TechRadar has had some time with the hottest new set-top box in the UK, with the Virgin Media TV powered by Tivo just weeks away from launch.
Virgin Media has only just officially unveiled the Virgin Media TV powered by TiVo service, but we have a chance to see the new box and its spangly user interface in action.
This is, we hasten to add, a very early and slightly limited look at the box, which was running through a development server rather than on the live service, but we were told quite emphatically that this only served to degrade the service.
We will both update this hands-on look and bring you a full review as we spend more time with the box.
Now to the important bit; does the TiVo UI give Virgin Media a box comparable to the Sky service? In a word, yes.
Virgin Media TiVo box: Home screen
In fact, the early indications are that this could be the best set-top box on the market – with only Sky's superior content offering allowing it to compete with a well-designed, intuitive and, frankly, superior user interface in a world of video on demand, catch up and web apps.
It is the TiVo partnership that has brought much of this improvement, with Virgin Media doing a lot of work beneath the bonnet to make sure things like the red button work as the UK audience expects.
Virgin Media's old user interface will not be missed; it hasn't aged well and, with the sheer amount of content growing rapidly, was simply not a tenable proposition for the modern era.
But this is a sea change from Virgin, which appears to have taken the wise decision to keep faithful to the tried-and-tested TiVo formula, with precious little tinkering aside from one of the most significant aspects of the box.
We're referring to the backwards EPG – allowing you to not only look forward in time on the familiar programme grid, but also to look back and easily find and access the massive amounts of catch-up television available.
That includes stuff that you would watch on iPlayer, the other public service broadcasters (ITV, Channel 4 and Five) and other channels that offer catch-up services.
Virgin Media TiVo box: The EPG goes backwards as well
It's an obvious and elegant way for people to browse for programmes – and is a key addition to the service.
The search and discovery theme is prevalent throughout the colourful and graphics heavy UI, with a 'discovery bar' present on most pages.
This discovery bar – a ribbon of images that can be browsed though by pressing up on the remote control – is contextual.
Virgin Media TiVo box: Discovery bar
That means that if you're searching for Friends, for instance, the discovery bar would show content related to Friends. In this example, movies featuring Jennifer Aniston and Cougar Town starring Courteney Cox showed up among other relevant content.
From the Home screen, the content is at its most generic, although that will also be refined as the box logs your interests and preferences.
There will also be some editorial input in the discovery, with a team at Virgin Media picking out highlights that are in their own special 'pick of the week' section.
This discovery is tied into much of other functionality, and it works very, very well – not least because the discovery bar tells you why it has selected that content and allows you to use the TiVo recommendation engine to mark it.
So if you hate a piece of content being displayed, a triple thumbs down would mean that it doesn't show again and other things of the same type will also be unlikely to show.
This recommendation engine is another key addition to the platform. TiVo fills up the space on your box with recordings of programmes that it thinks you may want to watch.
Virgin Media TiVo box: Series link
These programmes are selected both through your marking of programmes (with thumbs up and thumbs down – both options on the remote) and through what other viewers who share similar viewing habits have been watching.
This data is anonymous, of course, but should mean that the new programme that all of your sci-fi loving friends are raving about should have been picked up, if you like watching sci-fi.
The key factor in any modern television UI is, of course, how easy the content is to find.
Search is at the centre of much of the TiVo interface – like Google Suggest, each letter you put in brings up the most likely and popular results, and search is not limited to just programmes but also extends to things like actor and director.
That means you can watch whatever Jennifer Love Hewitt has done that's available.
And not just what is available right now. The search allows you not only to comb through the available video on demand, catch up and programmes coming up in the next fortnight but also set up a 'WishList' – meaning that TiVo will record anything that appears with that person or keyword going forwards.
So, for instance, if you are Star Wars fan, you can set it up as a keyword and make sure that TiVo prioritises anything with that term.
The search result programme/actor pages also allow you to watch YouTube clips that are available, and, for the parents out there, you can block access.
Virgin Media TiVo box: Search
The source of the content (VOD, linear, catch-up etc) is made clear, although increasingly this kind of interface makes it clear that it doesn't really matter where the content comes from.
Last, and least for the moment, is the apps and games category – although this is something that will become increasingly important going forward.
Currently, iPlayer, YouTube, weather, celeb news and a handful of other basic apps are available, but this section is expected to grow massively in the coming months.
Virgin Media is hoping that that its own userbase will decide the kind of things that should appear in this section – and there are plans to make paid-for apps available.
The user interface is snappy and feels responsive; a slight lag in some of the picture loading on the discovery bar is apparently down to the network the box is currently on and will not be obvious in the home product.
Virgin Media TiVo box: Peanut remote
The 'peanut' remote does not sport a QWERTY keyboard, which could be a problem for those who hate multi-tap text entry, but Virgin Media will be offering other remote options going forward.
Our final early impressions are that this is an exciting and thoroughly modern new offering from Virgin Media, which will not only be exciting to current customers but might just lure others to the black, red and gold side.
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