# Nero LiquidTV (Tivo on PC) - Reviewed by EngadgetHD. Not good :(



## EdGillett (Dec 19, 2002)

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/10/15/nero-liquidtv-tivo-pc-review/

There's some disappointing stuff in there - but hey, it's software - roll on version 2?

And it's better than no new Tivo at all in the UK ... perhaps this is as good as we can expect?

Check out the screenshots!

Hmmm ... I've de-subbed my Tivo and it's sat looking forlone at me in the spare bedroom, unplugged, pending an ebay-ing which I can't quite bring it upon my self to do.

Just about to ditch Sky (SkyHD box, no HD sub, just use it for Sky+ - which is rubbish of course - and free HD channel watching) and revert to Freeview with a Twin Tuner Freeview PVR (Humax 9300T ... £140 online - watch that fan noise though!). Bye bye Sky One .. you're not worth the cash, might as well buy Stargates etc on DVD box sets instead!

Already have Virgin Media for Broadband (ADSL signal poor given distance from exchange), will ditch BT for phone line, move that to VM to bring down Broadband cost, and get free Cable TV as a Freeview backup (Not going down the V+ route)

Was going to wait for the FreeSat HD PVR (FoxSat HDR) which is due before Christmas, but no indication on pricing yet, and since we don't actually have HDTVs yet, it would be paying early adopter prices for something I'm not going to derive immediate value from. Our big old 32" CRT fishbowl is still going strong and looks just fine with a decent Freeview signal ...


----------



## BrianHughes (Jan 21, 2001)

Most of the negatives are as compared to a series 2 or series 3 Tivo. It stacks up a lot better against an ancient series 1 or no Tivo at all. The main gripe is the $99/year. That seems fairly reasonable to me - if it translates to &#163;50ish/year over here.

I'd go for it in a heartbeat.


----------



## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

> Reviewed by EngadgetHD. Not good


I don't read that as "not good"!


----------



## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

EdGillett said:


> Was going to wait for the FreeSat HD PVR (FoxSat HDR) which is due before Christmas, but no indication on pricing yet


A few online retailers are advertising at £299. Some seem to be taking pre-orders with delivery expected in November.


----------



## cleudo (Apr 7, 2002)

A lot of good alternatives out there that don't cost anything...

GB-PVR to name but one..


----------



## martink0646 (Feb 8, 2005)

BrianHughes said:


> Most of the negatives are as compared to a series 2 or series 3 Tivo. It stacks up a lot better against an ancient series 1 or no Tivo at all. The main gripe is the $99/year. That seems fairly reasonable to me - if it translates to £50ish/year over here.
> 
> I'd go for it in a heartbeat.


Brian,

Whilst I agree with you in 'going for it in a heartbeat', I'll eat my hat if they don't do a straight $-£ conversion and charge us £99. In fact, if it's £50 I'll donate the difference to charity

Martin


----------



## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

I'm told, by people who should know, that Nero have not made a decision about whether this will be launched in the UK.


----------



## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

Maybe they'll wait to see how many sales they get for the US version?


----------



## ColinYounger (Aug 9, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> I'm told, by people who should know, that Nero have not made a decision about whether this will be launched in the UK.


I've been told, by people that should know (them) that Nero are hedging their bets on seeing how the product does in the US. If it sells, it comes to Europe in 2009.


----------



## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

I'd have thought it'd make more sense to release it in Europe. In the US it's competing with Tivo. In Europe it'd have a clear field.


----------



## Maclynn (Oct 6, 2000)

I have been told by people that know,(my wife that is), that if I waste any more money on TiVo she will leave.
Still weighing up the pros and cons.


----------



## pj280167 (Dec 21, 2005)

Maclynn, I'm still giggling....


----------



## DeadKenny (Nov 9, 2002)

kitschcamp said:


> I'd have thought it'd make more sense to release it in Europe. In the US it's competing with Tivo. In Europe it'd have a clear field.


It's competing with all the other PC PVR stuff out there. Some commercial, some free (not counting the hardware you need).

Problem with this kind of stuff is they tend to have deals with particular retailers so may only get sold in places that will stock them. Especially in the high street (look at the way PC World stocks particular brands only).

Hauppauge in particular are big in this market.

Personally I'd say it's likely going to be too much hassle anyway if it's every launched in the UK, and even then will probably only be any use with Freeview.


----------



## Pugwash (May 23, 2003)

What's wrong with Freeview then? I cancelled my Sky sub to go freeview because it covers every programme I watch. I think the only problem TiVo face is that in the UK they have zero brand recognition. Those of use who have TiVo machines love the system and software and understand why it's better than anything else. Peopl used to Sky of regular PVR's just don't get it.


----------



## DeadKenny (Nov 9, 2002)

Pugwash said:


> What's wrong with Freeview then? I cancelled my Sky sub to go freeview because it covers every programme I watch.


And on the flip side it doesn't cover even a fraction of the programmes I watch and so I can't just cancel for Freeview. For some people Freeview is okay, but not for others.

The other problem with Freeview though is the poor encodings, high compression, and reception problems especially in certain parts of the country (not to mention the digital switch over hasn't completed yet). Also the Freeview box I bought is now a brick thanks to their failure to support SetPal boxes (a box I bought for its handling of poor reception in particular).

Freesat on the other hand has more potential, though needs to expand the channel line up a bit more, especially in the HD department!

As I've got a Sky dish, I can drop to Freesat with little hassle. Freeview for me requires a new aerial, but still doesn't have the channels I want.


----------



## cleudo (Apr 7, 2002)

I picked up a Hauppauge Nova-HD-S2 for about &#163;65 from PCWorld (pricematched to dell) - gets all the freesat channels + the free HD ones. Paired up with GBPVR (which also streams to the rest of the household), it's not a bad TiVo replacement.


----------



## hazydaze (Nov 12, 2001)

Sorry in advance if I'm wrong. Doesn't Vista do season passes etc? It had kind of been my plan for when/if Tivo ceases.

How easy is Media Centre to operate etc with a dedicated box? Does it go into standby when not in use?

Had hoped that Play TV would cut it, but both the interface and lack of season pass functionality have ruled it out.


----------



## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

hazydaze said:


> Sorry in advance if I'm wrong. Doesn't Vista do season passes etc? It had kind of been my plan for when/if Tivo ceases.
> 
> How easy is Media Centre to operate etc with a dedicated box? Does it go into standby when not in use?


Yes Vista does season passes.

You can use it with a STB, but it's best with a built-in tuner.

Yes, you can set it to stand-by when not in use.


----------



## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

DeadKenny said:


> And on the flip side it doesn't cover even a fraction of the programmes I watch and so I can't just cancel for Freeview.
> 
> ...
> 
> Freesat on the other hand has more potential,.


Freesat doesn't have significantly more channels than FreeView, at least not ones with actual programmes on.


----------



## ColinYounger (Aug 9, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> Yes, you can set it to stand-by when not in use.


Could you expand on this please - I can set my PC to stand-by when not in use, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will wake up to do something without my index finger.


----------



## DeadKenny (Nov 9, 2002)

TCM2007 said:


> Freesat doesn't have significantly more channels than FreeView, at least not ones with actual programmes on.


Currently perhaps. Freesat however is just an EPG wrapper around free channels available on the satellites that Sky happen to use. The line up is improving all the time.

Freeview also has limitations in that the number of channels is achieved in some cases by time sharing with another channel, and can in some cases only get half a day's worth of channel. Ultimately Freeview is limited by capacity (and this also limits the interactive services). Increasing channel choice has to come through some sacrifices (time shared channels, increased compression).

Besides that, the Freesat platform is a prime candidate for add-on pay-per-watch premium content. Add on other channels for a small monthly cost on a per-channel basis perhaps. Better than Sky's mixes which ensure the majority of people will likely have to take all the mixes to get a handful of channels they really want. Pure speculation though (or a hope on my behalf so I can ditch Sky and get Freesat plus a few others I'd miss ).

I think the next 5 years though is going to see the on-demand and download market rise which may change TV more significantly.


----------

