Ultimate TV - RCA vs. Sony? (1 Viewer)

[Bill Fletcher]

Any thoughts on who makes the better Ultimate TV/DirectTV system?

 

[Evan A]

TIVO TIVO TIVO TIVO TIVO
Philips or Hughes for the better peanut remote

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

You beat me to it, Evan. The correct answer is TiVo.
Sorry, Bill. We're not being helpful, are we?

 

[Rob Dawn]

I'm curious why you guys say TIVO is better than Ultimate TV?
From what I've read, TIVO doesn't take 2 Sat inputs like Ultimate TV does, so you can't record 2 shows at the same time, or watch one show while recording another, etc...
Just wondering why you think TIVO is better.
Thanks for the input,
Rob

 

[Bill Fletcher]

I had intended to buy the TIVO unit but when I saw Ultimate TV it seemed like a better deal. Basically I have the same points as Rob. You can record two shows at once and you can watch two shows at once with a Picture in Picture type format. It also provides some Internet options.
I have no experience with either though. Why do you think TIVO is the better option?
Thanks. Bill

 

[KevinW]

Bill, I'm also considering going with UltimateTV over Tivo because of the 2-channel ability. But, I did hear the other day that the new Tivo units have 2 RF inputs. While one is not currently active, an upgrade is in the works that will allow 2-channel recording.
Because of this I'm going to try to hold out until Christmas time. Maybe by then we'll have more options and cheaper prices. These DBS/PDR units just came out so the price has got to come down. Also, I hope for new units with longer recording time.
Either way, if you get one, come back and let us know how you like it. I just posted a thread in the PDR section asking about the differences between DirecTV+Tivo and UltimateTV. I hope someone has used both of these units and can offer the pros and cons of each.
Kevin

 

[Max Knight]

The DirecTV Tivo unit now can do 2 simultaneous recordings (I have a stand alone unit and DirecTV, and just got a notice letting me know that this was not available on the DirecTivo unit). In my book this makes DirecTivo far better than UltimateTV. One reason is that on DirecTivo I don't have to endure ads in the menus!
Another reason is the customer service Tivo provides. A bug affecting resolution occured with the 2.01 software, but Tivo had a fix out pretty rapidly and even let you sign up online to get the fix faster. I could never se Microsoft doing that. And my experience with Microsoft products does not make me confident that Ultimate TV will be bug free or fix the bugs rapidly. Maybe they would make me buy a service pack to make it compatible with the new season of Friends

-Max

 

[Mark Wolverton]

I have the Ultimate TV and I bought it over the Tivo for the reason of being able to record two seperate shows at once. Tivo claims they will have this feature later this year but I did not want to wait. I have a couple of pro's and con's for the UTV.
PRO's
can record two shows simutaneously while watching a recorded show at the same time.
Web TV and Interactive TV are kind of cool.
Picture in picture and PnP while surfing the web.
Advance searches.
CON's
Web TV is too slow.
No clear place to send problems or feature requests to. People at Ultimate TV don't seem to know what they are doing.
Menus and guides are sloooow!!!
My RCA, SONY and Hughes receivers were much faster and cleaner in the menus and guides.
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Mark W
"I like to watch."
Chauncy Gardner - Being There -

 

[Don D]

TiVo makes it much easier to find, record, and manage your programs than Microsoft Ultimate TV. Here are some examples to back up that opinion:
Set up a Season Pass for Frasier. If it moves to a different night, TiVo will still record it. Ultimate TV will not. If there are special "back to back" episodes, TiVo will record both of them. Ultimate TV will not. If you want to set a Season Pass and then forget about it, TiVo is the better choice.
Let's say that you really like John Wayne movies. You can set up an "auto-record" WishList on TiVo. From that point on, anytime a John Wayne movie comes on it'll be recorded. You can even narrow that down by genre, if you only want John Wayne Westerns (and not War pictures). Ultimate TV has nothing like this -- you'll have to keep checking the guide week after week.
TiVo allows you to save recordings for whatever length of time you want -- or indefinitely. Mark the season finale of Friends "save until I delete" and it will stay on your box until you decide it should go. Ultimate TV uses "first in first out." If a new recording comes in, poof -- your season finale goes. Thus you're on the Ultimate TV treadmill to watch programs quick before they're gone.
TiVo has suggestions which can be autorecorded or not. It will recommend programs based on programs you've recorded in the past. Let's say you watch the movie "Pretty Woman" -- TiVo might record "My Best Friends Wedding" as a suggestion -- even if you didn't know it was on! Ultimate TV does not have suggestions.
TiVo gives you the option of setting up manual recordings, just like a VCR, if you choose. You can specify channel, day, time, and duration. Ultimate TV won't let you set up manual recordings, so you are vulnerable to guide data problems and can only record whole shows.
Also...
TiVo gives you options on pricing. TiVo subscription is $9.95 per month or, if you'd prefer to avoid monthly fees, a lifetime subscription can be purchased for $250. Ultimate TV only has the $9.95 per month option, which means there is no way to avoid monthly fees.
Ultimate TV has advertisements plastered in the grid. TiVo does not.
Hope this info helps!

 

[Jim Thompson]

I'm wondering which one of these companies will be the first to have a HD capable unit?
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Go sell crazy somewhere else,We're all stocked up here!

 

[ryan_m]

Man if Ultimate TV doesn't do all of the features Don D is talking about, what's the debate? I have a Tivo (not a DirectTV one) and all those features are what make the Tivo so great. The ONLY complaint I have about my Tivo is it can't record two shows at once and since the DirectTivo units will be able to do this (with a software upgrade) I can't see why anyone would choose the UlimateTV over Tivo.