Will Virgin ever fix the numerous Liberate bugs?

[jamiec21]

In no particular order.

Sluggish operation after midnight
Bugs with padding in certain cases
Capacity indicator unable to cope well with HD
Chase TV doesn't work well on HD channels
Lack of a dynamic EPG


So, are we all stuck with these forever, or is it a case of having to upgrade to Tivo? I can't remember the last software upgrade, it must be over a year ago now. These bugs are starting to really affect performance - even since the HD portfolio was substantially increased, the hardware has been found it hard to cope with everyday events. The padding is also very annoying, for example Top Gear yesterday on BBC HD missed off the last two minutes, even though I have my padding set for 10 minutes.

The fixing of these bugs shouldn't be a selling point for upgrading to Tivo.

I think you have answered your own question, Virgin see TiVo as the software solution going forward, so the answer is NO!

[BenMcr]

Considering there strong rumours that the entire customer base will be move over to some form of TiVo box in the future I think the answer is a No

[Horizon]

As I see it, the real merger of telewest and ntl will happen when everyone is on tivo and as far as broadband goes, on docsis3.

Up until now, vm have been using stop gap measures from legacy cablecos to keep things going, ie using epg software that is more than ten years old and designed to do a lot less than it does now.

So in answer to the OP's question, apart from dealing with faults, I don't see vm spending time and money updating the liberate software.

Sky will also have to make a decision soon about what to do with their tv platform. Their epg software is at the limits it can cope, so sky need to take a decision about whether they should do what vm is going to do and start from scratch or muddle on.

[jamiec21]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Considering there strong rumours that the entire customer base will be move over to some form of TiVo box in the future I think the answer is a No

I shudder to think at the costs of that. As we speak, the Tivo isn't that much ahead of what we already have. What are the major selling points of Virgin TV - HD, PVR functionality and On Demand content. We already have that. What extras are we getting with Tivo - extra PVR space, and some supplemental features (recommendation stuff, and some IPTV features). I'm sorry, I don't think that'd enough of to get the masses moving, unlike Sky with the HD box. No HD box, no HD. If Virgin can't make their subscriber base pay for a new box, and the majority of V+ boxes out there can't be upgraded or aren't powerful enough to run the Tivo software, that's going to cost them a hell of a lot of money, even spread over 5 years. It's just a shame the majority of the customer base look like they're going to be using abandonware, and in effect have been since the last software update.

[BenMcr]

It's not just the front end that Virgin are considering though, it's the entire platform

Liberate is fine to run linear channels and some VoD stuff, however long term it's not powerful enough to compete with what the other platforms may do in the future.

So it's either change now when you have a product such as TiVo to drive it, or change later when your competitors may have something that will stop people switching

Even Sky have basically done something similar - they only supply Sky+HD boxes now and Anytime+ is limited to those boxes. They just have less backend platform to worry about so have been able to do it quicker

Originally Posted by BenMcr

It's not just the front end that Virgin are considering though, it's the entire platform

Liberate is fine to run linear channels and some VoD stuff, however long term it's not powerful enough to compete with what the other platforms may do in the future.

So it's either change now when you have a product such as TiVo to drive it, or change later when your competitors may have something that will stop people switching

Even Sky have basically done something similar - they only supply Sky+HD boxes now and Anytime+ is limited to those boxes. They just have less backend platform to worry about so have been able to do it quicker

Interesting insight Ben, I suppose in the near future new V+ customers will only be able to get the new TiVo enabled boxes?

[Andrewcrawford23]

Originally Posted by mlayzell

Interesting insight Ben, I suppose in the near future new V+ customers will only be able to get the new TiVo enabled boxes?

yip and if cindy rose is interview is right all v+ will be migrated ot new tivo box wihtin a few years and the old v box migrates probally to v hd box

Originally Posted by Andrewcrawford23

yip and if cindy rose is interview is right all v+ will be migrated ot new tivo box wihtin a few years and the old v box migrates probally to v hd box

I love Cindy Rose, ever since she has come on board the TV part of the business seems to go from strength to strength!

Well done Cindy

[pauldavies83]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

It's not just the front end that Virgin are considering though, it's the entire platform

Liberate is fine to run linear channels and some VoD stuff, however long term it's not powerful enough to compete with what the other platforms may do in the future.

So it's either change now when you have a product such as TiVo to drive it, or change later when your competitors may have something that will stop people switching

Its not an excuse to leave the old platform hung out to dry though.

The items listed in the OP have been issues for years (bar the dynamic EPG - that was never an advertised feature and just an annoyance) - if the Liberate platform wasn't powerful enough to make them work properly for all customers in all circumstances, then they shouldn't be advertised as features or they should make a decent effort to fix them on the current platform.

If TiVo was free or a nominal cost for existing customers, then it would be more acceptable. To ask customers to pay close to £200 to have fixed these issues they have put up with for years isn't really on.

It is not just redundant software, it is hardware as well all new or replacement boxes should be HD capable and not to mention being able to run latest software solutions!

Originally Posted by pauldavies83

Its not an excuse to leave the old platform hung out to dry though.

The items listed in the OP have been issues for years (bar the dynamic EPG - that was never an advertised feature and just an annoyance) - if the Liberate platform wasn't powerful enough to make them work properly for all customers in all circumstances, then they shouldn't be advertised as features or they should make a decent effort to fix them on the current platform.

If TiVo was free or a nominal cost for existing customers, then it would be more acceptable. To ask customers to pay close to £200 to have fixed these issues they have put up with for years isn't really on.

Cable tv hasn't been compulsory for the last few years. If it hasn't been value for money then people have been free to move. Nor will it be compulsory to pay £189 for the tivo box. Nice as it would be for them to just hand us these 1Gb tivo boxes for nothing it is totally unrealistic to expect them to.

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by mlayzell

I love Cindy Rose, ever since she has come on board the TV part of the business seems to go from strength to strength!

Well done Cindy

We like Cindy too

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

We like Cindy too

I think DF we will have to start a fan support club for our Cindy and her corporate photo does not look to bad either

Go Cindy keep the good work up in 2011

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by mlayzell

I think DF we will have to start a fan support club for our Cindy and her corporate photo does not look to bad either

Go Cindy keep the good work up in 2011

ha ha, yeah