Saturday, 26 February 2011

Compare Virgin Media's TiVo to other PVRs

I give you the first version of the Virgin Media TiVo Blog's PVR Comparison document.

I'm sure there's a few things in there which are a) incorrect, b) just daft and b) missing, so, with your feedback, I can improve the document so people can compare TiVo to other PVRs. At the moment those 'other' PVRs are Virgin's V+ HD and Sky's HD 1TB box.

UPDATED: Now contains details for Power consumption, HD Channels, VOD (Pull and Push), Search capabilities, Red button services and more.

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

A review and screenshots galore for Virgin Media's TiVo

Digital Spy Forums poster annax has posted a very detailed review of you-know-what:
As for the good stuff, well, let's just start by saying that for the last week, all I've been thinking about is "TiVo's coming back!" and ever since the install, I've had a huge grin on my face when watching TV. TiVo just makes you feel better. No matter how many bells and whistles and features, etc, TiVo simply makes TV watching, recording and exploring enjoyable. None of that is lost with this Virgin Media TiVo.
Meanwhile, Cable Forums poster pythagoras has posted several screenshots from using you-know-what.

Sunday, 20 February 2011

New Videos for Virgin Media TiVo; Explore Shows, Tweet away and win a Million pounds on your telly

TivoCentralCoUK have uploaded 3 new videos showing off use of Virgin Media's TiVo. One of the videos shows Exploring shows on Virgin Media's new TiVo, another reveals the addictive-looking Who wants to be a Millionaire game.

The third video below shows off TiVo's Twitter app:

Why we need to wish for better Wishlists from Virgin Media's TiVo

Judging by this discussion thread over at the TiVo Community Forums, the Wishlists feature on Virgin Media's TiVo is lacking a channels filter, resulting in too many programme results from Wishlist searches.

On the Series 1 TiVos, it was possible to filter out channels supplied to you - those channels wouldn't be displayed in the EPG, or show up in Wishlist searches. That functionality has been removed from Virgin's TiVo, due to commercial agreements with UK channel providers.

This means that creating a Wishlist to search for say, 'football' would return results from various radio channels like BBC Radio Five - if you set that Wishlist to automatically record content, then all football content would be recorded from the radio channels - regardless of if you wanted to record football from the radio channels or not.

Likewise, a category Wishlist to locate Sci-Fi programmes would return content Sci-Fi related content from kids channels like CBBC (and potentially auto-record that content too), regardless of if you ever watched that channel.

However, there is hope that Virgin will come to their senses and at least allow us to restrict Wishlist searches to the 'favourites' channels defined by the users. Virgin Staff Member and TiVo Community Forum poster Digital Fanatic has confirmed that:
It would be a good idea to implement [the Favourites channels filter into] the WishList search. This has already been fed back to VM.
There also appears to be issues with specifying negative keywords when used with categories, as noticed by TiVo Community Forum poster mikerr in the same discussion thread.

Lets hope Virgin roll-out out the Wishlist fixes for these issues soon.


Saturday, 19 February 2011

Poll Results: 1TB Hard Drive is most desired feature of Virgin Media's TiVo

Voting for the first poll on this blog ended on Thursday after 157 votes (apologies for the crappy display of the poll), and to recap the results:

Which feature of Virgin Media's TiVo are you looking forward to the most?

1TB Hard Drive for recording more content, especially HD
  84 (53%)
Wishlists
  18 (11%)
TiVo Suggestions
  10 (6%)
Search & Browse for Content and related actors
  8 (5%)
Rating shows and movies
  0 (0%)
Extended EPG (including 7 day catch-up)
  13 (8%)
TiVo Apps (including YouTube & other IPTV apps)
  10 (6%)
Mobile & online recordings
  6 (3%)
Better looking user interface
  8 (5%)

That 1TB Hard Drive should be enough to contain 500 hours of standard definition recordings, or around 125 hours of high definition recordings - more if Virgin ever decide to use the more bandwidth efficient MPEG 4 codec for their HD channels instead of MPEG 2.

By comparsion, the 160Gb hard drive in the V+ HD boxes only has enough space for 80 hours of standard definition recordings, and a measly 20 hours of high definition recordings. With 17 HD channels on Virgin's XL pack, that really isn't enough.

Wishlists, TiVo Suggestions, extended EPG and TiVo apps were also highlighted as the most worthwhile features. As for rating shows and movies, I guess people will more interested in watching the content than rating it.

Friday, 18 February 2011

UPDATE: Virgin Media's TiVo could start with you and 999 other XL TV pack customers

It looks like you don't need to wait for one of these to come in the post after all:


...because tonight a page went live on the Virgin Media site which accepts registrations without the Unique reference number which has been printed on the 'It all starts with you' cards.

So, if you haven't received the above card in the post yet, and you fancy a chance of getting your hands on one of "1,000 TiVo boxes which you could enjoy on us for an entire year", then click here, good luck, and ignore the 'thank you' message after registration which assumes your first name is Phil.

You'll also receive an email from Virgin confirming your registration, mine said this:
Thank you for your interest.

We will be in contact by 20th March 2011 if you are one of the lucky ones to receive a TiVo box on us for a year.

Best wishes,

The Virgin Media Team

Thursday, 17 February 2011

50,000 pre-registrations for Virgin Media's TiVo

Virgin's CEO Neil Berkett revealed to Cable.co.uk (and Dow Jones Newswires) that so far, 50,000 pre-registrations have been received for the next-generation PVR.
Our new TV service, powered by TiVo, will provide a real step change in home entertainment as customers benefit from the unique power of the Virgin Media network.
Cable.co.uk have also revealed their own guide to Virgin's TiVo:
This broadband connection will allow you to browse the web on your TV as well as enjoying a vast array of games and applications, including those that use Adobe Flash technology. The new Virgin TiVo will integrate television and the online world in a way never before seen in the UK.

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