DVR Question

[Ilmater]

A friend of mine wants to get a Tivo for his parents, but they only have rabbit ears. Can you use a Tivo with them? I'm sure it would only be able to record one channel at a time, but can it even work without a cable box to give it channel guide information?

 

[mugs]

It doesn't get channel info from a cable box. It makes a phone call.

I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to use a TiVo with an antenna.

 

[Paperdoc]

Rabbit ears (or any other antenna) will get you only the boadcast-over-air stations in your area, and none of the cable-only channels. Rabbit ears also may give you poor reception of UHF channels above Channel 13 - that antenna system was designed for VHF channels 2 through 13. And of course, there would be no access to special info channels from cable.

With those limits in place the TiVo won't care how its signal arrives, just as long as you want the signals it has available.

 

[hjo3]

I'm not sure if TiVo supports non-cable/satellite lineups. You might want to call their 800 number.

EDIT: On second thought, if your local cable co. has all your local affiliates you could just use that lineup info and remove all the non-broadcast channels (Food, Scifi, Comedy Central, etc.).

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: mugs
It doesn't get channel info from a cable box. It makes a phone call.

I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to use a TiVo with an antenna.

Any idea if you can record two channels at once?

 

[hjo3]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
Any idea if you can record two channels at once?

Yes, but only if you have a DT (Dual Tuner) model.