TiVo

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I've only had my TiVo for about 5 months but I can't imagine watching TV without it now.

 

It's hard to even imagine watching a show without the ability to pause or rewind it. If you don't have one I highly recommend getting one.

[Yillara Skye 1]

I had thought about it... but I am seriously trying to recall the last time I wanted to record something on tv. Even my family who watch more tv than I do have not recorded pretty much anythii.... well maybe my brother has but I do not know.

 

Oh wait last two things was the Mummers Parade so we could show EmilSoong when she came to the house later that day, and Pompeii the Last Day (which was an AWESOME documentary of the eruption of 79AD!!! I have since watched that video at least three more times!)

[A l t e r E g o 9]

 

 

I still don't understand the advantages of Tivo over the other two options.

 

The other two options:

 

2. I can rent* a DVR from the cable company which does all the same things as a Tivo except without the subscription fees. *Ok bad example.

 

1. I can buy a DVR at the electronics store which does all the same things as Tivo and the cable company yet with no further fees due ever.

 

So why Tivo over #1?

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I don't think you are understanding what advantages TiVo gives you.

 

Yes, you can record programs or movies or whatever else comes on TV if you wish and that comes in handy but it shouldn't be looked as an alternative to a VCR or DVD player. It should be looked at as an extension of your whole TV viewing habbits, schedule and abilities.

 

I have 1 TV that isn't on the TiVo and every time I am watching it for any more then a few minutes I find myself wishing I was able to have the same features as on my TiVo boxes.

 

There are times when you want to walk away from the TV for a few minutes to get something to eat or to go to the bathroom or answer the phone and those things all take at least few minutes to complete. So you either have to miss a few minutes of whatever show you are watching, wait till the commercials or wait till the show is over to do any of them.

 

With TiVo the box is always recording, as long as you are watching T.V. it is recording. It has a kind of "Record buffer" that it will record Live TV into for a constant 30 minutes.

 

So lets say Enterprise comes on and just as it comes on the phone rings and you have to talk to your neighbor for 5 minutes. With TiVo you can do 1 of a few things.

 

1. Record the show from start to finish and watch it later.

2. If you aren't recording the whole show then the 30 record buffer is still recording so just pause the TV until you are off the phone and once you hang up just unpause it and pick back up where you left off. Or...

3. Answer the phone allowing the Television to run as normal and talk then when you hang up just rewind to the point of the show where the phone rang so you can see what you missed.

 

One thing you have to keep in mind though, if you didn't tell the TiVo to record the show then you only will be recording 30 minutes at a time. So once the live broadcast reaches 31 minutes it first minute of the show is no longer in your buffer. Once it reaches 32 minutes the second minute of the show is gone and so on.

 

So basically the recorder is always going which gives you the option of pausing, rewinding or even fast forwarding a show that's on "right now".

 

Also, since you have that 30 minute record buffer that is always running you can record something in its entirety even if you weren't recording when the show started.

 

So if Enterprise came on and the phone rang right away causing you to have to miss the first 20 minutes and you know that you will have to miss the rest of the show you just push the record button, tell the TiVo to save the whole show and it will start a full recording of the show from start to finish.

 

Of course the 30 minute buffer only keeps track of the show that you are watching on the channel you are currently on. So if I switch from UPN to CBS for a minute it will clear whatever was in my record buffer for the UPN channel and begin a new 30 minute buffer for the CBS show and when I go back to UPN then it clears the CBS buffer and begins a fresh one for the UPN channel.

 

So the TiVo/DVR service is really more about "TV on your schedule" then it is about recording and saving TV shows or movies. It gives you the power and flexibility to do other things and still not miss anything that you don't want to miss.

 

It's something that is a "Must" for all TVs of the future and should have been part of TV all along if the technology had been there. If you try it, you will wonder how you ever watched TV without it after just a short couple of weeks.

 

 

Ok, that was a lot more long winded then I thought it would be. :P

 

Oh and to answer your question about a DVR vs. a TiVo. They are both DVR's, what people pay for with a TiVo is the subscription services that TiVo provides. I don't know that they are "needed" but when I use the term TiVo you can easily replace it with "DVR" because it's really the DVR functions that I love so much.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I thought I'd add a few screen shots of what some of the features are that I have on my TiVo/DVR.

 

This is the "Now Playing List" which is a listing of shows that I've recorded and saved and can re-watch. This is just a partial screen showing a 7 day period of shows that I've saved. The ones with the green dot are saved until I physically delete them. The ones with the yellow dot can be deleted at any time

 

 

This one shows my "Season Pass" manager, which are shows that will record every new episode that comes on whether I'm home or not even if the date and time of the show change it will still be recorded whenever it comes on.

 

 

This is a partial list of my "To Do List" which shows me the programs that I've scheduled to record. It shows the date, time name, channel and other information about what will be recorded.

 

 

This is part of my "Wish List", which I can use to search every channel for a 2 week span for shows that I'm interested in. The first picture shows the Wish List the second picture shows some of the results for my Star Trek Wish List.

 

 

 

This is just a shot of what's on my TV right now, I paused it so the status bar is showing. It shows you the 30 minute buffer I mentioned. As you can see it registers a full hour on the bar but the only portions that I have recorded are shown in green, which spans 30 minutes on the bar. So I can fast forward or rewind through any portion of that 30 minutes.

 

This happens on every show you watch whether you are telling the DVR to record or not.

 

[A l t e r E g o 9]

 

Thanks for all that info VBG, very helpful. I took what you said and called Circuit City for some comparisons; according to the salesman, non subscription DVRs do everything same as Tivo except for the on screen programming like you detailed for Tivo. And oh yeah, they run around $500 new.

 

I really want something which offers the ease and convenience of digital recording devices over VCRs but I suppose until I make up my mind about how important the special programming features are over 1 time cost then I'm still on the fence about which way to go...

[Valeris 2]

About a year ago, while on spring break, I went to my uncle's house in Oregon. I was severely disappointed that I was going to miss Star Trek while there, so, being the wonderfully nice man that he is, my uncle showed me his TiVo and recorded the episodes so I could watch them at the end of the day after the family finished doing whatever activity we were doing. Naturally, I fell in love with that machine and begged Mom forever to buy one for me. After moving to Kansas, Mom finally said yes, and thus I have had a TiVo for the better part of a year. Like VBG, I can no longer imagine TV without TiVo. I need not go through all the advantages, as he has already done that, but I can second his opinion and say that the TiVo is definitely worth buying despite the price.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

 

Thanks for all that info VBG, very helpful. I took what you said and called Circuit City for some comparisons; according to the salesman, non subscription DVRs do everything same as Tivo except for the on screen programming like you detailed for Tivo. And oh yeah, they run around $500 new.

 

I really want something which offers the ease and convenience of digital recording devices over VCRs but I suppose until I make up my mind about how important the special programming features are over 1 time cost then I'm still on the fence about which way to go...

305868[/snapback]

 

$500? That must have a DVD burner built in with it also, right? Best Buy's cheapest DVR (with TiVo) is $99 after a $100 mail in rebate.

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1082742887515

 

This one is just like one of the 3 that I bought, it has a 40 GB hard drive. My other 2 units have 80 GB hard drives. I plan on putting 300 GB hard drives into them for next football season though. My intention is to record the entire NFL season, starting with the NFL Draft.

[LordOfTheBorg 1]

I've got a question about TiVo...

Can i get it in Canada?

Edited March 13, 2005 by LordOfTheBorg

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I've got a question about TiVo...

Can i get it in Canada?

309895[/snapback]

I would think so but I'm not 100% sure of that. If you can't get "TiVo" then I'm sure there would be another company that provides the same kind of service.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

 

 

I still don't understand the advantages of Tivo over the other two options.

 

The other two options:

 

2. I can rent* a DVR from the cable company which does all the same things as a Tivo except without the subscription fees. *Ok bad example.

 

1. I can buy a DVR at the electronics store which does all the same things as Tivo and the cable company yet with no further fees due ever.

 

So why Tivo over #1?

305780[/snapback]

 

I'm not sure if a DVR that has no TiVo (or similar) service has the ability to get a "Season Pass" to a show but if it can't then that's one advantage that a DVR with TiVo (or similar service) has over it.

 

Tonight (for me) is one example, I had no idea that Survivor was switched from Thursday to Wednesday (actually I did know but had completely forgotten) but since I have a season pass on my TiVo DVR it automatically recorded tonight's episode for me. Since the DVR is programmed to record a specifc show then the date it comes on doesn't matter, it will record that show whenever it comes on.

 

So tonight when I walked into the house after being out and noticed that the DVR was recording I was puzzled. I knew that I hadn't scheduled anything for tonight at 8pm so I figured it was just an old episode of American Chopper or something like that. When I went to my "Now Playing List" and saw that it was Survivor I was pretty surprised, and relieved that TiVo recorded it for me.

 

So if the "non-service" DVR's can do the same thing then that's great, but I'm almost sure that it's part of the TiVo service (which a cable company's DVR might also provide also).

 

Anyway, when I realized that TiVo had "saved the day" I thought I'd mention it here to help anyone that may be thinking about getting one.

 

I am a fan 100% of TiVo, whether it's by that company or some other comapny I just can't imagine TV without it anymore.

[HRH The KING 0]

They sold TiVo systems here in the UK a few years back, but they only sold about 35,000 boxes before the sales dried up and they were discontinued.

 

I don't think they managed to compete with Sky Plus which is very similar.

 

In the UK, Sky is very powerful and no one can compete with them.

 

British Sky Broadcasting

Edited March 17, 2005 by The King

[MrPsychic 1]

So, has Sky knocked off BBC off their throne? (pun intended :P)

[HRH The KING 0]

So, has Sky knocked off BBC off their throne?

 

Well, it's certainly getting there.

 

It's only government protection of the BBC that's saving it.

[KIMIMELA 1]

the only thing i watch is Sky one or ITV. Never watch TV actually

[A l t e r E g o 9]

Great point VBG. Regular DVRs probably would not have recorded last nights Survivor as their record functions are (I believe) like a VCR. Not positive about that (I'll check it out) but yeah I get the point; TIVO could be (was in your case) a real life-saver in times of Show preemptions or rescheduling. Definitely something more to consider...

[Itchygomba69 0]

Im thinking of doing it with my direct TV

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Great point VBG. Regular DVRs probably would not have recorded last nights Survivor as their record functions are (I believe) like a VCR. Not positive about that (I'll check it out) but yeah I get the point; TIVO could be (was in your case) a real life-saver in times of Show preemptions or rescheduling. Definitely something more to consider...

310706[/snapback]

 

Yeah, it has a lot of features that you could probably live without but having them is a really great thing. Another thing to look into if you don't want to deal with a monthly fee is to pay TiVo's one time fee. It's a couple hundred dollars all at one time but then you don't have to deal with the monthly bill. I might switch to the 1 time fee soon just to rid myself of the monthly fee.

 

Im thinking of doing it with my direct TV

310707[/snapback]

 

You should do it, if you can afford it then go for it. I'm 100% sure you'll love it once you have it.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Something else to look into when deciding to get a TiVo is the dual tuner TiVo's. I don't know if the stand alone DVR's have the option of dual tuners but my TiVo's do have it. What that means is that my DVR has to "In" connectors for the TV signal. By having 2 tuners I can record 1 channel while I watch a second channel, or I can record 2 programs at the same time if I so desire.

 

For instance, if Enterprise came on at the same time as Survivor I could tell my TiVo to record both of the shows even though they are on at the same time on different channels.

 

Currently I don't have both tuners hooked up to lines because I had to buy a special multiswitch in order to split the DirecTV signal properly but I will soon have it all set up.

[Data 0]

Tivo is one of the greatest inventions for TV. I have had mine along with a wide screen TV for a year and a half now. Between that and Cable internet, I could not see life without them.

 

Netflix is going to have a internet download setup with Comcast, using Tivo. I can't wait. Meaning that if you have Comcast Internet, you can download movies to your Tivo DVR. Some DVR's have DVD burners. Of course, I am sure you can also burn DVDs on your computer too.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Yeah, the technology is really advancing to do some great things for home entertainment.

 

My goal for next September (Football season) is to have several TiVo's set up in a special room that will contain several TV's. This special room will be my "Command Center". My goal is to record every single NFL game that is played next football season. On Sundays in my "Command Center" there will be at least 4 games on 4 TV's at any given time during the day. The main TV will have the Eagles of course lol

[Data 0]

Yeah, the technology is really advancing to do some great things for home entertainment.

 

My goal for next September (Football season) is to have several TiVo's set up in a special room that will contain several TV's. This special room will be my "Command Center". My goal is to record every single NFL game that is played next football season. On Sundays in my "Command Center" there will be at least 4 games on 4 TV's at any given time during the day. The main TV will have the Eagles of course lol

316120[/snapback]

 

Yeah, get all the Eagles games. :biggrin: Hopefully they make it to the Super Bowl again and win next season. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

[cassidy 0]

Are they available in Australia yet?

[Itchygomba69 0]

is on-demand on cable and tivoing the same thing (I'm thinking of switching to Cable from Direct TV)

[Data 0]

is on-demand on cable and tivoing the same thing (I'm thinking of switching to Cable from Direct TV)

317961[/snapback]

 

On Demand is something different. It is when you can chose an event any time you want. A regular show, movie or sporting event. All you need is Digital Cable. Tivo is a DVR, Digital Video Recorder. It also gives you features like instant replay and rewind on live events. Tivo is also offered with DirecTV. Which I have right now. But I have Comcast for internet.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I have DirecTV as well, I don't know what the cable companies call their DVR's but I'm almost sure they have something like it and I think Comcast will be soon offering TiVo itself.

 

The only thing I don't like about the DirecTV TiVo is the limited abilities where networking and TiVo to Go are concerned. "TiVoToGo" is something I really REALLY want but it's not available on DirecTV TiVo's (officially*). One good feature that DirecTV TiVo's have that Standalone TiVo's don't have is dual tuners, so a DirecTV TiVo can record 2 channels at the same time or you can record one thing while you watch another.

 

As of right now I have 3 TiVo's, #1 has (had) a 40 gigabyte hard drive which gives about 35 hours of record time. #2 and #3 both have 80 Gigabyte hard drives which give about 74 hours of record time. I say that #1 "had" a 40 gigabyte drive because I went out last night and bought a 250 gig hard drive and installed it into the TiVo replacing the 40 gig. The 250 gig drive now gives me about 282 hours of record time. I also said that DirecTV TiVo's don't "Officially" offer the networking features but I hacked the new drive with the standalone TiVo's software and now I have those features on my DTV Tivo B)

 

Before football season starts I'll be installing 1 more TiVo and upgrading the 3 that currently have small hard drives. Once I network them all into my home network I'll be able to watch anything that was recorded on any of the TiVo's from any other "TiVo Room" and at some point I expect to be able to remotely watch my TiVo's even if I am in another state, or I can give my brothers access and they'd be able to watch a show on my TiVo from anywhere in the country.

 

I just love cool technology!

[Data 0]

Comcast offers Tivo and is supposed to have some deal with Netflix coming soon. I will check on that.

 

Well VBG, I would say you are really enjoying your DVRs. Happy recording. B) I am mainly into collecting movies. That was why I was interested in the one with the DVD burner. Pretty soon they will be recording from the net. I can't wait.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Yeah, I'm having fun with it. I've gotten my main TiVo networked into my home network by activating it's USB ports, once I have the other TiVo's upgraded they too will be networked and I'll be able to access any of the TiVo's from any of the TiVo rooms.

 

I've also gotten the extraction process working nicely now too so I can pull up my Now Showing list and extract the shows out of the TiVo and onto my PC and then convert them into DVD.

 

It's been a lot of work because I've had to give myself a crash course in Linux but I know DOS pretty well and the 2 seem to be pretty close to each other.

[ddillard 2]

I don't think that I could live without my TiVo. The last place I lived we had a DVR and I ABSOLUTELY HATED it. It did not have most of the features that I love with TiVo. I ran into alot of problems when trying to set up season passes, as if there was ANY conflict with another show on any day it would not allow me to put in the season pass at all without completely deleting the other one. I love the fact that TiVo just records according to the priority list.

 

Myself I love the TiVo because I set it up to record all of the shows that I wish to watch. This means that I can just do whatever I need to in the other aspects of my life and never have to worry about if I get caught in traffic or get off work late causing me to miss a show. I know that the shows will be there when I get home. Honestly I pretty much always wait until after a show is at least half over to watch it so that I never have to watch commercials. Also, alot of the shows that I like to watch are one during the day while I am at work so without the TiVo I would miss them all. I usually watch one or two shows when I get home, but by letting the TiVo record my favorite programs throughout the week I have plenty to watch on weekends when I am off work.

 

Another feature that I love with TiVo is the online scheduling. I am always having people tell me about shows at work that they think I will like and with the online scheduling I can just turn around and login to the TiVo site, set up the recording and it will be downloaded and setup on my TiVo when it updates that day. It saves me from having to try to remember what the name of the show was when I get home hours later.

 

As for the fees I plan on changing to the lifetime service when I can but until then the 12 dollar monthly fee is more than worth the cost to me especially considering that at least in my area it is cheaper than renting the dvr from my local cable company and gives me alot more features than those boxes would.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Yeah, I too can't live without my TiVo now. Especially now that I've hacked it and have opened up a whole new world with the larger drive and video extraction and have now gotten it networked into my home network.

 

I soon plan to have all 3 of my TiVo's networked together, then I'll have a 4th box installed which gives me 8 tuners that can record 8 different things at any given time. I've also been thinking of having another dish installed to I can expand to 8 total boxes with 16 tuners total though I'd likely only go with 1 more box on the second dish for a total of 10 tuners (for now).

 

I'm pretty pleased with the video extraction though, through my USB2 connection it takes about an hour and a half to transfer 3 hours of video.