TiVo Tivo Not Making Any "Suggestions" - Page 3

Panfried · 13-02-2014, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderplant

On average, it records seven new Suggestions a day, so with a limit of 50 they are kept about a week. The idea is this gives you time to spot new things you like and set a Series Link for them. You shouldn't get more than two episodes of the same programme recorded as Suggestions in a week.

I have a 1 terabyte box that is 83% empty, not sure the 50 limit makes a great deal of sense does it? I have also gone through the guide several times thumbing all the content that interests me with the result that all that is left is things I don't like or wouldn't watch and it's these that VM thinks should be recorded in suggestions, guess what 'Achievement Unlocked'.

Quote:

At least you can ignore reminders. To be fair, there seem to be fewer complaints about Suggestions now than before, so in that respect it has been a success. Can't say I like the new system though.

Bet most of the complaints before were about suggestions being mixed in with the normal recordings. I'm sure complaints could have been reduced without exterminating all them poor 2&3 thumbs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paultrademark

Well done VM, you have managed to break and ruin one of the best features of TiVo

Agreed 100%.

Thanks spiderplant for keeping us informed, the VM Forum has been strangely silent on the issue for over a month.

andy_m · 14-02-2014, 05:44

Yes, thanks to Spiderplant for the reply. I agree, though. I'm sure tree majority of complaints were to do with the suggestions being shown in the my shows folders, and I'm equally sure that this could have been resolved without effectively making the suggestions feature redundant.

I'm really fed up of this react to complaints, design by committee approach to TiVo in this country. If Virgin are going to undo the features of TiVo by pushing their own implementation then frankly why bother going with them in the first place?

oliver1948uk · 14-02-2014, 10:14

This thread was opened over a month ago. Since then, there have been 33 posts by 15 people, out of which 9 have posted more than once.

This suggests to me that Suggestions are a Tivo feature valued by a small number of people.

Personally, I found the idea intrusive and resented finding programmes recorded that were of no interest to the viewers in my house. I then discovered the feature could be turned off and has been for several months. Putting thumb signs by programmes is to some people very childish, yet left to children chaos would reign as brothers and sisters may well do the opposite (one gives thumbs up; the other gives thumbs down) to a given programme. I wonder how the poor Tivo copes with that.

andy_m · 14-02-2014, 10:23

If you don't like the feature and left it turned off, why is it now any concern of yours if I'm upset that it no longer works as it once did? As far as I can tell, you remain completely unaffected by the change. I'd also caution you against considering posters on a cable forum to be representative of the entire customer base.

oliver1948uk · 14-02-2014, 11:13

Fair point.

Obviously Suggestions are well used by some people. That is why this thread exists. However, my reason for posting was to put another side - that it is likely that some Tivo users do not value suggestions.

I hope that those who use suggestions manage to persuade VM to get it working to their liking. The problem is, people have different criteria.

paultrademark · 14-02-2014, 13:03

This forum isn't really a good sample of VM TiVo users.

There is however a 27 page thread over on the official support forum which has been there for 3 months

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...e/td-p/2063236

OLD BOY · 14-02-2014, 13:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by oliver1948uk

This thread was opened over a month ago. Since then, there have been 33 posts by 15 people, out of which 9 have posted more than once.

This suggests to me that Suggestions are a Tivo feature valued by a small number of people.

Personally, I found the idea intrusive and resented finding programmes recorded that were of no interest to the viewers in my house. I then discovered the feature could be turned off and has been for several months. Putting thumb signs by programmes is to some people very childish, yet left to children chaos would reign as brothers and sisters may well do the opposite (one gives thumbs up; the other gives thumbs down) to a given programme. I wonder how the poor Tivo copes with that.

How could it possibly be intrusive when all the suggestions were contained in a suggestions folder that you only open if you are interested in it?

Much ado about nothing, in my opinion. And as a result of these pointless complaints, those of us who do use it have got a worse service.

I hope that those who complained are pleased with themselves.

trickytree · 14-02-2014, 14:15

If suggestions worked as they did and still do on my S1 Tivo then I would be over the moon.

It would be recording maybe half a dozen suggestions a day with maybe 3-4 films a week some being ones I had already seen but more importantly the hidden gems that were not previously thumbed/watched.
I have had 2 films suggested in the nearly 2 or 3 years is it now we have had our Tivo boxes?
I am subscribed to all the movie channels also so that is just ridiculous.

I will see what is in my suggestions tonight but I have not noticed a flurry of activity in my suggestions if a supposed fix has gone out

trickytree · 17-02-2014, 10:15

So got home on Friday and looked at my suggestions.

13 in total.
Looking closer at them 2 were for Feb 22nd (which will be changed by the next Friday's load) making 11 suggestions for the week ahead.
Then it was the usual 3 for Friday, 3 for Saturday and 1 for the other days roughly with 1 of the days having no suggestions.
Still no more films and only 1 suggestion not recording off something more than Freeview. I am on the VIP bundle so lots of channels and content to choose from.

I would class this still as broken and almost useless.

andy_m · 17-02-2014, 11:05

It is, imo, now useless, certainly in the sense that I no longer use it. Very disappointed.

denphone · 17-02-2014, 11:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy_m

What's the rationale behind the intentional 50 limit?

---------- Post added at 06:30 ---------- Previous post was at 06:26 ----------

Spiderplant, I've just re-read post 10. If I'm honest this is feeling a little like reminders. It looks a little like action has been taken because a minority of TiVo users have complained, ignoring the fact that happy users stay quiet?

Has this reworking of suggestions taken place in the US, or is it just Virgin who have decided to play about with what was a great feature?

Sorry Andy but l think you will find it was a majority of customers who wanted reminders and not a little minority that some members try to make out.

---------- Post added at 11:26 ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy_m

It is, imo, now useless, certainly in the sense that I no longer use it. Very disappointed.

Indeed why tinker with something that was popular.

andy_m · 17-02-2014, 19:53

1.8 million households with a TiVo. If you think a million of those complained about reminders then I reckon it's probably you that is mistaken.

denphone · 17-02-2014, 20:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy_m

1.8 million households with a TiVo. If you think a million of those complained about reminders then I reckon it's probably you that is mistaken.

Now Andy where did you get the million from as l just said that many customers missed reminders as it was very popular with many customers before the TiVo came along and thus were unhappy when suddenly they did not have this option on the TiVo.

andy_m · 17-02-2014, 21:29

You said a majority. Out of the 1.8m households who have a TiVo, a majority must consist of at least 900,001. I simply don't believe that a majority of TiVo households complained about reminders. No snide implications or any desire to go over old ground, I'm simply saying that Virgin take complaints from a minority of their customers, panic and then provide knee jerk solutions which are poorly thought out and don't work.

I didn't want reminders, but ask somebody who did if they think they've been well implemented on TiVo. I think the overwhelming answer would be that they haven't because those who wanted them didn't want them to record as well. It's the same with suggestions.

When I got TiVo I did so at face value. I find it bizarre that people can choose a product, decide they don't like it and then complain and get it changed, whilst those of us who did our research and knew what we were getting, the silent majority who are content with the product and so don't complain, have to put up with it being changed against our will. I genuinely can't think of another business that would workthat way.

Speaking to Virgin tomorrow, now quite content to give the TiVo back, which is devastating because I've loved it, but it no longer works either how I want it to or, more importantly, how it is supposed to.

The only good news is that it's made me look at other options.

OLD BOY · 18-02-2014, 12:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy_m

You said a majority. Out of the 1.8m households who have a TiVo, a majority must consist of at least 900,001. I simply don't believe that a majority of TiVo households complained about reminders. No snide implications or any desire to go over old ground, I'm simply saying that Virgin take complaints from a minority of their customers, panic and then provide knee jerk solutions which are poorly thought out and don't work.

I didn't want reminders, but ask somebody who did if they think they've been well implemented on TiVo. I think the overwhelming answer would be that they haven't because those who wanted them didn't want them to record as well. It's the same with suggestions.

When I got TiVo I did so at face value. I find it bizarre that people can choose a product, decide they don't like it and then complain and get it changed, whilst those of us who did our research and knew what we were getting, the silent majority who are content with the product and so don't complain, have to put up with it being changed against our will. I genuinely can't think of another business that would workthat way.

Speaking to Virgin tomorrow, now quite content to give the TiVo back, which is devastating because I've loved it, but it no longer works either how I want it to or, more importantly, how it is supposed to.

The only good news is that it's made me look at other options.

I don't believe for one moment that a majority of people wanted reminders! But in terms of implementation, the TIVO box was not designed in a way that a reminder could appear without a recording then taking place. Frankly, I think that the way VM dealt with that was fine, and the best that could be achieved for those who wanted reminders.

However, Suggestions is different. Those people complaining should have been advised to turn Suggestions off! Instead, they have bowed to the customers who are complaining about nothing and they have ruined the experience for everyone else by tinkering with it. They should revert to what we had before with the next update, because leaving it like it is means no-one is happy.