Anyone got Tivo?

[adamak]

My DH has been bugging me about getting Tivo. I am not sure if I want to spend more money so we can watch more TV. And I'm confused about their services.

Can I watch 'live' TV while it's recording something else? E.g. I want to watch Friends Thurs 8pm, and want Tivo to record Survivor. Can I do that?

[anniet]

I believe you can. I have a friend who has it and has been trying to convince me to get it too. She insists it cuts down your TV watching time because you record and watch what you want when you want. She also says you can elimiate commercials as well.

Sorry, that's as far as my limited knowledge goes. I would have ordered it by now, but the price of cable is all the money I can spend on TV right now.

[ead79]

I have TiVo, and I absolutely LOVE it!!! I can't say enough good things about it! It's really wonderful to be able to record shows and watch them when you have time instead of when they are aired. In order to watch live TV while you record a show on a different channel, you will need to get an RF splitter from Circuit City or Radio Shack, or somewhere else like that. I think they cost about $10, and it somehow (I am not an electronics wizard, LOL!) enables you to watch live TV and record on another station at the same time. Without the RF splitter you can already watch a recorded program while recording another program. This is without a doubt the best thing I have gotten in a long time (I got it for Christmas from my parents a year or two ago). Be sure to check out www.tivo.com where they highlight all the product's features (like recording using wish lists of your favorite actors, keywords (like Disney World, LOL!), etc.). I have found that all the positive hype about TiVo really is true--it's great! :) Gee, can you tell I like it. :teeth:

[adamak]

Thanks! Ead79,

I have more questions. Now that you're a Tivo user, do you watch regular 'live' TV anymore? Or do you always watch pre-recorded TV.

I can already see my DH recording every single football game, pregame, post-game show...etc.

I also read from Tivo site that it's not HDTV compatible at this point. I don't have HDTV, but am saving money towards a plasma TV, which I think it's HDTV-compatible. So I would think Tivo is compatible with HDTV-compatible TV? (head is spinning already).

Tivo seems like a great idea. It's just a little more expensive than I expected.

[DonnaS]

We have TiVo and love it. I don't think we got any sort of splitter, but we're able to watch another channel while recording-- all it takes is switching the input into the TV (much like you would do if you were switching from TV to the DVD).

I was reluctant to get it as well, but I love it. I love being able to get a "Season Pass" to a show and never have to worry that I'll miss it.

I love that if I come home 5 minutes after a favorite show has begun, I can watch it from the beginning right then and not have to wait for it to finish recording.

I love that if I'm watching something on TV and the phone rings-- I can talk and then either "rewind" or even hit pause as I answer the phone.

We do still watch live TV and the previous feature comes in very handy.

We find we watch more shows that we love, rather than just watching junk because it is the only thing on.

I'm a huge fan!

[dmadman43]

Everything you would ever want to know about Tivo from a place not associated with the company.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/

We just got the new Tivo receiver for DirectTV that allows you to record one satellite broadcast program and watch another. The one problem I have... Tivo thinks I'm my grandmother. It keeps recommending Matlock, Murder She Wrote, Harpo, On Golden Pond, Diagnosis Murder. etc. :confused:

[Laurabearz]

I dont have Tivo, but I have Ultimate TV (the other one) and we love it! I rarely watch live tv anymore.... I record just about everything and watch it on playback so I can skip the comericials... LOL Plus since we moniter what the kids watch and how much, I find it is really easy to record all my shows and watch them while they nap.

When I do watch live tv I love the pause feature..... I have little kids who often need me at just the wrong time..... lol and now I just hit pause...... I also love the rewind feature, for when I miss something........

Hubby loves the insant replays he can do for sports......

One thing I have found that annoys me is that now I want every tv and the radio to have it....... And I am lost without it! ROFLMBO

I think it is worth the money.....

[SplshMtn99]

I've been telling "Santa" for months I want Tivo. Today, Santa (umm -- DH) comes home with ReplayTV instead. :( The mall salesman told him it was better with digital cable. :confused:

WILL I BE HAPPY WITH REPLAYTV rather than Tivo????

I had been researching Tivo, not ReplayTV.

Oh, it was supposedly cheaper after the $100 rebate.

ANYONE WITH ANY INFO, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gravymom]

Replay is just as good as Tivo. You probably will not know the difference. One of the major differences is how it allots harddisk space for recordings. But, as long as it records what you want, do you care how it does it? We have both, and I have had more trouble with Tivo not recording something that with Replay. Also, Tive has a button that allows you to back up the show in (I think) 7 second increments. Replay allows you to both back up and fast forward in increments. Either way, sure beats having to worry about recording a show on tape and watching commercials.

[SplshMtn99]

Gravymom, Thanks!

Anyone else with ReplayTV?

[SJCSuzy]

We also have ReplayTV, we have for about 3yrs now. We love it!! I like the commercial advance which jumps ahead in 30 second increments. Also the ability to pause live tv is really great. I'm sure you'll love your Replay. Happy Holidays!

[kbeverina]

TiVo is one of those things that once you have, you'll wonder how you did without. Totally worth the money!

[DonnaS]

I agree kbeverina. In fact, a friend of ours has two TiVo's-- one downstairs and one upstairs (they bought one and then the same week his wife's employer gave her one). They say if ONE of them broke down, they would have to replace it... they are so used to having two. I can't imagine...

[kbeverina]

We have the first version of TiVo and can't watch a program while recording--is that the one you can use the splitter with?

We got ours in June, but still haven't explored all the features. One cool thing we just discovered when we had The Sopranos on Season Pass--when it's a repeat, it won't record the program over again.

[DonnaS]

On ours you can set your Season Pass preferences and chose whether you want it to record first run episodes or all episodes. I've had Trading Spaces set to record all and I'm just about to change it to First Run...

There are so many features and NBC (the only channel I've noticed it on) has a feature where if you see an ad for their TV show you can tell the TiVo to record it-- an ad!

[kbeverina]

I just noticed that for the first time last week--very cool!

I get their e-mails and save them, but I need to actually read them. I know we could probably be utilizing more features if we knew about them. I originally got it for my husband so he wouldn't miss World Cup Soccer games, but I love it--I get so much more done by recording shows and watching them later.

[Sharon A.]

I absolutely love Tivo. I couldn't go back to Tivo-less TV. We have the kind that has two receivers so you can watch one show while recording another or record two shows at once and watch something you've previously recorded. That way if I'm not home on Thursday I can record both Survivor and Friends.

It is TV heaven.

KBev, I just about wore my Tivo out on World Cup games. :)

[Tina]

We've had Replay for about 3 months now. I think, given the choice, DH would choose his Replay over me! :p He LOVES that thing. He raves about the commerical skip recording. Now that we have it, I don't think he could ever live without it. I don't watch much tv, so it really doesn't matter to me, but it is nice to watch some shows with him. We're going to Vegas in less than 2 weeks and he programmed the thing to tape all of these shows on the Travel Channel about Vegas. I think he's just about filled half of the drive up with them. :p

[adamak]

Question - If a show like 60 minutes which is constantly not on time due to football game, will Tivo be smart enough to tape the show when it actually starts?

[Tina]

Probably not, our Replay works off of the downloaded guide from Directv, so it will tape according to what the guide reflects.

[ead79]

To answer your question, I hardly ever watch live TV anymore. I have the first version TiVo, and that's the one that I need to get the splitter for (I think some of them don't require a splitter, but I'm not sure). I don't think TiVo will record the show on time (it downloads it's own programming guide and goes off of that), but you can set it to start recording late and record longer (so you can estimate and get the whole program hopefully). :)

[Sharon A.]

adam, it won't do it automatically, but if it's a show you really don't want to miss you can change the recording option to start recording earlier and stop later. That way no matter what time it starts, you're covered and no matter how long the football game goes you won't miss the end of your show.

[mrsstats]

We have had Tivo for about 1 month and love it. We record almost all our shows and then watch them. Because of commercials, it saves you 15 minutes per show. I like the feature that you tell it what you like and it picks shows for you.

[kbeverina]

Originally posted by Sharon A.
KBev, I just about wore my Tivo out on World Cup games. :)
I think my husband and son wore the remote out doing slo-mo on all the cool moves they were thinking they could replicate themselves!

Another neat thing I was reminded of with the question about football running long--the TiVo calls in at 2am or so and downloads the next day's schedule. If a show you have on the "To Do" list to record is on at a different time or even a different day that week, the time or date change is noted by the TiVo and it will record.

And sometimes there will be a movie coming on cable I want to watch, but can't watch it at that time or am recording something else--you can display what other times that week it will be showing and pick one to TiVo.

I wish now I would have gotten the newer version, more space and features, but I didn't realize how much we'd use it.

[adamak]

Can someone recommend me the model / hours I should get? At first I thought 30 hr is enough. But then I read somewhere that 30 hr = 3 hrs in BEST quality in reality.

Is that true?

This Tivo thing is getting overwhelming.

[DonnaS]

We record in the lowest quality and it does fine for regular viewing. If you were recording something like sports and might want to slow mo it, then you'll want to use a better setting.

BTW kbeverina mentioned how it updates the schedule. On ours we can actually tell it what time to update. Additionally, we got something that allows us to update it using our wireless internet connection so we don't have to connect it to a phone line.

[dmadman43]

If you have DirecTV I recommend getting the HDVR2..this will allow you to record one satellite show and watch another..or record two shows on at the same time (like, for example, I had a problem deciding between Law and Order-Criminal Intent and the Sopranos on Sunday nights). With Tivo, no problem. I could watch (and pause) the Sopranos while recording CI. this model will record up to 35 hours of content These models are currently very popular and are usually sold out within days of stores receiving shipments.

http://www.orbitsatellite.com/Product.asp?PID=HDVR2D

The Sony SAT-60 is the most popular model. http://www.audiorevolution.com/equip/sonydsstivo/

[WDWguruDH]

We have had TIVO for several years. LOVE IT! No worry about if ER is new tonight or not, it just records it if it is. No more commericals, it is actually painful to travel and have to watch stuff live in the hotel.
We were worried about the increased TV watching as well, but what we found is that we watch TV at a certain time for an amount of time. The difference with TIVO is that we are watching what we want to watch during that time. No more just watching something to watch TV.

[Mackey Mouse]

We do and we love it... best thing we ever did.. while we were in WDW for DisCon.. Tivo was recording Survivor and other programs.. Love it.

[Claudia1]

We have had it for over a year and love it, with one big reservation.

We live in a rural area and don't have a local dial-up number. TiVo discontinued the "800" toll-free number months ago and we have to pay for a daily long-distance call for the updates. Additionally, they rotate their calling times evenly throughout a 24-hour time period. We pay for random calls at any time of the day, even high-cost peak times. It comes out to be about $15-18/month. Some of the downloads are over 20 minutes.

I like being able to replay a missed scene or dialogue. DS like the auto-recording. DH likes the updated schedules.

BTW, you can program it to record favorite types of shows. If it senses that you routinely watch war movies, it will record one that you are missing without you programing it. Caught our DD in watching Mtv. It is not allowed in our house and she was sneaking around to watch one of the shows. When she missed a day, TiVo recorded it for her. Busted!!!!!

[caitycaity]

we've had tivo for about a year and a half and i wouldn't ever go without it again. :)