"This pattern is a part of the TiVo Service Broadcast."
 

I am flipping channels and came across the Discovery Channel. They are playing a funky pattern, vertical lines on the left side, large, blocky static on the right, with music in the background. There is a marquee in the middle which is quoted in the subject of this post. A recording repeats saying, "This pattern is a part of the TiVo broadcast. There is nothing wrong with your television."

What the hell is this??? And why is it on the Discovery Channel at 3:00 AM??

Thanks

It did something different. A black screen with the TiVo logo and a mesage saying, "the following progarm is a for Tivo subscribers"

And they it started plaing NFL and now a Best Buy commercials... do TiVos get special commercials or something? This is weird, man.

(I assume these commercials are intended for TiVo users... it said "following" not "preceding")

The last 5-10 minutes are for service downloads on the TiVo. NFL commercials, trailers, and exclusive content. The TiVo receives data information during it's daily telephone call telling it what content is coming and how to organize it. Since it uses a modem, and downloading 5 minutes of video on a weekly basis would take forever, TiVo buys commercial time on the same channel at the same time every week. It records off Discovery.

You're awake at 3:30 in the morning??

So what about people without cable?

People w/o cable don't get the video content. They still get the service downloads; they are just downloaded when the TiVo dials in each night.

FS