So I got me some TiVo...tell me what I'm in for.

This is exactly why TiVo is so great. Look, with 200 channels no matter how great the percentage of crap, you’ve still got at least several hours a week of stuff that will be interesting. The problem is that some of it is in the middle of the night, some of it is when you’re at work, and some of it is on weekends when you’re out running errands. TiVo collects it all for you, so that when you want to watch TV, you can, even if it’s 3:15 on Saturday afternoon and that episode of CSI (or Friends or Poirot or Futurama or that documentary on the Minoans) you were interested in aired three days earlier, instead of having to content yourself with the last half of a “Naked Chef” rerun or 45 minutes of an old movie on TCM where you don’t know the set-up and you have to leave before the climax anyway.

As noted, TiVo controls your cable box. I have a first-generation TiVo and it works very well but not perfectly. I don’t know if the newer TiVos have improved in this area.

–Cliffy

I disagree. Since TiVo’s Suggestions only fill your buffer and are always the first thing to go if you start to run out of space, there’s essentially no cost to the feature even if you don’t use it. OTOH, if it weren’t for this feature I never would have discovered Buffy, so for that it will always have my eternal thanks.

–Cliffy

Well, I’m in TV nirvana.

If anyone reading this thread is still wondering if they should go for it… GO FOR IT.

What a fabulous invention. TV has never been so satisfying.

As mentioned by someone - the DirecTiVo has two tuner capability - so you can record off two different channels at the same time.

One thing to remember about Tivo is that it is great at catching stuff when you didn’t even realize it was on. I have a great collection of old Simpsons episodes and nature documentaries now, some of which get recorded when i definitely would not be home or watching tv. So, for example, if you have a conflict between recording both Real world/road rules challenge and American Chopper, you can let your tivo snag the later showing of American chopper for you while you sleep.

So Stoid - how do you like your tivo? Definitely set up your wish list - you’d be suprised what it can find for you

The wishlist was practically the first thing I did. I have all kinds of interesting stuff in there. Very little is auto-record, though. I’m ok with checking it out.

We just got TiVO here and it only seems to be able to record one channel (History International). And you can’t record one channel while watching another. I’m close to sending back the piece of crap.

Whatever. Sounds like you have it hooked up wrong if it won’t change channels for you. As for not being able to be on two channels at once–how can you expect it to? (Get the DirectTIVO if you NEEd that.) What you CAN do is have it record on one channel while you watch something it’s previously recorded on another.

“Piece of crap”? Um. Yeah. It’s only the most handy, most convenient, most revolutionary thing to happen to tv since it was invented.

We just picked up a TiVo last night and I love it already. Got my season passes set up. Got some movies I think look cool set to record. Got it set up to record shows I’d never see (example, MST3K at 9am on Saturdays). It’s awesome!

I hate when I hit submit too early.

Anyway, I ordered it for store pickup from Best Buy. We went over there and all they had was an “open box” one. (Meaning the box was opened at some point or it was a return or something). Fine, whatever, I don’t care, we make sure all the parts are in there and come back home. So Morelin and I hook up the cables, then try to activate it. It’s already been paid for. THAT’S odd. So we finish, I fire it up and poke around into the system settings and lo and behold, our “open box” TiVo came with the LIFETIME ACTIVATION PAID FOR! FREE TIVO! WOOOOOOOOOOO! I was, as they say, shickled titless.

Ahem. I love it already, as I said. It’s got the red light on now, so I assume it’s recording something. Ah, yes, “Ancient Apocalypse” on Discovery Times. It’s also caught the Seinfeld from TBS and two episodes of Farscape from SciFi. And instead of having to drop everything at 10 to catch Monk, it’ll record it and I’ll watch it when I damn well please. And, oh, there’s an episode of American Chopper coming on at 9 that I haven’t seen, so I’ll get that too. The Kids in the Hall on at 8am on ComCentral? Why not!..Etc.

Another thing I LOVE about TiVo is that I don’t have to remember stuff. See a preview for something that’s gonna be on next week? Don’t have to remember about it, just pause what I’m watching, go into Pick Programs to Record, find it, set it to record, and go back to what I was watching. Then sometime next week I’ll see that it’s been recorded and think “oh yeah!” and there I am :slight_smile:

Sorry for the bloggishness, but I keep having Guinness-esque “Ha! Brilliant!” moments. I was perusing the listings for IFC and found a listing for “Gallipoli” with Mel Gibson, rated 3 and a half stars. I says to myself, “Hmm, self, that sounds like an interesting movie!” and hit Select…but, oh! The run time conflicts with my recording of Spongebob! How could I choose between…well, there’s another showing of “Gallipoli” at 1:45. click click

Now I can watch it whenever I want. Ha! Brilliant!

If it’s not changing the channel you probably failed to hook up the IR emitter correctly. It also must be configured for your specific cable box.

Of course it can’t record one channel while watching another; it doesn’t have it’s own tuner. TiVo can’t do anything that a VCR can’t do, recording-wise. The DirecTivo boxes do have two DirecTV receivers in them, so you can use one of those if you want. (Assuming you want to get DirecTV.)

But the point is that there’s really never any reason to watch live TV anymore. Instead, think of the TiVo as preparing a custom library of stuff for you to watch, whenever it’s convenient for you.

That’s what I get for letting my roommate hook it up. I got it figured out. Pretty cool. But it is annoying that it can’t record one thing while I watch another…something VCRs were doing years & years ago. I understand why, but it is a step backwards. Maybe I’ll look into DirecTV.

I agree, that’s a major deterrent considering at least 30% of the shows I watch are on at the same time as another, thus required a VHS tape. It seems Tivo would do nothing to remedy this, so It’s going be sometime before I even consider jumping onto that bandwagon.

Are your shows on cable? I’ve noticed cable networks rerun things oodles of times. (My TiVo is catching the History Channel’s 15th rebroadcast of the Barbarians thing). So if you can’t get the 9pm showing, you can pick up the 3am showing.

I’m convinced that I need a TiVo (even before reading this thread - now I’m just more convinced). How should I go about buying one? What would be the “best” buy? Should I:
[ul]
[li]Buy directly from TiVo?[/li][li]Buy from a competitor, like Phillips or Sony?[/li][li]Buy a used unit from Ebay, with the lifetime subscription already activated?[/li][/ul]
Also, what are your opinions on hard drive size? As a CS student, my natural impulse is to crack that sucker open and attempt to build a terrabyte TiVo (ooh, a Terra-TiVo - such a nice ring!). However, I feel like this might be overkill. So, how much do you normally require? Is it cheaper to buy a large drive at the outset, or manually upgrade?

jmi-I managed to snag mine from Best Buy via BestBuy.com (you can get the .com price and arrange for in-store pickup) for $224 with tax and everything. Right now, TiVo is running a $50 mail-in rebate, so my unit (40 hour, Series 2) will run me about $174 when all is said and done.

I haven’t done it personally, but Hacking TiVo (there’s a book by that title) seems to be a major hobby and from what I’ve heard, popping in a monster hard drive is pretty easy (I plan to, eventually), but I haven’t done it myself.

jmizzou: If you go to the message board linked by tanstaafl above, you can read lots of discussion on this point. Apparently, if you get a defective box (it’s computer hardware, after all), it’s a lot easier to return it to your local Best Buy or wherever and walk out with a replacement than it is to call the company and explain the problem and get a shipping box from them and send in your machine and wait and eventually get a new one. There’s also lots of discussion there about upgrading the recording capacity by dropping in a second drive; if you’re a techie, you can use their instructions to buy and configure a drive and install it, and if you’re not you can buy a kit at a reasonable rate. Go check it out; it’s pretty cool.

Not with cable channels.

A couple of things that I’m not clear on, from reading this thread:

  1. Can I record two shows (and possibly watch another) at once, or not? Monday night is a big issue for me around here because Fear Factor and Yes, Dear & Still Standing both run from 7-8 Central.

  2. Do I need to get digital cable or can I stick with analog cable (and before anyone suggests satellite, let me state FTR that I tried satellite and couldn’t keep it because I don’t have an unobstructed view to the south).

  3. Can you fast forward through commercials on regular broadcast TV (like sitcoms & whatnot as opposed to live events like NFL games). If my CBS affiliate starts broadcasting Two and a Half Men at 8:30, and I fast forward through the commercials, then what do I watch once TaaHM is over? CSI won’t be broadcast for another few minutes. Am I missing something here?