# Hi all



## devilincarnate (Mar 5, 2011)

Hi all just wanted to say that I am having VM TIVO installed on Tuesday and just thought that I would say hello early. I have to say that I am waiting for the box to be installed as after reading countless threads and blogs about this. I do hope that it lives up to the hype ( only joking as I am sure that it will ).

As a first time user of TIVO I will need plenty of help and help of this and i do hope that you are as helpful as members of other forums?

Any-way introductions out of the way what delights am i to expect?


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## big_dirk (Feb 17, 2006)

We're a friendly bunch, you'll be fine here  

You're going to just love the TiVo, there's not a great deal wrong with it.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Pretty-much what he said ^^

There are some bugs - when are there not in computer-based stuff?  - but the basics are there and it can only get better!


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## Digital Fanatic (Feb 16, 2011)

devilincarnate said:


> Hi all just wanted to say that I am having VM TIVO installed on Tuesday and just thought that I would say hello early. I have to say that I am waiting for the box to be installed as after reading countless threads and blogs about this. I do hope that it lives up to the hype ( only joking as I am sure that it will ).
> 
> As a first time user of TIVO I will need plenty of help and help of this and i do hope that you are as helpful as members of other forums?
> 
> Any-way introductions out of the way what delights am i to expect?


Hiya, bud 

This is a good forum.. Some very knowledgable TiVo owners on here... getting some good feedback too.


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## devilincarnate (Mar 5, 2011)

Cheers BIG_DIRK and also CWARING ( I have read your posts over on DS and vm community forum ). Also cheers DF from what i have read on hear it is a good forum


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## Brangdon (Feb 9, 2001)

At the moment I'm tending in the other direction. The new boxes lack the TiVo magic. It's good to have 2 tuners and HD, and I gather they compare well to rival boxes with similar features, but so far it's not made me feel as passionate about it as S1 TiVo did. I hope it gets better, but I suspect a lot of the problems are due to policy decisions by VM or TiVo that won't be reversed.

(Examples include putting Guide at the top of the Home menu and the most used option My Shows in lowly 4th place; the new Guide layout, not allowing channels to be deleted, and the painfully slow UI. It can all be lived with, but it all degrades the experience.)


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Brangdon said:


> (Examples include putting Guide at the top of the Home menu and the most used option My Shows in lowly 4th place....


A problem which is negated by...

1. A big "MY SHOWS" button to take you directly to that page.
and 
2. Pressing "HOME" twice (or once from the 'home' page) will also take you directly to the 'My Shows' page.



> ...the new Guide layout, *not allowing channels to be deleted*, and the painfully slow UI. It can all be lived with, but it all degrades the experience.)


I agree with the bolded item. The others, like you say, I can live with.


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## Brangdon (Feb 9, 2001)

cwaring said:


> A problem which is negated by...


No, it's not. I sometimes navigate by menus rather than use the buttons. If the menus aren't there to be used, what's the point of them? And if there to be used, they should be correct.



> I agree with the bolded item. The others, like you say, I can live with.


I can live with all of them. But they all contribute to the experience being just another PVR, instead of something special.


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## Major dude (Oct 28, 2002)

Brangdon said:


> At the moment I'm tending in the other direction. The new boxes lack the TiVo magic.


I was big fan of the S1 GUi for picking shows by channel and by time but I have to say I am loving the VM GUI. It is pretty special and has the feel of a TiVo IMHO.


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## devilincarnate (Mar 5, 2011)

So it seems that there are a few glitches ( but they should be ironed out shortly ). Also it looks like i will be in for treat when i get it installed.

Cheers for the warm welcome.


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## geekspeak (Oct 1, 2002)

Major dude said:


> I was big fan of the S1 GUi for picking shows by channel and by time but I have to say I am loving the VM GUI. It is pretty special and has the feel of a TiVo IMHO.


You know this is still possible?! Took me a while to find it under "My Shows & Recordings" - "Manual Recordings". Once there, it looks very familiar.


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## Major dude (Oct 28, 2002)

geekspeak said:


> You know this is still possible?! Took me a while to find it under "My Shows & Recordings" - "Manual Recordings". Once there, it looks very familiar.


Wow, very familiar...

I'm like a pig in **** now.....I assumed manual recordings would be the same as on S1 and had ignored it, but no there it all is by time and by channel.

Is there a short cut though like there use to be?


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

^ No.


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## Zaichik (Mar 21, 2002)

The only things that are tainting my experiences with the new TiVo are:

1. The continuing PIN annoyance
2. The fact that Suggestions hasn't recorded one thing that I want to watch (apart from continually recording things from the HD channels that I already have series links to on the SD equivalent).
3. The fact the arrival of the new TiVo has coincided with some pretty dismal TV schedules and I'm struggling to find anything I want to watch/record.


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## JayAy (Jan 31, 2011)

Major dude said:


> Is there a short cut though like there use to be?


Can't you just make one for a Harmony remote?


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## WooLLsterQ (Feb 14, 2011)

Hello matey


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## devilincarnate (Mar 5, 2011)

Just had mine installed this morning and have been playing with it since ( had to stop or i would go blind ). I have to say that it is AMAZING and I love the sleekness of the interface.
The engineers were here for about a hour in total to get it up and running and I had to explain a few things to them ( They said that they would call back in the morning after I had a play with the box? ). 

It is a brilliant piece of kit and have to say is whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooopie


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## big_dirk (Feb 17, 2006)

devilincarnate said:


> Just had mine installed this morning and have been playing with it since ( had to stop or i would go blind ). I have to say that it is AMAZING and I love the sleekness of the interface.
> The engineers were here for about a hour in total to get it up and running and I had to explain a few things to them ( They said that they would call back in the morning after I had a play with the box? ).
> 
> It is a brilliant piece of kit and have to say is whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooopie


my engineer was really nice and strangely also said that she'd pop back with a proper instruction manual rather than the print out she left and to check up on me but never did :down:


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## devilincarnate (Mar 5, 2011)

big_dirk said:


> my engineer was really nice and strangely also said that she'd pop back with a proper instruction manual rather than the print out she left and to check up on me but never did :down:


The reason that they said that they would come back is due to after reading here,Cable Forum and other forums I was more clued up than them. They were discussing the blue light on the box and I had to point out that it was the download light ( also to show the via the VM website ).
One of the installers had not done any TIVO installs and the other had only done them with the principal tech.

PS Also have to say they were very good techs as they checked all the other connections and the other box as well.


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## howardmicks (Feb 13, 2011)

Hello everybody,i get my tivo installed on saturday so i thought id introduce myself early.Never had tivo b4 so will be relying on you self taught experts for help,Seen some familiar names on here so lucking foward to joining the vm tivo revolution


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## tdenson (Oct 3, 2002)

big_dirk said:


> my engineer was really nice and strangely also said that she'd pop back with a proper instruction manual rather than the print out she left and to check up on me but never did :down:


Which area are you in ? I had a lady engineer as well, and I suspect they are few and far between.


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## devilincarnate (Mar 5, 2011)

howardmicks said:


> Hello everybody,i get my tivo installed on saturday so i thought id introduce myself early.Never had tivo b4 so will be relying on you self taught experts for help,Seen some familiar names on here so lucking foward to joining the vm tivo revolution


Welcome as I posted this thread as I am the same as yourself and need help in regards to this. It does seem that they all seem to know what they are doing in regards to this and also how are your feelings towards to the TIVO box at the moment as you have had it a couple of days longer than me


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## tdenson (Oct 3, 2002)

I'm surprised no one in this thread has commented on the abominable discovery bar. Is it just me that resents losing a third of my screen to a feature I never make use of. Why on earth can't this be switched off.


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## Major dude (Oct 28, 2002)

I have been busy making my first remote recording request via the VM TV EPG on the website and it worked. Took 30 minutes for the message to come through to my TiVo.

Also setting up wish lists etc., and what has become apparent to me are the two different styles of menus. The newer ones such as the home screen with the discovery bar and the EPG table, as opposed to the older original TiVo screens with the larger font, such as wish lists and manual recordings.


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## devilincarnate (Mar 5, 2011)

tdenson said:


> I'm surprised no one in this thread has commented on the abominable discovery bar. Is it just me that resents losing a third of my screen to a feature I never make use of. Why on earth can't this be switched off.


I have to say that I like the discovery bar so far, but have to say I have not watched/recorded enough for the suggestions. So at the moment I would not be able to comment?


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## scgf (Oct 24, 2000)

Brangdon said:


> I can live with all of them. But they all contribute to the experience being just another PVR, instead of something special.


I never thought I'd agree with a sentiment like that. As I have said elsewhere I was completely underwhelmed with the new TiVo. When the S1 came out it was revolutionary - there was nothing else like it. It was the first PVR most people had experienced.

Since then there has been a lot of progress with PVRs. TiVo offers a few extras, but nothing that I would really miss.

When I had my VM TiVo installed I really didn't like it. I hate the horrible red UI. I hate that so much of the screen is taken up with things like the discovery bar, and that 'My Shows' is in a sub-window of the main screen and just looks awful. I can't get my head around the organisation of it at all. Most of all I hate the awful SD picture quality.

I think that companies such as Apple have really upped the ante in terms of usability and the human interface to such an extent that TiVo looks like an amateur offshoot of Windows and has that similar messy look and feel.

I used to be a TiVo evangelist and was so excited when VM announced their deal with TiVo. I can't believe how disappointed I am now.

I can't wait to get my TiVo swapped out for a V+ box on Saturday!


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## devilincarnate (Mar 5, 2011)

scgf said:


> I never thought I'd agree with a sentiment like that. As I have said elsewhere I was completely underwhelmed with the new TiVo. When the S1 came out it was revolutionary - there was nothing else like it. It was the first PVR most people had experienced.
> 
> Since then there has been a lot of progress with PVRs. TiVo offers a few extras, but nothing that I would really miss.
> 
> ...


If that is the way that you see it i hope that you get the SA box as it seems more stable than the Samsung box ( as my partners dad has had to call 3 times in 5 days to complain about the Samsung box ).

If you have been a TIVO evangelist before for the TIVO box why not give it a chance as you and all on here know that it it is not ready for full rollout yet and will get better I have read that you are not happy with this as i read your posts on the other forums?

Cheers the Devilincarnate


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## scgf (Oct 24, 2000)

devilincarnate said:


> If you have been a TIVO evangelist before for the TIVO box why not give it a chance as you and all on here know that it it is not ready for full rollout yet and will get better I have read that you are not happy with this as i hread your posts on the other forums


I appreciate your comments, and I have tried hard to like it over the past week, and I would be prepared to overlook the UI weaknesses, were it not for the poor SD picture quality. My reasoning is that I will return to what I had before, a Samsung V+ box, and I'll be happy when I read on here that something has been done to improve the quality of the TiVo picture.

Initially I thought I could get away with watching only HD material - but I can't. TiVo records suggestions from all over the place and will record an SD programme instead of the same programme on an HD channel. I usually can't watch HD catchup because whenever I select an HD programme I am told that demand in my area is too high and I have to watch the SD version instead. I was happy to do that with the V+ box because SD programmes looked OK. Now they don't I feel I have just lost out too much.

What's the point in watching a worse picture just to gain a few extra features? It goes against my minimalist tendencies in other areas like HiFi where less is more and quality of sound is more important than flashing lights and masses of controls.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

scgf said:


> When the S1 came out it was revolutionary - there was nothing else like it. It was the first PVR most people had experienced.


And I think that's the problem, to be honest; at least for some people, it seems. We were all spoiled.

That said, I think it's _still_ the best mass-market, consumer PVR out there 



devilincarnate said:


> If that is the way that you see it i hope that you get the SA box as it seems more stable than the Samsung box ....


With respect (as always) I disagree. I had the SA box and my parents still have the Samsung. Although both have never had any problems, the Sammy is just _so_ much faster and more responsive.


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