Anyone Have Tivo?

[Qstick]

I am thinking about getting TIVO to go along with my Direct TV. It seems like all of the shows that I want to watch are either late at night or right in the middle of something else I am watching.

Does anyone have any experience with TIVO? How about the Direct TV receiver with TIVO built into the box. I have been seeing these units fairly cheap at a lot of the local electronics stores. I understand that the picture quality of TIVO will depend on the settings of the machine - does the picture quality of "live" television stay the same?

Thaks for any opinions,

Zach

[lynn jones]

check out the search function.

here's only one topic found:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...c=10856&hl=tivo

[sturmruger]

I have a Tivo type unit from my cable company. IT is by far the best money I have ever spent bar none. If you enjoy watching television then you owe it to yourself to purchase a Tivo unit. I actually watch less television now that I can fast forward all the comercials. If you have DirectTV then I would get one of the recievers with the Tivo unit built in.

[standles]

Before you go buy a Tivo unit check out some of the Audio Visual forums. There is a huge area for homerolled TIVO units out there. If you can put a computer together you can do this as well. Do a google search on "hoem theater computers or HTPC. These have the benefit of more felxibility, larger storage areas, std formats for the saved video and ease of archiving, etc. etc. etc...

If homrolled is not your type then PANASONIC has thier 2nd generation DVR out you can look that up as well.

Finally TIVO sells the 10.00 / month menuing option. There are free version available out there that do as much and more so don't fall into that trap.

If after you look at all that and TIVO seems the easiest to you then by all means buy what suits your needs but at least it will be an informed decision. TIVO/REPLAY may have started it but they are old hat and have been surpassed in my book.

Steven

[cking]

I did the Dish TIVO receiver box. Bought the model that doesn't charge you anything per month to have. $265.00 holds 80 hours. I love it.

[Qstick]

Thanks for all the information.

While researching, it appears I will have to add a multiswitch to the setup to really utilize all the features of TIVO. This is probably out of my electronic (severly limited) league. I might be seeking professional help soon.

Thanks again,

Zach

[old shooter]

I think Tivo is great, but beware....If you plan on upgrading your system to HiDef, your tivo will probably not work. I couldn't get the Tivo unit to change the channels on my direct tv Hidef box. After calling, they told me that they haven't been having great success with hidef and tivo. But given the choice, I would take Hidef over Tivo, now for the wait for the Hidef dvr's to come down to a reasonable price..

Mike

[GRD]

I have DirecTV with the TiVo box. It rocks so hard I can hardly stand it. I've got 2 lines from the satellite dish coming into it so I can record two shows at once or be watching one thing and recording another.

You have to get TiVo - it's amazing. I can't stand watching regular TV now, it's like torture. I think TiVo is best for people who don't have time to watch alot of TV, or just don't want to. It makes sure that when you've got a minute to sit down and watch something, you're going to have something to watch that you actually want to see.

The way I see it, you're paying X pennies for every show that comes over that satellite, TiVo lets you see them.

That said: the new TiVo upgrades for the standalone TiVo's are not coming to DirecTV. There are free software upgrades being rolled out that enable the network adapter so you can dump movies to your PC, etc. that the DirecTV TiVo's aren't going to get.

I haven't looked into the PC homerolled thing, the plug-it-in-and-go box is great, I did add another drive to it to up the recording time. I really really like being able to record a show whole I'm watching something else - whatever I do next, I won't give that up.

- Gabe

[cking]

THe Hi-def and Tivo doesn't play well together unless you buy the box from the Sat company. The interfaces for Hi-def keeps changing. I wanted Hi-def out of Sat box, Hi-def out of my DVD, Patched through my surround sound receiver to pump my projector and my Klipsch 5 speaker surround sound. No luck without spending a fortune and replacing everything but the speakers and projector.

Tivo is great, use the search feature and timers record what you want. Then when you get home, watch it an skip all the commericals. Even with a one channel receiver you can record and watch a prerecorded one at the same time. Now your typical 1 hour show only takes about 42 minutes to watch. Plus the slow motion is wonderful, frame by frame is perfectly sharp. I may never watch another TV Ad.

[ParaJoe]

I got the DirecTV box with TIVO in it and can't watch regular tv now. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread. DirecTV called me and told me that since I was with them for a year they wanted to send me a free TIVO. I jumped on it and will never go back.

[ParaJoe]

I got the DirecTV box with TIVO in it and can't watch regular tv now. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread. DirecTV called me and told me that since I was with them for a year they wanted to send me a free TIVO. I jumped on it and will never go back.