I got Tivo

My 40 hour TiVo has been with me for about one year now. Good stuff.

I have a little bit of advice:

1) Be sure the rest of the family gets to use the TiVo too. Sometimes people get offended because this new device suddenly made TV watching more complicated, or get their feelings hurt if you don't sit down with them and be sure they know how to operate things.

2) While watching a recorded program (not live TV) press: Select, Play, Select, number 3, number 0, Select. (You'll be all over the remote: top, middle, top, bottom, bottom, top) TiVo should make a kind of "ding ding ding ker-pop" sound. You have just changed the function of that rather useless skip-to-end button (just under fast-forward) to a more useful 30-second-skip button. With practice you'll just automatically learn the timing of your shows, and get really good at skipping an entire block of commercials in about 8 keypresses and 5 seconds.

(After a power failure TiVo loses this setting, so you'll use your 30-second-skip button and unexpectedly find it's jumped to the end of the program, losing your place in the show. Just rewind back to the beginning, enter the code again, and 30-second-skip your way back into the program.)

3) Your TiVo is not a replacement for a cabinet full of videotape. It even has a Save To VCR function. When you get programs you want to keep, use that function.

4) Consider a hard disk upgrade. It's surprisingly easy, and can be done for just the cost of a 150 GB (or larger) IDE hard disk. The risk exposure here is very small: TiVo Inc. doesn't seem to care if you do this upgrade, as long as you don't expect them to fix your mistake if you screw things up permanently. They say it voids your warranty, but there wasn't even a "warranty void if removed" sticker on my unit (so how could they even know I've been in the case unless the upgrade succeeds?) Your reward for this upgrade is something like a 168-hour TiVo. (Also a slightly slower TiVo: with all that extra storage to worry about, some scheduling actions will be slower.)

(If you did the EV button mod by yourself, you probably already know you want to do this TiVo upgrade.)

5) Use that thumbs-up thumbs-down thing. Even if you schedule your TiVo so tightly that it never records suggestions, there's a Suggestions menu under Pick Programs To Record. If you're getting bored, look through that list and see if it found interesting things.

Feel free to ask follow-up questions, and enjoy your TiVo!

--Spence

 

I read both posts...

I think I need a TiVo as well... I hope the service (or something similar) will be available over here as well.

 

Yeah, TiVo is great. I've since passed on my early lifetime subscription to a friend with my original 8 hour TiVo, who since passed it on to others, and it's still in use today.

This Christmas for my partner I got a dish tv 921 PVR. Our 30" tube tv finally can use it's HD power now, because the receiver has two tuners, one for HD and one for SD. Built in is a 180 hour Tivo (not name brand, obviously) for standard definition, or about 25 hours of HD recording. It runs PIP, and you can watch one thing while recording another channel (or record two channels at once, or have both your regular screen and your PIP buffered to rewind/fast forward). Paid the extra $5/month for the 8 or so HD channels that exist, and man are they beautiful! I know some day I'll look back and laugh about how we sat there watching silly things like ice skating or an orchestra just because it's so clear and sharp!

Just a warning Evan - once you have tivo, you can never go back. If you find yourself watching tv at other people's houses, I suggest you just buy them one as well - it's painful to have to relearn that you don't have a rewind function! It's another addiction just like XM. I suggest the lifetime subs., if you haven't already (and if they still offer it). Enjoy!

-m.

 

Evan,

There should be a skip forward button that jumps about 30 seconds (it's not the fast forward button, it's more of a curved arrow pointing forward). Of course, to skip commercials, you have to have the recording buffered - meaning you paused somewhere or are watching a recorded event. Tivo's cant yet go into the future

-m.

 

AH yesssss I remember the first few days of my TIVO....

the thrill when I realized I could rewind what is on the TV and review it (and it wasn't even for a wardrobe malfunction)

the first time the network changed scheduled and TIVO followed right along.

programing a recording show from home.

and lastly the promise of TIVOtoGO.

check the TIVO community as well - linked from the TIVO site or

TIVO community

 

I really liked the part about
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So is that a prescription or a referral? Tax treatment will differ.

Nice to see you enjoying something besides the Prius.

 

I don't like TV. Never had one after moving out of my mom's house at age 18, except the 3 years I lived in Queretaro, Mexico (furnished apartment). But a month or so ago I bought a treadmill, so I needed something to alleviate the boredom of 2 hours walking indoors. So I got a TV and digital cable. The cable box has a HD and can record something like 8 or 10 hours. Interactive TV Guide makes it easy to find and record a movie. 5 or 6 movies fills it up. I've got 3 or 4 at any one time, and record a new one any time I delete an old one. I cannot imagine watching the !@#$%^& thing when I'm not exercising. But it makes those 2 hours go a bit faster. And let me tell you, you burn calories big time on a 12% grade and 3 mph for two hours. That's about a 3800-foot elevation gain.

 

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The true commercial skipping is a feature of Replay I think, not TiVo. With TiVo, you just fast-forward through the commercials (either when you're behind in live TV or watching something recorded). When you hit play (if you're in super fast forward or super-super fast foward), the TiVo will automatically back up 2 seconds to account for the delay in reaction time. It generally works pretty well.

We're stilll on our original 14-hour TiVo.

 

Unfortunately TIVO isn't available in Canada (unless you wanna hack it)...

I still find that amazing (we watch a lotta TV here). I'm on the Canadian ExpressVU system with a PVR (same as the Dish Network model in the US). It's not as nice as TIVO, but it's certainly a heck of a lot better than nothing!

Dave

 

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That's true, but only for three models - the 4000, 4500 and 5000 series all have the commercial skip technology, but the latest 5500 series does not (due to litigation). However, all Replay models have the capability to skip X minutes ahead (or back) by pressing the number of minutes desired, then pressing the skip forward or instant replay buttons, so on my older models, I just hit 3 then skip forward to advance 3 minutes (the typical length of a commercial break in prime time programs).

I also read a little while back that Tivo was somehow going to limit viewers' ability to skip commercials. I hope it's not true for your sake!

 

We have 2 TiVos in our house and love them. It has definitely changed the way we watch TV and I really miss the rewind feature when I am watching TV not connected to TV. I now have mine set up to save to our DVD recorder instead of the VCR. I know what you mean Evan about trying to get everything hooked up correctly--that was a challenge to get everything working. Unfortunately all the wires and inputs are in the back next to the wall and I had to really get into awkward postions to get it all done. My daughter has hers set for several children's shows so my granddaughter can watch "Tiny Planets" or whatever whenever she needs it. She doesn't understand that other TVs don't do that.

 

check out java hmo for those that have hmo units. its far better than the tivo software. You can do shoutcast streams,weather...... etc. Also adding a new hd is a must!! plus you get all of the cool hacks too tivoweb, caller id on screen,telnet,ftp,automatic script loads so you don't have to type in the 30 sec & guide sort hack on each reboot.

 

TiVo is not going to limit viewers' ability to skip commercials per se. However, they are going to start scrolling advertisements, ticker-like, whenever a viewer fast forwards through a commercial.

TiVo is one of those creations that is impossible to describe to someone else, but once you have one, you wonder how you ever lived without it. The typical response is "Oh, you mean it's like a VCR?" No, no, no, no, NO. That's why TiVo owners seem like proselytizing nuts. It's the frustration of not being able to describe the advantages to others that turns you into a frothing foaming zealot! It's fun to be with a new TiVo owner when they finally "get it" and realize that they no longer have to schedule their television watch time, or suffer through commercials, or miss an episode of their favorite show.

 

Exactly, toyoprius.

I think the best way to put it, is that even if you watch just one tv show - you're no longer time your activities around tv time. No more 'well I have to be home at 8 because this show is on', etc.

TV time becomes whenever you have spare time to watch what you like, as opposed to controlling your other activities.

-m.

 

So, other than your larger HD, is it different than what I have? Interactive TV guide and a digital recorder built into the cable box lets me record whatever I want and watch it when I like.

Granted, you have a bigger HD and so more recording space, and I have only one tuner, so I cannot watch one program while recording another.

Like you, I can also pause a live program and resume watching when I like, though I seldom do, because I'm almost always watching a recorded movie, and I never watch TV when I'm not exercising.

 

Okay. I just looked at the tivo web site. It looks as though my digital cable box is very similar to tivo, without the internet access, and with a much smaller HD. The program select, record, and playback functionality is about the same.

 

What's all this TiVo talk. You all bought a techie car, didn't you look into ReplayTV, www.replaytv.com? I have 3 units on a home network, one on a wireless 54G, and shows can be shared between them. Also, my units are the older model that has commercial skip and IVS (this is Internet Video Sharing - go to www.poopli.com). If I miss an episode of just about anything all I need to do is request it from someone else and they send it. All of these features are right out of the box, no hacking needed. A freeware program called DVArchive can be downloaded which allows you to move the show MPEGs to your Windows PC. From there you can edit commercials and burn them to a DVD. DVARchive also allows you to play a show from your PC using your ReplayTV and TV. This saves space on your ReplayTV units. You can also upgrade the hard drives yourself which I did on one of my units. And lastly, if you have a modded XBOX, you can watch shows from any ReplayTV unit or the PC.

Isn't technology wonderful?