TiVo review...
http://www.heraldscotland.com/techno...tivo-1.1112319
Hands on... Virgin Media TiVo
Grant Gibson
15 Jul 2011
Virgin Media TiVo from £49 plus subscription
Digital video recording specialist TiVo entered the UK market in 2000, a year after its pioneering disk-based TV recorder launched in the United States. Too small to commit to a full UK operation, the fledgling business partnered with BSkyB to bring its cutting-edge product to our shores.
However, BSkyB was just months away from launching its rival Sky+ system. To say that Sky’s heart wasn’t in the partnership is an understatement. Initial sales were poor and TiVo pulled out of the UK market soon after Sky+ launched.
Sky’s stalling tactic, though shrewd at the time, may come back to haunt it. Now partnered with Sky rival Virgin Media, TiVo is back in the UK. And after a fortnight of testing I think it could be a Sky+ killer.
At the heart of TiVo is its seven-day TV guide. From there you can schedule recordings, record an entire series, or even set up recordings based on a specific actor’s or director’s name. If you want to build a complete collection of Woody Allen movies, this is a great way to do it.
The TV guide is also available online, so you can schedule recordings over your lunch break or via your mobile phone.
Another noteworthy feature is called Suggestions. Giving a thumbs up to programmes you like and thumbs down to the rest, TiVo builds a picture of your tastes and records other programmes it thinks you might like. Virgin’s TiVo has three tuners, so it’s possible to record two programmes while watching a third live programme or, for real TV junkies, record three programmes while watching a recorded show.
Up to 500 hours of TV can be recorded on the range-topping 1TB box although this drops to 100 hours for high-definition recordings.
On-demand programming, such as that from STV and Channel 4, is neatly integrated into the TV guide, so if you’ve missed a programme you can go back and select it from the schedule rather than resorting to a separate menu.
A separate apps menu hosts YouTube and BBC iPlayer (which, somewhat frustratingly, isn’t included alongside the other on-demand channels) plus a range of other interactive features such as weather forecasts.
Would I recommend it? Yes, absolutely. No other system – from Sky to BT Vision, Freeview to Freesat – offers such a complete mix of live, recorded, on-demand and premium content from a single box.
Virgin Media TiVo from £49 plus subscription
Stars: 5/5
Positives: Powerful multi-channel recording paired with unmatched on-demand services.
Negatives: Only available in areas with Virgin Media cabling.
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