Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Sky had the HD charge to recoup the increased broadcast costs involved with HD, admittedly some 5 years on you would have expected it to be reviewed , I guess it will be looked at when subscriber numbers take a sharp decline remember Sky+ functionality cost 10.00 for a good while until the charge was dropped for Sky TV customers. Anyway back on topic is the 500gb TIVO 40.00 from tomorrow my father is after one.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

yes just think they could lower HD charge with all the money they made from it and least they did one good think with going per account instead of per box that was greed imo

i waiting till sky sports red button on tivo before i change v+ box for a second tivo box

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Interesting read with TIVO mentioned , apologies if this has been posted.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/new...d-network.html

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

News to me

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

No you are not mad and never have been.:D:D

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

They would need a lot more bandwidth, you can broadcast about 8 SD channels with the same bandwidth it takes to broadcast one HD channle although with MPEG4 being used by Sky that maybe more efficient. Next you need HD playout facilities whether you do that inhouse or via a third party that also cost a lot of money.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

UKTV uses Red Bee for it's channel playout facilities http://www.redbeemedia.com/news/uktv...-red-bee-media

Same people who do Channel 4's playout

As they already have HD facilities I doubt that the costs would be that much greater than for SD playout

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

If this was the case many more channels would have switched to HD , personally can't see that being correct.

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HD is only worth doing if you have the HD content though

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Actually, Sky reported in July 2011 Adjusted Net Debt of £1,518 million....

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

True , fair point.

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I would like to see More4 going HD soon

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

But they would still need to pay to male use of their HD suites look at Paramount they still won't pay to have Comedy Central or music MTV channels moved to widescreen cable suites even though the play out facility they use has them.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

But the difference is as you know that Sky generates huge revenues and is supported by a company with huge resources and Virgin have not got that at their disposal and have debts of £5,800 million...

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Suspect this has always been the case but noticed yesterday that if you look at the EPG when a planned recording is scheduled and you have set up padding (2 minutes say), the actual recording icon is shown against the previous programme the padding covers and not your planned programme. This is the case until the time passes to the scheduled programme and then the recording icon moves to the planned programme to be recorded.

Looks very strange if you just happen to look at the EPG during the padding period and initially makes you think you’ve set up the wrong programme to record or that was the reaction of my family last night when this was spotted.

Tivo seems to have a knack on making things difficult when they should be straight forward. The recording icon should be shown for the programme you want to record that all and not move around to cover the short recording periods either end of your planned programme if padding is set. Just wait until global padding is available and users “miss-interpret” what the EPG shows!

While Tivo certainly has useful features and the only way today to get to a 1TB storage capacity essential for regular HD recording, I have to say Tivo has the worst user interface I’ve even seen. It seems to have been designed by geeks to be watched by geeks not consumers. My family finds it so frustrating and this is not a case of additional options as I’ve seen as a reply to comments like this, it is simple bad UI design written to be functional not practical/convenient.

A usability design/simplification should certainly be considered by VM and something Tivo need to learn from.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Are you kidding?! Considering how many features the TiVo has, the interface is pretty straightforward. Now while I will admit the control method can vary and some things could be clearer (and faster), within only a couple of days of playing around even your average non-geek shouldn't have trouble with it.

Chances are this version of VM TiVo won't change much. I see bugfixes, additional apps, red button implementation, a few new features but not a complete UI overhaul. Which IMO is just fine.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I am certainly not kidding, I didn't say a UI update is high priority but ultimately it needs it IMHO.

I am not at home right now to check but isn't is a case right now that if you want to access information about a programme on the EPG you have to press the record button not the info button! Utter madness and is one example which frustrates consumers. This is just a single example where the usability design really needs sorting out or in this specific case, just make it logical i.e. info button for information.

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That are changing in the next release (based on the leaked list) so that the info button will work on the EPG for programmes currently on

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I gave in. Just ordered 500gb TiVO and a V+ relocate. Install on the 12th. Hope this doesn't prove to be a mistake!

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

That is good news; 1 down, many UI/usability enhancements to go.

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I felt like that. Was quite happy with my V+ box but it started to play up, ie id record a movie but when going to view it later, despite taking up the space on the hardrive i was left only with a blanc screen and no sound.
Rather than get a new box sent to me i upgraded to Tivo (500gb).

Now, i was a little worried as my current set up worked 100% fine, HD Tv etc, and i had read good and bad things on here re the Tivo.

Anyhow had it installed, takes about 1 hour.
It does take a little bit of getting used to, as anything new does (i hated play.com new look site at 1st but now realise its better).
There are a few niggles that can be improved ie i cant set a reminder when a show is on and auto change channel but these are tiny niggles.

The postives 95% outweigh the niggles. Its alot faster to navigate, the TV guide now shows series and episode numbers on shows (ideal if u like stuff like CSI), when recording series you can select new episodes only, you can choose to set up the recording 15 mins before and upto 1.5 hours after.

You can "search" TV. ie type if Queen and any Queen TV shows will show up (group Queen). You can browse TV and this browse is fantastic. Can see new shows and set up recordings from there, search by catargory etc.
And Youtube. Didnt think i would use this much, but after watching an idiot abroad i was in the mood for more and easily found some Karl Pilkentons podcasts on Youtube.

Overall, im so so glad my V+ box started to play up and i got Tivo

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Actually it does! Each channel, or suite of channels has their own setup. For any new HD channels, even those already in existence via SD, a whole new system needs to be installed. For example it is only last week that BBC One @ Redbee media, converted entirely to HD. The channel needed to have two new servers installed, a new automation suite, a new mixer, a whole load of new monitoring suites, Audio server etc etc etc all of which costs money. All this and the BBC HD channels has been launched for ages.

---------- Post added at 20:37 ---------- Previous post was at 20:34 ----------

This I would argue is a policy issue rather than a technical or cost one. I have dealt with Widescreen transmission for years and I doubt it would cost much extra if any at all to start transmitting in it. Most programmes will be delivered in a widescreen format, if possible and it would actually cost more to transmit in a different format than it would in its natural one. Each clip would have to go through an Arc that would change the material to 4:3, 14:9 etc

I also might add that most transmission companies cater for each network individually and do not have HD suites per-say but will build in a HD suite into the current set-up.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Quickie (and probably cheeky) question:

For those like me who got the special mulitiroom offer when ordering TiVo (where we kept the existing V+ HD and had the £6.50 additional box fee waived) - If I wanted to upgrade the V+ HD to a 500Gb TiVo, would I have to pay the additional box fee?

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Not sure, will check tomorrow

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Ben I am considering getting tivo. Could i move my existing box into another room for free or would it cost £ 6.50 per month and also

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

You would have to speak to Customer Services regarding any offers available to you

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Will there be a update after the big update to Tivo which includes BBC and Sky Sports Red button this year ?

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

No one knows the answer to that question.

Regards

John

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

So there will be another update after the big update. I will get tivo if it is coming before the end of the year
http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...ve/td-p/705605

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

In most cases applications don't require a box update at all. The Red Button mechanism itself has worked from before TiVo launched. The applications become available as soon as they are published without any need for a software update.

For example, the CNBC app was added recently without an update, including the red button link from the CNBC channel.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Are you saying sky sports and bbc red button could just appear without the need for a further software update ?

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As the major update is laying the foundation for the further additions, quite possibly

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I may criticise it and moan bitterly about certain shortcomings, but all things considered what it does well makes it a solid choice, well worth the £3/month extra for all the services you get even on the M+ package.

---

On another note I have a semi-interesting observation about TiVo iPlayer streams that I might post later with the aid of pictures to demonstrate what I mean.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I got TiVo installed this morning, very fast service, very impressed with TiVo well done Virgin. :)

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How much did you pay ?

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Intrigued...

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I must remind you this is a family forum!!!!!!!!!

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

£49.95

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

500GB or 1TB Tivo ?

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

500GB

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Thought so

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http://twitter.com/#!/search/%40dekw...y%20soon.%20KD
This is good news and looks it will come very soon. So i will probably get tivo when it's been added

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Well very soon could mean a variety of dates as it could be this month next month or in the New Year.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I think it will be added in December

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Lets see.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Very soon could be anywhere within the next 4 to 5 months, the BBC interactive red button will most likely launch first followed by the Sky Sports red button.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Thats my thinking as well.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Anyone else had a problem with Recordings last Thursday evening? Only just noticed this morning, all 3 programmes recorded were only partial (40 mins out of 1hr 10). 2 were on at the same time and the other was an hour earlier. WTF? I thought TiVo would look for other showings to record if something went wrong with a recording? But, I may be wrong....

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

There been few posts over at the Help & Support forums about recordings being messed up due to 'not authorised to watch this channel' messages.

Last Thursday you say? I've still got some Warehouse 13/Lost Girl recordings to watch, I'll be livid if those recordings have been messed up.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I see the tivo box has a scart connection on the back so i take it the tivo would work with a non hd tv. Its only till we get round to buying a tv.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

When Sky Anytime + comes along will that be integrated into the TiVo guide?

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

One would hope so.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

that's correct, yes.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

thanks, i was 99% sure but wanted to check.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I thought 'Great, will connect Tivo to my DVD recorder via scart...' picture was pants, so I just use HDMI to TV. After a bit of digging found this on the VM forum. Has been ongoing for some months without resolution though a fix is promised in the elusive coming soon update :rolleyes:.

Have a read and make your own mind up.

Cheers
Grim

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Ah yes, now I remember.

For some reason, each version of iPlayer appears to be using different streams.

In the following picture, the first shot is from my HTPC running iPlayer web version in Chrome, the second is the TiVo iPlayer app (as you can probably see from the giant || icon) and the third is iPlayer stream via EPG using regular TiVo interface. All frames are grabbed from roughly the same point in "Dragons' Den: How To Win In The Den Episode Two: The Art Of Negotiation". All of these are SD streams upscaled to 1920x1080 (progressive on the HTPC, interlaced on the TiVo).

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2011/10/71.jpg

Notice how the BBC logo/watermark is in a slightly different place each time? That's no accident. Each of these is the same program, yet the streamed file is different; there are three different copies of the same thing. The iPlayer web version is closest to correct 1.78:1 aspect ratio while the two TiVo ones demonstrate slight pillarboxing although it's hard to see this in the sample screengrabs.

Rather than using the regular iPlayer stream it appears VM have bespoke versions for reasons best known to them. (Is this part of what the £3/month pays for?)

And I'm usually so good at removing anything remotely close to innuendo before posting.

Yeah it does, but it's not RGB enabled, meaning the picture would be no better than if you hooked up the TiVo with one of these.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2011/10/72.jpg

...um, wait, although it's yellow that's not what I wanted. Try again.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2011/10/73.jpg

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

There is no 'regular' iPlayer stream. There are many of them, and the Player selects whichever is most suitable for the device. If you search the BBC Blogs, there's a good article on the subject.

On the other hand, the non-iPlayer VOD streams are created specially for VM.

Well it's not quite that simple. It is RGB-enabled, but currently the signalling isn't correct, so some devices don't realise that RGB is available. It's a lottery whether or not the RGB gets used.

The signalling problem is corrected in the forthcoming software update.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I know, from the BBC site there's three SD and one HD stream (when available). Point is, the watermark is either in the extreme top left or in rare cases the one from the original channel. VM's ones are different so it looks non-standard compared to ones you get from the BBC website.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

The On Demand one will be different because it's designed to have the logo in the 4:3 'safe' area

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Not sure what this has got to do with what could be coming or come?

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/company-n...---quick-facts

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/company-n...itobi---update

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Related to the fact that they now have Unreal Engine 3 running in flash!

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...a-web-browser/

That's great for hardware with decent GPUs but not for our TiVo boxes.
What we need is an OnLive app!!

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

That would be a great idea!

It would also cure the massive flaw with OnLive at the moment ;)

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

What's the massive flaw?

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Can someone please tell me if the new season of Southpark starts tomorrow on Comedy Central as i cant see anything on EPG yet.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Yes they are on tomorrow at 22.00 and 22.30.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Thanks for that denphone ill check on Tivo remote record now.

---------- Post added at 09:32 ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 ----------

Just checked Remote Record & those shows have been on already so the EPG still isnt working right on Comedy Central as i tried setting up New Series link from box last night & it was set to record 182 shows, i hope they sort out the series link problem soon as this is getting a bit much now, i want New Shows to record not 182 Shows.:(

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Yes l have just tried it and it is not working properly.

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They need to sort this out,what are we paying £3 a month for, its never worked on Comedy Central.:(

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Isn't the new series starting next week?

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Yes this is quite poor and not good enough in my mind and surely someone should be keeping a constant eye on the EPG to make sure everything is up to date and working properly.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/dqf/ataglance.shtml
The bbc red button streams will be the same amount across Digital TV which would mean the same amount as freeview which is 1 stream ?
Could this be mean more bandwith for a extra HD channel ie BBC HD or BBC News HD or both ?

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Why do you keep posting the same question :D

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it means there cutting costs as licence fee is frozen for a few more years

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I think what they're saying is that there's a lot of reinventing the wheel with Red Button. You've basically got 3 platforms: MHEG, Open TV and Liberate. I would guess that there's no 'master feed' of content but instead a goodly amount of internal inefficiency to repurpose the content for all of these platforms and their sub-types. This is probably what they're talking about.

They're not looking at freeing up bandwidth but saving money!

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

It's frozen for 6 years.

---------- Post added at 14:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:27 ----------

The BBC have said, that they hope top launch BBC One Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in HD from 2012.
(Page 11) http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/abouttheb...kplan_0611.pdf

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

i thought it was this Friday.

---------- Post added at 14:35 ---------- Previous post was at 14:32 ----------

Well ive had my Tivo since April & EPG for Comedy Central hasnt worked once, its a waste of time trying a series link for that channel complete crap.:mad:

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

South Park returns to Comedy Central on Friday 14th October at 10pm.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

ok ill check on my Tivo tonight when i get in, see if it records new only or 182 shows.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

It's flaw is the huge data transfer that comes with it. There are reports of 2Gb per hour downloaded during gameplay!

Tested it on my PC yesterday evening and found my 10Mb connection throttled down to 2.5Mb which makes it unusable at that speed. Two options for me, use it after 9pm to avoid throttling or upgrade to 30Mb.

Using the TiVo connection would give a constant 10Mb with no throttling.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Ah got ya, I'm running a MicroConsole (well 2 actually) on my 50Mb and not had a problem yet, really loving the service. But as you say your problems would be sorted with a TiVo OnLive app.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Except one of the reasons (I reckon) that the TiVo connection isn't managed is because the pattern of usage is significantly different to a normal broadband connection

It's use a lot less frequently and in bursts, rather than the more constant use a normal connection has

If an OnLive app was to be added that may not be the case

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

News to me.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you. Not had any problems with Onlive using VMs 50Mb service but I'd still like to see an app for TiVo. :)

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Not true.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

I hope this is true http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...on/td-p/764329

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

No proof at all and l think we should just wait and be patient.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

It's not true. I explained why here.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

It still has the same problem as when the last new series was shown there is no meta data so shows are not being flagged as new or with series number and episode number.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

It's NOT true.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

sorry spiderplant forgot. So the sky sports red button could just appear without a software update. BBC red button in year or so will be worthless when the BBC reduce the streams on all platforms to 1 after olympics. The BBC when look to put the streams on IPTV. which means Tivo.
So in years to come there could be a BBC app
page 26 http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/dqf...dproposals.pdf
page 11 http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/dqf...dproposals.pdf

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

anyones Tivo just switch it self off & back on.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

No fine here.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Fine here as well.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

You gotta love wishlist's I set one with the keywords "Steve Jobs" on Thursday there were no programs listed in the TV at the time that matched that by low and behold on Saturday something got recorded from Bloomberg.

Also set one for Highlander ages ago as I hand never seen the series and just looking at recordings that are coming up next week and it has listing for it on Horror. Although one thing i did notice it has very funny episode numbers.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Well, mine's in. Painless install, all channels were on bar FTA HD before the engineer left. They showed up about an hour afterwards with some bad pixellation. Standby seemed to fix that. Added in my current series links and a wishlist for Mike Fox and it seems pretty nippy so far. Just did a quick reboot to get my channel logos and they showed up on cue.

The SD screens *really* need sorting, but given that TiVO US customers still have exactly the same problem, I can't see that happening any time soon!

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

There are 6 seasons of Highlander the early seasons are better

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

Message has come up on my TiVo box saying we need to make an update to your TiVo box in the early hours (2am-430) on Thursday 13th October.please ensure your box is switched on. Don't ever remember having this message before.

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

This could be the start of the Big update? :confused:

Re: General TiVo Discussion Part 2
 

What channel is that on and is it in HD ??
:D