BF
Had it eariler in the year for a few months (I was one of rightous ones who switched over to sky within days of the channels being pulled)
Right, Even besides personal agnst I personally didn't rate it I found it to be very slow slugish and it crashed all the time. Very easy to use when playing back your programs tho. I also found the EPG to be very poor too but that was just Virgin in general anyway. (Eg I'm a obbessive collector of shows and it doesn't tell you 'which' episode of a picular show it is half the time. Sky's EPG does) but your a 'normal' consumer who doesn't know each only fools & horses in order and by name I'm guessing
Getting to the pros and cons
Cons = Slow, crashes alot, Sluggish has no 'Keep' option for your recorded shows so that you can't delete them by mistake if you knock the delete button by aciddent.
Pros= Tons of storage space, 80 hours and you can record 2 programs and watch a 3rd at the same time. You don't need an extra lead all comes down the one cable.
Right, Even besides personal agnst I personally didn't rate it I found it to be very slow slugish and it crashed all the time. Very easy to use when playing back your programs tho. I also found the EPG to be very poor too but that was just Virgin in general anyway. (Eg I'm a obbessive collector of shows and it doesn't tell you 'which' episode of a picular show it is half the time. Sky's EPG does) but your a 'normal' consumer who doesn't know each only fools & horses in order and by name I'm guessing
Getting to the pros and cons
Cons = Slow, crashes alot, Sluggish has no 'Keep' option for your recorded shows so that you can't delete them by mistake if you knock the delete button by aciddent.
Pros= Tons of storage space, 80 hours and you can record 2 programs and watch a 3rd at the same time. You don't need an extra lead all comes down the one cable.
NI
Hmm, wasn't expecting a big ol' sales patter for Sky there but he's basically right. Can't think of many other pros or cons, basically it's a matter of the same software you got now but with PVR functions which work like VOD except it works most times.
Personally, I'd go with a Tivo as they're solid even though they haven't been updated in a good while but the choice is yours.
Personally, I'd go with a Tivo as they're solid even though they haven't been updated in a good while but the choice is yours.
:-(
Yeah, if you want the best PVR experience TiVo is the way to go.
Sky+ is a very poor system with an ancient, limited EPG. Much is made of the ability to record two shows at once -- TiVo gets around this problem by simply being smarter, rather than throwing hardware at the problem. Programmes are nearly always repeated across channels, and the box works out if there are alternative showings and records those instead.
Compared with the UK's oldest PVR system (a bit of a Concorde moment the TiVo) everything else is second-rate.
Freeview Playback promises to offer many of the smart features TiVo users have enjoyed for coming on for a decade now, but of course is free. Hopefully this will spur on the pay-TV companies to get up to scratch.
FWIW the V+ from what I have seen of it offers nothing of any note over Sky+, in terms of its DTR functionality.
A former member
Nini posted:
Personally, I'd go with a Tivo as they're solid even though they haven't been updated in a good while but the choice is yours.
Yeah, if you want the best PVR experience TiVo is the way to go.
Sky+ is a very poor system with an ancient, limited EPG. Much is made of the ability to record two shows at once -- TiVo gets around this problem by simply being smarter, rather than throwing hardware at the problem. Programmes are nearly always repeated across channels, and the box works out if there are alternative showings and records those instead.
Compared with the UK's oldest PVR system (a bit of a Concorde moment the TiVo) everything else is second-rate.
Freeview Playback promises to offer many of the smart features TiVo users have enjoyed for coming on for a decade now, but of course is free. Hopefully this will spur on the pay-TV companies to get up to scratch.
FWIW the V+ from what I have seen of it offers nothing of any note over Sky+, in terms of its DTR functionality.
AS
The intelligence is certainly a nice feature but I don't think it compares with the ability to record two separate channels at once?
TiVo has the nice feature of giving you 3(?) weeks worth of information, compared with one for Sky which is great for if you're on holiday but there are certainly downsides - no real time EPG update for one. But you have the option of using your mobile or the web to programme the box.
Again, the intelligence of working out what programmes you might like is great and beats the awful Sky Anytime hands down (a feature I instantly turned off when I got +) but I don't think Sky+ is "ancient" by any means. Series link is just a gem of a feature.
Asa
Admin
jason posted:
Programmes are nearly always repeated across channels, and the box works out if there are alternative showings and records those instead.
The intelligence is certainly a nice feature but I don't think it compares with the ability to record two separate channels at once?
TiVo has the nice feature of giving you 3(?) weeks worth of information, compared with one for Sky which is great for if you're on holiday but there are certainly downsides - no real time EPG update for one. But you have the option of using your mobile or the web to programme the box.
Again, the intelligence of working out what programmes you might like is great and beats the awful Sky Anytime hands down (a feature I instantly turned off when I got +) but I don't think Sky+ is "ancient" by any means. Series link is just a gem of a feature.
DA
Dave
Founding member
I have the V+ and I seem to go in periods of loving the box and then thinking Virgin can come and pick the box up and take it away.....but overall I'm happy with it.
I have never used Sky + so can't compare it but I find it easy to use.
My only grip is the time it takes to change channel. It's no faster than my old Pace standard box. Menus and stuff work fine and aren’t slow.
Recordings on some channels have drop outs in sounds but were told they are fixing this.
What they need to do is install the Tivo software onto the V+ box. (One cable provider does in the USA) then we would have the best of both worlds!
I have never used Sky + so can't compare it but I find it easy to use.
My only grip is the time it takes to change channel. It's no faster than my old Pace standard box. Menus and stuff work fine and aren’t slow.
Recordings on some channels have drop outs in sounds but were told they are fixing this.
What they need to do is install the Tivo software onto the V+ box. (One cable provider does in the USA) then we would have the best of both worlds!
:-(
A former member
> The intelligence is certainly a nice feature but I don't think it compares with the ability to record two separate channels at once?
Of course it does.
I've missed more programmes due to clashes on Sky+ than I have on TiVo.
For both programmes to be unavailable at another time/channel is a rare occurrence -- far rarer, in fact, than the possibility of THREE programmes clashing, which the Sky+ is completely incapable of getting around, and will often cancel a Series Link as a result.
Technically, the TiVo system could be presented with four or five simultaneous programmes clashing, and still be able to negotiate its way out of trouble. And even in the worst-case scenario it will still keep on recording future episodes even if a single episode is lost -- which the Sky+ will not do.
I have had to keep TiVo, not because it is revolutionary (although it is), but because once you get used to its flexibility, there is no turning back.
To ask it to record "Hitchhiker's Guide" on season pass as I did a few years ago from BBC2 (missing the first two episodes, so I left the season pass in place), and find that it recorded the next run from the start THREE YEARS LATER sealed it for me.
There is no reason for Sky+ , V+ or any of the others not to include these features, except for the obvious conclusion that their developers aren't up to the job!
I am actually going to put the Sky+ back into service -- but only because I've (belatedly) realised that the TiVo can control the Sky+, along with a Freeview box as a backup all at once, thereby giving me the best of all worlds. Sky+ can be put into action to record single programmes, TiVo records Freeview programmes wherever possible, and season passes on Sky-only channels can be retained, and Sky's series link functionality can be used as a backup (thereby allowing more than one channel to be recorded at once (3 in fact) AND have the proper series link implementation along with all the other features.
So, programme goes off-air for six months, Sky+ forgets all about it, TiVo remembers and records the first programme in the series, Sky+ then set to record the rest (if on a Sky-only channel) with TiVo being used to record shows as well in the event that Sky+ mucks things up.
Of course it does.
I've missed more programmes due to clashes on Sky+ than I have on TiVo.
For both programmes to be unavailable at another time/channel is a rare occurrence -- far rarer, in fact, than the possibility of THREE programmes clashing, which the Sky+ is completely incapable of getting around, and will often cancel a Series Link as a result.
Technically, the TiVo system could be presented with four or five simultaneous programmes clashing, and still be able to negotiate its way out of trouble. And even in the worst-case scenario it will still keep on recording future episodes even if a single episode is lost -- which the Sky+ will not do.
I have had to keep TiVo, not because it is revolutionary (although it is), but because once you get used to its flexibility, there is no turning back.
To ask it to record "Hitchhiker's Guide" on season pass as I did a few years ago from BBC2 (missing the first two episodes, so I left the season pass in place), and find that it recorded the next run from the start THREE YEARS LATER sealed it for me.
There is no reason for Sky+ , V+ or any of the others not to include these features, except for the obvious conclusion that their developers aren't up to the job!
I am actually going to put the Sky+ back into service -- but only because I've (belatedly) realised that the TiVo can control the Sky+, along with a Freeview box as a backup all at once, thereby giving me the best of all worlds. Sky+ can be put into action to record single programmes, TiVo records Freeview programmes wherever possible, and season passes on Sky-only channels can be retained, and Sky's series link functionality can be used as a backup (thereby allowing more than one channel to be recorded at once (3 in fact) AND have the proper series link implementation along with all the other features.
So, programme goes off-air for six months, Sky+ forgets all about it, TiVo remembers and records the first programme in the series, Sky+ then set to record the rest (if on a Sky-only channel) with TiVo being used to record shows as well in the event that Sky+ mucks things up.
MA
How did you guess?
Nini posted:
Order what though? Please for the love of pie, make it a Tivo!
How did you guess?