TIVO - Anyone have it??

[Niven]

Anyone have TIVO at home? How much was it? Would you do it again? Any drawbacks? Anywhere to get it cheaper? Best Buy has it for $400 - $100 (rebate)=$300. What does everyone think?
Thank you,
Gareth

[LorenzoDM]

You probably already know this, but....after your initial purchase, you still have to pay for monthly service (about $10) or buy a lifetime service for about $250.

I thought about buying one a year ago. I'm just waiting for a larger storage capacity at a lower price. Thirty hours at it's worst resolution might get used up in a hurry.

It doesn't seem like I hear much about Tivo anymore?! I hope they make it.

I'm no help. Just my .02

Check www.audioreview.com for reviews of individual tivo players.

[mgk65]

I just bought a DirectTivo unit, a Phillips 6000, from Circuit City. It is only for use with a DirectTV subscription.

You can manually expand the hard drives that come in the Tivo. I have heard of people putting in 2 100 GB hard drives and getting something like 240 hours of recording capacity.

Check this site for all the information you ever wanted to know about doing things to your Tivo:
http://www.avsforum.com/ubbcgitivo/Ultimate.cgi


mgk

[puff the magic fish]

I have the Sony Direct Tv with TIVO, and I love it. When it was first released it did not have the dual tuner software upgrade for it, so I had to wait about four months for that feature, but that was the only real issue that I had with it.

I havent found the 30hours of recording space to be a problem, if there is anything we want to keep we will dump it to vcr right away. Otherwise I figure that I am watching too much television if I get the thing backed up with 30 hours of unwatched programs. :D

BTW, there is a difference between Ultimate TV and TIVO. Ultimate TV is a knock off made by Microsoft that does not use the TIVO service. I did not know that when I was looking for a TIVO unit and almost bought the Ultimate TV by mistake.

I do not watch a lot of televison, maybe ten hours a week if you include the movie channels, but now those ten hours are spent not when the programs are aired, but whenever I get around to watching them.

Buy the TIVO, you will not be dissapointed.

puff

[Niven]

Thanks for the replies. The guy at Best Buy said the Ultimate TV might not be around in a few years (guess it's not catching on like TIVO)
What about price? Can it be found cheaper? I found a place that was selling it for $399, but with a $200 rebate! but also found different place that said the $200 rebate was only if you buy two units:confused:

Anyone not happy with it???

Thanks again,
Gareth

[hartman]

here are prices from www.cnet.com plus info

http://www.cnet.com/electronics/search/1,10126,0-3622-1301-0,00.html?tag=srch&qt=tivo&cn=&ca=3622

Hartman

[hartman]

Here is a place that tell you how to hack you TiVo to give it more disk space.

<b>WARNING</b> this will void your warrantee<b>WARNING</b>

http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/faq.html

Hartman

[Capt.Dave]

Gareth,

I spend a fair amount of time on the AVS Tivo forum, the overwhelming majority of people who get one love it.

Tivo basically come in two types, the Stand Alone (SA) and in Combination with a DirecTV tuner (Combo). If you have DirecTV, exclusively or are willing to get it, then the Combo units are they way to go because they are cheaper(less than $100), can record two channels at the same time, and have better picture quality, also, additional units will carry the Tivo service at no additional cost. If you must have cable or OTA then get SA model.

This is the best home entertainment product you will ever buy! Eight of my friends and relatives have gotten one since they saw mine, and all agree!

As far as prices go to www.Tivo.com they just got some more units in stock, which is good since most stores are sold out of the SA models. Sony, Phillips, & Hughs all sell Tivo's basically they are all made in the same place with the same parts, so just set the best deal you can find.


Dave

[Niven]

Thanks guys!

So I can buy the Sony SAT-T60 for $199 (since I already have DTV) or if I don't have DTV I'd have to buy the SVR-2000 for $299? They do the same thing, correct? Except the SVR-2000 will work with everything , not just DTV?
Thanks again,
Gareth

I can't wait to watch NFL Ticket :):D:):D:)

[Capt.Dave]

Not quite, they both run the same software, but the Sony SAT-T60 will allow you to do the following:

Record two channels at the same time, the SVR-2000 will not
It has better audio and video.
Ability to add add'l Tivos w/o add'l Tivo charge

Even if they cost the same, if you can live without cable or Over the Air (OTA) transmissions, then get unit with the DTV built in.

The SVR-2000 (Stand Alone) take a composite video/audio source or an RF input and uses its mpeg encoder to record the source to the hard drive. You can select the video compression quality low, med, hi, & best, the total recording time for those options are 30, 19, 12, & 9 hours for best. The Combo unit records the mpeg encoded data directly from DTV to the HD, and therefore is always at a better quality the even the Best mode on the SA, with around 30 hours compared to 9 hours.

That being said, I own the SVR-2000, it is a great unit, however, the combo is better, if you can use DTV exclusively.

Dave

[Capt.Dave]

Also, here is a good site to explain TiVo (http://www.keegan.org/jeff/tivo/whatistivo.html)

Dave

[mgk65]

Don't forget the Phillips 6000 that is 99 at Circuit City with a DTV subscription. I believe that it is the same as the Sony T60. Please correct me if i'm wrong, Capt. Dave! :)


mgk

[Capt.Dave]

I don't think that CC carries the Sony T60, a lot of stores seem to carry one or the other brand, but usually not both. For the DTV Combo units, the Phillips and Hughes are virtually identical, except for cosmetics, the same for the Sony, but it has a different style of remote, and the ability to automate a transfer to a Sony VCR.

The bottom line is get the cheapest one you can find.

Dave