Virgin TiVo: Inactive 3rd Tuner & Sluggish?

Our very own US-based TiVo Community has launched a dedicated area to discuss the new Virgin Media TiVo. And, thus far, commentary seems somewhat and eerily familiar to feedback from TiVo Premiere early adopters (running the Flash-based, high definition user interface).

First up, whereas our hardware features a dual core processor that actually runs on a single core, it seems that still only 2 of the 3 Virgin Media DVR tuners are currently active. Next, one of my Premiere complaints has been a somewhat sluggish interface, and this sentiment is echoed by several Virgin UK customers – and can be seen in the video above.

Having said that, this is new hardware (Cisco) on a new network (Virgin) for TiVo… featuring what may be the completed HDUI. And boy does it look sharp. In fact, some of our UK counterparts suggest Virgin Media acquire TiVo.

17 thoughts on “Virgin TiVo: Inactive 3rd Tuner & Sluggish?”

  1. One of the unpleasant surprises in my effort to stick with HDUI until I get used to it is that it’s incomplete. It keeps dropping me to old-style menus for things like the To Do List.

  2. I believe I read 3/15 is when the update to activate the third tuner is due out. It was just someone on the TCF forums though, but it was around the time of launch.

  3. I agree with MHA- how can it almost be a year now, and the basics of the HDUI still aren’t complete.

  4. SDUI for me. Hurts just to watch the video. Feels like browsing the web at 56k. How ridiculous is it that we’ve suffered for a year from this.

  5. @Rich you lose all the new integrated search functionality. You also lose things like the episode guide and the ability to change season pass channels.

  6. With SD you can’t use the search and get Netflix/Amazon in your search results. So you lose that. And the cool % hard drive filled.

    With SD menus on my Premiere, I sometimes lose my remote. Truly. It remote doesn’t respond for 10 mins at a time in SD menus. I was forced to go back to the HD. Not alone in this either…alas it only happens with SD menus:

    http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=456559

  7. “With SD menus on my Premiere, I sometimes lose my remote. Truly. It remote doesn’t respond for 10 mins at a time in SD menus. I was forced to go back to the HD. Not alone in this either…alas it only happens with SD menus”

    Huh. I’ve been planning on upgrading to a Premiere in the near-term future to take advantage of the 2TB drive capacity and better network bandwidth, while continuing to use the SDUI. (I don’t use beta OS’s.)

    Good to know about this. Perhaps I should hold off on that plan a bit longer and do my research first…

  8. @all Thanks. Guess I’ll switch over and see if I miss any of those features. Alas, I suspect I will… or my kid will.

  9. I’m still on the HDUI And I get everyone’s complaints but I’ve never found it to be near bad enough to drop back to the SD one’s. That doesn’t mean I don’t wish TiVo would release a complete hdui asap and at the same time how about USING that 2nd core! Its so close to being amazing but they must be spending to many resources on these branded dvr projects.

  10. If your half way smart don’t even buy a Tivo. If you do don’t pay for a life time of service as the service only applies to one unit it is not transferable. I found out the hard way. I paid for a life time service $199.00 and when my cable company went to HD TV the old Tivo unit would not work and after I bought a new TIVo premiere I found out that I would have to pay again. Big Rip Off. Don”t buy would be my recomendation.

  11. By the pictures and marketing material, I thought the Virgin Media Tivo was their best attempt… especially with 3 tuners on new Cisco hardware.

    I guess that’s not the case. Tivo’s ship has sailed. Goodbye Tivo, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

  12. We run the HDUI, despite its limitations. It’s prettier, more functional, and after ten years I just can’t look at the old interface anymore.

  13. “Tivo’s ship has sailed. Goodbye Tivo, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

    Speak for yourself. The SDUI still rocks, although the current SDUI problems being reported upthread on the Premiere obviously need to be solved, pronto.

    But I’m still happier with my TiVo HD than I’d be with any other DVR. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: TiVo makes the worst DVR’s in the world with the exception of all the other DVR’s.

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