|
|
|
Record and access TV more easily
Tivo is the new set-top TV recorder available to Virgin Media customers.
It is more expensive than the existing V+ box and duplicates some of its features such as pausing and rewinding live TV, and ‘series link' recordings. But it's also much more intuitive than V+ and can cleverly ‘learn' what programmes you like.
For example if you like crime dramas and start recording some, similar programmes will be recorded in the Suggestions folder.
If the name sounds familiar it's because Tivo the company sold its devices in the UK ten years ago but gave up in 2002 when Sky+ appeared. It continued to be available in its US homeland, and has now returned as a service for Virgin Media customers.
A Discovery bar along the top of the screen flags up films and TV available to rent, which are also supposed to match the user's tastes - ‘thumbs up' and ‘thumbs down' buttons for each programme allow users to define their viewing tastes more concisely. It's not perfect but it did work.
As with the V+ box the Tivo can access catch-up TV services, but with a neat twist: users can search in the normal way by going to the catch-up TV icons but the TV channel guide allows them to go back in time to programmes already shown earlier that day. If the programme has a circled C logo it will be available as a catch-up show: clicking twice starts it playing, which is much easier than searching through long A-Z lists.
Series link records whole series of shows at a click. The Tivo marketing materials made a lot of the ability to search for programmes featuring particular actors but some of these searches were patchy in our experience.
Other features worked well, however, including the ability to watch Youtube videos through the box on the TV. Parental controls can be set for particular times, individual series or programmes.
Virgin Media has relaxed the restrictions on getting a Tivo: users no longer need to sign up to the XL TV package. Instead it costs £3 a month over the standard package price, plus initial fees (see Details). It's available to new customers too, who must of course live in a road served by Virgin Media.
The Tivo wasn't perfect: we couldn't understand why some recorded programmes cut short before their endings and unlike the V+ box users can't flag up programmes before they start. Also unlike the V+, the Tivo can't be linked to a DVD recorder to save recorded programmes.
It was temperamental, freezing and crashing at awkward times, but overall Tivo is a great box of tricks and the best TV set-top-box we've used.
Read more reviews
Our verdict
Virgin Media's Tivo is hands-down the best TV recorder we've used
Lots of useful features and apps; neater interface than V+ box; easy to get to grips with; comprehensive menus, channel listing and user guide
A little expensive; some bugs such as programme clipping; occasional crashes; can't record to DVD
£3 per month and £50 installation fee (1TB box has extra £50 activation fee)
Updating your subscription status 
A technology for downloading files. Allows even very large files to be downloaded quickly.
Save money by switching to fast 3G broadband
why 5 stars
Why have you given this 5 stars if it freezes,crashes and cuts short programmes?
Posted by Michael Butler, 15 Feb 2012
Agreed why 5 stars
There are far more bugs with the Tivo box than in your review.
Posted by Graham Moore, 17 Feb 2012
Agreed why 5 stars
There are far more bugs with the Tivo box than in your review.
Posted by Graham Moore, 17 Feb 2012
why 5 stars
I also cannot understand the 5 stars. AS well as the problems stated in the review, it also has very poor audio/lip syncrinisation!!
Posted by Ron, 17 Feb 2012
Tivo box
I have had a Tivo box since they were first introduced last year and i have NEVER had a crash or freezing box at all, surely you go into the programme settings and alter the recording plus or minus minutes, the TIVO does NOT cut short programmes, since the updates the menus have got faster and i think it beats the SKY+ box hands down (yes i have used the sky + box)
Posted by Pieter allchiin, 18 Feb 2012
V+ Box Was Far better
We switched to TIVO box (almost forced to be Vigin) and had the previous V+ box installed in another room. I am thinking of switching the boxes back. TIVO is clunky and inconsistent. Nothing is easy to do and the the box freezes. Recording/playback is not bad but catchup/on-demand just does not work at times. Plus all the other faults recorded by others. If I didn't know better I would thing TIVO was built by Microsoft!
Posted by Steve M, 19 Jul 2012
You can record to DVD
You just have to do it in real time, unlike the V+ which could archive at high speed while you watched something else. Admittedly this is a minus over the V+ box, but the massively increased storage makes it less likely you'll need to archive as much to save space. It would be good to be able to archive at high speed though, some things you want to keep for genuine reasons - for example someone I know was on TV and I wanted a copy to keep. It is a bit of a pain to do compared to the V+, however I believe Sky use the smae method. In other words you can't archive at high speed with a SKy PVR either. Hopefully Virgin will find some way to allow high speed archiving, then this box would be Class A. Then again, many people used o sheepishly admit that they simply used the V+ high speed copying to accumulate mountains of DVD folders full of stuffthey never watched.Maybe the inability to do that is simply saving us from ourselves.
Posted by David B, 26 Jul 2012
You can record to DVD
You just have to do it in real time, unlike the V+ which could archive at high speed while you watched something else. Admittedly this is a minus over the V+ box, but the massively increased storage makes it less likely you'll need to archive as much to save space. It would be good to be able to archive at high speed though, some things you want to keep for genuine reasons - for example someone I know was on TV and I wanted a copy to keep. It is a bit of a pain to do compared to the V+, however I believe Sky use the smae method. In other words you can't archive at high speed with a SKy PVR either. Hopefully Virgin will find some way to allow high speed archiving, then this box would be Class A. Then again, many people used o sheepishly admit that they simply used the V+ high speed copying to accumulate mountains of DVD folders full of stuffthey never watched.Maybe the inability to do that is simply saving us from ourselves.
Posted by David B, 26 Jul 2012