Tivo

TheOldMole
Nov 30 2006 10:42 PM

Somebody explain it to me, from the bottom up.

Where do you get it?

What's the best deal?

How easy is it to work?

metirish
Nov 30 2006 10:56 PM

I think Yancy is the man to answer that question..

TheOldMole
Nov 30 2006 11:58 PM

So...Yancy?

metirish
Dec 01 2006 12:25 AM

Yancy is on vacation in Japan...should be back soon...I think KC has Tivo....

metsmarathon
Dec 01 2006 09:33 AM

i have both TiVo and DirecTV-o

in our old apartment, we had cablevision, and got a TiVo to go along with it. we loved "Bob" our tivo box. but then when we moved into our new house, we realized that we had left cablevision country, and would have either our cable serviced by Service Electric - the original cable tv company, but i've not heard good things about them - or go with DirecTV.

before i moved into the apartment, i had directv, and liked it better than cable. and it was a better buy than our local cable company offered.

so we decided to go with the directv receivers with the built-in DVRs.

we got two of those, and one regular receiver that is hooked up to bob.

the tivo interface is so superior to what directv offers, it isnt even funny. it is far more intuitive to record a show, or record a series on tivo, than on the directv receivers - which requires menus and submenus be gone through before you get to the record series option.

my other huge gripe, and this is really, really, really big a gripe - when you fast forward on tivo, it jumps back, i think sometimes to the last blank screen, or (maybe its relative to the fast forward speed?), to the thing that you saw flash by that probably triggered your brain to say "press play"

on the directv box, there is no such intelligence. its very much like your old VCR, where by the time you see what you're looking for on fast forward, you've already passed it, and now have to rewind to get it. rewind works the same way, too, so you'll inevitably pass it again and again and again.

i think the difference between tivo and at least the directv box is akin to the difference between an ipod and other mp3 players. if you've never had an ipod, you're probably ok with how your mp3 player works. but once you get used to that super-easy to use ipod, everything else is just plain frustrating.

when we got the tivo, we paid the lump sum, instead of the monthly fee. if you keep it for a year, or so, you break even, so its worth the initial hit.

tivo (and its ilk) has increased the amount of tv that i watch, but has dramatically reduced the amount of commercials i watch. its amazing how much you fast forward in the course of an hourlong program like lost! but it is really great for sporting events. think of endy's catch, and that you no longer have to wait for the guys on fox to get around to showing the replay. (fox doesn't show replays nearly as much as SNY!) its also very good for bathroom breaks and not missing any action. you can pause the game, and if you fast forward judiciously through the huddles, time outs, or the batting glove adjustments, you can catch up remarkably fast.

also, if you get a two tuner model, you can actually sample some shows that maybe you wouldnt ordinarily get a chance to, because you're already watching something on another channel. it lets you, say, watch both smallville AND my name is earl

TheOldMole
Dec 01 2006 11:05 AM

OK, venturing in the the territory of both My Name is Mole and Stupidville -- you got the TiVo box from your cable company? Is that where one goes to get them? Time Warner, in my case? Or do I go to Best Buy and buy one? Or order it from some place over the internet?

metsmarathon
Dec 01 2006 02:04 PM

right. i realized that that was the missing piece to the puzzle. tivo's should be available at major retail electronics stores. they are not tied to any specific cable or satellite service provider, and should work with almost any cable box, satellite receiver, or antenna - they fit in about the same way as a vcr does.

the one caveat is, if you have HD, you'll have to get a super-duper expensive HD TIVO in order to watch and record in HD. otherwise, tivo'll compress the image and it'd basically look the same as regular tv does on tivo.

Farmer Ted
Dec 01 2006 07:45 PM

I use a DVR from the caable company. I like it. Rewind, pause, record. I find myself lost when at a hotel and can't do the same stuff.

KC
Dec 01 2006 08:36 PM

I don't have Tivo, metirish. I have Devo if anyone wants to hear about that.

metirish
Dec 01 2006 08:52 PM

Never even heard of Devo KC...do tell.

ScarletKnight41
Dec 01 2006 09:14 PM

metirish wrote:
Never even heard of Devo KC...do tell.

This was probably their biggest hit -

metirish
Dec 01 2006 09:16 PM

LOL...ahh ok...KC got me...fucker....good one ya bollox....