BT Vision V-box Explored
Information on the V-box, BT Vision's Set-top box
The BT Vision Box
What's in the box?
The BT Vision V-box set-top box is a combined Freeview receiver (for 40 channels of free-to-view TV), digital video recorder, and an Internet-connected box that can download TV content and movies over Broadband.
On this page, we've got a collection of screenshots of BT Vision in action, as well as detailed specifications on the BT Vision set-top box. We hope to be able to answer your questions.
Here's some information on the BT Vision box:
- The v-Box is provided FREE to BT Total Broadband customers that sign up to BT Vision.
- The box can receive the Freeview TV and Radio channels (subject to Freeview coverage)
- It can hold up to 80 hours of TV on its built-in 160gig hard-disk
- It is HD-ready (supporting up to 1080i resolution)
- It has a 14 day electronic programme guide, and supports TV-series recording (like Sky+ Series Link)
- It has a twin tuner (record one channel while watching another)
- The V-Box is produced by Philips (Model number DIT9719)
- It supports Ethernet and USB connectivity.
- To work, it needs to be connected to BT Total Broadband (How to Switch provider )
- There's a "self-install" option, or you can arrange for BT to connect it up for you (for an extra £60)
- The standard BT Vision service is subscription-free
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Already got BT Broadband? Go to btvision.bt.com |
Connecting the BT Vision V-box
You have two options - you can have an engineer call to install BT Vision in your home, so you don't need to worry about configuring / installing BT Vision yourself, or you can Do It Yourself with the BT Vision self-install kit.
If you're interested, here's some information on what needs to be connected:
- A TV aerial feed - The BT Vision box gets its digital TV signals (Freeview) over-the-air, so needs a TV aerial. This needs to be connected to the aerial input socket on the V-Box. There is an output RF aerial socket to allow you to connect an aerial feed to a TV if required.
SCART lead - You need to make a connection from the V-box to the TV using a SCART lead. If you have an HD TV set, you can also connect via an HDMI lead (not supplied).
Connection to Broadband - You'll need to connect from the V-box to a BT Broadband connection. This is done using the BT Home Hub - you need to connect an Ethernet (networking) cable from the V-box to one of the Ethernet ports on the Home Hub. The BT Home Hub is your Broadband modem, and connects into to your phone line, for Broadband Internet access. The self-install kit includes two powerline adapters to allow you to connect to the Home Hub if it's in a different room to the V-Box.
- The BT Vision v-box has an additional SCART socket, which can be connected to a video or DVD recorder.
Connecting to an existing TV/Video system: The BT Vision v-box connects into an existing home TV system in a similar way to other Freeview set-top boxes. If you need guidance on connecting SCART leads, use our Connection Advisor (Select 'Set-top box with 2 SCARTs' to represent the v-box).
Connecting to other TV sets in the house: If required, you can feed the output of the V-box to other TV sets - the v-box has a modulated output, so you can use a standard aerial cable. You can also use a wireless AV sender.
The BT Vision Box is designed to work when connected to a BT Total Broadband enabled phone line. The box and service have to be activated by BT before you can use BT Vision, and BT has to associate the box and service with your BT Home Hub.
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 We featured BT Vision in Show 12 of our online radio show. Listen to the show online, or download it to your MP3 player. Listen to Show 12 | Latest Show | What is FrequencyCast? |
BT Vision V-Box Specifications
You'll find detailed technical specs here, but the basics are as follows:
- Dimensions: 360 x 220 x 55 mm
- Weight: 1.9g
- Disk capacity: 160 gigabytes
- Hardware: Philips (300MHz, 128Meg RAM)
- Software: Microsoft WinCE, using Microsoft Electronic Programme Guide
BT Vision V-Box connections:
Rear of the BT Vision V-Box
Here's a summary of the connectors you'll find on a BT Vision V-box ...
- 2 x SCART sockets
- 1 x HDMI 1.1 socket (for connection to a high-definition TV)
- TV aerial RF co-ax aerial input
- TV aerial RF co-ax aerial output (modulated)
- Ethernet RJ45 socket (for connection to BT Home Hub)
- 3 x USB sockets - 2 at rear, 1 at front (purpose unknown)
- 2 x stereo audio phono outs
- S/PDIF optical audio out socket
- S-Video socket
- RJ11 Phone line socket
BT Vision Video-on-Demand screen
The V-box video settings screen
Searching the phone book on BT Vision
BT Vision V-Box questions
| Version | The current version of the BT Vision v-box software is as follows:
To check your version, go to Settings > General Settings > System Information Know of a newer version of box software? Let us know |
| Ordering a BT Vision Box | 
To use BT Vision, you need to be signed up BT Broadband - Prices start at £7.95 a month (for the first three months).
You can also get a free BT wireless Home Hub, which you'll need to get the BT Vision service.
Details of BT Broadband at www.bt.com/btbroadband. For details of BT Vision, go to www.btvision.bt.com |
| RF Modulator | The BT Vision V-Box has a modulated output, so it can feed TV sets that don't have a SCART socket. This is initially preset to Channel 36. This channel number can be changed by going to Settings > General Settings > RF Output Channel. |
| Error messages | If you have an error displayed on your BT Vision V box - it'll probably be shown as a V0x number. Here's a summary of the V codes:
On one occasion in April 2007, we were trying to set a series link from the Guide, and were presented with "Currently unable to record. Error R04", followed a few seconds later by an "Error R06". Trying to do other things afterwards brought up other errors: Attempting to delete an old recording brought up "Error R02", then "Error R06", and trying to get into BT Vision Help brought up "Error P01". Something similar has been seen in our forum. A diagnostic reviewed no problems, and showed that we had a solid Internet connection. We're not sure what this is - To try to fix it, we unplugged the box from the mains, which seemed to initiate what we can only assume is a diagnostic / error check on the hard drive. It took around 15 minutes, during which time the power button was flashing green, and the disk sounded busy. This didn't fix the problem, but re-powering the Home Hub, then rebooting the V-Box did the trick. Our gut feeling is that this was an IP/Internet issue, but we can't prove that. If you know more, please post in our BT Vision forum |
| Vision box is noisy | We've had comments from some BT Vision users about their boxes being noisy. Unfortunately, BT Vision boxes, as with many PVRs, are not completely silent (even when in standby), and they can be heard when the room is quiet. The reason for this is simple: the BT Vision boxes contain a computer processor, a hard disk, a power supply and a fan - much like a desktop or laptop computer. Compared to, say, a DVD player, they're also powered on for longer, so tend to run hotter - requiring more cooling. What you're able to hear, is the box's hard disk and cooling fan. |
| SCART / Coax output not working | We've found something of an odd problem, but we've solved the mystery - at times, we were finding that the SCART and co-ax output from the BT Vision V-Box weren't working. We traced the problem to the HDMI socket. If you have an HDMI plug connected to the high-definition socket, and/or the BT Vision V-box set to output at 720/1080 (Hi definition mode), then the SCART and Co-ax outputs are disabled. Simply pulling out the HDMI plug solved the problem, but it's not an ideal fix. If you have and more info on this, please let us know? |
| Controlling your TV | You can get your BT Vision remote control to be able to control your TV, for channel changing and adjusting the volume. The process is outlined in the BT Vision Troubleshooting booklet, but here's a summary:
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| Power | The BT Vision box is mains powered - The box has two states "on" and "standby". To watch TV, the box must be "on". To record programmes and get software updates, the box must either be "on" or "in standby". The BT Vision box requires connection to the BT Home Hub, which must also be powered in order to get on demand TV content, software updates and the Electronic Programme Guide. |
| Power consumption | The BT Vision box manufactered by Philips requires around 22 watts when on, and 21 watts in Standby. More on BT Vision power consumption, and power consumption in general on the How Many Watts page. |
| Engineering menu | Despite getting a "no" from BT's Helpdesk, we're sure there must be some kind of secret engineering menu (there's one with other boxes, such as Sky's digibox). There must be one... but we haven't discovered it yet. If you have, let us know? |
| USB sockets | The BT Vision V-box has two USB sockets - one on the front and one at the back. We're not aware of any device or application that makes use of these sockets yet, and it doesn't seem possible to use USB to connect a PC or Mac to the V-box to extract recorded video from the box's drive. As there's no obvious use at the moment, we can only assume these are likely to have some use in the future - maybe a webcam, external keyboard or a USB memory card connector for photos. If you know, let us know If you've heard of a use for these USB sockets, or feel free to speculate in our Vision forum. Consider signing up to our Vision newsletter for news of service enhancements. |
| Philips DIT9719 | The BT Vision box is made for BT by Philips
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Known as the Philips DIT9719 Hybrid IP Freeview Receiver and Recorder, in February 2007 this was listed for purchase at BT Vision Links:
- BT Vision Review - our take on BT Vision (also, try our audio review)
- Discuss BT Vision in our BT Vision forum
- Join our BT Vision mailing list, or our Yahoo Group chat list
- More on the BT Home Hub
- BT Vision Content - A summary of what's on offer
- More on the Digital TV options
- More on alternative IPTV solutions on our dedicated IPTV page.
- For more on Freeview and free-to-air set-top boxes, see our Freeview page.
- More on BT Total Broadband
- For details of hard-disk recording
solutions, see our Personal Video Recorder PVR page
Is this page correct? Something wrong or missing on this page? Let us know If you're looking for help, please don't use this option - instead ask in our forum |
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