Got Tivo a week ago....This thing is soooo awesome! (1 Viewer)

[Chris Maynard]

I picked up a Sony 30 hour model for the bedroom to pick up some of my favorite shows off of satellite. My wife and I were extremely impressed with the functionality of the unit. We use it everyday and record shows we would never get to see due to not getting home on time or the 3 hour time shift in SAT programming.
I also love the fact that I can get through a 30 minute program in 22 minutes by skipping the commercials.
It has brought some favorite TV programming back into my life. I almost had totally stopped watching TV because of the timing and lack of anything really on at the times I could sit down (late at night in bed) and watch it.
Now I pick up Junkyard wars without fail. I can get Ned & Stacy without a hitch and never miss an episode of Frasier.
Truly a great piece of equipment.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Congratulations on your acquisition, Chris! I have the same unit.
A word of warning: I've been finding that my unwatched DVD stack has been getting higher ever since I started with TiVo. All those shows I'd otherwise miss or skip are interfering with my DVD viewing.
Clearly there's only one solution: quit work and become a video bum.
M.

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

I'm in the same boat, Chris - my wife gave me a 30 hour unit for Valentine's Day (I'm a lucky man, I know!) and while I'm impressed by it all so far, I'm also taken how the program guide is helping me find a lot of films out there that I would have probably missed otherwise.
I may too have to quit my full time job!
Only snafu so far - TiVo taped "In the Actors Studio" as a suggestion, and about 12 minutes in, the recording freezes, making you use fast forward to get through it. Hoping its not a bad spot on the hard drive!
Bleddyn
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[Brad Porter]

Welcome to the Tivolution, gang.
Just as a word of warning, your TiVo will start feeling lonely in a few months and will want you to buy it a companion TiVo. You'll go along with this because the networks keep scheduling shows that you like opposite one another. Or you'll just be tired of watching that second TV and not being able to back up 8 seconds to figure out what some character said. Go with it. Buy that second TiVo. You deserve it.
Brad - "Proud owner of one 30 hr TiVo and one 117 hr. hacked TiVo."

 

[Matt Malto]

I won a 30 hour Sony Tivo in a contest a few months ago and my life has not been the same since. I can't believe more people don't talk about these things around here. Honestly, just talking about one doesn't cut it if you've never experienced it. But once you do, there's no going back. My wife thinks it's the greatest invention of the 20th century. And she is NOT easily impressed by much of anything I buy or bring home in the way of electronics.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Welcome to the club, Chris!
Thanks to the TiVo, I am no longer a slave to the television schedule.
Of course, I'm now a slave to the TiVo!

- Steve
P.S.: So have you cracked it open yet to add that second hard drive?

 

[Dhananjaya Garcia]

I think we're too embarrassed . Now if they'd only get with the program and activate the second tuner in the T60 ...
DJ

 

[Chris Maynard]

I am returning my current stand-alone model for the one with a built in SAT tuner.
After about 30 days or so I will add a second big-ass hard drive.
We were going to return in yesterday but we decided that it was recording too many things on Sunday afternoon. My wife looked at me and said..."Never had a TIVO all these years and now I cannot live without it for 3 hours".
Hehehehehe....
Cool things.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Chris, if you plan to hack the DirecTivo, make sure it has the space for the second hard drive.
- Steve

 

[Chris Maynard]

Steve - Yeah...I noticed this box is much smaller than the stand-alone. Could I not just replace the existing hard disk and image it onto a much larger one?
It may be all for nothing though since the new one does not seem to work. DirecTV is all messed up and I spent the last 2 hours talking to different people all reading from the same darn manual.
Looks like I may be taking it back and getting the stand-alone back.

 

[Chris Maynard]

Got back my original 30 hour stand-alone so now I don't have to go through another 4 hour setup. I was not impressed by the SAT-T60. I figure when they get things worked out a bit better (many message boards have people reporting problems) I may get another one and kick this one down to another family member.
Truly a great piece of equipment.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I'm not sure about the disk imaging...check out Link Removed for everything that's fit to print on the topic.
Sorry that the DirecTiVo is not working for you. I ended up dedicating a Dish receiver to my TiVo. All my recording is done from that receiver via the S-Video and analog stereo connections.
It's not perfect, but it will do, especially on my "small" downstairs television.
Now if they could just get one of these things to record high definition, I would be truly happy.
- Steve

 

[Stephen Tu]

Steve - Yeah...I noticed this box is much smaller than the stand-alone.
Are you talking about physical size of the chassis or disk size? In any case there is somewhat less need to hack a DirecTivo since the box is ~30 hr of "perfect" quality, while with a "30-hr" standalone that's only ~9-14 when recording at "best" or "high".
Could I not just replace the existing hard disk and image it onto a much larger one?
No, because Tivo is using their own proprietary file system, and drive image programs only can expand the space on the systems they are designed to handle like FAT, NTFS, etc. Eventually, the Tivo hacker community may figure out how to do this; monitor the hack forum at http://www.tivocommunity.com

 

[John Morris]

Dang... as I wait for the release of the SVS SS subwoofer, I keep spending that money for other things. Hopefully, I can sell my current stuff to make up the difference when it is finally released.
In the meantime, I've bought a pair of refurbed Philips HDR112 Tivo units to see if I really like them. They were absolutely dirt cheap and only come with a 60 day warranty so I am planning on doing the HD upgrade if I like Tivo. Is there a way to use the info on the subscribed unit to program the unsubscribed unit? Will the subscribed unit help with manually programming the unsubbed unit? Finally, how do you get the best transfer of recorded programs via the best setting into my SVHS recorders?
Thanks for your help!
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Take Care,
merc
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DFAST, 5C, DVI, HDCP and Lewinski!!!