Well i think it is time that i wakeup to the 21 century and i need to get a DVR. I work a lot (2 jobs) + school = no time. Off the top of my head Simpsons, South Park, Myth Busters, Power Block, OCC, American Hot Rod, Family Guy, The Daily Show, The Cobert report are some of the show i miss a lot Plus any movies playing.

Many people love the Tivo what what should i know about it? I really would not like a pay a monthly fee. Is there another that is simailr w/o a fee?

I would like to record some of these and know if it is possable to transfer this data to a dvd? Such as if a good movie is on?


http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catOid/-12883/N/20012866+20012883/rpem/ccd/category.do

thanks Charlie

are you computer savy?

If so...build your own on a Linux based system. Look up MythTV. Its a program pack that allows you to run a SUPER powerful "Tivo" with no fees, and virtually infinate recording space. Not only that...but you can stream your recordings from any location. (I stream my recordings from my house in Charlotte, Im in Raleigh for school, and watch them here on my laptop. HDTV is also a possibility. Let me know if you have any questions, i can help you out.

umm not too savy, i have have a friend that has digital tv on his home computer. But i really do not need a super anything. Heck a VCR will work, but I do not want to go that route, just a basic DVR set-up. But thanks, it would be cool to grab someones wireless network and watch tv thou.

I've had Dish Networks DVR feature for some time now, and LOVE IT!! I've got my shows set to record and watch at a later date. You are able to burn anything that's on your DVR onto DVD no problem.

To me Dish Network is the better deal. Both charge around 10-15 a month for the service, however Dish Network gives you the box for free. Tive is a GREAT idea, however it's so great that in my mind it's going to be gone in a few years being set out with all the free drives being given out by other companies.

I hope not. I'll miss my Tivo. I've got Direct, and like the integrated Tivo. Wish they'd open up some of the features, but the service is pretty cheap. I think they raised it to $6.95 per month, but that covers both of my Tivo's (my wife's and mine). You could buy a standalone Tivo, and just record stuff, but to get any of the Tivo features (season pass, etc) you gotta pay the fee to get the guides. I'm sure there are some hacks out there to get around this, but I don't have to time to deal with that.

6.95= $84yr is not bad i was thinking $20 month =$240

how hard is (tivo) it to hood up?
and to use?

If you're not super savy with pcs, and you really need to have some decent linux knowledge to get running and maintain a nice myth system, then go for a windows media setup. Much easier to get running for the most part. If you can do myth and you're a big geek, it's much nicer and probably the most customizable option out there.

6.95= $84yr is not bad i was thinking $20 month =$240

how hard is (tivo) it to hood up?
and to use?

I think it is still $12.95 for a standalone Tivo, and is $5.99 when it is integrated into the DirecTV receiver, up from $4.99 that it has been for the past several years. This one fee (on top of DirecTV) allows you to have any receiver in your house be a Tivo, for no additional charge (they still charge mirroring for all additional receivers). It is simple to use. I can't compare to any of the other DVR services, as I've never used them.

Many people love the Tivo what what should i know about it? I really would not like a pay a monthly fee. Is there another that is simailr w/o a fee?

I would like to record some of these and know if it is possable to transfer this data to a dvd? Such as if a good movie is on?




I have two Tivos. The first we bought with a 'lifetime' membership (one time fee in lieu of monthly) but I don't think they offer that any more. Looks like you alread have gotten some good advice on Myth/Linux and Windows options to which I would only add that a project like this can consume massive amounts of time!

Regarding Tivo to DVD - You certainly can run the analog output (the RF or S-video signal that goes to the TV) to a DVD recorder. There is a noticeable degradation in quality but that doesn't bother some people. To get the digital data out of the Tivo and onto DVD is another story. I think that Tivo now lets you get the shows onto your PC but, IIRC, there is a flag that is used to enforce basic digital rights management that will impede easy recording onto DVD. http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/ is a good place to learn the specifics but it takes a ton of reading to get up to speed.

Someone mentioned 'hacks' for the Tivo. I think you will find that the newer units make this exremely difficult but the older units are hackable. Again, you can read until your eyes bleed trying to learn it all but the first step is always removing the hard drive, putting it into a PC, booting from a Linux CD, doing Linux commands to hack it, then reinstalling the drive. Or you can buy a drive that's already hacked and just install it. But you will find that most of the Tivo community is opposed to any hack that tries to get around the monthly fee. That is where Tivo gets the revenue that keeps them going.

I wish I had a third Tivo that I could loan you. This is one of those products that you have to use for a while before you 'get it'. At least I did. I bought one for my wife thinking it was stupid. Then I had to have one. Now I can't bear to watch live TV. It's a whole bunch of things that sound ridiculous until you put them all together and learn to use it. Never missing something good, a remote that lets you navigate without taking your eyes off of the screen, easily backing up to hear what you missed the first time, skipping commercials as easily as you'd step over a dog turd, having Tivo find shows about cars and trucks that you never even knew about, not wondering what tape/DVD-RW has that show you saved, having every new episode of American Hot Rod recorded after setting it up once (season pass), and other features add up to a very useful tool to maximize the enjoyment from watching TV in the little spare time that most of us have.

Tom

wow no more commercials.....

I thinks' I need to invesigate some more, at the store.

One more thing to hook it up you plug in a 110v, and plug it inline of cable, or cable in red/yellow/white out?

Is there more to it? Phone line? internet acc?

If you are even a little bit open to considering a PC based PVR, have a look at Beyond TV on the www.snapstream.com website. I have one of these and love it.

From what I have read about tivo, iBeyond TV sounds similar and probably does more. What I really like about it is that I can have it record only "New" episodes.

The commercials get marked once the shows get recorded so you just have to push a button on the remote to skip over them.

I can schedule a recording form any PC on the Internet just by using a web browser.

The program works great with more than one tuner so if two shows are on at the same time both will get recorded - even while you are watching some other recorded show!

I tried Myth a while ago and was very impressed with it too. Beyond TV is very similar, but runs on Windows.

My kids play Halo and Battlefield 2 on the computer (they like the big TV screen) and recordings still happen because the video capture uses very little CPU time.

Good luck with your decision!

I've got two series-2 TiVos. I don't know how I ever suffered with VCRs for so doggone long!! I'll never go back!!

As for getting movies off the TiVo, you can network the TiVo through your home network (makes schedule updates a snap) and use their TiVo to Go software to get it onto the PC. Once it's there, yes, the TiVo files use a DRM scheme that won't let you convert them directly. However, there is a freeware utility floating around the 'net called Direct Show Dump that converts the TiVo file into an unprotected MPEG2 file. Then, you can convert that MPEG2 file into just about whatever you want using a program like Xilisoft Converter or any other program that will convert MPEG2s to DVD files. Once you've got it in the format you want, you can edit and/or burn the file to disc at will.

Also, with the TiVo to Go software, once it's networked, you can pull as many files off the DVR as you can store on your hard drive, and can load them back to the TiVo box for viewing at-will. It lets you create an on-demand movie archive stored on your PC if you want it.

I'll never go back.... my fiancee doesn't have them and watching TV at her house (via an over-the-air antenna no less) is downright painful!!

-Joe

edit: Also, I've got two boxes. I can record two shows at the same time. TiVo als just sent an e-mail out yesterday announcing their new dual-tuner TiVo boxes. For those that need a decoder for premium channels, you'll only be able to record one premium channel at the same time as you're watching a basic cable channel. Those with satellites won't get the same ability.

Also, I forgot to mention the reason I have two of them. I have a TV in the bedroom and one in the living room. I can record a show on one TiVo, then go in the other room and transfer the recording to it. That way if I'm watching a recorded show in the living room, I can pause it, hit the tivo button, gcrawl into bed and transfer the recording into the bedroom and continue right where I left off, or transfer the whole recording.It takes about 20-25 minutes to transfer an hour-long show, but you can begin watching as soon as the transfer starts. Works like a charm!!

-Joe

That's one nice thing about the standalones. The integrated units don't support the networking, and PC transfer.

wow no more commercials.....

I thinks' I need to invesigate some more, at the store.

One more thing to hook it up you plug in a 110v, and plug it inline of cable, or cable in red/yellow/white out?

Is there more to it? Phone line? internet acc?

I have a series 1 and a series 2. What they are selling now is called series 2.5 (hardware changed to make hacking harder) so my informaiton may be out of date. I also know nothing about HD Tivo but we watch very little high definition content here......

Input - 110V and RF (coax cable from whatever, we are cable TV subscribers), Composite (yellow/red/white), or S-video (round plug resembling a PS2 keyboard or mouse connection)

Output - either RF to channel 3/4 on the TV, composite, or S-video.

misc. - either a phone line or an internet connection for guide updates, operating system updates (it's actually a Linux computer) and sending back enough data about your viewing habits to let Tivo 'suggest' things you might watch. Kind of creepy but not something I lose sleep over. I am not sure if the basic unit comes with a network interface for internet connection or if you have to buy a USB NIC from Tivo. I had to hack my series 1 to install the NIC and my wife's still uses the phone line. Others here are probably more knowlegeable about the current boxes.

You mentioned cable. All of my familiarity is with cable. If you are using satellite or cable that requires a box then there is a little more to it. Tivo needs to be able to control the changing of channels to do its automatic recording. I have never needed it but there is an IR blaster that comes with the unit and will send the same infra red signal to your box/satellite that the manufacturers remote would, thus allowing Tivo to change the channel. I think that if you have DirectTV even this doesn't work and you need a special DTV Tivo. I'm sure others are more well versed on this too. If you are a cable user and can change channels using your TV then ignore all of this.

Tom