I wish DirecTV would get 4 tuner DVR's I have 2 HD DVR's in my livingroom and one in each bedroom, It would be cheaper on electricity ...

I've been a TiVo user for 12 years and can't imagine watching TV without it. We never watch live TV, always allow enough buffer to avoid commercials.

However, the TiVo trend now is going away from OTA(antenna)reception. This is bad for us as we refuse to pay subscription prices for 100's of channels we don't watch. We get almost 100 local stations here in Los Angeles and they are all free. Add in $9/mo for Netflix and we have all the TV necessary.

Local network HD is the best uncompressed signal available also.

We need to hope our older HD Tivos (3 of them) never die because when they do, it looks like we will be going elsewhere for a DVR.

gantt wrote:If you're confused like I was...
It seems the Premiere Elite was renamed the Premiere XL4.

If you go to TiVo's website, you'll see only the XL4 shown in the current lineup.

I don't know why this is still advertised as an Elite, but I'm assuming it's old stock and therefore everything has the old name.

And the price on TiVo's site is $399.99.

My understanding is that the Elite is moving to CATV providers as will the new 6 tuner unit. The XL4 will remain as the retail unit. The XL4 is more expensive that the Elite so you are right, they must be cleaning the inventory. Woot had the 2 tuner Priemier a couple weeks ago for $50. Prices have rapidly reduced.

nageltr wrote:You guys are still confused. There are 3 Tivos in the current lineup: Premiere, Premiere Elite, and Premiere XL4. I just got an email from them today offering the Elite (this one) for $249. The XL4 is the one with 4 tuners and a TB drive in it.

Edit: I am confused too. Just read the write up (which I should have done before posting, shame on me) and these specs do match the one that is called XL4 now. And it was $100 more from Tivo.

There are at least four; Primiere, premiere XL; Premiere XL4 and Premiere Elite plus all the old DT, HD and misc. lying around. The warehouse must be getting crowded by now!!!

speedoo wrote:OK so if it's lifetime of the unit, I would go for that even though I am too old to count on a lot of years. I'll just will it to one of my kids and that will make it a good "investment".

Do I have that right?

I upgrade the equipment too often and am too broke to keep buying lifetime service plans. I also have four units so it would be pricey.

I am a Verizon FiOS customer. I have Premiere XL in one room and Verizon DVR in the other. There is truly no comparison. I am currently paying $17/month for a completely inferior FiOS DVR with only 30 (yes 30!) total hours of HD recording time. I will gladly pay $13 (with my MSD) + $4 cablecard rental versus the same $17 for a rather crappy DVR.

lwang wrote:If that is the case, I can get one of those remote controls that turn the tivo on at a certain time, change it to a certain channel and press record.

But how can I change the channels on the other tuners? Switch to tuner #2 and change channels, then press record? Or are those multi-tuner gizmos only available via timer recordings?

Lots of luck with all of that!!!

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

I don't see the point. Spend $1300 and still no premium channels, on demand or alternate feeds? then there would be the cost and engineering of cables, splitters, combiners, and separating the units so the remotes would work - and that is just my first thoughts on this solution.

Well, I just to drop my 2 cents...I was introduced to TiVo by way of Woot....I got my first TiVo HD from them.

But, I'm no stranger to having lots of tuners.....in the old days, I had 4 VCRs in my living room to keep up with my shows. Which later turned into ReplayTVs....I was up 7 of them at one point.

These days...I'm at 3 TiVos....for 6 tuners. Two Tivo HD's and a TiVo Premiere.

TiVo now had live streaming between units...but they have to be Premieres....and now that I have a bedroom TV (purchased on a different occasion via woot....where I have AppleTV, Roku and Boxee boxes for sources...only the last one was purchased from woot....got the Roku from/for my Amazon Prime).

Now I think I'm going to finally replace the two TiVo HD's....and do other evil things.... :D

The Dreamer.

Though I guess the big question is will I got lifetime or monthly this time around, given that I didn't really expect to churn TiVos as I have now....

When I was with ReplayTV...I only purchased one lifetime, and then was getting 5 monthlies at the multi-unit discount price. And, the last one (which was my 6th unit in the sequence of purchasing) came with lifetime service.

I use the silicondust HDHomerun Prime CableCARD 3-tuner that was on Woot a couple weeks back for $135. There's no subscription fee and it can be connected to your network to be used on any computer that has Windows Media Center and is connected to your network (like my HTPC connected to my AVR and HDTV via HDMI) with a free guide (no subscription for the guide). This seems a way more cost effective solution than either the Cable companies rent for life plan or even Tivo's lifetime subscription.

I tried to tell you guys a couple of pages ago here but wasn't believed. I can confirm as fact- all premier at least in SF Bay area are getting all Comcast on demand content. HBO ect... All that comcast boxes are getting. I't only just hit market last month and there may only be a few markets including my own with it and it may take a long time to reach everyone but since I've seen it at my sisters house with regular premier and regualr cable card working, Iv'e decided to replace my S3 with this.

ultrawolf wrote:On the question of Tivo versus a Windows-based HTPC, maybe somebody can give me some input on this. When I built up a Windows 7 HTPC a couple of years ago, I also had a Tivo HD connected to the same TV. I found that the HTPC recorded video was always a little "soft". It was definitely HD, but while the Tivo recordings looked as good as the source cable signal, the HTPC recordings had lost a bit of crispness. I tried two different tuner cards (Hauppage and ATI) and both nVidia and Radeon video cards. I looked for any video card or WMC setting I could find that might control compression level, but found nothing. That was one reason I decided to stick with the Tivo solution.

Has anyone else noticed any softness in WMC recordings?

Thanks....

You may find your answer here. That said, my HTPC with the HDHomerun Prime makes perfect recordings.

thomas998 wrote:Might want to verify that with your cable provider. When picked up a m-card for our HDhomerun the cable folks said the cards only supported 3 streams... don't know if they were clueless or if there are different cards and companies get to decide how many streams a card will handle.

The HDHomerun Prime only has 3 tuners, the M-cards support six streams.

HD HomeRun Prime was a great addition to my office PC, but currently without a cost effective dedicated Media Center Extender (not an Xbox), It just doesn't cut it as a DVR for my main HDTVs. Hopefully Ceton will release the Echo soon.

I prefer the TiVo interface and total experience to WMC. This is my first Elite/XL4 purchase. Very excited.

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.

You sound like a very bright 12 year old...

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

Oh, so not true, as it turns out. I am a long-time TiVo user. I find that if there are 5 shows I want to watch this *week*, 3 will be on at the same time! Programmers tend to run "like against like", so it's all on, then nothing's on. That's what TiVo is for. Cable shows often rerun at 2am, but with network shows, not so much.

Also some channels runs their shows just a little past the hour -- I'm looking at you, Discovery Channel! If you don't record 1 minute into the next hour, you miss the "Cheetah scene" at the end of every show (like the test results on "Mythbusters, for example). Sorry, two shows already recording in the next hour -- can't record long! This is a common ploy. Some Prime Time shows run until 10:01pm just to keep you from switching over, so hopefully you'll watch the next POS show they are trying to sell you.

Yeah, you may not *need* to record 4 shows at once, but the point is, you no longer need to strategize your recording, as there are always enough tuners. Heck, record every show one minute early to one minute late -- what a luxury!

I have an "M" card in my premiere now. It has 4 tuners already, but the Premiere can't use them.

dwynne wrote:The credit is for those that own the cable card and don't rent one from Comcast - not for owning a Tivo and not renting a cable box.

No, it's not for owning the CableCARD - you *have* to rent those from Comcast.

It's for owning your own equipment - whether that's a CableCARD-enabled TV, or a CableCARD-enabled set-top box like a TiVo.

I get 2 x $2.50/month credit on my bill.

So, I have a tech question:

I know that there are no overt feature differences between the Premiere Elite and the Premiere XL4.

The question is, are there any nit-picky geeky differences.

I am talking computing power here: CPU, MHz, memory, etc.

I have a Premiere with lifetime service. I don't need any more disk space.

I find the "HD" menus on my Premiere to be too slow, so I use standard menus. I also find that when the Premiere is recording two shows at once, playback of a third show can be slightly sub-standard at times -- clearly the system need some Ivy Bridge action! I can't imagine that my box's CPU could do a good job of recording 4 shows at once.

So, anyway, I would prefer to buy the XL4 if it has any more juioe than the Premiere Elite under the covers. I am disappointed that I paid for lifetime on the Premiere, then found the processor power to be anemic right from the start, not less years later.

Fardinando wrote:
The question is, are there any nit-picky geeky differences.

I am talking computing power here: CPU, MHz, memory, etc.

Jumping in to answer my own questions, according to Tivopedia:

(1) No differences but the name and the box.

(2) Much faster than the Premiere that I have now.

Hmmm. This is a tough buy, even for a long-time Tivo-head. I love Tivo, but how many years has it got against emerging technology and streaming everything?

Decisions, ...

Sheena3745 wrote:OK, TiVo 101
* You need:
TiVo > The DVR itself.
TiVo Service > The ~$14/month you pay TiVo in order to get the menus, updates, online searches, etc. You can also pay once for lifetime service (life of the machine, not yours). Price is discounted if you have more than 1 TiVo.
Cable Card > Rented from your cable company. It's what gives your TiVo cable access to whatever you subscribe to. Price varies from about $3 to as much as $8/month, depending on location & cable company.
Tuner > Probably won't need it, but budget for one just in case. Also rented from the cable company, prices in the same range as the cable card.
Internet > Perhaps not 100% required, but your TV lineup may need different settings if you don't have it. Of course you'll need it to stream services like Pandora and Amazon, & to do searches that include online hits. I've never used TiVo without it, so I can't give you the full details.

* What you get:
Access to whatever channels you subscribe through your cable company.
Access to online services (you have to sign up or pay for) like Pandora, Netflix, Amazon videos/music, YouTube, Hulu + (newer models & + only) etc.
The best DVR & remote features in the market today. Cable company provided DVRs are improving, but still far behind.
2 weeks of menus (program lineup) to play with. Filter out channels you get &/or favorites.
Ability to set up shows to record always (either all or new episodes only). You can organize them by priority.
Ability to save searches like favorite actors, show types, special filters, etc.
Even the older models can record 2 shows at the same time & still let you watch anything already recorded. Newer models can record 4.
Recordings in HD as long as you receive channels on HD & the TiVo is not too old.
Ability to export some programs to a computer or burner (depends on the show's copyright).
Recommendations based on what you tag as favorite or record & lists like editors' picks.
If you have more than one TiVo & connect them through wi-fi (you need to buy the right adapters), you can share their contents with one another (ie: watch in the living room what was recorded in the bedroom).
Most TiVos allow you to plug in an external hard drive for extra space. Check out the specs for HDD type.
There's extra services in the latest models (like the one on sale here), so read up on the specs.

* What you don't get:
On Demand channels. Not the free ones, not the Pay-per-View ones, that's where Amazon comes in. Although I hear some of the newer models allow you access if you pay extra for a special cable card.

* Drawbacks:
You need to buy the machine AND pay for the service. Although cable company DVR's are the same or similar expense, you never own them & can get them replaced anytime if they break. The TiVo is your responsibility, but you can also hack it to your heart's content (replacing the hard drive is pretty easy).
Booting time is ridiculously long. It may not worry most people, but in FL we get little blackouts when there's a big storm (from 2-5 seconds) & you have to wait about 10-15 minutes until a recording continues. My old Time-Warner DVR only took about 4-5 minutes to restart. I solved it with a small battery backup, because in the spring/summer it would happen several times a week.

Thank you. that was very helpful to this rookie

You really have no idea what you are talking about. Please go to Walmart and never come back.

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

I got a Silicon Dust HD HomeRun and use Windows Media Center as my DVR. It's pretty darn cool

turbobuick86 wrote:
We get almost 100 local stations here in Los Angeles and they are all free.

Except that half of them broadcast in a language you don't speak...

Okay, this is going to be totally unrelated to what most of you guys are talking about, but I'd just like to take a moment to appreciate today's write-up.

Sometimes the person you like just doesn't like you in that same way. That's just life.

Letting it go. Apparently the performance and menu response time are *still* slow, even in this top-of-the-line unit. Seems inexcusable for the total price, purchase plus service.

ultrawolf wrote:On the question of Tivo versus a Windows-based HTPC, maybe somebody can give me some input on this. When I built up a Windows 7 HTPC a couple of years ago, I also had a Tivo HD connected to the same TV. I found that the HTPC recorded video was always a little "soft". It was definitely HD, but while the Tivo recordings looked as good as the source cable signal, the HTPC recordings had lost a bit of crispness. I tried two different tuner cards (Hauppage and ATI) and both nVidia and Radeon video cards. I looked for any video card or WMC setting I could find that might control compression level, but found nothing. That was one reason I decided to stick with the Tivo solution.

Has anyone else noticed any softness in WMC recordings?

Thanks....

All digital tuners simply record the raw data, so no difference there. It could be the video card, but I think more likely the softness is from the overscan that Windows media center puts on if you select "flat panel"on the setup. It stretches the picture before sending it to your TV.

To fix, you need to select "television", no matter what display you have, even though the picture for the setting is of a tube TV. There is then a simple registry fix to move the buttons back to the corners (search google).

I have a setup with 4 tuners on a cablecard. Probably only marginally cheaper, but much more flexible with the other content that you can watch. And you can add another TV with only a $100 extender rather than another full Tivo, and stream recorded shows to another computer or even remotely to cell phone for free.

I ordered mine at 9am (Eastern) yesterday and chose overnight shipping. I haven't received any notification of shipment yet, and the status of the order says "awaiting shipping". What's the deal? I've never ordered anything overnight from woot before, are they just slow to update their systems with shipping info?

paulhallaway wrote:I ordered mine at 9am (Eastern) yesterday and chose overnight shipping. I haven't received any notification of shipment yet, and the status of the order says "awaiting shipping". What's the deal? I've never ordered anything overnight from woot before, are they just slow to update their systems with shipping info?

I bought mine at 3:02am Eastern yesterday (overnight shipping as well), and the status is also listed as "awaiting shipping", so you're not alone. Estimated delivery is still today, so it appears Woot is just slow to update their systems (either to revise the delivery estimate or provide tracking info).

jmuvanwilder wrote:I bought mine at 3:02am Eastern yesterday (overnight shipping as well), and the status is also listed as "awaiting shipping", so you're not alone. Estimated delivery is still today, so it appears Woot is just slow to update their systems (either to revise the delivery estimate or provide tracking info).

I guess once it ships you will get it over night.

tnakelsk wrote:I guess once it ships you will get it over night.

That's obvious. However I was asking about the notification of shipment. The order page still says it should be arriving today.

paulhallaway wrote:That's obvious. However I was asking about the notification of shipment. The order page still says it should be arriving today.

Just got an email at 10:14am saying the order was shipped. I checked the tracking number; it was shipped yesterday, and is on the truck for delivery today. I expect you'll get yours today as well.

Audioman1 wrote:I wish DirecTV would get 4 tuner DVR's I have 2 HD DVR's in my livingroom and one in each bedroom, It would be cheaper on electricity ...

They go you one better, the Home Media Center HD DVR has 5 tuners. It is not a Tivo, however :-(

The cost is $350-400 just to LEASE it, plus extra fees per month to use it. New customers or out of contract customers can probable get a better deal on the up-front price.

jmuvanwilder wrote:Just got an email at 10:14am saying the order was shipped. I checked the tracking number; it was shipped yesterday, and is on the truck for delivery today. I expect you'll get yours today as well.

Thanks!

Did not get a shipping e-mail until this morning and as of last night Woot was showing it had not shipped. Checking the FedEx tracking shows out for delivery today. I opted for 2 day service and it shipped from ADDISON, TX.

tnakelsk wrote: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.

I bought this unit. When I purchased the lifetime service, it let me add the extended warranty.