Tivo questions

[tny915]

Tivo's having a promo for a free box after rebate, so I'm really tempted to ask for this as a Christmas present.
http://www.tivo.com/2.0.boxes.step.1.asp?box=series280hrDvr

I just have some questions for you experienced Tivo owners:
-How long have you owned your box, and would you recommend an extended warranty? I'm interested in the prepaid 3 year plan, but I'm worried about the box biting the dust before the plan ends.

-Have you found that 80 hours is enough capacity? If you use the picture setting that allows you the max 80 hour capacity, how's the picture quality? I'm tempted by the 180 hour model, but that might be A LOT of tv.

-The free box is the single tuner model. Recommend the dual tuner? Is this where I would be able to watch one show while recording another?

-How easy is it to connect Tivo to your wireless network?

-Anyone have more than one Tivo? I'm thinking of getting one for the family room and one for the bedroom. Bedroom's where I tend to watch the most tv, but DD and DH watch in the family room. And then I guess I'd be paying a service plan for each box. Is it worth it?

And just to make sure I got this right, DH and I were talking Tivo today, and he questioned why we should shell out the money for Tivo service when we could just upgrade our cable to get Comcast DVR. His argument is we'd get more channels whereas with Tivo, we just get the service. But am I right in that Tivo is has a more intuitive interface, with the wishlist and season pass and whatnot that no other DVR offers?

Thanks!

[overcome]

I have no experience with Tivo, but I do have DVR and highly recommend it.

I find it most useful if you record a lot of shows. Occasionally we will rewind live tv if we miss what someone said, but we could honestly live w/o that. Not having to keep track of VHS tapes is WONDERFUL! Watching shows at your leisure is also WONDERFUL!

With our DVR, you can record a show for the whole season (i'm assuming this is what season pass is). It is once and done. YOu can choose to record only first run or first run and repeats.

With DVR you will have digital cable, which has a guide that makes recording and searching for shows VERY easy.

I think Tivo will suggest other shows you may like based on what you record. Honestly, I don't need to watch any more tv/ get involved with more shows!

Cable companies usually run specials around this time of year on installation/subscription of DVR services. You could call your cable company or check out their web site and ask them point blank to compare their DVR service to Tivo.

HTH

[dules]

We have DVR through our satellite company. The box was free and we pay $5.99 (?) a month for the service. It can record two shows while watching a third. We're happy with it. We can set it to record an entire season, with or without repeats, etc.

I'll bet there are features that TiVo has that ours doesn't, but I have not needed them. :)

Mary

[bcky2]

i have tivo and i cant watch another show while i record one but that i think is because we have satellite and not cable. we have the one with the least amount of hours and are fine with that. i cant remember how many hours we get. we pay 12ish a month for the service and really we use it to tivo one or two shows a week and the once in a blue moon movie that we want to see. we have never used the season pass or any of the other features other then rewind and pause which we use quite a bit around here. i would look to see what features the dvr offers and compare it to the tivo and go from there. they should list all the benefits online.

[deenass]

We got Tivo in Feb and I LOVE it (and you are talking to someone with 6 vcr's so I thought there was no need for tivo in my life WRONG!!!)

We initially chose tivo b/c there was a 6 week waitlist to get DVR in my area (too much demand), from what I u derstand from talking to my friends, tivo is more intuitive than DVR so I'm happy we went that route.

We tape A LOT of things in this house, but we bought the 40 hour box with a dvd burner - I am SO glad I did this, it allows me to burn anything I tape onto dvd to watch in another room (eliminating the need for more than one tivo box), I'm also able to save a show that DS watches to take with us when we travel (or just have) without eating up memory space. I'm also able to copy somehting for a friend if they need to see it.

[madelinesmom]

>I just have some questions for you experienced Tivo owners:
>-How long have you owned your box, and would you recommend an
>extended warranty? I'm interested in the prepaid 3 year plan,
>but I'm worried about the box biting the dust before the plan
>ends.

DH is a bit of a new gadget freak so we have had either Tivo or DVR since 2001. In 3 years ago I would have said get the warrenty but probably not now, the first box we had with Dish network (DVR Digital Video Recorder) had some problems and we ended up switching it out at least 3 different times. When we got TIVO in 2003 we purchased a HD TIVO (Hughes brand) and had no trouble with it at all. We have now switched back to Dish and have their new DVR but that is because I got mad at Direct.
>
>-Have you found that 80 hours is enough capacity? If you use
>the picture setting that allows you the max 80 hour capacity,
>how's the picture quality? I'm tempted by the 180 hour model,
>but that might be A LOT of tv.

This depends on not just the picture quality but also are you going to be recording any HD shows? HD shows take up much more space. EX: we have a 180 hr turner, that is regular SD (Standard Def) shows. we can tape probably 300 little bears. But we can only tape say 15 CSI's because they are in High Def.
>
>-The free box is the single tuner model. Recommend the dual
>tuner? Is this where I would be able to watch one show while
>recording another?

Absolutely!!!!!!!!!! Our first tuner was a Single and we now have 2 dual tuners. I know that sounds like alot but it really makes it easy... I watch alot of documentaries and A&E shows and that stuff is on our second tuner. We record mostly High Def stuff on our big TV, because it has a HD DVR.
>
>-How easy is it to connect Tivo to your wireless network?

Never did this...
>
>-Anyone have more than one Tivo? I'm thinking of getting one
>for the family room and one for the bedroom. Bedroom's where
>I tend to watch the most tv, but DD and DH watch in the family
>room. And then I guess I'd be paying a service plan for each
>box. Is it worth it?
>
ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!

>And just to make sure I got this right, DH and I were talking
>Tivo today, and he questioned why we should shell out the
>money for Tivo service when we could just upgrade our cable to
>get Comcast DVR. His argument is we'd get more channels
>whereas with Tivo, we just get the service. But am I right in
>that Tivo is has a more intuitive interface, with the wishlist
>and season pass and whatnot that no other DVR offers?

Don't know about Comcast DVR but I miss My TIVO interface, we now have Dish Network DVR... The fact that they follow programs is so helpful with kids. I don't know when shows switch night for whatever stupid reason and TIVO takes care of everything for you. We have to stay with DISH for at least two years, but we will probably be switching back, maybe the mad will have worn off with Direct TV by then...

Good Luck,
>



Jane
Madeline and Emily's Mom
1/20/03 11/29/05

[wencit]

>-How long have you owned your box, and would you recommend an
>extended warranty? I'm interested in the prepaid 3 year plan,
>but I'm worried about the box biting the dust before the plan
>ends.

Both my parents and I have owned Tivo boxes since November 2000. Both are still going strong (knock on wood). I personally would not get the warranty. Most problems with Tivo boxes happen with the modems or hard drives, and those are relatively cheap and easy to replace. Also, newer Tivo models are coming out all the time, so in 3 years, there may be a box with better features.

>-Have you found that 80 hours is enough capacity? If you use
>the picture setting that allows you the max 80 hour capacity,
>how's the picture quality? I'm tempted by the 180 hour model,
>but that might be A LOT of tv.

I have 40 hours, and between DH and I, we're constantly fighting over space issues. LOL! 80 hours would probably solve those problems. Also keep in mind that if you're tech-oriented (or know someone who is), you can always buy a larger hard drive and install it yourself (160 hours or so) quite cheaply. However, opening the Tivo box does void your warranty, so you'd have to do that at your own risk. (Though I hear people do it all the time without a problem.)

We set most of our shows to "basic" quality, which is the setting that allows us max capacity, and don't have a problem at all. However, like a PP pointed out, we don't get HD, so I don't know how that affects this number. Sometimes if there is a show with lots of movement, such as a football game, or my beloved gymnastics, we'll set the Tivo to record in higher quality, maybe "medium." I'd say about 95% of our shows are in "basic" and just fine for us.

>-The free box is the single tuner model. Recommend the dual
>tuner? Is this where I would be able to watch one show while
>recording another?

Yes, having two tuners allows you to watch one show while you record another. I'm not sure if you have cable or satellite, but if you have regular cable, you can always use a cheapie splitter to split the signal between your Tivo and your regular TV so that you can watch one show "live" while your Tivo records another show. That's one way to kind of get around the dual tuner issue, which is what we do.

>-Anyone have more than one Tivo? I'm thinking of getting one
>for the family room and one for the bedroom. Bedroom's where
>I tend to watch the most tv, but DD and DH watch in the family
>room. And then I guess I'd be paying a service plan for each
>box. Is it worth it?

I only have one Tivo, but I can watch both in my bedroom and the living room by using a wireless network. I bought some kind of doohickey from Radio Shack that takes the Tivo signal, routes it through the telephone wires, and pipes it up to my bedroom so that I can watch TV up there. If DD and DH aren't going to watch TV at the same time as you (the same shows would be showing on both TV sets with this configuration), that might be a cheaper option. (If you haven't figured out by now, I'm all about cheap! LOL!)

HTH!

[Fairy]

Hi Becky! Actually, you can only watch the show you're recording because you have only one tuner. If you want to record two at the same time or you want to watch one while you record another, you need to have a box with two tuners. We bought ours with that in mind. The season pass is wonderful, so if there is a show you watch regularly, I'd season pass it with the option you want for the recording (first run with reruns or first run only, etc.).

[Fairy]

ITA all counts. We bought our Tivo way back in 2000. Seriously. It's lasted that long, and we got our money's worth big time. At the time, the dual tuner was new, and we wanted in. We have only 39 hours of space, and we are constantly managing it with never having enough time to catch up on all our shows. We also paid the one flat rate of $199 for a lifetime of service, rather than be billed $9.99 every month. I don't think you can get the flat rate anymore, but if they do, whatever it is, THAT is the way to go.

Here is my MUST list for purchasing Tivo today:

1. MUST have dual tuner. If they offer a tertiary tuner now, then most definitely get THAT.

2. Get high-def. Everyhting will be high def before you know it.

3. I'd default to Tivo before the DVR that is offered with your cable service.

4. You don't have to have cable/satellite to have a Tivo. It will tape braodcast, too, if that's what you have.

5. Ditch the warranty, the free single tuner for your primary box (you will be sorry), and the low storage. You want at least dual tuner and high storage for your primary box.

6. A second tivo is like a 2nd VCR now -- getting to be "needed" and a good investment. For the second model, I think a single tuner and low storage is great. This might be a great way to use your free offer.

7. If you can get a model with a DVD burner, THAT'S the way to go.

[kdeunc]

I have had tivo since 2001. We currently have 3(two in our house, 1 at the beach). We love it. The 40 hour has generally been enough space for us. We record everything in "basic" and the picture quality is fine. Tivo just introduced the HD box so unless you are going to spend $800 for that one HD doesn't matter. It just records it not in HD. (hope that makes sense). I do like the tivo features but since we have had it so long we do not really know what the difference is between the cable dvrs and tivo. We also have a wireless network and it was pretty easy to set up and it is great to be able to transfer the programs from one room to the other. Good luck. You will never go back once you have tivo/dvr!! :)

[Fairy]

Quick on splitters. They work very well when they work -- but if you have satellite, this can be more complicated to pull off. It DOES work, but it's more consistently successful the first time without wanting to shoot yourself if you have cable . . .

[Aunt to sweet baby boy]

>Tivo's having a promo for a free box after rebate, so I'm
>really tempted to ask for this as a Christmas present.
>http://www.tivo.com/2.0.boxes.step.1.asp?box=series280hrDvr
>
>I just have some questions for you experienced Tivo owners:
>-How long have you owned your box, and would you recommend an
>extended warranty? I'm interested in the prepaid 3 year plan,
>but I'm worried about the box biting the dust before the plan
>ends.

We have had one tivo machine for about a year and a half and another machine for just over a year. Both of our machine are single tuners, but we are looking to upgrade to a duel tuner machine.

>
>-Have you found that 80 hours is enough capacity? If you use
>the picture setting that allows you the max 80 hour capacity,
>how's the picture quality? I'm tempted by the 180 hour model,
>but that might be A LOT of tv.

One of our machines is 140 hours and the other is 40 hours. Depending on how much tv you watch it may or may not be enough. 5 people live in my house so we have alot of different types of shows that get Tivod. We also has a fairly old tv so we record shows on the lowest quality because our tv is not HD or anything. When we get a new TV we will record shows at a higher quality.

>
>-The free box is the single tuner model. Recommend the dual
>tuner? Is this where I would be able to watch one show while
>recording another?

Duel tuner if possible

>
>-How easy is it to connect Tivo to your wireless network?

Depending on the type of network it is pretty easy. We have a fairly complicated network system in my house but it is fairly easy once you know what you are doing, but the first time it was set up i spent some time with the tivo customer service people

>-Anyone have more than one Tivo? I'm thinking of getting one
>for the family room and one for the bedroom. Bedroom's where
>I tend to watch the most tv, but DD and DH watch in the family
>room. And then I guess I'd be paying a service plan for each
>box. Is it worth it?

Yes we have two machines. I think it is worth it if people watch tv in more than one space in the house.

>
>And just to make sure I got this right, DH and I were talking
>Tivo today, and he questioned why we should shell out the
>money for Tivo service when we could just upgrade our cable to
>get Comcast DVR. His argument is we'd get more channels
>whereas with Tivo, we just get the service. But am I right in
>that Tivo is has a more intuitive interface, with the wishlist
>and season pass and whatnot that no other DVR offers?
>

I think that tivo is more intuitive than the DVR but we never really looked into the DVR that our cable has available so i can not really compare the two.

>Thanks!

HTH

Ilana, aka Nana to my sweet nephew Avi

http://lilypie.com/pic/061013/8QJ2.jpg[/img]http://b3.lilypie.com/xZBrm7/.png[/img][/url]

[SnuggleBuggles]

Happy Tivo owner of many years here chiming in...

-How long have you owned your box, and would you recommend an extended warranty? I'm interested in the prepaid 3 year plan, but I'm worried about the box biting the dust before the plan ends.

I wouldn't get the service plan. They are almost always a waste of money, imo.

We have had our unit for 4-5 years now and no worries. I would recommend, like with all electronics of this nature, that you don't let it get overheated. Keep the top clear.

-Have you found that 80 hours is enough capacity? If you use the picture setting that allows you the max 80 hour capacity, how's the picture quality? I'm tempted by the 180 hour model, but that might be A LOT of tv.

Consider what quality you use. Some shows are fine with the lowest quality setting (depends on your TV too) and that means you can almost get 80 full hours. But, if you adjust the quality the amount of time your Tivo can hold will be reduced...as much as half.

The bigger the capacity the better, imo. :) That way you can really watch thing when you have time, you can save movies, you can have a whole folder of every Dora ever on...

-The free box is the single tuner model. Recommend the dual tuner? Is this where I would be able to watch one show while recording another?

I sure like having our dual tuner and we just got it 2 months ago (always had the option, dh just didn;t hook it up). It is so nice to be able to watch/ record 2 things at once.

-How easy is it to connect Tivo to your wireless network?

Haven't tried.

-Anyone have more than one Tivo? I'm thinking of getting one for the family room and one for the bedroom. Bedroom's where I tend to watch the most tv, but DD and DH watch in the family room. And then I guess I'd be paying a service plan for each box. Is it worth it?

n/a

And just to make sure I got this right, DH and I were talking Tivo today, and he questioned why we should shell out the money for Tivo service when we could just upgrade our cable to get Comcast DVR. His argument is we'd get more channels whereas with Tivo, we just get the service. But am I right in that Tivo is has a more intuitive interface, with the wishlist and season pass and whatnot that no other DVR offers?

I have brand loyalty to Tivo. I want the little guy to succeed.

My parents have DirectTVs DVR and the interface is just nowhere near as user friendly as Tivo's. And you are right, the wish list, season pass and all those good things are really nice.

Our actual free standing Tivo box is sitting out of use in my room right now because we bought a DirectTv/ Tivo (real Tivo, they sold this model 2 years ago). I like that it is only $5 extra a month vs $12/ month if we had done Tivo seperately. So, you would probably save money though I would really compare since Comcast rates are pretty high.

Once you go DVR you'll never go back. :) Oh, and Tivo customer service has always been great for me! I bought SIL a unit last year and forgot to send in for the rebate and they let me do it after the deadline (I had preauthorized in time just hadn't sent the stuff in). That was very generous as it was worth $150!


Beth

[hwin708]

Have TiVo. Loooove TiVo.

That being said, I know plenty of people who have Comcast DVR and are perfectly happy. Our cable provider here doesn't have a very good DVR service, but Comcast's seems nice. It does allow for season passes and it has a dual-tuner. From everything I've read, the main advantage TiVo has is their very user friendly and appealing interface, but, in all honesty, the Comcast one was perfectly easy to use, and if I weren't so used to TiVo, I would have been just fine with it. I don't know about Comcast wireless networking, though. You may want to price out the Comcast option, particularly because you rent the box from them along with the subscription fee, which may turn out to be cheaper than buying a TiVo box and paying a subscription fee. I know all the deals here for free TiVos have been single-tuner models. The dual tuners still cost around $100 after rebates. And I would absolutely recommend dual tuner. Scrubs is going to be opposite Grey's Anatomy!

As for networking - you can buy an adapter for TiVo to connect to your wireless network. It's about $60. You just plug it in, and your TiVo should automatically be on your network. You can download TiVo ToGo software for your computer, and download anything on your TiVo to your computer to watch. In order to watch content from one TiVo to another, though, you'll need an adapter for each TiVo.

80 hrs should be just fine. We TiVo a LOT, on the medium quality setting, and never run out of space. But we don't store hours of kids programming for rewatching, like some parents do, so that may make a difference. As for the HD concerns - TiVo just came out with a model that records HD content. The regular models don't record in HD quality, so the space isn't an issue. The HD TiVo is VERY expensive (around $500-$600 I believe), so unless you are an HD addict, this likely isn't something that interests you. Comcast's DVR records HD quality for a small additional monthly fee, I believe, so if you want HD, Comcast will likely be a far cheaper option.

[tny915]

Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts!

I picked up a Tivo yesterday and set it up last night with my wireless network. (So much for waiting for Christmas :) )I stayed up till 2am setting season passes because I got obsessed and I even recall dreaming about it last night. I'm looking at the Tivo Central Online now and love how I can set things up while away from home. I can't wait to get home to try out the Tivo!

[bcky2]

ok the person that works at tivo for customer service says that i would need two sattalite boxes as you need the box to unscramble the signal and one box cant unscramble two signals at once hence no record one watch the other. then again i sometimes feel that they just have no idea what they are talking about. oh well, i only have one night a week i watch tv and it just has to be that the two shows i watch are on at the same time, just my luck x(

[Fairy]

This just does not have a ring of truth to me, Bec. We have ONE satellite dish with DirecTV. The Tivo box is a hybrid Tivo/DirecTV box. Two tuners in the back of the box go up to two slots in the back of the dish. That's about as far as I go with the technobabble, as I'm not saavy, here. But we don't have 2 boxes. Ya know, I'd go get a second opinion from another place. I know it's far for you, but not obscenely; there's a huge independent place called Abt in Glenview or Wheeling or somewhere near there (they recently moved). They're on the web. Might be worth a trip there. If you're getting your info from the Best Buy or Circuit City guys, I'd move on. Tweeter knows what they're doing, but no matter who told you that, I'd shop around.

[bcky2]

roflmbo, it was the boob that takes customer service calls at tivo. good thing they are trained well. we also have DirecTV so there is a way then, hmmmmmmm. i have a friend that may be able to figure it out for me :)

super stupid question, do you have one remote for it then or two? and also if i read right your tivo and directv box is one? i am such a boob when it comes to this stuff.

[Aunt to sweet baby boy]

Teri,

Just wanted to say welcome to the tivo club, it is near impossible to watch tv with commercials now.

Was it easy for you to set up the network?

Ilana, aka Nana to my sweet nephew Avi

http://lilypie.com/pic/061013/8QJ2.jpg[/img]http://b3.lilypie.com/xZBrm7/.png[/img][/url]

[tny915]

Setting up the network was really easy. I made it a lot harder on myself because I couldn't remember our WEP password, then went on a mission to find that tiny slip of paper I had it written on, in the process cleaned up the office, never found the password, then ended up just guessing the password correctly.

The Tivo wireless adaptor made things very simple - plug and click setup and all the work was practically done.

[mamicka]

Becky,
I think that you'd need to have a dual receiver on your dish to make it work. That may be what Fairy has. So just one dish but the round thingy that points at the dish would have 2 cables, if I remeber right. Then you'd be able to have the dual Tivo tuner & it would work. But I haven't had DirecTV in years, so I may be totally off.

Allison