ptholt

theres a whole load of tivo resources out there, ill post some bookmarks when i get home.

there are some annoying things with tivo :-

1. you set it to record footie, its late starting and because the tivo programme guide doesnt update quick enough you miss the last few mins, you can get round this by telling it to start 5 mins early and finish 5 mins late, but that gives you probs if you are recording from another channel.

2. limited standard hard drive space, ive hit max space a couple of times so upgrading has to be a must, not quite that easy when you read the faqs though, some versions struggle to read over 60 gig drives bepending on bios/firmware etc so bit of a minefield. Also its not quite as easy as just chucking in a fat32 formatted drive like i'd hoped.

good things are the ability to record a whole series of a show when you set it to record. being able to record and watch at same time.

Plus its VERY easy to use. My wife HATED my pronto remote as she found using 5 seperates easier to use. but after two days of the tivo being home she loved it.

Also when hard drives are getting full you can get it to dump to video overnight

Only plus points i saw to sky+ wre ability to record one sat program and watch another. The downside being having to pay for it when a small rain storm is enough to kill my satellite viewing!

for some comparisons of tivo and sky+ look here :-
http://www.garysargent.co.uk/tivo/TIVOvsSKY.htm

edited just to say tivo's come in differing guises, some are single hd machines, some are dual. singles are slightly easier to upgrade, duals arent (apparently) as the tibo setup info and your recording choices are split between the two drives, so careful mirroring to new drives is needed




[Edited by ptholt - 10/2/2002 3:27:23 PM]

DazV

Was wondering if any existing TIVO owners could answer me this:

Right now my knackered vcr is up for replacing, so I'm looking at the current alternatives, like another vcr, DVD+RW and TIVO / SKY+

As I don't watch many Videos, TIVO seems to be the best alternative but I'm baulking at this stupid subscription fee you have to pay on top of the box.

My question is, does TIVO offer the basic 'set timer, set channel record' facility a normal vcr would, or do I have to pay the rip-off subscription thing anyway so I can get the fancy program scheduler I DON'T want ?

-DV

ariel

TIVO is pretty useless without the sub.
That said you can get one for a total outlay with the sub of £350.
That is £150 for the box and a one-off of £199 for the lifetime sub. Now I reckon that is a very good deal as you get a VCR that does everything a top notch tape machine will do and more.
And I do mean more, it is an amazing piece of kit and I fully endorse the software that comes with it. I even find myself not even looking at the schedules to see what I might record as it just gets on with the job on its own! It scans every channel on Sky and WILL record stuff for you that you did not even know was being broadcast plus the bits you tell it to, of course.
Take a look at the TIVO forum, a very helpful bunch there, rather like the Scooby community, I think.

DazV

Isn't TIVO #2 out now ? Whats the diff ?

ariel

There is. You need to go to the TIVO site to see the specs.
Will not be £150 tho, I'm sure and is probably not available in the UK yet.

DazV

Where can you get the original one so cheap ? Most places have it for £149.95

elgordano

I've had Tivo for 18 months now......and all I can say is that is just brilliant. No more forgetting to set the video tape.

Gordo

boomer

Thrubble is, after paying your 200 quid "lifetime subscription" you have to assume that Tivo won't go bust, leaving you with an expensive, low powered room heater

If only someone can write a PC interface to allow normal timer recordings (or more) - just in case!

mb

DazV

Food for thought Boomer - okay then, so how does Sky+ compare ?

ariel

In case you haven't noticed Sky+ is £300 plus £10 a month, there is no option for a lifetime sub. That means that TIVO only has to last 5 months and you are ahead...
Did I mention that I like the software too.

XRS

Did I hear somewhere that you can fit larger hard drives to the TIVO to provide extra capacity?

ariel

Standard HD is 40Gb and gives up to 40 hours. Some do fit twin 120Gb HDs, don't think you can go higher as it's not seen.

Andrewza

I believe there's now a hack to connect four HDs to it as well as the network cards of course (want a shell on your TiVo? Sure! it's linux)

XRS

Thanks for the info. I am thinking about picking up a Thomson from my local Comet.

The lack of knowledge and information there was staggering.

Peter, I suspected that as a gadget was involved you would know the answer.

ptholt

ahh im scared now, has my reputation preceeded me??

NeilT

Someone mentioned Tivo2? I dont think this is out yet, certainly not been informed of it by Tivo.

Anyone got any info on Tivo 2 - last I heard was it was to feature broadband connection and P2P sharing - meaning you can download films from other users machine overnight, sounds cool BUT loads of legal issues surrounding this feature.

BTW - back on thread track for a minute, the Tivo is by far one of the best things I've ever spent money on, not perfect, but not far off

XRS

Own up Peter, if anyone mentions a new gadget on here you've already had it for six months and put it up in the For Sale section the month before!!

(USB hub working a treat still).

ptholt

i resemble, sorry resent that remark !!

BarryK

FWIW does tivo pause live TV same as SKY+?

ptholt

yeah tivo can pause analogue tv and sky programs.