Who's got a Telewest/NTL TVDRIVE ??

[nbaker]

Would like to know how they compare to a TIVO in everyday use.

This will be available in my area in the next month or so and I am seriously considering getting it to replace my Tivo.

The 3 tuners will come in very handy as nearly all the programs I record are on at 9 & 10 pm and always clash with one another.

Any comments welcome.

Thanks

Nige.

[Pete77]

Would like to know how they compare to a TIVO in everyday use.

This will be available in my area in the next month or so and I am seriously considering getting it to replace my Tivo.

The 3 tuners will come in very handy as nearly all the programs I record are on at 9 & 10 pm and always clash with one another.

You might also want to consider www.btvision.bt.com/ which launched yesterday.

Although not all the services are yet launched in due course it will let you watch any Freeview program from the last 7 days without having to remember to schedule it to record in advance. This is because it will be available via Video on Demand and/or because the box records the most popular programs on Freeview automatically possibly (not clear precisely how the Video on Demand and 80Gb Hard Drive elements interact).

The key point is that as long as you take BT Total Broadband there is only a £30 connection charge on the box and although presently you have to also pay a BT Engineer £60 to "Install" it for you self install will be available some time next year.

There's going to be a whole of pay Video on Demand stuff at very cheap prices but I'm not clear how much of it will be any content that is Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3 or National Geographic, Disovery etc. It also says it will be HD Tv compatible but clearly this will only be possible for the VoD stuff.

As TV Drive seems a rather pricey option you might want to look into it.

[okonski_uk]

I've just had my TVD installed, and there are a few differences that prevent it being a 100% Tivo replacement.

1) 3 Tuners are excellent - so clashes are few, and the HDMI connectore for HD is welcome.
2) TVD Guide data is dreadful, accurate for programmes it lacks episode detail.
3) TVD does offer Series Links (Season Passes) but for some programmes the data compiled forgets to allow it, so you cannot initiate a Season of Frasier unless you find at least 1 listing that allows a series link.
4) No alphabetic entry of program names, if its not in the guide, you cannot select it!
5) Access to NTLs on demand (paid and free) programming easily accessible
6) Electricity reduction - 1 box instead of 3 (Tivo, Cable Box, VHS Video)

Price - it costs £15pm in addition to the service package, however you keep your original NTL tuner in a different location, this used to be £15 alone for a second box.

So far - so good!

[philredman]

I have had a TVDrive for a while and would concur with Raymond's posing adding the lack of Wish Lists and general ease of use. We use it mainly for recording HD. It definately doesn't replace TiVo.

Phil

[Pete77]

I have had a TVDrive for a while and would concur with Raymond's posing adding the lack of Wish Lists and general ease of use. We use it mainly for recording HD. It definately doesn't replace TiVo.l

So why do you pay another £15 per month (more even than Sky charge for Sky+ or in fact they charge nothing as long as you are on a middling or higher Sky channels package) for a PVR which clearly doesn't do its job properly? If more customers refused to take TvDrive and told TeleWest/NTL it needed to have the functions of a Tivo then perhaps they would finally get the message.

Instead of which you buy it so they foolishly imagine you must like it and think its good....... :(

[cwaring]

..more even than Sky charge for Sky+ or in fact they charge nothing as long as you are on a middling or higher Sky channels package...
Not entirely accurate :) If you don't subscribe to any premium channels then the box will cost a tenner a month, I think.

Instead of which you buy it...
Again, not entirely accurate :) Cable equipment is always rented.

To be fair, most people don't know any better. TVD is a very good piece of kit. Yes it's no Tivo, but then nothing is or ever will be again :(

Berating people for getting something that is readily available (and reasonably good as well) just because it's "not a Tivo" is, while perfectly corrent , not really a good argument ;)

I had a TVD for a while and found it to be very good at what it does. Yes, it oculd do it better but, in the absense of anything better (ie Tivo) it is still worth the money.

[philredman]

So why do you pay another £15 per month (more even than Sky charge for Sky+ or in fact they charge nothing as long as you are on a middling or higher Sky channels package) for a PVR which clearly doesn't do its job properly? If more customers refused to take TvDrive and told TeleWest/NTL it needed to have the functions of a Tivo then perhaps they would finally get the message.

Instead of which you buy it so they foolishly imagine you must like it and think its good....... :(

Because my wife wouldn't let me get a SKY plus as it would probably upset Tivo. As I said, I got it for the HD and also we use it to record some other bits off the basic channels and let Tivo do the rest. The TVDrive and Tivo are not connected. Tivo connects to the Sky box and we can watch it upstairs too through a digisender.
Finally, the Sky box doesn't cost nothing. Last time I looked it was £300 and I've seen many complaints about it's failures.

[Pete77]

Because my wife wouldn't let me get a SKY plus as it would probably upset Tivo. As I said, I got it for the HD and also we use it to record some other bits off the basic channels and let Tivo do the rest. The TVDrive and Tivo are not connected. Tivo connects to the Sky box and we can watch it upstairs too through a digisender.
Finally, the Sky box doesn't cost nothing. Last time I looked it was £300 and I've seen many complaints about it's failures.

I still don't understand why you really need the Tv Drive. How many hours a month of programming originated in HD do you actually manage to watch? ;)

[philredman]

I still don't understand why you really need the Tv Drive. How many hours a month of programming originated in HD do you actually manage to watch? ;)


OK - just from BBC not counting the teleport:
Most world cup matches - why we got it in the first place
Robin Hood
Doctor Who
Torchwood
Planet Earth
Into the West.

Also - been recording the daily Chris Packham nature programme on the TVDrive. I know it's not HD but the picture quality through HDMI is excellent.

[ericd121]

OK - just from BBC not counting the teleport:
I also counted about a dozen HD US progs on Sky One;
presumably, these would also be available to view via TVDrive.

[cwaring]

I also counted about a dozen HD US progs on Sky One;
presumably, these would also be available to view via TVDrive.
Not yet. Depending on who you ask, it's either NTL/TW that won't pay what Sky want or Sky not letting NTL/TW have the channels at all :)

[scoopuk]

OK - just from BBC not counting the teleport:
Most world cup matches - why we got it in the first place
Robin Hood
Doctor Who
Torchwood
Planet Earth
Into the West.
.

There's no sign of Doctor Who in HD on BBC HD on Sky unfortunately.
Is BBC HD on Telewest different to BBC HD on Sky ?

[ericd121]

Not yet. Depending on who you ask, it's either NTL/TW that won't pay what Sky want or Sky not letting NTL/TW have the channels at all :)Well, that's a bugger.

So which HD channels are available in the basic TV packages (i.e. excluding premium channels)?
ITV? C4? C5?

[AMc]

Depending on who you ask, it's either NTL/TW that won't pay what Sky want or Sky not letting NTL/TW have the channels at all That's the same story we used to get from TW about FilmFour weekly and +1. If it follows the same pattern it will be a long time before anything happens - unless OFCOM actually gets some teeth :)

[Pete77]

If it follows the same pattern it will be a long time before anything happens - unless OFCOM actually gets some teeth :)

It seems Ofcom have teeth they can use when it suits them but not when it doesn't because New Labour friends in business are involved so must be left alone.

They seem to have shown no hesitation in fining a minor encrypted Sky platform (non Murdoch channel though) sex channel £30,000 for accidentally showing a hardcore R18 sex video of a woman using a dildo on herself that they claim should only have been sold in a licensed sex shop or which of course can be seen on numerous websites without a charge of any kind - ;)

So incredibly they fine a channel for showing its customers who wanted hardcore sex exactly what they were hoping to see. Yet TalkTalk and their ilk can make several hundred thousand Silent Calls and unsolicited calls to TPS customers a year and not get fined a penny piece by Ofcom so far. And those people are actually very unhappy about getting those phone calls

Something wrong somewhere:-

See www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/obb/ocsc_adjud/xplicitxxx.pdf

MOD EDIT: Links to explicit sites are not tolerated and may result in a user ban!

[blindlemon]

It's nice to see that Ofcom will step into the breach on behalf of the 62 (presumably seriously offended) people who 'accidentally' viewed the programme :D

Now, what about the millions who can't receive Sky on anything other than a Sky digibox because Sky won't make a CAM available...?

[cwaring]

Well, that's a bugger.
Ain't it :)

So which HD channels are available in the basic TV packages (i.e. excluding premium channels)?
ITV? C4? C5?
BBC HD Trial. ITV HD Trial and some PPV content, including movies. I think that's about it.

[Pete77]

It's nice to see that Ofcom will step into the breach on behalf of the 62 (presumably seriously offended) people who 'accidentally' viewed the programme :D

Now, what about the millions who can't receive Sky on anything other than a Sky digibox because Sky won't make a CAM available...?

I believe it was only one viewer! Presumably a viewer from the staff of a rival encrypted Sky pay sex channel who are also annoyed they can't show R18 stuff but keep an eye on the competition. Or possibly it was a director of one of the UK's larger R18 sex shop chains fearing an attack on their currently unique market positioning for the distribution of this material.

I find it ironic that they should fine a video exclusively of the female sex organ as being an obscene publication when historically it is only the fully extended male member or seeing its direct insertion in the female orifice that is usually considered to cause obscenity. Clearly this change in finding a woman's organ offensive in its own right is another example of the new egalitarian times that we live in.

[blindlemon]

I guess that means the other 61 weren't offended then, but it's still nice to know that Ofcom are working to make sure they didn't get more than they paid for :cool:

[Pete77]

I guess that means the other 61 weren't offended then, but it's still nice to know that Ofcom are working to make sure they didn't get more than they paid for :cool:

Are you sure Ofcom wasn't working hard to make sure that the subscribers to this channel didn't get what they thought they had actually paid for. ;) :D

This seems to be another sad example of Ofcom putting business to business dispute resolution ahead of the best interests of UK citizen consumers which part 3 (i) of the Communications Act 2003 suggest are its principal duty to protect.

Or perhaps Ofcom sees itself as having taking over the protective duties of Mary Whitehouse. Perhaps Ofcom even pays members of its staff to spend their whole evenings watching the output of these pay sex channels just in case there is a breach. ;)

Strange thought that Ofcom seems to have no problem at all with scam 09 quiz game shows taking over more and more of the television airwaves after 11pm as I personally find the sordid commercial corruption that underlies the way those shows operate and the fact that they deprive viewers of normal program choice (the replacement of the very popular Men & Motors on Freeview with the scarcely watched ITV Play being a case in point) to actually be highly offensive.