Ok, I admit it took me a while, but we've just joined the twenty second century and got TiVo! There's definitely a bit of a learning curve here (for me, it's a BIG curve!)but this is really cool! I'm loving it! Any suggestions, tips?

Hi Bonnie! Congrats! You'll enjoy TIVO once you get the hang of it. Just one tip for now: Don't set up a WishList with just the word "Cruise" or you'll get what you intended PLUS all the Tom Cruise movies! (Or you can just delete them... unless you're a big fan!)

Kim

Thanks Kim! I'll stay away from the TiVo WishList for now........tho my real life wish list ALWAYS includes a cruise ... of the ship variety!

TIVO is awesome. Of course I can barely get the TV turned on - P is the king of Tivo - I'll ask him for some pointers.

TiVo huh?
In our family I have always been the one that wants to be on top of the latest trend. Stero, TV etc, but I must say I am way behind the curve. Jan B is really wanting to get TiVo, (or what every brand is availible), and I keep dragging my feet.
We have regular cable tv with the extended channels and our extra is HBO. (about 60 channels). We do not have a digital box or anything like that.
What do you have to do different with TiVo?

Hi Jim

I don't think you have to have a digital cable box for TIVO to work. The coolest things about TIVO are that you can have it record all the episodes of Sesame Street, for example (Season Pass Manager). Or, you can set up a wishlist and have it record every show it can find about big birds. Also, when you are watching live TV, and your TIVO is set to that channel, you can pause the show and it will record while pause is on. Then you can start it back up again and fast forward if you want. Also, you can back it up if you missed something. Stuff like that. But, we mainly use it for the Wishlist feature. We have it get all the shows it can find about scuba, poker, LPGA, snowboarding, snow skiing, etc. The way we solved the Tom Cruise problem was to use "cruise" as a keyword combined with the category "Interests/Travel". However, we will still get the occassional Roseanne episode if Dan has a poker game in the garage, or the Scooby Doo episode called Scuba Doo, or whatever it was.

The Season Pass Manager and WishLists are the best things ever.

Oh, one other thing ... it will also start suggesting shows for you that it thinks you might like... kinda spooky.

Does the TiVo work like a upgraded modern VCR recorder? Where I can record on one channel and watch another channel at the same time?

Yep, we can do that, but I don't know if there's a trick to it or not. I'm kind of like Robert -- not the Tivo expert in the house. In order to watch what Tivo recorded, we have to set the TV to "Video 1". To watch a DVD, we set it to "Video 4" or something. So, we watch regular live TV on just plain TV. And TIVO is doing it's thing recording some other show on Video 1. You just can't be wanting to watch a channel live via Tivo and have Tivo record another channel at the same time. So, for the live channel you'd loose that ability to pause, etc. I described above. So, just have Tivo record the thing that's live and watch something else it recorded earlier in the meantime. Not sure if I explained this very well or not. But, yes, in most situations you can watch one show while Tivo is recording another! :)

Jim - it can depending on whether your cable system will support it, how your cable system encrypts its programming. So the answer is --- it depends. :D There's a Tivo specifically designed for this - the dual tuner Tivo which will allow you to record two programs at the same time - but still has the same restrictions as above.

And of course, there's the mack superdaddy Tivo of them all - the new Tivo HD series 3. Just got it installed with two Cablecards last week - now I can use a Tivo to record in high-def, life is good!

Masaki

Most cable companies have their own version of TIVO - generically, the device is called a DVR. Greg works for Time Warner, so we've enjoyed this wonderful invention for several years now. I honestly don't know what we ever did without it!!!

I would think that if you get the cable box which includes the DVR function from your cable company, you would save money (vs. paying for both a cable box and TIVO service)....

...and you do get spoiled! You won't know how spoiled until you are someplace else watching tv, like on a cruise or hotel, and you miss something and want to back it up to see it again!

See!
And I just thought I was starting to understand. :D

I believe our cable company does have their own system of some kind from what I have been told.
That is ok. I will keep using all three VCR's until Jan B makes me do something.

I'm also a huge TIVO fan. We have one of the original units in one room which Brad has "hacked" in order to make DVDs from concerts he records, and an HD unit, about a year old, in the our media room - the HD unit is acting up so I guess it needs some kind of repair.

I record far more than I watch, but love the fast forward - way faster than on a VCR. You can get through something like Dancing with the Stars in about 15 minutes if you skip all the talk and just watch the dancing. Skip the bickering on Amazing Race! It's great for ice skating and other shows like that. I never watch anything "live" - lots of season passes set.

I would caution you on the automatic recording of wish list stuff - only do it if you narrow it down by sub-categories like Kim suggested. We just set them up manually and then look at the results and select from that.

I don't have TIVO but do have a DVR. I think they're pretty similar, but I was under the impression TIVO can screen out commercials while with DVR you can just fast forward through them.

I love it. I never miss an episode of something I like and I can watch one show while recording another.

Enjoy!!

TIVO has changed my life! :) All the benefits have been pretty well described here. I love watching shows on my own schedule; fast forwarding through commercials, watching shows in less time; never missing an episode of a favorite; quickly rewinding and repeating something I couldn't hear, didn't understand, or want to see again; and recording one show while watching another previously recorded show. We actually have the 2-tuner unit so we can record two shows plus watch live TV.

We did end up turning off the "Suggestions" because it hardly ever came up with anything we actually wanted to watch, and it cluttered up our list.

Love it! Highly recommended.

Dena

LOL, we sure have come a long way from when I was a kid with a black & white TV that had only one channel that came in decent and two others that had zig-zags through it (we'd have to futz around with the rabbit ears to help the channel come in better)...and we had to get our butts off the couch when we wanted to change the channel! :)

Kristin: Oh yes!!! You are a "kid" but I watched B&W in 1948....we thought it was heaven -

Masaki,
Is that the one that works with the 5 LBN? DIRECTV says that they are not out yet in our area... we have had a high def TIVO since last year but need the new one to record local stations in high def...

Ronnie

Ronnie - no it's a different model - this one is designed to work with digital cable systems to allow viewing/recording of HD signals without having to use a cable box. FWIW Ronnie, DirecTV no longer has an agreement with Tivo - their tuners and DVRs are no longer made by Tivo - but from what I'm reading, the new one that DirecTV is selling is pretty good - the DirecTV HR20. You're not missing anything yet though by not being able to get it quite yet - the local station tuners are apparently still deactivated so you can't record your local stations in HD at this time. They plan on activating them at some point down the line but not quite sure when ...

http://reviews.cnet.com/DirecTV_HR2...a&part=rss&tag=MR_Search+Results

Masaki

Thanks Masaki...

The problem is that not all of the network stations will let us record (not sure which ones as that is a Chuck question and we have asked for waivers several times) on the old HD Tivo though several of our local stations are now broadcasting in HD... I do agree that being able to record in HD is great!

DirecTV has told us that they are going to swap out our current HD receivers for the new ones... we own them now but I am sure that they will make use lease them and sign a 2 year contract...

We had so many problems with DirecTV and getting them to probably do the installation on our new house... We almost dropped them but Comcast is not in our area yet... finally they did it correctly... it really was a shame as we were one of the first users of DirecTV in the Atlanta area back in October 1994...

Thanks, guys for all your input! Masaki, I think I have the series 3, I know it has the 2 cable cards.

Dena, your suggestion to turn off the "Suggestions" is a good one...now I just have to figure out how to do it!

Joanna, not only do I remember the B & W, but how about Winky Dink??!!! :D

We have two Tivos since we sometimes want to record more than one show at a time. George has them networked so we can access one from the other. He also has it set up so we can listen to our music or see our photos over the television, and there is a way to get the weather forecast through the Tivo too. They are amazing devices.

As you can probably tell, I am not the Tivo guru in the house, but I can use it easily. The interface makes it really simple to navigate the system and I can reliably designate programs to be recorded. I think Tivo is especially good for people who don't really care for television as you can watch the programs you want to see at your convenience.

I just love George :)

Adelphia was just bought out by Time Warner so I guess we could get one of these snazzy recording devices you all are discussing. It does sound great. Is TIVO better than what the cable companies offer? (We have a HD TV and a digital cable box). Where does one go to buy TIVO? I know NOTHING aout this type thing! (duh)

Marcie, I have Adelphia, too. You should of had a fancy recording device even before we swicthed to Time Warner, we have had them here for years!

I meant to ask you, will your email address be changing for adelphia.net to timewarner.net?

I don't have TIVO, but I swear by my DVR. It lets you have a real life, and watch what you want when you want. It is especially helpful on days, like Thursdays and Sundays, when multiple shows that you want to watch are on at the same time. I also like the rewind for "in-time" programs.

You can buy them at Best Buy or other big electronics store.

I personally think that Tivo is superior to the cable system offerings - I have some BIG issues with the user interface on those DVRs (for instance, on TWC's Scientific Atlanta 8000HD DVRs, you can't watch a program from the start while it's in the midst of recording it!). However, the rumor mill states that the user interface on TWC's DVRs is scheduled to be revamped within the next 1/2 year or so which will bring the user interface closer to the ease of use that Tivo is famous for. We'll have to see how good it actually gets. Then again, I'm picky about my DVRs - others may not even notice much of a difference.

Masaki

We have two tivos - can't stand to watch live TV anymore - when I have to, my finger starts twitching when a commercial comes on - the need to fast forward is overpowering!