Author Topic: TiVo Question (Read 12233 times)

Stingray · « **Reply #40 on:** November 28, 2005, 12:25:20 pm »

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 · « **Reply #41 on:** November 28, 2005, 12:45:49 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on November 28, 2005, 12:12:13 pm

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 · « **Reply #42 on:** November 28, 2005, 01:16:41 pm »

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

Stingray · « **Reply #43 on:** November 28, 2005, 02:26:49 pm »

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 · « **Reply #44 on:** November 28, 2005, 02:30:23 pm »

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 · « **Reply #45 on:** November 28, 2005, 02:32:22 pm »

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 · « **Reply #46 on:** November 28, 2005, 02:38:33 pm »

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

Stingray · « **Reply #47 on:** November 28, 2005, 02:45:38 pm »

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

-S

ChadTower · « **Reply #48 on:** November 28, 2005, 03:00:39 pm »

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 · « **Reply #49 on:** November 28, 2005, 03:05:58 pm »

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 · « **Reply #50 on:** November 28, 2005, 03:08:24 pm »

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 · « **Reply #51 on:** November 28, 2005, 03:34:09 pm »

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 · « **Reply #52 on:** November 28, 2005, 03:52:07 pm »

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

-S

ChadTower · « **Reply #53 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:16:55 pm »

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

USSEnterprise · « **Reply #54 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:18:52 pm »

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 · « **Reply #55 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:19:57 pm »

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 · « **Reply #56 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:48:26 pm »

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 · « **Reply #57 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:50:33 pm »

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 · « **Reply #58 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:51:55 pm »

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

-S

USSEnterprise · « **Reply #59 on:** November 28, 2005, 04:52:19 pm »

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

Stingray · « **Reply #60 on:** November 29, 2005, 09:59:00 am »

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 · « **Reply #61 on:** November 29, 2005, 10:08:51 am »

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 · « **Reply #62 on:** November 29, 2005, 10:10:08 am »

Quote from: ChadTower on November 29, 2005, 10:08:51 am

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 · « **Reply #63 on:** November 29, 2005, 06:07:01 pm »

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

Goz · « **Reply #64 on:** November 29, 2005, 07:03:01 pm »

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 · « **Reply #65 on:** November 29, 2005, 07:07:12 pm »

Quote from: Stingray on November 28, 2005, 12:25:20 pm

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 · « **Reply #66 on:** November 30, 2005, 09:48:29 am »

Quote from: Goz on November 29, 2005, 07:03:01 pm

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 · « **Reply #67 on:** November 30, 2005, 10:26:46 am »

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 · « **Reply #68 on:** November 30, 2005, 10:34:03 am »

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 · « **Reply #69 on:** November 30, 2005, 10:43:07 am »

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 · « **Reply #70 on:** November 30, 2005, 10:50:10 am »

Quote from: ChadTower on November 30, 2005, 10:34:03 am

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 · « **Reply #71 on:** November 30, 2005, 10:50:38 am »

Quote from: ClubNinja on November 30, 2005, 10:43:07 am

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 · « **Reply #72 on:** November 30, 2005, 10:51:23 am »

Erm... that's a good question.

ClubNinja · « **Reply #73 on:** November 30, 2005, 10:55:33 am »

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 · « **Reply #74 on:** November 30, 2005, 11:02:11 am »

Quote from: ClubNinja on November 30, 2005, 10:55:33 am

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

Frosty · « **Reply #75 on:** November 30, 2005, 01:55:55 pm »

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 · « **Reply #76 on:** November 30, 2005, 06:38:07 pm »

Quote from: Stingray on November 30, 2005, 10:50:10 am

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 · « **Reply #77 on:** November 30, 2005, 09:19:43 pm »

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 · « **Reply #78 on:** December 01, 2005, 12:59:10 am »

Quote from: JCL on November 30, 2005, 09:19:43 pm

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 · « **Reply #79 on:** December 01, 2005, 09:16:23 am »

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.


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