sdc100 wrote:Basically, this Tivo replaces your digital cable box and adds a DVR. You'll need to return your cable box (and remote) and ask them for a cable card (and a special adapter, if necessary. They'll know). The card goes into the Tivo. Any coxial wire that normally went into your cable box would now go into the Tivo. Then activate your Tivo account, set up your wireless connection (a bunch of menus will guide you) and you're good to go. And yes, you will get HD programming.

While you may lose some functions (such as Time Warner's Start Over and OnDeman services), the cablecard will often save you about $5 a month over the box.

Thanks sdc100! I'm guessing TiVo doesn't have anything like OnDemand then? We kinda dig that feature... Now I'm wondering if I should cancel this TiVo deal...hmmm...

badapple702 wrote:Uh oh, Cox has OnDemand. We kinda like that. So we'll lose that w/ TiVo?

Sorry, I've never used OnDemand. I don't know about that or the multi-room set-up. I live in a small apartment, just 1 TV, 1 TiVo. (Having to admit my knowledge is tapped is a sad day indeed.)

Cox Cable told me they had to come out to install the cable cards in my Tivo. Tech came out and couldn't get the cards paired but would not call Tivo for help and gave up. I called Tivo and they gave me instructions on how the tech needed to proceed. Called Cox and explained what happened and they sent another tech out that followed my instructions and it worked. Next month I was billed a customer training charge of 20 bucks on my Cox bill because they had to make a second trip. Cox sux. They also charge four bucks per month for the two cable cards.

badapple702 wrote:Thanks sdc100! I'm guessing TiVo doesn't have anything like OnDemand then? We kinda dig that feature... Now I'm wondering if I should cancel this TiVo deal...hmmm...

You will lose OnDemand services. CableCards don't support the kind of communication you need to order movies or watch archived shows on the OnDemand service.

TiVo does have support for Netflix streaming and Amazon Instant Video as well as Hulu Plus (which is also subscription-based).

badapple702 wrote:Wow, you're pretty in the know! Thanks so much! No way I'll let Cox charge me for a service call!

A few more ?'s:

1. Does the TiVo only work for one tv? I thought I saw someone talking about 'streaming' or something, into another room. Or wait, did you already cover that? (Sorry...)

2. The cable box in question is newer than the one in our bedroom. I can just switch this one out for the older one & give Cox back the older one, right. No, wait, then I'd have to pay for DVR service still, that I might not need if my TiVo works for both rooms, right? (I have an 'old school' rear projection big screen that I'm gonna roll into our master bedroom, and was thinking about putting the newer cable box on it...)

3. Do you *need* a TiVo for each room? I'm guessing if you had more than one, you would be charged multi-service fees, right?

I really look forward to getting my TiVo and referring back to these instructions. I'm sure it'll all go as smooth as glass, so don't be surprised if you hear me call on you again for more advice/tech help. (Hmm, that sounds like a "days of yore" kinda thing, huh? LOL). Thanks again!

You'll need multiple TiVos if you want to stream content from one to another television, although I suppose you could physically carry the TiVo from room-to-room if you wanted.

Later this year, TiVo is expected to release extenders that will do what I think you're looking for (stream to another TV without recording capabilities), but I'm not sure if that's just going to be for the newer TiVo Premiere Elite or all Premieres.

If you have multiple TiVos, you get a discount for having multiples although I admit I don't know exactly how that works if you're activating both multiple TiVos for the first time as a new customer.

jrs1980 wrote:Sorry, I've never used OnDemand. I don't know about that or the multi-room set-up. I live in a small apartment, just 1 TV, 1 TiVo. (Having to admit my knowledge is tapped is a sad day indeed.)

Oh, the humanity! LOL No worries. (While you're up, wouldja please step into the kitchen and grab another soda for me? LOL) Thanks anyhow, it's all good! I'll see what the old man thinks when it gets here, esp. w/ the Netflix streaming option (I already pay for Netflix, so that's cool). If all else fails...fine print option: put it on eBay. Thanks again!

Gowan wrote:You will lose OnDemand services. CableCards don't support the kind of communication you need to order movies or watch archived shows on the OnDemand service.

TiVo does have support for Netflix streaming and Amazon Instant Video as well as Hulu Plus (which is also subscription-based).

Cool. I have Netflix already so we'll see what the old man wants to do when it gets here. Darned "tech crap" I forgot to read. Oh well, life goes on! Thanks for your reply! _

mikegrmi wrote:Cox Cable told me they had to come out to install the cable cards in my Tivo. Tech came out and couldn't get the cards paired but would not call Tivo for help and gave up. I called Tivo and they gave me instructions on how the tech needed to proceed. Called Cox and explained what happened and they sent another tech out that followed my instructions and it worked. Next month I was billed a customer training charge of 20 bucks on my Cox bill because they had to make a second trip. Cox sux. They also charge four bucks per month for the two cable cards.

Darned Cox--always gotta be makin' their buck, huh? I suppose you wouldn't want to share those cable card instal instructions upon my TiVo's arrival, would you please? I will be sure and ask about the fee for the cable card as well. Thanks for your reply!

I have one of these and it works great. Your cable company will probably gripe when you ask them to install a Cablecard, but that's life. It takes several years for the lifetime subscription to pay itself off, but after that you're ahead every month and you have a better box than the crappy one the Cable Company uses.

Plus it gets Hulu, Netflix, and others. The Netflix support is a bit primitive, but it does work.

My only complaint is that the box's interface can be a touch slow at times. Drawing menus and paging around feels slightly more sluggish than it really should be.

Added bonus: If you have an iPhone (and maybe an Android as well?), you can control your Tivo from your phone. This sounds goofy and useless, but I've found it to be surprisingly useful. Usually when someone leaves the TV on and something distracting comes on, I can pause the Tivo to prevent it from being a problem.

You can also pull shows off of your Tivo to play on your computer or transcode them to whatever mobile device you have. Technically they're encrypted, but the decryption key is the unique number of your Tivo and you can find it in a menu, so it's basically pointless.

One final note: The Premier only has 1 cablecard slot in the back, so you need to make sure your Cable Company uses a multistream card. The single stream cards are all old and obsolete now anyway, so don't let them try to pawn them off on you.

badapple702 wrote:Darned Cox--always gotta be makin' their buck, huh? I suppose you wouldn't want to share those cable card instal instructions upon my TiVo's arrival, would you please? I will be sure and ask about the fee for the cable card as well. Thanks for your reply!

It has been a while, but I know the problem is that he was not doing things in the right order. Tivo customer service will quickly talk them through if the tech gives them a call. Maybe your tech will be used to cable cards, where as I don't think mine had ever seen one. Good luck!

Gowan wrote:You don't have to pay monthly. You can buy the box and buy a lifetime subscription and never pay anything again. Buying a lifetime subscription also increases the resalability of the box.

based on my experiences with tivo (i own three working boxes) having lifetime service on any but the very oldest boxes also increases the likelihood of your box crapping out after a few years. :rolleyes:

to be clear, i LOVE tivo, but i won't buy lifetime service again. since i have lifetime on one very old box, however, i do get a great discounted monthly rate.

Wouldn't know what to do with this woot...lol ..I watch less then 3 hours a month of cable tv. Stick to downloaded movies and the local news channel if I watch anything at all. The rest of the time I read books.

mikegrmi wrote:Cox Cable told me they had to come out to install the cable cards in my Tivo. Tech came out and couldn't get the cards paired but would not call Tivo for help and gave up. I called Tivo and they gave me instructions on how the tech needed to proceed. Called Cox and explained what happened and they sent another tech out that followed my instructions and it worked. Next month I was billed a customer training charge of 20 bucks on my Cox bill because they had to make a second trip. Cox sux. They also charge four bucks per month for the two cable cards.

had essentially the same experience with charter, and they also charge $2 per cablecard. i did make a stink about the second trip (and the third) to have the tech get it right, and they removed the charges.

badapple702 wrote:Uh oh, Cox has OnDemand. We kinda like that. So we'll lose that w/ TiVo?

Yep. That's because OnDemand and other similar features rely on memory that is in the cable box. Essentially, the cable box is a mini-computer which downloads programs from the cable company. A CableCARD has no independent memory and is basically just a device that lets you decode info from the your cable provider to be used by the Tivo's tuner. That's why it's cheaper to rent a CableCARD. Read this post I wrote earlier.

mikegrmi wrote:Cox sux.

That sounds kinda dirty...

minichun83 wrote:Ummm. I've worked for Charter and my parents have had Comcast and Astound and every company charged $3/month per cable card.

Comcast does not charge for the first cablecard in a device. See http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/cable-tv/about-cablecards/#cc9

badapple702 wrote:Thanks sdc100! I'm guessing TiVo doesn't have anything like OnDemand then? We kinda dig that feature... Now I'm wondering if I should cancel this TiVo deal...hmmm...

Yeah, as a news archivist, I've come to rely on StartOver and OnDemand so I have the same dilemma as you. My temporary solution is to use a Series 2 Tivo (about 2-3 generations behind this one!) which allows (aka requires) me to use my own digital cable box. Unfortunately, Series 2 Tivos do not record in HD so all my HD programming ends up being SD. But I retain all the features of my cable provider, including OnDemand and StartOver.

Note that I can still watch HD programming live because the cable box is still HD. But I cannot record in HD. So it's a tradeoff.

If you want to go this route, you can get some amazing deals on eBay. For example, last month, I got a Series 2 Tivo with Lifetime Service and wireless adapter for only $105 including s/h. The hard drive was even upgraded from 80gigs to 120gigs, Of note, the thing is about 6 years old, which is somewhat worrisome considering that it runs 24/7. But so far, it's running life a charm. You can't beat having a Lifetime Tivo for $105!

Please read my previous rant about this for more info.

Hi wooters,

I have 1 DVR (no monthly fee) with at&t U-verse and I will like to know, how this Tivo works with at&t U-verse service???

Thank you.

TapatioUSA wrote:Hi wooters,

I have 1 DVR (no monthly fee) with at&t U-verse and I will like to know, how this Tivo works with at&t U-verse service???

Thank you.

It doesn't. U-Verse doesn't use CableCards and is therefore incompatible with TiVo.

TiVo works with digital cable systems and also Verizon FIOS.

http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/300

I wonder if I had the Tivo at my folks house, could I use the Tivo Desktop to copy recorded shows to my PC at my house?

I've owned both the series2 and the series3/HD TiVo lines and frankly, they have made no meaningful improvements except adding half-finished HD support in the better part of a decade. If the simplicity of operation is paramount, then TiVo is still the easiest for the grandparent set. Besides that, it's pretty disappointing, making a mess of most modern cable providers.

Many channels will have significant errors in their reported listings that require careful review several times a week lest important shows be skipped or some rerun marathon get taped as "new" and push out other content.

If you have switched cable (ESPECIALLY Time Warner), expect to miss at least 5% of your shows because the tuner fails to catch (I've logged no fewer than two dozen house-calls trying to keep that fragile setup working). If you lose power for even a second, depending on how many channels you get you may wait up to an hour for the reboot and re-init.

The menus and controls are much too large for HD screens, so you can't see 4-number channel numbers or 4-letter station IDs in most lists. Even worse, cable companies like TWC illegally set the do not transfer/do not stream bit on entire channels so you can't view any recordings elsewhere on your network (these restrictions were only supposed to apply to PayPerView).

In short, TiVo deals terribly with almost any modern cable subscription, and thanks to their locked-down hardware competent programmers (like me) can't fix any of the issues, stripping the device of the community improvements that drive other Linux devices like Android phones.

It's an incredible shame that the other DVR providers manage to make even worse products because TiVo was once innovative and polished. but no competition means no motivation to do anything but sit back and collect user's mandatory monthly fees.

TapatioUSA wrote:Hi wooters,

I have 1 DVR (no monthly fee) with at&t U-verse and I will like to know, how this Tivo works with at&t U-verse service???

Thank you.

The description specifically says that this won't work with U-verse. If you still want Tivo functionality, you'll have to get an older Tivo which doesn't use CableCARDs, i.e. a Series 2. They hook into your provider's cable box like a VCR or DVD recorder. I'm unclear as to why you would want Tivo since you already have a free DVR.

Gowan wrote:It doesn't. U-Verse doesn't use CableCards and is therefore incompatible with TiVo.

TiVo works with digital cable systems and also Verizon FIOS.

http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/300

Thank you !!

Not sure if anybody else addressed this, but Blockbuster streaming is no longer available, at least it isn't on my TiVo HD, and I read on Slickdeals.net that people were getting out of contracts by b*tching that they could no longer get Blockbuster on demand as promised when they purchased the hardware.

nightdesigns wrote:Tivo is offering the same DVR for free with a 2-year commitment at $19.95/month. Much better deal: http://www3.tivo.com/promo/renewedpremiere_0.html

How is that a better deal? After 10 months you've saved $50 and paid this off. ($14.95 a month vs. $19.95 a month) Every year thereafter you are paying $60 more to TIVO than you would through this offer.

novastarj wrote:Let's say I don't have cable. Can I still use this to DVR network television (of course paying the Tivo subscription charge)? And play Netflix/Hulu Plus/Amazon on Demand on my TV?

Thanks!

You can hook up a antennae on air freecasting, assuming you're located someplace that will allow you to get a HD signal. Even better, you can hook up a wired network port for Netflix instant streaming. Wired connections tend to stall and have buffering waits, at least last time I tried, and it's been years. I pulled a cable and haven't looked back. Tivo also has PCware that lets you download and load recordings on a PC.

I have Dish Network. Can I use this TiVo thing or not?
New with DVRs. Never had one. Thanks for your help.
Ehl2828

I got a few questions about this thing.

Can I use it for a tuner only? I do not care about rec or internet stuff on it.

I have a projector unit with no tuner at all. I use over the air only no cable and just watch a few things.

So if I get this thing hook it up and do not use there service will it work as a tuner? I also do not care about the tv guide stuff I got internet for that.

Only reason I am thinking about this is the price.

I have 2 Tivos and they are worlds better than my cable companies DVR. The only thing I wish they had was a favorites list kind of like DirecTV where you hit the down arrow and there you can program 9 quick jump positions.

My largest complaint is that you can not access Amazon Prime Instant Videos. You can send purchased/rented movies to the box but you can't access the streaming library which is a major pain.

ehl2828 wrote:I have Dish Network. Can I use this TiVo thing or not?
New with DVRs. Never had one. Thanks for your help.
Ehl2828

No you can not. Tivo makes a special one for DirecTV but this will only work with Cable since it needs a cablecard to work.

Zapp Brannigan wrote:No you can not. Tivo makes a special one for DirecTV but this will only work with Cable since it needs a cablecard to work.

Thanks! Well I guess I will go back to sleep. Have always wanted one of these things but guess it won't be this one. Thanks for your help.

Gowan wrote:You don't have to pay monthly. You can buy the box and buy a lifetime subscription and never pay anything again. Buying a lifetime subscription also increases the resalability of the box.

How do you buy a lifetime subscription? Didn't TiVo stop selling those?

Gowan wrote:You will lose OnDemand services. CableCards don't support the kind of communication you need to order movies or watch archived shows on the OnDemand service.

This is now wrong, btw. TiVo is in the process of rolling out support for Xfinity OnDemand, it started working on my TiVo this week (I live in the SF Bay Area), and this ONLY works on TiVo Premiere units (not older models, including the TiVo HD)

source: http://www3.tivo.com/products/source/cable/tivo-comcast/index.html

snowire wrote:This is now wrong, btw. TiVo is in the process of rolling out support for Xfinity OnDemand, it started working on my TiVo this week (I live in the SF Bay Area), and this ONLY works on TiVo Premiere units (not older models, including the TiVo HD)

source: http://www3.tivo.com/products/source/cable/tivo-comcast/index.html

He specifically said he had Cox Cable, so I saved him the additional information. In a previous post, I did mention that it had rolled out on Xfinity in SF and that Boston is next.

I use a WD Tivo Expander Drive (1TB) on my Tivo HD. However, I think they are out of stock. Weak Knees is a company that specializes in modifying Tivo systems and sell a DIY kit or can do it for you.

sdc100 wrote:Yep. That's because OnDemand and other similar features rely on memory that is in the cable box. Essentially, the cable box is a mini-computer which downloads programs from the cable company. A CableCARD has no independent memory and is basically just a device that lets you decode info from the your cable provider to be used by the Tivo's tuner. That's why it's cheaper to rent a CableCARD. Read this post I wrote earlier.

This is BS the Cable DVR is not a "mini-computer which downloads" anything. All programming is streamed mostly in MPEG2 and has nothing to do with "memory" The Cable DVR is a 2-way capable device and the TiVo is a one-way device UDCP to be exact.

As others have pointed out Comcast Xfinity OnDemand is now live on TiVo in SF CA, and soon nationwide.

There was an OTA update earlier this year that made the guide HD and enabled the second core on the unit. Although performance has improved, I wouldn't necessarily say navigating the menus is a speedy task. At the very least, they added a load icon (green circle) to at least let you know the box is working.

[quote="Toddme"]I wonder if I had the Tivo at my folks house, could I use the Tivo Desktop to copy recorded shows to my PC at my house?
[/quote]

Yes, but I would recommend kmttg for this task instead of the TiVo desktop software. It is faster and easier to use.

Cheapest deal is by antenna and Windows Media Center and a TV tuner card in your PC. There are also TV tuners you can plug into a USB port.

Over the air digital signal provides excellent video/audio quality. Storage capacity limited only by size of your hard drive(s).

Peter H
Tucson, Arizona

For those of you that are antenna only, here's another option.
$339, no subscription. Works basically like your old VCRs, with timed recordings (although slightly better, it has a TV guide you can use to schedule recordings, and you can watch shows while they're recording. And two tuners...)

http://www.channelmasterstore.com/HD_DVR_receiver_for_antenna_p/cm-7000pal.htm