Bought a Tivo/Sky+ for my birthday, but which one should I go for?

[Jon Weaver]

I am sure that this has argued about before, but I would appreciate any thoughts on this.

I have always been against PVRs because of the 'subscription'

The TIVO doesn't really appeal as it will completely change my setup, but I admit that I do like the idea of Sky+.

My other half gave me the money for one of these for my Birthday, but I just don't know what to do.

Does anything think that its possible that Sky will drop the subscription at some point, or do some kind of 'deal'.

I already feel cheated by Sky being one of the early adoptors, and I am worred that history will repeat itself...

A few colleagues have gone for TIVO and they swear that its the best thing they ever did!

What should I do?

ANY and ALL info appreciated

Jon

[Starburst]

Do TIVO still give you a money back trial period?
If so that that would seem to be a good place to start.

I chose SKY+ and for me it's the right decision, no doubt though the subscription is hard to swallow or justify.

With TiVo you get a trial period of about 2 weeks during which you don't need to subscribe - if you can combine this with a retailers refund policy you should be able to try a TiVo at no risk. Trust me though - once you've tried it for a few days you won't be taking it back!

The £200 lifetime subscription with TiVo is a good deal considering you will be quids in after 20 months... the reason TiVo offer the one-off payment is because they are a new company and needed the money upfront to fund future development - this isn't the situation with Sky so I would consider it highly unlikely they will offer a similar deal - basically there's no getting out of paying monthly subs to Rupert for as long as you have the service

TiVo are on the verge of releasing new software (v2.5.5 in the next couple of weeks or so) for the TiVo service. This adds many new features and is significantly better than the current shipping software. I understand new TiVo units will come with the new software installed but if you buy a unit with the old software the new software will download automatically a day or so after you first begin to use it.

On the hardware side Sky+ is more advanced than TiVo by having dual tuners, Dolby Digital 5.1 output and recording the MPEG datastream direct to hard disk, but it is a device designed exclusively to operate on a digital sattelite platform.

TiVo on the other hand supports all broadcast platforms, offers additional recording capacity by recording at varying qualities (Basic, Medium, High, Best in order of increasing quality) and the software is far more sophisticated than that in Sky+ (even the current version 1.5.2 - the new version 2.5.5 is streets ahead!)

Dual tuners in a TiVo would be nice but for me the picture quality is plenty good enough (from analogue cable I record mostly at Medium with films and sport in High or Best). DD5.1 is of little value to me - again it would be nice but I also have a DVD player for that!


PS. Why will the TiVo completely change your setup? It will completely change the way you watch TV but that's another matter...

[Jon Weaver]

Thanks for the info its really appreciated... The reason that TIVO will completely change my setup is that I currently have Sky piped to 5 TVs around the house..

This is done with the 'TV Link' product.

With every TV I also have a Sky remote, which means that I can control Sky all over the house.

With TIVO, not only I will I only be able to watch it in one room, but I won't be able to control Sky, as I will be 'fighting' with TIVO..

As I understand it, you only ever watch the output from the TIVO box and you let IT control the Digibox.. As such, if I start changing sky from another room, it will really mess things us.

I was in Dixons today and saw Sky+ for the first time.. I have to say that I have fallen in love!

It looks like I might have to go for that.. The £10 subs is a real pain.. But its only money, I guess!!

[Dodgey]

You are exactly right, and you have answered your own question mate. Your investment in remotes is going to swing your purchase towards Sky+

I have a Tivo, and it has actually made it easier for me to sort out my remote control situation. Since I Got the Tivo I bought a Digi-Sender with 3 receivers that send the picture and relay remote control activity, so in each room I use the Tivo remote for everything. Could do with three more Tivo remotes though

The only thing I would say about Sky+, and it's why I bought a Tivo, is that Sky "customer service" stinks and their STBs all crash occasionally. They also lied to me about my contract once (and I mean blatantly lied). I have heard mainly good things about Sky+ though, although I see a lot of "problems with my Sky+" posts on various forums.

The 5.1 and dual tuners is cool. But I thought about this, and I Never buy movies from Sky as I buy the DVDs way in advance. As for dual tuners - don't really watch live TV now so it makes no odds.

Good luck whatever you do

Dodgey: Extra remotes are £20 each from TiVo Customer Services, or *cough* free *cough* if your original has "broken"

John: Sounds like you've made a significant investment in Sky alreay so staying with Sky would seem the obvious choice (though it's always nice beeing able to avoid handing Murdoch another schilling even if he is an investor in TiVo )

[Dodgey]

Thanks Millhouse! My remote has just stopped working! Fancy that!

[tk212]

Sky Plus has the advantage of no digital > analogue conversion and also has dolby digital facilities, if you have the setup.

Personally Id go for sky+ after having it the past 4 months.

Phil

[Jon Weaver]

Thanks for the info everyone.. After playing with Sky+ in Dixons for 5 mins, I knew it was for me.

I still like the idea of Tivo and can't help thinking that its the better 'products', there were benifits of Sky+ to me (i.e Dual TUner, Dolby Digital etc).

Its being installed on Thursday.. Very excited (how sad)!

Jon