[fredpb]

I used to laugh at Tivo ads. Then I learned what it was.
It's just a computer with video recorder (hard drive). Smart menus, and it dials up once a day to download program guides (like tv guide), but better. It makes it so easy to record things it's ridiculous.

I have it set up for "season passes" as well as manual selections.
Anytime it sees a show I like it records it. So I just let it run.

Before Tivo, tv was a pain. I would always forget shows I wanted to see, or just not watch them. Now, I just turn on tivio and I have dozens of hours of stuff to watch, and all my favorites!

I got so spoiled I wanted another Tivo for my bedroom. Could not afford it. So got a transmitter to transmit the signal to the aux in of my bedroom tv, and an IR remote control room to room transmitter to control the living room tivo from the bedroom and voila! Tivo in the bedroom! I click on my favorite shows and fall asleep with them sometimes (or sometimes listening to my headphones of course).

Love my Tivo!

www.tivo.com or Best Buy.

 

[kelly]

Tivo rocks. I want one but I don't think I can get DSS where I live anymore. I'm considering getting AT&T Digital Cable and it looks like there's a version of Tivo combo unit for that now though I'm not sure how similar it is to the combo DSS one.

If anyone else is considering, I do recommend looking into the combo units. The other units have to convert to analog then convert back to digital and don't look nearly as good on playback. The combo units save the original bitstream then decode on playback like a normal DSS/Cable box.

 

[acs236]

TIVO, so very wonderful. I picked on a combo direct tv/tivo unit on ebay about a year ago. I didn't use it too much at first. It took me a while to realize its full potential. But now I'm loving it.

BTW, one nice side effect of TIVO is that you can reclaim roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of television veiwing time by skipping commercials. Even if I free to watch a show live, I often just record it and watch it later for that reason alone.

 

[jpelg]

Do all the Tivo-type options require a landline phone connection for their scheduling information?

I only have cable tv/internet, & a cellular phone. Am I SOL?

 

[Jeff Guidry]

A friend here at work described his experience with Tivo as allowing him 'to watch T.V. more effeciently'. Less channel surfing, less sifting through so-so programming. All the stuff you know you are interested in is right there for you, whenever you want to watch it.

 

[HighwayStar]

And being a linux box they're easily hacked capacity-wise !

 

[fredpb]

Quote:

Originally posted by jpelg Do all the Tivo-type options require a landline phone connection for their scheduling information? I only have cable tv/internet, & a cellular phone. Am I SOL?

Yes, you need a regular phone connection to download program data and such. You don't need a constant connection, you can keep it disconnected and connect just once a week to a phone line then force a download.

I suppose you could carry a unit to a another house with a phone line and do it. But not all areas have a local number, and they discontinued their 800 number.

 

[kelly]

Someone needs to make an open source version of Tivo that just connects to a website and gets the information. I bet the networks provide Tivo with the bulk of the information for free.

Of course the problem there still is if you wanted quality video, you'd need a way to get the bitstream from the DSS receiver to the linux box without converting D>A>D.
And it'd take a bit of work to get a good GUI.

It'd be a worthy project, though. Then you could make a web interface and update from the web - set up an email address to auto trigger based on keywords, etc.

 

[hongda]

TVGuide and such provides information online for free. I would think the software is pretty similar to what is used for TV tuner cards on computers.

 

[fredpb]

To have a Tivo is to know what it is. To not have a Tivo, well, you won't have any idea.

Like I once was on cables, I was a Tivo skeptic. Now that I own a Tivo, WOW. I returned both my Digital Cable boxes, as I have plenty to watch without their "premium" service. I get 100 channel cable with my condo. Works great.

I personally can't see going to my computer to get "TV Guide" information for free. I can see it on my Tivo, with better listings and descriptions. I want to record it, I push a button.

It also constantly records when on. I can just hit "pause" during a tv show, leave, then come back and hit play and the "live" show resumes. I then can zoom through a few commercials.

Love it!

 

[Zin_Ramu]

Never really considered Tivo, but I like the idea of "higher efficiency TV viewing". But I have one concern, mainly sports. I assume in the listings you use to download a program have set time intervals. For instance NFL game - 1-4pm Sunday. What happens if the game goes into overtime and they go past 4pm. Does the recording stop at 4pm and you miss the crucial overtime, or does Tivo somehow know to continue till the end of the game.

Thanks,

Zin

 

[dparrish]

Zin,

I have TIVO and LOVE it. In the latest version of the TIVO software you can tell the recorder to record longer than the scheduled time, so you can get ALL of the game even if it goes to overtime.

David

 

[bootman]

Has anyone tried ReplayTV?
They have a choice of paying a onetime lifetime fee or a monthy service charge.

For anyone considering a unit it is very easy to add additional hard drives so one could get the cheapest unit and just upgrade the hard drive.



Tivo hacking

ReplayTV hacking

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Quote:

Originally posted by Zin_Ramu Never really considered Tivo, but I like the idea of "higher efficiency TV viewing". But I have one concern, mainly sports. I assume in the listings you use to download a program have set time intervals. For instance NFL game - 1-4pm Sunday. What happens if the game goes into overtime and they go past 4pm. Does the recording stop at 4pm and you miss the crucial overtime, or does Tivo somehow know to continue till the end of the game. Thanks, Zin

Zin: Tivo will record as long as the program guide tells it to, unless you tell it otherwise. If the game is scheduled to end at 4, it will stop recording at four. However, you have the option of setting the Tivo to start or stop recording before or after the appointed time. You can tweak it by a few minutes at least one way or the other, but I am not sure for how long.

 

[acs236]

Quote:

Originally posted by bootman Has anyone tried ReplayTV? They have a choice of paying a onetime lifetime fee or a monthy service charge.

Tivo allows you to pay a one-time fee as well. I believe it's $250, but it may have changed recently. One problem with that, and the lifetime Replay service is that it's specific to that unit. So if you upgrade or your receiver breaks, you have to pay again (though you can have your receiver repaired).