Does anyone else have experience with the video download features on TiVo? How long does it normally take to activate for a new account? We just bought a TiVo Series2 DVR* and after setting it all up yesterday I still couldn’t get the box and the TiVo software on my PC to talk to each other. After some research, I figured out that my “Media Access Key” hasn’t been linked to my box yet and that it might take DAYS for it to finally work. Hmph.
We don’t have cable TV, or satellite, or plans to subscribe to either. We decided we had to have TiVo because of the partnerships they have with Amazon, Netflix, & YouTube. I figured out we could actually save money, and quit watching TV sitting at our computers. Not to mention I just bought a gigantic new hard drive for my PC and need an excuse to fill it up
I just want to watch Smallville on my COUCH for a change, instead of sitting at my desk. (I think Amazon Video on Demand is the best thing since sliced bread. Why pay a crapload of money every month for cable tv when I can just pay for the shows I REALLY want to see?)
*Turns out this model isn’t compatible with Netflix/YouTube so I have to send it back and get the HD model.
I bought a Tivo HD about a month ago. I’m getting my local HD channels with an antenna and using Netflix streaming and Amazon Video on Demand. I haven’t installed Tivo Desktop yet. I’m still researching the best way to push video from my PC to the Tivo (I’ll use this for shows I get from torrents). This set-up is replacing the $80 I give Comcast every month for digital cable, HD, On Demand, and their DVR. We only watched about 10 of the hundreds of channels we had available with cable and we’ll be able to watch everything we want to with the new set-up.
When you get the Tivo HD it will probably have older software on it that doesn’t have the ability to download video from Netflix or Amazon. You have to wait for a software update. I forced the Tivo to connect to the Tivo server a couple of times after finishing the guided setup. The next morning I had a message saying that the Tivo had been upgraded to the latest software.
All that said, if you just want Netflix and Amazon Video, you might be better off with an XBox 360. It’s cheaper than a Tivo HD when you include the cost of the Tivo subscription. It doesn’t make much sense to pay for the Tivo service when you’re not actually using it.
XBox 360 huh? Damn, now I’m wishing I’d done more research to start with. Another reason I bought the TiVo so quickly is because my husband and I are trying to quit World of Warcrack and figured it would make it a little less painful if we could stay away from the computers! An XBox would be a good alternative (we don’t intend to quit gaming altogether, just that one insidious MMO). But that’s what we generally do in our downtime - play video games and watch our favorite tv shows.
I hooked my 360 up to my Netflix account. It’s great, even if the selection is a little eclectic. Since both my wife and I game a lot, it’s a good solution. If I had a PC with Vista or some sort of Media Center, I could also stop using my cracked Xbox with Xbox Media Center for serving my digital video and audio across the network.
Are you required to subscribe to the XBox “Live” service to get Netflix? It sounds that way on their website. It doesn’t sound like Amazon has any kind of restriction, which makes sense since you’re paying per video you download and you’re not streaming.
If you want an inexpensive way to watch both NetFlix and Amazon video on demand, get the Roku box that only costs $99. It doesn’t have a hard disk, but it does a perfectly acceptable job of pausing and letting you start it later, watch something else, and come back to the first thing and start it back up from were you paused it. Why have a hard disk anyway? No TiVo subscription, no X-Box subscription, just a NetFlix sub or purchase Amazon movies. Works great!
Yes, you need an XBox Gold (the non-free) membership to get Netflix on an XBox 360. If you’ve got Tivo, you’re also paying for the service, but you’re not paying any MORE for the Netflix. I’ve got both, and use only the TiVo because I’m too cheap to pay for XBox Gold. If you’ve already got the XBox, the Gold service is about $50 a year, so it’s not overly hideous.
But I’d never give up my TiVo, so it’s “free” to me. Quality and selection of the Netflix stuff sucks at the moment, but more of it’s going high(er) def, and I have to imagine that in five years or so this is how all Netflix content will be delivered.
I talked to my husband about it and we decided to go ahead and get an Xbox. It’s been something on his list to buy anyway but he was putting off until we were ready to buy an HD flatscreen (our current tube tv is only 5 years old and still works fine). We spent a little more money up front, but it’s almost $10 cheaper per month than TiVo, it does everything we want, AND we can play games, too.
Not to mention we got it set up in a couple hours and were able to spend the rest of the evening streaming video from my computer. I DID have some issues with that to start with, however - It turns out that you can have problems getting a connection between the Xbox and your PC if you have XP SP3. Funny thing, though, right after I called Xbox tech support to have them tell me they couldn’t help, I found a fix for it.
The only real issue we have now is that the audio is slightly (almost imperceptibly) out of sync on some of the videos we stream. Hubby didn’t notice, but it was buggin the crap out of me.
Just to note that I’m reasonably happy with my DVR and the PC software to move files from the PC to the DVR for viewing. (It also goes vice versa.) But it only handles mpg files (which includes DVD files by any other name). If only it handled divx files like my DVD players so I wouldn’t have to convert so much stuff.
I use to batch up and dump stuff to DVD-Rs, but now I’ve virtually stopped burning.
