Anyone have any experience with TiVo?
I’ve been considering getting one, but only for the purpose of avoiding using tapes to record movies or shows I’ll miss onto. I don’t propose to copy a lot of shows, and with an ATI all in wonder card, I seem to be able to record shows as well on my computer in several formats…
I’m looking for opinions and experiences. Is it worth spending $300 on a TiVo unit, plus the $10 a month, or should I just buy a really large Hard Drive?
Well, a really large hard drive is ok if you don’t plan on saving the movies on it forever… I would imagine it would fill up quite quickly…
Also, I have seen some episodes of 30 minute tv shows reach 30-35 MB apiece. That’s all fine and dandy, except that you are looking at a tiny little window of low resolution. What’s the point?
To record a show of decent quality and size would take up hundreds of Megabytes per show.
Again, if this is simply record,watch, and delete, you would be all set, but those shows would soon add up and fill your drive if you planned on keeping them.
Well, I know it depends on the format, but typically an hour of video would take up about 1 gig of space. So the drive might do okay.
Then again, with Stupendous Synapses of Superior Deduction, Stupendous Man has come up with a good point…
Wathcing a show on your computer screen sucks.
Were I you-and I just may be, you never know-I would pick up a 30 gig hd cause they’re so cheap, and then sit back and wait for a revision of TiVo to come out. You know, the one where the fix all the shit that was fucked up on the original one? The result of all the customer surveys and market studies and all that. TiVo2 may be worth it, but for right now, I’d chill with the old computer.
Ok, well, I have two 20 Gig drives, and a third 10 gig drive in my machine, i’m thinking of picking up an 80 gig actually.
As for quality, I’ve used my ATI card and gotten great pictures, it can be set for recording at full screen, and of course, that takes up more room on the drive, but my machine was able to handle recording Ghost Dog at great quality. And I’m Using my TV as my monitor as well now anyway, another nice thing about my ATI card. Thing is, I’m trying to tie the entire entertainment center into one unit if possible, without having to buy extra devices if possible. But if TiVo (which i just found out is really just a couple of drives running linux) is better and only enhances this project, then i’ll do it, and find out if i can forgo (sp?) the service, and keep the box to just record with.
I’m really trying to stick to DVD’s and CDs and Digital recordings. I don’t plan on keeping the movies or shows i miss, just wanna see them again. anyone have any TiVo experience though?
Dude, Sling, go with the 80-gig drive. HDD’s are amazingly cheap at such high prices (you may find one in the $300 range, same as the TiVo unit), which, as Lex said, would be about 80 hours of recording.
Besides, it’s not like you plan on keeping the shows around forever, right? Just like TiVo… record the shows you want, delete 'em later… or even convert 'em to VHS tape (or DVD-RAM, if you’re cool enough to have on of those). Plus, by having the video files saved on your computer, you can go through them and take out nifty screenshots and play around with those.
And finally… imagine the bragging rights of saying you have an 80-gig HDD. 