How to search on Virgin TV
Grab the remote now...
How to browse on Virgin TV
Grab the remote and tap:
- My Shows – scroll to your TV box’s Suggestions and see shows, similar to what you watch, and likely to hit the spot.
- Up arrow – browse the Discovery bar, using the left and right arrows, for movie and boxset recommendations in New This Week, as well as what’s In My Shows, shows You Might Like and what’s Popular On Now.
- Up arrow – go to Search & Discover > TV & Movies > Pick of the Week.
- Up arrow – choose Search & Discover > What To Watch Now, and see if the Popular TV, Kids, Sport or Movies channels can tempt you to tune in live today.
See the full guide to using the TV remote if your curious about all the buttons. Or read on for more you can do.
Tap Up on the remote and go to Search & Discover > Discover TV & Movies > Collections, where shows are categorised by themes such as ‘Shows about the natural world’ or ‘Family favourites’ for example.
Tap Up on the remote and head to Search & Discover > Discover TV & Movies, then choose either TV or Movies. When you’ve picked Comedy, Drama, Kids or another genre, press OK and see what’s available.
Decided what you want to watch? Select your show or movie, tap OK and get settled in – it’s about to start.
How to search for a show on Virgin TV
- Get a hold of the remote and tap Home.
- Go to Search & Discover > Discover TV & Movies.
- Start watching the Pick of the Week. Or new telly, added just this week – shows and films are listed for you by genre: in Comedy, Kids, Drama.
Overwhelmed by choice? Let’s narrow down your options and refine your search these ways…
That magnifying glass on the remote is a search button. Give it a tap and get typing – just a few letters is usually enough for Smart Search to guess the actor, director, series or movie you’re looking for. Please try to:
- Search people by ‘Last Name, First Name’ (yep, with a comma).
- Use a space rather than a hyphen (-), slash (/) or full stop.
- Leave out ampersands (&) and apostrophes (‘) – searching ‘6 oclock news’ works.
For more search results and recommendations, press Skip Forward on the remote. Any greyed-out programmes aren’t available on your TV package, unfortunately, but you could change this.
Select the Live TV show; or Netflix, Catch Up or Boxset episode you want to watch > Get This Show, then choose from your options. Start watching, if it’s available on Live TV or On Demand; or choose Series Link+ and record the next showing or the full series.
Tapping the Home button lets you choose On Demand > Search; or Catch Up > Search. While you’re typing what you want, search results will appear and you can take your pick or choose the option to Search All For, if you need to keep looking.
To find out more, see the full guide on how to use On Demand.
Technically, you already are – every search you do on Virgin TV checks your full Netflix library. There’s no special technique or need to your telly’s Netflix TV app, just grab your remote and tap:
- Up – press OK when the magnifying glass appears on screen and start typing what Netflix you want to watch.
- Home – go to Search & Discover or On Demand or Catch Up and use the search bar at the top of the page.
How to Voice Control & Search Virgin TV 360
- Hold down the 360 remote’s microphone button.
- Say what you want to see. Easy.
Rather than typing, call up menus or try speaking out loud the name of the:
- Channels or recordings you fancy watching.
- Movie, series, actor or director – the TV box will show you what’s available On Demand, Live TV, Catch Up and all the favourite apps you get with your package or subscribe to (Prime Video, Netflix).
- Genre – ask for “Kids shows”, perhaps “Reality TV”, “Football” or “Hospital dramas”
- TV app – saying “iPlayer” opens BBC iPlayer, for example
- Day and time you want to check on the TV Guide – “Monday 9pm” or “Saturday afternoon” – to save favourite shows for later, use the voice commands “Add to watch list” or “Record”
And while you’re enjoying your programme, command your Voice Control remote to:
- Give you “Information” or “Info” about the show
- Put “Subtitles On” or off
- Rewind “5 minutes backwards” or skip “5 minutes forwards”
- “Start over” or “Start again” to restart your On Demand or Replay show from the beginning.
Check out this video for more information on TV36O remote features.
How to create a WishList
When you’re looking for good telly to watch later, you’ll be glad you set your TV box to record your favourite actors, directors and shows…
- Tap Home on the remote, then head to Search & Discover > My WishList Searches > My WishLists > Create A New WishList.
- Set all the search criteria you need; a keyword, title, director, genre or actor. Say you chose Actor, you’d start typing their name, see it pop up, select them > Finished Picking Actors.
- Tap Finished Creating WishList when you’re done, you’ll go to the confirmation screen and press OK.
- See your new search in My WishLists. If you’re curious about what’s going to be recorded, go to Upcoming for a 2 week view ahead.
- Tap Home on the remote.
- Go to Search & Discover > My WishList Searches > My WishLists, then choose the WishList for all your options.
- Rename or delete your WishList, change your recording options…
How to browse using your mobile, tablet or laptop
Fancy using your mobile or tablet as a remote control for your Virgin TV V6 box or TiVo box? When you’ve downloaded the free Virgin TV Control app from Google Play or Apple’s App Store, simply:
- Open up the app and sign in using your My Virgin Media account details, when you are within your home (ensuring your device is connected to your home WiFi)
- To access the Remote Control, Press the More Menu and select Remote Control
You can also use your device to flick through channels, manage your recorded programmes, set recordings and series links, browse the TV guide and more. You can be searching on your device while everyone’s watching telly and when you find a show on your mobile device, you can choose to watch on your TV.
1. Install the app
Go to Google Play or Apple’s App Store and download our free app on up to 5 of your devices, then sign in using your My Virgin Media details.
2. See what’s on
Tap Search (top right) and start typing the name of a show, movie, actor or director; or use Voice Search on your Android or Apple device by pressing the microphone button on the right of the search bar and saying what you’re looking for; or browse by categories in Box Sets & Movies. Checkout live TV via Now on TV, browse the Guide or see what’s popular on TV Go in Popular on TV on the Home screen.
3. Stream anyplace (within the UK)
When you’ve picked your show, you can choose to watch on your TV (if you have one of our Virgin TV 360 boxes) or on your device – remember, you can stream Live TV and On Demand on 2 devices at the same time.
Got Virgin 360? Control your box using the TV Go app, if you prefer. To find out more about that, as well as parental controls, subtitles and getting the most from the app, see how to use TV Go.
- Head to virgintvgo.virginmedia.com and sign in using your My Virgin media account details.
- Find a show using the website’s search bar or browse the TV Guide by day; or boxsets, On Demand and Catch Up telly by category.
- Tap a Live TV or On Demand show to start watching.
Follow the prompts to register and name the device.
Remember to always use the same browser (Google Chrome, Safari…) and have cookies enabled when you’re watching Virgin TV Go online – using a different browser, incognito mode or clearing your cookies will make the website think you’re using a new device, counting towards your 5 device limit. You can replace up to 3 devices a month. Just tap a Live TV or On Demand Show to start watching with your new device.
See the full guide on how to use TV Go on browser.
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