TiVo

[fixerman]

Originally Posted by passingbat

I'll moan if I want to, wheather you like it or not.

Actually, I wasn't actually moaning; I was expressing my opinion.

Me too! After all this is a "Forum".

[howardmicks]

Originally Posted by Felim_Doyle

In several threads on this forum people complain if VM don't announce something, then speculate on what we might get and when we might get it, then call a gradual roll-out 'stringing things out'.

VM are doing the right thing by testing the boxes and the supporting infrastructure with a small control group of staff and customers. They are probably restricted somewhat anyway by the number of boxes in production so far and by the number of engineers available to install them. They also took the appropriate step of allowing pre-registration for those interested in having TiVo so that they can judge the likely uptake and order boxes and train installation personnel accordingly.

Stop moaning! You'll most likely have TiVo available to you sometime this quarter and with a more stable firmware/software in the box and a more fully featured back-end to support it as well as a larger amount of content to choose from.

[Felim_Doyle]

Originally Posted by passingbat

I'll moan if I want to, wheather you like it or not.

Actually, I wasn't actually moaning; I was expressing my opinion.

Well, in my opinion, it came across as a definite moan!

Originally Posted by fixerman

Me too! After all this is a "Forum".

Moaner!

Originally Posted by howardmicks

Stop ing!!!

[denphone]

l never moan but forum members are entitled to a opinion whether its tivo or anything else.

[knack]

Originally Posted by Felim_Doyle

In several threads on this forum people complain if VM don't announce something, then speculate on what we might get and when we might get it, then call a gradual roll-out 'stringing things out'.

VM are doing the right thing by testing the boxes and the supporting infrastructure with a small control group of staff and customers. They are probably restricted somewhat anyway by the number of boxes in production so far and by the number of engineers available to install them. They also took the appropriate step of allowing pre-registration for those interested in having TiVo so that they can judge the likely uptake and order boxes and train installation personnel accordingly.

Stop moaning! You'll most likely have TiVo available to you sometime this quarter and with a more stable firmware/software in the box and a more fully featured back-end to support it as well as a larger amount of content to choose from.

This "small" group you speak of shouldn't be considered part of a roll out if they are still testing a product they are barred from discussing. Until such testing was complete links such as "I want TiVo now" on tivo.virginmedia.com implying that it was available already shouldn't appear. And in the demo video the guy announces towards the end "and how about if we made all this possible? not in the future but right now". The video was available online a month ago and we've still to hear of when this "right now" is. Were VM hoping people wouldn't watch the video until March (widely speculated on here as the month TiVo will be fully available). March is in the future to me and if the chance of having TiVo before then as implied is possible by filling in the "how do I get it?" form means having to sign a non disclosure agreement then that's not really great is it?

I think TiVo looks very good and I am glad VM are testing it so that when it launches it is perfect. I only wish they wouldn't alienate customers by announcing information in such a sporadic manner and having inaccurate information on the website.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by knack

March is in the future to me and if the chance of having TiVo before then as implied is possible by filling in the "how do I get it?" form means having to sign a non disclosure agreement then that's not really great is it?

That has nothing to do with a Non Disclosure contract that is purely to register your interest in TiVo.

[ottoni]

In one of her interviews, cindy rose did talk about letting the 'hype' do the selling. This is probably what she wanted all along, banter, rumours, getting people 'talking' about it, and really vm haven't done anything wrong. Maybe we're just all a bit too excited!

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by ottoni

In one of her interviews, cindy rose did talk about letting the 'hype' do the selling. This is probably what she wanted all along, banter, rumours, getting people 'talking' about it, and really vm haven't done anything wrong. Maybe we're just all a bit too excited!

Hype sells so no surprise there.

My complaint above was more that VM should be better at managing expectations than they are. If they say a product will be ready end of Dec 2010 and it doesn't appear then some people are bound to be disappointed. Personally I would rather wait a while until the product has been fully tested before it is released to us customers.

[Angel67]

I like others don't mind waiting as such but when something is promised for a certain time frame and it doesn't happen, it does get a tad bit annoying. Also the promo video says it's available "now" which isn't 100% true.

I just want my TiVo but I know it's worth waiting for so no complaints from me.

[pauldavies83]

Maybe the 2010 "launch" was to satisfy the initial proclamation when the deal was signed in 2009 that the product would launch "late next year" (i.e. late 2010).

[Rattus]

I do find it hard to fathom some of the views on here calling people moaners etc..

Originally Tivo was supposed to launch Q4 2010 (i believe in an old press release).

We were then told it was a soft launch.. which as it turns out seems to be an internal staff launch, with the odd tester.

I was then told off for calling this a beta test, as it's not a beta version.. Well it's hardly a release version is it so what's wrong with calling it beta test? Yeh maybe it's a release candidate 1.0, but that's not a release version either.

Now were told early 2011, btw i don't consider march early. Assuming we can order march, we might get an install after a week or two which is almost Q2!

The next issue i have which i don't think anyone has thought about is, when do all the series' xmas breaks come to an end? At the moment my tvdrive is empty, i've watched everything, but very soon it'll have hours of programming on again once the winter break ends, so what happens then? You lose all that programming. Now is an ideal time to be changing boxes over, but it's looking more and more likely that VM are going to miss this window during series lulls.

[Stuart]

While Christmas may be the ideal time to introduce a new product for the customer, it's not ideal for VM purely purely because it's unlikely they'll have enough staff in to cope if there are problems. A large chunk of January is likely to be used up dealing with problems that have occurred with the existing infrastructure over Christmas.

I suspect ideally, Virgin would have liked to launch a couple of months before Christmas, as this would enable them to get any bugs out of the system, and enable them to have a big push for new customers at Christmas (in most industries, this is a peak sales time).

[fixerman]

Originally Posted by Rattus

I do find it hard to fathom some of the views on here calling people moaners etc..

Originally Tivo was supposed to launch Q4 2010 (i believe in an old press release).

We were then told it was a soft launch.. which as it turns out seems to be an internal staff launch, with the odd tester.

I was then told off for calling this a beta test, as it's not a beta version.. Well it's hardly a release version is it so what's wrong with calling it beta test? Yeh maybe it's a release candidate 1.0, but that's not a release version either.

Now were told early 2011, btw i don't consider march early. Assuming we can order march, we might get an install after a week or two which is almost Q2!

The next issue i have which i don't think anyone has thought about is, when do all the series' xmas breaks come to an end? At the moment my tvdrive is empty, i've watched everything, but very soon it'll have hours of programming on again once the winter break ends, so what happens then? You lose all that programming. Now is an ideal time to be changing boxes over, but it's looking more and more likely that VM are going to miss this window during series lulls.

I think that is a very valid point. Having listed as an interested subscriber for the Tivo I began to run down my recorded programmes on my V+ box in anticipation of getting a Tivo in a few weeks. I did this on the basis of the hype put out by Virginmedia that the new box would be available, possibly by the end of December. All this cloak and dagger stuff is just going to p**s people off.

Virginmedia should come clean and give us a firm date when installations will begin. If they cannot do that it proves that what we have at present is a box software combination that is not ready for release to the market. Call it a beta release if you wish.

[denphone]

l agree with the last thread in that we should have had a firm date way before christmas, they need to be more pro-active than they are at the present moment not just with tivo but other things as well.