Tivo questions and what

[Popinjay-Z]

I've been a TiVo loyalist for five years (though I was dumb enough to take the monthly plan). My TiVo died this weekend, and I'm inclined to replace it with the cable co.'s DVR (I'm Time-Warner in NYC). It's cheaper and I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of having so many cables and boxes to deal with. Has anyone else made this switch and regretted it? My wife and I love the TiVo interface, but we've got a baby now and don't watch nearly as much TV as we used to, and we don't really take advantage of the TiVo exclusives like Netflix stuff or downloading music/movies, etc.

But we love our TiVo! I don't want to let go of those menus! Tell me what to do AST!

[Meen Bellpeppers]

If it's digital cable, the new HD Tivo's can take cable cards, which I believe lets you use your digital cable with them without another box. I got one half price recently on a special offer (maybe cuz I've been a subscriber for almost 10 years, maybe not) and I like it a lot. Besides big ol' hard drives, it has dual tuners and can do over the air HD.

[Fentmore]

If you like the interface, then buy another TiVo. If you have a baby and are broke and barely watch TV anymore and just need something to record stuff, get the cable box.

The difference in interface is about as drastic as DOS vs Apple O/S quality. The cable box has an ugly interface but it works. That's all you're looking for right? Something that works. You'll spend $4-7 a month to use depending on HD or not.

I have a cable box and my only gripe (other than the DOS-like menu/guide/DVR menu) is that sometimes it cuts off a minute or two of my shows, I don't know why. Also keep in mind that these DVRs get around like the Cable Whore and you'll probably end up getting one that's been around the block and have to get it replaced (as long you don't have Verizon, this should be free) since it's worn out. My friend had TiVo and then a cable box and has gone through five and of course hates the interface, I've had one replaced but could care less how attractive the menu is. I can record two shows and watch a third if that means anything (I don't know about TiVo).

Cable DVR is cheap and it records. TiVo is pretty and it records.

[scamboogah]

I recently switched from Tivo (of which I was a huge fan) to DishNetwork's dvr, and while I miss the searching features, being able to record two at a time and use one dvr for two tvs has more than made up for it.

If satellite is even an option, I highly recommend it.

[Adult Ed]

If you like the interface, then buy another TiVo. If you have a baby and are broke and barely watch TV anymore and just need something to record stuff, get the cable box.

This is me. And if TiVo were compatible with Cablevision I would dump my horrible cable company DVR yesterday. Everything about the interface sucks. EVERYTHING.

[stephan]

I have Time Warner and a TivoHD. The TivoHD replaces your cable box so there are no extra cables or boxes. If you get digital channels (including HD) from Time Warner, you need to get a cable card (possibly two, if your local TW doesn't offer M-Cards and you want to record two digital stations at once). Here, renting a cable card costs $3.50 a month, and the Time Warner HD DVR costs $18.99 a month to rent, so other than the cost of the Tivo box, the price difference is negligible.

If you don't have digital cable, but you still want local HD (of if your cable provider decides to fight your NBC affiliate), the TivoHD does have an antenna input as well as a cable input, so you can record over the air HD channels as well as cable.

Either way, the Time Warner DVR is terrible, or it least it was two years ago before I got the TivoHD.

The only real downside to the Tivo is that the standard box only allows 20 hours of HD recording. It's pretty easy to upgrade the hard drive though, and a 1 TB hard drive (which sell for $110 now) can give you 154 hours of HD recording time.

[Popinjay-Z]

Thanks for the input all.

We don't have HD, and until our baby inevitably breaks our current TV and forces us to upgrade, we don't intend to have HD anytime soon, but I like the notion of the new TiVo boxes replacing the digital cable box Time Warner forces upon its customers. I got the impression that the cable box was unavoidable in this area. I guess the card is the substitute? I'll look into that.

P.S. Charles, I work for a Cablevision subsidiary and were it available in my neighborhood, I'd get it for free. However, I've heard from other Cablevision subscribers that I'd still be paying too much (zing!)

[Big Box Of Money]

Not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but Tivo sells refurbished drives on the cheap - a standard box is only $79.99($179.99 for an HD box). Not gonna solve PJZ's monthly cost/interface/cables problem, but if anyone else is interested, here is the link:

https://www3.tivo.com/store/boxes.do...ewed&WT.srch=1

[isoS]

I have Time Warner and a TivoHD. The TivoHD replaces your cable box so there are no extra cables or boxes. If you get digital channels (including HD) from Time Warner, you need to get a cable card (possibly two, if your local TW doesn't offer M-Cards and you want to record two digital stations at once). Here, renting a cable card costs $3.50 a month, and the Time Warner HD DVR costs $18.99 a month to rent, so other than the cost of the Tivo box, the price difference is negligible.

If you don't have digital cable, but you still want local HD (of if your cable provider decides to fight your NBC affiliate), the TivoHD does have an antenna input as well as a cable input, so you can record over the air HD channels as well as cable.

Either way, the Time Warner DVR is terrible, or it least it was two years ago before I got the TivoHD.

The only real downside to the Tivo is that the standard box only allows 20 hours of HD recording. It's pretty easy to upgrade the hard drive though, and a 1 TB hard drive (which sell for $110 now) can give you 154 hours of HD recording time.

I also have a TiVo HD with Time Warner cable cards in it. Just be aware that TW (and probably every other cable co.) only support the whole cable card thing grudgingly (because it takes away from their DVR biz), and it can take many tries before they get them hooked up correctly, because apparently no one is trained in how to activate them. Also, if you ever use OnDemand, that doesn't work with cable cards -- you need a digital cable box from TW for that stuff.

I've been happy with my setup, but recently a few channels started getting digital noise or not coming in, and I'm scared to call TW because I have a feeling they will send someone out who doesn't know anything about cable cards and it'll take forever to solve the problem (when the problem is most likely what it always is: weak signal).

Oh, and back when I was getting the TiVo HD set up, as the guy was struggling to get my cable cards activated (two hours in, third visit of the week, first two were failures), he suggested I get a TW DVR. You know, to make his life easier.

TiVo HD: love it. TW: hate it. I would get Verizon FIOS if it was in my area, but it isn't.

[Fentmore]

FIOS charges for any service call, regardless if it's their equipment or fault, plus you have to get locked into a yearly contract for their service - I wouldn't get them for that alone (plus the sheer volume of complaints concerning Verizon's customer service).

[DiscoInferiorityComplex]

When I moved, I had to switch from DirecTV (with TiVo) to Time Warner DVRs. The differences are minor. I got two cable box/DVRs. One of them is awesome and works great in every way. The other one has a bunch of issues (if you've been on the same channel for over an hour, it falls asleep and won't let you do basic things like rewind live programming). So, it might be a crapshoot as to which generation DVR is delivered to your house. Also, if you're overly attached to some TiVo features such as recording of programs you might like, etc., you're in for a disappointment.

[stephan]

I also have a TiVo HD with Time Warner cable cards in it. Just be aware that TW (and probably every other cable co.) only support the whole cable card thing grudgingly (because it takes away from their DVR biz), and it can take many tries before they get them hooked up correctly, because apparently no one is trained in how to activate them. Also, if you ever use OnDemand, that doesn't work with cable cards -- you need a digital cable box from TW for that stuff.

I've been happy with my setup, but recently a few channels started getting digital noise or not coming in, and I'm scared to call TW because I have a feeling they will send someone out who doesn't know anything about cable cards and it'll take forever to solve the problem (when the problem is most likely what it always is: weak signal).

Oh, and back when I was getting the TiVo HD set up, as the guy was struggling to get my cable cards activated (two hours in, third visit of the week, first two were failures), he suggested I get a TW DVR. You know, to make his life easier.

TiVo HD: love it. TW: hate it. I would get Verizon FIOS if it was in my area, but it isn't.

I went through almost the exact same procedure trying to get cable cards working. It took about a week to get one working card and one more trip to find a second working card. I have no idea why this process was so difficult. And, I also got a lecture about the Time Warner DVR from my installation guy. I, too, would get Verizon FIOS if it was in my area.

The OnDemand stuff doesn't work with Tivo, but you do get Amazon's Unbox. Although, the Unbox content not only isn't HD it's also 4:3, so anything originally in widescreen has black bars on the top and bottom. If you watch on a widescreen television, the image only takes up about half the screen.

Oh, and you do get access to Youtube on the Tivo now too. I'm in the testing program for the newest Tivo software release, and the Video Download menu system and the Youtube menus are a lot faster than they used to be, although searching on Youtube can still take quite a while. Netflix is coming, too, but is not yet enabled.

[isoS]

Even if you have TiVo HD with cable cards installed you can always keep a cable box connected to another input on your TV so that if you want to use OnDemand you can (and that way you can record two simultaneous shows on TiVo and watch a third via the box, if you're that much of a boob tube psycho). I think cable box rental is $5 a month on TW, so it may or may not be worth it to you (it was not worth it to me: I returned my box, and didn't miss it until I learned that Mad Men was OnDemand -- this only mattered to me bc in my area AMC is not even digital, never mind HD, but I don't know if the OnDemand version of Mad Men was HD or what).

[Popinjay-Z]

Big Box Of Money with the save! Thanks for the link. I just ordered my replacement box and tomorrow night we'll have TiVo back in our lives (what a horrific 72-hour ordeal).

Suck it, Time-Warner DVR's.

[Big Box Of Money]

Didn't want to make a whole new thread for this, but I am VERY late to the Tivo party. Any recommendations for a new user? The interface seems so robust, is there anything you discovered about Tivo a year after buying it that you wish you had known immediately?

[Popinjay-Z]

I've been using TiVo for 5 years, and I don't really utilize any of the things that make it special (e.g. TiVo suggestions; Amazon downloads; parental lock; youtube, etc.), but to make the most of it, you definitely need to be connected to your home network and not simply the phone line.

Also, the last few weeks, I've discovered that TiVo customer service is insanely frustrating. I called the sales line and ordered a refurbished box based on your post (thanks, by the way), and when I later called customer service to cancel my old, broken box, I was informed that had I called their dept. first, they could have given me a new box for cheaper than the refurb. I told the rep that the sales guy was aware that I was a five-year customer and I wasn't buying an add'l box, merely a replacement one, so why didn't he tell me about that option. Customer service's response was (direct quote) "sales doesn't have any bargaining power, only our department does." But, of course, he didn't have enough power to refund the difference to me? Apparently, one dept. doesn't really talk to the other, so once you're an existing customer, direct every question to customer service/retention. Even if it's a troubleshooting issue, go straight to the top because they are the only ones who can do anything (their words, not mine). I threatened to cancel and they lowered my monthly rate, so that's worth a shot if you're an existing customer.

[isoS]

Look up TiVo hacks bigbox. I couldn't live without 30 second skip (select-play-select-30-select).

[Meen Bellpeppers]

There is a windows program called tivo.net which is defunct and a little buggy, but awesome. You point it to a folder with video files (any kind, virtually) and it will create a fake tivo server that you can browse as if it were another tivo on the network. You can select any file and it will transcode the file on the fly (meaning you don't have to have files pre-converted) and send it to your tivo. At the time it was the only way to do something like this. Does tivo desktop plus do this now? I'm too cheap/lazy to find out.

[stephan]

There is a windows program called tivo.net which is defunct and a little buggy, but awesome. You point it to a folder with video files (any kind, virtually) and it will create a fake tivo server that you can browse as if it were another tivo on the network. You can select any file and it will transcode the file on the fly (meaning you don't have to have files pre-converted) and send it to your tivo. At the time it was the only way to do something like this. Does tivo desktop plus do this now? I'm too cheap/lazy to find out.

I think the $25 version of Tivo Desktop might do this, but pyTivo is free, and is relatively easy to set up, and will transcode pretty much anything (including Blu-ray files). There are Windows, Mac, and Linux versions as well. The Windows installer version from March does have some problems with subfolder support, although you can share multiple folders to make up for this.

[aenemaTron]

Hey, I'm changing this thread to a general tivo thing.

I picked up a 2TB iomega HD to expand my Tivo Series 3 and I can't get the hookup to work... then I found out that the iomega claims to only work with Scientific American DVRs and the Tivo says you can only use the Western Digital DVR Expander.

Has anyone successfully attached forbidden junk to the Tivo (without a screwdriver)? The only thing I can imagine that might be wrong is that the eSATA plugs aren't all the way in - should they "click" in?

Ugh.