Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

My insiders has told me:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

They can't migrate customers from V+ onto tivo until they drop the tivo fee (and install/activate existing customers for free).
As the fee is due to rise from £3 to £5 I can't see them doing it for a long while yet

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

My my they must be getting desperate to lose customers. Use the V+ far more than Tivo. :D

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

They have to pay TiVo £3 per box, so even if they hid the charge in the overall package, the package would still be £3-£5 more expensive. If they didn't charge, then they'd lose £3-£5 per box.

Virgin Media are moving towards customers spending more per month (quality over quantity), so the lower tiers may lose customers.

Would be good if XL had it included though

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

All very good DF but if they don't start adding some must have channels, streaming services and must have apps plus a few other things as well they will lose some customers from their higher tiers as we have price rises coming soon and many customers will expect something in return for paying more for their services ...

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Lol HD is quality so where is it ;)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Let's hope some good news comes our way soon then :)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Well lets hope the snail reaches the finishing line soon DF.:D

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

LOL :D

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

what you classing as must have channels Den mate and reason i kept v+ instead of getting a second tivo is the sky sports red button on v+ and still no word on when it coming to tivo

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

There was an extra fee for V+

Also Since the Launch of the TIVO, the V+ days were numberd, but I think VM will still be using V+ for many years to come!

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Whilst I do understand that they have to pay Tivo £3 per box for all Tivo customers, however for that don't Tivo then fund all the ongoing development etc.

Surely at the moment, VM must be having to pay for the software development and ongoing support charges for the software the V+HD runs on (Liberate?), so essentially today there is a cost to VM per month per box for all current V+HD customers aswell(being the total cost to VM of all the people employed or subcontract costs incurred in running the product, divided by the number of customers still using the product).

Incidentally, as more and more customers move over to Tivo, this cost per customer of the V+HD box will be getting larger and larger (due to a decreasing pool of customers to absorb the cost over).

The sooner VM can get EVERYBODY off the V+HD, the sooner they can completly eliminate this cost from the business.

Sorry - starting to ramble a bit :p: The point I was trying to make is that it isn't 'necessarily' going to cost VM £3 per person more every time they switch an existing customer into Tivo, so the bundle prices arn't forced to have to go up by this amount once V+HD gets fully retired?

Cheers
T

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Sky Atlantic
ITV 2 3 4 HD
Universal HD
History HD
ESPN America HD
Sky Sports channels HD variants
And several more

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

cant see sky letting VM have them channels mate as it being awkward on channels again but agree with all the rest of non sky channels should have them would love to be proved wrong on the sky channels though

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

They must be sure to have the red button functionality by then then as that was the initial sweetner with the free multiroom when people signed up for Tivo.
They let you move the V+ to another room for free so you could continue to use the red button/reminders etc as they had so much flak that Tivo did not have that functionality.

It's the only thing that has stopped me from changing my VIP50 V+ to a Tivo but it sounds like my best option is to let it die of natural causes. :D

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Considering TiVo should have BBC Red Button extremely soon (expected by end of this quarter), I don't think that will be an issue

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

any word on sky sports red button Ben

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Nothing confirmed, although in the Sky F1 announcement it was said that:

So as I'd expect that to include TiVo (as would be stupid not to do so), I'm sure the rest is also being worked on

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

With the fee going up to £5 the migration for quite a few would have to have been forced rather than voluntary.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

If you are on M+ or L then you paid £5 for V+HD anyway. I'm guessing once reminders and red button are on TiVo, then possibly the V-HD will get the TiVo treatment? :)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

So reminders are definitely coming then DF.:)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Oooh, sneaky.. saw what you did there :D

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

The master has taught me well my lord.:D

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Sorry Ben but how long have we been hearing this.

I will favor my V+ over my Tivo for 3 reasons
1) No BBC Red button.
2) No reminders.
3) It costs ( under normal circumstances ) less.
Tivo extras TO ME are next to pointless. Emperors new clothes comes to mind.:shocked:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

They are the clothes that I wear ( but need to be careful when I go out ):erm:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Me I dress in rags ! no one would want to see me starkers :dozey:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

To be fair, Virgin have said it will be by the end of this quarter for Red Button. All other dates have been "coming soon"

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I hope you correct. Me having been with Cable from the day in came into my road, I will believe it when I see it. Wish I could find the letter saying I had free internet for life - not kidding - OK it was dial up !! :erm:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

They will soon add BBC Red Button on TIVO, not sure when though

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

By the end of this quarter Alan.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I find it hard to understand why anyone would not use the Tivo whishlist feature.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Now confirmed as on their way ;)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Agree with some of the other posters, wouldn't be happy to trade my HD box for a TIVO. As mentioned too many things still missing and many reported glitches.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I was sceptical at first but now i have had TiVo for a month it works very well.

All i am waitng for is Sky Sports Red Button and Reminders both are on their way.:)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Glad you enjoy it mate, but am sceptical to Virgin's on it's way promises. Hope i'm wrong but things like the 80 HD channels quote kinda leave you doubting them.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Trust Henke to bring some gloom to proceedings.;)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

thats all im waiting for then will probably change v+ to another tivo

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Yep i kept my V+ for multiroom so still have Sky Sports Red Buttton on that,but am really waiting for it to be on TiVo on my main set.:)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I'm open to incentives, the bigger the better ;)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Hi Den :D Nah Virgin done really well of l8 just don't fancy TIVO at all. Am in a fantastic mood as you may suspect as a rather angry tax dodging football club are in the grubber :D

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I didn't think you could still get a V+ box anyway? I've got a V HD in my bedroom and don't really want a TiVo up there but wouldn't mind a V+.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

You don't want a V+ in your bedroom-I've never slept so badly. As sales ploys go, giving us multi room for free, putting a bundle of noise in your bedroom and waiting for the inevitable upgrade to the whisper quiet Tivo is up there with the very best!

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

The next thing to be targeted will be the Samsung SD standard boxes and old legacy ones with a non record version of the TiVo software! Finally when all of this is completed a migration from mpeg2 to mpeg4 with lovely extra record space available on my TiVo:)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Red button is my last little gripe about the Tivo.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

We're still handing out silver samsungs, if they make the XL tv TiVo fee free then it's an easy way to start the mass swap out

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

That's a very good point actually, totally forgot about the noise. The little V HD is silent.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

This thread surprises me a little to think that VM will no longer offer a PVR that doesn't have a monthly fee with it. I know that people on packages lower than XL tv pay £5 a month for V+ but obviously this encourages people to take out XL tv to avoid the £5 fee. I would imagine there would be little cost difference between say L tv + £5 fee and XL tv with no fee if you have a bundle.

It is a bold move from VM to think that they can increase the charges for the tv packages, increase the TiVo fee and remove the V+ all at the same time as this will ultimately mean an increase in charges for a lots of existing customers (triggering the release clause) and higher costs for potential new customers.

It will be interesting to see the 1st quarter results for 2012 to see if this strategy works as I can only see this backfiring on them and not only losing customers but not attracting new ones due to the higher charges and current lack of top quality content.

I personally think the TiVo box is great and am currently willing to pay the £3 fee. However, unless they have something big up their sleeves (which potentially they do according to other threads) I don't really believe it's a service worth £3 a month (let alone £5) as whilst there are some useful features on it (wishlists) they really haven't delivered on it's potential and the biggest draw for most has got to be the additional storage compared to the V+.

Compared to Sky, they offer the Sky+ HD box as standard with no monthly fee, a HDD similar to the 500GB TiVo and the option to add HD if you wish. This is a clever strategy as you already have a PVR capable of doing everything, the customer just needs to decide how many services they want to take.

I'm not sure whether they can but obviously VM could use a bit of this clever strategy and offer a fee free TiVo box which only has basic PVR features but the option to upgrade to the monthly fee version to add the extra stuff such as wishlists, apps, etc.

I've been with VM for over 5 years and am extremely interested in where they are going at present as they seem to be focused on delivering super fast broadband (so they can advertise as the UK's fastest) at the expense of their tv side as TiVo has great potential providing they deliver key content and super apps but it's been a little stale since launch.

The big test I see on the horizon which has already been mentioned on here is BT Infinity, especially when Sky get access to it as the content of Sky tv accompanied by fibre broadband could (dependant on price) encourage many people to switch to what would be a superior product unless VM deliver something to encourage people to stay.

Interesting times ahead and come on VM, deliver on TiVo's potential!!!

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Ok its my age - Had V+ upstairs ( before the Tivo got to much to bear) and had no problems with noise.:)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I have to agree i took TiVo for the living room and had the Samsung V+ put into the bedroom no problems with noise whatsoever.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Never ever used it - horses for courses. But I have no use for it what so ever.

I must say if I had NEVER had a V+ then yes its a great box, but its still lacking somethings & for ME has pointless features, that apply`s to most things these days. Have Air con/fog lights in my car never used them.That`s just the way it is.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Aaah a technology refusenik ;)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Use your fog lights!!. They are as much, about making sure you are visible to others as improving what you can see.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

So you are the person that blinds me !! . To be honest never had to drive in fog hence never use them. & Air con costs to much to make it worth while.

refusnik - my eye ! I use the new fangle flushing toilet nearly every day !!!!:p:
No it more a case that I do not watch something because its "stars" someone.

Different story with my Kindle (that is something I would never give up with out a fight )- have large collection of story's on DVD`s & that I sort by author. :)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Clarification: Use your fog lights!!.... but only if its foggy!!!:)

All: sorry for OT. That's it now.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I never thought of that;)

---------- Post added at 14:48 ---------- Previous post was at 14:44 ----------

Just a thought if my box breaks down, for the foreseeable future I would get a second hand one? - always was a chance of that I know. Any idea how many are out there ?
Can not see them being scraped as they are collected etc.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Plenty in stock, don't worry.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

They get refurbished and given to other customers as the box is always Virgin Media property so the is no need to issue new ones.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I think I drink too much coffee, doesn't take much to wake me up, which then requires more coffee :-(

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

So with the Tivo can HD content be transfered to a Pc ?

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

No

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Pardon my ignorance but isn't V+ silent in stand by (my experience at least as I had no noise when in stand by)?

So for someone that has Tivo this is a non issue as recording can be done overnight via Tivo that has 3 tuners?

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

The V+HD spins the hard drive every hour in standby for 2 minutes at about 17 minutes past the hour.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I can't get over how XL customers get a free pvr now they are expected to pay £5. It seems virgin do t care about encouraging folk to go XL

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

To be honest, the way things are in the world, it's probably a better idea to make all the TV packages attractive - which is why TV Choice recently changed to 'you get what you've got'

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Although Virgin have been pretty blatant about their desire to get as many people on the higher packages as possible. They've stopped short of saying "we'd rather have one on xl than two on m+" but they've come pretty close.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

That's exactly what they want (IMO). They want customers paying for more, rather than chasing M+ customers who aren't as profitable. Makes sense really I guess. :)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I have V+ at £5 pm. Problem is I'm also on the M TV service so have to move to M+ @ £6.50 pm then Tivo at whatever a month. No thanks

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I bet they value you as a customer :erm:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Never seen the sky sports red button work on my V+?

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

It's available on V+

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

i rang earlier to price getting another 2 boxes added and the lady said if i wanted i could have v+? tbh i keep my v+ in my bedroom and tivo in sittin room and never watch it. i prefer v+ or even the basic stb in my kitchen or sons room for the interactive stuff such as bbc news etc.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

V+ stops officially getting sold from next week for Customer Services, although for the most part it's not been in most offers available for months now

The end of March date is for Sales only as far as I'm aware and then only as last resort to close the sale

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

IMO they should be getting rid of the vhd and keeping the v+

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

The Cisco VHD box is the best STB I have ever had, no problems in two years, it has proved much more reliable than any of the other STB I have used.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

It cant record or do delay tv, the Samsung v+ is the bestbox I've ever installed

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Have had more problems with my Tivo than I ever had, or for that matter still have with my V+ ( SA). Don`t thinks its the hardware as such. Its the software that gives the problems.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

This can be done with US Tivo STB's!

---------- Post added at 09:40 ---------- Previous post was at 09:34 ----------

I feel that the Tivo is a good (if rather flawed) STB, now can it have BBC and Sky Sports Red Button!

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Am I correct in thinking that if anything were to go wrong with my V+ box after this period, I would be forced onto Tivo at extra cost? If this is the case, I would sooner cancel my TV service with VM.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Well as for flawed well Alan its the best STB on the market and if you read some of the other threads you will find that the above named apps are coming soon.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

No you would not be correct. Faulty V+HD boxes will be replaced with V+HD boxes

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

After then end of March? Or is Media Boy just talking rubbish again?

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

Media Boy talking rubbish no l don't think so as he is regarded on this forum as a legend for bringing us up to date information as soon as he gets it from his sources and thus should be praised wholly for that.:)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

I will second that .


:clap::clap::clap:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

information or rumour ;)

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

With out going back. Is there confusion between replacing & supplying new customers:dunce:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

The latest updated information from his sources.

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

The only reference was to the SALE of the V+HD. Nothing was said about fault replacements so I don't know where that assumption has come from

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

good grief am I right then:rolleyes:

Re: Virgin to stop giving out V+ HD Boxes.
 

? Media Boy never said anything about fault swaps, so there was nothing for him to be wrong about. If you didn't think that faults swaps were affected then you would be correct