TiVo Question

[USSEnterprise]

Do you need to pay for any sort of service for TiVo to work as just a DVR? If so, I'm getting another VCR

[mairsil]

I can't speak for the stand alone versions (try www.tivocommunity.com), but the DirecTV Tivos require the subscription. If you have a decent spare computer sitting around, look into doing a MythTV setup (http://www.mythtv.org/). With the way that Tivo is selling out to advertisers, you may want to take it into consideration.

Having said that, it is really a shame since my wife and I really do love our Tivos.

[Goz]

Yes in order to get the interactive programming you need to pay for the service.

[Frosty]

One possible solution is finding an older ReplayTV model, for example a Panasonic Showstopper.

[pointdablame]

If you get a Tivo made by Toshiba, or other brand names, they sometimes come with free Tivo Basic service for life.  The basic service is not much more than a VCR, as you cannot do season passes, or recommendations, etc etc.  You also only get a few days of listings as opposed to the 14 days you'd normally get.

Basically.. yes... every Tivo or ReplayTV (except the older ones mentioned) require either a monthly fee or a lifetime subscription fee.  i found a Replay with lifetime subscription, and it is awesome.  You will love DVR.

[AmericanDemon]

Heh.  I have an Insight DVR from my cable company and its free.  Sets up seasons and stuff.  Dual Tuner.  Not all the flash of the TiVo but still most of the functionality.

[USSEnterprise]

Yeah but don't you pay for it in your cable bill each month?

[pointdablame]

Yeah but don't you pay for it in your cable bill each month?

In most situations, yes.  Near me, Comcast charges I believe $5 or $10 a month for the DVR service, and you have to have digital cable to use it, which is another $10/mo fee.

[USSEnterprise]

Is a 733MHz computer with 192 Megs of RAM enough to set up a DVR?

[pointdablame]

Is a 733MHz computer with 192 Megs of RAM enough to set up a DVR?

if you have a capture card with good hardware acceleration, you'll be just fine.  If you are relying on software acceleration, you are probably just on the edge where you could potentially have a problem

[USSEnterprise]

Right now there is no capture card. I'm either buying a capture card or a VCR

[Generic Eric]

www.byopvr.com is supposed to be a good site.  I want to build one one day, but don't have a project PC to spare right now.  Its run by  fellow byoac member, Rampy.  You should check it out.

[97thruhiker]

Direct TV charges me $4.99 a month for TIVO.  I could not imagine going back to not having it.

[Ed_McCarron]

My total TIVO bill comes to like 21 bucks a month.

One TIVO has a lifetime sub, one has a month-to-month, and the third is in boat anchor mode - the modem died.  The bill'd be 8 bucks cheaper if I ever cancel the sub for the boat anchor one.  Theres no option for that on the web site, and I need to remember to call DURING normal hours to cancel a sub...

We don't even watch a lot of TV.  Ones mine, ones the wifes, and the boat anchor one is full of kiddie shows. 

Wouldn't trade in my TIVOs for the world.

[duffjr]

I use the DVR of Time-Warner, which includes a Scientific America box.  the problem is the processor is so slow and loud.  it even makes noise when the power is off.  i think it is $6.99 a month per DVR box.   are they going to release a new version ever?  i would buy my own and mod it if there were a way.

[ChadTower]

I use a pair of DirecTivos.  I'm moving one to a new room right now, hence the cat6/rg6 project about two threads away from this one.

[clanggedin]

Recently TIVO announced a free DVR with a monthly subscription of $14.99 (I think). With a standalone TIVO you can download movies to you PSP and transfer shows to your computer. Unfortunately you cannot do those things with a DirecTIVO unit. The DirecTIVO units are dual tuner whole the standalone unit is a single tuner. DirecTIVO is $4.99 per receiver. All you are paying is for another receiver.

DirecTV has started or will begin shipping their own DVR since they dropped their contract with TIVO. According to reviews the Directv DVR is better in some wasy and lacking in others.

Once you buy a TIVO you will wonder how you lived your life without it. I NEVER miss any of my favorite shows and I can now watch them after my kids are in bed.

I love TIVO so much that I purchased churchoftivo.com so I could start my own religion. One of these days I'll have time to start building the site.

Buying a VCR now is like buying a cassette player. If you decide not to buy a TIVO then purchase a DVD recorder at least.

[USSEnterprise]

But aren't DVD recorders slow? And the media costs more than VHS tapes

[pointdablame]

But aren't DVD recorders slow? And the media costs more than VHS tapes

I can't speak for the speed of stand alone DVD recorders, but DVD recorders in general have gotten extremely quick.  16x burning for PCs... my bet is you'll easily find 4x or 8x stand alone units... that'll burn a disc in 15mins MAX, probably much less.

And DVD media is dirt cheap these days, unless you are looking for dual layer media.   You can get a 100pk of GREAT media for $30.  Let me know where you buy VHS tapes for 30 cents

[USSEnterprise]

Do stand alone DVD recorders re-write?

[pointdablame]

Do stand alone DVD recorders re-write?

To my knowledge, most will.  Just be sure it records either DVD-RW or DVD+RW.  And stay away from DVD-RAM... its a useless format for most normal applications.

[ChadTower]

Standalone DVD recorders can only record at the speed of TV, making them the exact same speed as a VCR.

They do break a LOT, though.  I've had three break on me, each with less than a year of normal usage.

[clanggedin]

As long as they break within a year of purchase then the manufacturer warranty should keep you going. Maybe for this it wouldn't be bad to buy a replacement plan.

[koolmoecraig]

Dude.

Pony up the $5 or so for the Tivo service. It will change your friggin' life. If you look you can find Tivos for free after rebate. Then you can pay $299 for LIFETIME service.

A VCR? Are you kidding? Seriously?

Tivo is so easy to use. No crappy analog tapes. Way faster rewind and fast foward. Record two channels at once. Season pass which allows you to record every episode of a show. You can even set it to record shows with a certain actor or even words in the title!

A VCR. Aahhahaa.

[USSEnterprise]

Tivo is so easy to use. No crappy analog tapes. Way faster rewind and fast foward. Record two channels at once. Season pass which allows you to record every episode of a show. You can even set it to record shows with a certain actor or even words in the title!

A VCR. Aahhahaa.

But I really don't need all that. I just need the ability to record programs. A DVD-R sounds like a better option

[shmokes]

You don't think you need it.  And, well, you're right.  You don't NEED it. 

But he's right too.  It will change everything. 

When you want to watch a show you don't need to find the DVD you burned, just browse through the menu, all nicely categorized, and select what you want to watch. 

When you're watching live TV and you look at your wife and say, "What did he say?" and you're wife says, "I don't know; I missed it too," you just skip back a few seconds and see what he said. 

When you're watching live TV and decide to want some nachos you just hit the pause button, make nachos, unpause and continue watching TV.

Can't think of the name of that early Watchowski Bros. movie you've been wanting to see?  Do a search on Jennifer Tilly.  In fact, if you're a huge Jennifer Tilly fan, just tell the thing to keep an eye out and it will record anything with Jennifer Tilly in it. 

Are you a big Seinfeld fan?  Screw figuring out when Seinfeld airs and manually programming the DVD Recorder to record at a certain time.  Just tell TIVO to record every Seinfeld.  It will monitor every station (that's good for a program that's showing on lots of different channels at lots of different times) for episodes not already recorded.

And what if you're watching a recorded show on your DVD recorder when it's time for it to start recording another show?  You've got to stop watching and put in a blank disc.  Not with TIVO.  It'll just start recording in the background while you continue watching the previously recorded stuff.

And it's so bloody easy to record a program on a TIVO compared to a DVD recorder/VCR.  You don't have to check listings and then program in a day/time.  You just browse to the program on the same menu that you use to select programs to watch and instead of pressing "select" you press "record" and it gets marked for recording.

...and so on.  The list goes on, and a lot of them seem like very small things.  You think to yourself, "How often do I want to pause or rewind live TV?"  But trust me, these little things become like a mouse wheel.  You don't even realize when the thing became an absolutely essential part of using the computer, but it did.  Just the same with a DVR.   

A DVD recorder will cost just as much as a TIVO and it is not capable of making such a profound change in the way you watch TV.  One big change is that almost overnight you will stop watching shows that you aren't interested in.  You might watch just as much TV, but it will only be stuff you really like.  And you'll stop watching commercials altogether.

For the record I've never actually used a TIVO.  I have a ReplayTV.  Same thing.   

[Samstag]

As unbelievable as some of the above sounds, it's all true.  I was skeptical for a long time too, but I now bow to the all-powerful Tivo.

And to add to the above, just thought I'd mention that with the Tivo, I don't watch live TV, ever.  If I sit down and see something interesting that's on or about to come on, I tell Tivo to record it and then I'll either watch a 30 minute prerecorded show or go do something else for a while.  Then I'll come back and watch almost-live with no commercials.  If I'm watching something long with lots of commercials (NFL) I might pause a couple times in the middle and do other things.  Usually I can time it pretty well and end up finishing up the game about the same time as the live broadcast.  But I might watch several episodes of the Family Guy and the game while you're watching the game and the commercials.

[Stingray]

I think this thread just convinced me to buy a tivo.

-S

[Goz]

I think this thread just convinced me to buy a tivo.

-S

I picked up one for another room in my house for $40 w/ lifetime subscription. The person on craigslist was eager for ca$h....

[ChadTower]

I have two.  If I had more TVs I would have more Tivos.

[mairsil]

I have two.

[ChadTower]

I don't watch enough TV to have use for all that capacity, really.

[Stingray]

Probably gonna go out at lunch today and pick up one of the DirecTV boxes. I see that Best Buy has the 80 gig model for $100 and there's a current $100 rebate on that one. I already have DirecTV, so I guess that will be good enough for me.

-S

[ChadTower]

Call DirecTV first... check to see what they are offering for their new DVR.  You may be able to get that one "free" with installation included.

Don't bother worrying about capacity, either.  It is basic PC skills to swap the hard drive with a much larger one (or two).

[Stingray]

I already checked with DTV. It's $170 from them for the same reciever , which includes installation and has the same rebate. So, $70 more, plus I have to wait for a guy to come install it. If I buy from Best Buy, I can have it up & running tonight.

-S

[ChadTower]

Cool.  Be aware that a DirecTivo needs TWO incoming lines in order to use both tuners (record two shows at once).

[Stingray]

Yeah I assumed as much. Right now I only have one, but I guess it would be no big deal to run another cable later if I want to use that function.

-S

[ChadTower]

Just do it up front.  You will want that feature.  It is one of the best features and it is the one thing it does better than a standalone Tivo.

Once you start setting up your season passes and such, and recording things on a whim all the time, you will want that second tuner.  I guarantee it.

[mairsil]

I already checked with DTV. It's $170 from them for the same reciever , which includes installation and has the same rebate. So, $70 more, plus I have to wait for a guy to come install it. If I buy from Best Buy, I can have it up & running tonight.

-S

Call customer retentions and get the free (after rebates/discounts) HD Tivo like I did. Even if you don't use it for HD, it has a 250+ GB hard drive for standard definition shows:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=254292 (warning, loooooooooong thread)

[ChadTower]

I will read this thread thoroughly no matter the length, if it means a free HD Tivo.

I don't even care about HD, but I seem to remember that one having FOUR tuners.

[Stingray]

I didn't read very far into that thread, but it would seem that getting this deal is a matter of luck. Reported prices for this seem to range from $14.95 up to $549, with the majority getting it for $299. I think the 80 gig will do fine for me.

-S

[mairsil]

I will read this thread thoroughly no matter the length, if it means a free HD Tivo.

I don't even care about HD, but I seem to remember that one having FOUR tuners.

Well, it is two DirecTV tuners (like the regular DirecTivos) and two internal over-the-air HD tuners which use a single input.

And it is a matter of luck to get the free/cheap HD Tivo. It took me a total of three different calls to get the cumulative discounts and free channels, but it was worth it for me.

[ChadTower]

Ah, then for the time being, I don't have all that much to benefit from.  My main DirecTivo already is around 200G.

[Stingray]

Went to Best Buy. What a shock. They were sold out of the one I wanted. I may have to give DTV a ring and see if they're willing to match BB's price.

-S

[ChadTower]

Best Buy is useless.  They are always out of stock of anything they advertise.  They would be completely bait and switch if they ever had anyone on the floor that knew what they were talking about.

[Stingray]

They did have the standard 40 gb Tivo unit for about $50 after rebate. I looked at it, but there's not much in the way of information on the outside of that box.

-S

[ChadTower]

The 80 and 40g units are the same except the hard drive, which you can and should swap with a 120g drive anyway.

[Stingray]

Is there anything more to it than just swapping out the drive? How does one format it?

-S

[ChadTower]

You would need a linux box for the process... there are tools you use on the linux box to format the drive before dropping it into the Tivo.

[Ed_McCarron]

Theres also a bootable CD floating around... It has the linux core and everything you need to install the bigger drive and 'bless' it, or add two drives.

Start here:

http://tivo.stevejenkins.com/network_cd.html

Thats one of the sites I used to hack mine.  Theres hundreds (OK, a lot) of Tivo hack sites out there.

Also, check out www.9thtee.com .  Got my second drive bracket there.

[Stingray]

Thanks for the info. I'll look into that once I actually have a DVR in my possession. Of course now I feel the need for surround sound...

-S

[ChadTower]

Almost worthless.  So little DirecTV content is in 5.1.  I did that, got my DirecTivo and set up 5.1 and haven't seen anything on it in 5.1 in over a year.

Basically, there are the occasional 5.1 movies on the pay channels, and then some of the PPV stuff is in 5.1.

[Stingray]

Okay, but it still has to sound better than the crappy built in speaker on my TV.

-S

[ChadTower]

Oh, absolutely, but it will be stereo, not 5.1.

[USSEnterprise]

Digital Cable is awesome. All HBO, Starz, and Encore Channels come in in 5.1. And then there is everything that is on demand

[ChadTower]

Everything is on demand with Tivo.

You can order those channels with DirecTV, too, but they are not cheap, as they are not cheap with Digital Cable.

[Stingray]

I do have, I don't know, about a dozen or so Starz/ Encore channels, so that's another reason to with the surround sound.

-S

[ChadTower]

Any self respecting BYOACer should have it anyway.  I'm saying don't get it strictly for the Tivo because that would be a waste.

[Stingray]

I also assume that my DVD player would take on new life given a nice surround sound boost.

-S

[USSEnterprise]

Right now, on IO, there is a channel labled "Digital Video Recorder", but  it is a blank channel

[Stingray]

Another Tivo related question for you guys who have one. If I set it to record something any time it's on. Say I set it to record 'Star Trek', and Star Trek Nemesis comes on a premium movie channel that I don't subscribe to. Is it smart enough to ignore that occurance of the phrase 'Star Trek' or will I get two hours of black screen? Just curious.

-S

[ChadTower]

Depends on how you did it.

If you set up a season pass for Star Trek, it would not get Star Trek Nemesis because that is a different show.

If you set up a wishlist to autorecord anything with Star Trek in the title, it would get Nemesis too.

Sometimes it will attempt to record things on channels you do not have, but will then remove it from the list when done.  There are ways around that too, I believe, such as removing all channels you do not have from the listings. 

[Stingray]

Sometimes it will attempt to record things on channels you do not have, but will then remove it from the list when done.  There are ways around that too, I believe, such as removing all channels you do not have from the listings. 

Ah, I hadn't thought of manually removing the channels I don't get. Thanks.

-S

[clanggedin]

I believe it only recods from the channels in your favorites, unless you specify otherwise

[Goz]

If you use guided setup one of the steps is selecting the channels you do get from a list since not everyone gets all premium channels. Its a simple check mark next to the channel.

[Santoro]

I didn't read very far into that thread, but it would seem that getting this deal is a matter of luck.

It is, I got it in summer, but I couldnt get it again recently.

[ChadTower]

If you use guided setup one of the steps is selecting the channels you do get from a list since not everyone gets all premium channels. Its a simple check mark next to the channel.

Doing that has the downside of being unable to see channels without manually adding them if you change your programming package.

[ClubNinja]

I admittedly haven't really followed or read this thread, but I think it's time to insert a stupid "what should I do?" question:

I have DirectTV.  I also have a Tivo Series2 (I think) unit.  What should I do?  DirectTV offers a DVR unit for $100, then a rebate, then service for $5.99/mo (if I remember correctly).  Tivo costs a bit more a month, or there's the lifetime membership.  My concern there is what if Tivo croaks in a month?  Do I lose that money?  Alternatively, can I just hook up my Tivo unit, pay DirectTV the $5.99/mo and have anything work correctly?  I suspect not. 

What should I do?

[ChadTower]

Standalone Tivos do not work on DirecTV because there is no mpeg encoder in a DirecTivo... doesn't need it.

A DirecTivo expects a slightly altered mpeg signal from DirecTV and thus does no real encoding when recording to disc.

A standalone Tivo has an mpeg encoder since it is expecting an analog signal that is output from the cable box or somesuch.

The two are not compatible.

[ClubNinja]

So, in short, I need to go with DirecTV's offer?

Is there anything I can do with the other Tivo unit other than throw it out of a moving vehicle or freecycle it back to where it came from?

[Stingray]

Standalone Tivos do not work on DirecTV

According to the Tivo site the series 2 works with DTV.

http://www.tivo.com/1.3.2.asp

-S

[Goz]

So, in short, I need to go with DirecTV's offer?

Is there anything I can do with the other Tivo unit other than throw it out of a moving vehicle or freecycle it back to where it came from?

Sell it to Goz, I hear he's looking to pick up another one at a good price. 

-Goz

[ChadTower]

Erm... that's a good question.

[ClubNinja]

When you say it will be a very manual DVR, what software benefits would it be missing?  Could I still tell it to record every instance of Show X?  Or does it make more sense to get the DirecTV DVR and sell this Tivo to Goz at a good price?

[ChadTower]

When you say it will be a very manual DVR, what software benefits would it be missing?

[Frosty]

Hey...speaking of, anyone here have DirectTV in high definition yet?  Any experiences with it?  How about the HD DVR?

Thinking about getting it for my parents for the holidays.  Everything is already in place: multi-satellite dish, HDTV...but they need a little more than just network programming in HD (read=siblings need a place to watch NFL and NHL in HD <grin>).

[Santoro]

According to the Tivo site the series 2 works with DTV.

http://www.tivo.com/1.3.2.asp

-S

It's slow as crap changing channels.

[JCL]

Another question:

Which PVR for analog cable? Seems like a Tivo with the current rebates is a good deal. Is there any real difference between Tivo's standalone offerings other than capacity (for new units currently available)?

[pointdablame]

Another question:

Which PVR for analog cable? Seems like a Tivo with the current rebates is a good deal. Is there any real difference between Tivo's standalone offerings other than capacity (for new units currently available)?

I am NOT a tivo expert by any means, but from what I can tell, the Tivo-made Tivos usually vary only slightly, if at all, except for hard drive capacity.  If you buy a Tivo unit from Toshiba or Humax or the like, you may get a DVD player as well, or DVD recorder, etc etc.

ReplayTV works very similar to Tivo, and again... usually only varies as far as capacity goes within a given generation.  There are obviously some differences between say Tivo Series I and Series II or the 3xxx Replays and the 50xx Replays.

[ChadTower]

The benefit to Tivo specifically is the Tivo software.  It is the best out there, most user friendly, most robust, and they're not going to get sued out of existance like the other DVR makers tend to... a couple of them are long gone, a couple more will go soon.

[pointdablame]

The benefit to Tivo specifically is the Tivo software.  It is the best out there, most user friendly, most robust, and they're not going to get sued out of existance like the other DVR makers tend to... a couple of them are long gone, a couple more will go soon.

yeah, I will say my girlfriend's Tivo looks much more user friendly than my Replay.  And it has a number of other search options.

I love my Replay tho.

[ChadTower]

The one thing I would kill to have on my Tivo is the ability to share content between units... and I believe Replay has that, yes?

[Goz]

The one thing I would kill to have on my Tivo is the ability to share content between units... and I believe Replay has that, yes?

Pretty sure thats what multi room viewing is all about. Here's the tivo support page on how to do it

[ChadTower]

Doesn't apply to DirecTivo.  We don't get all those high fallutin' features.

[Goz]

Doesn't apply to DirecTivo.  We don't get all those high fallutin' features.

Hmm bummer I had heard it was part of their basic subscription now. Obviously doesn't apply to direct tv... that sucks...

[ChadTower]

DirecTV stopped adding Tivo features a couple of years ago... now they're doing away with new DirecTivos completely.  They will still support existing ones, but if you want to get a new DVR now, you have to use their DirecTV DVR.

[Chickadee]

Tivo's are amazing ;x

I bought one about two years ago [Toshiba SDH400]  and on top of everything electronic i own, id have to say its the best thing ive ever purchased.  I never actually thought I'd make use of it when I got it, but now its like my best friend! can't imagine life without one. [It also has a built in DVD player, which comes in handy.]

My boyfriend owns a replay [which is what made me want one in the first place], and I just don't think it's as good. 

Because I don't have a digital cable box in my room, I like with my tivo that I can record one show, while watching another.

It records everything I want, and it makes suggestions.  It first suggested for me to watch Prison Break cause it thought id like it what a smart tivo, for it turned out to be my favorite show!

The only complaint I would've ever had about tivo was that you couldnt record two shows if timing was off.  For instance, ER runs from 9:59-11.  So If I wanted to record ER, i couldnt record anything that fit into the 9:30-10 time slot.  However just about two weeks ago, they came up with a fix for that So i officially have no issues with the tivo.

As people said,Its very user friendly, and I couldn't agree more.

IIRC, you can just buy a tivo and you automatically get the basic service with it.  Meaning you have to manually record everything. No season passes or nething. And you can only get information for up to 3 days [where as the upgraded one has 2wks + season passes]. 

If you're going to put out the money for a tivo, I'd suggest, if you could, getting the lifetime tivo. If you don't like it or eventually swap to something else, they end up having high resell values.

Like i said, I bought mine *counts* it'll be two years ago in January, and I still occasionally check on ebay and see it going for just about the same price.

I forgot to mention: You can also make use of TivoToGo. Im not sure if its just with the upgraded tivo, or basic too? But it lets you transfer anything on your tivo to your computer so if you wanted to put it on a DVD or something for later you can.  It doesnt take entirely long either [usually about 3/4th's the length of a show ..1hr show takes about 45 minutes to transfer]

[ChadTower]

Lifetime Tivo, it should be mentioned, applies TO THE BOX and not TO THE USER.

If your Tivo dies, so does your lifetime subscription.  It is not transferrable from unit to unit but does follow the unit from owner to owner.

It is up to you to decide if the $300 or so is worth the cost given that the lifespan of most electronics is way lower than $300 / cost per month for the service.

[duffjr]

does anyone use timewarner's box?  are there mods for scientific atlanta?  i think it gets 30 hours of recording.  it also has a firewire port.

[Ed_McCarron]

"It is up to you to decide if the $300 or so is worth the cost given that the lifespan of most electronics is way lower than $300 / cost per month for the service."

That was my logic with my Tivo Series I.  5 years later, at ~13.00/month, I'm out $780, give or take...  When I bought it, the lifetime was only $249 or so, IIRC.

I gambled, and lost.

My second Tivo has the lifetime sub... How much you wanna bet it dies in 3 days?

[AlanS17]

I will read this thread thoroughly no matter the length, if it means a free HD Tivo.

I don't even care about HD, but I seem to remember that one having FOUR tuners.

Though it has 2 HD tuners and 2 DTV tuners, only 2 of any type can be used for recording at once.

[AlanS17]

The one thing I would kill to have on my Tivo is the ability to share content between units... and I believe Replay has that, yes?

Standalone units offer it. DirecTV units don't. Regular DirecTV units can be hacked to offer it, but HD DirecTV units can't.

[ChadTower]

Standalone units offer it. DirecTV units don't. Regular DirecTV units can be hacked to offer it, but HD DirecTV units can't.

I tried to look into adding it to my DirecTV units... the software wasn't mature enough at that point to risk my Tivos.  Is it now?

[pointdablame]

FWIW, I've heard numerous stories about how Tivo transferred over a lifetime subscription to a new box if it died in an untimely way or as an obvious hardware fault.  It is NOT the norm, and NOT officially announced in anyway by Tivo, but I know it has happened numerous times.  Just something to think about.. but yeah, if the Tivo dies a death of old age, you're out the service... but you'd probably have saved money in the long run.

And yeah Chad... Replay has sharing of videos.  You can also use the Poopli service and actually download whatever shows you want on other people's Replay's.  You can search for the newest Simpsons, for instance, and anyone on the Poopli service that has that episode can send the episode to you when the two Replay's aren't doing anything else. It's very neat.. like a DVD P2P service.  I'm not sure if Tivo has a similar program??

Either way... everyone should have a DVR, no matter what one lol

[ChadTower]

I'm not sure if Tivo has a similar program??

No, Tivo would send the autodestruct codes out if they thought people had figured out how to do that.  They are WAY too corporate DMCA minded.

[pointdablame]

I'm not sure if Tivo has a similar program??

No, Tivo would send the autodestruct codes out if they thought people had figured out how to do that.  They are WAY too corporate DMCA minded.

True, true.  I didn't even think of the broadcast flag fiasco.  I guess Replay is the slightly more "underground" DVR lol.

[Stingray]

I'm not sure if Tivo has a similar program??

No, Tivo would send the autodestruct codes out if they thought people had figured out how to do that.  They are WAY too corporate DMCA minded.

True, true.  I didn't even think of the broadcast flag fiasco.  I guess Replay is the slightly more "underground" DVR lol.

Does it work with DTV?

-S

[pointdablame]

I'm not sure if Tivo has a similar program??

No, Tivo would send the autodestruct codes out if they thought people had figured out how to do that.  They are WAY too corporate DMCA minded.

True, true.  I didn't even think of the broadcast flag fiasco.  I guess Replay is the slightly more "underground" DVR lol.

Does it work with DTV?

-S

Honestly, I have no idea, but my first instinct would be a big ol' NO. 

[Stingray]

Yeah, I assumed as much. I'm totally at a loss as to which unit to get now. I guess the official DTV unit is probably the best bet, but if I switch to Dish Network, I'm screwed.

-S

[ChadTower]

That's not true.  The DirecTV DVR is integrated into the satellite receiver, which you have to swap out if you change to Dish no matter what.  The receivers are proprietary for both systems.

For that matter, so is the dish angle.  If you switch to Dish you'd have to go and adjust your satellite dish too, and while the dishes themselves are compatible, they are not optimally so. Each one uses a slightly different curvature.  While each will pick up a signal from the other, neither will get as good a signal as the original.

[rampy]

Standalone Tivos do not work on DirecTV because there is no mpeg encoder in a DirecTivo... doesn't need it.

A DirecTivo expects a slightly altered mpeg signal from DirecTV and thus does no real encoding when recording to disc.

A standalone Tivo has an mpeg encoder since it is expecting an analog signal that is output from the cable box or somesuch.

The two are not compatible.

That's not exactly true/accurate. 

You *can* use a regular standalone tivo with directv (or dishnetwork, or bellvue express, or star choice, yadda yadda) .. it works in the same manner as you do for digital cable.  Which, admittadly is less than ideal analog loophole, re-encoding the output of the satellite STB/receiver.

You're right that the direcTV "native" dvr's just stream the mpeg2 (or mpeg4 soon?) bits to the disk.  It's much more convenient that way, but for some reason they don't let pc users at the raw bits

*Shrug*  It's probably not economical and is slightly more painful but you can do it.   You'd do the same thing conceptually on the byopvr front, except replace the standalone tivo with the PC PVR.   

rampy

[rampy]

According to the Tivo site the series 2 works with DTV.

http://www.tivo.com/1.3.2.asp

-S

It's slow as crap changing channels.  Don't do it if you channel surf at all.  At least my series 2 with DTV D10 box is.

Are you using the IR blaster or serial cable...  depending on the revision of D10 box (100, 200, or 300) you can use a serial cable to control/slave the direcTV box to the series 2 Tivo.  It's a little more reliable and quicker than IR blasting.

rampy

[duffjr]

does anyone have digital cable?  what dvr setup do you have?  i saved 20 bucks switching over from directv to tw, so it was worth it.

[ChadTower]

That's not exactly true/accurate. 

Technically you can use a Tivo with anything that ouputs 15khz analog video... but his question, basically, was "does it work the same?"

[pointdablame]

does anyone have digital cable?  what dvr setup do you have?  i saved 20 bucks switching over from directv to tw, so it was worth it.

My ReplayTV is set up through my digital cable with zero problems.  I have a Replay with lifetime service though.. it has nothing to do with my cable provider.

[shmokes]

Chad, does your directTivo have a USB port?  I remember that when I bought my ReplayTV that one deciding factor was the integrated ethernet port on the replay, whereas TIVO was just getting around to home networking and it required a $100 USB network module.

My Xbox networks seamlessly with my ReplayTV, BTW.  Since my digital cable box has a built in DVR I put my replay box on my office TV.  For my home theater my cable box handles time shifting functions, while my Xbox streams my ReplayTV content from the other room (as well as all my music and ripped DVD's from my PC).



Anyway, my real purpose for posting was to ask if anyone's used Tivo's new transfering features for video ipod and PSP?  My father-in-law is getting his wife a video ipod for Christmas and he's apparently getting a TIVO.  Has anyone here used the service?  Does it work well?  How long does the encoding process take?  Does it tranfer the video over the network to the PC and then to the iPod from there or does the iPod connect directly to the TIVO?

[ChadTower]

Chad, does your directTivo have a USB port?

[Samstag]

Series 2 DTivos have USB but it doesn't work unless you hack the software.  Then you can use [I think] any USB ethernet adaptor supported by linux.

[ChadTower]

Series 2 DTivos have USB but it doesn't work unless you hack the software.

[shmokes]

I think someone already mentioned this, but the linux stuff is actually really easy.  I had to do that to upgrade the hard drive on my ReplayTV, but it was just a matter of burning all the linux stuff I needed onto a disc and booting to it.  I didn't have to actually install/configure linux anywhere.  And all the work is already done for you.  Someone has everything set up so you just hook the hard drive to your PC and you boot to the Linux disc.  So you've got a Linux box as long as you boot to the disc, but back to Windows after that.  It never even loaded into a desktop environment.  Just gave me a simple menu and did all the work for me.

[ChadTower]

Nice, the tools sound a LOT friendlier now than when I hacked my DirectTivo a few years ago.

[Stingray]

Yeah, I think I could even manage to pull that off. The more I read up on this DVR stuff, the less certain I am as to what to buy.

-S

[shmokes]

It was so easy that I forgot I had done it.  My wife was out of town for the weekend and while she was gone I thought I would surprise her by pulling the 40 GB drive and putting in a 160 GB drive (cos it's really hers, I watch almost no tv).  But I also replaced our CRT with a nice LCD monitor while she was gone. 

So when she got home she got all excited about the LCD TV and I completely forgot that I had upgraded her ReplayTV until like two or three days later when she was like, "um....Jake.....What's wrong with my ReplayTV?"  So I went and looked and she was like, "Why does it say I have 144 hours of free space?  I should only have like 24 hours."  And I was like, "Oh yeah!!! I did that for you.  Forgot all about that."

I hadn't even researched it beforehand.  I just googled and found exactly what I needed immediately and made the change.  Whole thing was under an hour, I think.

[duffjr]

scientific atlanta 8300 has a sata ide port, that's disabled or enabled depending on your cable provider.  2gb is about 1 hour of recording.  i don't see the point of saving shows anyhow.  i watch them, and then they're gone unless a friend wants to see it.

[ChadTower]

Yeah, but you may not want to watch it today.  You may want to watch it tomorrow.  Or maybe you're not home when it is on.

[duffjr]

i can record 50 hours.  i honestly only need 10.  i make sure not to go through every channel and record every show that interests me.  i look at a movie, show, or special, so that i'm only recording an hour or so a day.  i bet you have shows from months ago that you haven't watched.  just delete them.

[ChadTower]

Oh man, my family records everything.  Tons of stuff.  I bet there is 75g of turnover every day.

A lot of it doesn't get watched.

But, on Sunday's, I'll be recording four football games at once, both 1pm and 4pm, then the sunday night game, then the monday night game.  And yes, I do watch almost all of them.

[duffjr]

do you have the large box that records all the shows that you send to the smaller box when you want to watch?  how else would you watch them all on one tivo?  i can't sit through every play of a football game.  i only watch 3rd downs or 4th and inches and red zone plays.  if i'm really lazy, i'll watch the last 5 minutes.  i can't watch a prerecorded game.  i'm always tempted to push live or fastforward to the end.

[ChadTower]

do you have the large box that records all the shows that you send to the smaller box when you want to watch?

[duffjr]

yea, if by tv, you are abbreviating tivo.  so you can send shows between tivos when one tv and tivo is occupied, yet you want to watch off that tivo?

[ChadTower]

Not with DirecTivo, no, not natively anyway.  I hear talk of how they can be hacked to do that but have not tried it.

[shmokes]

There are all kinds of reason to have the tthing constantly recording stuff.  For example, I have my Replay set to record 10 episodes of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  It works on a first-in first-out basis.  Sure, I hardly see any of them, but every now and then I'm doing something that doesn't require a lot of concentration, so I'll turn on the Daily show and maybe watch three or four episodes back-to-back.  But I want to be watching current stuff, of course.

Or, for example, I watched the whole first season of The West Wing and loved it.  I'd like to watch more, but I'm just too damned busy since this semester started.  In this case  I want it to keep all the old episodes so that when I do have time I don't have to suddenly pick up in the 6th or 7th season or whatever is currently airing.

...and so on.

[duffjr]

but i would think you'd feel compelled to watch every saved show and end up spending your life devoted to tv.

[shmokes]

I guess I'm just more powerful than that.

[duffjr]

but what happens when you want to watch every episode ever of every show?  do tv waves really do anything?  i just got a 30 inch tv setup that's 2 feet away from my eyes at night, the same distance as my monitor.  i just found the discovery science channel.  i am tivo'ing every other episode.

[shmokes]

I guess you just hope it never comes to that. 

[Ed_McCarron]

but i would think you'd feel compelled to watch every saved show and end up spending your life devoted to tv.

Yessss.....  Come over to the dark side... The raster is your friend...  Speak not the TIVO name in vain.

Seriously, I let it record what it wants, and if a show does not catch my interest in about 30 seconds it gets deleted.

Its almost like I have this weird combination of ADD and OCD.  I wanna do obsessive things, but don't have the attention span for it.

[Santoro]

Yeah, I retract my statement partially.

[ChadTower]

but i would think you'd feel compelled to watch every saved show and end up spending your life devoted to tv.

Nope, not at all.  A lot of the recorded stuff gets reaped before it gets watched.  Unless you tell it otherwise, the Tivo will reap an old program to make room for a new one based on various criteria you can supply.

[Samstag]

I find myself watching less and less TV the longer I've had my Tivo.

[ChadTower]

I use it for pro wrestling and football.  I record the wrestling, watch the bits I want, fast forward through the crap.  I record the football and watch it throughout the week.  Once football season is over I don't watch much tv at all except the bits of pro wrestling that I didn't FF.

I use Tivo to filter out most TV so I don't even know what any of the current shows are nor do I care.

My wife uses it to snag all the Melrose Place and 90210 she can get.

My kids use it to get Tom + Jerry and a couple other kids' shows.

We watch far less TV with the Tivo than we would otherwise.

[duffjr]

i was gonna use it to record discovery science, but i realize i want to watch every other show, so it's better to watch them live than fill up my box recording every show.

[Santoro]

Yup, I watch less TV too.  I never surf, it is such a waste of time when I have like 400 GB of my favorite content sitting there waiting for me.  It did take a few months to get over the desire to watch everything I had recorded.  I also haven't endured the torture of a loud commercial in ages.

BTW Hogan's Heroes in Hi-Def kicks ass.  Ah the memories.  But better.

[rampy]

That's not exactly true/accurate. 

Technically you can use a Tivo with anything that ouputs 15khz analog video... but his question, basically, was "does it work the same?"

And it does... for the most part.  It's probably too painful for a liveTV channel flipper... but for doing all the wiz bang automagic season pass type scheduling the ir blaster for slaving/auotmating channel changes on the Set Top Box is fine.

*shrug*

rampy

[rampy]

Anyway, my real purpose for posting was to ask if anyone's used Tivo's new transfering features for video ipod and PSP?  My father-in-law is getting his wife a video ipod for Christmas and he's apparently getting a TIVO.  Has anyone here used the service?  Does it work well?  How long does the encoding process take?  Does it tranfer the video over the network to the PC and then to the iPod from there or does the iPod connect directly to the TIVO?

A buddy of mine has started up some cool utilities for doing just that!

http://www.tvharmony.com/main/products.php

You can set it up to do batch jobs in the middle of night

rampy

[rampy]

BTW, how does the father of BYOPVR know so much about TiVos anyway? 

ha, father of byopvr... more like the skeevy uncle of byopvr! After building the site and researching for months on building a home brew one to save some scratch,  and then got a series 2 tivo for christmas shortly there after.

rampy

[shmokes]

A buddy of mine has started up some cool utilities for doing just that!

http://www.tvharmony.com/main/products.php

You can set it up to do batch jobs in the middle of night

Interesting.  I assume, based on the existence of your buddy's software, that the software that Tivo gives for TivoToGo won't let you do all this stuff like scheduling and so on automatically.  Also, how long does the encoding process take to transfer shows to the iPod?  Lastly, I see that the software doesn't cost anything to download, but is set to expire at the end of the month.  I also see a donate button on his website.  Can you buy a non-expiring version, or will it always be free and only expires to discourage people from continuing to use unfinished software after new versions have been released?

[Santoro]

TiVo recently announced in a press release thatTivoToGo would support transfers to iPod.   

TiVoToGo doesn't support scheduling.  If you know Linux or are daring you can hack your Tivo to transfer the shows out on a schedule using Cron. That is a big project though.

[Santoro]

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[krick]

One TIVO has a lifetime sub, one has a month-to-month, and the third is in boat anchor mode - the modem died.