TiVo

[BenJSmyth]

I've just come out of a 45 minute meeting at work and was dredding looking at my mobile in case they had phoned! They hadn't. Possibly the only time I was wishing they didn't phone.

I'm now back on it! So phone me VM, please!

Will I get a call before we hit 100 pages I wonder?!

[fixerman]

Originally Posted by BenJSmyth

I've just come out of a 45 minute meeting at work and was dredding looking at my mobile in case they had phoned! They hadn't. Possibly the only time I was wishing they didn't phone.

I'm now back on it! So phone me VM, please!

Will I get a call before we hit 100 pages I wonder?!

Sorry! I just could not resist!

[BenJSmyth]

Oh no, what have I started! Actually.....I'm losing my own bet by replying! Dammit

[muppetman11]

Nobody knows whether they are still calling

[Felim_Doyle]

Originally Posted by Perfect Choice

I actually think the Tivo price is a good deal, Sky charge £200 for their 1TB DVR and you have to pay for any repairs. Much prefer the VM approach with its lifetime warranty in effect included.

This is latest technology and with new features(1TB, Internet based apps, intuitive UI), you are not forced to buy it and quite happily access XL TV and catch-up, etc using existing V+/VHD boxes if you want.

I'm sure you'll agree that's like comparing apples and oranges.

With Sky, you are buying the box and it is yours to keep and pay maintenance on, just like your own TV set or DVD player.

Traditionally with Virgin Media and its predecessors, you effectively rented the box with maintenance costs included, perhaps like your rented TV set or DVD player, and you paid for it through your service subscription. So, for example, you might opt for the XL or a higher package with a + or HD box and enjoy the PVR and HD facilities as well as the other great features in those packages. The hardware remains the property of VM and, should you decide to drop to a more basic package, they have the option replace the box with a less fully featured one.

Originally Posted by Perfect Choice

That £3 extra per month by the way covers specific extra charges to Tivo (or that is what I’ve read on here) so is a justified add-on and I expect will cover extra features like the Internet/application based services for example. If you don’t want to pay it then just stay with an existing DVR box an you can happily watch XL TV without the extra fee.

As regards the £149 plus £40 install fee, well VM are not a charity and they have costs to recover as well, the Tivo box will clearly have a cost and also they will have to account for a percentage failure rate to cover the “free� repair service (nothing is free really, it is just where you decide to account for them).

I personally feel that the up front cost is somewhat prohibitive for most people and VM should perhaps have charged a higher monthly fee instead to cover the cost. However I can see that, with limited initial production of units, it may help reduce the early demand whilst funding the capital outlay for research, development, purchase and support of the boxes and training of staff.

Originally Posted by Perfect Choice

VM could have easily said Tivo costs nothing but the costs do not disappear and would have to result in a general wholesale increase in prices across all TV services say or VM lose profits and eventually go bust!

I’m sure subscribers would be complaining about new services they are not using if new costs were added to general rates, so quite right that Tivo users pay for their new services and the infrastructure (the box + support) required, especially in these early stages.

Obviously VM could not and would not have increased the cost of the existing packages for subscribers who did not have a TiVo box so they would have to have introduced an additional surcharge for this or an entirely new package tier.

Originally Posted by Perfect Choice

The price will come down eventually, but if you find the launch price too high in current circumstances, then just keep your current box and keep watching XL TV or even less (L/M) where you still have access to a smaller set of HD channels at least without having to pay £10 a month more.

I'm sure that the pricing structure will change over time but I imagine the current situation will remain for quite some time so as not to upset the early adopters and to continue funding the development and support of the product/service.

---------- Post added at 10:56 ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 ----------

Originally Posted by Masque

Doubtful as even now we have 10 year old boxes on the system so the will always be a lower tier of television service.

<SlightlyOffTopic>
Is there an on-going process in place to phase out older boxes?

I was disappointed to find, when the NGTV platform merger took place, that the EPG on my Pace Di4000-N V Box no longer gave three days of programme listings and the i-button content was severely reduced, no longer giving episode titles for series or, in many cases, year and lead cast for movies.

My understanding was that this streamlining of EPGs was in part to support older less well endowed STBs although simply reducing the number of EPG suppliers was also a consideration.
</SlightlyOffTopic>

[Perfect Choice]

I’ve read here that VM have over 20,000 existing customers declaring a wish to purchase Tivo and they will do 5000 by end of March? With that demand you would expect VM to charge.

Ultimately the Tivo price will come down there will also be the smaller cheaper Tivo box later this year as well.

It is a case of whether you want to pay premium as an early adopter or wait a year or 2 say and hope for a lower price, although on this demand it may be several years before the price is lowered!

VM and Sky rightly work on different models so it is a preference to what you want in the end. I like the VM model personally and don’t have to think about the cost of repairs if there is a problem.

However customer who expect all this new service/technology for nothing, are simply being unreasonable in my view, it’s just not practical for a commercial organisation and such costs have to be covered somewhere; so better to be specific to the product rather than a general cost of service.

I have a V+ box today, actually purchased at £45 around 3 years ago when VM put a special offer on their web site for new customers only but didn’t say this initially on the site, so existing customers could order before they corrected their mistake and increased the price to a £75 (so I was lucky).

So if you wait you will get a lower price in time, but suspect it could be 2012 at this rate on Tivo.

For the record I am registered for Tivo and I expect to pay the £189 price as I want it now!!

Forgot to mention that haven’t VM said they want to deploy the Tivo software on existing boxes where possible (Samsung V+ hasn’t got the CPU/memory power I suspect but SA V+ has and the Cisco HD only box is also OK?). It may be a cut down version of Tivo features with none of the Internet/apps features, but it may well be the new UI and useful new features like the 7 day in the past EPG and record whole programme if in the live recording buffer. That is my guess work but they have certainly mentioned deploying Tivo software to current devices so customers who do nothing may get some of the benefits of Tivo anyway.

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by Felim_Doyle

<SlightlyOffTopic>
Is there an on-going process in place to phase out older boxes?

I was disappointed to find, when the NGTV platform merger took place, that the EPG on my Pace Di4000-N V Box no longer gave three days of programme listings and the i-button content was severely reduced, no longer giving episode titles for series or, in many cases, year and lead cast for movies.

My understanding was that this streamlining of EPGs was in part to support older less well endowed STBs although simply reducing the number of EPG suppliers was also a consideration.
</SlightlyOffTopic>

I think Virgin will always look at what kit they can remove to reduce support costs

A couple of years ago they swapped out most Pace 1000 and 2000 STBs due to their age, I would expect further swap outs to happen again when appropriate

It's likely that TiVo will have caused a rethink as to how to do this next

[clinteastman]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Nobody knows whether they are still calling

I'm guessing they are, if the numbers are correct then they have a lot of calling to do.

---------- Post added at 11:10 ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 ----------

Oh, when are the gagging orders running out? Aren't the first S1 owner installs today?

[Perfect Choice]

Yes feedback on real usage would be appreciated. Expect a few bugs or features yet to be activated but would be nice to get some level of feedback as a "TV experience".

[pauldavies83]

Originally Posted by Perfect Choice

Forgot to mention that haven’t VM said they want to deploy the Tivo software on existing boxes where possible (Samsung V+ hasn’t got the CPU/memory power I suspect but SA V+ has and the Cisco HD only box is also OK?). It may be a cut down version of Tivo features with none of the Internet/apps features, but it may well be the new UI and useful new features like the 7 day in the past EPG and record whole programme if in the live recording buffer. That is my guess work but they have certainly mentioned deploying Tivo software to current devices so customers who do nothing may get some of the benefits of Tivo anyway.

I would hope for the new UI on a V-HD box, and the ability to stream recordings from your main TiVo to it.

That would certainly increase the utility of the TiVo for me, and add a little more justification to the price.

[BenJSmyth]

Can anyone confirm if they are still making calls? I have my £149 ready to give them, just phone me!

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by BenJSmyth

Can anyone confirm if they are still making calls? I have my £149 ready to give them, just phone me!

yes, the team are still calling customers.

[BenJSmyth]

That's good to hear, thanks DF. I'm starting to doubt myself when it comes to the pre-registration and whether I filled everything out correctly!

[DaBoz]

Originally Posted by Horizon

But they take it back! So you don't own a HD receiver or anything else when you cancel, it's rental equipment, theirs!

Never thought of your point about the Sky box. Good point.

They didn't take my second V box back. I stopped paying for it and they said don't worry about sending it back. I guess wait long enough and it's not even valuable to them.

Boz

---------- Post added at 11:55 ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 ----------

I registered interest before xmas, and yesterday no call. In fact, no one called us, as we discovered some moronic teenagers on the way to school jacked open the junction box opposite our house and yanked the cables, so we and a few others in the street lost phone lines.

Is it worth me calling VM CS up to see if they had tried to call me?

Boz

[Rattus]

Originally Posted by DaBoz

They didn't take my second V box back. I stopped paying for it and they said don't worry about sending it back. I guess wait long enough and it's not even valuable to them.

Boz

---------- Post added at 11:55 ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 ----------

I registered interest before xmas, and yesterday no call. In fact, no one called us, as we discovered some moronic teenagers on the way to school jacked open the junction box opposite our house and yanked the cables, so we and a few others in the street lost phone lines.

Is it worth me calling VM CS up to see if they had tried to call me?

Boz

You should have made them take it.. you're now responsible for disposal of it, which now cost ££.. That's why they don't want to take it.