My new TIVO is noisy!

gene c · 02-21-2004, 07:20 PM

My DirecTV Hughes Tivo is really loud to me. Is this normal? Sounds like the hard drive is always spinning. This thing is always on too. Is this going to add allot to my electric bill? I think I'll be happy with it over all, but I do miss some of the features my old Sony SAT-B2 had. BTW, for those of you who know about my old Sony shorting out a couple of weeks ago, I plugged it in yesterday and for some reason it works again. Go figure. Gene

Tim Holyoke · 02-21-2004, 07:44 PM

Gene - My new DirecTivo doesn't make much noise at all. And yes, they are always on, it won't use much electricity. Not sure what the problem could be w/the noise. Like Robert_J has stated here many times, all DirecTivos are made in the same plant, they just look different on the outside, but mine is a Samsung, I still don't think that would make a difference.

David Judah · 02-21-2004, 10:00 PM

At first I thought you were talking about the fan noise--they can be noisy in that way, but not the kind of noise you are describing.

Incidently, my replay TV doesn't make a hard drive kind of noise like my computer sometimes does. You should definitely exchange it.

DJ

Robert_J · 02-22-2004, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Like Robert_J has stated here many times

Wow! I got quoted.

Quote:

My DirecTV Hughes Tivo is really loud to me. Is this normal?

Loud is relative. Mine makes noise but no more than the fan on my Kenwood receiver.

Quote:

Sounds like the hard drive is always spinning.

As long as the DirecTivo is plugged into a power source, the drive is spinning. It hurts it more to power up and down. I have a cheap UPS on mine to keep it going when we get a blip in the power.

Quote:

This thing is always on too. Is this going to add allot to my electric bill?

Someone figured it up at the Tivo Community. It uses less electricity than a 60 watt light bulb. It was no more than a couple of dollars a year in electricity.

There are a few things you can do. You can swap the fan for a quiter one. A lot of computer suppliers have silent or almost silent fans. Second you can get a different hard drive. WD or Maxtor (I can't remember which) have some type of acoustical management software you can turn on. It makes the drive alomost silent. A bonus is that you could upgrade to a larger drive at the same time. Finally, I read where one guy put something like Dynamat on the inside of his case to dampen sound. This sounds like over-kill to me.

-Robert

gene c · 02-22-2004, 10:48 AM

Thanks for the info guy's. Yes "loud" is relative. This is just louder than I expected. I now believe it's the fan and not the drive I'm hearing. Gonna go to BB and have them plug in one of their's for comparison. Also where I have mine located echo's the sound. And I do most of my watching in this particular room late at night with low volume. All these things add up to more noise from the unit than I'd like. Installing a quieter fan is a good thought. That, along with a few other changes like placing it in a less "echoey(?)" location, may help reduce the noise level. BTW, I'd say it's about half as loud as the fan on my PC. O.K. for computing but not for viewing. Again, thanks for the help. Gene

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Alf S · 02-22-2004, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Gonna go to BB and have them plug in one of their's for comparison

I don't know what BB you go to but the one I go to would be the last place I'd want to try to hear the tiny difference in sound from a Directivo in their store...

If it's like our BB, it's blasting some kind of crappy rap/gansta music morning, noon, and night turned up to "11".

If I were you, I'd either ask for an exchange or live with the fact that the DTivo is indeed a bit noisier than your everyday DTV receiver.

Alfer

Ted Lee · 02-23-2004, 05:10 PM

yeah, mine is a little noisy too. if it's totally quiet in the living room i can hear it. plus, if i have my music server on ....

anyway, it's not that big of a deal and the bennies definitely outweigh any gripes i may have.

i seriously doubt bb will do anything for you other then exchange it. as already stated, that store is noisy as heck....drives me crazy....and i work there!

andrew markworthy · 02-24-2004, 02:22 PM

I have a Sky+ box (a similar sort of HD recorder). It too makes a noise: the nearest equivalent sound I can think of is a fridge when it suddenly kicks into that weird high pitched buzzing noise that all fridges seem to go into every few hours (why?). I find it mildly annoying at times, but that's about it, and certainly it's no more irritating than the sound of a VHS recorder wheezing along.