Original TiVo advertising

[aerialplug]

While rummaging through a drawer in my desk looking for something else, I came across the pamphlet TiVo used to advertise their forthcoming new product and thought others would like to see it. I picked this up in a Dixons store in Sutton about a week before UK launch.

The pamphlet is a fanfold with the front title "Seeing is Believing." Once you open it up you "followed the line" through the narrative.

page 1 (http://hywel.org.uk/tivo/tivoAd1.jpg) and page 2 (http://hywel.org.uk/tivo/tivoAd2.jpg).

The biggest problem with this brochure I think is that they have so much information to convey - I wonder who would pick this up in Dixons and read it all, absorbing exactly what it all entailed. Having said that, it was a radically different concept back then - there simply wasn't anything to compare to. DVD recorders weren't even on the mass market yet let alone hard disk recorders so the nearest thing to compare to really was the VHS video recorder (remember that?).

These days, if I'm trying to explain TiVo to someone who hasn't heard of it, I describe it as a Sky Plus, with a lot more features and a user interface that doesn't jar on just about every level...

Speaking of launch, it's nearly 6 years now since TiVo launched in the UK...

[RichardJH]

I wonder who would pick this up in Dixons
Certainly not one of their sales people they wouldn't understand it.

I must admit having read throught the brochure I am not sure I would have understood it 6 years ago. Tivo sales definetley needed a hard sell or in my case I took a lot of info from the internet AV forums which then led to this particular forum.

Its a shame that when Tivo started out it couldn't have given some basic programme data EG Terrestial channels without subscription but charging for telephone calls and then encouraged people to upgrade as they added digital services.

I must admit that I did not tell SWMBO that on top of the original purchase price I had spent £199 as a subcription.

[Major dude]

What the blurb fails to emphasis is the ability of TiVo to control most set top boxes. This in itself is a Unique Selling Point (USP) and with the analogue turn off just round the corner rendering all VCRs useless this is more relevant than ever.
Before I bought my two TiVos during the £99 sell off, I sort of knew what the brochure said about it. What I did not know about was its ability to co-ordinate set top box channel changes with record times. As soon as this penny dropped I wanted a TiVo especially at £99.
It is such a shame as we all know that TiVo should have been a classic consumer product in the UK in a class all of its own.

[aerialplug]

I'm pretty sure I'd have glossed over TiVos when they first came out - they looked so dull with nothing on the front pannel except 2 lights and nowhere to put the tape:p

However, I'd already had quite a bit of experience with TiVos through work for a good 6 months-year before they launched in the UK, from seeing the very early American series 1 to some UK Thompson prototypes and by the day they lauched, I was suitably impressed!

[ndunlavey]

I've been trying to remember how I found out about TiVo. I have no memory of any advertising, or seeing one in a shop, but somehow I knew about it and bought one online (through Unbeatable) in December 1999, a few days after I moved into my new house. (I also bought one of those dreadful Thomson combo TV/DVDs, now long defunct)

[cwaring]

This (http://www.telewestinfo.co.uk/tivo/tivo_leaflet.pdf) is the only Tivo leaflet I've ever seen, and only in this PDF format. Never saw one in a shop!

[aerialplug]

They were hidden behind the stand for video casettes :p

Seriously though, I spotted a small pile on the counter about a week before TiVo launched. Since I knew what it was I chatted with the shop manager about it. I can't remember if I actually had one at home at this point - I think I'd borrowed one a couple of times. I didn't really "get" TiVo until I was using it full time and it rapidly and unexpectedly changed from being another VCR device to .. well, an essential extension of the telly.

December 1999? You did well to get a UK TiVo in 1999 since they didn't go on sale until October 2000! I assume you meant 2000 - or did you get an American TiVo (they launched in 1999)?

[ericd121]

I've been trying to remember how I found out about TiVo. I have no memory of any advertising...I seem to remember the TV advert, which pushed the "Pause Live TV" angle,
to which my reaction was, "So what?",
and failed utterly to mention the "Record every episode of a series.",
a feature which would have had me waving fivers, shouting,
"Take my money, take my money, I must have magic box."!

[ndunlavey]

December 1999? You did well to get a UK TiVo in 1999 since they didn't go on sale until October 2000! I assume you meant 2000 - or did you get an American TiVo (they launched in 1999)?
Oops! Yes - December 2000. I moved into this house on December 5th, ordered TiVo a few days later. Oddly, I can't remember if it arrived before Christmas - I suspect not.

[iankb]

I think that it was mentioned in some magazine (either PCW, PCPro or, Stuart, was T3 out then?), or on some 'Tomorrows World' type of programme.

Got it within one day of it appearing in Dixons. I visited the store every day for a week or so until it appeared. I must have been better off then since I would think twice about spending £600 plus inflation nowadays. :o

However, DVD players weren't that cheap then either.

[Nebulous]

I don't ever remember seeing any Tivo advertising.
I just remember cursing my vcr for its abysmal picture quality and having the occasional tantrum and eating my tapes, and thinking to myself "wouldn't it be brilliant if you could get a box that recorded everything on a hard drive?". Then I walked into Curry's one day and there it was, a shinny silver Tivo. I bought it there and then and haven't looked back. :) :up:
I used to record most of my programs on vcr so I could skip passed the adds. That's probably why I never saw any. Mind you from what I've heard about the Tivo advert, I didn't miss much. ;)

[ndunlavey]

I think that it was mentioned in some magazine (either PCW, PCPro or, Stuart, was T3 out then?), or on some 'Tomorrows World' type of programme.

Aha! I saw a review in one of the AV mags - Home Cinema Choice, or something of that ilk.

[kitschcamp]

I've been trying to remember how I found out about TiVo. I remember reading huge amounts about them in Wired in the late 90s (when it was a proper magazine) and thinking how cool it sounded, then being a bit cooler when they launched, and then finally succumbing about 6 months later :)

[barbrook2]

I first heard about TIVO through Chris Evans. He was doing the Virgin radio breakfast show at the time and he'd been given one. He was raving about it but I don't think I really understood what it was until I went online and was able to download the user manual. Then the penny started to drop.

I bought mine in October or November 2000, and bought my second one a couple of days ago. :up:

[iankb]

I seem to remember that the ability to download and digest the US manuals in advance was a major selling-point for me. Maybe, using this for people to understand and evaluate the product was a significant marketing idea that they didn't pick up on.

[pshack]

I first remember seeing an advert for Tivo before the trailers at my local cinema. I remember a beach and some kids playing at hospitals (I think) It played on the fact you could record a series of a program, this must have been around 2000 :confused:

[katman]

I've been trying to remember how I found out about TiVo. I have no memory of any advertising, or seeing one in a shop

I first heard about TiVo on the UKHA Yahoo Group.

I went into Dixons to see one having heard other people evangelising about it but due to Dixons inability to demostrate the capabilities of Tivo and the fact that it was still full price I didnt buy one.

I was on holiday at my Mums in Morecambe when I found out that Powerhouse were clearing them out at £99 so jumped into the car and drove to Preston to buy one. They didnt have any left :(

Got them to ring the Bolton store and they had one, asked them to reserve it and drove to Bolton to pick it up :)

Without doubt it is by far the best bit of AV kit I have ever owned. The only remaining working VCR that I have (a Daewoo) has VideoPlus and far from being a simple matter of just punching in a short code from the TV listings, setting up a recording involved several menus to set up the program.

I still miss my old Mitsubishi M55 video though. That was a very good machine but has sadly died of old age. Despite having an awful lot of features it was simple to program and if you were just popping out to the shops and wanted to record something that was on whilst you were out it could be done with three buttons using the front panel display. I do remember that it cost me £529 when I bought it in 1991 though !!!!!

Press the channel up/down to get the desired channel.

Press the start time button which incremented in 15 min intervals from now so (currently 18:37) 18:45 19:00

Press the OTR button for the desired length in 15 min intervals
0:15 0:30

Now set to record channel selected at 7pm for 30 minutes.

Obviously not as nice or simple as Tivo but still a lot better than many other VCRs and like Tivo was 99.9% reliable which is more than can be said for SKY+ :(

I just wish I had got two when they were £99 each.

[PhilG]

You know, if I was younger and more "adventurous" I'm sure I would be seriously thinking of buying up second user Tivos and doing a marketing campaign all of my own - I am sure that despite the advent (perhaps) of HD, there is still a market for an "intelligent VCR" which is all I ever regarded my Tivo as

In fact, I bought it when Sky turned off their analogue service and at the time there was no programmable channel change available on the Sky box meaning you couldn't record more thn one channel unattended - a local satellite shop said "you can do that with this Tivo thing - it'll change the channels for you (we think)"

And that was it, all the other stuff was a "bonus"

[martink0646]

I saw TiVo advertised on TV & read about it in various A/V & gadget mags & being single then & considerably better off (not necessarily connected) and a dedicated early adopter, I just had to have it even though I didn't realise just how revolutionary it was. I was in Dixons in Braintree the lunchtime on the Monday it launched. I ask for a TiVo & the assistant & the manager had never heard about it. I asked them to check & the manager rang another branch. He went out the back & came back with a box saying "is this what you want?". I purchased it, got home after work & set it up. When I rang in to sort out my sub I requested a lifetime sub but to the best of my memory TiVo/Sky couldn't process my card because my bank had only given me a Solo card not a Switch & in those days they didn't accept it. I wasn't going to pay via credit card (too expensive!!) so I went the direct debit route. 71 payments later I just don't like to think about it, but no technology I have ever bought has had TiVo's longevity & long may it continue!

[aerialplug]

My very first experience with a TiVo was around May 1999. The company I worked for at the time was having a major open day to demonstrate the latest technology that was being developed there and had bought and imported a very early series 1 TiVo, as we were working on PVR technology, to demonstrate what would soon be commercially available. I believe this was shortly prior to TiVo launching the service in the States.

As I was expected to demonstrate it, I got quite familiar with the screens and menus. Back then it was strictly NTSC only and we had to use a standards converter to record new programmes (IIRC we were provided with guide data for a limited Sky service).

The very same machine was <cross out>thrown in</cross out> rescued from the skip and is now working as a second DVR at home - no hope of getting a subscription for it as it's effectively a series one US machine, even though it said account in good standing until about 3 months ago. It would dial in, hang about for a few seconds and then hang up without getting any schedule.

Less than 4 hours best quality (around 12 basic) is prertty low by today's standards though...