So, after years of profligate spending via American Express, I finally took a look at the rewards available to me as a card-carrying (quite literally) member. Right near the top of my point range was the TiVo Series 2 with a year of free service. Now, I’ve not had a lot of experience with DVR’s, and although I do have basic cable, I don’t have a premium package, nor do I have any kind of set-top box or dish. There’s only a few shows I make a point to watch, but I figured what the hell, it’s a new toy, and it’s basically free. Then I started poking around their website and others, and I realize this thing has fans - y’know, people who absolutely love it. And here I thought it was basically a glorified VCR.
So it came this weekend, and I’ve had some fun setting it up and investigating its features and capabilities and such. I’ve experimented with its ability to pause/rewind live action television, and played with the search features in the guide. I’ve set up a few “season passes” for the shows I know I don’t want to miss, plus a couple that look interesting (House, Studio 60, Survivor, Eureka, Heroes, MythBusters). And I know it will recommend stuff to me based on my ratings, which obviously takes a bit of time. But I feel like I’m missing something (i.e. it still seems to be basically a really cool VCR to me). Which may just be that I haven’t had it long enough to appreciate what it can do for me.
So those of you with DVR experience, tell me what you like about it, what kinds of things I can do with its features that maybe aren’t all that obvious. Does it tend to recommend stuff you actually like? Does it work well for recording shows so that the entire episode is recorded, or does it tend to cut off? Any particular glitches it may be useful to be aware of?
First of all, the code to enable the 30-second skip function is select-play-select-3-0-select. It should make three chimes if you enter it right.
It usually starts and stops at the right time, but you can set it to start early or stop late just to be sure. I do this for Doctor Who and it’s probably a good idea for live sports as well.
I like having a splitter on the cable so I can sometimes just turn the TV and quickly flip through the channels. The Tivo is slow at that and sometimes I just want to watch simple live TV.
Thanks for the skip code; I’m sure that’ll come in handy.
Yeah, I was a bit disappointed the thing doesn’t have a way to simply watch the television while recording on another channel without splitting the cable. Hell, VCR’s have had a TV/VCR switch forever, why wouldn’t the DVR have a similar function?
They now have a dual-tuner version of the Series 2 TiVo, so you can record one program and watch another live program, or record 2 programs and watch a third recorded program.
My recommendation would be to bookmark the TiVo Community Forum at http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/ - they have some great discussions there. I have learned a lot of things about my TiVo, gotten some help with troubleshooting as well.
Another thing would be to connect your TiVo via wireless network to your computer. I have mine connected to my other TiVo and my PC, and it’s great to be able to transfer programs back and forth. Just be careful you get an approved adapter. I recommend the TiVo manufactured adapter. I had bought non-TiVo adapters (when TiVo didn’t have their own) a couple of years ago that were on the approved list and with a recent update to the software, they suddenly were removed from the approved list without warning. Shouldn’t run into that problem if you use TiVo’s own brand…
Thanks for the kind words, Ginger. I got the impression TiVo’s suggestions are the subject of much bemusement sometimes; I’m kinda looking forward to seeing what mine thinks I’ll like.
Hey, look at that, another message board! (I was (dimly) aware they exist outside of the SDMB, honestly - I just hadn’t thought to check for one connected to TiVo.) Thanks for the suggestion; I’ve registered there and will poke around a bit.
Yep, that’s another thing I was looking into. I don’t currently have a home network, but when or if I set one up, I’ll definitely hook up the TiVo rather than use the phone line - although the phone line seems to be working well enough right now. I know it limits my options on setting it to record via the web, but I don’t know that I’d use that option much anyway.
Many shows now don’t start and end on the hour, so program some buffer time for the critical shows so you don’t miss the last few minutes or the previews for next week. The networks are pretty good about having that in the guide, but if watch any of the shows on FX (Nip/Tuck, The Shield), you’ll be screwed, I always add 5 minutes to shows on that network. And don’t forget to program at least an hour overtime for sports!
Also, don’t ever set it to save only one epsiode. I’ve been screwed too many times be either myself, or sloppy programming. For instance, last year the Survivor Finale was shown in two parts, and my DVR deleted the first part as soon as the second part stared showing. We were time shifting, and missed the last half hour of the first show. It worth the hassle of manually deleting episodes if you have to just to make sure you don’t miss one.
Note that you can prioritize your Season Passes. This keeps Tivo from skipping an episode of the last season of Scrubs in favor of a repeat of Star Trek somewhere.
Also note that you can turn off this feature so that Tivo only records what you tell it to. I had to do this because my Tivo was filling itself up with reruns of Seinfeld and South Park.
It won’t overwrite your selections with its suggestions, though. So your stuff is safe – it only uses spare time to record suggestions.
I just got my 3rd TiVo (all on the same lifetime subscription, in series), the dual-tuner model with 180 GB of storage, and it rocks. Bear in mind that it will use what you tell it to record to deduce your tastes. My previous one had a tendency to record lots of kid shows that the kids (now 7 and 8) have outgrown, because I recorded a lot of those. The new one has taken my first two season passes (Mythbusters and Iron Chef America) to heart, so I’ve discovered How It’s Made (which is way fun) and more cooking shows than I realized existed.
My main suggestion is to remember to review your To-Do List every week or two. If you’re like me, you’ll set Season Passes to record both new and rerun shows, so there may be things it’s planning to get that you don’t want to bother with, and you can zap them pre-emptively.
Also, resist the urge to “Save Until I Delete” forever – if you’re not going to watch the show, let it go.
When I first got DirecTV I got a dual-tuner TIVO. Then I upgraded my TV to HD and got a dual-tuner HD TIVO. So now I can record 4 shows at once, while watching a fifth. And you know something? I’ve actually had situations where I AM recording 4 things at once.
To answer your original question, my advice would be to stop thinking of the TIVO as a VCR that records shows you can watch “when there’s nothing else on”. Think of the TIVO as “how I watch TV”. I virtually never watch live TV anymore. I always go directly to the “Now Playing” list to choose something to watch. This way is also much more efficient. A 1-hour show takes only about 45 minutes to watch.
Also, turn off the feature that records the TIVO recommendations. It just fills up your hard drive with c**p.
One of the first times I was at my (now ex) boyfriend’s house, we had the TV on but weren’t paying attention to it. I was facing the TV, he had his back to it. I asked him what the hell we were watching, and he told me all about his really cool new gizmo, TiVo, and how it “learns” shows you might like, based on your recording habits.
Imagine his horror when he discovered that TiVo had recorded some lesbian prison rape porn.
Few things I’ve found in my first few days:[ul][li]Yep, already stopped seeing it as a VCR replacement and more an advanced way of watching TV[]Love the guide and search capabilities[]Don’t (yet) mind the semi-random suggestions[/ul]It’s funny; as I sort of implied in my OP, I don’t really watch a lot of television, but I’m seeing that there actually is some quality stuff on - it just used to be on when I wasn’t aware of it, or couldn’t be arsed to set a VCR to record it. The TiVo makes finding interesting programming easy, and then makes actually watching it easier still.[/li]
I think I’ll leave auto-recording of suggestions on for a little while, just to see what comes up. The most anomalous thing it picked for me was some teen sitcom on Nickelodeon (no prison rape yet). I’m hoping it gets better as I use the “thumbs-up”/“thumbs-down” buttons to rate more programs. Either way, my Season Pass line-up is pretty much set (and I’m aware of the importance of padding, too), so I’m assured of catching the stuff I know I want to see.
All in all, a much better experience than I expected. It’s probably still a little bit of the “new toy” feeling, but I’m kind of surprised by how much it’s already changed the way I watch television.
Just connect one set of the TiVo’s output jacks (left & right audio and composite or S- video) to your VCR’s input jacks. Your VCR should have a “Line” setting that will switch its recording from the tuner to the jacks (typically callled “Line” or “Video”).
When you select any of the programs from TiVo’s “Now Playing” list, one of the options you are given is “Save to VCR”. The TiVo’s output will be directed to the output jacks, and you’ll be able to record it on your VCR (the TiVo will also pop up a neat little title screen at the start of playback). One note of caution - the TiVo outputs all of its signal, so any remote button-pushing will be recorded to your VCR tape, including on-screen displays and fast-forward/rewind activity.
Timely thread for me (and amarinth!), as my very first TiVo should be shipping any day now: I’m getting an 80-hour Series2 with dual tuner. I have no land line, so I’ll be setting it up and running it via my home wireless network (I ordered TiVo’s adapter, Lips_Obsession).
I, too, appreciate the skip code tip, riker1384.
I plan to turn off the auto-recording thing as soon as possible. It might be fun to see what it picks for me and how well it learns, but I watch too much TV already as it is … maybe when the semester is over I’ll turn that feature back on. {grin}
Indeed. I say just leave it on, because it’ll give you something to watch if you manage to watch everything else you’ve got recorded. Eventually, you’ll probably have enough season passes that your hard drive is constantly full of shows you explicitly told it to record, and it’ll automatically stop recording suggestions.
I also second the suggestion of leaving the suggestion recording on. I’ve found several good programs that way. They only use space that’s unused, and it won’t erase any programs you’ve asked for to clear space for suggestions.
I also recommend going through the suggestions and doing thumbs up/thumbs down on them so it can “learn from it’s mistakes”…
