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Major New TiVo Service Offerings
Jeff The Riffer writes "At the Consumer Electronics Show today, Mike Ramsay of TiVo announced three major new product offerings to come in the next year. First off there's the DVD Recorders, HD DVR, and Home Networked Enabled Products. TiVo/DVD Recorder boxes have been out for a bit now but looks like the offerings will continue and there's going to be new units by Pioneer. Second we have TivoToGo, where TiVo users with Home Media Option will be able to transfer files off their TiVo onto their PC and either play them locally or burn them to DVD. And finally there's XM Radio for TiVo."
stuff
I use this all the time to record from BBC 7.
Now, if only some nice hardware manufacturer would please get round to releasing a UK series 2 TiVo, or preferably a DVD-/+R TiVo...
No, I'm in the UK and have got one. Wireless networked it up to my broadband connection as well, and installed TivoWeb so I can control it from work (although can't watch any of the programs). It's very good, but didn't really catch on in the UK. I don't think you can buy it new any more, but you can pick up some second hand ones on eBay.
Funny topic considering third gen direct tivos (the HD ones) have 4 tuners 2 sat and 2 OTA perfect for that HDTV NBC feed.
No sir I dont like it.
MythTV is TiVo on steroids. It's not for newbies though so I won't even pretend to suggest your dear Aunt Ida can go install her own without spending 8 hours of your time setting it up. For those of us who like working on fun projects with Linux though it's a blast. This weekend I'll be building my new MythTV backend server with dual Hauppauge PVR 250 cards, a 3ware 8506-4lp SATA raid controller, and four 200GB Maxtor (quiet fluid dynamic bearings) SATA drives. I haven't decided whether to go with RAID-5 or RAID-0 yet so I'll have somewhere between 600GB and 800GB of space for recordings. At 2200bps and 480x480 resolution my testing with the PVR-250 has given me files about 1.2GB/hour. I may crank it up to 3300bps to get around 1.6GB/hour and deal with that for improved mpeg-2 quality.
Anyway, if you're not interesting in Linux projects stick with a TiVo. MythTV has a DVD player (and ripper) modules, MythMusic for playing mp3, ogg, flac, etc. as well as ripping CDs to ogg, mp3, or flac format, MythWeather gets weather channel maps for your area and displays the weather forecast, MythGame interfaces to MAME under Linux to play games, MythVideo provides a nice interface for playing DivX or other movie files and ties into IMDB to download cover art for movies it can recognize by title (i.e. if you have a waterboy divx file it'll search for it on IMDB and prompt you if what it found is correct, then from then on it'll associate cover art with that file and a summary and synopsis. It's quite nice. Oh yea, and remote real-time scheduling and control over your recordings (delete, browse, etc.) via mythweb. Don't take my word for it, just go to www.mythtv.org and check it out. It is by far the best open source PVR at the moment and is very mature.
Check out: http://www.xmfan.com for info on the XMPCR digital mods.
When there are lots of free alternatives out there which use Linux and bring you all the features of your PC such as DVD burners and internet access and RAID arrays of 120GB HDs for plenty of recording. (Damn Discovery Science Channel and History International and...)
I personally feel TiVO is a dead company as it's idea was great but can be offered with nearly as many options and more if you are Code/Script inclined. So look for cheap 400Mhz system to start on and enjoy personalized TV in most countries.
Translation for the Technically Challenged(MBA): Liquidate TIVO from your portfolio.
-1 Overrated (Too many big words for me to comprehend)
As davejenkins pointed out (although I think he mean to be sarcastic) there are the good (?) and (definately) old tapes. Ten years abou I had a stereo rach with twin tapes and "all the goodies" including a timer to turn on my radio to wake me up. if I pushed the standard buttons REC+Play while the thing was off, it would stat recording the radio program when the timer turned on the radio. Very convenient in the cases where I wanted to tape something while I was at school, or at night while I was sleeping. (I just turned down the sound to avoid being waken up.)
I still have it actually, although I have stopped listening to radio very much. It was produced by JVC, by the way.
This message has been ROT-13 encrypted twice for higher security.
yes and no...Broadcasters have realized that it is better to offer day time shows and the news in normal def and offer 6 sub channels over the signal and on special events, offer one channel of HD things like foot ball, prime time television dramas, etc.
who the hell wants or needs Oprah in high def?
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
the new tivo services will most likely be accompanied by a new software version. the current tivo "ripping" techniques take advantage of the file system. so unless they change the way they write to disk (invalidating all your prior recordings) you should still be able to "rip" from your tivo after the introduction of the new services.
Buyer beware.
:(
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The TiVo intergrated with DirecTV receivers cannot be used in a HMO confguration. I didn't find this out until after I signed a contract.
Fucking USB port isn't even powered.
TiVo is better than a DVD recorder, but there is also Sky+ as an option. Here's a good article describing the pros & cons http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/article.php3?story_ id=1256§ion=Reviews&slashSess=61591921eb04d744 56a7cec2784f01d2
The main feature that I really like (and you get with Sky+ as well) is that it 'knows' what's on TV. Just a few clicks and it will record all the episodes of your favourite program. Also, it records other things that it thinks you might like.
Sonicblue and it's ReplayTV went out of business a little while ago (due in no small part to being run out of business because of it's controversial "commercial skip" feature).
Microsoft's UltimateTV was also discontinued about 2 years ago.
This leaves just TIVO to do as they wish, with their only competition people privately building Linux (or similar) boxes to do essentially the same thing.
[cynic] We're lucky to be seeing any of these enhancements... [/cynic]
-The Boombox Museum
My patience is infinite, my time is not.
NBC has been doing this for quite a while, well before TiVo came out. The recent change wasn't with the shows, but with their guide data to reflect the reality of the situation. They do this to keep people watching NBC once they start.
Before the guide data was fixed, shows would get cut off because of NBC's screwy primetime timing. TiVo simply codifies the desired result: watching NBC because you (or your TiVo) started watching it.
NBC is an investor in TiVo (which is why you see so many "Thumbs Up To Record" widgets on ads for their shows) so it would seem dumb for them to try and fight it. Not that I would base my argument on the logic of the entertainment industry...
Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
Yes. It works with all digital cable, satellite, standard cable and even just local channels. It uses XMLTV to interface with I believe TVGUIDE (In the states).
Good: it's usually free, and has a fairly decent selection of programs that I am interested in watching. Last season's Curb Your Enthusiasm and Sopranos are examples. Not a huge selection, but enough for me.
Bad: extremely awkward controls, massive pixelation; often ends up that if you even nudge the remote you'll end up back at some random menu that you'll have to go and restart the program from the beginning and fast-forward to where you left off; pause, fast-forward, and rewind don't work very smoothly.
Nutshell: if you're willing to *watch* instead of *control*, then you'll be mostly happy.
I'm not up on the current situation, but isn't the whole point of HD being undercut by broadcasters taking advantage of digital broadcasting to cramm 6 channels into the space of one, thus delivering a very inferior image
...) standard. It has 18 different modes, ranging from 480i (480 lines of vertical resolution, interlaced) to 720p and 1080i (p = progressive/non-interlaced; which is better depends on what you need. The 1080i has a higher resolution, but 720p is better for fast moving action). The maximum broadcast rate is 21 Mbps, which you can use for one program or multiple programs. The bitstream is MPEG2 encoded with Dolby Digital (aka AC3 or DD) audio. Note that DD is a requirement -- no other sound encodings are allowed by the spec. For reference, DVDs are MPEG2 encoded video with a variety of audio options (dolby digital is required, but DTS is on many disks as well; DTS is usually recorded at a higher bitrate, so some people prefer it).
Aiieeee!
No, you're quite thoroughly confused. But that's because the ATSC standard is confusing.
ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) replaces the current NTSC (National
All of that said, how much they can fit into a single "channel" depends on how much compression is used. Thus far nobody has really tried the multiple channels on one station gambit, although it is allowed. Even if it is done, odds are that you'll have a much better picture than what you get off cable (digital or analog) or either of the sat systems (although DirecTV is allegedly going to change this -- with their new sats going up later this year they'll have tons of bandwidth, and there are rumors that they'll bump picture quality back up to mid-90s levels). Realistically, both cable and sat systems broadcast their SD (standard def) programs at sub VCR quality nowadays -- roughly 240i. Yes, it really is that piss poor. On small sets you generally don't notice. On big ones you do. The digital broadcasts are cleaner (less static, no ghosting, etc) than the analog ones, but are prone to macro blocking if the bitrate is too low.
Broadcasting in 480i or 480p is generally considered "DTV" (digital TV). Broadcasting in 720p or 1080i is considered HDTV (High Def TV). True HDTV is considerably more detailed and clear than anything you'll get out of current generation DVD players (the next generation HD DVD will be another story of course).
So, when they say HD-PVR, what kind of compression are we talking about?
Whatever the broadcaster has done. The HD DirecTiVo will do no compression of its own -- it simply writes the bitstreams directly to disk.
DirecTV Tivos don't have to worry about any of this stuff. Currently, they're a major version behind in software, don't support HMO, and have their USB ports (which is where you'd plug a network adapter) disabled.
DirecTV is PARANOID that opening up their tivos like all the rest of them is going to result in rampant digital copying, and networks packing up and leaving.
So you're not missing out on anything-- DirecTV won't have it anyway. Just the standalone tivos.
The DirecTV receivers with TiVo includes TWO tuners so this is not a problem at all for those models. It's a really nice feature of these receivers. Not sure why only DirecTV customers can use them. d
Tivo 4.0 (including support for wireless USB cards) actually works on Series 2 DirectTivo's.
See the dealdatabase forums for more details.
My HDVR2 now runs Tivo 4.0 with no problems, and I have a wireless USB adapter connected to Tivo that it uses for downloads.
Yes you can. There's a 'play to vcr' option that works just fine. This works even with the DirecTivo.
Tivo isn't going to be fighting the DRM war for us. They are hostages to the industry just like we are.
-dB
"It if was easy to do, we'd find someone cheaper than you to do it."
Comcast has this already...I just got a PVR/cable box that has two tuners...so you can record two programs while watching a recorded one, or watch one program while you're recording it plus recording another program. It works pretty well, though not as well as TiVo, but they say you cannot record Video-On-Demand using it.
I use my TiVo with digital cable, and it seems to work out ok, though its true you must tune to the one channel while recording it, or watch something you've already recorded while you're recording something else.
If you have shell access to your tivo, check out this thread for a script that allows you to do negative padding. I use it to start certain recordings late/end them early.