# So, one year on and how's it going?



## Muttley1900 (Dec 23, 2008)

As the title says, how are you getting on with your VMTiVos now it is around one year on since a number of you started getting phone calls and install dates.

Alas, no VM in my area (still) and no sign of it coming any day soon, so have signed up for another year with BT and BTVision - which, although is not as good as the old S1 TiVo, in the main does what I want. This is probably helped by my TV viewing habits decreasing somewhat in the last year too, so surprisingly not missing the old S1.


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## deshepherd (Nov 30, 2000)

Doesn't seem like a year but just looked up old messages and found my "its been installed" message from feb 11 last year!

Basically, its been brilliant (well apart from the original parental control annoyance!). Does pretty much everything that we used out S1 TiVo for, has multiple tuners so virtually nothing missed due to clashes, doesn't rely on an IR repeater for channel changes so no longer have the regular "it didn't change channels properly so we've missed the program" discoveries. As for increasing/decreasing TV viewing habits .... with a 1TB disk you get to a whole lot more TV that you can not watch later!


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## Tony Hoyle (Apr 1, 2002)

Disappointed, after all the promises. They've never dealt with the slowness, the networking still doesn't work after all the hope with the 15.2 update (it did, but they just disabled it, going backwards to pre-15.2 functionality), things like red button services still aren't available and multiroom still doesn't work, and it crashes regularly (twice last night, since the 'stability' update)..

I've downgraded to the minimum package now and are considering ditching the whole thing.. after so many years with Tivo it seems odd to be considering ditching it.. Tivo was the reason I got VM, and even contributed to the reason I live where I do, but VM seem to be doing nothing with it.


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## stixe (Nov 13, 2002)

Had mine 11 months now and I am very happy with it. I had consigned my S1 to the loft so it replaced my Sky+ HD box and I have to say I havent missed something I wanted to watch since (can't be said of the Sky Box).

a fair few clipped recordings to start with but soon remied with a bit of manual padding either side. 

Suggestions works fairly well although sometimes i'm not sure how the link to types of programs works but I've watched things I wouldn't have recorded and enjoyed them.

Overall the TiVo TV experience is I feel much more engaging than just watching TV and I am glad I changed.

:up::up::up:


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

Its good. So good I got a second one.

Just like our old S1 Tivo that got better over time by adding bits and pieces so hopefully VM will iron out some of the wrinkles that stop their Tivo being "near perfect"

I must admit Virgin have not handled things very well and at times have shot themselves in the foot.

And as for the VM Tivo forum. What a lot of whingers.


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## Qu1nt (Feb 3, 2011)

Very pleased here too, no problems & the update from a few months ago really improved speed plus the US TiVo app in just brilliant

9/10 from me


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Fantastic piece of kit. 9.5/10. Not interested in anything but recording TV and that works fine.


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## Paul Webster (Nov 16, 2003)

Muttley1900 said:


> As the title says, how are you getting on with your VMTiVos now it is around one year on since a number of you started getting phone calls and install dates.


Happy with mine - although it is used less than I expected. Added a Freeview HD-enabled TV with internet connectivity and tend to use that for both live TV and BBC iPlayer.



> Alas, no VM in my area (still) and no sign of it coming any day soon, so have signed up for another year with BT and BTVision - which, although is not as good as the old S1 TiVo, in the main does what I want. This is probably helped by my TV viewing habits decreasing somewhat in the last year too, so surprisingly not missing the old S1.


Watch out for a big update to your BTVision box ... switching from Microsoft platform to Linux-based with different software back-end. There was an article about it on ElReg recently.


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## sjp (Oct 22, 2001)

fine thank you very much - scared to repeat this "over there" just in case i'm slated as a fanboi 

even the New flag seems to be holding up now that the mid season breaks are coming to an end / new season shows are starting up again.


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## HyperionX (Dec 30, 2002)

Blimey I can't believe it's been a year.

So far it's been everything that I'd hoped for...oh I know the parental controls were a pain and the slowness can be annoying but for managing my TV viewing - outstanding.

Case in point; I used to use the Sky "Never Miss" service - subscribe, select a show and they'll email you when that show is about to be screened. So far without fail TiVo has not only spotted the shows well before the email has been sent let alone received, it's already set up the recordings in my series links. Some of the shows I couldn't use the Sky service for because Sky's marketing plan hadn't decided to release that information. Tivo wish lists sorted that right out.

Don't get me wrong it's not perfect - it could be quicker, it might be nicer to get to a few features without so many clicks, and some of the program info is way off - but I wouldn't go back for love nor money.

Add to that the unexpected behaviour with the £50 "refund" and I'd say on this front Virgin Media did a very good thing.

Now if we can add a few more HD channels they'll have rounded the package up completely


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## Brangdon (Feb 9, 2001)

For me not much has changed over the year. It's a big improvement over series 1, because of HD, 3 tuners, and an integrated system not missing channel changes. The UI is still slow and poorly thought out so it doesn't generate the love that series 1 did.

I don't use the apps or red button. It's good that the PIN bug got fixed, but annoying that a new bug prevents me easily deleting episodes that aren't fully watched. The lack of stickiness in the UI is annoying: I have to reset the channel list to "Favourites" two or three times a day. The "Hiccups" screen remains unusable because it can't be filtered. The basic functionality is very good, but with more attention to detail it could be so much better.


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## Zaichik (Mar 21, 2002)

I've found that the latest update has fixed the deleting bug - or at least it's fixed the bug that caused "stop recording and delete" not to work and often cause a lock up, so I assume it's fixed the rest as well.


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## browellm (Oct 21, 2003)

9/10 for me. It would be 10/10 if we could limit the wishlist searches to favourite channels.


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## alextegg (May 21, 2002)

I am very happy with the improvements, but they should be able to go further quicker, and if they did they would have a game changer.

Imagine what it would be with fast performance, multi-room streaming, handheld device control (iPhones, iPads, but also Android devices). Throw streaming to those devices, and how about downloading to the devices for remote viewing and that would be a device that people would swap Sky+ for in droves where they could.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

alextegg said:


> ...multi-room streaming, handheld device control (iPhones, iPads, but also Android devices). Throw streaming to those devices, and how about downloading to the devices for remote viewing and that would be a device that people would swap Sky+ for in droves where they could.


Unfortunately, all of these would probably require a re-negotiation of carriage contracts with the broadcasters. Probably not cheap and certainly not quick


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## Muttley1900 (Dec 23, 2008)

So it seems the verdict is that things aren't that bad at all - and actually very very good for most of you.

It is good to know (mutters away to myself re being envious).



Paul Webster said:


> Watch out for a big update to your BTVision box ... switching from Microsoft platform to Linux-based with different software back-end. There was an article about it on ElReg recently.


Thanks Paul, I will have to look it up - sounds very interesting. Maybe not as interesting if VM and BT sorted out the old analogue cable system where I am and updated it to the full VM thing, but hey-ho. Thanks for the heads-up.


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

browellm said:


> 9/10 for me. It would be 10/10 if we could limit the wishlist searches to favourite channels.


+1 million - stopped me using several general wishlists..

Otherwise not many outstanding complaints, just a few niggles:


Default padding on SPs can't be changed globally (1min before, 4min after)
Films are harder to spot, as years are no longer shown in the title since 15.2
(you can see film year by selecting them, but its not "at a glance")
 series info displayed in GUI (e.g. Ser 3 Ep 6), but not searchable via wishlists - since its not in the guide data / SD screens.

I prefer the old S1 style liveTV EPG where titles are less truncated
apps could be written better

But mostly its great, 3 tuners, and all in glorious HD.


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## scgf (Oct 24, 2000)

Have VM done anything about the SD picture quality? I had one of the first VM TiVos and returned it within a week because of the poor picture - verified by plenty of others before CW jumps in to defend it.

Since then I have been enjoying FreeView HD and more recently NetFlix via an Apple TV and am completely satisfied with my viewing choices. For me Netflix is one of the most exciting things to have happened to TV content and delivery in this country. In total I pay £5.99 a month for all this - saving £25 a month over VM.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

mikerr said:


> [*]Default padding on SPs can't be changed globally (1min before, *14min* after)


Slight typo there 


scgf said:


> Have VM done anything about the SD picture quality? I had one of the first VM TiVos and returned it within a week because of the poor picture - verified by plenty of others before CW jumps in to defend it.


I have never had a problem with other people having problems with Tivo.


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## scgf (Oct 24, 2000)

cwaring said:


> Slight typo there
> 
> I have never had a problem with other people having problems with Tivo.


Huh? Not sure where that's coming from.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

You seemed to think I would not be happy with your comment; or something.


scgf said:


> ...verified by plenty of others before CW jumps in to defend it.


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## martin93 (Jan 18, 2012)

mikerr said:


> Default padding on SPs can't be changed globally (1min before, *14min after*)


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## deshepherd (Nov 30, 2000)

Seems to be going ok for VM ... just read that they've now got 273,000 TiVo subscribers!

[update]

That was according the The Register ... article in The Guardian (confirmed by check of VM's press release) says its 273,000 new TiVo users in last quarter with total at 435,000 (12% of all VM TV subscribers)


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## Brangdon (Feb 9, 2001)

scgf said:


> Have VM done anything about the SD picture quality? I had one of the first VM TiVos and returned it within a week because of the poor picture - verified by plenty of others before CW jumps in to defend it.


Yes, that was acknowledged long ago and got fixed in the update of last November. (That also fixed the adult PIN problem.)


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## Diamond Mike (Dec 21, 2002)

After a year my Tivo is starting to misbehave, some HD recordings are freezing and then either starting up again or the Tivo just reboots. Ironically this never happened to me with my S1 Tivos. Now the problem is when to ask Virgin to replace; fortunately I have a dual tuner Humax linked to Freeview so I am using that whilst I watch all that I need to before asking for Virgin to come to my aid. I am recording my cable only channels in both HD and SD so that hopefully I can watch at least one of the recordings


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## Tavis75 (Jan 27, 2011)

scgf said:


> Since then I have been enjoying FreeView HD and more recently NetFlix via an Apple TV and am completely satisfied with my viewing choices. For me Netflix is one of the most exciting things to have happened to TV content and delivery in this country. In total I pay £5.99 a month for all this - saving £25 a month over VM.


Unless you want to watch anything broadcast in about the last 5 years!

Signed up for Netflix, searched through the TV programs and have been unable to find a single thing I wanted to watch! Even shows that I fell behind on watching a few years back don't seem to have the series that I haven't seen, just really old ones.

Ended up cancelling after a couple of weeks without watching a single program!

TBH, don't think the range of stuff available was even as good as what Virgin have in their OnDemand service.


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## stixe (Nov 13, 2002)

just trying my "free" netflix month via apple TV and very impressed lots of stuff and many films in HD. seems to intergrate well withh the apple UI if VM can do a similar job may be worth it....


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## 6022tivo (Oct 29, 2002)

Still not in an Cable area


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

Well since my last post in this thread in February, they did fix one of the niggles:


mikerr said:


> Default padding on SPs can't be changed globally (1min before, 4min after)


and they've reduced the keypresses/screens you need to go through to access on-demand stuff, which I use a lot.

Support and use of usb/wireless keyboard has greatly improved things too.


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