General : Coming Soon to Virgin TV (2013) Vol. 1.

[Derekb108]

Originally Posted by JustaBloke

I agree with the move to Mpeg4 but don't want any of that TiVo nonsense (to me). My dream box would be a V+ type affair with an Mpeg4 CoDec and a 500GB drive. Maybe the third tuner recording, but not neccessary. Nothing more.

This sort of offering would allow the network to move forward because I for one, and I suspect there are others too, would never pay an additional subscription for the functionality that TiVo offers, no matter how much they try to hide it.

But I can't see that being offered so I'll continue to use my Sammy V+ until such time as they try to force me into a TiVo and then I'll leave, not to be missed by anyone.

Whats so wrong with the TIVO System? Not enough for you to leave surely.

I find Tivo much better than those old Crappy V+ Plus boxes give me tivo boxes any day!

In regards v+ yes one day they will be gone too theres possibilies of another Set top box with the merger of liberty global.

With tivo the menus are a bit clunky but managable -- nothing will be perfect, even after 10+ years in the business.

Set up your series links and the system records all your programs with ease and you dont need to set it up every time a series starts either, some times you can adjust it to make it record earlier and record later. theres a limitations until dynamic EPG and MPEG 4 is in place but theres always pros and cons with these too.

Plus with virgin creating its online tv anywhere i wouldn't be surprised if it enabled Tivo video streaming straight onto your pc anywhere , anyplace in the world just from one step from the browser.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by Derekb108

Whats so wrong with the TIVO System? Not enough for you to leave surely.

I find Tivo much better than those old Crappy V+ Plus boxes give me tivo boxes any day!

In regards v+ yes one day they will be gone too theres possibilies of another Set top box with the merger of liberty global.

With tivo the menus are a bit clunky but managable -- nothing will be perfect, even after 10+ years in the business.

Set up your series links and the system records all your programs with ease and you dont need to set it up every time a series starts either, some times you can adjust it to make it record earlier and record later. theres a limitations until dynamic EPG and MPEG 4 is in place but theres always pros and cons with these too.

Plus with virgin creating its online tv anywhere i wouldn't be surprised if it enabled Tivo video streaming straight onto your pc anywhere , anyplace in the world just from one step from the browser.

I agree with the majority of your points here , I have experience of using V+ , Sky+HD , TIVO and the BT Vision box and my conclusions on TIVO are as follows ,

Plus Points
Clash management , Wishlists , three recordable tuners , excellent search feature , remote app.

Minus Points
Menu speed , OD screens a little convoluted , app selection poor.

Basically if I was still a VM customer there's only one box I'd choose and it certainly wouldn't be V+ the EPG is now looking really dated in my opinion and the TIVO offers far more including increased recording capacity.

It's all about opinion. I respect yours. But I have used TiVo a lot and If I had one, the first thing I'd do is turn off most of it's functionality like wish lists, suggested programmes etc. I don't want any of that chaff. I just want something to record Corrie while I watch the football so I don't have to faff about with ITV Player etc.

So given that I'd nobble it down to being a high capacity V+ box, why would I want to donate £5 a month to TiVo Inc. to use it?

As for the criticisms of the V+ EPG. I suppose they are dated, but for me they work fine and do everything I want, except I'd like to order channels into my own custom order (eg replacing 101 with 108 etc) but you can't do that on TiVo either.

As I said it's about opinion. In mine the V+ is a better box than TiVo for my needs given the costs of running them. I love the latest tech and have a house full of it, but I don't blindly buy things if I'm not going to use them.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

If l am not wrong, BT will have THREE channels, l reckon that VM will charge £5.00 per month.

UNLESS, VM run just TWO BT Sports channels and give it FREE

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

If l am not wrong, BT will have THREE channels, l reckon that VM will charge £5.00 per month.

UNLESS, VM run just TWO BT Sports channels and give it FREE

Well we shall see what happens as none of us know how Virgin will price it Arthur.

In what world does BT give Virgin their ace in the hole for free.

We'll be lucky if its a tenner a month, the previous suggestions of £12-£15 seem more likely given the addition of ESPN America.

[Derekb108]

Originally Posted by JustaBloke

It's all about opinion. I respect yours. But I have used TiVo a lot and If I had one, the first thing I'd do is turn off most of it's functionality like wish lists, suggested programmes etc. I don't want any of that chaff. I just want something to record Corrie while I watch the football so I don't have to faff about with ITV Player etc.

So given that I'd nobble it down to being a high capacity V+ box, why would I want to donate £5 a month to TiVo Inc. to use it?

As for the criticisms of the V+ EPG. I suppose they are dated, but for me they work fine and do everything I want, except I'd like to order channels into my own custom order (eg replacing 101 with 108 etc) but you can't do that on TiVo either.

As I said it's about opinion. In mine the V+ is a better box than TiVo for my needs given the costs of running them. I love the latest tech and have a house full of it, but I don't blindly buy things if I'm not going to use them.

The £5.00 fee goes to the programmers at Tivo inc. that fee is low considering the americans pay for the boxes $299 - (lucky ours is a fee of £50 - £100) and then pay a higher fee than we do $14.99 or a once lifetime fee $499

you can custom order your channels using the favorites which tivo has. why would you "Faff" with ITV Player when you can Record Corrie and record football and then watch something else! theres a or 500GB or 1TB Of storage and you dont need delete it when you've watched tivo will delete when it needs it.

---------- Post added at 18:27 ---------- Previous post was at 18:17 ----------

Originally Posted by Jameseh

I was referring to Spotify, as VMoD is very limited.

spotify with virgin, its a spot too far!

Originally Posted by Derekb108

The £5.00 fee goes to the programmers at Tivo inc. that fee is low considering the americans pay for the boxes $299 - (lucky ours is a fee of £50 - £100) and then pay a higher fee than we do $14.99 or a once lifetime fee $499

you can custom order your channels using the favorites which tivo has. why would you "Faff" with ITV Player when you can Record Corrie and record football and then watch something else! theres a or 500GB or 1TB Of storage and you dont need delete it when you've watched tivo will delete when it needs it.

"Record football"??? Not watch it live? What an absurd idea!!! (to me)

That's the very point that divides us. Having watched the live sport and recorded anything I'm missing, I have no need whatsoever of any more functionality than that. None. Nader, Bugger all, etc.

And that thought of TiVo deciding to delete things is abhorrent. I'd soon turn that off.

As a guide. I only have 160GB on my V+. It rarely goes below 60% free.

I do feel a little guilty that this TiVo/V+ debate is hijacking the Coming Soon thread. I sense people trying to overcome objections and sell it to me. I'm very familiar with it, I know what it does, but such trivia (to me) that "You only have to set your series links up once" or the current TV advert which embarrassingly headlines on "You can recover something you (foolishly) deleted" are the answers to problems I've just never experienced.

[HDFootyMan]

Originally Posted by passingbat

I don't think that they are in Direct competition, though there is a little overlap.

Netflix and Lovefilm do both TV shows and film, and the films are generally older or newer, non premium titles. VM's PPV film service is only for films and it has the advantage over Lovefilm and Netflix in that newer, premium titles are available.

And, of course, Cindy Rose said that they could happily co-exist, and she never says anything that isn't true...

Bulls- ...........are in my back garden.

[ocav]

Originally Posted by HDFootyMan

Bulls- ...........are in my back garden.

thats nice too know, guess whos probably having steak tomorrow night!

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by jj20x

Unfortunately, the ITV Network sells advertising regionally so they don't like making other regions readily available.

I can see STV Group pulling out of channel 3 by 2016 if they win Local TV rights to Ayr, Dundee and Inverness.

STV Group will I think then sell Channel 3 to ITV plc to become know as ITV Scotland.

http://www.a516digital.com/2013/01/l...nother-29.html

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Media Boy

I can see STV Group pulling out of channel 3 by 2016 if they win Local TV rights to Ayr, Dundee and Inverness.

STV Group will I think then sell Channel 3 to ITV plc to become know as ITV Scotland.

http://www.a516digital.com/2013/01/l...nother-29.html

I wonder what will happen to the Scottish TV landscape should Scotland go independant next year?

Originally Posted by Media Boy

I can see STV Group pulling out of channel 3 by 2016 if they win Local TV rights to Ayr, Dundee and Inverness.

STV Group will I think then sell Channel 3 to ITV plc to become know as ITV Scotland.

http://www.a516digital.com/2013/01/l...nother-29.html

I don't see that happening to be honest, the ITV Network regions still generate a substantial amount of cash for the licence holders and STV, as a company, is there to make a profit. The local tv franchises cover relatively small service areas and are unlikely to make a large profit, if any profit at all. They would work better as not for profit operations.

Also, there's no guarantee that STV will bid for or be granted any further licences.

There was always going to be a second phase of local tv locations and if you look further back through Ofcom documents, there were also other areas identified for local tv which haven't even been included in the second phase.

If DTT is cleared from the 700 MHz range (for 4G / 5G mobile data), there are currently no suggestioned frequency allocations for local tv. The Arqiva documents only looked at the PSB and COM multiplexes. With no guaranteed lifespan after the initial licence term, I can't see STV gambling with their future on local tv franchises.

---------- Post added at 00:18 ---------- Previous post was at 00:11 ----------

Originally Posted by Chad

I wonder what will happen to the Scottish TV landscape should Scotland go independant next year?

Should it become independent, it should be relatively simple for BBC Scotland and STV to break away from the UK. The ITV Border region would be a major headache.

[Pster72]

chill out people i'm sure virgin will have something up there sleeve regarding ESPN leaving the xl package there was always a chance this could have happened when the football tv packages are up for bidding. So weather it is more HD channels ,BT sports or even Sky atlantic i am sure they have been ready for this so lets wait and see what happens. I am excited by this takeover as maybe more money will be invested into more channels and on demand so be patience guys

Re: BT Sport. OK so we don't know how VM will play this price wise but here's my take on it. VM will simply have to look at the money BT want for the channel/s and weigh it against the amount of people who may leave XL because "free" ESPN is going.

If the amount of money they loose through exodus from XL they may feel it better to swallow up the BT costs and give it to XL free or if it doesn;t then we'll have to pay extra. They may even decide to err on the side of caution and charge an extra couple of quid a month and suck up the rest themselves.

With Liberty Media on the horizon they may have some extra cash to throw about.

Anyone have any ideas when we may find out?