[heeleybobs]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Actually Virgin Media is the service provider and Virgin Media:TiVo is the product i.e. it's a specific version of TiVo for Virgin Media.

Therefore any advertising by TiVo Inc. in the US is irrelvent as that is a different product

I would expect that if a product is advertised to be on a particular service provider then it would be the same wherever you are in the world. Take for example the Apple iPhone, Just because it's on a UK network they haven't disabled the Facetime feature, or iMessage, or Personal Hotspot (oh wait, some providers have decided to charge you extra for the convenience of using the data package you already pay for in a way that is potentially more useful).

I can't believe how many people jumped to the defence of Virgin and try to justify locking out features of what is a first class product. One TiVo feature that is missing that cannot be helped is the option to remove commercials from recordings, as advertisement investors would lose faith in the marketing power of TV advertising, thats fair enough, but to stop features such as TiVo Desktop Plus and Smartphone control over LAN is just ridiculous and customers such as myself want access to these features.

It has not been announced anywhere that this new service will cost any extra and personally I don't think it will. So, at this time, your second point is incorrect.

I wasn't saying that these so called extras will be individual subscription services, but it does give scope for the provider to up the charge of the service in general and say something along the lines of you are getting extra services and subscription increases aid future developments in the technology, which I originally referred to as marketing fluff. To a certain extent, this is true, but to just turn on features that already exist is not furthering development. Sky recently used the Anytime Plus service as an additional groundbreaking technology in a price increase justification letter when in fact they just released a box update that powered up the RJ45 ethernet socket that was already installed in the hardware, and routed it to a server that distributes content to which they have already aired.

I'm pretty damned sure that the equipment installed at VM that gives me my now 30mb connection is in no way exactly the same equipment that would have given ex-NTL users in this area their +/-1mb service however many years ago. If it is and VM have indeed never bought any new equipment, why are they so much in debt if they've spent nothing?

They spent a fortune on buying little companies that owned and maintained the regional networks to offer a national service under one name. And don't be fooled into thinking that this wasn't a clever business move as the infrastructure is very valuable in regards to its future potential and the decision to market the network to businesses was a very sweet profit making move as the service that can be offered on the existing technology is second to none. However, don't also be fooled into thinking that the black hole in the finances was caused by replacing technology because it wasn't. Anyone who had a webstar modem back from the 1Mbps days will know that the service was capable of 20Mbps upon introduction and was only restricted because there was no competitive demand for anything more. It's only in recent years that the Superhub was introduced but Virgin pay very little for the consumer units manufactured by Netgear, Cisco and Samsung.

No, but you are talking complete BS.

If you are happy with receiving a minimal service for a premium price, then good luck to you. Please do try and not offend people for having an opinion as my opinion is that the consumer shouldn't have to put up with marketing BS, and whether you like it or not, I am not on my own.

I do like how you used the quote option but didn't fully quote me...

Please cite a source for this statement of fact.

I didn't see them ripping up my street and lay new cabling so this would suggest that they are using the same network infrastructure. So in response to your request, my source for fact is the lack of footpaths dug up when speeds increase. Please read my comment carefully, fibre optic cables are capable, and always have been, of carrying an immense amount of data. If you think that the Cable TV service was provided by a 1Mbps downstream then let me assure you that the first generation Pace cable boxes in the UK reported downlink speeds of 10Mbps in the engineers hidden installation menu and this speed was limited only by the parts used in the STB.

Actually, no. I'd rather they got the basics right first before adding bells and whistles; not to mention stuff useful only to a small number of its overall userbase. The bit in bold is subjective opinion only.

I agree with your comment about getting basics right before adding extra enhancements which you refer to as "bells and whistles", but this is proven technology that started in the USA as far back as 2005. And before all the defensive people start throwing toys out of the pram again such as from my last post, yes I do know that the current features were not available back then and have developed over time. But my point is that if it's good enough to release to the masses in one country, it's good enough for all. And yes, I accept that what you highlighted in bold is subjective opinion, I'll give you that.


I'll put a question out there to you all, which would you honestly prefer to have, the current Virgin Media TiVo service, or the Service currently offered in the USA?

---------- Post added at 01:23 ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 ----------

Originally Posted by Stuart

Another way to look at it is why hasn't anyone taken action? Virgin have repeatedly published how much they've invested in the network (in the form of accounts) and it's a criminal offence (fraud, I think) to deliberately mislead your investors in that way.

It wouldn't be a fraudulent use of the term "invested in the network" if the investment was put into maintenance of the network to merely increase uptime. You do make a good point here but be aware of what can be implied by what is very vague terminology in regards to the word investment.

---------- Post added at 01:50 ---------- Previous post was at 01:23 ----------

Originally Posted by Stuart

Where do Virgin advertise that they offer the advanced Tivo facilities such as TivoToGo? Personally, I wish they would, but they are only advertising that they offer the tivo service. They do not advertise that they offer the same optional extras offered by Tivo.

I don't usually answer a question with a question, but who made the decision that TiVoToGo was an "advanced facility". As far as I'm concerned, the whole TiVo service is an advanced STB and offers the ability. I don't have a Sky+ box and call the recording option an advanced ability, so TiVo technology shouldn't be treated like this either. I think that the TiVoToGo option is deactivated due to distribution rights that have not been agreed yet to be honest, so some features I can understand being deactivated, but not in relation to TiVo's own technology such as music and photo sharing over LAN connection for instance. and who has said that the features I have mentioned are Optional Extras?


[QUOTE]Tivo advertise those services, but they don't advertise in the UK and as a user, your contract is not with Tivo.{/QUOTE]

I agree, I have a service contract with Virgin Media to be served content, but not hardware features that are associated with the TiVo brand in hardware, just turn them on.

The cables themselves may not have changed, but the hardware using those cables has been extensively upgraded. In any large scale fibre network, the limitations on bandwidth are actually imposed by the hardware running the service.

Maybe you are aware of some technological developments that I'm not aware of, so maybe you could be specific and educate me to what this secret technology is because it sure hasn't made it's way to fee paying customers. Correct, hardware such as node termination devices and servers can limit the capabilities of a cable infrastructure, but I can't accept the term "extensively upgraded' as that sure hasn't been made public knowledge. Even software enhancements can do the same by running more efficiently, but the fact is that the network is capable of more than it's being used for even now. but back to my original point, the technology in TiVo exists in it's current form so turn it on and let us use it if we want.