TiVo

[TalonStrike]

I have been considering getting a TiVo. It's like a VCR, only you store TV shows, etc. on a harddrive, rather than on a VHS tape, correct? Do you guys have it? Do you like yours? What kind of TiVo do you have? Do they force having a subscription with it?

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Tivo is great and yes, you need a subscription. It's much more than a digital VCR.

Excellent Tivo community:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/

 

[OCGuy]

I thought this thread was a 2003 necro.....holy smokes.

DVR from your cable company is an option to check out as well.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Yep, depending on pricing cable box DVR is a good alternative. Tivo has netflix streaming if that's important to you.

 

[thegimp03]

We have an old series 2, a TivoHD, and a Tivo Premiere and like all of them. If you don't have lifetime service, you have to subscribe for like $13 a month or something like that.

 

[TwiceOver]

We have two premier units.

I've used each of my local company's DVR solutions as well as DirectTV's. The TiVo is far and away the better device. Be sure to check what you are going to need to make it work though. If you want digital channels, you'll need cable cards from your provider.

You are required to pay a monthly subscription unless you pay for a lifetime activation ($300-$400). There is a discount for a second box depending on what you are paying.

Also note you won't have the "On Demand" or PPV features that your cable company may provide to their boxes.

 

[MarkXIX]

TiVo Premier here too. If you look around, you might be able to find the hardware for as low as $99 brand new, then pay a lifetime subscription and you're set, for that box anyway. Subscription is for the lifetime of that serial number only.

Also, there is a modding scene out there that will permit you to add a larger hard drive to the system to store more video. We've never run out of space on ours, TiVo does a good job of managing it for you.

You will need an M-Card cable card from the cable company. That will allow you to record two simultaneous video feeds. Price to rent one is only $2.50/month versus almost $10/month for an HD cable box.

 

[bobdole369]

I just decommissioned my Tivo HD (series 3) after 2 years of service. Before then I had a series 2 SD from 2002ish-2009. We cut the cord and stopped paying for cable, but i cannot fathom spending $13/month basically for a tv guide. I built a Mediaportal with 2 HD tuner cards I had laying around here instead. It is an order of magnitude crappier but fits the bill for movie catalog watching and recording OTA (rabbit ears) HD stuff.

TiVO's strength is its software. You will not find the same in a cable company DVR, its really night and day. But you gotta ask yourself - is it worth $13 a month for you? For years it was for me. Having literally a week of solid TV queued up and so much TV recorded that you didn't even know was there was really cool.

Season Passes are awesome features. (You really want every Desperate Housewives, so be it, reruns too? Or just the first runs?) (Every Family Guy thats on? Sure. How about every movie Steve Buscemi is in? That too, and what about all the Quentin Tarantino directed flicks? Get those) The Suggestions are nice too - it just records shows that you might like when it isn't doing scheduled recording.

So is the "swivel search" which finds your content on a number of sources, the guide, Amazon, Netflix, etc. The apps were nice for a while but a bit dated now. Netflix was a kilelr app for me, but obtainable elsewhere now. They don't seem to do Hulu (said it was in the works but its been like a year) and the other online stuff too. Amazon VOD is there but not the streaming service. Live365, and rss feeds are doable, so you can get all your revision 3 vidcasts or whatever podcasts you want on the TV too.

Also you can save from the Tivo to your PC's hard drive (albeit in a very easy to break DRM-wrapper), and you can serve files TO your tivo too - its a little slow in the transfer though but will let you start watching before its finished moving.

So is that worth $13/mo to you? If so get youa $40 1TB drive to put in there and you won't regret it.

 

[Via]

I still have a Series 2 80 hour going strong on a lifetime contract. The only drawback is that it can't record high def, so when it grabs an HD program it's in a smaller box.

I got it around 2002 or 2003 when I still had a 32" CRT, and for about 5-6 years it was absolutely indispensible for me. I wouldn't have been able to follow shows like Lost without it, because I often don't get home until after 10 during the week.

Now that I have Xfinity and an HDTV I don't use it as much, but I still watch a show or two almost every night.

I'm going to ride it until it dies.

edit - my lifetime contract was only $199; I guess they're much more now.

 

[TeeJay1952]

www.moxi.com

 

[vi edit]

Windows Media Center + $99 tuner + $99 media extender or Xbox. At least that's what I do and it works. I just loathe paying *another* fee on top of all of the other subscriptions I already have.

 

[TwiceOver]

To add to my above comment, it is actually cheaper for me to have TiVo boxes than the cable DVR's. Not by much. But at a $4 savings per month and an interface that blows everything else out of the water, it is a no-brainer.

I don't know how people stand DirectTV. Last time I used one of their boxes the rewind was so choppy we ended up giving up and continuing the show from wherever it dumped us in the video.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Wndows Media Center + $399 4 Tuner card + xbox 360 (as many as you want = win.

Record 4 streams at once, watch as many as you want, have as many extenders as you want ... all in 1080p and from ONE source.

 

[bobdole369]

Hey those folks running WMC - where do you get guide data from? With mediaportal I'm paying a pittance to schedulesdirect. Well worth it, but does plain WMC do guide data from somewhere?

 

[vi edit]

Hey those folks running WMC - where do you get guide data from? With mediaportal I'm paying a pittance to schedulesdirect. Well worth it, but does plain WMC do guide data from somewhere?

No clue where it comes from, but I enter my zip code and it comes back with the OTA and cable company choices. And all the listings are there. The worst part is the initial setup. It's not very good about picking up all of the QAM stuff. So there's a lot of tweaking getting those added and merging the digital stations to the analog ones.

Another great thing with my media center box is that my DLNA devices (Sony TV with "internet" access and my PS3 can pull down and view recorded stuff too.)

 

[7window]

Has anyone tried this one from walmart?

Magnavox MDR-513H/F7 320GB DVR and DVD Recorder

 

[Joseph F]

No clue where it comes from, but I enter my zip code and it comes back with the OTA and cable company choices. And all the listings are there. The worst part is the initial setup. It's not very good about picking up all of the QAM stuff. So there's a lot of tweaking getting those added and merging the digital stations to the analog ones.

Another great thing with my media center box is that my DLNA devices (Sony TV with "internet" access and my PS3 can pull down and view recorded stuff too.)

OTA ATSC TV broadcasts guide information along with the video signal.

 

[bobdole369]

OTA ATSC TV broadcasts guide information along with the video signal.

Except they don't. At least not more than program titles and about 12-24 hours of data. Its not nearly enough to schedule anything by. Some stations (the sub channels of the really crappy channels (in America's Wang more than half the OTA are en espanol) they don't transmit anything at all.

 

[vi edit]

Except they don't. At least not more than program titles and about 12-24 hours of data. Its not nearly enough to schedule anything by. Some stations (the sub channels of the really crappy channels (in America's Wang more than half the OTA are en espanol) they don't transmit anything at all.

Microsoft is pulling a guide from somewhere. I'm trying to google the source but I'm failing miserably. You can schedule it like any basic DVD can. It certainly isn't as advanced as TiVo's functions but it does the trick.

 

[MarkXIX]

I assume Microsoft's program data probably comes from the same source as their tv.msn.com listings. When I am staying in a hotel and need the local listings, I usually use tv.msn.com to find the channel listing and the shows that are on.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

I've had Tivos for years. Current is a Tivo HD witha 1TB hard drive. Pay $6.95/mo for it on a retention plan. )

 

[TheNinja]

HUh? You record stuff onto a hard drive?? This will NEVER EVER catch on mark my words. People like to have hard tapes of shows not this fancy electronic stuff.

 

[gevorg]

Can't wait until DirecTV gets TiVo. If they won't release it by the end of the year, I'm switching to Cumcast.

 

[sportage]

DO NOT go the MCE route. You will be fighting with it CONSTANTLY.
After all.. it runs on windows.
DO NOT go the cable dvr route. First, they charge an arm & leg.
And second, it NEVER works as advertised.
Misses scheduled recordings. Recordings cut off early. No cool options for network media access. ANd the "multi-room" feature some cable companies are pushing is total failure. Besides, cable charges a lot for that added multi room feature and then for their dvr(s).
Your average "multi-room" costs from the cable co.:
$17 a month per cable dvr (and you need two) = $34.
Multi-room service monthly = $17.
Total just for cable two dvr's and multi-room = $41.
Plus taxes (lots and lots of taxes/fees).
And still, that system will not work as advertised.

With the tivo premier you get:
1. Multi room sharing of recordings (two or more TiVo’s) and that always works flawlessly.
Intergraded Netflix, hulu plus, amazon video, youtube, and a lot more plus home media sharing (music, photos).
2. The best program guide in the world!
3. Cable card input, cable line input, OTA antenna input (all HD).
4. You can add an external hard drive for expanded storage.
The tivo fee is $19 per tivo unit (unless you can get some special promo/deal).
That might sound pricy, but not when compared to what cable will charge for their dvr, and with no network features (netflix, amazon, hulu, etc) integration.

Tivo premier boxes have a network connection, but no wireless.
You can add their wireless USB adaptor for little cost (buying off amazon.com).
They have the USB "G" adaptor for around $20. Or a newer "N" for around $60.
I tried both and find little difference between going G vs N. I recommend going G.
The G wireless adaptor simply connects to the tivo USB port. One cable.
The N needs its own power supply and you end up with a maze of wires. Messy!

The more simple (and cheaper) "G" wireless adaptor works just fine.

If you have cable TV, you will need a CABLECARD from your cable co.
By law, they have to supply you with the cablecard. But they will not make it easy.
A typical cable card monthly charge from the cable co. is around $2 - $4.
You will need for the cable co. to come out and install the card.
You might be able to do it yourself, but I strongly suggest the cable co. do it.
Getting the cablecard to work is by far the hardest part. It usually takes several
service calls and cards until the cable co. can get one to work.
It is like the cable co. enjoys making the process as miserable as possible for the customer. But DO NOT GIVE UP! Keep on their ass until they get it working.
Whatever it takes, no matter how many service calls. The cable co, by law,
has to make this work (i.e. the cablecard). And once they do, the HD picture
quality is fantastic!!!
Tivo and the cable card is a perfect match.
You cannot get the better HD picture quality from any cable dvr...
After all, with tivo and a cablecard, the cable connection is going directly to the tivo box. All the cablecard does is decode your cable channels. Allow you to access your cable subscription channels. Tivo and HD cable tv will give you incredible picture quality.
Quality recordable by tivo, and sharable between two or more home tivos.

And I've only touched on all the tivo features tivo offers.
I've had my two tivos for 3 months now, cablecards in both, using the wireless G adaptor, and still haven’t come close to exploring all the tivo features.
They just added hulu-plus and I have an offer for a free month trial.
I haven’t looked into that yet.
I just wanted a reliable HD cable TV recording system with the ability to share recordings between units, and access my netflix account, all integrated into one hardware box. Tivo does exactly that, and a lot more.

 

[vi edit]

If by constantly you mean never then yes, WMC is a pain. Seriously are you a Tivo shill? The only trouble I've ever had with WMC is the initial config and tweaking of QAM stations. After that it's been flawless and my wife and daughter use it almost daily.

My older TiVo HD on the other hand would lock up and have to go through the brutal 15 minute restart almost weekly.