Virgin Media TiVo iPad app

[tdenson]

Originally Posted by andy_m

Out of interest, what did s1 have that the vm doesn't?

Performance and a simple uncluttered UI. 99% of what Virgin/Tivo have added since the S1 I'm not interested in. Would just like my original S1 functionality turbocharged, but instead it's running on 3 cylinders. It is painfully slow compared with what it might have been.

[Doz007]

Originally Posted by tdenson

Performance and a simple uncluttered UI. 99% of what Virgin/Tivo have added since the S1 I'm not interested in. Would just like my original S1 functionality turbocharged, but instead it's running on 3 cylinders. It is painfully slow compared with what it might have been.

You're not too far off the mark there in the sense that it's running on a single core of a dual core chipset....

[andy_m]

Originally Posted by tdenson

Performance and a simple uncluttered UI. 99% of what Virgin/Tivo have added since the S1 I'm not interested in. Would just like my original S1 functionality turbocharged, but instead it's running on 3 cylinders. It is painfully slow compared with what it might have been.

Apart from access to on demand content, though, what is there that isn't on a generic Tivo? Is it Virgin who have added the stuff you don't like, or is it simply that the current generation of Tivo's are different to what came first, be they a Virgin Tivo or a Premiere?

---------- Post added at 17:00 ---------- Previous post was at 16:59 ----------

Originally Posted by Doz007

You're not too far off the mark there in the sense that it's running on a single core of a dual core chipset....

Wasn't that resolved in the big update? There was noticeable speed increase. Does what you've said mean that it could potentially get even faster?

[tdenson]

Originally Posted by andy_m

Apart from access to on demand content, though, what is there that isn't on a generic Tivo? Is it Virgin who have added the stuff you don't like, or is it simply that the current generation of Tivo's are different to what came first, be they a Virgin Tivo or a Premiere?

I guess I'm just reacting against the modern malaise of making everything more jazzy and complicated than it needs be - typified by websites like virgin.com and orange.co.uk.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by LozW

Thanks for that, Digital Fanatic. Just spoke to a guy in the tivo team who knows all about it.
He said that there have been lots of complaints about this.
On the plus side, he was keen to reassure me that this was likely to be a temporary problem and that that the functionality was likely to be returned very soon. He said the update was aimed at some bug fixes and that the loss of functionality had been debated and he was sure it would be addressed.
Nothing concrete, but sounds like VM are listening to their customers after all.

Here's an idea.

Don't create the problem in the first place ?

Then you wouldn't have to solve it. Simples.

My consultancy invoice is in the post.

[Jameseh]

Your not allowed logic in the workplace.

[CaptainChickenpa]

Just to let people know, I can confirm I am still on the RC8 firmware.
Which will explain why the app still works for me.

[Hugh]

Originally Posted by Mr K

Here's an idea.

Don't create the problem in the first place ?

Then you wouldn't have to solve it. Simples.

My consultancy invoice is in the post.

That assumes causing the problem was deliberate - Unit, system and user testing very rarely catches everything, in any major system upgrade (be it VM or whoever), especially regression testing, due to the number of complex variables.

If you are lucky, the "features" are minor and rarely noticed - often, you are not lucky.....

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Hugh

That assumes causing the problem was deliberate - Unit, system and user testing very rarely catches everything, in any major system upgrade (be it VM or whoever), especially regression testing, due to the number of complex variables.

If you are lucky, the "features" are minor and rarely noticed - often, you are not lucky.....

Thing is though the user testing has already exposed the problem. They've tested this on an unlucky few already and had a lot of negative feedback. Despite this they are steaming ahead anyway. The negative feedback is going to escalate when it's fully implemented. So what was the point of the trialling it ?

It all seems to indicate the blocking of 3rd party apps is deliberate and not an unfortunate side issue. VM have got this very wrong and are ignoring the chance to put it right.

[andy_m]

As far as I understand it there are still some third party apps which work, and the fact that there are some that don't is both unfortunate and unintentional. It's not for Virgin, however, to race to fix third party app support, it's for the app developers to look again at their apps and the way they interact with Tivo, but in the meantime Virgin continue to develop their own app which won't suffer from this problem.

Believe me, I was as angry as you when this happened, and even more annoyed at the lack of information or explanation. However, after much moaning I am reassured that this was not deliberate and that it won't be forever.

[Helix]

Originally Posted by Mr K

Thing is though the user testing has already exposed the problem. They've tested this on an unlucky few already and had a lot of negative feedback. Despite this they are steaming ahead anyway. The negative feedback is going to escalate when it's fully implemented. So what was the point of the trialling it ?

It all seems to indicate the blocking of 3rd party apps is deliberate and not an unfortunate side issue. VM have got this very wrong and are ignoring the chance to put it right.

This is the way Virgin Media work, they are never going to change. They never learn from their mistakes. Its becoming like the Superhub all over again.

The fact they are still giving 'coming soon' as a timeline for things is a joke, everyone knows that coming soon takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to VM.

[Hugh]

Originally Posted by Mr K

Thing is though the user testing has already exposed the problem. They've tested this on an unlucky few already and had a lot of negative feedback. Despite this they are steaming ahead anyway. The negative feedback is going to escalate when it's fully implemented. So what was the point of the trialling it ?

It all seems to indicate the blocking of 3rd party apps is deliberate and not an unfortunate side issue. VM have got this very wrong and are ignoring the chance to put it right.

So, are you stating that VM (and any other major implementers of software systems) should make sure that all apps that third parties have developed work on new releases? That may make implementation problematic....

I remember when I migrated to MS Vista - iTunes didn't work on it, as Apple didn't develop the drivers/interfaces immediately; was that Microsoft's fault?

[Stephen]

Thing is due to them being unofficial apps VM wouldn't have tested them as part of any testing. They don't support them so really they don't need to make sure they work.

[LozW]

They didn't really need to ensure they wouldn't work either!
That's tongue in cheek. I don't think VM realised how many people were using these apps.

[Mr K]

Call me a conspiracy theorist, (or anything else you want !), but I do suspect it's deliberate to kill 3rd party apps. I've seen no promise yet that VM won't be charging for TiVo buddy, or any other apps they eventually develop (now or at any time in the future). The fact they are now being so quiet about the downgrade and not answering any questions about it on the support forum would seem to support this.

Whilst I don't expect them to support these apps, I wouldn't expect them to kill them when don't have a free official alternative up and running on ALL platforms.