful parts: Class X2 mains filter capacitor, various electrolytic capacitors useful for repairing other items, etc. I haven't had to buy such capacitors for years. The external power packs can be re-used as they are, for powering other devices.
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Old 28th Jul 2020, 7:11 am   #15
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

Virgin have just moved away from carded boxes, they have rolled this out over the last month or so, anyone with an older carded type boxes wont receive much, I think only the main terrestrial channels and in SD only, the newer tivo boxes maybe will work without cards as they can upgrade the software, so there could be some VM boxes available,
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Old 28th Jul 2020, 2:24 pm   #16
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Default Re: Virgin Media V6 boxes

A friend of ours upgraded to a Tivo and was told by the Engineer to recycle his old one (but nor the power brick, which is used on the Tivo)
With Sky, the box always was yours until the advent of the Q box.
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