What is wrong with TiVo in New Zealand?

Comment by juha, on 8-Mar-2010 11:07

There's no reason why ISPs that use Telecom Wholesale for backhaul couldn't offer Telecom Retail style unmetered data for TiVo, surely?

Can't see why other ISPs wouldn't be able to do that either, unless the Caspa content is delivered through some particularly expensive routes overseas.

Add to your list the price of the set-top box, and you can see why people would hesitate to go with TiVo.

That said, I haven't tried it out yet, so who knows, maybe it's worth the money?

Comment by Ashlin, on 8-Mar-2010 11:36

I really don't see how Tivo can do well at all. I believe the concept is obsolete.

Anyone with a decent laptop or spare desktop can set it up as a Home Theatre PC and use it to perform ALL the functions of Tivo. Tivo doesn't offer any more content than a Freeview PVR.

Alternatively, there are more and more HD players coming on stream and no doubt some of these will integrate a PVR at some stage.

The only advantage of Tivo appears to be that Telecom doesn't charge extra for the broadband usage through Tivo. However, because NZ broadband is so slow this isn't that fun to watch a streaming movie.

Perhaps if they offered pay per view over the terrestrial signal they might have a show.It would be relatively easy to setup, they just have scheduled movies etc. and people pay (via Tivo) to decode the signal.

Comment by Peter Hamilton, on 8-Mar-2010 12:09

After seeing everything that TiVo comes with in the US, and everything it doesn't come with here, TiVo's release in NZ is a neutered waste of space.

Comment by technicaljoe, on 8-Mar-2010 13:52

I bought my TiVo box right before Christmas as a family present, as some GeekZone member might remember about my various questions.

We love it!  It made our life so much easier.  We record a few regular TV series, and we watch it at a time that's suitable to us.  And the picture quality has improved dramatically, like an upgrade to our TV!?!?

Mauricio's posting is totally right, Hybrid TV and Telecom marketing and roll out strategy is not doing the device any justice, and the the desktop software is just horrible.  There are definitely room for improvement.

However, to be fair, I casually complained to Telecom one day about my TiVo purchase experience while calling them about an unrelated matter.  To my surprise, shortly after that, I got a manager of some sort from Telecom calling me back and trying to understand my experience and how they could improve.

Anyway, perhaps things will improve, or perhaps not.  But to my family, it's money well spent.

Comment by n00dy, on 8-Mar-2010 15:32

I would love to have Freeview, but there is no terristrial freeview in my area ( Sat only ) so therefore wouldnt be able to view F.T.A channels which I would like

Comment by gustov, on 8-Mar-2010 17:37

One of the geatest features of the TiVo experience overseas is that it can detect advertising breaks and automatically remove them from the recording.

Here in NZ, TiVo is part owned by TVNZ and they deliberately disabled this feature inside the NZ TiVo box so they can keep ramming adverts down out throats.

Comment by Dratsab, on 8-Mar-2010 22:09

I have to say I'm with Marty.  The regular extra expenses incurred through switching to another ISP (moving away from Naked DSL) on top of the premium price for what has turned out to be a hamstrung service was a no brainer for me.  No thanks.

I was initially excited by the prospect of Tivo coming to NZ.  I worked with a large group of Aussies in the Solomon Islands in 2008 and a number of them raved about it.  So when the single ISP announcement came out I was quite disappointed.

It amuses to see comments like "Telecom is the largest ISP" - because although this is correct, let's add a bit of perspective.  I've been led to believe (through comments in various threads on Geekzone) that Telecom have around 60-65% of the market - a significant proportion of which is probably commercial as opposed to residential.

This means there's instantly 35-40% of the potential market (which is by no means an insignificant number) who are extremely unlikely to even consider buying a Tivo.  Where's the marketing sense in that?

Having said all that, it's good to see comments from people who are using and are obviously enjoying their Tivo experience!  long may it last for you, it's just not for me.

Comment by BigA, on 8-Mar-2010 22:18

We bought a tivo about a week ago. I had to do a lot of convincing to my wife for her to consider switching from Orcon (good) to Telecom (perceived as bad) along with the price. However after a day of operating it my wife loves it, knows her way around it and refuses to watch "live tv". Telecom hasn't switched us over to them as ISP yet but that will just add to her delight when she see's that she can just order a movie.
No home made PVR (had one through a laptop previously) comes close to the useability.

People are mentioning that it doesn't skip adds...... it's not hard to click the fast forward button!!!!

Tivo's battle is not against other freeview PVR's as it has the brand name behind it and will easily outsell the rest, but rather mysky is the competition. At $900 for Tivo people willing to drop that kinda cash probably already have sky and could just get their internet through Vodafone (the worse ISP and telecomunications company of them all) and get a mysky box for free.

Comment by cokemaster, on 8-Mar-2010 22:24

Just to clarify my post further, Freitasm. It was not meant as a dig against you, but rather to provide clarity for some of the blog comments that suggested that you must have XTRA/Telecom as an ISP.

:)

Comment by Skolink, on 9-Mar-2010 11:20

We bought our TiVoHD from JB-HiFi in Aostralia for AU$498. Somewhat cheaper than from Telecom!

The main point of TiVo is the fantastic user interface. We are with Telstra and don't miss CASPA, we just stream movies etc from the PC instead.

Comment by Fo0L, on 9-Mar-2010 22:20

Tivos great.  Easy to use, plenty of space, I even had the Home Networking Package working sweetly until the software killed my poor old PC (now resurrected but with the HNP on hold until I get a new PC... ooh a new PC!)
Caspa is a good idea but it is limited in both content and scope without other ISPs being able to tee into it.  I don't use it (other than the obligatory trial download).
As far as the basics go, the Tivo website has some good info, haven't had to deal with support yet... (hopefully that remains the status quo).
All in all, Tivos great, sure its got some limitations compared to some other PVRs (but don't they all?) but that doesn't mean its not good enough.
Freitasms point that the marketing is limiting opportunity for Hybrid sounds spot on if that sales figure is correct.
Finally, bring on the sport.  I mean really.  I want to watch the Super14, I want to watch the league, I want to watch the golf (not really...who wants to watch golf!).  Its the only reason we keep Sky and why we'll probably get MySky too.  Better go get me a part time job or sell a kidney eh!

Comment by mail2mm, on 11-Mar-2010 00:30

I am a happy Telecom phone and broadband customer so TiVo's  Telecom affiliation appealed to me.  I wanted a TiVo and waited, with great expectations, for its introduction late last year.  No electronic program guide for Prime and Maori TV made me cautious but I was there, on the first day, at the Auckland Queen Street Telecom store.  The knowledge that the Telecom staff had about the display unit was not impressive.  Going back a few days later and having a "test drive" did not convince me that the TiVo was best for me.

After more research I bought a Magic TV DVR/PVR for use with Freeview HD.  It cost about $200 less, has an EPG for all Freeview channels including Prime and Maori and does almost all that I want or need.  I can fast forward thru commercials just like I would with a TiVo.  I do not have internet delivered movies (CASPA) and I can not transfer content to and fro on my home LAN.  It works well and does not depend on Hybrid TV's continued existence for an EPG.  Should Hybrid/TiVo pull out of the NZ market how will existing TiVo customers get EPG information since the TiVo does not use the Freeview EPG?

Comment by nzbsgfan, on 14-Mar-2010 23:24

Just a quick question here. Can you use Tivo to connect to a home media server?

If so via Ethernet, wireless, or both?

Cheers

Comment by Craig, on 17-Mar-2010 19:49

I bought Tivo today after much consideration. I am an existing digital sky subscriber but haven't made any leap towards HD tv yet. I had several options in front of me:

1.Upgrade to MYskyHDi but this service plus the HD additional cost came to around $90 a month and I'll be damned if I'm paying that.
2.Create my own PVR using tv tuner cards and perhaps my 360 as an extender to my windows 7 pc. This too has some cost but on others I've played with seemed clunky to use and limited in functions to windows media centre.
3.Take the Tivo plunge (as i'm a current Telecom customer)

Now here are the things that attracted me to Tivo

-Casper movies on demand. To me, all tv and movies will end up this way. I believe we should srap DVD stores altogether and run online services like this...just awesome. Yep it's currently a Telecom only service but if you ask me a very sound business decision for starters.
-I wanted the series link and the search for name option for example you can tell it to record anything that has the word motorsport in it (good for me :) )
-Weather reports
-external expandable storage
-and the thing I don't have yet....HD tv.

I have one question to pose to everyone and that's how come everyone can't see that SKY essentially have a monopoly on all the awesome overseas content in NZ. I for one am happy to support another player and create more competition because as it stands Sky TV are charging us all ludicrous amounts for TV. $10 extra a month for the HD content! What are they going to do when everything is in HD?!

My prediction for the future is that all TV will be on demand. For things like Shortland street you will simply pay a per episode or season and you can watch it when you like. No set schedules. I believe new generations will demand it instead of running to a schedule, this after all would explain why PVRs are so popular anyway, wouldn't it?

I also believe platforms like Tivo are all set to provide that service via web apps/services. Let's wait and see if my choice was a wise one.

Comment by compost, on 17-Mar-2010 22:23

The biggest problem with Tivo in NZ is content. In Aus, it is conceivable that Seven network could make some sports content available on CASPA. In NZ, Sky has already sewn up all but the most marginal sports content, and it will be expensive for anyone else to get a piece of it.

This completely puts the Telecom exclusive in the shade.

Funny how Sky can exert its market dominance and get praised for its business savvy - but when Telecom does the same, everyone takes a trip to Whinybitchtopia?

Comment by Spencer Harvey, on 20-Mar-2010 10:21

I for one love my TiVo. I bought it at Chrismas as a present for the whole family. I was after something that was similar to the. Virgin Media box we had in the UK. The Sky+HD box is good, but I hate Sky with a passion and will never use their rip-off service.

As a Mac user, the TiVo desktop software is not so great as it can't transfer content to my Mac. Tranferring video to the TiVo is very easy with the free PyTiVo app.

The Caspa ondemand is great but it needs bleeding edge content - not re-runs of Heroes.

Something I would like to see is TVNZ and TV3 ondemand through the TiVo. This can't be that hard to achieve and would be a great additional feature.

Comment by Andrew, on 22-Mar-2010 14:52

"One of the geatest features of the TiVo experience overseas is that it can detect advertising breaks and automatically remove them from the recording.

Here in NZ, TiVo is part owned by TVNZ and they deliberately disabled this feature inside the NZ TiVo box so they can keep ramming adverts down out throats"

Surely if everone skipped adverts, they would lose their effectiveness and companies would no longer pay for advertising air time, thus broadcasters would have less revenue and not be able to secure qualiy programming. It takes between 5 and 10 seconds to fast forward an ad break with tivo, wouldn't you rather do that and still receive free to air broadcasts? or would you prefer to have to pay for everything you watch?

Comment by Desmond, on 11-Jun-2010 12:45

What a rip off.....I am from the US....do you kiwi's know that this is either free with a subscription or 99$. 700+ is highway robbery. Don't waste your money on this over priced POS. They really got you guy as some serious SUCKERS if you paid for that PLUS you actually pay for every movie and tv show not on freeview???? LOL. Hey everyone, I have a chocolate candy bar I'll sell you for $20 plus $2 for every bite.... Call me at
IMS tupid....and someone will come out immideiately. They wouldn't and couldn't sell this in the US so they gave it to you hear. Quit being early adopters, Kiwi's, your wasting your money on US crap that is at least a quarter the price.....ex. Broadband, Iphone, Ipad.....

Comment by Andrew, on 10-Nov-2010 09:15

Well I just picked up a TiVo box for $360 - Telecom had a flyer in with the bill. Called them up, asked to pay for it by $10 p/month on my bill instead. Sweet they said, and sent out the unit. I got it the next day.

Easy set up, plug in with HDMI and it's outputting 1080i to my LCD. Stuff is easy to record, no quality loss on those nice HD programs on TV3 and goodbye ads - the seeking works like a charm, I was actually surprised at how well it works, no skipping or lagging at all

I tell TiVo what I like and what I dislike, via the EPG. The remote even has "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" buttons. It records stuff for me I never knew was there (TVNZ 7 has a regular motorsport show? Nice, cheers!)

Overall I love it, before I got this I was watching downloaded TV over WMC on my Xbox 360. Forget that, I'll wait for the shows to hit NZ TV and record them in HD now

Overall a VERY happy customer, and to me $360 is reasonable ($700-$1000? not so much) and as someone with zero interest in paying Sky's monthly subscriptions (+ more for HD? Really Sky?), this device has become my latest piece of "essential kit" - Andrew

Comment by Brett Davidson, on 22-Dec-2010 22:02

At present, Telecom are offering this for $449 which is cheaper than almost all other PVRs.
And CASPA is now available from other ISPs than Telecom too. :-)
Now if only they could get the EPG for Maori/Prime, etc. :-(

Comment by Nev, on 19-Jun-2011 08:11

Hi this is going to be a rant about the Tivo support, or non-support. So skip reading if you are a happy customer.

I bought a Tivo and the Home Networking Package. Other than the slow set-up up times things seemed to work fine in the beginning. The I lost the ability to login to my account on my desktop. I can login from my laptop. But when I do login,it says that there are no devices connected. So I cannot use the Remote Genie. Perhaps not a biggie. But I would like to use it.

So then I trawled through the online support and could not solve the problem. Then filled out the online support. A week later no response. Then filled out 3 online support requests. Why does Tivo not have a phone support?? Got an automated response that I will be contacted. Then a couple of days later a email me telling how to solve the problem - garbage. Reply to that - more garbage back. Reply to that - more garbage back. Then spoke to Telecom support. They don't handle that part "because we gave that back to Tivo". Asked Telcom for a number but they could/would not give me one. Trawled the net, phoned Hybrid TV Services in Au. Left upteem messages on voicemail. (that assures me my call will be returned. Trawled the net and left messages on Robbee Minicola's Linkin page (CEO of HTS) - off course she is not listed in any phone book.

So am I frustrated - yes.

If anyone from Tivo reads this I dare you to answer with a phone number! You may be surprised by the number of calls that you will get.

Comment by Mark, on 23-Nov-2011 11:42

I am a wanting-to-be-happy TiVo owner. The device is superb - good user interface, good picture (when it works - more about that later) and has made appointment TV an option.

The downside - a number of new channels being tested on Freeview have screwed around with the signal and now my TiVos get the channels scrambled daily and there is constant signal dropout. Apparently this is happening to a small number of TiVo devices.

The worst thing about this experience has been that the customer service aspect has been appalling. At first Telecom, TVNZ and Hybrid TV came up with a number of BS excuses as to what was going on, alternatively denying there was anything, blaming Freeview and then suggesting as assortment of solutions that anyone with an inkling of knowledge in technology would regard with humour at best or, in TVNZ's case, avoiding the problem altogether.

It now turns out, after months of hassling, that there is a problem with some of the TiVo units' software (why only some? - and why is there different software in different devices? Weird).

There is now a trial about to commence with software designed to fix the problem. This software was supposed to have been delivered in October and is yet to fixed.

I have been variously dismayed, distracted and bemused by Hybrid TV's customer service. If that's how they look after their customers, no wonder their marketing was so bad.

And a latest update: new TiVo boxes now available from Noel Leeming at $299. If you get a unit that works, it's fantastic. But watch out if it doesn't.

Comment by jeremy, on 21-Dec-2011 20:20

Regarding the Prime and Maori epg listings, I dont see why tivo doesnt read the epg from the broadcast when it cant get it from the internet.