Cable Forum - Tivo V6 Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

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Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by passingbat (Post 35859105)

Until we know what functionality the new Tivo brings, it is premature to say that Sky Q is better; it may be, but we simply don't know that at this stage.

Its worth bearing in mind that Sky Q comes in two offerings the 1TB box is now the standard offering for new customers joining Sky the exception being those who can't have Q owing to their communal system not being updated.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Here’s a suggestion for those who are struggling with their TiVo boxes post the recent software change:
I have no big issues with the speed of my TiVo. My main box is a 1Tb Samsung but it is a recent replacement after my previous one had developed disc problems. That means I have only Series Links and Wish Lists from the last few weeks, no Favourite Channels and I’m not currently using Suggestions. My disc is only around 25% full at the moment. And guess what? The box works fine for me - it’s not as zippy as the Now TV box but it is not noticeably slow either.
If you have a TiVo that’s incredibly lethargic and are okay to sacrifice your existing recordings (you’ll lose your recordings if you leave VM anyway of course) it may be worth reformatting the TiVo’s disc and seeing how it performs before jumping ship. Not a permanent solution, but it may sort things out for you until the new TiVo arrives for your consideration.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

You can turn suggestions off???

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Home>Settings>Recordings>Suggestions
Change to 'Don't Record Suggestions'

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

In Poland ATM and while Mrs G was looking at some shoes (:shocked:), I had a chat with the bloke on the UPC stand. Their version of the V6 was on display and first impressions was it's a bit of a chunky beast - maybe 10" square and around 3 or 4" tall. If the TiVo software runs as well as the Horizon offering all will be well. The demo box he had was super smooth and very responsive. Shame as we're still thinking of moving to Sky Q.

Cheers

Grim

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dodgem22 (Post 35859088)

They said widespread to me but refering to speed/responsiveness of box issues not being confined to one geographical area

Ditto.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen (Post 35859113)

While not instant 20 seconds really isn't that long to wait.

Remember the hardware in the VM TiVo is now over 5 years old. So its never going to be ultra fast.

I personally don't think that a few seconds access time really counts as a wide spread nationwide issue.

I do, having to wait 20 seconds for it to load my shows and another 20 seconds to start playing is a major irritant and inconvenience.

A night watching TV constantly watching a black screen or spinning circle just isn't good enough.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen (Post 35859136)

I think if VM had just offered the standard TiVo software then the boxes hardware could have coped fine, however VM have had the TiVo UI and background stuff so heavily modified and customised that perhaps that was their problem.

I suspect that this is the case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_gain (Post 35859153)

...but they're going to be out of the game soon, they don't update their software enough and are being left behind.

Exactly.

Some seem to try to defend the TiVo performance by saying that it's 5/6 years old, but this is a part of the actual problem!

And Denphone, I don't "hate" VM, I hate the performance of the TiVo :rolleyes:

---------- Post added at 22:55 ---------- Previous post was at 22:43 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by oibaldy (Post 83996220)

Had an engineer round as half my TIVO functions were not working. Once he had sorted them out, I mentioned about how slow my box was. He said that a couple of weeks ago, they were getting no end of call-outs and swapping slow boxes before something got flagged up that it was a widespread problem which they then linked to the last update. He claimed that they were working on a fix and would not swap any more boxes, since it was pointless, but also claimed the new box would be out in a couple of months. On launch, it will have 6 tuners, but has the potential for double figures (I think he said 14, but at that point I was trying to work out who would even need 6!)

At least I know it's not just my box that is slow, despite what some forum members claim :)

If this is correct, I wonder how they would increase the number of tuners?? Perhaps they are in there, but not activated?? Maybe a hardware upgrade to the box??

AIUI, the new box will have 7 tuners; 6 to record from and 1 to facilitate delay TV.

If they can somehow double the number of tuners, the extra one may be created by allowing the delay TV tuner to be used as a permanent recording tuner (as is the case now).

I don't think that 6 tuners is excessive, in fact this is the only reason why I haven't left VM as I don't think that any other box has this (apart from Sky who I don't want to use if I can help it).

If you are recording from the main 5 channels at peak time and something from one or two of the pay channels 6 tuners would be very useful.

It means less clashes, more HD recordings, less having to record the next available showing, which in turn leads to even less clashes!

Hopefully, this would enable me to turn padding back on.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter (Post 35860113)

Indeed, especially when paying a premium for the "service."

I wouldn't be happy if that happened on Freeview, but at least its free. We all pay a lot for cable.

Re, the amount of tuners, this may not be so important if VM launch some kind of cloud based service. But as always, its in the details. Talking of which, I'm surprised so close to launch, that there hasn't been more leaks yet about what we can expect from VM's "new" service.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

I totally agree with you.

I received my price increase letter today.

It said that I have until 31/10/16 to cancel. The new TiVo is said to be due out in November, so I'm hoping that prices, performance & specifications are out (officially or leaked) by then.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horizon (Post 35860120)

I expect they will keep details of the new Tivo hush hush until the last possible moment to prevent Sky from stealing a march on them.

If the box is out in November, I will be really happy. My hard drive is starting to give up the ghost and I want to get the new box to replace it.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter (Post 35860113)

AIUI, the new box will have 7 tuners; 6 to record from and 1 to facilitate delay TV.

If they can somehow double the number of tuners, the extra one may be created by allowing the delay TV tuner to be used as a permanent recording tuner (as is the case now).

Just as a bit of clarification, TiVo as a system has no concept of a dedicated tuner for any purpose.

No matter how many tuners the box may or may not have, all tuners will be available to either record, watch live TV or view non-app based VoD, in the same way as the current TiVo box works.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter (Post 35860141)

Ultimately, it makes sense for you to stay with VM till your landline saver expires in March. Then the new box will have been launched, there may be better deals around due to the increased competition between VM and Sky and any bugs in the box wiil have been highlighted and resolved. When the box launches, like Sky Q it will probably be sold at a higher price for early adopters but will then become cheaper and mainstream.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLD BOY (Post 35860151)

Rumour has it and l state rumour that it is a pretty impressive machine but then again others will probably think given the problems with the current TiVo that it is another pile of poo.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr (Post 35860162)

Strange, that. One would have thought that a tuner would be reserved for 'on demand' viewing. I have lost track of the number of times I've been watching something from on demand and then get a dialogue box come up to say the box needs the tuner for recording.

It puts you off using it, and now I get into Catch Up only through my smart TV. I haven't seen any of the Virgin exclusives so far for that very reason.

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

I'm probably not completely accurate here, but I believe the reason it needs a tuner is that the On Demand system creates an temporary channel for the box to tune to so that you can watch the program.

This doesn't apply for the app based VoD on TiVo where the feed comes from the broadband connection (the same as your Smart TV)

Re: Virgin Media V6 - Powered by TiVo(new STB)

I agree and rarely use VOD via the TiVo for the same reason as well as it making the box unusable due to the long delays.