Re: TiVo
 

I've just come out of a 45 minute meeting at work and was dredding looking at my mobile in case they had phoned! They hadn't. Possibly the only time I was wishing they didn't phone.

I'm now back on it! So phone me VM, please!

Will I get a call before we hit 100 pages I wonder?!

Re: TiVo
 

Sorry! I just could not resist!;)

Re: TiVo
 

Oh no, what have I started! Actually.....I'm losing my own bet by replying! Dammit :)

Re: TiVo
 

Nobody knows whether they are still calling

Re: TiVo
 

I'm sure you'll agree that's like comparing apples and oranges.

With Sky, you are buying the box and it is yours to keep and pay maintenance on, just like your own TV set or DVD player.

Traditionally with Virgin Media and its predecessors, you effectively rented the box with maintenance costs included, perhaps like your rented TV set or DVD player, and you paid for it through your service subscription. So, for example, you might opt for the XL or a higher package with a + or HD box and enjoy the PVR and HD facilities as well as the other great features in those packages. The hardware remains the property of VM and, should you decide to drop to a more basic package, they have the option replace the box with a less fully featured one.

I personally feel that the up front cost is somewhat prohibitive for most people and VM should perhaps have charged a higher monthly fee instead to cover the cost. However I can see that, with limited initial production of units, it may help reduce the early demand whilst funding the capital outlay for research, development, purchase and support of the boxes and training of staff.

Obviously VM could not and would not have increased the cost of the existing packages for subscribers who did not have a TiVo box so they would have to have introduced an additional surcharge for this or an entirely new package tier.

I'm sure that the pricing structure will change over time but I imagine the current situation will remain for quite some time so as not to upset the early adopters and to continue funding the development and support of the product/service.

---------- Post added at 10:56 ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 ----------

<SlightlyOffTopic>
Is there an on-going process in place to phase out older boxes?

I was disappointed to find, when the NGTV platform merger took place, that the EPG on my Pace Di4000-N V Box no longer gave three days of programme listings and the i-button content was severely reduced, no longer giving episode titles for series or, in many cases, year and lead cast for movies.

My understanding was that this streamlining of EPGs was in part to support older less well endowed STBs although simply reducing the number of EPG suppliers was also a consideration.
</SlightlyOffTopic>

Re: TiVo
 

I’ve read here that VM have over 20,000 existing customers declaring a wish to purchase Tivo and they will do 5000 by end of March? With that demand you would expect VM to charge.

Ultimately the Tivo price will come down there will also be the smaller cheaper Tivo box later this year as well.

It is a case of whether you want to pay premium as an early adopter or wait a year or 2 say and hope for a lower price, although on this demand it may be several years before the price is lowered!

VM and Sky rightly work on different models so it is a preference to what you want in the end. I like the VM model personally and don’t have to think about the cost of repairs if there is a problem.

However customer who expect all this new service/technology for nothing, are simply being unreasonable in my view, it’s just not practical for a commercial organisation and such costs have to be covered somewhere; so better to be specific to the product rather than a general cost of service.

I have a V+ box today, actually purchased at £45 around 3 years ago when VM put a special offer on their web site for new customers only but didn’t say this initially on the site, so existing customers could order before they corrected their mistake and increased the price to a £75 (so I was lucky).

So if you wait you will get a lower price in time, but suspect it could be 2012 at this rate on Tivo.

For the record I am registered for Tivo and I expect to pay the £189 price as I want it now!!

Forgot to mention that haven’t VM said they want to deploy the Tivo software on existing boxes where possible (Samsung V+ hasn’t got the CPU/memory power I suspect but SA V+ has and the Cisco HD only box is also OK?). It may be a cut down version of Tivo features with none of the Internet/apps features, but it may well be the new UI and useful new features like the 7 day in the past EPG and record whole programme if in the live recording buffer. That is my guess work but they have certainly mentioned deploying Tivo software to current devices so customers who do nothing may get some of the benefits of Tivo anyway.

Re: TiVo
 

I think Virgin will always look at what kit they can remove to reduce support costs

A couple of years ago they swapped out most Pace 1000 and 2000 STBs due to their age, I would expect further swap outs to happen again when appropriate

It's likely that TiVo will have caused a rethink as to how to do this next

Re: TiVo
 

I'm guessing they are, if the numbers are correct then they have a lot of calling to do.

---------- Post added at 11:10 ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 ----------

Oh, when are the gagging orders running out? Aren't the first S1 owner installs today?

Re: TiVo
 

Yes feedback on real usage would be appreciated. Expect a few bugs or features yet to be activated but would be nice to get some level of feedback as a "TV experience".

Re: TiVo
 

I would hope for the new UI on a V-HD box, and the ability to stream recordings from your main TiVo to it.

That would certainly increase the utility of the TiVo for me, and add a little more justification to the price.

Re: TiVo
 

Can anyone confirm if they are still making calls? I have my £149 ready to give them, just phone me!

Re: TiVo
 

yes, the team are still calling customers.

Re: TiVo
 

That's good to hear, thanks DF. I'm starting to doubt myself when it comes to the pre-registration and whether I filled everything out correctly!

Re: TiVo
 

They didn't take my second V box back. I stopped paying for it and they said don't worry about sending it back. I guess wait long enough and it's not even valuable to them.

Boz

---------- Post added at 11:55 ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 ----------

I registered interest before xmas, and yesterday no call. In fact, no one called us, as we discovered some moronic teenagers on the way to school jacked open the junction box opposite our house and yanked the cables, so we and a few others in the street lost phone lines.

Is it worth me calling VM CS up to see if they had tried to call me?

Boz

Re: TiVo
 

You should have made them take it.. you're now responsible for disposal of it, which now cost ££.. That's why they don't want to take it.