TIVO-Do you think it will win over Sky subscribers? - Page 3

Rattus · 23-02-2011, 12:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

people said that about HD

Not me.. I wanted HD the day it was released. I've not watched DVD in 2 years, refuse to watch them not. Only watch Blu-ray or my old trusty HD-DVDs.

If anyone said HD wasn't that important it was VM with its sluggish implementation of it. There were tonnes of people who wanted more HD.

Now if you had said "people say that about 3D" then i'd agree with you.

Having said that i think the way HD is being implemented is a total con. There is no need for HD channels, just upgrade all channels to HD. If people have SD sets the box just downsamples to output SD resolutions..

Why don't they do that?

Because they want to have "NEW" channels to make it look they are giving us something. Oh and want to be able to charge extra for it.

*Not specifically directed at VM as sky is most guilty.

Digital Fanatic · 23-02-2011, 12:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by alwaysabear

When it is released to the public in April we will possibly get an unbiased review. It would be nice if it were done by Cnet, Trusted reviews or the like.

indeed. for the ones who aren't sure, they are best waiting for reviews, although a few have been done already by the media.

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/tv-recorde...view-50001852/

http://boomnews.info/in-depth-hands-...y-tivo-review/

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/3706...o-box-unveiled

---------- Post added at 12:24 ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rattus

Not me.. I wanted HD the day it was released. I've not watched DVD in 2 years, refuse to watch them not. Only watch Blu-ray or my old trusty HD-DVDs.

If anyone said HD wasn't that important it was VM with its sluggish implementation of it. There were tonnes of people who wanted more HD.

Now if you had said "people say that about 3D" then i'd agree with you.

Having said that i think the way HD is being implemented is a total con. There is no need for HD channels, just upgrade all channels to HD. If people have SD sets the box just downsamples to output SD resolutions..

Why don't they do that?Because they want to have "NEW" channels to make it look they are giving us something. Oh and want to be able to charge extra for it.

*Not specifically directed at VM as sky is most guilty.

The STB still needs to be HD though.

---------- Post added at 12:25 ---------- Previous post was at 12:24 ----------

there is a customer review on DS

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s....php?t=1440254

Rattus · 23-02-2011, 12:28

Actually i've just had a thought of something that TIVO could do that would impress me (but i doesn't AFAIK)..

If it modified the EPG to get rid of all SD channels that have HD versions and just swapped the HD version in it's spot.

Digital Fanatic · 23-02-2011, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rattus

Actually i've just had a thought of something that TIVO could do that would impress me (but i doesn't AFAIK)..

If it modified the EPG to get rid of all SD channels that have HD versions and just swapped the HD version in it's spot.

You can do that with "Favourites" on TIVo as it has it's own EPG and Mini Guide

Bypasses all the SD channels if you want it to.

mersey70 · 23-02-2011, 12:34

There may well be quite a decent number (let's say several 1000's) of Sky customer's who may well defect just for Tivo but they will be almost certainly be very tech savvy types, I doubt they would be average customers.

Let's call a spade a spade, the brand of Tivo probably means little or nothing to most people right now but if it ever does that might be the time a sizeable amount of Sky customers defect.

I don't know about other's but I had never heard of Tivo before VM announced it myself.

Rattus · 23-02-2011, 12:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

You can do that with "Favourites" on TIVo as it has it's own EPG and Mini Guide

Bypasses all the SD channels if you want it to.

I knew you were going to say favourites.. perhaps they are better than previous incarnations but i've never liked using favourites.

---------- Post added at 12:37 ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

I don't know about other's but I had never heard of Tivo before VM announced it myself.

I knew TIVO were popular in the US, but actually didn't realise you could ever get one here..

Lew · 23-02-2011, 12:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDon

To the extent that you can even watch those shows from anywhere with the mobile, ipad and pc apps available for the platform

You can't watch programmes on the iPad app. It's just for controlling your TiVo.

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/product-f...pad/index.html

Digital Fanatic · 23-02-2011, 12:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

There may well be quite a decent number (let's say several 1000's) of Sky customer's who may well defect just for Tivo but they will be almost certainly be very tech savvy types, I doubt they would be average customers.
Let's call a spade a spade, the brand of Tivo probably means little or nothing to most people right now but if it ever does that might be the time a sizeable amount of Sky customers defect.

I don't know about other's but I had never heard of Tivo before VM announced it myself.

I agree with that. Certainly at first. VM will be aggressively marketing TiVo once all our customers have had a chance to get it.

VM will be "educating" the non tech savvy soon

mersey70 · 23-02-2011, 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rattus

I knew you were going to say favourites.. perhaps they are better than previous incarnations but i've never liked using favourites.

---------- Post added at 12:37 ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 ----------

I knew TIVO were popular in the US, but actually didn't realise you could ever get one here..

From my reading Tivo isn't even a widespread brand there, they have well less than 3m customers but I would assume it's much better known than here.

I think they only shifted around 35,000 units here (Sky didn't help much though) but VM's will (in my opinion) be hugely more popular than that.

Digital Fanatic · 23-02-2011, 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rattus

I knew you were going to say favourites.. perhaps they are better than previous incarnations but i've never liked using favourites.

---------- Post added at 12:37 ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 ----------

I knew TIVO were popular in the US, but actually didn't realise you could ever get one here..

Re: favourites... It's at the top of the list and works well. Once you have it selected in the Mini Guide it stays selected until you choose to change it.

You can even set it to just HD if that's all you want, not even using "favourites"

TheDon · 23-02-2011, 12:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lew

You can't watch programmes on the iPad app. It's just for controlling your TiVo.

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/product-f...pad/index.html

You can't stream directly from it to the app no, you can however automatically sync shows to it the same as you can any mobile device with the tivo desktop software.

alwaysabear · 23-02-2011, 12:51

Thanks for the info DF I shall sit tight at the moment, still some things I want to know a bit more about.

Digital Fanatic · 23-02-2011, 13:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by pauldavies83

100% spot on. TiVo's big unique features in software (wishlists, season pass, suggestions) have not changed in 10 years - only the hardware has.

Ordering pizza's and the like via the TV has been done and died (on cable and Sky) - very few use this kind of thing. Why? It's easier to pick up the phone or the internet connected computer.

Bigger hard drive could easily go into refurbished V+ boxes, but Virgin have decided against this for years. Why is anyone's guess.

So my 2 cents is, no, TiVo alone will not entice subscribers from Sky.

Broadband speeds, pricing and on-demand might. But that was also the case before TiVo appeared.

A sweeping generalisation I know, but your average man in the street wants to turn their TV on and watch it - not play about with fancy menus and apps.

---------- Post added at 12:21 ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 ----------

According to this, people still are saying that about HD...
http://www.itproportal.com/2010/12/0...tv-says-ofcom/

59% of households have a HD-ready set, but only 13% actually have access to a HD source.

HD is a huge growth area for VM & Sky... customers want it and ask for it more and more.

---------- Post added at 13:01 ---------- Previous post was at 13:00 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by alwaysabear

Thanks for the info DF I shall sit tight at the moment, still some things I want to know a bit more about.

no worries mate. i'm sure we'll get more reviews from customers soon.

---------- Post added at 13:03 ---------- Previous post was at 13:01 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersey70

From my reading Tivo isn't even a widespread brand there, they have well less than 3m customers but I would assume it's much better known than here.

I think they only shifted around 35,000 units here (Sky didn't help much though) but VM's will (in my opinion) be hugely more popular than that.

I think the integrated stb is the way forward... VM see it as a gateway to a connected home.... bringing their fibre optic broadband in to play here.

pauldavies83 · 23-02-2011, 13:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

HD is a huge growth area for VM & Sky... customers want it and ask for it more and more.

May well be, but on those numbers I found its still not mainstream after nearly 5 years of availability (IIRC first availability was the 2006 World Cup).

That could be down to people not understanding the technology - I'd guess a lot of people buy a HD-ready TV and think they are automatically watching in HD.

So I wouldn't use HD take up as any sort of indicator that your average punter would be interested in paying a premium for TiVo. At least not in the short term.

LexDiamond · 23-02-2011, 13:10

I don't see why VM's only consideration with the Tivo would be poaching customers. That would be important but Tivo does also strengthen VMtv among its current customer base and also has the potential to increase revenues from its current customer base.

VM said there would be different versions of Tivo at different price points so it could be very good for its current customers, particularly those not on XL who have no equivalent alternative on Sky.