TiVo Enligthenment

[ToLEEdo]

I really want a DVR/Tivo thing. Do I need a subscription? How good are the individual boxes? What do I need to get and what should I get? I am trying to stay on the low price end.

[ChrisTheCop]

I have Tivo, and love it. I cant recall the prices, but I remember it being reasonable. Once you buy the device, you can pay a lifetime service fee, and youre done.

Cable companies now have DVR service, which as far as I know are the same as a Tivo, except that you can watch channel A while recording Channel B (you cant do that with Tivo).

I think Tivo's have more storage space...and better search features... but most of this is hearsay. I have Tivo and love it.

[underdog]

I really want a DVR/Tivo thing. Do I need a subscription? How good are the individual boxes? What do I need to get and what should I get? I am trying to stay on the low price end.

Tivo is great. And it blows away any DVR that you can get from a cable or satellite company.

You do need a subscription, and they range in price, depending on the length of the contract you get. Oh, and you can buy a lifetime subscription through like January 15th.

I think you can get one for $99 - $199 now. Tivo has specials from time to time.

I have a Series 3 and its the greatest thing ever. I can program it online.

[underdog]

Cable companies now have DVR service, which as far as I know are the same as a Tivo, except that you can watch channel A while recording Channel B (you cant do that with Tivo).

I can do that with my tivo.

[mikeyboy]

I have Tivo, and love it. I cant recall the prices, but I remember it being reasonable. Once you buy the device, you can pay a lifetime service fee, and youre done.

Cable companies now have DVR service, which as far as I know are the same as a Tivo, except that you can watch channel A while recording Channel B (you cant do that with Tivo).

I think Tivo's have more storage space...and better search features... but most of this is hearsay. I have Tivo and love it.

I think they got rid of the lifetime service, but I believe you can get it for the new HD Tivo for a limited time. Not sure about all of the cable company DVRs, but my parents have one through Verizon FIOS and it has a much bigger hard drive than the Tivo unit I got about 3 years ago.

[cupcakelove]

I got the DVR service with Comcast. I think its great. Cost an extra 9.99 a month, and I didn't need to buy any extra equipment.

[underdog]

I got the DVR service with Comcast. I think its great. Cost an extra 9.99 a month, and I didn't need to buy any extra equipment.

I loved the DVR from Comcast for about a month. Then I needed to go buy a tivo.

and my friends who got the DVR kept telling me that it wasn't that bad. And now they hate it, too.

Although, Comcast has released a few Comast/Tivo DVR in New England.

[cupcakelove]

I loved the DVR from Comcast for about a month. Then I needed to go buy a tivo.

and my friends who got the DVR kept telling me that it wasn't that bad. And now they hate it, too.

Although, Comcast has released a few Comast/Tivo DVR in New England.

What happened after a month?

[JustJon]

I still use a TiVo Series 2. I think there's dual tuners now, and the lifetime subscription is a great deal, but I don't think it's as cheap as it used to be.

[underdog]

What happened after a month?

Everything just started annoying me.

It would stop updating the guide or update it wrong. It wouldn't stop recording sometimes. It just kept recording repeats, even if I didn't want it to. The wheels basically fell off the thing. And I even exchanged it for two different ones, but the same problems kept happening.

There were two things I miss that it had, the ability to record one program on multiple channels and it told me how much room I had left.

[underdog]

I still use a TiVo Series 2. I think there's dual tuners now, and the lifetime subscription is a great deal, but I don't think it's as cheap as it used to be.

With the Series2, you can only record one digital and one analog at once. The new HD and Series3 allow you to record two of whatever at the same time.

Also, Series 2 - $99
HD - $299
Series 3 - $599

[K.C.]

Bought a lifetime Tivo subscription for $300 on a Series 2 like three years ago.

The subscription is transferable to a new unit for $70 if I ever decide to upgrade. I'll save it for when I get an HD one.

Best investment I've ever made.


EDIT: It's $199 to transfer a lifetime subscription on the website...I'll have to check my paperwork on it...I may still be able to get the $70 they used to offer.

[ChrisTheCop]

Best investment I've ever made.




Agreed. Just try and watch regular tv without being able to pause/rewind/fast fwd thru commercials. Its maddening!!!

[JustJon]

Agreed. Just try and watch regular tv without being able to pause/rewind/fast fwd thru commercials. Its maddening!!!

I will intentionally start watching an hour long show about 15-20 minutes after they start and by skipping commercials, I'll finish around the same time as someone watching live.

[ChrisTheCop]

The odd thing is, if someone at work is talking about a commercial, you have no idea what theyre talking about. Also, there's some end of the year "TV's greatest commercials of 2007" coming up... I dont recognize any of them!

The only commercials I see "anymore" are when I watch shows online.

[Tall_James]

I have the lifetime Tivo membership from about 4 years ago and I couldn't live without it.

I have Comcast cable currently and want to switch to Verizon Fios. I need to find out it I can use my Tivo with Verizon as well since they already have their own DVR capabilities.

[Reynolds]

I think they got rid of the lifetime service, but I believe you can get it for the new HD Tivo for a limited time. Not sure about all of the cable company DVRs, but my parents have one through Verizon FIOS and it has a much bigger hard drive than the Tivo unit I got about 3 years ago.

They sell it as being a huge hard drive, but it's actually all done via the same technology as on demand. When you schedule it to record, the next time you try to watch the show, it just streams it from the cable company.

Tivo can play video , music , and photos from your computer. And you can buy episodes you missed through amazon at 1-3 bucks a piece and watch them on the tivo. You can also download movies and keep them. Online scheduling, share videos between household DVRs. They also have a youtube like community where you can put your home movie up, and if a friend has tivo, they can subscribe to your home movies and watch them.

If you have a friend or a family member that has tivo, members are usually offered a deal where they can buy tivo as a gift for cheap, also you can go on their membership plan for like 7 bucks a month. I bought a tivo for my dad and my brother, and just pay they're $7 monthly bill that's included with mine.

Cable company DVRs eat turds

[Snacks]

I have tivo series 2 and its the best thing ever. The only problem i have is when you hook it up through a cable box the system has a delay. When you use the remote it seems to take longer to get to the channels because it needs to send a signal from the tivo to the cable box. They give you this little eye sensor thing to hook up to it and that relays the signal to the cable box. I use my tivo on a tv without a cable box. I get all the basic cable channels but cant record hbo and the higher cable channels because you need the cable box for that.

Does anyone have it hooked up to a cable box and has a similar delay experience?

[JustJon]

I have tivo series 2 and its the best thing ever. The only problem i have is when you hook it up through a cable box the system has a delay. When you use the remote it seems to take longer to get to the channels because it needs to send a signal from the tivo to the cable box. They give you this little eye sensor thing to hook up to it and that relays the signal to the cable box. I use my tivo on a tv without a cable box. I get all the basic cable channels but cant record hbo and the higher cable channels because you need the cable box for that.

Does anyone have it hooked up to a cable box and has a similar delay experience?

Everyone has the delay experience, but you kinda get used to it. The other thing is you can't fast flip up and down channels, but the channel guide comes up so quick, you can flip thru that even faster.

[ToLEEdo]

Now should I wait until the HD Tivos get cheaper to pick one up. If all TV is going HD then it would probably better to get an HD one then?

[Walt1028]

I think they got rid of the lifetime service, but I believe you can get it for the new HD Tivo for a limited time. Not sure about all of the cable company DVRs, but my parents have one through Verizon FIOS and it has a much bigger hard drive than the Tivo unit I got about 3 years ago.

I have an HD DVR from Verizon FiOS also and I don't know what the hard drive size is but I had an 80 gb TiVo and the Verizon one seems likes it hold a lot more. But the TiVo interface is a lot better and easier to navigate than the Verizon one.

[ToLEEdo]

Walt!! you crossed over from xmfan finally. I used to see you on there all the time.

[Ritalin]

I will intentionally start watching an hour long show about 15-20 minutes after they start and by skipping commercials, I'll finish around the same time as someone watching live.

I do that with NFL games. It's the only way to watch, because there are so many fucking commercials.

2 weeks ago, Bears-Broncos, I'm lagging behind the live game and DVRing my way past all the commercials, when my cell phone rings. "I can't answer that," I told my wife, "it's my Dad, calling from the future with news of the game."

[underdog]

I've been stuck with an awful Comcast Motorolla DVR again, as I moved and putting cards into slots in the back of the tivo is so hard that I've been through 5 technicians so far in like a month. I forgot how much this fucking thing sucks.

Say I have The Soup recorded and there's a repeat of it coming on at 11pm. I watch my recorded The Soup, delete it at 10:59pm and it re-fucking-records at 11pm. EVERYTHING. TV is just filled with replays and the fucking motorolla has no "recorded within the last 28 days" thing in it.

[oldladyfacepuncher]

Say I have The Soup recorded and there's a repeat of it coming on at 11pm. I watch my recorded The Soup, delete it at 10:59pm and it re-fucking-records at 11pm. EVERYTHING. TV is just filled with replays and the fucking motorolla has no "recorded within the last 28 days" thing in it.

Ours does the same thing. I think that's an E! issue though. They're the ones that list every run of The Soup as new.

[underdog]

Ours does the same thing. I think that's an E! issue though. They're the ones that list every run of The Soup as new.

It does it with every show, though. If I delete a show, the dumb DVR forgets it ever existed and just records it again whenever it sees it on.

[ozzie]

I do that with NFL games. It's the only way to watch, because there are so many fucking commercials.

2 weeks ago, Bears-Broncos, I'm lagging behind the live game and DVRing my way past all the commercials, when my cell phone rings. "I can't answer that," I told my wife, "it's my Dad, calling from the future with news of the game."

EXACTLY! I might be up to an hour behind at times depending on how the grilling is going and how many commercial breaks I've skipped through.

People should fucking realize that we're living in a Tivo world now. It doesn't matter how many times I've told people not to call during a game, or even soon after, the Tivoless people still don't get it.

What sucks is that sometimes it's a fucking give-a-way about what is going to happen just by seeing which asshole is calling at what time. My family only call after an AU win, especially if it was a close game. They know to leave me alone after a loss. I've got other "buddies" who only call to harass after one of my teams lose, so the only winning move is to put the phone on silent and out of sight.

[oldladyfacepuncher]

People should fucking realize that we're living in a Tivo world now. It doesn't matter how many times I've told people not to call during a game, or even soon after, the Tivoless people still don't get it.


The networks also need to get a clue. I have to watch out for the line scores and the stupid announcers commenting on other games.

I'll usually record a couple games on Sunday while I get some work done, and watch them later that night. Even though the house goes into communication lockdown, I still have to watch out for spoilers form some play by play guy who wants to try and impress me with his omniscience or the producer showing off his live sports ticker and his magical ability to butt in with clips from other games. That shit was cool 10 years ago.