V+ Box in standby...

[Dorza]

Had VM TV installed today and one of the boxes was a V+ box. The model is a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 DVB. First and foremost it is much louder than the Amstrad Sky+ box I had. The noise isn't a problem noise, its just an operational one meaning the HDD is louder than the one that was in the Sky+ box. I can deal with this, but I cannot tolerate the issue I do have with it which is, when I put it to standby the HDD does not power down. I have left it in standby since 16:40 today and the drive is still spinning away and before I am asked I can say that nothing is being recorded. It SHOULD be in complete standby mode as a regular V box would be.

I have looked on the avforums and various others of that nature and some people say their boxes keep spinning while others say it powers down after 30 seconds or so like the Sky+ box, while others say it takes a few hours - extreme, going around in circles confusion and uncertainty has set in. To further this, there is also conflicting information with certain members who have phoned Virgin to checked this out. Some say that Virgin tell them it is normal (which is ludicrous) and others have been told it is not normal and have sent engineers to "take a look". Some of these people who have had engineers around have yet further conflicting information to report. Some say the engineers said it was normal, while others have had their boxes replaced...some have had multiple replacements because of this issue I am experiencing myself.

So my question is this...If you have a V+ box, does the HDD constantly spin when in standby? I won't go into details as to why since it should be obvious to us lot, but I find it completely ridiculous if the situation is such that the HDD spins even in standby. I will be phoning Virgin tomorrow to see what they say because this is just crackers. I love the system it works great, but this HDD powering down thing is beyond a joke; It uses 27Watts during normal (on) use, but draws exactly the same when in standby.

Thanks.

[Jay]

my V+ (its actually an old TVDrive box) does spin down after a while in standby mode but the annoying thing is that it radomly spins back up and down up and down.... if it was in my bed room I would have lashed it out the window months ago.

I have an external amp that detects the signal from the box for audio so when the box powers up the amp comes out of standby and plays the sound. When VM do their random updates it turns the bloody box back on and the sound starts playing in the living room at 2:00am!!

Also do you not find the box really slow!

[Dorza]

I know that NTL stuff used to be very slow. When my gran had it installed (standard NTL digi box) the engineer actually told her not to move through the menus too quickly because it would lock the box up and could even crash it. I have to say though, something must have changed with these newer boxes. My parents have two Samsung branded V boxes and I have a V+ box in my room and to be honest I find navigating through the menus as quick as Sky. It sometimes locks up, but for the most part I haven't got an issue with it. Interactive services are sometimes faster loading than Sky and on other occasions they take so long to load that I just cancel them. Its a bit of a mixed bag on that front.

I've posted my problem on the avforums, and I've had mixed responses. Like you, some say their boxes power down (they have the same box as I have) and others say it doesn't. A VM engineer called last week, loaded the diagnostic screen and said everything was fine. He couldn't grasp the concept nor have the common sense to see that the HDD shouldn't really spin when the thing is in standby. I had a good mind to report him because he was extremely condescending and rude.