Tell me about TiVo. Should I buy one?

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

Okay, my schedule has me missing some great stuff on the History International channel, SciFi, DIY, and Discovery.

I have one friend who's an "early adopter".  He's had TiVo for nearly 8 years, or as long as they've been around.  He's souped it up with some monster-sized HDD, and says he would never go back to regular TV.

So, I'm thinking about buying a TiVo unit.  Besides the unit, what ongoing costs are involved?  Anyone own one?  What's been your experience?  Are there better options?  I've called my local (Charter) cable, and they offer V E R Y  limited "on-demand" service, none of the stuff I would really want to record.  Worthless to me.



Any thoughts?

[charby]

You could switch to direct tv or dish network and get a reciever that has a built in DVR.

-C

[mtnbkr]

I've used TIVO at my friend's house.  It's pretty nifty.  It's better than a VCR in that you can pause/rewind live TV.  That's useful when you have to take care of other things while a show is own.  A "real" TIVO requires a montly service charge ($12/month I think), but with DishNetwork (what I just ordered), a TIVO-like device is just $6/month for the two TVs we have and no hardware to purchase, unlike tradtional TIVO.  

I haven't had cable or satellite for 8 years.  Finally, a company is offering a package of channels I want for less than $50 (DVR/TIVO included!).  

Chris

[InfidelSerf]

Yeah I would check to see if your local cable provider offers a DVR (Digital video recorder).  Which is basically a tivo like unit. Granted TiVo offers other searching features and program suggestions.

I pay an additional $10 a month for a DVR with Comcast. WELL worth it.  I didn't have to pay for the box either.
Dish offered a nicer DVR with more storage space.

However your area options may be limited.  If so TiVo is a tv viewing and somewhat life changing device.  
I'll never go back to watching tv without a DVR of somekind.

If your tech savey, then you could always make your own out of a computer.  Using free software and a tv tuner card.

[Ron]

I am totally dependent on my best friends Comcast DVR.

Soon they will be hooking one up at my house.

[Sindawe]

If you have the skills or know someone who does, I think building your own DVR on a PC platform is a better option.  I built my rig about two years ago for around $500, and four months ago put another $65 into it to replace the flaky ATI software/remote that came with the video capture and display card.

Better than TiVo, I can also play games on the machine, stream the trance channel on DI.FM from the 'Net and have visuals.  Oh, and I can also use it as a backup PC when I need to or am too lazy to walk upstairs to the den where my network lives.  The only hitch is that I sometimes forget to clean out the old progams I've already seen.  Missed the last episode of season "one" of Dr. Who 'cause I ran out of room on the disk.  *SNIFF*

[InfidelSerf]

Missed the last episode of season "one" of Dr. Who 'cause I ran out of room on the disk.  *SNIFF*

download mirc  then hit up a channel called TMD-TVRips  I'm sure you'll find that missed episode in no time.
TMD

[Zed]

Nayone know if the Dish Network DVR's can Output to a PC?

[mtnbkr]

I built my rig about two years ago for around $500

That's nearly 10 months of DVR rental from DishNetwork.  I'm not sure it's worth my time and labor considering the total lack of effort the Dish version will require.  But who am I to talk considering I'm working on amateur radio projects to do things that cellphones, the Internet, and other tools already do easier.  

Nayone know if the Dish Network DVR's can Output to a PC?

I'd like to know that as well.  

Chris

[InfidelSerf]

Anyone know if the Dish Network DVR's can Output to a PC?

*edited for dyslexic typing*

Absolutely.  Any device that can output to a tv can output to a PC.  You just have to have a videocard with a video in input.

I prefer sVideo but a composite jack will work just fine.

The real trick to capturing video from a VCR,DVR,Cable box whatever, is the audio syncing.
This site is a wealth of information for such projects:  VideoHelp

[charby]

Anyone know if the Dish Network DVR's can Output to a PC?

*edited for dyslexic typing*

Absolutely.  Any device that can output to a tv can output to a PC.  You just have to have a videocard with a video in input.

I prefer sVideo but a composite jack will work just fine.

The real trick to capturing video from a VCR,DVR,Cable box whatever, is the audio syncing.
This site is a wealth of information for such projects:  VideoHelp

I think they were wondering like firewire or usb.  That would be alot easier than trying to recapture the first capture from the DVR.

I don't know because I haven't owned a DVR yet, probably will be next month.

-C

[Greg L]

Absolutely

However once you get one it is hard to live your life normally.  I generally have the radio on in the background while working.  Usually at least twice a day I catch myself wanting to rewind it to hear a comment again....

Mrs. L found a way to add a second hard drive to ours so now the capacity is well over 100 hours.  Why it's filled with L&O, Sex in the City, etc I'm not sure but there is plenty of room for other stuff too.

[AJ Dual]

TV without DVR is like the Internet without broadband.

'nuff said.

It's truly liberating technology, because we really don't watch more TV, we just watch the same amount of TV, and exactly what we want, quicker.

[Live Free Or Die]

Or...you could ditch the TV/DVR/Cable/Dish/etc altogether.  I did that recently and it's been awesome.  Here's why:

- Got $650 for my old HDTV.  That cash went straight to the gun fund.  
- Found myself with 1-2 "new" hours per night
- Eyestrain decreased at work
- Cable bill decreased by $50+ month: straight to the gun fund  
- I started running instead of sitting on the sofa
- Initial boredom led to motivation to read and learn various subjects

Yeah...but if I *were* still interested in TV/DVR, I'd definitely take the DIY approach with a PC and the appropriate video capture hardware/software.  You can tinker endlessly with such stuff, and that's a lot of fun.  IF you like tinkering.  For an extra challenge, try to get it all working well with Linux.  That'll increase your 1337 factor a few notches.