# Farewell Tivo.....its been emotional



## khana (May 19, 2002)

Unfortunately the end is nigh and the lure of Sky HD has become to much. I've held off for months watching in envy as my shiny new 42" 1080 TV has been underused with standard def images. 

An advert in the local paper offering Sky HD from a local dealer at £170, plus the news that Sky are broadcasting Lost from next month mean that its time to trade up.

Farewell Tivo.....its been emotional


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## frogster (Jan 4, 2006)

khana said:


> An advert in the local paper offering Sky HD from a local dealer at £170,


I don't see how they can be doing it at that price.


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## jonphil (Aug 7, 2002)

£10 a month subs with no lifetime option. Sky also have huge buying power. The boxes maybe don't even cost £170 to make.


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## Automan (Oct 29, 2000)

Lost in HD - Cool 

P.S.
Welcome to the darkside 

Automan.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

khana said:


> Unfortunately the end is nigh and the lure of Sky HD has become to much. I've held off for months watching in envy as my shiny new 42" 1080 TV has been underused with standard def images.
> 
> An advert in the local paper offering Sky HD from a local dealer at £170, plus the news that Sky are broadcasting Lost from next month mean that its time to trade up.
> 
> Farewell Tivo.....its been emotional


Bet we see you back in a month's time telling us how the Sky+ part of Sky HD is rubbish and how half the vital programs you want end up not recording.


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## frogster (Jan 4, 2006)

jonphil said:


> £10 a month subs with no lifetime option. Sky also have huge buying power. The boxes maybe don't even cost £170 to make.


No, I meant I don't see how that one shop can be doing it at that price. Sky's price (and indeed the wholesaler price) for just the box is much higher than that.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

frogster said:


> No, I meant I don't see how that one shop can be doing it at that price. Sky's price (and indeed the wholesaler price) for just the box is much higher than that.


Perhaps they get a big bonus from Sky if they hit a certain quota for Sky+ installations in a certain period so can afford to pay it out of that.

Although its hard to get a discount on most Sky installation prices and impossible on the cost of the monthly sub (other than Sky's own official offers for their existing customers they sometimes run) there are deals out there on installation of a whole new Sky system.

For instance www.quidco.co.uk offers £50 cashback on any new Sky installation if you order via their cashback website. This £50 is presumably the commission that a retailer like Currys or Comet get from Skt every time they sell a whole new Sky installation.


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## chimaera (Nov 13, 2000)

Pete77 said:


> Bet we see you back in a month's time telling us how the Sky+ part of Sky HD is rubbish and how half the vital programs you want end up not recording.


It is poor, but nevertheless I've been using it since June and have only had one failed recording in all that time, and much as I miss TiVo's functionality, I won't be coming back and I suspect that's true of the majority. It's a necessary evil if you want HD, and you get used to the crappy interface. Digiguide is a must for finding stuff to watch though. I just transcribe the things I want to record once a week, which is not very convenient, but it works for me.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

chimaera said:


> It's a necessary evil if you want HD, and you get used to the crappy interface.


HD is not a must for me so long as it costs £500 to £600 a year in Sky subs I am not presently paying and when I have a Tivo Lifetime sub with a Cachecard and 500Gb of recording space.

Although I really don't like and almost can't tolerate watching Black and White programs (no matter how good the film) I honestly don't believe that the upgrade from HD is that order of significance as far as the sensibilities of the brains of I and most other viewers are concerned.

When the BBC have a £70 HD box available I can plug in to my current Sky communal dish's socket and when a 36" widescreen LCD is only say a one off £400 I may eventually consider making the change. Although I would hope that the BBC by then have a Freeview Playback equivalent of their HD satellite box in the works so that I can then possibly consider eventual although very reluctant retirement of Tivo.


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## alunj (Oct 9, 2000)

Well I did that too, had the tivo since launch.
After a few months of the Sky+ p[art of HD we are back to the tivo for day to day use and the sky box just for HD . I even got a multiroom to have a seperate box for the tivo to control as having tivo work the hd box was too much of a faff.
I use the mutiroom card in a dreambox and get rock solid chanel changes (took a while to match the drambox line up to the tivo but its been worth it) PQ from the dream to tivo to component to LCD is fine (not as good as HD but I go direct for that)
So dont sell your box try sky+/HD for a bit then decide


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## thechachman (Nov 28, 2004)

We've got Sky HD ... being quite happily controlled by a 360gb LT subbed Tivo w/cachecard  

If I want to record something one of the handful of HD channels I schedule it in the HD Sky+ but otherwise our mode0 VBR @ 8Mbit stream configured Tivo handles all the SD recordings


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## sanderton (Jan 4, 2002)

If you've had an upgraded TiVo you can't go back to running a regular Sky+HD alone - it just doesn't have the storage space. Record a handful of films in HD, a couple of shows from the BBC and a football match, and that's it - full.

I use Sky+HD for recording HD only, it couldn't possibly cope with recording my SD needs, even if I could live with the interface.

One failed recording so far (last week's Robin Hood) but as I'm only recording four or five things a week...


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## thechachman (Nov 28, 2004)

Yeah I've not really stressed the Sky+HD at all either, recorded Fight Science last night and a few bits on Artsworld earlier in the week, no failed recordings but it's only been a week 

Only Tivo SP to get cancelled so far is Las Vegas since its in HD ...

Am seriously tempted to slap a 750gb into the SkyHD box though must admit, now that the Copy+ s/w is fixed it's as easy/easier to do than reimaging a Tivo


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## sanderton (Jan 4, 2002)

Don't cancel the TiVo SP. Think of it as a backup!


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## thechachman (Nov 28, 2004)

Ah, I meant cancelled it on the lounge tivo which runs the SkyHD ... the bedroom one has it as a backup


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

sanderton said:


> If you've had an upgraded TiVo you can't go back to running a regular Sky+HD alone - it just doesn't have the storage space. Record a handful of films in HD, a couple of shows from the BBC and a football match, and that's it - full..


Stuart its good to know you are still in fact mainly using your Tivo to view most of your tv programs. Aside from the Sky+ recording space issue which seems surmountable in the long run with a much bigger hard drive what about Tivo Wishlists picking up programs in some area of interest that you might otherwise have missed, while of course the Sky+ interface cannot.

One question I do have though which is when you are viewing ordinary SD programs now you have Sky HD do you really sit there thinking "oh the quality of this is so poor" and "oh I really, really wish this was available in HD as it would be so much more enjoyable to watch"?


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## cyril (Sep 5, 2001)

Pete77 said:


> One question I do have though which is when you are viewing ordinary SD programs now you have Sky HD do you really sit there thinking "oh the quality of this is so poor" and "oh I really, really wish this was available in HD as it would be so much more enjoyable to watch"?


As a SkyHD user with 1.4TB of disk space and a Fujitsu P63xha51, I still watch a fair amount of TiVo.

When I watch TiVo I DO think 'this would be nicer in HD'.

When I watch Sky HD I think 'the reliability/features/EPG/interface/usability sucks compared to TiVo'.

I'd probably pay £3k or £4k if I could buy a Sky HD TiVo.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

cyril said:


> I'd probably pay £3k or £4k if I could buy a Sky HD TiVo.


But that is because you live in Baker St, Cyril and apparently have quite a bit bigger budget than most of us for such things as your one time ownership of four or five different subbed Tivos testified.

If I was to go the HD tv route I would only feel at all encouraged to go that way if a Tivo rather than a SkyCrap$ box was available. But all things taken together even if the Tivo box had a really enormous recording capacity I couldn't see myself being willing to pay more than £500 for such a box.

The other thing to remember about newer Tivo boxes is that they are totally locked down against many of the modifications so many of us here have had so much fun installing or using so perhaps future UK Tivo boxes would be rather less Tivo like than the boxes we have come to know and love.

Where are you in Baker St? Not anywhere near 221B I don't suppose as that's now part of some large office block I seem to remember hearing. I don't suppose own either a deerstalker hat or a pipe by any chance?


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## sanderton (Jan 4, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> One question I do have though which is when you are viewing ordinary SD programs now you have Sky HD do you really sit there thinking "oh the quality of this is so poor" and "oh I really, really wish this was available in HD as it would be so much more enjoyable to watch"?


A bit; it wears off though!

(i actually watch most of my TV through Media Center now, which is a a halfway house re: quality, as it records the Freeview bitstream and then upscales it to HD resolution)


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> The other thing to remember about newer Tivo boxes is that they are totally locked down against many of the modifications so many of us here have had so much fun installing or using so perhaps future UK Tivo boxes would be rather less Tivo like than the boxes we have come to know and love.


To be honest, Tivo being locked down probably wouldnt worry me as my Tivo is still as it came from the factory. It is just soooo much nicer than SKY+ which I have had to reboot 3 times this week


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## chimaera (Nov 13, 2000)

katman said:


> It is just soooo much nicer than SKY+ which I have had to reboot 3 times this week


I never have to reboot my HD box, it crashes and does it itself about once a week, often while I'm watching a programme


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## cyril (Sep 5, 2001)

chimaera said:


> I never have to reboot my HD box, it crashes and does it itself about once a week, often while I'm watching a programme


My Sky HD box just stops responding to the remote every now and then, or decides to remove or fail stuff that's scheduled every now and then 



Pete77 said:


> Where are you in Baker St? Not anywhere near 221B I don't suppose as that's now part of some large office block I seem to remember hearing. I don't suppose own either a deerstalker hat or a pipe by any chance?


I now spend much of my time in Docklands, and might move to Holland Park in a couple of years time. I was right next to the 221B building, but don't own a deerstalker or pipe . I have been priced out of Baker street as it's about £1100 per square foot and SWMBO wants a bigger place. I will have to work 52 weeks a year for another 80 years to afford a house with garage and garden here.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

cyril said:


> I was right next to the 221B building, but don't own a deerstalker or pipe . I have been priced out of Baker street as it's about £1100 per square foot and SWMBO wants a bigger place. I will have to work 52 weeks a year for another 80 years to afford a house with garage and garden here.


But have you at least read any of the Sherlock Holmes books or watched any of the films? No sightings of the ghost of either Moriarty or Doctor Watson from the sound of it? 

Perhaps if you restrained yourself from the spontaneous extravagances like the many Tivos and subs the £600+ a year Sky + Sky HD subs and invested it all in the stock market then you would have the money you need in no time...............................


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

Or maybe not, if my endowment was anything to go by!


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## sanderton (Jan 4, 2002)

Leave how you're endowed out of this Stephen, it's not that kind of board.


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

So you don't want to see a piccy of my 2.4 metre, then?


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## sjp (Oct 22, 2001)

kitschcamp said:


> So you don't want to see a piccy of my 2.4 metre, then?


be more impressed with a piccy of the receipt


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

That wasn't too bad, it's the other bits you need to pick up anything that's the problem.


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