TI
Hard to believe now that the brand is associated with Virgin in this country but Tivo was available to Sky customers before Sky+ launched, but was quickly discontinued afterwards.
Hard to believe now that the brand is associated with Virgin in this country but Tivo was available to Sky customers before Sky+ launched, but was quickly discontinued afterwards.
JA
The original TIVO was available to anyone, you could even hook it up to record from analogue if you wanted, I believe.
I remember before it was discontinued there was a lot of controversy over it recording the first episode of "Dossa and Joe" whether people wanted it or not and couldn't even delete it.
I remember before it was discontinued there was a lot of controversy over it recording the first episode of "Dossa and Joe" whether people wanted it or not and couldn't even delete it.
BH
BillyH
Founding member
I didn't know that! It was quite the story at the time - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2016264.stm
Pretty much identical to what U2 infamously did in 2014 when everyone with Apple iTunes suddenly got a copy of their new album downloaded, whether they wanted it or not.
Pretty much identical to what U2 infamously did in 2014 when everyone with Apple iTunes suddenly got a copy of their new album downloaded, whether they wanted it or not.
BA
Going by that article, it wasn't using the main partition on the hard drive, so at least it wasn't taking up the (by today's standards) limited recording space.
I didn't know that! It was quite the story at the time - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2016264.stm
Pretty much identical to what U2 infamously did in 2014 when everyone with Apple iTunes suddenly got a copy of their new album downloaded, whether they wanted it or not.
Pretty much identical to what U2 infamously did in 2014 when everyone with Apple iTunes suddenly got a copy of their new album downloaded, whether they wanted it or not.
Going by that article, it wasn't using the main partition on the hard drive, so at least it wasn't taking up the (by today's standards) limited recording space.
JA
I think as much of the problem, regardless of whether it took up space or not, is that they recorded something they didn't want, rendered it unable to be deleted, and it was post-watershed content that children could access.
IS
Yes a housemate of mine had one in 2001. IIRC it had an analogue tuner and could control a set top box using an IR LED on a little bracket thing that you stuck to the top of it.
Bulky device, looked solid shiny metal box with virtually no buttons
The original TIVO was available to anyone, you could even hook it up to record from analogue if you wanted, I believe.
Yes a housemate of mine had one in 2001. IIRC it had an analogue tuner and could control a set top box using an IR LED on a little bracket thing that you stuck to the top of it.
Bulky device, looked solid shiny metal box with virtually no buttons
NG
Hard to believe now that the brand is associated with Virgin in this country but Tivo was available to Sky customers before Sky+ launched, but was quickly discontinued afterwards.
The Tivo box had an analogue PAL+NICAM tuner built in ISTR, and RGB/Composite SCART inputs with an IR blaster for external set-top box control. It properly handled Pin 8 and Line 23 WSS widescreen switching too.
The link with Sky was that I think Tivo and Sky had an initial arrangement that meant Tivo's customer helpline was handled by Sky's call centres, and there may have been a bit of an investment from Sky.
I had one controlling my regular Pace Sky Digibox, and put an Ethernet card in it (which meant I could download listings via an internet connection rather than using the internal modem and program the Tivo from work via a web browser with TivoWeb), installed a larger hard drive in it, upgraded the recording quality to higher resolution, and eventually I could copy recordings from it. I still have it - and it still boots!
When Tivo finally pulled out of providing UK Listings, some enthusiasts managed to reverse engineer the EPG data and provide their own listings service.
noggin
Founding member
Hard to believe now that the brand is associated with Virgin in this country but Tivo was available to Sky customers before Sky+ launched, but was quickly discontinued afterwards.
The original TIVO was available to anyone, you could even hook it up to record from analogue if you wanted, I believe.
I remember before it was discontinued there was a lot of controversy over it recording the first episode of "Dossa and Joe" whether people wanted it or not and couldn't even delete it.
I remember before it was discontinued there was a lot of controversy over it recording the first episode of "Dossa and Joe" whether people wanted it or not and couldn't even delete it.
The Tivo box had an analogue PAL+NICAM tuner built in ISTR, and RGB/Composite SCART inputs with an IR blaster for external set-top box control. It properly handled Pin 8 and Line 23 WSS widescreen switching too.
The link with Sky was that I think Tivo and Sky had an initial arrangement that meant Tivo's customer helpline was handled by Sky's call centres, and there may have been a bit of an investment from Sky.
I had one controlling my regular Pace Sky Digibox, and put an Ethernet card in it (which meant I could download listings via an internet connection rather than using the internal modem and program the Tivo from work via a web browser with TivoWeb), installed a larger hard drive in it, upgraded the recording quality to higher resolution, and eventually I could copy recordings from it. I still have it - and it still boots!
When Tivo finally pulled out of providing UK Listings, some enthusiasts managed to reverse engineer the EPG data and provide their own listings service.
OA
So recently I wanted to take up something new so I made a new YT channel based around WWTBAM. I'm not sure if self-promo is allowed here but I just thought some people might be interested in the channel so here's the link if you want to check it out
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrkwRkJVr0SUV7yYCO5w2Fw
Also, I won't just be uploading title sequences, I have plans for other videos in the future too.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrkwRkJVr0SUV7yYCO5w2Fw
Also, I won't just be uploading title sequences, I have plans for other videos in the future too.

