Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfect Choice
I actually think the Tivo price is a good deal, Sky charge £200 for their 1TB DVR and you have to pay for any repairs. Much prefer the VM approach with its lifetime warranty in effect included.
This is latest technology and with new features(1TB, Internet based apps, intuitive UI), you are not forced to buy it and quite happily access XL TV and catch-up, etc using existing V+/VHD boxes if you want.
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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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfect Choice
That £3 extra per month by the way covers specific extra charges to Tivo (or that is what I’ve read on here) so is a justified add-on and I expect will cover extra features like the Internet/application based services for example. If you don’t want to pay it then just stay with an existing DVR box an you can happily watch XL TV without the extra fee.
As regards the £149 plus £40 install fee, well VM are not a charity and they have costs to recover as well, the Tivo box will clearly have a cost and also they will have to account for a percentage failure rate to cover the “free” repair service (nothing is free really, it is just where you decide to account for them).
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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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfect Choice
VM could have easily said Tivo costs nothing but the costs do not disappear and would have to result in a general wholesale increase in prices across all TV services say or VM lose profits and eventually go bust!
I’m sure subscribers would be complaining about new services they are not using if new costs were added to general rates, so quite right that Tivo users pay for their new services and the infrastructure (the box + support) required, especially in these early stages.
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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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfect Choice
The price will come down eventually, but if you find the launch price too high in current circumstances, then just keep your current box and keep watching XL TV or even less (L/M) where you still have access to a smaller set of HD channels at least without having to pay £10 a month more.
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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 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Masque
Doubtful as even now we have 10 year old boxes on the system so the will always be a lower tier of television service.
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<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>