Sky Atlantic on Virgin Media

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by ahardie

Not everyone wants to connect there computer to there tv. I haven't bothered trying that for years and I'm a bit of a geek. Probably 99% of the population wouldn't bother.

Yes it is true I have never tried connect my pc to the PC as there is already too many channels showing with nothing to watch

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by devilincarnate

Yes it is true I have never tried connect my pc to the PC as there is already too many channels showing with nothing to watch

So if that is the case what is the point of Tivo?

That is my main gripe, you are only going to receive what you already receive are you not?

You'll be able to record more of it though!

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by mersey70

So if that is the case what is the point of Tivo?

That is my main gripe, you are only going to receive what you already receive are you not?

You'll be able to record more of it though!

Also I have seen some where that there are only two of the three decoders activated on the new TiVo working at launch which would be a backward step if you have a V+ with three decoders.

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by mersey70

So if that is the case what is the point of Tivo?

That is my main gripe, you are only going to receive what you already receive are you not?

You'll be able to record more of it though!

What is the point of having PAY-TV as when i was growing up i had BBC1-2 and ITV, so what is the point of anything to do with multiple tv channels with nothing on.

You may be able to record more of it but i seem to spend more of my time on here

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by devilincarnate

What is the point of having PAY-TV as when i was growing up i had BBC1-2 and ITV, so what is the point of anything to do with multiple tv channels with nothing on.

You may be able to record more of it but i seem to spend more of my time on here

Quite, but I beleive this set top box's main claim is it will make it easier to find programmes, exactly the same programmes as you receive now. And usefully we can mark programmes we like or dislike with a thumbs up or down, I find my brain and eyes are quite useful for doing that anyway which it relies on in the first place although I suppose the ongoing recomendations might be good . I don't know about you but I have a certain group of channels that I always come back to anyway.


[/COLOR]

Originally Posted by alwaysabear

Also I have seen some where that there are only two of the three decoders activated on the new TiVo working at launch which would be a backward step if you have a V+ with three decoders.

That's right so at launch it will not provide all the recording capabilities of your trusty old V+ which I find very odd, better to wait for the third tuner to be activated in my opinion.

Originally Posted by mersey70

So if that is the case what is the point of Tivo?

That is my main gripe, you are only going to receive what you already receive are you not?

You'll be able to record more of it though!

Conversely I would have thought that someone who takes the time to connect his pc to his tv and likes what he sees could see the potential of the tivo box. If they do build on the apps and make use of the 10 meg modem it could be a really good machine. If tivo and VM can build on things like that it could be well worth the extra money just for that never mind the standard tivo features that many of the original tivo users still rave about.
Having said that until we ordinary punters see the tivo in action the jury is obviously still out.
Just a few things that together should make it worth it, at least to me.
1) The 1Tb drive.
2)A dynamically updated epg far superior to what VM have now and possibly superior even to Sky's allowing full use to be made of the three tuners.
3)The usual tivo bells and whistles that the original tivo users rave about. Recording what it thinks you like could be a useful addition to catch up tv which is already one of VM's best features.
4)I believe the USA tivo has back up to pc etc.. That would be a fantastic addition. I wonder if we will be allowed this in the UK though? This might be crippled because of right issues.
5)Streaming off the internet using the dedicated 10meg connection. Also plenty of bandwidth for HD streaming.
6) Much better epg with backwards searching etc.
7) Apps allowing things like movie downloads by subscription. Would be nice but definitely one that could take time or might never appear.
There might be others I don't know about. It would be interesting to hear what other people think.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by ahardie

Conversely I would have thought that someone who takes the time to connect his pc to his tv and likes what he sees could see the potential of the tivo box. If they do build on the apps and make use of the 10 meg modem it could be a really good machine. If tivo and VM can build on things like that it could be well worth the extra money just for that never mind the standard tivo features that many of the original tivo users still rave about.
Having said that until we ordinary punters see the tivo in action the jury is obviously still out.
Just a few things that together should make it worth it, at least to me.
1) The 1Tb drive.
2)A dynamically updated epg far superior to what VM have now and possibly superior even to Sky's allowing full use to be made of the three tuners.
3)The usual tivo bells and whistles that the original tivo users rave about. Recording what it thinks you like could be a useful addition to catch up tv which is already one of VM's best features.
4)I believe the USA tivo has back up to pc etc.. That would be a fantastic addition. I wonder if we will be allowed this in the UK though? This might be crippled because of right issues.
5)Streaming off the internet using the dedicated 10meg connection. Also plenty of bandwidth for HD streaming.
6) Much better epg with backwards searching etc.
7) Apps allowing things like movie downloads by subscription. Would be nice but definitely one that could take time or might never appear.
There might be others I don't know about. It would be interesting to hear what other people think.

I think it took me 2 minutes to connect my PC to the TV, pretty easy really and I can easily do a lot of the things you highlight for the cost of a 3 metre VGA cable. Not ideal for everyone but it works for me and it cost £20 for the cable and no further subs involved too.

I agree if you find your V+ is always full then a bigger HDD would be useful.

I also agree that anybody would welcome a dynamic EPG, including some Freeview users who have that now with a cheap box and it is pretty lame that we as Pay TV subscribers have to pay around £200 or whatever it costs to get this feature.

Going back in time for catch up through the EPG is a great feature but far from unique, YouView will offer it, Talk Talk and a lesser known on demand service VeryTangyTV have offered it for ages.

Apps to allow the latest movie streaming in high quality would be nice and that might be a reason for me to get it in the future but I am not aware of any plans for this to be introduced. Our new TV has this feature, I haven't tried it though and it can be used for YouTube and other things too but I cannot comment on PQ yet but I doubt it would be as good as a dedicated Tivo app but my point is that again it isn't anything unique.

I used to have BT Vision before VM, in my opinion their STB was superior to the V+, the only area it really lacked was it only had 2 tuners but that was never a big problem for me personally as far as I recall. Dynamic EPG, great user interface, lightning fast too, smashing search options. A genuinely nice STB but that's all it was, a STB.

The reason I left is because overall for the cost it was lacking in linear content compared to VM, nice hardware, bells and whistles as you say but not as much on offer for what it was actually used for, watching TV. It couldn't find content that wasn't there but then again the box was free.

They introduced a new STB before I was leaving, I believe it was faster but functionally it was identical but most importantly it only received the same channels and content as my older box though and until this changes with Tivo I think I will stick with the V+ as I see no overwhelming reason to change.

[alwaysabear]

My laptop is connected by a 3 metre HDMI cable to a Plasma TV and I can stream anything available in HD and takes seconds to set up.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by alwaysabear

My laptop is connected by a 3 metre HDMI cable to a Plasma TV and I can stream anything available in HD and takes seconds to set up.

Pretty much my experience too, easy. The cable cost £19.99.

Probably not for everyone but it works for me.

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by mersey70

Pretty much my experience too, easy peasy, the cable cost £19.99.

Probably not for everyone but it works for me.

I can beat that £ 14.99 from play 18 months ago

[iceaxe]

Personally, whilst Tivo sounds like a great hardware upgrade, I'm more interested in content. Sky Atlantic is offering the majority of the best US TV series & without that I don't care how big my hard drive is because they'll be nothing of quality to record.

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by mersey70

I genuinely couldn't disagree with you more, a channel that shows, amongst other things, HBO shows is more niche than a set top box? 10 million Sky homes will have access to SA at launch, positioned right towards the top of the EPG, how many Tivo boxes are VM planning to rent out? You do know that there are less than 3 million Tivo's in circulation in the US and it is on the decline, I don't know how many homes are in the US but over 300 million people live there.

Let's agree to disagree as we are poles apart me thinks.

---------- Post added at 17:49 ---------- Previous post was at 17:48 ----------



Exactly, and that is what most people will think I am sure.

hmmm... I think saying 300 million people and only 3 million TiVo subs is using the wrong comparison! It should be how many homes have cable and then take TiVo. TiVo in the US had 4.7mil customers in 2006, but lost some market share due to some cable co's releasing a basic DVR. plus it's more expensive in the US with a higher monthly cost. The VM way is much better at a low monthly cost.

Top 10 Largest Cable Companies by subscribers

1. Comcast Corporation 23,891,000
2. Time Warner Cable, Inc. 13,048,000
3. Cox Communications, Inc. 5,316,100
4. Charter Communications, Inc. 4,929,900
5. Cablevision Systems Corporation 3,093,000
6. Bright House Networks LLC 2,301,300
7. Mediacom Communications Corporation 1,282,000
8. Suddenlink Communications 1,257,500
9. Insight Communications Company, Inc. 720,100
10. Cable One, Inc. 692,100

Originally Posted by mersey70

I think it took me 2 minutes to connect my PC to the TV, pretty easy really and I can easily do a lot of the things you highlight for the cost of a 3 metre VGA cable. Not ideal for everyone but it works for me and it cost £20 for the cable and no further subs involved too..

I think saying it is not ideal for everyone is an understatement. People just dont bother to do that. We are talking about two diferent experiences here anyway. For instance I can watch iplayer on my games machine but it is such a frustrating experience that I would only do it if desperate. By comparison the cable interface is a joy to use even on my old SA box.

Originally Posted by mersey70

I agree if you find your V+ is always full then a bigger HDD would be useful.

I also agree that anybody would welcome a dynamic EPG, including some Freeview users who have that now with a cheap box and it is pretty lame that we as Pay TV subscribers have to pay around £200 or whatever it costs to get this feature.
.

The point I made was that it has the potential to be better than a Sky box where even their customers say they sometimes lose the end of programmes. Which with reduced (or non existant?) padding, when then the third tuner is enabled, should give a clear advantage over the Sky box.

Originally Posted by mersey70

Going back in time for catch up through the EPG is a great feature but far from unique, YouView will offer it, Talk Talk and a lesser known on demand service VeryTangyTV have offered it for ages.
.

Yes it is a great feature and yes you may be able to do it other boxes but you wont be able to do it on a Sky box. They will have to purchase another box from another platform. Not ideal is it? Also if it is a great feature then that is a plus to buying the new box. The fact that I will be able to do it by buying a youview box in the future or subscribing to tangytv is as meaningless to me as it will be to sky users. Sky users cant even watch iplayer yet or HD with no timeframe as to when they will be able to. When they can it will eat in to there internet bandwidth. A real problem if you aren't near the telephone exchange.

Originally Posted by mersey70

Apps to allow the latest movie streaming in high quality would be nice and that might be a reason for me to get it in the future but I am not aware of any plans for this to be introduced. Our new TV has this feature, I haven't tried it though and it can be used for YouTube and other things too but I cannot comment on PQ yet but I doubt it would be as good as a dedicated Tivo app but my point is that again it isn't anything unique.

I used to have BT Vision before VM, in my opinion their STB was superior to the V+, the only area it really lacked was it only had 2 tuners but that was never a big problem for me personally as far as I recall. Dynamic EPG, great user interface, lightning fast too, smashing search options. A genuinely nice STB but that's all it was, a STB.

The reason I left is because overall for the cost it was lacking in linear content compared to VM, nice hardware, bells and whistles as you say but not as much on offer for what it was actually used for, watching TV. It couldn't find content that wasn't there but then again the box was free.

They introduced a new STB before I was leaving, I believe it was faster but functionally it was identical but most importantly it only received the same channels and content as my older box though and until this changes with Tivo I think I will stick with the V+ as I see no overwhelming reason to change.

The tivo will also have smashing search options in fact I would imagine second to none. The cnet review says it is superior to both Sky and existing cable boxes.

The thing is that the tivo box has the potential to make the V+ and Sky + HD look like something from the ark. Saying you can do some of those things on other boxes isn't much of a defence any more than saying a universal remote is useless because I can use all these other remotes. It would be an even dafter argument if I had to buy all the other remotes to replace the one universal one.
One more thing just to turn your arguments on their head. People will be able to view the content on Sky Atlantic by other means both legal and not so legal. Unlike many of the things you have said it might actually offer a better viewing experience because it can be viewed dog and advert free. Is that an ideal situation? Of course not but then neither are most of the reasons you say the new box wont be worth paying some dosh for. As it happens neither of us are personally bothered about having that channel anyway. I do like the look of the new tivo box though. I just hope that VM exploit it's full potential.

[Mad Bee]

I don't watch many US dramas but we can never have enough new channels so hope I turns up.

SD or HD, doesn't bother me.

Originally Posted by Mad Bee

I don't watch many US dramas but we can never have enough new channels so hope I turns up.

SD or HD, doesn't bother me.

Yes Sky could have sold the sd version to other platforms and still kept the HD as an exclusive. Most people would just watch in sd and they would have made a tidy profit out of customers on other platforms. Personally, like you I am not bothered about Sky Atlantic itself. It is where this is heading that bothers me. If one platform has far more cash than other platforms and is able to keep that content to themselves then where does that leave us a few years down the line? It will leave us with the same number of choices as Ford Model T owners had of colour. They could have any colour as long as it was black. We will be able to choose any platform as long as it's Sky.