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October 30, 2004

Pioneer vs. Stand Alone DVR

I have the Pioneer combo unit and am having trouble burning DVDs of movies I have been recording. Would it have been better to buy a stand alone DVR burner? Also, with TivoToGo, will I be able to burn HBO movies, etc. on to a DVD?
-- Erin

October 30, 2004 in DVD | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

October 29, 2004

Dish DVR USB Connection

My Dish 500 system with DVR has a USB port on the back. Can this connection be used to transfer recorded programs to a computer, and if so, how can this be done?
-- Mike H

October 29, 2004 in Dish Network | Permalink | Answers (75) | TrackBack

October 28, 2004

Cox DVRs VS everyone else?

I am looking to get into Digital Cable and also in to a DVR solution as well. Since my cable company is Cox Communications and they offer a Digital Cable Box/DVR for $6 more a month, I am wondering if this is really worth it, or should I just get a digital box and build a PVR, or get a digital box and but a PVR?
-- ZWarrior

October 28, 2004 in DVR | Permalink | Answers (30) | TrackBack

October 27, 2004

Combo TIVO/DVRs

Two questions: With Tivo to go, why would anyone need a unit that burns? Why not transfer everthing from a regular Series 2 to PC, then burn from there?

Second, I understand that these combo units will only burn what's recorded on that specific box, ie you can't tranfer stuff via HMO and burn it, and you can't even plug the combo unit into another SA unit and burn. What is the solution? Buying two combo units?
-- Jerry

October 27, 2004 in DVD, series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

HDTV-enabled TiVo?

I know that the current Series 2 TiVos don't current support HDTV (although DirectTV has an HDTV-enabled version for its subscribers). Have there been any hints about if and when TiVo would launch standalone TiVo units that support over-the-air HDTV, or HDTV over cable? I'm trying to decide to upgrade from Series 1 to Series 2 to get TivoToGo features, or hold off. I'm hoping for an HDTV TiVo that would work well as the tuner for an HDTV plasma display. From my limited understanding of HDTV, it seems like such a box should not be terribly difficult from a technical perspective -- since the HDTV feed is already digital, it should be easier to save than an analog signal that has to be converted to MPEG. The only big limitation is extra hard drive space. It also seems rather obvious that TiVo will have one eventually.
-- Robert Jacobson

October 27, 2004 in series 2, TiVo, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack

Subscription free PVR?

I have been looking for months trying to find a PVR/DVR that does not require you to pay a monthly fee. I don't want or need the features that Tivo or Replaytv offer. The only one I found that looks any good is the RCA DCR-7005n. Unforunately, this unit is no longer in production and has several firmware issues. So that's out. So my question is, is there anything out there that is just a bare-bones PVR, with perhaps the free GemStar guide? Are there any new PVRs coming to the market anytime soon?
-- Ted

October 27, 2004 in DVR | Permalink | Answers (6) | TrackBack

October 26, 2004

Which Wireless g adapter for a new tivo?

I just bought the Humax model to add to my older series 2 and my Dlink DI624 gateway. I would like to link them wirelessly. I see the solutions on the board for g adapters. Is there a list of adapters to stay away from? I see the list on Tivo.com but I assume that it is far from complete. What is the most elegant g solution and/or most inexpensive (in case Tivo allows USB 2.0)
-- David

October 26, 2004 in Networking, series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack

October 22, 2004

Just want to pause live tv

I've been looking at Tivo and Replay - all the fancy features are nice. But for me what it really comes down to is the ability to pause live tv in order to time delay and then fast forward through commercials. I would rather avoid the monthly fees and just get a basic box that can record ala VCR style to a hard drive and then be able to start watching while it's recording. Does such a product exist??
-- Pat

October 22, 2004 in DVR | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

October 21, 2004

Burning DVDs from Directv DVRs

I have a Directv DVR with Tivo and am wondering how to best interface it with my Pany DMR-E60 DVD burner? Any thoughts?
-- Tim Cameron

October 21, 2004 in DirecTiVo, DVD, Home Theater | Permalink | Answers (1) | TrackBack

Networking a TiVo

Anyone know how to connect the tivo to the internet via computer? My computer is connected to a broadband wireless network. I've got a crossover ethernet wire to connect my computer to the tivo, now I just need to figure out how to get the Tivo to find the internet. Essentially I am trying to turn my computer into a router that Tivo can work with, but have had no luck. Any ideas?
-- Stephen Stefanini

October 21, 2004 in Networking, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (7) | TrackBack

DirecTV Tivo Tricks

Is there anything I can do with a DirecTV Tivo box? Hacks? Ways to get home media option? Anything at all? Or am I just out of luck. I'd love to have some additional functionality if it exists.
-- Bob

October 21, 2004 in DirecTiVo, Hacks | Permalink | Answers (2) | TrackBack

October 20, 2004

Purchasing a ReplayTV

I have just purchased a ReplayTV and just wondered about the state of the product. I know the previous company that owned it went bellly-up. Are the new owners fully behind the product? Are there any rumblings of Replays being obselete in the near future?
-- Brian Middleton

October 20, 2004 in ReplayTV | Permalink | Answers (2) | TrackBack

Video Playback Device

I am looking for a device that will playback television shows I have archived on my computer. I had hoped to be able to do this with TivoToGo but that seems unlikely at this point. The two likeliest devices I have seen are the PRISMIQ MediaPlayer and the D-Link MediaLoung DSM-320 Wireless Media Player. Which one of these is the best choice, or is it something else I have missed?
-- Michael Pate

October 20, 2004 in Home Theater PC | Permalink | Answers (6) | TrackBack

DVD Recorders

I'm considering purchasing a PVR (without TiVO since I live in Canada). Looking at the Pioneer DVR 520 HS and I have what may be a stupid question. Can you record a program from one channel while watching a program from a different channel at the same time. In all my research on it I feel like I saw something somewhere that implied you couldn't. Thanks!
-- John

October 20, 2004 in DVD | Permalink | Answers (1) | TrackBack

October 19, 2004

TiVo in Canada?

What's the status on TiVo being available in Canada? Any news on that? I'm sure there are THOUSANDS of Canadians who would love something like this (and ARE waiting for it!)
-- Gary

October 19, 2004 in TiVo | Permalink | Answers (9) | TrackBack

Upgrade Pioneer DVR-5100H

I Have a Pioneer DVR-5100H. Can I Change the 80 Gb Hard Disk for other like 100 Gb, 160 Gb...?
-- Javier

October 19, 2004 in DVD, Hacks, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

DirecTV Tivo with Recordable DVD

Has there been any talk of a DirecTV reciever that has tivo and a recordable DVD all in one package.
-- josh

October 19, 2004 in DirecTiVo, DVD | Permalink | Answers (6) | TrackBack

October 18, 2004

UPnP Media Servers

After a bit of research, I've discovered that many of the hardware media players use Universal Plug and Play to access their servers. The server software they provide is just an implementation of UPnP. After using GB-PVR for awhile, I have a library of media I would like to share throughout the house. These devices are pretty cheap, and I have found some media server softwares like TwonkyVision that can act as the hub for them. How well do these work? Are there any other alternatives?
-- dirtboy

October 18, 2004 in Home Theater | Permalink | Answers (2) | TrackBack

October 15, 2004

Best PVR PC Package?

I'm looking to tape television, and radio (AM and FM) onto my PC and later burn a VCD or DVD of the interviews/shows. I'd also like to be able to capture stills from the video too. What would give me the best quality video and still captures if I'm using a PC.
-- Cyrus

October 15, 2004 in Home Theater PC | Permalink | Answers (1) | TrackBack

More on a True HDTV HTPC

I looked a little more into the 'WinTV-HD' from Hauppauge, and happened to find something else that might fit the need. This card, the WinTV-NEXUS-s, is a digital satellite receiver for the PC however, their site is somewhat lacking in details of how exactly this would hook up to my sat, and how it would be able to decode the channels I've subscribed to...

I've also managed to find another card, the 'TwinhanDTV Sat-CI'. This sat card also supports the use of CAMs (Conditional Access Module) in order to give you access to your subscribed channels!

What I'm not sure about (because it doesn't come right out and specifically say it and I'm not entirely sure what else to look for) is whether or not this supports decoding the HDTV stations and if it will decode them in HDTV format. I like the looks of this card, but I need for it to be able to support HDTV and digital 5.1+ audio signals for it to be worth the investment.

If anyone has any information on this, it would be most appreciated!
-- Gavin Ostlund

October 15, 2004 in Home Theater PC, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (7) | TrackBack

October 14, 2004

HD DVR options for Cable Customers?

The vast majority of america's tech community has the same question: I am a cable customer today, and want to use HD services from the cable company WITH DVR capabilities. What can I do?

Details: Comcast keeps delaying their own Motorolla DVR boxes, and the early units are getting poor reviews. Tivo hasn't (won't?) come out with an "open format" HD DVR to plug into the back of a cable box. Panasonic, Sony, and a bunch of small vendors are pitching HD DVR's (many with MSFT's new Media Center OS), but it's unclear if the cable companies block all, some, or none of these from supporting HD recording?

I'm in the middle of a massive home media center upgrade, and am totally frozen right now because of this -- I don't want to switch to Direct TV because they don't have local HD signals, Comcast isn't going to solve this soon because their DVR isn't close to TIVO quality, and the open format strong brand-name HD DVR's don't seem to work with cable. What is my best option?
-- Byron Deeter

October 14, 2004 in Comcast, DVR, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (10) | TrackBack

RAM Upgrade For Series 2 DirecTiVo?

I added a second disk to my Hughes HDVR2, bringing it up to 160 hours of record time. The good news is I don't have to worry about space anymore. The bad news is that many functions got really slow, to the point where I dread using them.

Being a Unix geek, I'm reasonably sure that adding RAM will speed things up, at least somewhat. (Buffer cache is your friend.) However, I can't find anybody that sells RAM upgrades for DirecTiVos.

Is there a commercial outfit that will sell me a RAM upgrade? Or some reasonably straightforward instructions for doing it myself? I don't recall having seen DIMM slots when I installed my drive, and I'm hesitant to go soldering myself....
-- mkb

October 14, 2004 in Hacks, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

TiVO to MythTV?

I have a TiVO Series 2 that I've already upgraded with a second Hard Drive and that has a lifetime subscription. However, all the machines at home run Linux, which means I can't take advantage of putting my home videos or photos or music collection on the TiVO (since it seems to require their desktop product that only runs on Windows).

Is it possible to convert my TiVO unit to run the MythTV software instead?
-- Ewan G

October 14, 2004 in MythTV, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (8) | TrackBack

October 13, 2004

Dish DVR vs. DirecTiVo

My parents are thinking of switching from their current setup of a Replay on one TV and a Dish DVR on the other to two dual tuner DirecTiVos. He would have to break the Dish contract at ~$250, but could also just move to an additional Dish DVR for $50 and drop the Replay.

Is it worth it? And he can't get a straight answer from Dish about their dual tuner DVR. Are they available now?
-- Scott

October 13, 2004 in DirecTiVo, Dish Network | Permalink | Answers (5) | TrackBack

ebaying a DirecTivo. Does the access card need to go with it?

I am selling my DirecTivo (Hughes HDVR2). I have it up on ebay now and I got a question from a potential buyer about if the access card comes with it? Why would I want to keep the access card? I have already used the card for myself. Can it be sold as part of the Tivo or should I keep it?
-- Boyd

October 13, 2004 in DirecTiVo | Permalink | Answers (2) | TrackBack

DirecTV receiver w/ Series2?

Can I connect an existing DirecTV receiver to a standalone Series2 Tivio (not DirecTivo) - without any loss of features?
-- matt

October 13, 2004 in DirecTiVo, series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

DirecTivo Home Networking - Any hope?

Does anybody thing there is any hope of DirecTivo offering home networking anytime in the future? What reason do they have for disabling it?
-- Steve

October 13, 2004 in DirecTiVo, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (2) | TrackBack

A True HDTV HTPC

I am trying to setup a "True HDTV HTPC" with HTDV signal in from a satellite receiver (via component video) and HDTV output to a Sony Wega HDTV (via DVI). Every part of the project is ready to go, except for the video capture. I've looked far and wide for a capture card meeting the simple need for accepting component video input. At least I would have assumed it would be a simple thing with all the cool HDTV tuner cards out there... My question being, does anyone know of a capture card that will capture from component video source?
-- Gavin Ostlund

October 13, 2004 in Home Theater PC, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (67) | TrackBack

Upgrade my old Tivo?

I have an ancient series 1 Tivo. It does the job just fine, with an upgraded drive of course. Now I see that you can get series 2 Tivos for $100 or so at Best Buy. Should I upgrade? Why or why not?
-- Smackfu

October 13, 2004 in series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (5) | TrackBack

Quality of HDTV Xvids on XBMC?

I am thinking of getting an XBox just to get XBMC up and running. The XBMC FAQ and pretty much anything I've managed to google, say that XBMC can pipe out HDTV-quality picture only theoretically and that in practice the base XBox CPU is far too slow to decode an HDTV stream without jitter and dropped frames. Well, my question is this to those of you out there that do have XBMC installed: I don't get care about receiving HDTV itself, but I do download HDTV files from the 'net that are encoded in Xvid, DivX, etc. Does XBMC choke on those as well, or do they display OK?
-- costas

October 13, 2004 in media servers, Xbox | Permalink | Answers (19) | TrackBack

Upgrading a new Tivo

My first Tivo is on it's way. If I'm thinking of upgrading the hard drive at some point, is there a significant advantage to do so right out of the box?
-- Ryan Schroeder

October 13, 2004 in series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (12) | TrackBack

October 12, 2004

PC-Less Dual Layer DVD Burners

I'd like to archive TV shows via DVD to send to a sibling serving in the Navy in the Persian Gulf. This new Sony Dual Layer DVD Recorder looks like a simple clean way to burn DVDs of shows I've recorded on my HDTivo. Are there alternatives to the new Sony device?
-- Bill

October 12, 2004 in DirecTiVo, DVD, Home Theater | Permalink | Answers (2) | TrackBack

Tivo and Wireless

What's the best option for connecting a series 2 my Airport Network?
-- Ryan Schroeder

October 12, 2004 in Networking, series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (7) | TrackBack

Internet Connected PVRs?

I'm looking to publish video via the internet to peoples' TVs. Akimbo has a process for doing this as does dave.tv. Does anyone know of how to publish video over the internet that Tivo users can download and subscribe to, or if there are other internet connected set tops ?
-- freeman murray

October 12, 2004 in Home Theater, Networking, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

October 11, 2004

Connected DVD Players

Whatever became of the connected/wireless DVD players announced in January from Linksys and D-Link? Did these products get abandoned? I thought that these devices would be the most likely to get the wireless side of the equation right which seems pretty important if you want to stream video over a wireless network.

In the absence of those devices, is the Gateway Connected DVD player the best of the crop (vs. GoVideo, etc.) for streaming video over a 802.11g network?
-- Ryan

October 11, 2004 in Home Theater, media servers, Networking | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

Any UltimateTV hacks?

Do you have hacks for Ultimate TV users? Or should I abandon this format for replayTV or TIVO?

-- JD (A satisfied UTV user)

October 11, 2004 in Hacks, Ultimate TV | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack

My Video On TiVo

I just recently got a TiVo Series 2 (I'm an early adopter of some technologies and not of others). I have a variety of video that I have personally shot and, therefore, indisputably own the copyright to. I want to put some of that video onto my TiVo for the kind of easy viewing TiVo seems to have been invented for. In searching the web, I have been unable to find a way. How can I put my video onto TiVo?

-- Tenaya

October 11, 2004 in series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (5) | TrackBack

DirecTivo and wireless?

I have DirectTv and have read that they "cripple" some of the features for their receivers - namely you can't use the wireless adapters. I have no phoneline near my receiver - what's the best option receiver wise for using wifi connectivity?

-- matt

October 11, 2004 in DirecTiVo, Networking | Permalink | Answers (8) | TrackBack

Tivo2Go

Are there any updates on Tivo2Go? Such as when it will be out, how much it will cost, Is it compatible with direcTV Tivo?

-- Josh

October 11, 2004 in series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (9) | TrackBack

October 10, 2004

Tivo in the UK

Ok, so I live in the UK and I love the idea of Tivo. I don't think the hardware is sold here anymore, yet you can get boxes from ebay quite easily.

Tivo UK's FAQ states "...the TiVo service is independent of Thomson and is provided directly by TiVo so all current subscriber and any new subscribers who are able to purchase a unit, will continue to receive and be able to activate the TiVo service as they do now."

So my question/s would be... Is it worth grabbing a second hand Tivo box from ebay and activating the subscription? What kind of support would there be? Is it more worthwhile heading over to Sky+? Or can anyone suggest other possibilities of a Tivo style setup? Oh yeah, if it makes a difference, I run a few macs on an Airport network!

-- Matt Coyne

October 10, 2004 in TiVo, UK | Permalink | Answers (1) | TrackBack

October 09, 2004

PPC Linux Boot CD for Tivo?

So I have no PCs in the house. Thank God! There must be some way to boot up the Tivo with my Mac and perform the typical hacks. In particular start up the shell, install tivoWeb, etc.

What exactly makes the Linux Boot CD for Tivo special? File system support? Partition support? If it's not special in those ways, then it would seem you should be able to hack the Tivo without a PC ever having to touch it.

-- jmathews

October 9, 2004 in Mac, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (3) | TrackBack

Which TiVo has dual input?

I am a Comcast cable user. I'm looking for a TiVo model that can allow me to record one show while watching another. Is there such a thing? Thanks!

-- Michael Murphy

October 9, 2004 in TiVo | Permalink | Answers (24) | TrackBack

TiVo and HD?

I know TiVo doesn't handle HD, but I'm trying to figure out how usable a Series2 TiVo would be for dealing with SD signals on an HD TV.

Using an HD cable box, would I need to put the TiVo on a different tuner than the cable box? Do some cable boxes have multiple video outputs, one which could send the HD signal to the television and one which could send a downconverted signal to the TiVo?

-- Eric Blair

October 9, 2004 in TiVo, TV & HDTV | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack

Getting TiVo recordings onto my laptop

How can I get a TiVo recording onto my laptop, so that I can watch it when I'm not sitting in my living room? I have all this content that I never have time to watch; if I could somehow copy it from TiVo to my Powerbook, I'd have plane rides, downtime at work, and all those other unused moments that could be filled with television-y goodness.

I've got a Series2 TiVo, on broadband and with the Home Media Option, if that helps things.
-- Jason Levine

October 9, 2004 in series 2, TiVo | Permalink | Answers (4) | TrackBack