|
Weblog | Photos |
| About | Resumé | |
| TiVo | Library |
|
Note: If you find this page helpful, and you wind up purchasing a TiVo, please consider listing me as your referral when activating service. Simply enter my e-mail address (seth.bokelman@uni.edu) in the form when you activate service online. Thanks! Seth's TiVo Information PageAfter being told (repeatedly) that I should work for TiVo, since I'm always telling people how good their devices are, I decided to make this web page. I'm hoping it'll answer a lot of questions that people have about TiVo, without the usual marketing hype that you'd find on a corporate web page. So, in no particular order, here are a lot of the questions that people ask me about TiVo, answered once and for all: What is a TiVo? TiVo is a company, here is their web site . TiVo is the manufacturer of the TiVo software which is used to power their Digital Video Recorders (DVR) which is sometimes also referred to as a PVR or Personal Video Recorder. TiVo's software is also used in boxes sold by Humax, as well as older models sold by Sony, Phillips, AT&T, Hughes, and Thomson (in the UK). The DVR is a box which records television shows for you, but it's much smarter than your VCR ever hoped to be. A TiVo knows the network schedules, it knows which shows are new, which shows are re-runs, what time all the shows are on, what actors are in them, and, best of all, it knows what you like. There is no easy ten word answer for what a TiVo is, it's more than a super VCR. I like to think of it as having my own television network, or perhaps a personal assistant who knows what TV I want to watch, and will take care of recording it all for me, so I'm free to live my life. It's the ultimate "time-shifting" device, allowing you to watch your favorite shows on your schedule, not the one that TV networks determine. My wife and I like TiVo because it frees us from the tyranny of our television sets and the network schedules. For instance, we really like The Sopranos, but we're not always free on Sunday nights to watch it. So, we have a TiVo record it, and we watch it when it is convenient for us, even if that's at 7:00 p.m. on a Thursday. Having a TiVo means never having to compromise what you're going to do because of what's on TV that night. You can be a dedicated West Wing fanatic and still go to your church group on Wednesday nights at 8. TiVo has you covered. TiVo also allows you to pause and rewind live TV, which, while not sounding like a big deal, is something that you become accustomed to, and will eventually find yourself wishing you had it as a feature on every other TV you use, and even your radio. Phone rings in the middle of ER? Just hit pause and answer it, there's no reason to miss your show, or miss a call. Once again, TiVo is about not compromising your personal life for the sake of TV. You can have your cake and eat it too. I can record shows with my VCR, so what's the big deal?
1. Push the TiVo button on the
remote. And that's even easier when you're looking at the screens, you could easily accomplish that in 30 seconds with very little trouble. And, there are more options in there, for instance, you can tell your TiVo to only record new episodes, so you don't bother with re-runs. It's much easier than programming your VCR, you don't even have to set the clock on your TiVo, that's done automatically! Keep in mind, there's no fumbling with tapes, no forgetting to turn off the VCR so that it won't enter timer mode, and no missed recordings because the power went out briefly and the clock on the VCR was reset. You can also do Wishlist recordings, by title, subject, director, actor, etc. For instance, I have my TiVo set to record every football game with the words Iowa State in the description, automatically, regardless of what time, what channel or what day it is shown. You can set it to record every movie that John Wayne was ever in, or every documentary about Ancient Egypt (one of my wife's wishlists). You can also start watching a show on TiVo as it's still being recorded, or watch one show while TiVo records another. For instance, I often start watching The West Wing at 8:20 p.m. This allows me to fast forward through all the commercials, and be caught up to "live" TV by the end of the show. Try doing that with your VCR! What does a TiVo look like? This is what the typical Series 2 TiVo looks like:
Note that it does have S-Video, RF/Coax, and Composite/RCA Cable inputs and outputs. It does not have Component out, however. The TiVo has a modem jack there on the back, as well as jacks to allow the included IR blaster and serial cables to control your digital cable box or satellite receiver. In short, the TiVo will work with pretty much any configuration of home entertainment center. Another great thing is that the TiVo comes with every cable you'd need to get it working, including 50 feet of phone cable and a splitter for your phone jack. I want a TiVo, but my wife won't let me get one! I think that TiVo should make a pamphlet for this situation, as I've heard it at least 100 times from guys who want to get a TiVo. My wife thought that our first TiVo was another one of my stupid gadget purchases, until she too was seduced by the magic powers of the TiVo. Our second TiVo was purchased for her, so she could record her shows, even if they conflicted with something I wanted to record on the first unit. She uses TiVo to record Trading Spaces, While You Were Out, and several other home improvement type shows from The Learning Channel. She invites any unconvinced wives to e-mail her , and she'll gladly give her testimonial about TiVo. How much does a TiVo cost? Where can I buy one? The Price. That's what it all comes down to, isn't it? But first, let's have a brief review of the different models of TiVo that have been released to date: Series1 Standalone: My first two TiVos were Series 1 standalone models, the first one was a 14 hour model, and the second was a 20 hour model. Standalone models will work to record from an antenna, from cable, and from a Dish or DirecTV system. You can even set it up to record from both a cable/antenna (for your local channels) and a Dish/DirectTV for the rest of your channels. The system is smart. The other class of machine, the DirectTV TiVos, also sometimes referred to as DirecTiVos or DirecTV w/ TiVo service receivers, only work on DirecTV. I really want to get one of these, but I'm waiting until our local channels are offered via DirecTV, as these units can only record DirectV, nothing from cable or an antenna. So, for most people, the Standalone unit makes the most sense, unless you live in an area where your local channels are available by DirectTV. Now that (hopefully) you know what type of unit you want, we can talk about the money required to get it. By far, the absolute cheapest way to get yourself a TiVo is to pick up a Series 1 unit on eBay, or to find one of the online retailers who is still selling refurbished TiVos. A search on Google for "refurbished TiVo" should give you a list of places to start. This is a great option if you want to "hack" your TiVo, as the Series 1 units are the most hackable, or if you want to get a TiVo at the absolute lowest cost. You should be able to find something in the $150 range if you're lucky. By hacking, I mean running third party software on your machine, which is a complicated process, and really only for the technically gifted. If you're after the Series 2 TiVo units, and that's what I think you should get if you're after the best TiVo experience, then Amazon is probably the easiest place to order it from. I've bought both a Series 1 and a Series 2 TiVo unit from Amazon, and have had no problems with them. Prices fluctuate on these things all the time, so I've put links in the left column of this site that I try to keep up to date. These are just links to Amazon, who sells a LOT of TiVos at a cheaper price than I've found anywhere else, and please click on the units to see the absolute latest prices, as they seem to fluctuate a few cents almost weekly anymore. So what's the gotcha? The hidden cost? The thing that turns off many people about TiVo is the additional cost of TiVo service. In addition to needing the box above, you need to subscribe to the TiVo service data, so that your TiVo knows what is on TV. There are two ways to subscribe, and here are the prices: Monthly: $12.95/month "Lifetime" service: $299 Lifetime is the best choice if you're buying a new TiVo. If you've bought an older model, I'd probably stick with monthly, but I upgrade frequently, and it's all dependent on how long you're going to keep it. Doing the math, if you buy lifetime service, versus monthly service, you'll break even in 23.0888 months, at least that's what my calculator says. So, after your 24th month of service with that TiVo, you've saved money by buying the lifetime service. Note that Lifetime is the Lifetime of the TiVo, not of you! That's a bit of a misleading title for the option, but that's what it's called. This is really a pretty reasonable cost, as the TiVo unit has a built-in modem that has to dial in and retrieve the guide data via the Internet. So, in essence, you're paying for internet access for your TiVo, as well as the guide data, and keeping the folks at TiVo employed long enough to come out with more features for the boxes. The best way, in my opinion, to think of the cost is all as one. After rebate, right now, you can get your Series 2 80 hour TiVo for $650 including lifetime service, and never have to pay another fee for it again. But I have DirecTV with local channels, so I want the DirecTV with TiVo service. How much does that cost? These are really the best units to get, in my opinion. They can record two shows at once, as they have two tuners. The picture is superb, since they record the digital streams directly from DirecTV with no loss of quality. And, they're cheaper for the service! The TiVo service for these units only costs $5 a month now, and if you have the Total Choice Premier package from DirecTV, it's free! What's the difference between Series 1 and Series 2 TiVos? Series 2 TiVos have faster CPUs and external USB ports. Right now, there's not much difference, but one day TiVo may release something that makes use of those external USB ports on the Series 2 models. Having owned both units, I'll say that the Series 2 unit is also a little faster in going through the menus, and makes adding Ethernet to your TiVo cheaper and easier, though it's still officially unsupported for now. Can I record from my TiVo to a VCR? Yes, there's even a "Save to VCR" option in the menus of TiVo to make it easier for you. What are Suggestions? You can rate each program with 1-3 thumbs up or down, depending on how much you like it. TiVo compares what you like with what other TiVo users like in order to find new shows you may also like. For instance, if you give three thumbs up to Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, TiVo may notice that most Buffy aficionados also like Angel, and will record that for you as a suggestion. Suggestions are only recorded in your free disk space, and only when the TiVo is otherwise idle. You'll never miss or lose anything that you told TiVo to record because of suggestions. There is no way they can hurt your enjoyment of TiVo in any way, and it's a great way to discover new shows that you may also like. How does my TiVo get guide information? As mentioned above, your TiVo gets guide information via a built-in modem. It dials in to a local UUNET dial-up number in your area and downloads it. If there's not a UUNET dial-up number in your local calling area, you're either going to have to call long distance, live without the miracle of TiVo, or use your home network, as detailed below. As of version 4.0 of the TiVo software, you can use a USB ethernet or 802.11b Wi-Fi network adapter so that you can use your broadband network to retrieve the guide data. This is handy for those of us who don't have landlines, or a phone jack near our televsion. I'm using wireless on both of my TiVos now, and it works great. What ethernet and Wi-Fi adapters work with TiVo? Offically, TiVo only supports these ethernet adapters, though many other (and possibly cheaper) brands work just as well. Personally, I'm using one of the Linksys wireless adapters, and one 3Com 3C460B adapter, and they work great. The two officially supported adapters are: D-Link DWL-122 wireless adapter Linksys USB100TX wired ethernet adapter The bit below is lifted from TiVo's web page: Other Wireless Adapters TiVo recommends the Linksys adapters mentioned above, however, customers have reported success with other makes and models of wireless USB network adapters, depending on which TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorder (DVR) they own. Look at the first three digits of your DVR's 15 digit TiVo service number, and then check the list below. (You can find your DVR's TiVo service number by going to Messages & Setup and then System Information, or by looking on the label printed on the back of your DVR.)
Other Wired (Ethernet) Adapters TiVo recommends the Linksys adapters mentioned above, however, customers have reported success with the following makes and models of wired (Ethernet) USB network adapters for all TiVo Series2 DVRs.
Can I hack my TiVo to get the service for free? Not that I know of. I've heard rumors of people accomplishing this somehow, but I don't know how to do it, and please don't e-mail me asking how, even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you. Buy your lifetime subscription to the TiVo service and be done with it, don't steal service from them. Does the TiVo have 30-second skip? Yes, there's a not-so-secret code that you can enter with your remote that turns the advance button into a 30 second skip button. In case the site I linked to disappears in the future, here's the info from it:
Note that any time your TiVo is rebooted (such as after a power outage or a software update) you'll have to re-enable this feature. Should you not like the 30 second skip, you can disable it by re-entering the Easter Egg exactly as you did to enable it. Where can I get more information? If your question isn't answered here, please e-mail me , and I'll add it to the list! The best place to go for all TiVo discussion is in the TiVo Community forums at: There are several better FAQs out there than what I've written, one is the TiVo Community FAQ: For those interested in hacking their TiVo: http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/faq.html Copyright © 2004 Seth H. Bokelman |
Best TiVo Deals around:
The
ease in which TiVo is programmed is what makes TiVo better than a
VCR. You don't need to set the time you want TiVo to
record. To set a schedule like the one I mentioned above,
here is what you'd do: 
