TIVO Newbie - Help Needed
 

I just got TIVO (dvr) installed on Saturday.
It seems to be recording programs on it's own without me telling it what to record.

Does anyone know why it's doing this and how to stop it from recording programs I don't want ?

Thanks.

Those are "suggestions." They do no harm.

But if you want to turn them off, go to your setup menu and there should be an option to "Turn Off Suggestions" or the like.

Thanks guys !

BTW. The suggestions won't overwrite anything you tell it to record, and sometimes they are pretty good, so you may want to allow it to do it. But you may want to pick a bunch of shows and thumbs up/down them to give it a better idea of what you like.

They may not overwrite anything, but they clog up the machine. If you have limited space, turn it off. If you like the idea of having stuff recommended to you, it is usually very good, provided you use the Thumbs Up/Down feature frequently.

Aren't suggested programs the first ones to be deleted when space runs out, though? So yes, while they do take up space, the machine supposedly won't delete something you chose to record in favor of keeping one when space runs out.

Yes, I mean they just clog up the menu system so you have to wade through the junk to get to it.

You can still view TiVo's suggestions, even if you turn the automatic recording off. I just turn it off, then look through the list every once in a while to see what it suggests.

Not really, since the programs you request are always up top, and suggestions stay at the bottom. One of the things I find most useful about suggestions, is that I can glance at how many shows there are, and it gives me a rough mental picture of how much space I have left on my DVR. Since I tend to record entire seasons of TV shows to watch later, this really helps me out.

That, and my thumbs database actually gives me suggestions I enjoy.

I am basing my experience on an old Series 1 Tivo. They must've changed that w/ the DirecTivos and Series 2s. They used to be all mixed up with the other shows, IIRC.

It only puts the suggestions at the bottom if you have it in Folder view, right? I'd put it into Folder view as it is not the default. Then it puts all the suggestions in a folder called Suggestions.

The thumb thing is kind of lame. There are many shows I give two thumbs to coax the Tivo into recording them (when the show isn't worthy of a season pass or there are too many showings). Tivo never seems to record them though. Some shows with 2 thumbs it records all the time and others never.

BTW, when I first got my Tivo, I was clicking around and clicking the thumbs to figure out what they do. (I didn't read the manual, of course.) I gave thumbs up to whatever was on the screen at the moment which happened to be some religious network. Tivo started recording a bunch of Mother Angelica shows. That's what prompted me to learn more about Suggestions. Good thing for the Thumbs Down button.

Tip: Give 3 thumbs down to "Paid Programming" right away.

I have a Series 1 and a Series 2, and they both default to exactly the same setup. Requests at the top, suggestions at the bottom. The two shall never intermingle.

However, if you change the listing to be alpha instead of by date recorded, then I believe they will mix up.

I never could get used to folder view, so I can't really speak for that one.

But can we all agree, Tivo rawks! :)

Maybe that's where I had the problem. Not by date but by Alpha. I knew I had them intermingling w/ each other. I know I'm not crazy. :lol: