Re: Tivo
 

I was almost bang on the button £189 for existing customers! It's the same as the v+, while the demand is through the roof it will keep the prices up and as demand falls so will the price.

The third tuner will be made active next year which is nice to know.

Re: Tivo
 

It's probably the usual VM pricing model: You buy it for VM and then rent it from them.

Re: Tivo
 

No its a £149 activation fee and a £40 installation fee

Re: Tivo
 

Not only have VM just got a sale but Apple have too!!

Re: Tivo
 

I think that unless people on the VIP package are given a hefty discount I will be taking the unusual step of waiting until all of the features are working & the price has come down to an affordable level before I throw my hat in to the ring.

I do think that VIP customers will be offered a better deal - VM did seem to take notice of how disgruntled VIP'ers were with the additional charges for Sky Premium HD.

I'll certainly wait until all three tuners are active before ordering, there are certain times of the week where three tuners comes in very handy.

Re: Tivo
 

Why would you want it to belong to the customer?

You can't do anything with it if you leave Virgin and if it's yours, you pay for repairs out of the warranty period. If it's rented as per current boxes, Virgin repair it free of charge.

Re: Tivo
 

I've registered. Anyone think there's any point in giving them a ring?

Official Virgin Media TiVo Microsite
 

Re: Official Virgin Media TiVo Microsite
 

A key piece of information is missing though - how much will it be? Will this replace V+ (in the same way that Sky+HD has replaced Sky+)? No doubt high prices for early adopters and a few years before the price becomes reasonable?

Also interesting to see that it has its own 10MB BB connection, so two connections/modems to one house are clearly possible without issues (discussion on other thread). It mentions "Apps" but is not clear will you have normal internet access as well so that you could then access various on-demand or other media sites direct to your television? Slightly odd that it has taken so long for internet to end up back on the TV - I seem to recall when we first got NTL you could have internet on your TV, then they insisted on you having a separate modem when it went above ... was it 1MB?

MrB

Re: Official Virgin Media TiVo Microsite
 

V+ will continue "as is" for now, no automatic upgrades are being done from V+HD to TiVo HD

Prices may well fall at a later date, as did V+HD.

All cable boxes (digital!) have modems, it's how On Demand and interactive work. VM have upped the TiVo boxes capabilities to 10MB

The apps will be in a "walled garden" environment, so only certain websites will be accessable.

Re: Official Virgin Media TiVo Microsite
 

Registered and can't wait to replace my Samsung V+ in the front room with this new kit. Go VM!

Re: Official Virgin Media TiVo Microsite
 

Wonder what the chances are of some of getting one before xmas im hoping but not holding my breath.

Re: Official Virgin Media TiVo Microsite
 

do you know if tvio boxes have hdmi conections

Re: Tivo
 

Am I reading that press release correct 199 plus 40 install total of 239 and 3.00 a month pretty pricey.

Re: Official Virgin Media TiVo Microsite
 

Blimey - is she the engineer that will install my box?

Re: Tivo
 

1 hdmi as is with V+, see back of box in promo

Re: Official Virgin Media TiVo Microsite
 

Re: Tivo
 

May I ask what's so special about the TIVO that people will pay £200 for a box they won't even own when £200 will get you a freesat HD PVR?

Re: Tivo
 

Pass

£200 "activation fee" - what is there to activate? Just describe the fee as exactly what it is. We want the customer to pay for our equipment for us, and we will rent it back to them. But its OK, because if it breaks we'll fix it for free :-(

Yes, it looks amazing. Yes, I want it. But my primary objective is to replace the stupid, slow, unreliable piece of black garbage (aka SA V+) currently sitting underneath my telly so I can watch what I pay for without the hassle of waiting for the box to respond to what I ask of it (if indeed, it does actually respond).

Seems as though Virgin refuse to do this, looks like I'll be off to Sky unless there is an existing customer reduction on the "activation fee"

Re: Tivo
 

Lots of new TiVo shots:

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/homecinema/v...otos-50001848/

---------- Post added at 14:13 ---------- Previous post was at 14:12 ----------

Did you watch the demo on here:

http://tivo.virginmedia.com/

Re: Tivo
 

Erm, thats all software and network, not some special £200 hardware wizzardry. Maybe we shouldn't lose sight of that

At £200 I don't see how it offers value for money

Re: Tivo
 

So go to SKY and pay for them to come out when your box breaks, because you own it. Or you drop your remote, or.... Etc.

Call faults and tell them about your box. I had mine replaced this morning due to it being irregularly unresponsive. No questions asked.

Re: Tivo
 

Someone said there was mention of the TIVO iPad app coming for virgin I can't find any reference to that.

Re: Tivo
 

I will - I was with Sky before and it broke outside of the 12 month warranty.

They came and fixed it soon enough when I said I was cancelling.

Its all very well saying that's not guaranteed, but who in their right mind is going to pay £60p/m for services you can't use because the supplied equipment fails. It's hardly rocket science that they should repair/replace, because they lose the £60p/m revenue otherwise.

I'm sick of contacting Virgin only for them to say "if it is OK when the engineer comes out you will be charged for the call-out", and "they will only replace it with what the engineer has with him". What's the point in me wasting a day for them to come out and replace with the same equipment, or worse still charge me for the privilege?

Re: Tivo
 

Just noticed it doesn't have an internal power supply, must have a brick outside the box. Easy way to make the box smaller! :P

Re: Tivo
 

What? Your paying for the box that runs that software, what else are you expecting from the hardware?

---------- Post added at 14:44 ---------- Previous post was at 14:43 ----------

http://www.techradar.com/news/comput...service-912206

Re: Tivo
 

Not to have to pay £200 to have it's functionality "activated"

Re: Tivo
 

Now that's some powerful advertising.
I wanted to see more, and it gave me more!

Hoping to get this asap :)

Re: Tivo
 

The price has nothing to do with why someone would want this over a Freeview HD box, which is your original question. If you don't like the price that's fine but it doesn't change the fact that nothing else comes close to the functionality. And that is why someone would pay the money for it.

Re: Tivo
 

Like wanting to access the Internet without a router or even PC hardware!

The price is fine with me for the features you gain access to, this is a game changer for VM.

Re: Tivo
 

I think it helps if you think of the £200 as being for the 'service'. There's no way VM could provide the 'service' (CPE, backend, infrastructure) for £3 a month. So they offer a low monthly fee and have an upfront charge. Let's look at some numbers. A VM subscriber having TiVO for (hopefully!) two years:

£3 x 24 = £72. Plus the £190 upfront is £262.

Now charge the same upfront as they do for V+. This leaves

£212 / 24 = £8.83, so call it £9 a month.

If VM had mandated a 2 year contract (which wouldn't be a massive surprise, they're already after 18 month contracts) with an extra tenner per month and only £50 upfront I don't think anyone would be complaining. I'm happy to pay the £189.

Re: Tivo
 

Do not forget that this box will have its own dedicated 10Mb broadband connection as well.

Re: Tivo
 

Are the prices announced today only for new customers? Any news on prices for existing customers?

Re: Tivo
 

Don't remember saying anything about a Freeview HD box?

The core functionality is all available elsewhere. On the same platform and the competing platforms (Sky now, Freeview soon in the Youview guise) PVR, On-Demand, 2/3 tuners, HD, 3D.

It's the bells and whistles that fall into the nothing comes close category. And in my opinion, the bells and whistles just aren't worth the price.

Re: Tivo
 

I would have thought that most people on this site already have internet?

Re: Tivo
 

@Pauldavies: I'm sorry, but anyone comparing Sky's On Demand functionality to VM's is smoking some real good shizzle. It's only decent when used via an Xbox when looking at movies, and there's huge chunks of content missing, more it seems than VM. Anytime+ on the actual Sky box needs you to sit and wait before you start watching it, isn't available to non Sky BB customers and still isn't available to even half of the people who are!

Youview is a good six months away from launch. This is literally weeks away for some lucky people.

Let's not forget what Sky charge for a 1Tb box with *no* extra functionality over the standard HD box. This is VM's *true* next generation platform. The only thing that's been anywhere near this revolutionary on UK cable was NTL's prototype h264 box, which never saw the light of day. Everything else has been a cheap cop-out.

Re: Tivo
 

I didn't compare it directly, I said its available elsewhere. And it is. No matter how incomplete it might be. £200 for TiVo doesn't improve VM's on demand offering

You have to wait a good 5-10 seconds before you can watch OD on V+ (plus x amount of extra time for the interface to catch up with what you want it to do) - people don't complain about that. But they see fit to slate Sky's progressive download system because it has the word "download" in it.

---------- Post added at 15:26 ---------- Previous post was at 15:23 ----------

Agree with that, but it's come a little too late for me to get excited about paying a huge wedge for it. If the original TVDrive / whateveritwascalledonntl was a TiVo, I'd probably have had no issue stumping up the £200. I was a TiVo user back then, and I loved it.

All these years later and it doesn't excite me enough to drop so much money on it - Virgin are asking for more or similar than I paid for my Series 1 TiVo nearly 10 years later.

Re: Tivo
 

I don't want to get into a slanging match on the internet, but would you prefer it was done via another 'tenner a month' like Sky seem to do (see my previous maths example)? Don't forget, that's what TiVO originally charged in the UK for the EPG + recommendations engine. Admittedly, cable has the EPG in place but there's a lot more going on to power TiVO.

Re: Tivo
 

Nope your right, you said "freesat HD", point still stands.
TiVo have very specific functionality not available elsewhere (the recommendation system for one), that's the point of them using TiVo for middleware.

To boil it down to "PVR, On-Demand, 2/3 tuners, HD, 3D" doesn't take into account the experience of actually using those features. That's like saying why would you buy a Jaguar over a Fiat, both have engines and get you from a to b, it doesn't take into account the experience of getting there.

If you don't think it's worth the price that's fine, I see your point, but surly you see why somebody would want it over the competition, somebody would want to pay the price?

Re: Tivo
 

None of my posts in this thread contain the word Freesat - I think you are confusing me with someone else.


I see your point too, looks like we'll have to agree to disagree.

Re: Tivo
 

Yes your right, sorry about that, you replyed to something I wrote to somebody else thus confusing my tiny mind!


Lets just say we're both right. ;)

Re: Tivo
 

TiVo charged me £199 for a lifetime subscription and I bought the box for £99 - and that was nearly 10 years ago. Surely times have moved on enough to absorb the cost better than VM are suggesting with their initial pricing? I think that's my main argument.

Re: Tivo
 

That would have been a long time after launch. I was in on TiVO's UK launch and they were £399.

With a single analogue tuner. :shock:

Re: Tivo
 

No worries

OK, I like being right :D

---------- Post added at 15:41 ---------- Previous post was at 15:39 ----------

It was still 10 years ago :shock:

Sky+ was launched at £x (around £300 if memory serves) and £10 a month. It's free now (subject to you being a Sky subscriber)

Re: Tivo
 

Yep, £299 plus £10/month. VM's TiVO pricing is well in line with this, well under in fact. Forget the old 'you own the box' argument - without a Sky sub, a Sky+ box is about as much use as a £40 Maplin FTA receiver - less so in some people's eyes. So I don't understand why you think this pricing is any worse than the competition, and in fact not quite reasonable?

Yeah, the TiVO launch was a *long* time ago. I've wished many times over the years that I'd bought one... Not going to hang around now! :)

Tivo Box, a bit ugly, but who cares
 

http://www.techradar.com/news/televi...-review-912240

The UI is soo much better looking than what we have at the moment, IPTV is the way forward imo, its nice to see VM embrace it.

Re: Tivo
 

Because that launch was how many years ago? 8 years ago (Sky+ this is)?

Today's Sky+ price is £0, and £0 a month (for TV subscribers). My point was that this is the price today's TiVo commands, as all it has over the TiVo 10 years ago is internet-connected apps and a back-in-time EPG (VOD and multiple tuners have come from the platform advancing, not TiVo). Not a big enough jump to reset the pricing to 2000 levels.

VM could be missing a chance to take Sky subscribers here, and big time. I wouldn't move from Sky for this price if I were a Sky customer, that's for sure. It doesn't give enough benefit for the price asked.

When the price is more reasonable, I'll be with you. TiVo really is very good, and its a shame I got rid of mine all those years ago when I did. The price is the only issue for me.

Re: Tivo
 

Update from the sofa

Re: Tivo
 

Cross fingers on VIP/existing customer deals then

MediaBoy's rumoured pricing sounded good (although maybe a touch unrealistic) :)

Re: Tivo
 

hahahaha you gotta love the

"we're releasing it with two tuners, however there will be three in the new year. Does this mean a new box or does it already have three and we'll just be doing a software update to enable it? - this will be a software update"

This means the software is not ready yet. It is not fully working and imo will be released with beta software :)

Re: Tivo
 

Mediaboy's new customer pricing was spot on, here's hoping his existing customer pricing is just as accurate :)

Re: Tivo
 

I'm guessing that there will be such a small amount of installes before the update roll out in the new year (and is probably why its a soft roll out in the first place) that it will not make too much difference.

Re: Tivo
 

A bit like the new Sky boxes you mean. Hopefully as this is tivo software it is tried and tested and unlike the afore mentioned boxes will work. Like somebody pointed out the existing tivo boxes only have two tuners and this could be why. It's very rare for software to be rolled out without bugs anyway and features are often added after roll out.

Re: Tivo
 

My honest opinion to the TIVO box... Sure it looks nice, but is the GUI as quick as what it shows in the blurb (we'l have to wait and see for that). Companys are well known for showing false GUI's speeding them up or shortening sequences...
As to the pricing... sheesh! You guys that are already to jump straight in there must have far too much money on their hands. What are you getting for that £200? Not a lot from what it looks like to me apart from another TV box, to which you already have most of the tech now.

The web aspect... not worth it IMHO, why would you want to go trawling around You tube, eBay and others from your TV, when normally you do this on your laptops, whilst watching your TV!

The on demand, well if its like what is already there, then the majority of people won't use most of it anyway, just like they already don't. On demand is full of old stuff which most people never watch. It's only the TV stations own on demand stuff which gets used the most.

TIVO was launched a long, long time ago in technology standards and it died it's death very quickly over here, why? Because it was way too expensive. The usual thing of the US trying to make us pay through the nose for goods (a la that well known fruit make of tech gear)!

I'm already paying £100/month to VM, I'm certainly not going to pay even more for stuff you can't even use or for stuff you already get via the BB service. I'm not into this 3D stuff it's still in it's infancy, so unless you go out and spend another grand or so on a new TV it's usless having that tech. I know this is what happened with HD, but HD tech came thick and fast, it won't be the same with 3D and who wants to sit there having to watch TV with glasses on all the time.

It's all very pomp and pomposity to me. Sure I want to get rid of my terrible AS box, who doesn't! But I'm not going to part with another £200 just to get another box which I won't use most of the features on it...
It seems to be a lot of stuff you can't or won't use for an awful lot of extra money...

Just my opinion on it, so wheres the flamers??? lol

Re: Tivo
 

well the way i see it some people only have the internet to see there emails.
facebook and stuff so if they get the tivo they dont have to pay out for an internet connection

Re: Tivo
 

Your opinion is as valid as anybodies but as for price I wonder how people manage to pay £100 every month for tv/broadband etc. Everybody has a different concept of value for money. If you are paying that much though you might find it is a lot less than £200 anyway as final discounts haven't been announced.

Re: Tivo
 

The will be no discounted prices for a while as per 50Mb so do not think for one second that upon release anyone will get this box at a discount price, you want one then you pay £200 plus £40 activation and that price will be at that level for a good while.

Re: Tivo
 

apart from

Re: Tivo
 

Where is that quote from, as in source?

Re: Tivo
 

Ah this is news to me I thought we were hearing that price was dependent on which package you subscribe to. That was said just today from the VM sofa I think (whatever that is).

Re: Tivo
 

I hope your view about discounts turns out to be correct because I agree with hammered in that after already paying £100 per month already, another £200 for the TiVo box becomes a very hard sell. Now if media boys predictions turn out to be spot on I will be welcoming TiVo into my home with open arms! :)

Re: Tivo
 

ITB hard drive, ITB hard drive, ITB hard drive....

Because of all these new HD channels recording space is a big limitation of the SA box to me.

OK, that's expensive for a 1T hard disc, but how else are you going to get it?

Spotify is rumoured to be coming to the TIVO, which I'd love (it'd save on my Napster cost) and more things like that.

Some of the new functions like search and suggested programmes aren't exactly necessary; neither is my single Harmony remote over 10 single remotes, but it's great to have these things and you'd never go back once you've had the convienience of them!

Re: Tivo
 

Yeah, thats exactly what I read earlier. It was mentioned in the 'coming soon' thread iirc.

Re: Tivo
 

from the sofa http://www.alex-brown.co.uk/2010_09_01_archive.html
i went to london to see it

Re: Tivo
 

Thanks.

Re: Tivo
 

I'm confused now. Can anyone from VM confirm or deny that final pricing for existing customers has yet to be released and that we may get something in line with the pricing originally posted by Media BoyMedia Boy'?

Re: Tivo
 

this is from press office
http://pressoffice.virginmedia.com/p...859&highlight=

Re: Tivo
 

But we still don't know whether that is that price for existing customers?

Re: Tivo
 

Re: Tivo
 

Yes sorry Vanman. The reason for my question is that Masque seemed to be contradicting that and said there wouldn't be any discounts. Surely they will have to let us know before it is released or else everyone will hang on to see whether they are going to get a discounted price.

Re: Tivo
 

i would imagine that there is a £40 install fee that may be waived for existing customers.
that my view

Re: Tivo
 

Will the TiVo box be available in just certain areas initially or will all regions be able to order at the same time?

I had seen somewhere that it might be available to some befor Xmas. Is this right?

Re: Tivo
 

no not before but you can reg for it here https://tivo.virginmedia.com/public/interest

Re: Tivo
 

Err who said the pricing was for new customers? Or did i miss something?

Happy to be enlightened.

Re: Tivo
 

Existing customers get the tivo for £149 + £40 install fee, new customers are £199 + £40 install fee, you are in cookoo land if you thaught you were gonna get this box for peanuts

Re: Tivo
 

Unless your on My Rates ;):)

Re: Tivo
 

Are you saying it dosnt matter which package you are on you'll still only get £50 discount. From the minimum tv up to vip50, all on the same discount. Because its vm who live in cloud cuckoo land, if thats the case.

Regards

John.

Re: Tivo
 

I would have thought your subs pay for the package you are on, not for any future products brought out. Companies don't get rich by giving away things for nothing.

Re: Tivo
 

Tivo is only available with xl tv

Re: Tivo
 

sorry why would Existing customers pay a £40 install fee.
for wot .
they have have already got all they need just unscrew one lead
and replace their stb with a tivo

Re: Tivo
 

Unless your Tivo 500 ;)

Re: Tivo
 

To use to pay the man that comes round your house to install it. I'm guessing it will be a long time before it come "Self Install" style.

Re: Tivo
 

Remember they did not do that with 50Mb we had to wait a good while before it went on the Staff package, so it may be a while before staff get it any cheaper.

Re: Tivo
 

According to Virgin's twitter account current customer pricing details are to be announced soon. Also an FAQ from the sofa (http://www.virginmediasofa.com)


see http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35...-post1455.html

Re: Tivo
 

Staff get it first this time

Re: Tivo
 

Standard or Mates Rates, PM me if Mates Rates.;)

Re: Tivo
 

Coolios, we will have to wait and see then.

Re: Tivo
 

Mates rates pay £150 same as other customers

Re: Tivo
 

Can you show me a link to these prices as all i can find is 199 + 40 install

Re: Tivo
 

Other prices haven't officially been announced - yet.

Re: Tivo
 

Thanks for that Ben jb66 keeps spouting 189 for exsisting customers.

Re: Tivo
 

so are the existing customer prices outlined by media boy now invalid?

Re: Tivo
 

I was really excited about this but upon reflection im not now....
All i can now think is that id be paying 149 plus install for the privilege of renting this box plus an extra 3 pound a month for some software that was pioneering once upon a time and is essentially the same with a flash interface that wouldnt have been very hard to make. would rather be able to put a bigger hard disk in v+. 1TB is only about 30-40 pound retail :mad:

Re: Tivo
 

Pretty stupid the install fee for existing customers. Waste of everyones time to unplug a few wires

Re: Tivo
 

Are you actually knowledgeable about what is involved in installing the new box?

Perhaps the dedicated internet connection which the box has will need balancing with the customer's existing broadband connection.

Perhaps the signal levels are completely different on this new box.

Perhaps........

Perhaps you are wrong to assume that it is simply replacing wires (and hoping it works).

Re: Tivo
 

In my area boxes should be set to 0 to -10db but if these new boxes are using qam256 they should be set at -3 to +7 so sounds like your maybe on to something there regarding the modem

Re: Tivo
 

Well if he comes and does more than scratch his arse and unplug a few wires, plug them back in then leave, fair play

Re: Tivo
 

Be interesting to see what price it would be for current customers,

Re: Tivo
 

Any info. on whether we can back up recordings with tivo and if so how?

Re: Tivo
 

Makes me wonder how people can question the price of the new Tivo product, when they don't even know its capabilities.