Could Virgin Eliminate Live TV?

Originally Posted by G UK

I think the-cable-guy is just having trouble articulating his view..

I'm sure you're right - he definately prefers TV - he just don't know why

Originally Posted by G UK

Whilst it would be technically and commercially viable to go all VOD at some point many people just like to sit down and watch with little idea what is actually going to be on..

Someone has mentioned TV as video wallpaper and on reflection it would probably always survive because of that at least - in the same way radio does

[Shaun]

Not watched live tv (appart from News 24) in months - I've got Sky+

[G UK]

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

its nowt to do with laziness its to do with preference

Possibly not but you get the idea.

[the-cable-guy]

lol oh brother

[grabbi]

Originally Posted by 12noon

If all we had was VOD, i'd run out of good programs to watch. I should imagine most people are like me and search through the VOD, pick out the good stuff, watch it and then have to put normal TV on and watch what ever because they have already watched all the good stuff.

I said that schedules would still exist on when things would be added. (IE Emmerdale could be added dead on 7pm, Corrie at 7:30pm, Eastenders at 8pm, The Bill at 8pm...

That way, you dont run the risk of temptation getting the better of you, and you watching all the Eastenders like you would an omnibus, and having nothing to watch for 6 days.

[moroboshi]

An all on demand future is I believe inevitable, (but through IPTV boxes). I can't see it happening on Virgin's platform though, as they have a pitifully small amount of content and the UI is absolutely abysmal. Compare the ugly BBC Micro style design in super chunky low-res to browsing TV shows and movies in super slick high-def on an Apple TV. They're worlds apart.

[frogstamper]

The problem with just VOD imo would be that niche programs with small ratings would be made less and less as they would become financially in-viable, that is on channels outside of the BBC which of course I presume in this scenario would still be publicly funded.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by moroboshi

An all on demand future is I believe inevitable, (but through IPTV boxes). I can't see it happening on Virgin's platform though, as they have a pitifully small amount of content and the UI is absolutely abysmal. Compare the ugly BBC Micro style design in super chunky low-res to browsing TV shows and movies in super slick high-def on an Apple TV. They're worlds apart.

Well I guess at some point you may be right - but I personally don't think it will happen in my lifetime - and I'm not that old!

There are too many people that simply enjoy putting the telly on and watching it - going all VOD makes an otherwise easy process one with menus, choices and effort. So if you are right, then I guess the benefit is that all TV watching will decrease.

The other point is that all-VOD has to be downloaded, streamed or somehow transferred to every individual recipient. And whilst technology in this area moves at an alarmingly fast rate - we are a long way away from point-to-point VOD being as bandwidth efficient as point-to-multipoint broadcast.

Originally Posted by frogstamper

The problem with just VOD imo would be that niche programs with small ratings would be made less and less as they would become financially in-viable, that is on channels outside of the BBC which of course I presume in this scenario would still be publicly funded.

I think that's the whole argument for BBC licencing fee in a nutshell - but it's not just a problem with VOD - it's a problem for scheduled TV too

---------- Post added at 00:14 ---------- Previous post was at 00:07 ----------

Originally Posted by andygrif

There are too many people that simply enjoy putting the telly on and watching it - going all VOD makes an otherwise easy process one with menus, choices and effort.

There's no real reason we couldn't have a schedule created by a simple algorythmn - done properly it would consider things you prefer which is more than the current programming schedule does

[Paranoimia]

Originally Posted by JethroUK

Shame V+ dumps the buffer everytime something happens so (unlike my Philips) you can't delay the whole evenings viewing and flick back and forth thru the buffer at will

with V+ you have to record every programme - start every programme - then delete every programme

Yeah, but I record them and watch them later anyway - so it's not a major issue for me.

Plus, the 'copy' SCART (which as you know now outputs whatever 'live' channel you're watching) is connected to my Sony DVD recorder, which has all the functions you mention, and upscales the output to HD... so not only can I record 3 channels at a time, but I also have a 'proper' pause function for live TV.

Still it would be nice if V+ adopt std PVR functionality - it could be a killer machine