Re: TiVo
 

I believe if Virgin had offered the TIVO to the pre registered customers for the £149 and free install, the majority of people would have been happy with that. Keeping the £40 install fee was never going to work, because when it is offered to the general public, it will probably come with "Free installation".

Re: TiVo
 

Thanks for that, I've noticed on the Sky+iPad app only Sky's own programs are recommended in the Discovery bar equivalent. I wondered if Sky had managed to block TiVo recommending their own content in the same way they've blocked the mini tv.

What about suggestions, have you had TiVo also record things from Sky 1 or Movies for example. :)

Re: TiVo
 

Fair enough. I assume they rely on the increased hype making up for sales they could have made earlier.

However instead of waiting for some pre-set date, VM and most other companies release products as soon as they are ready. That's good for the company (gets return on investment sooner), and good for the customer (gets product sooner).

Re: TiVo
 

Same for me. £149 for the box is fair enough, and I don't even mind the £3 a month. But the £40 install was a step too far. It doesnt seem much on the face of it, but I've been with this company (through it's many name changes) for years, and the amount of install fees I've paid must run into hundreds. Didn't even get the free install for upgrading from XL20 to XL30 because of my "Loyalty Discount" , even though it's only worth £1.50 a month less than new customers pay after their initial discount period. Saying that, I probably will be taking up the offer because, as DF said, it will only be available for a short while, and I don't think I could justify paying the full price. Yes, I know I don't HAVE to have it, as cast lists, searching by Director etc don't interest me in the least, but I definitely need the extra recording space as we very rarely watch live TV anymore. Some might say "wait for the £49 box" but as far as I'm aware there's been no official announcement on the price or specs, and by the time it's released it'll be too late to take up the 1tb box offer.

Re: TiVo
 

Has anyone actually bothered to check out the details with regards to installation.

The £40 charge is a standard charge and not specific to TiVo which you all appear to think, also the installation takes 30/40 minutes plus to do so it cannot be a self installation so in reality a rather cheap price to get your service up and running.

If you had checked on the website first and looked for installation charges the first item tells you that all installs are £40.

http://shop.virginmedia.com/help/ins...n-charges.html.

So unless you are a first time customer buying all 3 services then the installation is £40.

Re: TiVo
 

I'll see that post, and raise you Duke Nukem Forever.

Re: TiVo
 

You are completly missing the point of the anger towards theis £40 insall charge.

People who have had Tivo installed and paid for it didn't pay the install charge. These were separate to any competition winners.

If they didn't have to pay, why should other pre regs? If VM had charged them, then, this issue wouldn't be causing the fuss it is

It's about fairness and consistent charging, plain and simple.

Re: TiVo
 

No probs.

Yeah I've had suggestions from Sky channels too, Hawaii Five-O again, Modern Family, Simpsons and Chuck as examples.

As for movies, I don't sub to Sky Movies so can't comment on that. Having checked my recently deleted folder there are no movies in there at all, however I don't tend to thumb movies, maybe I should start :)

Most of the movies recorded have been from wishlists as I have put some favourite actors in there.

On a side note, the discovery bar also shows actors and movies as well as TV shows. I must say it comes in handy and have made a couple of movie recordings from it. I would have probably missed out on them as I'm not really one to spend ages flicking through the EPG finding things to watch/record

Re: TiVo
 

Yes, I think most of us realise this. What I was trying to get at was that in the interest of good customer service, and to acknowledge customer loyalty in the face of the lack-lustre TV service, the install fee should have been waived. You make a valid point, but this is only MY opinion about it. Others may feel differently, and I'm sure they will post their opinions if they feel strongly enough about it. Don't take it personally Masque, I'm sure the £40 wouldn't come out of your wages.

Re: TiVo
 

By stating this can I please ask you to confirm:

If Joe bloggs wants TiVo and is dropping Sky triple services to do so, will they only pay £199 (+ Free Install) to have TiVo, BB and phone installed?

If correct then this is only £10 more than an existing customer is being asked to pay for TiVo install.

I really hope you havn't opened a can of worms

Re: TiVo
 

Why are we expecting a mass switch from Sky to VM ?

Re: TiVo
 

What I write is pure speculation (as indeed is what just about everybody else writes in this thread).

We are told 50 thousand or so people have expressed an interest in Tivo. But perhaps VM have initially only ordered 10 thousand boxes. As a business, they would be foolish not to get as much as they can for these boxes (especially after the publicity stunt of giving away so many).

Thus a sensible firm will try to price it so that the number of genuine customers having Tivo matches the number they have available. On the thread asking for people to vote in the light of the recent email, approximately one-fifth (at the time of writing) say they will go ahead with Tivo. One-fifth of 50000 is 10000.

I have taken these figures from the top of my head, but any decent business would surely be working along those lines. They are a business, not a charity.

Re: TiVo
 

Just a for instance Muppetman :D

Re: TiVo
 

I wasn't aware of that but that's bleeding rediculous. A 1TB hard drive wouldnt cost them anywhere near £250 extra than a 500gb one. Considering they're already absorbing the cost for the 500GB hard drive the 1TB could have only been like £30 difference, £50 at most really.

I could understand the difference in Sky's boxes (and Tivo's when their lower tier hard drive arrives) if there was a different number of tuners, etc i.e. an actual lesser spec. But the price difference isn't justified by the hard drive differences. With HD bigger hard drives are becoming more of a neccesity. If they think that should cost an extra £250 I'd rather they give me the opportunity to plug my own external hard drive in.

Re: TiVo
 

Probably not that many need 1TB with Mpeg 4 as the normal Sky+HD will record upto 60 hrs HD. These drive sizes people quote are not all strictly correct , although I agree £250 is expensive.

The standard Sky+HD box is 500gb with 250gb personal space recording upto 60 hrs HD and 250gb for Anytime downloads.

The Sky 1TB is actually 1.5 TB with 1TB personal space recording upto 240 hrs HD and 500gb for Anytime Downloads.

Re: TiVo
 

How can I open a can of worms when it quite clearly states that installation is free when taking out all 3 services for the first time, but that does not mention TiVo at this time so all I am doing is showing that the £40 installation charge is a standard price nothing more.

Re: TiVo
 

But the true cost of the standard Sky+ HD box is £199. My first bill said that but I received a credit equal to that amount.

The 1TB dosen't attract any subsidy. Sky know that the take up for the 1TB box will be (and indeed is) miniscule and accordingly charge full price and quite rightly so. For the tiny amount of people who want or need 1TB of HDD space they have to pay for it.

Re: TiVo
 

That's fair enough, I'm just saying that this offer for new customers is going to cause uproar with the long suffering existing customers who want TiVo and could effectively only be paying £10 less for it.

I guess we will have to wait and see until TiVo gets released officially to see what the exact prices are.

Re: TiVo
 

It was a competition/special draw/promotion/whatever. I'd be miffed if I'd won something and then asked to pay to receive it!

I don't get the jealousy issue, seems fair to me. besides, as indicated by VM rep in an email to media boy(?) the few who had it early were effectively beta testing and so put up with features not working properly etc.

Boz

Re: TiVo
 

The non S1 owners who paid for Tivo were not competition winners and weren't informed they were beta testers when being offered it at the offered price. And they were charged £149 all in.

I'm certainly not complaining about the competition winners. Some win a competition and some don't. I didn't but I'm fine with that. All I'm asking is that I'm charged the same price as the people who currently have Tivo and paid for it.

Which email are you reffering to?

Re: TiVo
 

Fair enough, I misread. Still don't get the jealousy though. As I said, they were taking an unfinished service early, while bugs were ironed out, and for that inconvenience they waived the install fee.

It's not really about fairness, just jealousy. Sorry, don't mean to offend, but that's how it comes across. Just don't let it get to you. We have a chance to get £50 off if we sign up next month, or in several months time we might get this cheaper smaller TiVo box.

Re: TiVo
 

It would be jealousy if people were complaining about those who got free boxes.

This is about fairness, the deal offered to Tivo1 users (who were not generally VM customers at the time or not a pre-condition) with no install fee should have been offered to pre-reg VM customers, simple as that.

VM screwed up here IMHO as just doing that would have substantially changed the tone of this BB!

Re: TiVo
 

Exactly as until that point everything is just guesswork and conjecture nothing more.

Re: TiVo
 

Yes i understand but they did not know that the TIVO S1 were going to get shut down in June as they got the confirmation after this:erm:

Re: TiVo
 

Don't worry I'm not. Just because people post strong view on a forum doesn't mean that what they are posting about is getting to them.

I'll be getting Tivo and TBH the £40 install charge didn't surprise me and was half expected.

But I think it's good that VM are getting a lot of flack on the forums; maybe next time they launch a new box, they'll be able to do it without angering their loyal customer base; purely by doing it in a manner that is seen to be fair.

The odd thing is, that if they had charged everyone who wasn't a winner, the £40 install charge, much of this would have gone away (and they'd have made a bit more money too.)

Re: TiVo
 

Actually I wouldn't have taken it at that price as it was a crippled service. Only 2 tuners remember. I would have waited until now before signing up as a pre-reg or just stuck with V+ until prices dropped.

Re: TiVo
 

I would have. I'd have been paying the same price as I'm going to now and I'd have had Tivo functionality earlier.

With it's few launch functionality limitations, It would have been worth it for the 1TB drive to stop me continually keeping an eye on recording space and I'm used to just having two tuners as I never watch anything live. Really looking forward to three though as it will remove the need to keep looking for repeat showings on recording classhes.

Re: TiVo
 

I thought the fix to activate the third tuner came out about a fortnight ago?

Just found this (sorry if it has been posted before) - you can set your Tivo to record remotely - http://tv.virginmedia.com/vtvapp/epg.do

Re: TiVo
 

Interesting targeted ads seems to be the big money earner for the future

TIVO

Information about your TiVo use: By having the TiVo service and/or by using it you are providing your consent for us to use your viewing information to personalise your experience of the TiVo service (in addition to the other purposes set out in our privacy policy). We may share with third parties information about your use of the TiVo service in an aggregated form which will not personally identify you. This aggregated data may be used by those third parties for their marketing purposes (e.g. to improve their targeting of advertising based on user preferences).

Sky

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/News/Most...tform-AdSmart/

Re: TiVo
 

More bad news for TiVo:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/03/t...y-breach-spam/

Re: TiVo
 

Thats the TiVo service in the states, hasnt effected any Virgin Media customers.

Regards

John.

Re: TiVo
 

I know, but its more bad news for TiVo, on top of their financial problems.

Re: TiVo
 

I have a sneaky suspicion their subs have bombed in the US as people can now access PVR's from their Cable/satellite provider cheaper , plus when you consider that the premiere has a sub but most big TV manufacturers offer access to all the apps the TIVO has you can see why people have left in their droves.

Example of services available to connected TV users in the US below


http://www.vizio.com/discover/via

Re: TiVo
 

You sure?
When one or two do it it can be considered a joke. When more than two do it, and repeatedly, it can be considered bullying. Look it up.


Personally, I like to think I am neutral. If I think someone would be better served by Sky, I say so. In this case, however, I think Tivo is something Sky will have difficulty competing with.

Re: TiVo
 

Not saying your wrong , however things aren't that great around the world for TIVO look at Australia and the USA , and let's not forget Sky has more subscribers in the UK than TIVO does in the World so they must be doing something right. That's not to say TIVO isn't a good product .

Re: TiVo
 

Why did you feel the need to turn it off for these reasons :confused:

---------- Post added at 00:30 ---------- Previous post was at 00:14 ----------

Oh I see but why are you deleting them. They have an expiry date and delete themselves when HDD space is needed. The space % does not reflect the amount of suggestions the box has recorded and if you change channels when 3 suggestions are recording it will simply stop one of them without bothering the viewer at all. :)

Re: TiVo
 

I used to do it all the time, I think its habit from the V+, were you have little space to record and once its full it wont record anything else. You tend to be ruthless with recordings then. Takes some getting used to, the Tivo way, record as much as possible then get rid of low priority stuff automatically, when you start to run out of space.

Re: TiVo
 

I think Stuart is having a funny turn please sit down and count to ten Stuart

Re: TiVo
 

Tivo is losing direct customers yes, but they are also signing deals with cable companies to use Tivo technology in the cable box which wil not be part of the direct user numbers. I think there are 2 recent deals in the USA, VM and one elsewhere in Europe from memory but would have to go back to previous posts to confirm exact details. Right strategy IMHO for Tivo.

Re: TiVo
 

Oh, the irony.....

Re: TiVo
 

Reply from Cindy Rose about Tivo pricing: Dear Mr ,
Thank you for reaching out to us, we always appreciate receiving feedback from our customers.** Thank you also for your specific interest in our new Tivo product.
Firstly, please allow me to sincerely apologise for the use of the wrong name on the email.* This was an unfortunate case of human error, and I am genuinely sorry if it caused offense. We have now corrected the emails, but clearly this did not happen quickly enough!
Please let me assure you that we have given a lot of thought to how we price Tivo to our customer base, and we are delighted to be able to offer our 1Tb Tivo box to our customers for £50 less than new customers will be paying. Tivo is a premium product with some ground breaking functionality and worth every penny!* However, I fully appreciate that this offer may not be for you.* We will be coming out with a lower priced box late Spring, and you may decide to wait until then to place your order.
If you have pre-registered your interest in Tivo online, we will shortly be emailing you to let you know that our pre-sale window for the 1Tb box is open, during which you can order Tivo in advance of it going on sale to new customers.* At that time, we will also be communicating some special offers available only to our existing customers, including our VIP customers.
Whichever offer you take advantage of, you won't be disappointed.
Thanks again for your email and best regards,
Cindy
__________________________________________________
Cindy Rose
Virgin Media
Executive Director
Digital Entertainment

Re: TiVo
 

Received this morning
Looks like the standard e-mail reply

Thank you for reaching out to us, we always appreciate receiving feedback from our customers. Thank you also for your specific interest in our new Tivo product, and for taking the time to pre-register online.

Firstly, please allow me to sincerely apologise for the use of the wrong name on the email. This was an unfortunate case of human error, and I am genuinely sorry if it caused offense. We have now corrected the emails, but clearly this did not happen quickly enough!

Please let me assure you that we have given a lot of thought to how we price Tivo to our customer base, and we are delighted to be able to offer our 1Tb Tivo box to our customers for £50 less than new customers will be paying. Tivo is a premium product with some ground breaking functionality and worth every penny! However, I fully appreciate that this offer may not be for you. We will be coming out with a lower priced box late Spring, and you may decide to wait until then to place your order.

As you have pre-registered your interest in Tivo online, we will shortly be emailing you to let you know that our pre-sale window for the 1Tb box is open, during which you can order Tivo in advance of it going on sale to new customers. At that time, we will also be communicating some special offers available only to our existing customers, including our VIP customers.

Whichever offer you take advantage of, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks again for your email and best regards,

Cindy

Interesting?

Re: TiVo
 

It may seem a standard responce, but at least she took the time and replied to anyone with this query.

There are indeed further offers for our customers, and a lower spec box will also launch in due course.

Re: TiVo
 

It makes it difficult to decide whether to take the 1TB TiVo if you don't have a clue on the spec of the 'cheaper' box.

Some rumours suggest a 0.5TB TiVo for £100 less. If this box has the same functionality as the existing box then anyone opting for the current box will be unhappy.

Do I delay or not?

Re: TiVo
 

Thanks DF i shall await the e-mailo next week before i decide what to do.

Re: TiVo
 

Why would it make people unhappy?? If people want the 1TB hdd they will get it no matter the cost. I know plenty of people who are desperate and don't mind what the cost is. They always get the latest tech at launch so are always willing to pay for the exclusivity to be an early adopter.

If people want TiVo but aren't willing to pay for the full premium box then they can wait to see what else gets announced after launch. Its simple really.

More than likely it will be the same box with a smaller HDD, possibly 500GB. No reduced functionality at all.

I still don't get peoples reaction to the £40 install fee, everyone will be paying that to get TiVo. There will be no free installs given.

Re: TiVo
 

You'll have all the details on launch day (around the 11th April). VM will announce the spec/price of the lower spec TiVo, so you can make an informed decision.

It's likely that the spec will indeed be around the HDD size, rather than functionality.

I can't confirm pricing, but the "baby TiVo"* will be considerably cheaper than the 1TB model.

* my wording, not VM's ;)

Re: TiVo
 

Except you eh Stephen!

Don't do as I do, do as I say springs to mind;)

I wonder if you would still have that view if you had to pay.

Re: TiVo
 

I had to pay for install ;)

Re: TiVo
 

You catch my drift, your posts have been far more sensitive on the subject anyway DF.

Re: TiVo
 

We do actually still have to pay for install of TiVo. A charge for the box and the £40 install fee. Its a standard install price no matter who is adding a service.

We even have to pay the £40 install if we take 50MB bb. No one escapes it unless they are a new customer taking all three services.

Re: TiVo
 

DF Thank you very much - that is great news.

In reply to Stephen. I personally would be very unhappy if I paid £100 more and the only difference in the box was the disk size.

My 5 year old V+ is now becoming limited by its disk size and the arrival of HD. I do not, however, require 1TB of space. When could anyone possibly find time to watch 120 hours of accrued HD TV anyway? 0.5TB would be perfectly adequate for me and £100 is worth saving (for anyone).

Re: TiVo
 

Is 'we' you?

I believe you said you didn't pay yourself did you not, certainly not the £149 anyway?

My post wasn't directed at any other staff as you are the one telling people they shouldn't have a problem having to pay the £40 on top of £149.

If all you had to pay was £40 then maybe be a tad more sensitive to customers.

Re: TiVo
 

Come on, that's not strictly true. There are many on here who advocate that Retentions will roll over and give you a £40 credit to effectively give free installation.

Re: TiVo
 

I would have thought you would have installed it yourself :erm:

Re: TiVo
 

FAO DF: Thanks for the info as always, am I right in understanding that there will be further offers on the 1TB on the 11th then?

Can anyone tell me the HD size of the the SA V+ I currently have?

Re: TiVo
 

Well my 1TB TiVo is sitting at 47% used simply because everything I record is HD now and most of that is movies, mostly for keeping to watch at some point as TV shows get watched as soon as possible. I prefer the ability to keep all the stuff I want so I can watch when I want, rather than before the HDD fills up as it would if I only had 500GB. ;)

---------- Post added at 10:12 ---------- Previous post was at 10:10 ----------

There will be other pricing announced for VIP30 and VIP50 customers and also for new customers I would think.

The HDD in the V+ is 80GB.

---------- Post added at 10:16 ---------- Previous post was at 10:12 ----------

All staff have to pay the install fee and also for the TiVo box.

However in my case I didn't pay anything but thats because my TiVo isn't on my own customer account. I signed an NDA when I originally got the box. That should give you a clue about why I did pay.

Re: TiVo
 

I'm not an field engineer :)

Mine was installed by a very nice VM TiVo engineer. Took about 3 hours to install due to it being the 2nd he'd installed.

The download from TiVo US took most of the time and I needed my signal levels adjusting in the DP.

I've had a faultless service on my TiVo as the install was top notch.

Re: TiVo
 

The disk size in the current V+ is 160GB. It is a sixth of the size of the coming 1TB TiVo.

Re: TiVo
 

All I am saying is that given how you got Tivo it might be an idea for you to be more understanding of your own customers concerns. They registered over 4 months ago and rightly or wrongly seem to have genuine concerns about the offer that was made. I assume you have seen the straw poll result which for a mostly supportive forum like this makes very bad reading for Virgin.

Re: TiVo
 

I appreciate that that is your opinion.

IMHO It does not matter whether the stored material is a movie or anything else. I still don't see how you could watch all 120 hours of HD material. You are simply using up part of your storage for archived material.

I see the extra disk space being used to record suggestions which you may watch or just delete.

For me 0.5TB will be more than adequate for my normal viewing and recording suggestions. I don't feel the need to keep copies of things.

Re: TiVo
 

I think it was priced like this for demand reasons , people upgrading and the mass exodus from Sky.

Re: TiVo
 

I agree, in my opinion the 500Gb box has got the potential to be a hit with many more mainstream customers.

How many 1TB PVR's do you see on the highstreet? Not many if any and for good reason.

Sky's 1TB box sales are tiny, that's why they don't subsidise it as most people don't need one.

Re: TiVo
 

Thanks for replys guys :)

Can anyone with TiVo tell me if the recommendations and apps consume HD space or have separate storage?

Re: TiVo
 

The recommendations/suggestions are simply recordings so use up your space.

Re: TiVo
 

You and the majority of the UK , if the switch to Mpeg 4 came at some point as well on a 500gb HDD you'd be looking around 120 hrs HD recording time.

Re: TiVo
 

Suggestions don't seem to impact on storage space so they must be stored on a seperate partion. I could be wrong though.

Same with old shows sent to the trash bin, they don't count toward the storage.

Re: TiVo
 

Yes and no... while suggestions will take up HDD space, your available recording space will not be affected.

If TiVo runs out of HDD space, then older suggestions are deleted to make room :)

---------- Post added at 10:45 ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 ----------

Do you have any source for that? :)

Re: TiVo
 

How I got it is nothing to do with it. Once I have to give this box back I will be paying the cost for the box and the £40 to get the TiVo 1TB installed and on my own customer account and am happy to do so.

I also know plenty of colleagues who have taken up the 1TB and were happy to pay the cost of the box and the £40.

Re: TiVo
 

The 500gb TiVo is the real game changer as far as the masses go... the 1TB is our premium TiVo product.

---------- Post added at 10:53 ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 ----------

Yep, same here.. plenty have had to pay up for a 1TB TiVo.

Re: TiVo
 

[QUOTE=Digital Fanatic;35205683]The 500gb TiVo is the real game changer as far as the masses go... the 1TB is our premium TiVo product.

---------- Post added at 10:53 ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 ----------

So the demise of Sky starts when this game changer launches.

Re: TiVo
 

Why do you have to bring Sky in to this? :confused:

It's a game changer for VM customers, nothing to do with Sky. :rolleyes:

Re: TiVo
 

Because many have stated on here its a Sky killer , a few pages back a mod stated Sky can't compete with TIVO :D

Re: TiVo
 

How has my post you quoted got anything to do with Sky??

Re: TiVo
 

I'm not.

---------- Post added at 11:31 ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 ----------

If you are referring to me, I didn't say that. I said:

Saying something is difficult does not mean it cannot be done.

Re: TiVo
 

But should we not be saying TIVO will have trouble competing with Sky , just take a look at Sky+ subscriber numbers.

Re: TiVo
 

Installed April 1st, another nice VM engineer, but had to be talked through the setting of levels, frequencies etc by phone from a very knowledgeable person at base. It certainly wasn't plug and play.

Once set up however, it's all fine and well worth £149 + £40 install. My S1 TiVo cost twice as much to buy + lifetime subscription + the same again on hard disc upgrades/replacements.

Re: TiVo
 

I read an interview by Darroch, of course he didn't use the word tiny but said he effectively expects it to be a tiny take up. I will have a look and get back to you.

In the meantime you posted on here in February stating Virgin Media are going on a 'HD Shopping Spree'.

I suppose you will not be able to provide proof as it's confidential but is there any way you can give an indication as to when the said 'spree' will commence? You further said that if customers expect extra content they must pay for it, as prices have now risen
and nothing has been added to XL perhaps you might comment on that too?

Re: TiVo
 

Tivo are not competing with Sky.. Virgin are using Tivo as a weapon to compete against sky.

Anyway, pedantics aside, I was talking about in terms of features. No one knows what impact it will have on the customer base, as it has not long launched.

Anyway, if you are going to talk Customer Numbers, I believe Freeview leaves both Sky and Virgin in it's dust.

Re: TiVo
 

I suppose all Sky+HD 1TB offers over a standard box is extra storage, so take up over a "free" box would be lower.

More HD is certainly something VM are adding this year, I can't go in to specifics at this time due to confidentiality. VM did however provide this announcement in their price rise email

April is the normal price rise time for VM, they added a lot of content over the last 12 months, especially HD channels.

You can't really expect channels to be instantly added on the 1st of April... they are coming though.

Re: TiVo
 

Seems a strange comparison to make free TV with a pay TV platform , considering most set ship with freeview installed. A question what are these killer features , I will give you being able to record 3 programmes is superior to Sky but what others. It seems clear to me in the US that TIVO is just for the enthusiasts and not mass market , which was proven last quarter when over 200,000 subscribers left.

Re: TiVo
 

Nice to have Digital Fantastic back as there was a rumour going round that he wae doing a Lord Lucan.

Re: TiVo
 

Cheers Denphone

Re: TiVo
 

sky sports red button and more hd channels should be another good year for us VM customers :)

PS welcome back DF :)

Re: TiVo
 

What is clear is the ones who keep slagging TiVo off, seem to be the ones who have Sky as their main TV provider.

---------- Post added at 12:37 ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 ----------

It will be another good year.... lot's going on behind the scenes at the minute :)

Re: TiVo
 

And you've been 'upgraded' to Fantastic and I won't argue with that :)

Re: TiVo
 

:)

Re: TiVo
 

great to hear DF :)

Re: TiVo
 

Did I or did I not say TIVO was a good product , I'm merely responding to people stating about Sky having DIFFICULTY competing with TIVO and comments like Sky killer , remember I've used VM TIVO and TIVO while in the US. There's a difference between mentioning points and flat out trashing something which I have never done :D

Re: TiVo
 

I guess the features will vary from person to person, but for me one of the great features will be whishlists.

I watch a lot of US programmes. When the new TV shows are announced at the Upfronts around May time, there are normally several new shows that look interesting. As it stands now, bearing in mind these shows don't start until September/October (in the US; who knows when in the UK?), it's a case of trying to find out if they've even been picked up by a UK channel, let alone which one and when they start. With wishlists, you let Tivo do all that monitoring for you; add the show as a whishlist item and it will pick it up and record it if and when a UK channel show it.

It's the same with actors, directors etc.; just add them to a whishlist and Tivo will record programmes with them in.

Tivo will also make suggestions as to shows that might appeal to you. I believe Sky does that but you need to buy an ipad to get that now (I read somewhere that Sky may be bringing that functionality into the EPG later this year?)

I also like season and episode information, actors, directors, producers etc. all will be available on my Tivo screen rather than having to switch the PC on to check digiguide and visit Epguides.com and IMDB

Then there are apps; VM are talking about far more apps than you get on your current connected TVs/BR players. Cindy Rose said there would be hundreds in a years time.

Re: TiVo
 

Can I also add the 24/7 buffering of up to an hour on all 3 tuners as quite a good feature too

Re: TiVo
 

I'll add the iPlayer App to the mix.

Re: TiVo
 

Tivo in the US and through VM are different products. Tivo on UK cable is part of an STB service that VM are providing. VM actually plan to add a lot of apps and features that have nothing to do with Tivo to the STB that they are marketing as Tivo.

It is no doubt a product for the enthusiast and is a premium product which is what VM market and price it as. It will only become mainstream cable when VM decide they want that to happen.

Re: TiVo
 

Will you trade for full sky sports red button LOL :D

Re: TiVo
 

3 tuners is the killer app for me, I could not survive in our house without multiple recording capability at the same time (e.g. kids watch same recording several times and like to keep them for months after original recording, so even if it is on VOD/catch-up, still need it after long gone from VOD say). What Tivo does on top is excellent and wishlists is certainly a feature I am looking for.

Re: TiVo
 

the 10MB BB dedicated connection another killer feature

Re: TiVo
 

Yeah that proper does your head in with US shows and wishlists should sort that for you , I find Skys remind me green button service and Online service Never Miss useful for this.

Yeah not 100% on suggestions its coming just not sure how
http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/News/Most...tform-AdSmart/

Still not won over with TV apps as these are available on TVs and blue-ray players granted not all ,we'll see here.

Re: TiVo
 

Can you add show titles to Sky's remind me that Sky have never heard of though, which is the case with the new US shows announced at the Upfronts? Or is it just shows that have already been shown or announced to air on UK TV channels?

How much functionality is there with the Sky system?

Re: TiVo
 

Not really, Sky have apparently already identified Freeview as a competitor. Remember, when they want new subscribers, they haven't only got to try and convert any Cable TV viewers. They also have to try and persuade those who wouldn't normally pay the subscription (ie Freeview viewers).

Freeview is very much a competitor to both Sky and Virgin, especially when people's jobs are under threat.

Re: TiVo
 

Fair enough, let's all wait and see. Even though I don't have my main channels with VM now it's well in my interest for them to add more as all it would take for me to return to VM is a phonecall in a year's time.

You could be right about Sky's box, I still couldn't find the article but i'm sure he compared it to some other consumer hardware that is limited in reach but a necessary part of their offer. I accept that functionally (but not technically, not at all and not just the HDD) it is the same as the standard box I just cannot help but suspect 1TB is overkill. No bias there, I think both boxes are too big for an average punter like me. It goes back to something I have said many times, how many 1TB boxes do you see on the highstreet. And in VM's case they have that much streamed catch up and OD content do the masses really need it?

But I am on record as saying that when VM get that cheaper box out and widen it's availability I think they could have a pretty successful product on their hands.

But I suspect not at the current price though and only being available to XL customers even though I think the hardware cost is more than reasonable. The poll results are interesting particualrly when the respondents are members of a forum like this and have gone out of their way to register for the service. But maybe the figures are in line with VM's expectations though or even better, you will know better than me.

Time will tell.