My parents have had a TiVo for years. If you watch TV, this is the thing to buy. I don't know anything about pricing though, so you'd have to look into that. But I've never seen a better system. I was still living at home for the first couple of years that they had it. We don't watch television now. It's just way too time consuming for us to do so. But if it fits into your life well then this is probably the best system you can get. You can record shows if you are not home, you can set it to record shows based on actor/actress, genre, title, etc. Sometimes even if you haven't set it to record it will record a show because it thinks it fits in with your preferences. (You can always delete it if it was wrong.) You can check to see if any of your favorite movies are scheduled to play for the week, you can set it to record them if they play and you are not around, you can skip through all commercials (unless you are watching live - but if you leave the room to pee or cook dinner or whatever you can pause the show and when you come back you can fast forward through most or all of the commercials). It's really very convenient. I would only recommend not buying it if you don't watch television or if you have some sort of loan/debt other than a mortgage. American culture is so all about drowning in debt in order to buy unnecessary items. It's quite ridiculous. This is a luxury item. It's very nice, but if you are in debt it is better to live without it. Have fun! :D

jrhusc wrote:One more thing about TiVo: I own one and like it but it is an energy hog. My electricity bill has increased and not dropped down since I put it in. It is in an enclosed base with glass doors, and in a room in which sun comes in.

If it is warm or hot in the room, the unit does not work and the temp inside the base is very high. The TiVo pumps out a lot of heat, and it seems to run all the time. I know it is a hard drive and has to stay cool, but one would think the TiVo designers would figure these sorts of devices are often kept in small enclosed areas or shelves and made allowances in design.

I have to cool the room down and aim a fan at the unit to be able to use it on hot days.

get a coolermaster notebook cooler with an aluminium mesh body and movable fans (newegg for around 20buck-10 if you wait and catch a rebate-if you want it to set level get a block of something for one side(wood is fine you wont see it)-the positive pressure blowing out of the top will reduce dust in the device -suspend a piece of black foam air conditioner filter(washable and reusable) to the bottom of the cooler,and it will keep all the dust out.A $2 AC to USB adapter will power it up for you.This works great and extends the life of any electronics...clean and cool give 10x-100x added to the MTBF.

To help cut the cost of electric turn off the Tivo suggestions then the DVR wont be constantly recording shows 24 hours a day. I can't verify with a kill a watt but I'm sure just the less activity of the HD will make a difference. Thinking of that I need to go and order one of those things.

For anyone looking to use a TiVo for over the air (OTA) TV, 60 miles is doable for an outdoor antenna on the roof or even possibly in the attic. I am 45 miles away from downtown Chicago and 60 miles from Milwaukee and get all OTA channels from both both markets reliably with the following antenna and preamp setup in my attic. (I use two antenna/preamp setups, one for each market).

Antenna: Channel Master 4228HD

Preamp: Channel Master CM7777 Signal Preamplifier

To get started, go to AntennaWeb to see how far you are from the TV towers and what kind of antenna you will need.

This is not that hard to do. It does take a bit of work. If you don't want to mess around in the attic or on the roof, you can find a competent installer that can do this too. With cable bills running $100 a month, it doesn't take long to recover the cost of the equipment and installation.

Besides the cost savings, an added bonus of getting TV from an antenna is the picture quality which is better than cable. On my 60" plasma TV, the image can be jaw dropping.

We need more people watching broadcast TV from an antenna before the FCC takes it away and sells the spectrum to wireless providers.

Nostrom0 wrote:Until the hard drive dies. Then your "lifetime" is over.

This is why you should swap out your hard drive the second you activate your TiVo. It's easy to do, and your original hard drive can be re-inserted and you'll be back up & running.

IcedCorn wrote:LOL. Edited. Thanks. it's 1:20 AM here and I shouldn't be posting. That would be like 40 minutes of HD> LOL

And you are correct on the Elite -- it's cable ONLY.

As you stated, the basic Premiere can do Over The Air

If you look at the picture, there is a jack for a coaxial cable. It does not require CABLE, it requires a DIGITAL signal, not analog. An HD antenna should work fine, you just probably won't get the benefit of the cablecard (i.e. 2 or 4 tuner capability).

I purchased a tivo to replace my Comcast DVR (which was absolutely terrible), and I actually save money using this box (at $20 a month) because I don't have to pay the "HD technology" fee ($10), or an any other equipment fee they can think up. Also, Tivo's interface is excellent. The only thing that I can say is that Tivo sometimes offers the box for free with a 1 year agreement.

KyserSoze wrote:So after I buy this, I'd have to pay more than my cable company charges per month for their dvr, and I'd still have to pay monthly for their cable card. I think I'll pass.

I have one TiVo, one Optimum/Cablevision HD DVR and one "regular" cable box. I was already planning to pay full price for a new TiVo Premier and get lifetime service, because I did the math, and it would cost me about the same as the cable company's DVR, but a TiVo actually WORKS, unlike Cablevision's DVR, which is complete crap and tends to stutter and lose chunks of programming if you rewind or fast forward during a recorded program. I bought my current TiVo in 2010 with 3-year warranty on it, and bought lifetime service, working on the assumption that "lifetime" would be three years at minimum, thanks to the warranty. I bought the TiVo itself with points, so it was only the service that was a cash outlay, and as you'll see below, it definitely saved me money.

I'm currently paying as follows for my cable company's DVR:
DVR service: $10.95
Cable box itself: $6.71
Cable box remote: $0.24
Total (without taxes): $17.90 per month for a DVR that I barely use because the quality is so bad.

Buying a new TiVo Premiere as an existing TiVo customer costs $149.00, with lifetime service for $399.99. Assuming the box lasted for three years, I'd be paying $15.27 per month for the TiVo and service, plus another $2.00 per month for the cable card (Cablevision doesn't offer free cable cards), which is $17.27 per month for a FAR superior device that also allows me to stream Amazon, Netflix, etc.

It was a no-brainer before, and being able to get one for $49.99 (including shipping) via Woot makes the deal even sweeter. (The same refurbished model would cost me $79.99 if purchased from TiVo.) While I won't have a three-year warranty on this one, I am perfectly capable of swapping out parts if necessary once the warranty expires, and having a second TiVo in the house will allow me to shuttle programs from one TiVo to the other, to record more shows and to have a far superior piece of hardware compared to the cable company's DVR. If I can keep the box running for three years, it'll cost me $14.49 (including the cable card) per month.

So let's see...
Cablevision's garbage DVR, cost for three years: $644.40 (plus tax)
Refurbished TiVo Premier, cost for three years: $521.98

I'm in.

lamming wrote:Question: I have a 2002 era TiVo still going strong with lifetime service. Anyone know if I can simply replace it with one of these Wooters, and retain my lifetime service?

A: Alas, lifetime service applies to the box, not your account. You can, at least, try to sell the old box with lifetime service.

---

Crazyhorse86 wrote:I was on support chat with Tivo today asking about expanding storage with external drives. They gave me a list of "compatible drives" for expansion. I cant find any of the drives they listed for sale at the main internet retailers (amazon, new egg, etc). I asked them about it and they said "well you will just have to wait for Tivo to announce new compatible drives".

So, if I buy this box I would like to expand it. Does anyone on here have experience upgrading a drive in the Premiere box (not the older boxes) - either internal or external - and NOT necessarily using a drive Tivo listed as compatible?

A: I just did this a couple months ago and it was really straightforward. I grabbed a WD Elements external 1TB drive and popped out the HDD because it was a better deal than I could find on an internal at the time. Then I just followed the procedure in this helpful thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=455968

Just bought 2 Tivo Premiers on Ebay for twice this price. Best DVR's out there! You can pull shows off other Tivo's that are hooked up too. Has games, Pandora, Hulu, Netflix other programs on it. You get a service discount if you have 2 or more Tivo's.

Nostrom0 wrote:Until the hard drive dies. Then your "lifetime" is over.

This is incorrect. You can replace the hard drive and it will not interfere with your lifetime subscription.

jayhafner wrote:I just finished a chat with Tivo CSR and was told that the cheaper rate for Antenna Only service no longer exists, so you will still pay the $14+/mo

Shoot. Sorry, people.

kwbelt1 wrote:Don't go outside! Just use the esata port to add an external hard drive.

Or drop in a bigger hard drive yourself. There are free software tools that will format a bare drive to TiVo standards. The lifetime subscription is keyed to the motherboard so you could theoretically keep the box alive for as long as you can get new SATA drives.

lamming wrote:Question: I have a 2002 era TiVo still going strong with lifetime service. Anyone know if I can simply replace it with one of these Wooters, and retain my lifetime service?

No, although when my 2004 TiVo's drive died a couple of years ago I called TiVo customer support and they sold me the latest model at the time -- a TiVo HD -- for $200 and transferred the lifetime subscription to the new box.

To keep your older box alive indefinitely, swap in a new hard drive and keep the original as a backup. The lifetime subscription is keyed to the motherboard, not the drive. A 10-year-old model would use an IDE drive so you might have to hunt around to find one. A SATA/IDE adapter might also work but I'm not sure of that.

poohnopster wrote:How exactly does it reduce your cable bill by $85? TIVO charges $14.96 a month, not $10.00. I pay $8 for my DirecTV DVR. Unless you mean you went to OTA only. That's no comparison at all. If I can't get FX, AMC, or the History Channel I might as well give my TV to charity.

I think I pretty clearly showed that I went to OTA only. And you can get most other things online.

But, you'd probably have a better life without the TV.

thefrozentin wrote:So, can this box convert analog cable to HD? I recently cut the chord and now on basic cable only (not even HD). So, can I take the cable coming out of my wall (provided by my cable co), hook it up to tivo and have tivo connected to my TV via HDMI and expect to see HD picture?

Also, I It's a trap to subscribe monthly. Can I still accomplish what I explained without subscription? Appreciate your responses. Thanks

It should be able to handle analog and even unscrambled digital cable. Here in New York we have no cable TV service and hence no CableCard, but the TiVo box still handles the unscrambled cable channels such as the broadcast channel feeds, TBS and NY1.

mmfoo wrote:If you look at the picture, there is a jack for a coaxial cable. It does not require CABLE, it requires a DIGITAL signal, not analog. An HD antenna should work fine, you just probably won't get the benefit of the cablecard (i.e. 2 or 4 tuner capability).

No, it really is cable only. It does not have an OTA ATSC tuner. Says this right on Tivo's product page.

morninglark wrote:I just got one. Until I read this discussion, I had no idea that Tivo worked over broadcast antenna. I've been thinking of cutting the cable cord for some time. It sounds like a Tivo subscription and an antenna will do the job. There aren't a lot of cable shows I can't bear to miss--and I figure it's probably better to buy a season pass for those few shows anyway.

That's exactly what I did, and the only thing I miss from when I had cable is HBO. (I'm not a big sports fan.) Netflix on demand more than makes up the difference.

However I would urge getting this deal, because as I understand it TiVo is phasing out antenna-capable units. That might be because TiVo is playing nicely with the cable companies -- it is trying to license out its software for use in cable-company DVRs.

Spiky wrote:No, it really is cable only. It does not have an OTA ATSC tuner. Says this right on Tivo's product page.

This box that Woot is selling today has two coax jacks -- one for cable, one for antenna. It does have an ATSC tuner.

I just checked TiVo's site and they essentially have two models -- the Premiere/Premiere XL, which have two tuners and are antenna capable, and the Premiere XL4, which has four tuners but no antenna jack.

jetro666 wrote:This box that Woot is selling today has two coax jacks -- one for cable, one for antenna. It does have an ATSC tuner.

I just checked TiVo's site and they essentially have two models -- the Premiere/Premiere XL, which have two tuners and are antenna capable, and the Premiere XL4, which has four tuners but no antenna jack.

If you follow that string of posts, you will note it was about the Elite, nka XL4.

So I have unscrambled basic cable coming into my apartment which I can see without a box (Cox cable, my only choice). I have a cox dvr only so that i can record shows to watch later - at a cost of 19.00 a month. Can I use this TIVO without a subscription if i do my own setting of channel, time and length of program?? I have a Roku box for netflix, etc so that's not of interest to me. Mainly, I hate to add the monthly charge - thats what i am trying to avoid.

Spiky wrote:If you follow that string of posts, you will note it was about the Elite, nka XL4.

Sorry, didn't see that -- Woot's comment system truncates all but the last comment in a thread.

I'm in for 2 of these!

I'm replacing 2 of my existing but last-gen Tivo HD boxes.

I've been a Tivo user for years, I currently run 3 of them (1 Premier and 2 HDs) and have been really happy with them.

With this purchase I'll be upgrading from 1 Premier + 2 HD Tivo units, to 3 Premier units.

With these 3 Premiers it looks like I can now stream Tivo-recorded programs between Tivo boxes without having to copy the programs first (like I must do now). That's why I'm doing this upgrade.

got one of these from comcast. turns out if you bounty hunter enough you get it free for a year, and when that's over argue for another year for free, that's what I did and it worked for me...

Nostrom0 wrote:Until the hard drive dies. Then your "lifetime" is over.

That's not true. You could have cloned the drive before it failed. Barring that, you can beg an image from the TiVo users and use it on a new drive, or you can by a ready-to-go drive replacement from third party vendors. The only thing you lose with an HDD failure is your HDD content.

Zapp Brannigan wrote:To help cut the cost of electric turn off the Tivo suggestions then the DVR wont be constantly recording shows 24 hours a day. I can't verify with a kill a watt but I'm sure just the less activity of the HD will make a difference. Thinking of that I need to go and order one of those things.

That's not true. The TiVo Premier records the tuner output 24/7. TiVo suggestions have no impact on power consumption.

Spiky wrote:No, it really is cable only. It does not have an OTA ATSC tuner. Says this right on Tivo's product page.

Mine does. Works great.

ellieb63 wrote:So I have unscrambled basic cable coming into my apartment which I can see without a box (Cox cable, my only choice). I have a cox dvr only so that i can record shows to watch later - at a cost of 19.00 a month. Can I use this TIVO without a subscription if i do my own setting of channel, time and length of program?? I have a Roku box for netflix, etc so that's not of interest to me. Mainly, I hate to add the monthly charge - thats what i am trying to avoid.

Nope. It would replace your Cox DVR. That's it. A better interface, and some extra bells/whistles ... YouTube for example. Do realize that if the Cox DVR dies, they will replace... Your TiVo warranty is much more limited. If your technically inclined that may not be an issue.

mrlumpy wrote:This is why you should swap out your hard drive the second you activate your TiVo. It's easy to do, and your original hard drive can be re-inserted and you'll be back up & running.

How easy (difficult) is this?

each box is a separate subscription.

Have a used Tivo from an Army Thrift Store, paid $20 for it and use it without the subscription so no guide or info but am able to manually record--Would get this if no subscription was an option but will pass

hellboy999 wrote:Been looking at this ota PVR. Good specs, dual tuner, etc. Going for less than 300

http://www.mediaconceptusa.com/tvix.html#cart_restore

BYO drive though so you need to add those $'s.

Um, nothing against Tivo but all our Windows computers already have a really great DVR built-in: Windows Media Center. (Not to be confused with Windows Media Player).

Pros:
It's FREE (no monthly subscription cost), works with over the air, cable TV, and other TV networks, and is fully compatible with your XBOX 360 in your living room so that all your shows and live TV can be watched from both your computer and your XBOX. Full HD. Very customizable through the many online enthusiast forums, e.g. you can adjust how many shows are listed per screen in the guide, how much time is skipped when you hit "skip", how much buffer is allocated for pausing live TV, etc.

Cons:
You'll need a tuner card or usb adapter compatible with your TV provider. (But it's a one time purchase then you'll have no monthly fees). Your computer will need to be on all the time, or at least using Media Center compatible "sleep" or "away mode" settings. Your XBOX and computer will need to be networked (optional). Your computer needs to have adequate specifications to handle the load. Needs a TV jack in the same room as the PC to record shows. Not the best option if you have numerous TV's in your house, more for those with their main TV/XBOX in the living room.

My experience:
I've had a Tivo (monthly fee), a ReplayTV (lifetime subscription, now out of business), and a Media Center + XBOX extender setup (no monthly fee), each for about 3-4 years. Without question I like the Media Center the best. Not just because it's free but because I like the interface, the customizations, and the XBOX integration. I'm up to 4 tuners now (on a 4.0GHz Quad Core SSD PC) so I can record 4 HD shows plus watch 1 already recorded on both the computer and XBOX, all simultaneously. Plus on the XBOX you've already got Netflix, Hulu, etc., so it makes sense to have your recorded TV shows right there as well. My Logitech Harmony remote has a dedicated button that takes me from wherever I'm at on the XBOX directly into the Media Center. It's the best DVR setup I've had to date.

If your intention is to cancel cable to save money, sell this TiVo the day you get it in the mail. Use Windows Media Center and a $20 Windows remote from Amazon with a $40 USB tuner and your antenna for a free DVR for life.

There's no sense in paying TiVo $15/mo for a useless service when Windows offers it for free. Even automatically downloads program guides weekly with pictures and cast info, etc. It's a great interface. And if you have a Netflix $8/mo streaming subscription, that's built-in to Media Center as well as some other Internet TV content.

If it wasn't for the subscription this would be fantastic! I have never understood why people allow companies to charge them to use equipment that you own outright...

Everyone is talking up the merits of doing this in Windows. I didn't read all the pages, but Linux is even better than Windows for this type of thing. There is even a package built specifically for this - mythbuntu. And unlike Windows, it truly is free.

RebelTaz wrote:Everyone is talking up the merits of doing this in Windows. I didn't read all the pages, but Linux is even better than Windows for this type of thing. There is even a package built specifically for this - mythbuntu. And unlike Windows, it truly is free.

The problem with Myth is trying to get an MCard to work when Myth has decided not to support them politically. Otherwise, totally agree.

Cox did the same thing to me. They wouldn't answer any questions about Tivo. When I got Tivo tech support on the phone, Cox wouldn't speak to him. I also ended up paying for two trips to Cox, although I think I paid more than $20. If I could drop Cox, I would in a heartbeat.

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.

zebraloc wrote:Yup, I noticed it after I got my TiVo and gave back TW's DVR and my wife b'd about not having TW's DVR clock. So I eBayed a USB powered digital clock/thermometer to replace it and the thermometer has displayed as high as 94 degrees in the cabinet.

Yup I bet the Tivo doesn't have PFC, Power Factor Correction, so it's not very friendly to the power grid. Although it might have PFC, somebody needs to plug it into a kill-a-watt meter.

I've had an HDTiVo for a few years now and it still gets plenty of day-to-day use in our living room. Upgraded it to a larger capacity HD once the original started crapping out. Netflix, Pandora, etc work fine, but I know I'll likely never see Hulu support or any of the future apps, but honestly the PS3 and 360 fill those roles just fine.

Any compelling reason to upgrade? I haven't been impressed with the new interface the little bit I've messed with it, in addition to it running like garbage for awhile there (I hear it FINALLY actually uses both cores?). There any compelling reason to change to this and incur more monthly expense? Thanks.