Tivo - experiences?

[PBMAX]

If you look back you will see the copying recorded data from a Tivo /PVR was orginaly brought around because some folks were hacking them so they would output digital info to a PC and then were recording it to DVD. Thus getting DVD'd with High quality video for the pay per view price. Not copying them to the lower quality VHS.

Me, I could carel less... I have little enough time on the weekends to bother with such. Beside by the time I waste 5 hr transferiing and burning. I just as soon wait and buy it for $14.99 at waly world...

I simply want a decent UNI remote for around $20 that will get me back to one remote for general use....



Besides hopefully cd's and dvd's will be replaced by static ram chips like the ones used in USB Flash / pen drive in the near future... Can u say no more scratchs or finger prints.... Shoot I'd be happy if they were only write once like cdr/dvdr...

I will be looking to buy an additional Tivo soon so I will look for one with a better remote and 2 out puts to go with the 2 tuners and work with DTV...

O' does any one know how to get rid of the Thumbs up feature? It pops up (SPAMS ME) on occasion. It did it yesterday when a preview commercial for S.W.A.T.T came on and would not take a thumbs down /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif and I had to hit info to get rid of it...
I have turned off the suggestion feature already..

 

[PBMAX]

if any are interested I have found 1 UNi remote so far that cliams DVR function at BBUY's website. BBUY UNI remote for TIVO

For $30 I'll try to find it this weekend....locally

 

[RanchMan]

There are PC based alternatives to Tivo/ReplayTV.

Haven't tried either of these myself, but the seem to offer the same service but via your PC.

Yes, it is more of a DIY version; Yes, there is the issue of hooking your PC up to your TV (if you want to watch the programs on it instead of your cpu), but there are some pretty neat features (i.e. whole home "jukebox" via networked pc's (sage), many tuners (sage), no monthly fees (both), etc.)

Just something to think about....

Sage TV

Snapstream

 

[Richard]

Not sure if this is the kind of stuff you mean, but I have a "ATI All in Wonder" card in my pc. It allows me to plug my satellite receiver into it and can use my hard drive as a recorder and edit video

Now I can come to TBN, play cards, do work all the time, having news/other in small window, or enlarge it to a full screen.

Wife wanted to buy a plasma type tv for this room (a second bedroom) and now with her seeing the tv over my monitor, she says to scrap the tv idea, she likes this.

Ka-chinggggggggggggggggg

/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[PBMAX]

considered the All in wonder I have an ATI 7200 game card that does TV out and have been known to play My combat Air sim on my 35" sony...

But Tivos 2 tuner 35 hr pvr is only 125 installed. Building a nother pc would go well beyong that. I would have to have the new pc to be able to game or surf the net. While the other pvr pc did its thing.

 

[RanchMan]

Not really quite the same - but some similar features.

Although the AIW provides recording capabilities, the Sage/Snapstream offer the programming guide interface/service similar to Tivo's - in that you can go to the guide and look 2 weeks out for your local service (i.e. cable/satellite) to see what is out there and then set it to record based on that instead of programming times like you would with a normal VCR or the AIW card (again, from my understanding of their propaganda /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif).

A couple of other things I thought was neat was that you could put multiple tuners (someone put 5 in their PC /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif) so you could record on 5 different channels concurrently. (i.e. # tuners = # channels concurrently record).

Since it was also a PC, you could put in large hard drives for storage (say a couple of 160's for a total of 320GB of storage - lots bigger than Tivo's). Not sure, but you *might* could setup it to work with network drives (connected via USB ports or firewire) so you could go way beyond the 320GB. Why? You could collect say every M*A*S*H or every Star Trek or every *whatever TV show you like* ever recorded and rebroadcast to establish a personal collection watchable at any time.

Sage also said that you could set it up as a server and then any PC running some thin-client software could watch the recorded programs off the server. The benefit here is that you could then say have everything recorded on the PC in Room X but watch it on any other TV in the house (*perhaps* even multiple programs across different TV's concurrently - assuming they were also hooked up to PC's --i.e. Kids could watch episodes of Cap'n Kangaroo in Room A while you watch something from the History Channel in Room B.)

Again, I *don't* have one of these things (yet /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) but it just seemed like they offered some neat capabilities and an alternative to the monthly programming charge Tivo/Replay offer.

 

[RanchMan]

<font color="blue"> But Tivos 2 tuner 35 hr pvr is only 125 installed. Building a nother pc would go well beyong that. I would have to have the new pc to be able to game or surf the net. While the other pvr pc did its thing. </font>

Not so.


1) Per their web site: <font color="green">Use your PC without realizing it’s even recording television while gaming, playing music, surfing the internet or more! </font>

2) They also claim that since so few cycles are burned by the CPU, you can "get away" with a much less powerful PC - hence, if you did decide to have another PC dedicated as a PVR, you could get away with a lot less powerful (i.e. cheaper) machine to do it. A lot of older "surplus" machines would work for a dedicated PVR if you chose to use one with their software & tested hardware.

3) The cost proposition you offer is a bit misleading. Even if you did get a 35 hour Tivo for $125, you left out the subscriber cost of $12.95/mo -or- $299 lifetime cost. So that $125 tivo really costs you ~$280 the first year (monthly) or $424 the first year (lifetime). Neither Sage nor Snaptream have a subscription charge (i.e. FREE service after the purchase.) The cost of Sage, for example would be ~ $165 (lowest package) assuming you already had a PC and a video card that had NTSC/S-Video out capabilities)

4) Features. There's a lot more neat things it can do, but again, that's all on their propaganda page, so I won't repeat it here. Suffice to say, not everyone would find them useful (or even desired) - but then again, a standard Hi-Fi VCR (available for $50 new today) is "good enough" for a lot of folks too. All depends on what you want.

Is Sage/Snapstream for everyone? Nope. Lots of +'s but some -'s as well. But it is a vialble alternative if someone is considering Tivo/ReplayTV

 

[PBMAX]

Ranchman, I did mean it could not be done. But we must not play the same games or you have a better pc than I do. sytem is over 2yr old(P4 1.4,256 ram and ATI 7200 64meg)
It can be taxed at times already with some of the games I play (BF1942 for instance is a HOG at times). Then the fact that the All In wonders card would need to be purchased or the TV card (ATI TV with stereo is $79 or $99 depending on if you get the RF remote).

Plus the Tivo is very easy to use.Which is good for the wife she has no patience for complicated electronics. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I looked into building a PC PVR and it has tons more potential . Especially with the new ATA serial drives (up to 1 TERRA BYTE of storage with some MB's) Put this with Giga byte net cards and you could really do some cool stuff.

The other nice-ity is the dual tuner built in. With a Pc I would have to pay for 2 Directv receivers cards. Instead of one in the Tivo.

Don't get me wrong I would to simply build one for the fun of it,but If im gonna do it I'm gonna go with the best I can afford. Maybe not top of the line but close...

 

[RanchMan]

Yea, some games are hogs, that's for sure.

Some games may slow down due to Sage/Snapstream running in the background, but to what degree would depend on the game and the actual cycles/resources burned by Sage. Again, since I don't own Sage/Snapstream ( /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif ), I can only repeat their claims here. (not a position I like to be in /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) That being said, based on their minimum hardware requirments (PIII 600Mhz/128MB RAM), I suspect your PC could probably handle it and your games *if* you bumped up your memory a bit - but that's just my guess.

Like you pointed out with regards to your wife, Tivo is a Plug-(in)-&-Play system - no "pc" stuff to mess with for the user. People certainly seem to love their Tivo's (from those I've talked with). It is certinly an option that would fit lots of folks best, but due to the monthly cost (or lack thereof) and other features, I think the Sage/Snapstream would probably be a better option for me.

Can't promise that Sage's propaganda matches their performance, but it sure seems interesting. Not sure if Fishman (or anyone else on TBN) would be interested in going this route instead of Tivo, but I think I will (someday /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif)

 

[fishman]

Ranchman, (and PBurns),

Thanks for the info on the PC-based versions of tivo/replay. They look pretty neat, but the cost of just an additional drive to hold the data would be more than a Tivo unit. I know, I know, no monthly fee. But, I have a hard enough time capturing home video and burning it to dvd. Some things I want to be simple, even if it does cost a little more.

One question I haven't seen answered. The $299 lifetime tivo cost. Is that for every receiver in your house forever? Or does it end when the receiver you purchased the forever deal on dies? How many folks have gone this route and do they think it's a good deal?