[Playboy]

My wife gave me Tivo for Christmas and I was hoping I could post some Tivo related questions here. Tivo seems to be pretty cool but as I’m getting more into it, I’ve stumbled across some head scratching questions. I know Quads is a big Tivo fan…any others out there?

 

[BigKahuna]

There is no life without TIVO!

 

[Quads]

Tivo is the biznitch. However I don't know how much help I can be as my Tivo is FAR from a "standard out of the box" unit.

 

[Dodger]

I'm a Tivo junkie as well.

 

[Rob]

My wife gave me Tivo for Christmas and I was hoping I could post some Tivo related questions here. Tivo seems to be pretty cool but as I’m getting more into it, I’ve stumbled across some head scratching questions. I know Quads is a big Tivo fan…any others out there?

Hmmm. What is this. a Tivo 12 step thread?

I am addicted to Tivo and I may be able to answer your question (if you'd actually ask it...)

 

[Hagar]

Tivo is for people who don't have any poker books!

 

[Playboy]

Wow...that many Tivo users out there! I just hooked this bad boy up the other day so I have a bunch of Q's...I'll post them here real shortly.

I did program some show's...the Indenpendeance Bowl (Miami (OH) vs Iowa St.), "Pimp Up, Ho's Down" (HBO)...which is pretty amusing! :lol:

But my biggest concern right now is the fact that you cannot watch live TV while recording a show/game on another channel. It sounds like I may need a splitter and re-wire the cables to make this work.

 

[BigKahuna]

If thats' the case then you are either doing something wrong or you got the ghetto version of TIVO. You should be able to at least record a show while you watch another live show. With the upgraded smaller dish, you can record 2 shows at once and also watch a previously recorded show at the same time.

Boo-ya-ka-sha!

 

[Playboy]

Big K...I have Comcast digital cable with a 40 hour Tivo (series 2?). Is this the ghetto setup?

 

[Dodger]

Not ghetto, just installed wrong probably. You should have two inputs so you can watch and record seperate channels.

 

[Quads]

It's not ghetto, you need ot rewire it for dual channel inputs.
40 hours is ghetto though.

I "blessed" my Tivo with 2 500GIG HDD's and also added a network card that will write to one of my local servers (should the 1TB of storage (which is about 3 weeks of TV) fill up). I can then go from Tivo to HDD to DVD Burner and watch / play later.

There is a TON of information on the net if you search for it.

 

[BigKahuna]

Now Quads version of TIVO is called "TIVO on Steroids". I think he has developed a new product for the market of couch potatos. I will fund it if you want to start mass producing.

 

[Rob]

It's not ghetto, you need ot rewire it for dual channel inputs.
40 hours is ghetto though.

I "blessed" my Tivo with 2 500GIG HDD's and also added a network card that will write to one of my local servers (should the 1TB of storage (which is about 3 weeks of TV) fill up). I can then go from Tivo to HDD to DVD Burner and watch / play later.

There is a TON of information on the net if you search for it.

Pope John Quads is Right. But, in advance, you need to know something about Linux admin, how to patch linux (for starters, If nothing goes wrong...), and, I have heard, the right version of the automatically downloaded tvio software (typically 2-3 revs eariler than current - 1 month or so - according to the tvio hackers I know) . Hardly a script kiddie undertaking. And dont mess with the babysitter (all parents understand this...)

The simplest mod is to install extra HD space (Quads, im interested in how you got to a gig in your box - i've heard that the +160gb ide's have device id problems - the larger you go it still only recognizes the first 120gb) - 120gb roughly triples your recording time. You have to be able to duplicate the existing drive onto the new one (again, not trivial). I have a friend that does this for a small fee. I've been trying to get him to come to a game. maybe y'all can exchange a tivo upgrade for a look at your cards....

Getting back to the thread, Doger is probablly right - the device was imporperly installed. Two coax cables need to come from your dish, and either you ahve one, or two but one is broken. But you'll need to complain quick - they probablly wont respond to a complaint a couple of months down the road.

 

[Playboy]

What I'll do later is document here where my cables are going, etc. I did buy a splitter the other night in case I have to use it.

I do not have a dish....i have Comcast cable and thier digital cable service on this particular TV. So this TV has a digital cable box in the mix here (so TV, digital cable box, DVD player, Barry Bonds Tivo prior to Balco...aka Ghetto Tivo). The rest of the crib has "basic" cable and wire right into the TV.

Also I did see a drop off in picture quality since I put the Tivo in.

 

[solring]

I have two Tivo boxes - one is the original 30-hour (for the kids) and the second is one of the newer 40-hour models (for my wife and I). I will be doing the "steroids" treatment in the near future to both, but am not quite ready for that yet.

Whenever someone in the house has some strange need to watch something live (with a Tivo, why would anyone want to?), we just turn off the Tivo (that nice little "Power" button) and the cable feed passes straight through to the TV. Tivo continues on its merry way, recording whatever it needs to.

On a separate topic -- why the *F* does Comcast not have the Travel Channel. If it wasn't for bittorrent, I would have missed the WPT episodes since moving here in May.

 

[Playboy]

"Whenever someone in the house has some strange need to watch something live (with a Tivo, why would anyone want to?), we just turn off the Tivo (that nice little "Power" button) and the cable feed passes straight through to the TV. Tivo continues on its merry way, recording whatever it needs to."

Sol...are you saying if I have a show in record mode all I have to do is turn the power off my Tivo box and watch TV through my Comcast digital cable box like I did prior to Tivo days??


I've never heard this before and I read the tivo community board all the time. Plus tech support has never instructed me to do this....wonder why?

 

[solring]

hmm...I'm home now and notice that my Series 2 doesn't actually have an ON/OFF switch on the remote for the Tivo itself...the Power button only controls the TV. However, my Series 1 box does have two Power buttons - one for the Tivo and one for the TV, so that must have been the one that we used when watching Live TV while recording.

So...it looks like you'll need the instructions at http://customersupport.tivo.com/knowbase/root/public/tv1027.htm?topic=20&gsgStep=Step Two to do what you want.

 

[Guest]

My wife and I couldn't servive'r' without TIVO.