Tivo questions
 

I think I'm going to get a Tivo, but have a few questions. I'm such as tech noob.

1) Is it good for taping sports? Can I start watching something before it's done taping? It won't stop before the game is off will it?

2) If I get the lifetime contract, and tivo breaks or I upgrade, do I have to pay again for the contract?

3) Is it easy to transfer to pc and burn shows on dvd? Do I really need the program (Roxio, I think) that they say I need?

Thanks for any help.

Re: Tivo questions
 

If a sporting event runs over the alloted time, it won't automatically keep recording. You would have to pad the recording to make sure it doesn't cut off.

Yes, you can watch an already recorded program while it is recording something else. If you have the 2 tuners hooked up, you can watch one thing live while recording another program.

Not sure about 2 and 3.

Re: Tivo questions
 

I don't know about 3, but the lifetime deal is the lifetime of the box. If the box dies, you're on the hook again.

Re: Tivo questions
 

I've had the original Tivo for close to 10 years. It's still going strong. Occasionally, Tivo e-mails me an offer to transfer my lifetime subscription (for a discounted fee) to a newer model if I buy a newer model. If they offer it to me again, I might do it and buy their super deluxe HD unit.

Re: Tivo questions
 

Absolutely! You can pad your shows, too, so for NFL Football for instance, I have a season pass to get every game, and I pad the games by 1 hour, so if it runs late, I don't miss anything. Then what I do is start watching the game an hour after it started. I zip through all commercials and end about the same time as the game does in real time. Of course, you can watch it any time you want if you just want to save it. You'll especially love being able to do your own instant replays and camera freezes.

The TiVo lifetime contract is bound to the unit. Only once or twice over the MANY years have they let users move the lifetime contract to a new unit, and usually then it still costs quite a bit.

But here's the good news: if you know anything about tinkering with electronics, even if it breaks, it's no biggie. 99% of the time what breaks on a Tivo is the hard drive. So you go out get a new hard drive, reinstall the software and your lifetime is still good. That said, I'm still running a Tivo I got about 7 years ago on its original drive. They last a long time, just fine.

Transferring to a PC or another TiVo in your house is a piece of cake. Burning to DVD does require their program OR a simple program (Google it) that strips the .tivo file of its encryption into a regular mp4. Then you can put it on DVD with any program of your choice.

This is the forum you want, my friend. :)

Re: Tivo questions
 

Thanks for the link and thanks for the help guys.

By the way, I thought I posted this in the tech forum. My bad.

Re: Tivo questions
 

When you program it to record a game the Tivo TELLS YOU that your recording a live event and would you like to pad it an hour?

And transfering is easy but its in a .Tivo format so you have to convert (or maybe just change the extention type)

Re: Tivo questions
 

1- Yes. You can set it to record longer if you want to.
2-not sure
3-There is a free program provided by Tivo called Tivo desktop. You can transfer recordings to your PC from the Tivo then use a program (I use Tivo decoder) to "unwrap" the file to MPEG. Then you can use Nero Vision Express or ConvertxtoDVD to encode it.

Re: Tivo questions
 

nope, you have to convert.

Re: Tivo questions
 

If you are comfortable with playing with software and networking, there are also several free software options that work with the Tivo.

These are probably the top three...you can read more here.

For example KMTTG is a replacement for Tivo Desktop. It allows multiple transfers along with the ability to have it automatically encode .tivo files into a different format. It also has various folder options and some features Tivo Desktop should have included such as commercial skip during encoding.

Streambaby allows you to stream most music and videos to the Tivo similar to TVersity on the 360/PS3.

Pytivo allows you to setup shares where you can access other video formats and also push those to the Tivo so you don't have to stream them.

As much as I love my Tivos which I have 2 Tivo HDs with lifetime, I am starting to feel even more that they are behind the times. As a result I have toyed around with a new idea.

I am in the process of building a Windows 7 Media Center DVR. Now I will only be able to record local channels but then I can still use the Tivo for cable channels and movies. The advantage with the Win 7MC is I can use the 360 as an extender for remote viewing and playback along with slapping in an additional harddrive if I get low on space. It has an even bigger benefit no subscription fees and the only cost to me was $60 for a dual tuner that supports OTA and QAM. Now in a month I may realize I am better off buying a third Tivo but for the price to try you can't beat it. Worst case it will serve as a backup for recording local channels until I get around to upgrading the drives in the Tivo HDs.

Re: Tivo questions
 

are you telling me i can stream video files to the tivo from my PC ? I thought Tivo was unable to play avi files.

Re: Tivo questions
 

Streambaby handles the encoding on the fly just like TVersity when the device can't handle the format. I believe it handles AVI. I know it does handle a bunch of formats. You can find a 47 page thread on it here or you can download it here to try. It will show up under Music, Photos, and Showcases.

Re: Tivo questions
 

that's pretty cool i might try it. I already have xbmc on xbox which handles everything but HD files so this might be good for mkv and h264 files. thanks.

Re: Tivo questions
 

As far as the HD formats since it transcodes on the fly, the question will be can your processor handle it. Some people report problems since ffmpeg ends up maxing the CPU especially when handling 2 hour movies in 1080P. As a result you end up catching up to the stream.

Re: Tivo questions
 

i've never seen an mkv file or h264 file that was 1080p, only 720p. Would that matter?

Re: Tivo questions
 

Not that I know of, if it is in 720p it will be easier to transcode than 1080p but it will still matter about your computer specs of course. I did a quick search on MKV in the Pytivo folder and someone was saying their transfer took like 15 hours but it was a 2 hour movie with AC3 and 1080P. Also with Pytivo it is so you can store it on the Tivo versus trying to stream it.

from here

Re: Tivo questions
 

Does Tivo even offer the lifetime subscription anymore? It was my understanding they did away with it 2-3 years ago.

Re: Tivo questions
 

Last time I logged into my account at Tivo (which was just a few days ago), It was like $300 or $400 on top of the price of the unit.

Re: Tivo questions
 

I just got TivoHD a year ago with a lifetime subscription for $700.

Re: Tivo questions
 

Yeah they do. They stopped for a while but demand for it brought it back. Right now the best deal if you can find it is to buy a Tivo HD from Sears. They have them on clearance for 150 or less depending on the store. Most stores are out now though but still worth checking. You can check online for stock though it isn't always accurate. Amazon has had them around 229 off and on. Other than the Sears deal the best deal lately was the Father's day special where it was $500 for a lifetime Tivo HD direct from Tivo.

For your primary box the lifetime costs 399 which is basically equal to about 36 months of service which runs 12.99 a month or 129 a year. On a second box it runs 299 or 9.99 a month or 99 for the year. You can also buy lifetime from people on ebay. What they do is activate a new Tivo on their account with the 299 option and then you transfer it to your account which gets you the 299 price even though it is your first Tivo.

Lifetime is good and bad. They tend to hold value since you can always resell them. At the same time you can't transfer lifetime to a new box except in specific circumstances such as a warranty replacement or if Tivo offers a deal to transfer lifetime to a new model which is usually a limited window with an extra fee. As a result if you are someone who always has to have the latest tech it may not be for you especially since the Tivo HD has been out for a while and we may be due for a series 4 in 2010. No word yet though on if there is one in the works or what it might offer above the series 3/Tivo HD.

Re: Tivo questions
 

I wish they would have offered a lifetime subscription when I bought my TivoHD about two years ago.