Has anyone with Cablevision service successfully connected one of these and managed to receive their premium channels (HBO, SHO etc.)? We installed one oast night and are waiting for a service call from Cablevision this weekend. After many hours and phone calls we were able to get it to at least receive some channels but not the premium channels (note I am not talking about the special ones that require an SDV tuner box). They think our Cablecard M may be faulty but I am worried that it may be something Cablevision does to block Tivo (they have a bad gistory of that),

If you get this and a CableCard from your cable company, you do not need a cable box*.

*Some features of your cable box may not be supported by the TiVo. For example, Comcast OnDemand required a cable box in the past. Now, however, TiVo is rolling out the capability to use Comcast OnDemand with their Premiere boxes. So YMMV.

Nell4620 wrote:Can someone please take pity on me and tell me in simple words if/how I can use TiVo - I've always wanted one. I have digital cable box/DVR I rent monthly from cable company. If I get this do I return the cable box and get a non-DVR box from them? TiVo works through that? I have two TVs on digital cable boxes - only one with the DVR. Pretend I'm your favorite Granny and help me out here.

Do you have to subscribe to the Tivo service to use this? I know nothing about DVRs. Thanks

From Everything I know you CAN NOT use this without a subscription. You have to activate the box to get to TV channels. BUT IT IS WELL WORTH THE MONEY, wouldn't go with out mine.

ryanbertrand2 wrote:Do you have to subscribe to the Tivo service to use this? I know nothing about DVRs. Thanks

YES

FRom your cable company. The multistream cards will do 4 streams. You just need to find someone at Cox who has a clue.

lojac963 wrote:I only see one cable card slot. My TivoHD now has 2 single stream cards (2 card slots) because the multi cards the tech brought out were defective. I have only heard of the multi stream cards doing 2 tuners and even at that when I called Cox Communications they acted like I was speaking alien when I told them I needed a cable card for my Tivo.

Where would one even get a single card that can tune 4 separate signals??

gantt wrote:If you get this and a CableCard from your cable company, you do not need a cable box*.

*Some features of your cable box may not be supported by the TiVo. For example, Comcast OnDemand required a cable box in the past. Now, however, TiVo is rolling out the capability to use Comcast OnDemand with their Premiere boxes. So YMMV.

You would contact your cable company and return the cable box. You would need to get a "Cable Card" that goes into the TIVO box for Verizon it cost 4.99 vs the cost you are currently paying to Verizon for each cable box so you save some from the cable box even though you have a TIVO cost but well worth it.

As a happy owner of more than a few (nearly obsolete) HDD recorders, I might be in for one of these, IF I can (a) get comcast to provide a working M card and ( b) could offload some of the content I recorded to DVD ? Is that even possible with the Tivo? My magnavox recorders have a built in DVD player/burner which makes it really easy to high speed dub content from the hard drive if you want to save it to disc. What kind of output options are available on the Tivo? With hard drives that large, I probably wouldnt need to export much, but it's nice to be able to export the content to save or watch on a different device.

ryanbertrand2 wrote:Do you have to subscribe to the Tivo service to use this? I know nothing about DVRs. Thanks

YES

Nell4620 wrote:Can someone please take pity on me and tell me in simple words if/how I can use TiVo - I've always wanted one. I have digital cable box/DVR I rent monthly from cable company. If I get this do I return the cable box and get a non-DVR box from them? TiVo works through that? I have two TVs on digital cable boxes - only one with the DVR. Pretend I'm your favorite Granny and help me out here.

Nell, You take the cable companies crappy dvr box and give it back or use it on a different tv. They either give you a cable card (about the size of a credit card) with a self install kit or send a tech to bring one and set it up for you. Prior to that you have to contact Tivo and setup service (monthly fee or pay for lifetime service)
No need for any other box on the tv with the tivo. The only other issue is that the tivo needs to be connected to your network, either via wifi or network cable. My biggest complaint with Tivo is that the wifi isn't built in, so if you don't have a tv near you internet router/modem you might want to buy a wifi adapter.

deathopie wrote:Nell, You take the cable companies crappy dvr box and give it back or use it on a different tv. They either give you a cable card (about the size of a credit card) with a self install kit or send a tech to bring one and set it up for you.

Just to be clear, they will probably charge you a small monthly fee for the cable card. My cable company charges $2.00/month. Also, they are required (by some FTC ruling) to let you install the cable card yourself, but if you have them come out to do it you will probably be charged for a service call.

kd1357 wrote:4 shows at a time? Sheesh, I didn't even realize there were that many shows on t.v.

I didn't realize there were four shows worth recording!

moolb wrote:This was on sale last week for $350 off their website. Argh, I went ahead and took the plunge. Oh well what is fifty dollars right?

Same here, arriving today. But that offer does come with 6 months of Hulu+ for free.

I do also note that that offer was extended to yesterday. This must be what's left.

I was a TiVo early adopter. Bought series 1 and 2, expanded capacity by replacing the hard drive and did alot of other tweaking to my boxes.

But TiVo as a company SUCKS. Their monthly fees are RIDICULOUS. I can stream Netflix, Amazon video, pandora from my PS3 or Roku. And anything else you guys try to say those devices can't do, I'm sure my HTPC running Myth TV can.

Tivo is better than your cable company's DVR. But that's not saying much. That's like saying you'd rather be kicked in the nuts than have your hair set on fire.

TiVo=fail.

gantt wrote:If you get this and a CableCard from your cable company, you do not need a cable box*.

If your cable company uses Switched Digital Video in order to carry more channels, you may need a Tuning Adapter from them as well, which will occasionally fail to function causing missed recordings on specific channels.

casey00001 wrote:Do yourself a favor. Don't buy any of this garbage that makes you pay a subscription to record a show. Here is a link to a great DVR.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Magnavox-MDR515H-F7-500GB-HDD-and-DVD-R-with-Digital-Tuner/15080509

Looks like it doesn't have a cablecard slot, which means no premium channels.

radi0j0hn wrote:I didn't realize there were four shows worth recording!

There might be 4 shows worth recording, but my free WMC DVR, Xbox extender (+live) and over the air antenna do a great job of providing everything my family needs with broadcast and streaming shows in hd for almost nothing. I learned how to set mine up at cablecutterguys.com.

mvsopen wrote:Check out the many TiVo forums. These babies are Unix-based, and you can easily connect them to your network, TiVo is indeed a magic box! But watch out for what service you select. Lifetime is still a better deal, but it means "lifetime of the unit", not you. However, http://weaknees.com rebuilds them all for a flat rate, no matter what went wrong.

I have an elite Tivo with lifetime subscription. It died within 3 months so it was covered under warranty. I bought it from tivo.com and also opted for the 3 year extended warranty ($40)from them. I know the unit from woot is authorized for square trade extended warranty but not sure how this would work if the Tivo needs to be replaced and you have a lifetime subscription. The subscription is on the original Tivo box. If it can't be fixed the lifetime subscription is dead. With this type of investment $299 for the box and $399/$499 for the lifetime subscription I would by directly from Tivo and opt for the extended warranty from them. Sure it would be $100 more than from woot but Tivo is free shipping. My reasoning for this is if the box dies they send you a replacement box with the Lifetime subscription activated.

If tivo lets you add an extended warranty from them when activating a new Tivo lifetime service the deal from woot is good one.

mvsopen wrote:Check out the many TiVo forums. These babies are Unix-based, and you can easily connect them to your network, TiVo is indeed a magic box! But watch out for what service you select. Lifetime is still a better deal, but it means "lifetime of the unit", not you. However, http://weaknees.com rebuilds them all for a flat rate, no matter what went wrong.

As a 12 year tivo owner who now runs a Premier and a TivoHD in my system I can say that nothing but the hard drive will every go wrong with this. The hard drive is easily replaced. The only drawback to this unit is that it has no ability to record OTA.

mschulte59 wrote:This unit will NOT work with OTA antenna - "(does not support satellite, AT&T U-verse, antenna or analog cable)".

I was almost in for one...

No OTA? Deal killer. Heck, Tivo's fastest growing market segment may be the "cut the cable" crowd.

(Has Woot! always posted MSRP jive next to a "deal"? Weird.)

Does anyone know if the Tivo app for iPhone and iPad supports AirPlay? I'm trying to find a cheap way to get the content from one room to another. I also heard that Tivo is coming out with some set top boxes to do this, but I haven't seen anything about a release date for these. I'm hoping that they don't carry an additional monthly fee.

DVR is game-changing. If the concept appeals to you, check out the Ceton products. I currently have the Ceton infiniti4 PCI-E card in my computer, and absolutely love it. Centralized DVR is where it is at! Computer-based DVR isn't for everyone though. Fortunately, Ceton will be coming out with their Ceton Q and Echo products later this year...

As a Verizon Fios customer, I'm sick of paying to rent there box. Can anyone share any experiences they've had (good/bad) with Verizon Fios and TiVo?

Many thanks in advance.

Yes, you do want 4 tuners in a TiVo!

Last month, I bought the unit just below this one, basically same box, but with 1/2 the drive space and only 2 tuners. I just now got into TiVo because they finally signed agreements with Cox Communications, who is my cable provider, to carry all the digital channels via Cox's cable card setup. The TiVo setup was easy, but Cox took 3 days to get their card working properly. Cox really needs to train their folks better... :/

First thing I noticed that I was getting more digital channels than with Cox's own digital tuner. Odd, eh? No matter, it's all good. I'm no longer paying for their eqiupment, and I payed the lifetime sub for TiVo so in a couple years, this box will start paying for itself. Second thing I noticed was that TiVo ROCKS!!! Wow, this tuner is 10 times better than my old Cox DVR and even their normal digital tuner. Third thing I noticed was the fantastic integration of Netflix and Hulu into the box. Searching for shows not only searches cable, but also Netflix, Hulu and Amazon together so you get them all at once. It doesn't do Amazon Prime yet, but hopefully that's coming. Youtube's not too bad either, as it streams everything high def by default. Most actions are decent speed too, which is better than my Samsung TV for Inet based programming. That poor TV is dirt slow on YouTube and such. Forth thing I noticed was that TiVo's "suggestions" recording easily used up both tuners quickly in my TiVo box. So, today I'm getting this Woot and moving the 2 tuner model to the bedroom.

Yes, you will use all 4 tuners easily in a TiVo. It's just that good at finding shows that you'd want to watch with it's suggestions and the "thumbs up/down" method of rating shows that you like or dislike. Truely amazing at how good it is at this.

stujac wrote:As a 12 year tivo owner who now runs a Premier and a TivoHD in my system I can say that nothing but the hard drive will every go wrong with this. The hard drive is easily replaced. The only drawback to this unit is that it has no ability to record OTA.

As a 14 year TIVO owner (DirectTV and series 3 & 4) and many hard drive replacements later. Yes the hard drive is the one thing that normally fails. But when my elite went after about 3 months it was not a hard drive issue. It was dead, no lights, no bootup, nothing. As for the weaknees flat rate repair, this does not cover Series 3/4 models.

http://www.weaknees.com/s3-s4-repairs.php

I still say that buying from Tivo is a safer bet with the extended warranty.

If tivo lets you add an extended warranty from them when activating a new Tivo lifetime service the deal from woot is good one.

"Premiere Elite" sounds redundant. I'll wait for the "Premiere Elite Professional Plus" model for the ultimate in redundancing.

Please tell me where my thinking is flawed....

I pay 10 bucks a month for the DVR that comes with Dish Network. Every few years I get a more updated DVR. It's simple to use, I can program from any laptop, my iPhone and yes, even at home. If there's ever a time in my life I need to record and watch 4 shows at a once I have enough self awareness to realize I have more serious issues.

I used to drive a diesel pickup. I would read on diesel message boards where guys made fun of people who paid full price for diesel fuel. Their suggestion was to pick up the 55 gallon drums of waste oil from restaurants and strain it and use that for fuel. I'm at a point in my life where I don't mind paying for convenience.

Tell me why I need a TiVo.

bschusterbauer wrote:As a Verizon Fios customer, I'm sick of paying to rent there box. Can anyone share any experiences they've had (good/bad) with Verizon Fios and TiVo?

Many thanks in advance.

Works graet with FIOS, just remember that on demand and things like that do not work using a cablecard and Tivo.

johneed wrote:... Centralized DVR is where it is at! Computer-based DVR isn't for everyone though. ...

Or get multiple TiVos and have Centralized DVR setup with DVR sharing between the TiVos... ;)

drcabe wrote:Please tell me where my thinking is flawed....

I pay 10 bucks a month for the DVR that comes with Dish Network. Every few years I get a more updated DVR. It's simple to use, I can program from any laptop, my iPhone and yes, even at home. If there's ever a time in my life I need to record and watch 4 shows at a once I have enough self awareness to realize I have more serious issues.

I used to drive a diesel pickup. I would read on diesel message boards where guys made fun of people who paid full price for diesel fuel. Their suggestion was to pick up the 55 gallon drums of waste oil from restaurants and strain it and use that for fuel. I'm at a point in my life where I don't mind paying for convenience.

Tell me why I need a TiVo.

The biggest reason for 4 tuners is "TiVo Suggestions". With this you can teach your TiVo what you like and dislike. Then it will record like crazy finding shows you might like. Then you can watch them on your time rather than waiting for them. With 4 tuners you won't run into the problem as much where all tuners are busy recording something else when you have a specific show to watch. The Suggestions feature works quite well, and can be really helpful in finding stuff you never knew was out there.

Plus, the TiVo is just a better DVR alltogether. It's faster, easier, packed with small but sigificant features. Like the 30 second commercial skip button, WOOT!!!

It won't work with Dish though, but you can get one from DirecTV.

Sorry if someone answered this and I didn't see it. If I buy this here, can I get Tivo's Warranty?
Thanks!

these things are still around? let's face it folks. these things are a dying technology. It will be like the netbook. it's nice, but something new comes along making it obsolete. in this case, that newer is streaming content. sooner or later, TV shows... ALL TV shows will be available on a view when you want basis. Why the hell would you want to record shows that you can watch whenever you want?

drcabe wrote:Please tell me where my thinking is flawed....

I pay 10 bucks a month for the DVR that comes with Dish Network. Every few years I get a more updated DVR. It's simple to use, I can program from any laptop, my iPhone and yes, even at home. If there's ever a time in my life I need to record and watch 4 shows at a once I have enough self awareness to realize I have more serious issues.

I used to drive a diesel pickup. I would read on diesel message boards where guys made fun of people who paid full price for diesel fuel. Their suggestion was to pick up the 55 gallon drums of waste oil from restaurants and strain it and use that for fuel. I'm at a point in my life where I don't mind paying for convenience.

Tell me why I need a TiVo.

Whatever works for you!

I went the Tivo route because of my wife, I was a longtime DirectV customer using a Directv tivo box with lifetime, Got pissed off at Directv for charging for HD programming and went the cable route with their DVR box. Had to listen to wife about how bad the box and interface was. Bought a Tivo and have changed cable providers a number of times. With Tivo I get no grief from the wife each time I do it thanks to Tivo. If it wasn’t for the channel numbers changing with the new provider my wife won’t have known that I changed cable providers. One other thing when changing cable providers the season pass manger automatically updated to the new channel numbers from the other provider.

bschusterbauer wrote:As a Verizon Fios customer, I'm sick of paying to rent there box. Can anyone share any experiences they've had (good/bad) with Verizon Fios and TiVo?

Many thanks in advance.

I've been a FIOS customer for five years and a Tivo customer for about 12. Since being a FIOS customer I've used the Series 3 and now this Premiere Elite, and both have worked flawlessly. In fact, I now pay slightly less to FIOS per month, because the Series 3 needed two cable cards and the Premiere Elite only needs one multi-stream card, so now I'm only renting one card.

So yes, you still have to rent something from Verizon to have service at that TV, but the card is only something like $3-4/month, as opposed to whatever they charge for their top-end DVR which is something like $20-25/month, isn't it? And I can tell you for certain (I know someone with all the FIOS boxes) that the Tivo interface is MUCH better.

I love my Premiere Elite, and can't imagine going back. I went away for a two-week trip, with the Tivo recording around 6 hours of HD programming every day, and when I came back the storage meter went from about 20% to 50%. I don't think I'll need anything more than that, and I watch a TON of TV.

Xarias wrote:Sorry if someone answered this and I didn't see it. If I buy this here, can I get Tivo's Warranty?
Thanks!

Yes. I bought one from BestBuy and got the Warranty from TiVo. It's offered during the checkout of the required service plan on their web site.

Xarias wrote:Sorry if someone answered this and I didn't see it. If I buy this here, can I get Tivo's Warranty?
Thanks!

From the Tivo site, but not sure if Woot qualifies as a retailer.
How do I buy an extended warranty?
You can add an extended warranty to your DVR purchase on tivo.com by going to the DVR details page for the DVR you are purchasing. If you already purchased a DVR through retail, you can purchase an extended warranty when activating online or over the phone with a customer support agent. If you have already activated your DVR you may be able to purchase an extended warranty by logging into your account on tivo.com.

stujac wrote:As a 12 year tivo owner who now runs a Premier and a TivoHD in my system I can say that nothing but the hard drive will every go wrong with this. The hard drive is easily replaced. The only drawback to this unit is that it has no ability to record OTA.

In 6 years of tivo ownership I had a power supply and 2 tuners go bad. The hard drives never failed.

tewkewl wrote:these things are still around? let's face it folks. these things are a dying technology. It will be like the netbook. it's nice, but something new comes along making it obsolete. in this case, that newer is streaming content. sooner or later, TV shows... ALL TV shows will be available on a view when you want basis. Why the hell would you want to record shows that you can watch whenever you want?

Not so fast. Television content rights owners are still not too keen on allowing their shows to be available for streaming. While it's a nice concept, it's still not common place and may not be for a very long time. Even the TiVo allows the content rights owners the ability to allow certain actions on the shows you record ON the TiVo. Amazingly anal isn't it?

I would love to get one of these, but realistically I can't see the costs working out unless I'm missing something.

$300 (box) + $500 (lifetime service) = $800

Without the price of the 1-2 CableCards you'll need, that's works out to be, depending on how long you use it, $66/mo (1yr), 33/mo (2yr), $22/mo (3yr), or $16/mo (4yr). Add in the $2-4/mo for a cable card (or more for a switching adapter for certain providers), and the monthly cost of this exceeds most DVR boxes (even multi-room capable DVRs) from cable providers. Tack on that you don't need to worry about equipment breakage, you have access to VOD/PPV, etc., and the only benefit you're getting is the interface and recommendation recording.

While I'd love to get one, the initial money sink and costs associated with it just don't make sense, unfortunately.

kd1357 wrote:4 shows at a time? Sheesh, I didn't even realize there were that many shows on t.v.

There are, but there are never 4 shows worth recording on at the same time. 2 is even a rarity.