I'm thinking about getting the HD version of Tivo. It seems like a useful thing to have even if you don't watch a lot of TV but I'd like to hear from someone who has had Tivo.
1. Do you like it?
2. Is it something you can't live without once you have it?
I'm just looking for general opinions from people that have used a Tivo DVR for awhile. I've done all the technical research and most people on Tivo sites seem happy with theirs.
Who has Tivo?
Moderator: TheMachine
1. Do you like it? It is great
2. Is it something you can't live without once you have it? Absolutely can't live without
I recomend getting (since I know you have cox cable) cox version of it, if you do not do this, you will go through constant issues with it if you call cox and they will continually explain to you that it is the tivo problem. (Kind of like they do if you have a reuter that isn't from them)
2. Is it something you can't live without once you have it? Absolutely can't live without
I recomend getting (since I know you have cox cable) cox version of it, if you do not do this, you will go through constant issues with it if you call cox and they will continually explain to you that it is the tivo problem. (Kind of like they do if you have a reuter that isn't from them)
I have Cox for my internet but use DirecTV for my TV. There is a Tivo HD DirecTV unit that appears to work very well from all I've read. It's got a 250GB HD in it that stores 30 hours of HD or several hundred hours of SD format and I can hack it so I can add an additional 300GB HD to double the capacity. I can also hack it so I can network it with my computer and download movies if I want to keep them (HD recorded off HBO-HD is better than any DVD you can buy) It has two HD Satellite tuners and two HD OTA tuners. I first thought of it because it continually records two channels with a 30 minute buffer and I don't want to miss the first few minutes of Monday Night Football some night. That's worth 1K for the HD Tivo alone!Thess wrote:1. Do you like it? It is great
2. Is it something you can't live without once you have it? Absolutely can't live without
I recomend getting (since I know you have cox cable) cox version of it, if you do not do this, you will go through constant issues with it if you call cox and they will continually explain to you that it is the tivo problem. (Kind of like they do if you have a reuter that isn't from them)
Ok, that's one vote for Tivo being useful. There are TV series that look interesting that I never remember to watch or don't want to watch them at the time they air so it seems like a nice fit.
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Waran
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Re: Who has Tivo?
1. I LOVE my Tivo. Instant replay during games is awesome.Winnow wrote:I'm thinking about getting the HD version of Tivo. It seems like a useful thing to have even if you don't watch a lot of TV but I'd like to hear from someone who has had Tivo.
1. Do you like it?
2. Is it something you can't live without once you have it?
I'm just looking for general opinions from people that have used a Tivo DVR for awhile. I've done all the technical research and most people on Tivo sites seem happy with theirs.
2. I can't live without it. Not having to fiddle with VCR recording programming is a HUGE blessing. I can automatically record something I want to see.
You'll never want to go back to no tivo ever again once you get it
Connecting it to your computer network, I can stream MP3's and pictures from my PC to my Tivo and listen to it through my stereo. That feature is free. That and you can do internet scheduling when you forget to set something at home before you go to work. You can go to your account online and remote schedule it from any computer on the internet.You're going to love it!
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Xatrei
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We have 2. Love it, wouldn't want to watch TV without it. Watching TV at someone's house with no Tivo bugs the crap out of me now.
If you have multiple network capable Tivos with the latest software, you can watch any recorded programs from any Tivo on your network (would be handy when you want to watch the latest episode of whatever in the bedroom, and it's only recorded in the living room). I forget if that's an extra cost option, though. We don't have that option since our original Tivo can't run the 2nd generation Tivo software (we upgraded last year and moved the original to our bedroom). We opted for the lifetime service option for both rather than monthly subscription. The cost for lifetime service is a little less than 2 years of regular monthly service.
If you have multiple network capable Tivos with the latest software, you can watch any recorded programs from any Tivo on your network (would be handy when you want to watch the latest episode of whatever in the bedroom, and it's only recorded in the living room). I forget if that's an extra cost option, though. We don't have that option since our original Tivo can't run the 2nd generation Tivo software (we upgraded last year and moved the original to our bedroom). We opted for the lifetime service option for both rather than monthly subscription. The cost for lifetime service is a little less than 2 years of regular monthly service.
"When I was a kid, my father told me, 'Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it.'" - Russel Ziskey
I love TiVo.
I add a program to my Manager and that's it- I never have to know what channel or when. Set it and forget it. When you have time, sit down, and there's all the shows you want to watch, at your convenience.
The ONE drawback with TiVo though is you tend to get locked into your recorded programs, and as such you do less surfing and you tend to miss out on newer programs.
I add a program to my Manager and that's it- I never have to know what channel or when. Set it and forget it. When you have time, sit down, and there's all the shows you want to watch, at your convenience.
The ONE drawback with TiVo though is you tend to get locked into your recorded programs, and as such you do less surfing and you tend to miss out on newer programs.
Makora
Too often it seems it is the peaceful and innocent who are slaughtered. In this a lesson may be found that it may not be prudential to be either too peaceful or too innocent. One does not survive with wolves by becoming a sheep.
Too often it seems it is the peaceful and innocent who are slaughtered. In this a lesson may be found that it may not be prudential to be either too peaceful or too innocent. One does not survive with wolves by becoming a sheep.
Well shit.
I bought the HD DirecTV Tivo tonight but I'm taking it back. There is no way of getting around having a phone line with Tivo like there is with regular DirecTV. I'm not going to get a land line simply because Tivo needs it for initial setup and every so often when a software update is needed. If they had a clue, they'd activate the USB ports (there's two inactive ones on the back of the unit) so you could get updates via the net.
It's a shame because it seems unanimous that people like their Tivos. Getting a phone line and spending 20.00/month or 240.00/year for twelve 2 minute phone calls sucks ass. All of the actual program data is downloaded via the satellite so there really is no need for a phone line if they used the same method of updating software that my current receiver uses in direct satellite updates. It's simply poor design work on TiVo's part by making a phone line mandatory. I haven't needed a phone line in 6 years and Tivo doesn't really need one except for poor design which it appears they are aware of with the USB ports but they aren't active.
I may puss out and get a phone line later but screw it for now. In the meantime, they lose my 1,000 and monthly fees. Hopefully they'll activate the USB ports for the forward thinking people of the world!
Feel free to post about your Tivos though and rub it in!
I bought the HD DirecTV Tivo tonight but I'm taking it back. There is no way of getting around having a phone line with Tivo like there is with regular DirecTV. I'm not going to get a land line simply because Tivo needs it for initial setup and every so often when a software update is needed. If they had a clue, they'd activate the USB ports (there's two inactive ones on the back of the unit) so you could get updates via the net.
It's a shame because it seems unanimous that people like their Tivos. Getting a phone line and spending 20.00/month or 240.00/year for twelve 2 minute phone calls sucks ass. All of the actual program data is downloaded via the satellite so there really is no need for a phone line if they used the same method of updating software that my current receiver uses in direct satellite updates. It's simply poor design work on TiVo's part by making a phone line mandatory. I haven't needed a phone line in 6 years and Tivo doesn't really need one except for poor design which it appears they are aware of with the USB ports but they aren't active.
I may puss out and get a phone line later but screw it for now. In the meantime, they lose my 1,000 and monthly fees. Hopefully they'll activate the USB ports for the forward thinking people of the world!
Feel free to post about your Tivos though and rub it in!
Woo, may have found a solution.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... =10&loc=01
Looks like you can setup a regular phone via broadband. 59.00 for the gizmo, 14.95 for one month service so the Tivo can make the stupid first call and then cut off service for a year until a software update is needed. It's 75.00 but still cheaper and less hassle than 240.00 for a land line. Now to see if it will work with a modem.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... =10&loc=01
Looks like you can setup a regular phone via broadband. 59.00 for the gizmo, 14.95 for one month service so the Tivo can make the stupid first call and then cut off service for a year until a software update is needed. It's 75.00 but still cheaper and less hassle than 240.00 for a land line. Now to see if it will work with a modem.
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Xatrei
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You should be able to connect any recent Series 2 Tivo (within the last year and a half or so) to your home network with wireless or copper network adaptors (with the USB port - check Tivo's web site for a list of supported NICs). Once connected, you have absolutely no need for a phone line. You may have to get the home media option for network support, and it's still possible that it will want a phone connection for the initial setup (I'd borrow a friend's phone for that if it's an option).
Here's a link to Tivo's networking FAQ on their support site:
http://customersupport.tivo.com/userWel ... de=Network
Here's a link to Tivo's networking FAQ on their support site:
http://customersupport.tivo.com/userWel ... de=Network
"When I was a kid, my father told me, 'Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it.'" - Russel Ziskey
direcTivo and Tivo are not the same thing.
There is no version of Tivo that supports HD, and there is only one directivo that supports HD.
None of the directivo units have the usb ports activated by default, and none of the directivo units will every be able to use HMO (home media option). HMO is the software that allows you to stream stuff to the unit and watch stuff that other tivos have recorded.
You need a stand alone tivo unit to use HMO and you need a standalone tivo unit to use the usb ports. And like I said earlier, none of the stand alone tivo units support HDTV, and there are no plans to make one in the future.
Winnow what you need to do is hack your directivo HD unit. Its pretty simple procces, very safe, and is even somewhat supported by tivo themselves. It will void your warranty however. Once you do the hack you can easily get the usb ports working, and from there on you can use a usb network adapter and from then on the world is wide open.
The stand alone tivo units officialy support making the outbound call via a network adapter. However the directivo units dont. But, there are modifications that allow this to be done once you have hacked it. However there is no need to do this unless you inisist on ordering pay per view with your remote.
Don't spend any more money on adapters. If you plan to do anything fun with your directivo hd unit, you will end up hack ing it, and once you do that there is no need to make phone calls, and if you do want to make phone calls you can do it over your network.
As far as voiding your warranty is concerned, the part that is going to break is the hard drive if anything, and thats a pretty cheap replacement if you must make it.
There is no version of Tivo that supports HD, and there is only one directivo that supports HD.
None of the directivo units have the usb ports activated by default, and none of the directivo units will every be able to use HMO (home media option). HMO is the software that allows you to stream stuff to the unit and watch stuff that other tivos have recorded.
You need a stand alone tivo unit to use HMO and you need a standalone tivo unit to use the usb ports. And like I said earlier, none of the stand alone tivo units support HDTV, and there are no plans to make one in the future.
Winnow what you need to do is hack your directivo HD unit. Its pretty simple procces, very safe, and is even somewhat supported by tivo themselves. It will void your warranty however. Once you do the hack you can easily get the usb ports working, and from there on you can use a usb network adapter and from then on the world is wide open.
The stand alone tivo units officialy support making the outbound call via a network adapter. However the directivo units dont. But, there are modifications that allow this to be done once you have hacked it. However there is no need to do this unless you inisist on ordering pay per view with your remote.
Don't spend any more money on adapters. If you plan to do anything fun with your directivo hd unit, you will end up hack ing it, and once you do that there is no need to make phone calls, and if you do want to make phone calls you can do it over your network.
As far as voiding your warranty is concerned, the part that is going to break is the hard drive if anything, and thats a pretty cheap replacement if you must make it.
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Xatrei
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That's beyond lame. Disregard my previous post, I didn't realize that the DirecTivo service & options were so different from stand alone series 2 PVRs. Good info, Colal.
"When I was a kid, my father told me, 'Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it.'" - Russel Ziskey
Thanks Colal. Good info.Colal wrote:direcTivo and Tivo are not the same thing.
There is no version of Tivo that supports HD, and there is only one directivo that supports HD.
None of the directivo units have the usb ports activated by default, and none of the directivo units will every be able to use HMO (home media option). HMO is the software that allows you to stream stuff to the unit and watch stuff that other tivos have recorded.
You need a stand alone tivo unit to use HMO and you need a standalone tivo unit to use the usb ports. And like I said earlier, none of the stand alone tivo units support HDTV, and there are no plans to make one in the future.
Winnow what you need to do is hack your directivo HD unit. Its pretty simple procces, very safe, and is even somewhat supported by tivo themselves. It will void your warranty however. Once you do the hack you can easily get the usb ports working, and from there on you can use a usb network adapter and from then on the world is wide open.
The stand alone tivo units officialy support making the outbound call via a network adapter. However the directivo units dont. But, there are modifications that allow this to be done once you have hacked it. However there is no need to do this unless you inisist on ordering pay per view with your remote.
Don't spend any more money on adapters. If you plan to do anything fun with your directivo hd unit, you will end up hack ing it, and once you do that there is no need to make phone calls, and if you do want to make phone calls you can do it over your network.
As far as voiding your warranty is concerned, the part that is going to break is the hard drive if anything, and thats a pretty cheap replacement if you must make it.
I have every intention of hacking my DTivo. I've hacked everything else including DirecTV for years back in the day with emulators, programmers, etc. I want to add an additional 300GB HD and network it. I've read up on the Vonage solution I linked and it will work. My nervis would be huge busting into a $1K box that I've never seen work and screwing it up so I'll go with the Vonage thing to start with then cancel it after rearranging the guts of my DTivo.
I've read up on the Tivo hack sites and just like an XBox, it's all standard PC stuff you're working with inside. Basically hacking the Tivo requires adding some Software to the HD. It's just not fun unless you hack stuff!
Everyone's ultimate goal should be free pr0n on DTV.
Here's a good site if you want to see what's possible with Tivos:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/
(Coral, send me a better site if you have one with more detailed info)
Hrmm.. PowerPC and Linux apparently (and a dev kernel at that 
)
)I've seen a project about to just use a PC w/ a PVR w/in ... seemed decent.About:
This package contains the source code for the Linux kernel in the TiVo Personal Television System software. The "linuxdist-2.1.24" source tree is configured for use on an Intel X86 development platform. The "linux-2.1" source tree is configured for use on the PowerPC-based hardware system on which the TiVo software actually runs.
May 2003 - "Mission Accomplished"
June 2005 - "The mission isn't easy, and it will not be accomplished overnight"
-- G W Bush, freelance writer for The Daily Show.
June 2005 - "The mission isn't easy, and it will not be accomplished overnight"
-- G W Bush, freelance writer for The Daily Show.
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Xatrei
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Open source PVR project: http://www.mythtv.org/
It has some nifty add on features available like a MAME (and other emus) front end, MP3/Ogg ripper/manager/player, weather applet, DVD ripper and RSS news feed reader.
It has some nifty add on features available like a MAME (and other emus) front end, MP3/Ogg ripper/manager/player, weather applet, DVD ripper and RSS news feed reader.
"When I was a kid, my father told me, 'Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it.'" - Russel Ziskey
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Aabidano
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I've been thinking of building a set top box in a SFF or AV case. You don't need a lot of CPU power, just storage space, decent video and a tuner card.Xatrei wrote:Open source PVR project: http://www.mythtv.org/
"Life is what happens while you're making plans for later."
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Xatrei
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According to numbers you see tossed around at MythTV's site, you can get by with lower quality video on around 10% CPU utilization (athlon 1800), but the CPU requirements start to pile up if you want to do simultaneous play back and recording of higher quality video. Multiple tuner cards and PiP / simultaneous recording support would burden a lot of older CPUs, I suspect. Real time mpeg compression will eat a lot of cpu fast.Aabidano wrote:I've been thinking of building a set top box in a SFF or AV case. You don't need a lot of CPU power, just storage space, decent video and a tuner card.Xatrei wrote:Open source PVR project: http://www.mythtv.org/
"When I was a kid, my father told me, 'Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it.'" - Russel Ziskey
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Lalanae
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We have a DVR from Time Warner which I use constantly. I have like 50 movies (<3 Sundance & IFC) recorded and waiting.
Lalanae
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Burundi High Chancellor for Tourism, Sodomy and Pie
Unofficial Canadian, Forbidden Lover of Pie, Jesus-Hatin'' Sodomite, President of KFC (Kyoukan Fan Club), hawt, perververted, intellectual submissive with E.S.P (Extra Sexual Persuasion)
Just an update:
I tried the Vonage thing. Vonage service allows you to have normal phone service via broadband. It's not the same thing as having digital telephone service setup by your cable company.
I went to Radioshack and bought the device that connects to your network and plug in a normal telephone. I spent 6 hours trying to get the piece of shit working and finally decided to call tech support. 90 minutes later, a foreign speaking guy answered and put me on hold for another 5 minutes. He came back and said the brilliant employee at Radio Shack that sold me the unit screwed up my order and also ordered me another unit that was scheduled to be shipped out to me. The reason I couldn't connect was that the idiot used the MAC address from the unit he ordered and not the one I purchased.
2 HOURS of tech support later (that's right, a 3.5 hour call on my cell phone) the guy had my broadband phone adpater up and running. He actualy was awesome and I thanked him for cancelling all the shit the radio shack dude charged me for.
So, when this Vonage thing is correctly sold, it only takes about 30 minutes to setup including assigning a local phone number (you can actually choose any area code in the nation which is handy if you have someone you talk to a bunch in another state...assign yourself their area code and they talk to you for no long distance charge).
Vonage doesn't support use of service with Tivo so it took me another hour of searching the net to find the correct codes that would slow down the baud rate and tweak my call so I had a chance at connecting to the Tivo update center. about 30 attempts later, I successfully connected to the Tivo test number and then downloaded the local numbers for my area. 20 more failed attempts at connecting to the new number and then a successful link and a 2 minute call later, I was in business.
I only got to actually play around with Tivo for a few hours last night but I like what I've seen so far. I already am getting that feeling of "can't live without it" as I'm hooked on the 8 second rewind and instant slow motion and 30 minute buffers constantly running on two channels. The wish lists, season passes, etc all are extremely easy to use with an excellent search system. Trivia: first Tivo record request was "The Abyss" 3am start time on HBO-HD.
Although it took me 12 hours of my life to complete a 2 minute ridiculous land line phone call that Tivo requires for initial setup, I'm very happy with my new Tivo so far.
If you don't have Tivo, get it. The HD version costs a grand but the normal Tivo is only a hundred or two hundred. Tivo also has the best remote I've ever used. It's a kick ass combination of excellent hardware and brilliant software.
I still find it disturbing/amazing that two channels are being continuously recorded 24 hours a day 365 days a year on the Tivo. It never shuts off, it only goes into standby mode. That 250GB HD is taking an intense pounding as two high definition channels requires a lot of data. The good news is that 250GB HDs are only 119.00 now and getting cheaper so a failed HD won't kill you after warranty.
8 second rewind = best thing evah.
I tried the Vonage thing. Vonage service allows you to have normal phone service via broadband. It's not the same thing as having digital telephone service setup by your cable company.
I went to Radioshack and bought the device that connects to your network and plug in a normal telephone. I spent 6 hours trying to get the piece of shit working and finally decided to call tech support. 90 minutes later, a foreign speaking guy answered and put me on hold for another 5 minutes. He came back and said the brilliant employee at Radio Shack that sold me the unit screwed up my order and also ordered me another unit that was scheduled to be shipped out to me. The reason I couldn't connect was that the idiot used the MAC address from the unit he ordered and not the one I purchased.
2 HOURS of tech support later (that's right, a 3.5 hour call on my cell phone) the guy had my broadband phone adpater up and running. He actualy was awesome and I thanked him for cancelling all the shit the radio shack dude charged me for.
So, when this Vonage thing is correctly sold, it only takes about 30 minutes to setup including assigning a local phone number (you can actually choose any area code in the nation which is handy if you have someone you talk to a bunch in another state...assign yourself their area code and they talk to you for no long distance charge).
Vonage doesn't support use of service with Tivo so it took me another hour of searching the net to find the correct codes that would slow down the baud rate and tweak my call so I had a chance at connecting to the Tivo update center. about 30 attempts later, I successfully connected to the Tivo test number and then downloaded the local numbers for my area. 20 more failed attempts at connecting to the new number and then a successful link and a 2 minute call later, I was in business.
I only got to actually play around with Tivo for a few hours last night but I like what I've seen so far. I already am getting that feeling of "can't live without it" as I'm hooked on the 8 second rewind and instant slow motion and 30 minute buffers constantly running on two channels. The wish lists, season passes, etc all are extremely easy to use with an excellent search system. Trivia: first Tivo record request was "The Abyss" 3am start time on HBO-HD.
Although it took me 12 hours of my life to complete a 2 minute ridiculous land line phone call that Tivo requires for initial setup, I'm very happy with my new Tivo so far.
If you don't have Tivo, get it. The HD version costs a grand but the normal Tivo is only a hundred or two hundred. Tivo also has the best remote I've ever used. It's a kick ass combination of excellent hardware and brilliant software.
I still find it disturbing/amazing that two channels are being continuously recorded 24 hours a day 365 days a year on the Tivo. It never shuts off, it only goes into standby mode. That 250GB HD is taking an intense pounding as two high definition channels requires a lot of data. The good news is that 250GB HDs are only 119.00 now and getting cheaper so a failed HD won't kill you after warranty.
8 second rewind = best thing evah.
Ahhhhh...
All it takes is some research. I found a way to use the serial port to connect to my computer to take care of the daily calls. No need to hack the Tivo yet either.
http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivohel ... et/45.html
Goodbye Vonage lameness and monthly phone fees.
If DirecTV would activate the two USB ports on the back of the unit, they'd make life a lot easier as well. There's no reason not to use the net to access updates, etc. The main reason DirecTV uses phone lines is to track location for sports blackout rules etc.
http://www.dbstalk.com/reviews/HR10-250 ... anel_1.JPG
All it takes is some research. I found a way to use the serial port to connect to my computer to take care of the daily calls. No need to hack the Tivo yet either.
http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivohel ... et/45.html
Goodbye Vonage lameness and monthly phone fees.
If DirecTV would activate the two USB ports on the back of the unit, they'd make life a lot easier as well. There's no reason not to use the net to access updates, etc. The main reason DirecTV uses phone lines is to track location for sports blackout rules etc.
http://www.dbstalk.com/reviews/HR10-250 ... anel_1.JPG
