TiVo Watching catchup tv is virtually impossible here - are we the only ones ?

clumsymum · 09-06-2013, 14:01

We don't use catchup TV or on demand services very often here, We're pretty good at recording what we want, but on the occasions that we do I find it utterly frustrating - which is one reason we don't rely on it I suppose.

Last week I wanted to see the Queen's coronation service which had been shown on BBC1 during the morning, a 2 hour programme.

So went to catch-up on tuesday evening, struggled to find it (but that is a separate issue), eventually found it thru iPlayer, clicked to play it and ......... black screen with circular thing ....... for aaaaaaages ......

After about 10 mins we canceled, and tried again to restart it. Got an "On-demand not currently available" type error.

Rebooted tivo (time to open a new wine box and pour a couple of glasses, and take dogs out while this went on).

Then we tried again. This time it took about 3 mins to actually start the programme. and dropped out after about 3 mins ! We managed to watch the first 3 to 5 minutes of the programme 4 ruddy times, and I was about to give up when it seemed to settle down and - Eureka - we were watching it. We got thru to 49 mins when .... it dropped out again.... At this point I got pee'd off and went to bed.

Tried again on Wednesday evening, it took 3 attempts to load the programme from iPlayer and successfully fast-forward to the point we had reached before. Then we did manage to see the whole thing.

This is fairly typical of my experience of using catch-up services on our Tivo, and husband and I are seriously thinking of reducing our costs and going over to freeview with our own recording device, as we just don't feel we are getting our money's worth out of what VM are offering.

Before we give up for good, I'd like to establish: -
Is this fairly standard for all Tivo users?
Or
Do we have a problem with our Tivo?
Or
Is there a problem with network capacity in our locality?

Anyone?

johnasimmons · 09-06-2013, 14:40

Hi, this is not standard for TiVo - I have never had this problem (except for once last year when there was work on the box connected to the block of flats where I live) and I have had a TiVo box for over 2 years. In my opinion it sounds like a problem with your TiVo box or network capacity so It might be worth giving VM a call for them to run some online tests and arrange a tech if required. Hope this helps

clumsymum · 10-06-2013, 08:24

Thanks John, I might just do that when I have an hour to spare to give them a ring.

Sirius · 10-06-2013, 13:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnasimmons

Hi, this is not standard for TiVo - I have never had this problem (except for once last year when there was work on the box connected to the block of flats where I live) and I have had a TiVo box for over 2 years. In my opinion it sounds like a problem with your TiVo box or network capacity so It might be worth giving VM a call for them to run some online tests and arrange a tech if required. Hope this helps

I agree it could well be a network issue. I use catch up a lot and in my area it does work vary well.

banjo · 10-06-2013, 16:21

I use my PS3 for catchup

clumsymum · 11-06-2013, 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by banjo

I use my PS3 for catchup

Well bully for you !!

We don't have a PS3, don't want one either - just another thing to argue over with teenage son who is screen obsessed as it is.

johnasimmons · 11-06-2013, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by banjo

I use my PS3 for catchup

never really understood the point of the quoted post... the question was about watching Catch Up On Demand or a network issue

banjo · 11-06-2013, 18:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by clumsymum

Well bully for you !!

We don't have a PS3, don't want one either - just another thing to argue over with teenage son who is screen obsessed as it is.

well that is a nice attitude , I was offering help I had no knowledge of your "screen obsessed son" it's not bully for me !!!

clumsymum · 11-06-2013, 20:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by banjo

well that is a nice attitude , I was offering help I had no knowledge of your "screen obsessed son" it's not bully for me !!!

Sorry to offend mate, it wasn't my intention.
But your post wasn't really helpful - it may come as a surprise to you, but not every house has a PS3
And in any case, as we're paying VM for this device which should offer the catch-up facility, I'd be pretty aggrieved to buy something else to do the job.

Of course, we COULD use our PC's to catch-up most things (what with iPlayer, ITVplayer & the like), but I wanted to find out why I can't sit on my sofa & watch on my TV, as I expected to.

Qtx · 12-06-2013, 20:44

If you have picture breakup on normal channels then a fault on your line would be a possible suspect but from what you have said, its more likely congestion on the part of the network (simplified) the tivo uses, which is slightly different to what the broadband uses.

In either case you need to contact virgin for them to fix it.

Mick Fisher · 13-06-2013, 15:59

On demand, for the most part, never worked for me when I had VM. It was usually unpopulated and when it wasn't there were problems connecting, drop outs halfway through eps, FF not working etc, etc.

I gave up in the end and switched to sky. I find it to be ultra reliable and nowadays the on demand and catchup is second to none providing you have a decent BB.

johnasimmons · 13-06-2013, 16:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

On demand, for the most part, never worked for me when I had VM. It was usually unpopulated and when it wasn't there were problems connecting, drop outs halfway through eps, FF not working etc, etc.

I gave up in the end and switched to sky. I find it to be ultra reliable and nowadays the on demand and catchup is second to none providing you have a decent BB.

I have never had a problem with On Demand, with V, V+ and TiVo boxes. Your post is more like a advert for Sky and not really the information the OP was after...

Qtx · 13-06-2013, 16:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnasimmons

I have never had a problem with On Demand, with V, V+ and TiVo boxes. Your post is more like a advert for Sky and not really the information the OP was after...

His post shared his experience of also having problems with On Demand while with Virgin and showed that he had no problems when switching to Sky. Relevant info and if the OP was thinking of leaving VM, a thumbs up for an alternative provider based on experience can be useful.

I also had the same problems when I was with Virgin but have never had those issues with Sky. Sky is a lot more reliable for On demand viewing it seems.

MovedGoalPosts · 13-06-2013, 16:49

I don't use the on demand type services very much as the TiVo tends to grab most stuff anyway. However I have found BBC iPlayer on the TiVo to be rather unpredictable especially mid evening and suffering a lot of the buffered issues both on SD and HD transmissions. Didn't seem to affect other on demand services. My other TiVo and V+ services seemed OK so I suspect it's a problem with the BBC iplayer streaming capacity.

I'm in a different area to the OP and it's a while since I used it so I can't say we have the same issue.

Qtx · 13-06-2013, 17:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob

However I have found BBC iPlayer on the TiVo to be rather unpredictable especially mid evening and suffering a lot of the buffered issues both on SD and HD transmissions. Didn't seem to affect other on demand services.

Virgin have had more than their fair share of iPlayer and 4OD problems this year. They do deal with these streaming services separately which can explain why only one doesn't work well. Not sure if its a dedicated peering point that gets hot of if there is a VM hosted CDN for iPlayer.

The real problem is how long it takes VM to resolve these issues.