# Are you getting a new Virgin Media TiVo?



## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

I think its safe to say that anyone still lingering around this Series 1 Tivo forum, are long standing TiVo users who have been desperate for a new TiVo product in the UK!

These forums were so prolific with users back around 2002 - 2006, you had to visit frequently to keep up with messages.

It's clear now from the usage stats that has significantly changed and even many of the long term hopefuls have given up and moved on 

Whilst the new Virgin Media offering was a welcome surprise, my gut feeling is many long-term Tivo'ers might still be left out in the cold!


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## mike0151 (Dec 13, 2001)

Think I'll wait until the price drops to a more reasonable level. Still using my oldest S1 on Freeview and must get round to setting up the other one on my V box.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Yes, even if people have upgraded their main room, the series 1 is a nice option to use in a second reception room or bedroom with a cheap &#163;20 freeview box on there, you've got yourself a nice user friendly digital tv solution, however its surprising how many people probably overlook this and end up putting it into storage or selling it for next to nothing on ebay.


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

Unless I get a good offer from VM to swap V+ for Tivo with no upfront costs I reckon I will stay as I am V+ used for HD viewing and 2 Tivos fed by 2 VM stbs.

The only downside to the series 1 that I find is the sheer size of them compared to newer offerings of PVR/DVR


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## AMc (Mar 22, 2002)

No cable means no new Tivo


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

AMc said:


> No cable means no new Tivo


Likewise


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

I have cable and I'm just waiting for VM to take my money to put a TiVo on the end of it


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## Leif_Davidsen (Jun 5, 2002)

If I had cable it would be an easy choice. Here in rural Surrey we are still waiting for Freeview...which won't be until 2012. If Virgin can manage to bring out a Freeview based Virgin Tivo by then that would be super. Otherwise fingers crossed on our Series 1 boxes keeping going


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## sjp (Oct 22, 2001)

probably spring/summer when I can to a tidier cable job, along with some general redecoration, between the front door and the living room. never used the HD on my Sky+ box after a BBC1 HD channel change froze the box and the subsequent reboot emptied my hdd so it'll be about time I made full use of my telly. given the age of my Sky+ box I recokon I'm on borrowed time anyway, my S1 Tivo will live on for a while as a freesat box.


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## P.L (Apr 30, 2002)

Just saw this message at the top of the screen "You last visited: 03-02-2003" - doesn't seem like that long!

Yes I'll be getting it as soon as my current 12 month contract with Sky is up. Have had V+ before from VM and the main things letting it down were the bugginess of the STB and the poor organisation of the on-demand service.

I have every confidence in the new Tivo box, without even seeing it, and hopefully their on-demand has been improved a little since I last used it.

After years of not using a Tivo I still miss many features from it, which are no-where to be found with any other PVR available. I'm a little bit excited as I will have gone from a Series1 to a Series4 unit, so there should be a lot of improvements from my last one!


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## derek30.adams (Jan 27, 2009)

As I live in a private road, Virgin will not install a cable - only 25 metres away... 

So will keep going with my S1 with large disk and network connection and very pleased with it.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

RichardJH said:


> Unless I get a good offer from VM to swap V+ for Tivo with no upfront costs...


Not a chance. These boxes cost money and they're not gonna give them away; and they won't be able to charge enough per month to make that money back.



derek30.adams said:


> As I live in a private road, Virgin will not install a cable - only 25 metres away...


That can be annoying but (as I understand it) it's a "wayleave" thing. If they could get the wayleave they might cable your road; but it's getting it that's the problem.

And yes, I'm getting one as soon as financially possible


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

cwaring said:


> Not a chance. These boxes cost money and they're not gonna give them away; and they won't be able to charge enough per month to make that money back.


Well I haven't paid any upfront or install charges in the past so may just wait a while. At the moment cannot see what advantages I would gain in recording abilities by moving from what I have. V+ records 2 HD or SD channels. 2 x Tivo record 1 SD channel each. And then there are the Win 7 mediacenter recording 2 freeview channels and a Humax recording 2 more Freeview channels


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

RichardJH said:


> Unless I get a good offer from VM to swap V+ for Tivo with no upfront costs I reckon I will stay as I am V+ used for HD viewing and 2 Tivos fed by 2 VM stbs.


Similar setup to me then - you may find VM will do you a deal as you have 3 boxes.
Depends how good your negotiation skills are on the phone - I've always found VM pricing to be quite flexible if you hang on the phone long enough (and threaten to leave / compare with sky prices) 



RichardJH said:


> At the moment cannot see what advantages I would gain in recording abilities by moving from what I have. V+ records 2 HD or SD channels


Any TiVo owner should be well aware its not raw hardware specs, but the elegance in how you access content :up:

I am watching more on demand stuff these days, one annoyance with the current VM setup is that you can text search for programmes, but you can't save that search - so you have to type it in again next time you go into the menu - no doubt the new tivo will improve on that amongst everything else.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

derek30.adams said:


> As I live in a private road, Virgin will not install a cable - only 25 metres away...
> 
> So will keep going with my S1 with large disk and network connection and very pleased with it.


Wow, so close yet so far 

If your planning on staying put, I would consider negotiating with Virgin (if you can find the right person / department) if they would connect you if you provided them a termination from your property to the road. I know the water authority does the same thing, I had to run my own blue pipe from the back of my house to the road and then they cam along and connected me up to the Water Main.

I don't know if it would be logistically possible, but maybe a pneumatic mole could deliver the fibre from your door to the road, then you only need a hole dug at both ends which you might be able to get done by a 3rd party contractor for a reasonable price!?


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

mikerr said:


> Similar setup to me then - you may find VM will do you a deal as you have 3 boxes.
> Depends how good your negotiation skills are on the phone - I've always found VM pricing to be quite flexible if you hang on the phone long enough (and threaten to leave / compare with sky prices)


Exactly how I got to where I am now with VM


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

cwaring said:


> Not a chance. These boxes cost money and they're not gonna give them away; and they won't be able to charge enough per month to make that money back.


Oh I think they will! Virgin's AVERAGE revenue per customer is over £46 a month.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Yes, for all the services that the average person gets. I'm talking about _just_ the price of the Tivo.


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## Ovit-UK (Dec 26, 2002)

Yeah, like others I'm just waiting for the call to come from V.M


I will take it whatever the pricing situation (will forgo other plans to ensure the cost is covered) as I've been waiting soo long to get a more modern version of TiVo.


Still find it a questionable decision that Sky tryed to kill it off rather than embrace it but hope it works well for V.M and they at least get to reap the benifits.




Ovit


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## dd_ (May 13, 2006)

If I hadn't moved from a cable area to the back of beyond (where men are men and sheep are scared), I'd think about it. Still, being a student now, I can't afford it anyway, so my trusty and currently free S1 will suffice.


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## -MC- (Dec 9, 2005)

Registered on the Virgin site and waiting for more good news, cant wait for the new Tivo!

Hopefully I will be able to keep at least one Tivo S1 going though


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## einstein (Jul 19, 2001)

-MC- said:


> Registered on the Virgin site and waiting for more good news, cant wait for the new Tivo!
> 
> Hopefully I will be able to keep at least one Tivo S1 going though


no cable for me, I can just about get broadband trickling down the 3.75km length of BT cable!


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## Trinitron (Jan 20, 2003)

We have cable here but it's not Virgin, so no chance!


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## AENG (Dec 20, 2000)

> I live in a private road, Virgin will not install a cable


As cwaring said, it's a wayleave thing. In 1996 the then operator, CableTel, approached _me_ as one of five owners in a private cul-de-sac to sign a wayleave for ducting in an 8-10 inch wide trench with a connection point outside each house. They got their five signatures and their contractors susequently did the work. I only know one resident (not me!) that took up the service at the time.

It sounds as if Virgin might be making a less energetic marketing effort now than CableTel did (though not if the sheer volume of their fliers coming through my letterbox is anything to go by!). Perhaps a further approach to them might prompt an improved reaction. Good Luck!


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## tenwiseman (Dec 3, 2006)

I would love to have a new TiVo, and we do have Virgin cable in the street.

However I (and many others) had a nasty run-in with Cable & Wireless years ago that left a sour taste. Namely without giving proper fair contractual notice they pulled the plug on my favourite free dialup ISP (Direct Connection) and announced charges of over £100 a year to have an similar unlimited connection (on top of the cost of running the extra phone line).

That was over 10 years ago (and the issue looks dated now that we have services like superfast ADSL Be broadband), but I bear grudges like an elephant even though their branding has changed and I don't quite like the idea of paying NTL subscriptions even now.

http://www.unmetered.org.uk/news/news090899.htm

So, not for me I'm afraid. :-(


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## jamiemc01 (May 29, 2003)

I'm lucky, I leave in a cable area and will be getting a new Tivo just as soon as Virgin can get one to me !!


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## Major dude (Oct 28, 2002)

I probably will be getting one, but a special deal from VM would be a clincher.
Bit worried about some reaction in the US to the TiVo Premiere though.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

tenwiseman said:


> I would love to have a new TiVo, and we do have Virgin cable in the street.
> 
> However I (and many others) had a nasty run-in with Cable & Wireless years ago that left a sour taste.
> 
> So, not for me I'm afraid. :-(


Virgin is not a rebranding of C&W; C&W sold it's cable TV assets to NTL which then rebranded as Virgin.

You can get a new TiVo with a clear concience, Virgin is not the same company as C&W.


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

No, but I will be getting a new TiVo. He he!


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## derek30.adams (Jan 27, 2009)

AENG said:


> As cwaring said, it's a wayleave thing. In 1996 the then operator, CableTel, approached _me_ as one of five owners in a private cul-de-sac to sign a wayleave for ducting in an 8-10 inch wide trench with a connection point outside each house. They got their five signatures and their contractors susequently did the work. I only know one resident (not me!) that took up the service at the time.
> 
> It sounds as if Virgin might be making a less energetic marketing effort now than CableTel did (though not if the sheer volume of their fliers coming through my letterbox is anything to go by!). Perhaps a further approach to them might prompt an improved reaction. Good Luck!


Virgin are certainly very shy of making any more investment to their cable structure at present. In a private road of 22 properties they required at least 75% of those to sign up for a full package i.e. tel, broadband and TV - so no chance of the sign-up.


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## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

katman said:


> Likewise


Even more likewise


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## frouboy (Jun 22, 2003)

moved house at the beginning of october and took out a contract with virgin specifically because virgin was going to bring out a tivo box. I've been without tivo for nearly 3 months and it's only once you don't have one that you realise how absolutely brilliant they are. I don't want to pay for one but I certainly will as soon as I'm offered one.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Thought it worth posting this in here too!

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=461911


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