Question for TiVo users....

[mcvickj]

I've been thinking about taking the plunge but I have a few questions. I don't have a landline for a phone. Only my cell. Will that be a problem? Can I use my broadband?

For recording...say I want to record two different shows at the same time on different channels. Is this possible? Or does the unit have to actually be on the channel to record?

 

[KK]

Yes you can use tivo on broadband. But, I believe the initial setup you got to use a dial up. Just take it somebody's that has a landline.

 

[SpunkyJones]

If you have a directv tivo, you can record two shows at once, not sure about the stand alone tivo's. I think you can use broadband depending on your tivo.

Go here for more info on Tivos, there are a lot of people who can answer these questions better.

Tivo Community

 

[MrBond]

Only one channel at a time recording. You can watch one while another is recording if you split the antenna/cable feed before it goes into the Tivo. Watch your Tivo on a video input, and you can change channels on the TV normally.

You can use broadband, but apparently the initial setup requires a phone line. I've heard you can use a wired USB ethernet adapter, but apparently it's hit or miss.

I'm in the same boat as you - no landline to setup a Tivo if I bought one. If I had some guaranteed way of getting it to work over broadband, I'd buy one in an instant.

I've actually considered writing down the remote control sequence needed to run guided setup, then bringing the Tivo over to my office (I live right across the street) and doing it here. It seems like when I set up my parent's tivo, it needed to be left alone for like 4 hours after doing guided setup to compile data/etc. I'd rather not leave it here and I'm not sure if unplugging it then would cause a problem or not.

 

[Pliablemoose]

There are different TIVO's, if you get one with dual tuners, you can record 2 shows at once & watch a recorded show while recording 2 others.

You can activate it at someone else's house, and then rig it up for broadband later. My direct TIVO's have each only been hooked up to a phone once, I get a nag message & daily, but I can dismiss it with a click or 2 & I have to order PPV over the net (with DTV) but that's the only downside...

The phone call for DTV/TIVO only took a couple of minutes.

 

[RossMAN]

I've been thinking about taking the plunge but I have a few questions. I don't have a landline for a phone. Only my cell. Will that be a problem? Can I use my broadband?

There is a way around using a phone line for the initial call, search Hot Deals forum for Tivo it's in one of those threads. Yes you can use broadband, I actually use WiFi with our Tivo. Works great and it's 10x faster than dialup.

For recording...say I want to record two different shows at the same time on different channels. Is this possible? Or does the unit have to actually be on the channel to record?

You can do this if your DVR has dual tuners, the most popular is DirecTIVO but it requires DirectTV Satellite service.