That reminds me. I need to start setting up my Season passes on the TiVoHD. I need to figure out how I'm going to split up the shows between the TiVoHD and the Series 3 in my main viewing area. I guess once they activate the video sharing between boxes this fall I can transfer some of the recording responsibilities to my other TiVoHD and S3 boxes.

That reminds me. I need to start setting up my Season passes on the TiVoHD. I need to figure out how I'm going to split up the shows between the TiVoHD and the Series 3 in my main viewing area. I guess once they activate the video sharing between boxes this fall I can transfer some of the recording responsibilities to my other TiVoHD and S3 boxes.Make sure that all of the shows that you intend to access with MRV are on channels with no copy protection (which at a minimum should include all of the rebroadcast local OTA channels).

Well, I have something different to post about...I'm not sure where else to complain about this, and I'm pretty sure I'll have some sympathetic ears here...

I see the listings for the new tv season coming out next week...and I noticed that both CHUCK and JOURNEYMAN do not seem to be in high-def!! At least according to the tivo...and titantv.com also indicates the same thing - though they've been known to miss the hd flag before.

But initial indications (to me) seem to say these shows are not in hd...which personally means I won't be watching them!
I suspect that the lack of an HD indication was a Tribune Media Services glitch. When I tried to setup a Season Pass for Grey’s Anatomy with my S3 the other day, I used HD as a search parameter and Grey’s Anatomy didn’t show up, although we all know that ABC will be showing it in HD as they have done from the beginning. When I checked the Info screen for the first episode of the new season, sure enough, it didn’t indicate that it would be in HD. Tribune Media Services needs to get its act together, it seems to me.

I suspect that the lack of an HD indication was a Tribune Media Services glitch. When I tried to setup a Season Pass for Grey’s Anatomy with my S3 the other day, I used HD as a search parameter and Grey’s Anatomy didn’t show up, although we all know that ABC will be showing it in HD as they have done from the beginning. When I checked the Info screen for the first episode of the new season, sure enough, it didn’t indicate that it would be in HD. Tribune Media Services needs to get its act together, it seems to me.

If each and everyone of us sent Zap2it.com an email and tell them how they are making our scheduling difficult by not having proper info they have to pay attention. We can sit here and gripe about it between us all we want but what good does that do. We can also ask TiVo for some help. But just to sit here and complain on a local thread will accomplish nothing. Let's collectively start calling them out for their errors. Hopefully some action will be taken.

I suspect that the lack of an HD indication was a Tribune Media Services glitch. When I tried to setup a Season Pass for Grey’s Anatomy with my S3 the other day, I used HD as a search parameter and Grey’s Anatomy didn’t show up, although we all know that ABC will be showing it in HD as they have done from the beginning. When I checked the Info screen for the first episode of the new season, sure enough, it didn’t indicate that it would be in HD. Tribune Media Services needs to get its act together, it seems to me.

I don't care whether the show is listed right for HD or not. As long as the description is right and whether it is new or a repeat. Most primtime shows on the National networks are HD anyway. I'll set up the season passes and all the shows I watch from the National Networks are in HD whether the guide says it is or not.

[QUOTE=hookbill;11644253]Sometimes Zap2it.com gets it wrong on the HD thing. I don't know why but I've seen many incidents in which they don't have the HD indication and the show is in HD. I would bet that the show will be in HD.
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I just looked here (http://www.titantv.com/quickguide/quickguide.aspx) at Titan TV listings and it shows Chuck as HD. :)
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That's interesting...my local listings at titantv still say that Chuck and Journeyman are not in hd...and more interesting, it has Heroes listed in between them as NOT in hd either! I'm pretty sure that's wrong, so maybe they're wrong about the other shows too...

It does show other shows in hd, including Jeopardy right before Chuck, just not these...not sure why, Heroes was hd last season and I see no reason for that to change. I just hope they're not reading the flag right or something!

Of course but you know how it goes. Heck they cancelled Jericho last year and after a write in they are bringing it back for 7 more episodes.

I think NBC was smart getting their new shows out for TiVo users. I'm not sure if you can get them from Amazon Unbox without TiVo but it was a great way to introduce their new shows without having to deal with competitive viewing. That Wednesday 9:00 spot for Bionic Woman has several shows I would like to watch and the fact that Boston Legal is starting at 9:30 when they first air it is going to further complicate viewing problems. Therefore, my comment "if it gets watched." ;)

You know, I saw the preview thing was available on amazon, but I decided to ignore it because I knew I wouldn't be able to see it/download it in widescreen - let alone HD...(please correct me if they changed that!!). I thought it was SO stupid that they set up this unbox thing and then don't have the movies available in hd - or even ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN!! How stupid is that! I haven't even used my 15 dollar credit because of that, no need to bother. I did notice that if you were downloading it to your pc, you could get widescreen, but not to the tivo - even the s3. How dumb. I called them about it, but of course got a "who cares" kind of response. They really said "we're working on it", but I expect that it hasn't changed yet.

Again, though...please let me know if I'm wrong! I would love to see that they've fixed this...

It does show other shows in hd, including Jeopardy right before Chuck, just not these...not sure why, Heroes was hd last season and I see no reason for that to change. I just hope they're not reading the flag right or something!I think that we can be fairly certain that no primetme drama or comedy for a national network will ever be produced in standard definition (or even without surround sound) ever again. It would put it at serious disadvantage against any show airing at the same time.

I certainly hope that's true!! But...are we hd afficionado's a big enough influence for the studios to care about us yet? I watch pro basketball and pro football, and not all of those games are in hd yet, which is very hard for me to believe! College ball seems to have an excuse for not all being hd, I keep hearing "well there's too many of them to do them all in hd"...but I don't see any excuse for pro games. I just can't watch them when they're not in hd, so I don't.

You know, I saw the preview thing was available on amazon, but I decided to ignore it because I knew I wouldn't be able to see it/download it in widescreen - let alone HD...(please correct me if they changed that!!).The Amazon Unbox downloads of HD television series that I've watched have all been widescreen, though not HD. Downloaded to TiVo, they're letterboxed inside of pillarboxing--if you set display mode to ZOOM, it will perfectly fill the screen with nothing cut off. I downloaded them, but I'm resisting watching them because of the poor PQ, lack of captions and surround sound.

Unbox's problem with HD is the size of the files involved. Even these files are consuming a gigabyte. Some people are getting much better results, but I get 16+ Mbps downloads from some sites, but only a few hundred Kbps from Amazon--it took an hour to finish downloading one of these. If it were in HD, it would take several times as long.

Even with the poor quality, I get the impression that Unbox is doing fairly well. If they do start doing HD, I don't expect that it'll be much.

I certainly hope that's true!! But...are we hd afficionado's a big enough influence for the studios to care about us yet? I watch pro basketball and pro football, and not all of those games are in hd yet, which is very hard for me to believe! College ball seems to have an excuse for not all being hd, I keep hearing "well there's too many of them to do them all in hd"...but I don't see any excuse for pro games. I just can't watch them when they're not in hd, so I don't.

I don't know how long you've had HDTV but I've had it for 3 years now and I can tell you that the number of network shows that are in HD are much higher then they were 3 years ago.

I also don't know if you're old enough to remember this but when color tv first came around everyone didn't immediately put everything in color. It took a few years. HD is going through the same thing.

Now as far as prime time shows that will not be in HD those are pretty much limited to reality shows (Survivor, Amazing Race etc.) However they look quite good in upgraded SD with the bars on the side.

Don't cheat yourself out of good television just because it's not in HD. Heck I don't get FX in HD but I still watch many of their shows like The Shield, Dirt, Rescue Me.

Even with the poor quality, I get the impression that Unbox is doing fairly well. If they do start doing HD, I don't expect that it'll be much.


I was quite impressed with the quality of the free shows downloaded from Amazon Unbox. True, not HD quality but it is digital and as sharp as anything I got from D*. This is true digital television, their is no analog line from the wall carrying the signal. I set my TV on Zoom and it filled the whole screen nicely and there were no commercials or annoying "logos" on the corner of the screen.

I was quite impressed with the quality of the free shows downloaded from Amazon Unbox. True, not HD quality but it is digital and as sharp as anything I got from D*. This is true digital television, their is no analog line from the wall carrying the signal. I set my TV on Zoom and it filled the whole screen nicely and there were no commercials or annoying "logos" on the corner of the screen.

Agreed--I was also pleasantly surprised by the PQ of the NBC pilots.

This is true digital television, their is no analog line from the wall carrying the signal.In what sense? I don't know about you, but I received it ultimately through a modem connected to that same "analog line from the wall" that brings me the rest of my television in a QAM encoded data stream, like the rest of my television.

I am definitely not impressed with the quality of Amazon Unbox video. I occasionally use it to catch up on television that I missed, but it's <3Mpbs 480i widescreen and its just not possible for it to be more than adequate. It's also extremely variable, as though conversion to the form that they distribute it in is done in a completely automated fashion, with no human being monitoring the results and going back and tweaking things where necessary.

I also think that it suffers from being watched on a big screen HDTV. The things that bother me about it would probably be unnoticeable on a 25" standard def tube.

I was quite impressed with the quality of the free shows downloaded from Amazon Unbox. True, not HD quality but it is digital and as sharp as anything I got from D*. This is true digital television, their is no analog line from the wall carrying the signal. I set my TV on Zoom and it filled the whole screen nicely and there were no commercials or annoying "logos" on the corner of the screen.

I've been pretty impressed with it as well. My neighbor and I watch Prison Break together and she couldn't remember how last season ended so I got the last ep from Unbox. Took about 15 mins to download, zoomed it to fill screen, and most of it was very decent PQ, the portions in the jungle were pretty bad, but overall very good.

I watched "Rescue Me" and "Damages" using Unbox as well, so much nicer with no commercials and the quality is practically on par with compressed ugly looking crap I get from DirecTV or Dish(I don't get FX with Comcast).

If they can get this sort of quality now I think it bodes well for HD downloads in the future.

I think that we can be fairly certain that no primetme drama or comedy for a national network will ever be produced in standard definition (or even without surround sound) ever again. It would put it at serious disadvantage against any show airing at the same time.

Don't bet on that. Just like every now and then something is done ion black and white for artistic effect or a "retro" look, at some point someone will intentionally do something in standard def for the same reason.

In what sense? I don't know about you, but I received it ultimately through a modem connected to that same "analog line from the wall" that brings me the rest of my television in a QAM encoded data stream, like the rest of my television.



I see your point. I meant that there was no wire from my modem to my TiVo as it's all done over wireless network.

Still from what I've seen I have to disagree. Television and movies both have been excellent quality. Not HD, true but still very good. Apparently a few others agree.:)

I don't care whether the show is listed right for HD or not.....Well it DOES matter to those of us who search for programs using the HD filter.:rolleyes:

I've been pretty impressed with it as well. My neighbor and I watch Prison Break together and she couldn't remember how last season ended so I got the last ep from Unbox. Took about 15 mins to download, zoomed it to fill screen, and most of it was very decent PQ, the portions in the jungle were pretty bad, but overall very good.

I watched "Rescue Me" and "Damages" using Unbox as well, so much nicer with no commercials and the quality is practically on par with compressed ugly looking crap I get from DirecTV or Dish(I don't get FX with Comcast).

If they can get this sort of quality now I think it bodes well for HD downloads in the future.I concur. The video quality on these Unbox downloads was the best SD I've ever seen.

I see your point. I meant that there was no wire from my modem to my TiVo as it's all done over wireless network.I sold TiVo wireless adapter when I realized that wireless G was capping downloads to my PC to about 5 Mbps whereas I could get 16+ Mbps over a CAT5e or CAT6 cable directly to the router. My laptop is co-located with the television and TiVo (and Xbox 360 and PS3 and HD-A20, all of which are network-connected), so I just moved the router to the location and wired everything up.
Still from what I've seen I have to disagree. Television and movies both have been excellent quality. Not HD, true but still very good. Apparently a few others agree.:)Obviously a few do. The impressions of Unbox at TiVo Community Forums has been largely positive and many people there have become regular users. I may be a bit of a PQ snob; I've seen much better quality downloads. I viewed HD television and movies downloaded from Xbox Live Video Marketplace that were very impressive, especially given their low average bitrate. They were encoded in VC-1 (with which the same quality can be acheived in less than half the space of an MPEG-2 encoding), and they were "hand encoded" by people who cared about the results. (TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD have chips capable of decoding VC-1 and MPEG-4/AVC, but I don't think that Series 2 units do, so Amazon can't use it). Some of them also have 5.1 soundtracks, though they still lack captioning, of which I am a fan.

I just checked out NBC’s Primetime Preview show on the Web:

http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/primetimepreview.shtml

Every show previewed, including Journeyman, Heroes, and Chuck, was presented in 16:9, which convinces me beyond serious doubt that all of those shows will be shown in HD.

I don't know how long you've had HDTV but I've had it for 3 years now and I can tell you that the number of network shows that are in HD are much higher then they were 3 years ago.

I also don't know if you're old enough to remember this but when color tv first came around everyone didn't immediately put everything in color. It took a few years. HD is going through the same thing.

Now as far as prime time shows that will not be in HD those are pretty much limited to reality shows (Survivor, Amazing Race etc.) However they look quite good in upgraded SD with the bars on the side.

Don't cheat yourself out of good television just because it's not in HD. Heck I don't get FX in HD but I still watch many of their shows like The Shield, Dirt, Rescue Me.

This isn't a contest, hope I don't make it sound like that, but I actually had HD pretty early, I'd say about 6 years ago. I still have my sir-t165 tuner that I used then. I know I had it in my previous home theater, and I've had my current home theater for about 4 years now. Anyway, back then it was pretty much just the super bowl in hd, and maybe a movie of the week once in a while (the first hd broadcast in my area (I think it was national, on nbc?) was actually 101 Dalmations...anyone remember that? I went to ABC Warehouse to see it, a local Best Buy competitor. I do remember not being terribly impressed at the time, though! Maybe they didn't have a clean signal or a calibrated set.

I am not old enough to remember color tv's introduction, but things do move faster now and I'd say hd has been around for at least 6-7 years now, which is why I think there should be even MORE in hd - like ALL pro football games, for one thing!

And don't get me wrong, I do watch programming that's not in hd, like Survivor in fact, and the Speed channel, but I just watch it on the smaller 61" tv in the family room (in a 4:3 window, of course - no stretching for me!), using the replaytv's. I use the home theater to watch hd programming. But, I can't take watching basketball or football in SD, so I skip it. But I do watch other SD programs, and I sometimes watch sitcoms that are hd on the 61", partly why I bought a tivohd recently to put upstairs, and I use the S3 in the home theater - like for Planet Earth! That was pretty grand.

Side note about Survivor...I think it stinks that they are not in hd yet! They claim the cameras are too expensive, and they didn't want to expose them to those environments...but I'm sure with all the editing they have to do that at least that part would be a lot easier/cheaper. And I know that Star Trek Enterprise went to HD in its 4th year, and they said at the time they did that BECAUSE it was cheaper, and that allowed them to stay on the air! But...what do I know.

I just checked out NBC’s Primetime Preview show on the Web:

http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/primetimepreview.shtml

Every show previewed, including Journeyman, Heroes, and Chuck, was presented in 16:9, which convinces me beyond serious doubt that all of those shows will be shown in HD.

Well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed...we'll find out Monday!

This isn't a contest, hope I don't make it sound like that, but I actually had HD pretty early, I'd say about 6 years ago. I still have my sir-t165 tuner that I used then. I know I had it in my previous home theater, and I've had my current home theater for about 4 years now. Anyway, back then it was pretty much just the super bowl in hd, and maybe a movie of the week once in a while (the first hd broadcast in my area (I think it was national, on nbc?) was actually 101 Dalmations...anyone remember that? I went to ABC Warehouse to see it, a local Best Buy competitor. I do remember not being terribly impressed at the time, though! Maybe they didn't have a clean signal or a calibrated set.

I am not old enough to remember color tv's introduction, but things do move faster now and I'd say hd has been around for at least 6-7 years now, which is why I think there should be even MORE in hd - like ALL pro football games, for one thing!

And don't get me wrong, I do watch programming that's not in hd, like Survivor in fact, and the Speed channel, but I just watch it on the smaller 61" tv in the family room (in a 4:3 window, of course - no stretching for me!), using the replaytv's. I use the home theater to watch hd programming. But, I can't take watching basketball or football in SD, so I skip it. But I do watch other SD programs, and I sometimes watch sitcoms that are hd on the 61", partly why I bought a tivohd recently to put upstairs, and I use the S3 in the home theater - like for Planet Earth! That was pretty grand.

Side note about Survivor...I think it stinks that they are not in hd yet! They claim the cameras are too expensive, and they didn't want to expose them to those environments...but I'm sure with all the editing they have to do that at least that part would be a lot easier/cheaper. And I know that Star Trek Enterprise went to HD in its 4th year, and they said at the time they did that BECAUSE it was cheaper, and that allowed them to stay on the air! But...what do I know.

No, no, no. Not a contest at all, and man, you certainly are an early investor if you had HD that long ago. I hate to think of what it must have cost you.

I too wish Survivor was in HD because it's just such a good looking show (except the people after a while can look a little gross). But I do accept their explanation. Maybe someday.:)

No, no, no. Not a contest at all, and man, you certainly are an early investor if you had HD that long ago. I hate to think of what it must have cost you.

I too wish Survivor was in HD because it's just such a good looking show (except the people after a while can look a little gross). But I do accept their explanation. Maybe someday.:)

oh, no, I had a projector then, the sony vpl-vw10ht...It was cheaper than the hdtv's of the time, which I think were in the 10 grand neighborhood, if I remember correctly.

Projectors are getting to be like computers...my second projector was a little more than my first one, with much better performance, and I'm now looking at a third projector with much better performance than my second, and it's cheaper than my first...

Last I checked in, rumor-control had it that sometime next year, TiVo would again be available for DirecTv users. Is that still being prognosticated, or should I abandon hope and give up my old TiVo receiver and switch to whatever bad imitation DirecTv offers?

Last I checked in, rumor-control had it that sometime next year, TiVo would again be available for DirecTv users. Is that still being prognosticated, or should I abandon hope and give up my old TiVo receiver and switch to whatever bad imitation DirecTv offers?

When D* was sold I heard a possibility of a return to TiVo platform. I didn't hear anything after that but personally I doubt it. For one thing Newcorp still owns a piece of D*. TiVo has still got it's contract with Comcast and who knows whats in that. It could included exclusive distribution.

It may happen but I wouldn't put any money on it as of right now.

TiVo has still got it's contract with Comcast and who knows whats in that. It could included exclusive distribution.They're also porting the platform to Cox for SA boxes (due out next year), so it's not entirely exclusive. It wouldn't surprise me if they did agree to exclude satellite providers.

Cable is a far larger market; given it, they can well afford to eschew satellite.

They're also porting the platform to Cox for SA boxes (due out next year), so it's not entirely exclusive. It wouldn't surprise me if they did agree to exclude satellite providers.

Cable is a far larger market; given it, they can well afford to eschew satellite.

I thought that the Cox work was Motorola, not SA ? Anyways, Comcast is also footing the tab for TiVo to port their code to the SA platform once the Motorola portion is complete.

I think the TiVo and DirecTV stories started to get some legs when D* was sold. Rupert Murdoch attempted to cut D* costs by taking their DVR development in-house via another one of his companies, NDS. Now that D* is owned by someone who hold TiVo in higher regards, there may be hope. Even TiVo's CEO said at the time of the announced sale of D* (from THIS ARTICLE (http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN0420391420070605):

"Liberty is a company that has no ownership interests, now or after the DirecTV closes, in a competing DVR, and that probably changes things," Rogers told a Deutsche Bank investor conference.

Rogers said people he knew at Liberty were fans of TiVo DVRs.

"I look at that as a positive in terms of a change of ownership though that deal hasn't closed yet," he added.


So, all we have now is a favorable shift in D* ownership, a few nice comments by TiVo's CEO, and an agreement between the two companies to bring some existing TiVo code into the now-stale SD and HD DirecTiVo's. To date, there haven't been any announcements by either company about new development or new products.

Well! Hope springs eternal then. Despite buying a new Pioneer plasma, I think I'll just wait on the HD tuner. I'd rather have TiVo in SD than D*'s DVR, if there actually is a light at the tunnel here. Am I nuts? Is D*'s DVR "not that bad"?

Well! Hope springs eternal then. Despite buying a new Pioneer plasma, I think I'll just wait on the HD tuner. I'd rather have TiVo in SD than D*'s DVR, if there actually is a light at the tunnel here. Am I nuts? Is D*'s DVR "not that bad"?

I've never seen it but people in my local thread seem to think it's pretty good. I know it has a wish list and a pretty good search feature. It isn't internet capable but then again everything comes through the dish. You don't need a phone hook up.

I concur. The video quality on these Unbox downloads was the best SD I've ever seen.

I just watched 300 and Hot Fuzz (love 'em 99 cents rentals) from Amazon, the quality was good. Those were letterboxed widescreen, and they look way better than the SciFi channel letterboxed shows I get from cable, like Dr. Who.

I just checked out NBC’s Primetime Preview show on the Web:

http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/primetimepreview.shtml

Every show previewed, including Journeyman, Heroes, and Chuck, was presented in 16:9, which convinces me beyond serious doubt that all of those shows will be shown in HD.

How about old show like Scrubs?

How about old show like Scrubs?

Guys, don't worry. If it was in HD last year, it will be this year. And as far as the new NBC shows gwsat is correct. They will be in HD. I can't even imagine them not showing the Bionic Women in HD.

As stated earlier all prime time shows unless they are reality and possibly comedy should be in HD.

One disappointment I had so far. HBO shows Entourage in HD and I was hoping since that wasn't in HD last year that they would do Curb Your Enthusiasm in HD. But no, it's still in SD.:(

Agreed--I was also pleasantly surprised by the PQ of the NBC pilots.I was as well. They aren't good enough for the big screen (110" diagonal) but in the den they looked nice. Heck being commercial free almost offset them not being HD... almost.

How about old show like Scrubs?

I have always wondered why Scrubs wasn't HD. It is the only sitcom that I can think of on NBC what was in SD...

I have always wondered why Scrubs wasn't HD. It is the only sitcom that I can think of on NBC what was in SD...

They actually tried an episode of Scrubs in HD a year or two back (season finale, if I'm not mistaken), and the guy who runs the show didn't like it and decided to stay SD.

One disappointment I had so far. HBO shows Entourage in HD and I was hoping since that wasn't in HD last year that they would do Curb Your Enthusiasm in HD. But no, it's still in SD.:(

At least its better than it was last season (at least the first 2 episodes).

They actually tried an episode of Scrubs in HD a year or two back (season finale, if I'm not mistaken), and the guy who runs the show didn't like it and decided to stay SD.

I assume he didn't care for the widescreen framing aspect of shooting in HD, not so much the high definition part. I recall that the creator of Gilmore Girls preferred shooting in the standard 4:3 ratio, or felt it was more appropriate for the show. Even as the WB/CW network and the show itself had gone HD a few years before it's demise last season, she has never approved those last few seasons shot in HD being made available in an hd dvd format.. they are only available in standard dvd, full screen 4:3 ratio and there are no plans to release anything else.

I just checked out NBC’s Primetime Preview show on the Web:

http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/primetimepreview.shtml

Every show previewed, including Journeyman, Heroes, and Chuck, was presented in 16:9, which convinces me beyond serious doubt that all of those shows will be shown in HD.

I wouldn't have expected otherwise. Most of the primetime shows have been in HD for years. Even 6 years ago I had plenty of primetime shows to watch in HD.

I assume he didn't care for the widescreen framing aspect of shooting in HD, not so much the high definition part. I recall that the creator of Gilmore Girls preferred shooting in the standard 4:3 ratio, or felt it was more appropriate for the show. Even as the WB/CW network and the show itself had gone HD a few years before it's demise last season, she has never approved those last few seasons shot in HD being made available in an hd dvd format.. they are only available in standard dvd, full screen 4:3 ratio and there are no plans to release anything else.

Well, I think there were many issues at play, which all tied together.

Since Scrubs has always been on the bubble for being canceled, they don't get a lot of money thrown their way by the studio. If they were to ask for a huge chunk of change to upgrade their production to HD, the studio probably would have decided that it wasn't worth it and just canceled the show outright. So, they chose to keep the show on the air and remain with their current set up.

Oh yeah, they also maintained their artistic integrity by retaining a consistent "feel" throughout the show's run. :)

thanks for the more specific explanation. makes sense.

I'm confused. I thought you said HD TiVo. For the S3 you can already enable eSATA by using kickstart 62. You are aware of that are you not?

Okay, thanks to this tip and others that followed, I decided to try this. I found a lacie esata II drive that ecost was selling, said it came with a 3gb cable.

So, my first attempt to hook it up - failed! It appears that the cable has 2 different ends...and both the hard drive and the S3 side expect the same end!
I don't know much about esata, so did I get an esata I cable by mistake or something? Will best buy have the correct cable?

Also...in the instructions it says to power off the tivo...I assume the only way to do that is to pull the power cord? But my unit is in a rack, where I don't have access to the front and the back both at the same time, so how do I power it back on while pointing the remote at the front of it at the same time?

I figured I can plug it in and then run around the front and start holding pause on the remote, will that work?

And anyone familiar with this cable? Did I receive the wrong one, I hope?

Okay, I must be missing something...on both my S3 and my tivohd, I see a message on the "tivo" screen about seeing a preview for Bionic Woman...but when I go there, it just asks if I want a catalog for a Silverado?!?!! Or to see the Silverado video or something?? wtf??

Am I missing something? Seems to me I've seen this type of thing before and been frustrated by it and just gave up.

Okay, I must be missing something...on both my S3 and my tivohd, I see a message on the "tivo" screen about seeing a preview for Bionic Woman...but when I go there, it just asks if I want a catalog for a Silverado?!?!! Or to see the Silverado video or something?? wtf??

Am I missing something? Seems to me I've seen this type of thing before and been frustrated by it and just gave up.

Yes you missed something. I told you to make sure that the ends of the eSATA cable would fit into the S3. You have a eSATA 1 cable. That won't work.

When I went to Micro Center I had the correct cable with me. I had purchased a Maxtor 500 for my SA 8300 and the cord fit perfectly.

Some people have actually cut the cable to make it work, but I've seen many say they've had trouble doing this. Go back to where you bought this one and look for the cable with the smaller end. That will be the correct cable.

Yes you missed something. I told you to make sure that the ends of the eSATA cable would fit into the S3. You have a eSATA 1 cable. That won't work.

Yeah, I just went and researched it...(shame on me for not doing that before posting!)...but you're right, wrong cable...can a "3gb" cable be an esata I cable? I mean, did they tell me the correct one was included and just sent the wrong one, or was I incorrect in assuming "3gb" meant esata ii? (note - I just went and looked - if the link works, this is the drive I bought, and it definitely says it includes an ESATA II cable!: http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=38495184)

Anyway, guess I'll look around for the correct cable. At any rate, do you have any thoughts about the other questions in that post?

(in other news, I did notice on my sony hdd500 that the hd flag IS set for Chuck and for Journeyman on Monday...though the s3 and titantv.com both still do not indicate these are hd!)

Okay, I must be missing something...on both my S3 and my tivohd, I see a message on the "tivo" screen about seeing a preview for Bionic Woman...but when I go there, it just asks if I want a catalog for a Silverado?!?!! Or to see the Silverado video or something?? wtf??

Am I missing something? Seems to me I've seen this type of thing before and been frustrated by it and just gave up.

Yeah, I see the same thing; guess somebody screwed up. However, if you have broadband and your TiVo Series3 is connected via it, and you have downloads enabled via the TiVo site preferences, you could go on Amazon and download the pilot for free - Amazon Unbox has free pilots for several new NBC produced series (including Bionic Woman) available for download, including to your TiVo. See http://www.amazon.com/unbox/ if you want to get them. They're only SD, but they're good quality SD - if you already have an Amazon account, setting up Unbox on it is worthwhile, if for nothing more than the freebies.

The Bionic Woman link is at the bottom, after all the Silverado crap. Why they stuck them together, I don't know -- I guess the car company is sponsoring the show?

The Bionic Woman link is at the bottom, after all the Silverado crap. Why they stuck them together, I don't know -- I guess the car company is sponsoring the show?

I guess I'll have to look again, I didn't see anything other than those two options, maybe if I hit chan down? Or do I have to watch the silverado thing to get to it?

Well, I think there were many issues at play, which all tied together.

Since Scrubs has always been on the bubble for being canceled, they don't get a lot of money thrown their way by the studio. If they were to ask for a huge chunk of change to upgrade their production to HD, the studio probably would have decided that it wasn't worth it and just canceled the show outright. So, they chose to keep the show on the air and remain with their current set up.

Oh yeah, they also maintained their artistic integrity by retaining a consistent "feel" throughout the show's run. :)

I was on the set a few years ago and this answer is the closest to the real reason. Remember, Scrubs is a Disney (Touchstone) show running on NBC ...

(in other news, I did notice on my sony hdd500 that the hd flag IS set for Chuck and for Journeyman on Monday...though the s3 and titantv.com both still do not indicate these are hd!)

Dude, would you quit worrying about it. I guarantee they will be in HD. Titan in my area says HD and as I said before there is no way NBC is going to put on these type of shows without them being in HD.

I guarantee it and I'm a man of my word. So If it's not in HD Paul Simoneau will buy you another HD TiVo.

How's that for a guarantee.:D

Edit: I forgot what thread I was on. Inundated doesn't come here so I'll stick Paul with it. :)

All those NBC shows are definitely in HD. The pilots are available in HD for free from Comcast HD On Demand.

All those NBC shows are definitely in HD. The pilots are available in HD for free from Comcast HD On Demand.

There you go! I'm glad, I felt a little bad sticking Paul's neck out on my guarantee.:p

Amazon advertises tivo 3 for $199 after $400 in rebates but looks like just one $200 offer rebate avail..any one try it yet

Looks like both rebates have the same promotion number on them. Who knows what they're smokin' at Amazon. :D

Looks like TiVo's starting their "little switch" roll-out of version 9.1, the long-awaited Fall 2007 release. Barring any unforeseen problems, we should all get it within a couple of weeks! :)

Feature List :


Enhanced Wishlists (includes booleans, multiple match criteria, user-specified naming)
Multiroom viewing for TiVo HD and S3 (still needs to be enabled by TiVo around November 2007)
Crestron Integration for S3
Improvement in Emergency Alert Handling
Bug fixes




For those of you who are new to TiVo's software release methods, it goes a little something like this. Once TiVo's developers get their code to where they think it needs to be, they'll let the beta testers bang on it for a while. Once they feel comfortable that they've addressed the issues that the beta testers have discovered, they'll throw the "little switch" on the release, which means a small number of randomly selected boxes will get the release. Then, then sit back for a week or two and monitor their call centers and web sites for any user complaints. If nothing major turns up there, then they'll throw the "big switch", which means everyone gets it.

Does anyone know what the VCM connection means. On my account information screen it shows that it tries to connect to this every 5 minutes but the last successful connection was made last December 31 at 5:PM, long before I had the equipment. I assume this is just some kind of mistake as everything is working as far as I know but I would like to know for sure.

Does anyone know what the VCM connection means. On my account information screen it shows that it tries to connect to this every 5 minutes but the last successful connection was made last December 31 at 5:PM, long before I had the equipment. I assume this is just some kind of mistake as everything is working as far as I know but I would like to know for sure.

TiVo hasn't disclosed what that value correlates to, so we really don't know what it's all about. There is some speculation that it has something to do with online scheduling, but it's simply speculation.

Bottom line is : don't worry about it.

Looks like TiVo's starting their "little switch" roll-out of version 9.1, the long-awaited Fall 2007 release. Barring any unforeseen problems, we should all get it within a couple of weeks! :)

Feature List :


Enhanced Wishlists (includes booleans, multiple match criteria, user-specified naming)
Multiroom viewing for TiVo HD and S3 (still needs to be enabled by TiVo around November 2007)
Crestron Integration for S3
Improvement in Emergency Alert Handling
Bug fixes




For those of you who are new to TiVo's software release methods, it goes a little something like this. Once TiVo's developers get their code to where they think it needs to be, they'll let the beta testers bang on it for a while. Once they feel comfortable that they've addressed the issues that the beta testers have discovered, they'll throw the "little switch" on the release, which means a small number of randomly selected boxes will get the release. Then, then sit back for a week or two and monitor their call centers and web sites for any user complaints. If nothing major turns up there, then they'll throw the "big switch", which means everyone gets it.

Thanks Paul. Also the fact that they are jumping to a completely different number usually means something big coming down the pipe.

FWIW, I hope I don't get on the "beta" list. It's not that I have any problems with it but I won't be here next week and I gave my wife a tutorial on the Harmony and TiVo. If it does a reboot and she attempts 30 sec. skip and tick she's liable to freak out. Bless her, she's a highly intelligent women who works for a major company in their computer department as a manager but she cannot deal with remote controls.:eek:

Thanks Paul. Also the fact that they are jumping to a completely different number usually means something big coming down the pipe.

Yup. The version numbering is definitely indicating something bigger than a few bug fixes is in the works.

FWIW, I hope I don't get on the "beta" list. It's not that I have any problems with it but I won't be here next week and I gave my wife a tutorial on the Harmony and TiVo. If it does a reboot and she attempts 30 sec. skip and tick she's liable to freak out. Bless her, she's a highly intelligent women who works for a major company in their computer department as a manager but she cannot deal with remote controls.:eek:

Trying not to be pedantic here... "Beta" has a whole other connotation than what's going on here, in that the company isn't really 100% behind the release and they're still trying to work out any potential bugs. This latest development is more like a "release candidate", where this actual software release could eventually be rolled out across the board.

That being said, there's still likely some minor kinks to be addressed in this version. There always is in x.y.0 releases. It's unavoidable. I'd also wager that TiVo would quickly squash those outstanding bugs in short order, since that's been their long track record on these types of releases.

Trying not to be pedantic here... "Beta" has a whole other connotation than what's going on here, in that the company isn't really 100% behind the release and they're still trying to work out any potential bugs. This latest development is more like a "release candidate", where this actual software release could eventually be rolled out across the board.

That being said, there's still likely some minor kinks to be addressed in this version. There always is in x.y.0 releases. It's unavoidable. I'd also wager that TiVo would quickly squash those outstanding bugs in short order, since that's been their long track record on these types of releases.

I think you missed my point but never the less you are correct. It is not a true "beta" release.

My point if you look again at my response had to do with my wife. The last update we received I was an "early" receiver and had the slightly different version number. It worked absolutely fine, and I trust this new version will as well. I just prefer to be at home when these things happen hence my statement about the wife.

Now I gotta get a dictionary so I can find out exactly what pendantic means.:)

I think you missed my point but never the less you are correct. It is not a true "beta" release.

My point if you look again at my response had to do with my wife. The last update we received I was an "early" receiver and had the slightly different version number. It worked absolutely fine, and I trust this new version will as well. I just prefer to be at home when these things happen hence my statement about the wife.

Now I gotta get a dictionary so I can find out exactly what pendantic means.:)

Nah, I got your point, I just forgot to address it when I made up my post. :)

I'll gladly take the new software, just as long as it doesn't rock the boat enough to confuse/piss-off the wife. I think you'll be safe. It looks like most of the new stuff is feature-based, outside of the core DVR functionality.

For example, the Advanced Wishlist stuff would never really pop up unless you're actively adding/deleting/editing wishlists. You'd never see it in the course of day-to-day watching recorded stuff. Same goes for the TTG, TTCB, MRV beneath-the-covers hooks that went in with this release.

I'm very excited about all the new features. I want to run out and purchase a TiVo HD for my bedroom now.

Alas, timing is everything. I'll probably spend about a grand total on my 5 day California trip. I was calling it an early Birthday/Christmas present, but probably I'll be able to convince the wife by the time Christmas rolls around that the trip was strictly a birthday gift.;)

Crestron Integration for S3

Advertising my ignorance here, what's Crestron Integration?

Advertising my ignorance here, what's Crestron Integration?Crestron makes high-end home automation systems--one large touch-screen remote to control your home theater, lights, air conditioning, security system, etc. I assume that they've been working with TiVo to add special support for their systems.

Crestron makes high-end home automation systems--one large touch-screen remote to control your home theater, lights, air conditioning, security system, etc. I assume that they've been working with TiVo to add special support for their systems.

Correct on all counts. There's been a Crestron rep cruising the TCF a bit, and some interesting tidbits have snuck out. Apparently, IP will be used to communicate between the Crestron and TiVo gear. And, for starters, this is a Series3 exclusive, since it is positioned as the "high end" TiVo platform.

So, at a minimum, it might be possible to reverse-engineer the communication between the controller and the TiVo. Once this is in place, it should be possible to make other non-Crestron (and very likely less expensive) gear function in the same manner. Think HTPC's, XBMC's, or just regular ole PC's.

Alternately, the API's could simply be released by either company, and we'd end up in the same place. It's just that the process would be much quicker, we'd likely have official support from TiVo, and the knowledge concerning the communications would be far complete (and thus, less error prone).

Correct me if I'm wrong Paul but this particular roll out will not give us TTG, MRV, or the ability to play movies from our computer to our TiVo S3 at this time. It will as I understand it set up those abilitys to be used around November.

Is that correct or am I misunderstanding?

Correct me if I'm wrong Paul but this particular roll out will not give us TTG, MRV, or the ability to play movies from our computer to our TiVo S3 at this time. It will as I understand it set up those abilitys to be used around November.

Is that correct or am I misunderstanding?That sounds right. TivoPony said we would see those features in November.

I get the idea that the code is in that build, but that it won't be enabled for use until November. Why, I don't know.

I was talking to a friend of mine who works on TiVo firmware (on the dread advertising features). I mentioned that Poniatowski had announced that TTG, MRV and TTCB were coming to TiVo S3 and TiVo HD in November and he was surprised, since he thought that it was rolling out within a matter of days with a list of other things. Both may be true.

They had to come to an agreement with CableLabs about this; maybe the agreement included a specific day on which they'd start.

Correct me if I'm wrong Paul but this particular roll out will not give us TTG, MRV, or the ability to play movies from our computer to our TiVo S3 at this time. It will as I understand it set up those abilitys to be used around November.

Is that correct or am I misunderstanding?

My opinion is that this is the only major software release that we're gonna see from TiVo this year. They wouldn't drop something this big now, only to drop another big bundle on us two months from now. Don't get me wrong, it'd be nice, but it's not likely to happen given TiVo's previous software release schedule.

If that's the case, then the MRV/TTG/TTCB code is already in the 9.1 release that's being distributed now, but will remain dormant until TiVo flicks a switch and turns it on in November. It's not clear why they're staggering the release of these features within the same software drop (which is quite unorthodox from a software standpoint). Perhaps it's a CableLabs issue. Maybe they wanna shake out the bugs in some of the other stuff before turning up the file transfer goodies. We'll likely never know all the gory details.

This rollout could easily take another month especially since it includes S2s and S3s. Therefore it would certainly be within the realm of possibility that the "switch" (as Paul calls it) would be "thrown" in November (only after the rollout is complete) as Pony mentioned over in TCF.

More likely, it is just a support capacity issue.

This rollout could easily take another month especially since it includes S2s and S3s. Therefore it would certainly be within the realm of possibility that the "switch" (as Paul calls it) would be "thrown" in November (only after the rollout is complete) as Pony mentioned over in TCF.

Definitely. It depends upon how long they want to let this image burn in with the first random selectees, both S3 and S2 alike, before they begin the across-the-board roll-out.

The "switch" lingo is actually sourced directly from Pony on TCF.

I'm hearing a rumor that there will be for the first time for S3 owners an opportunity to sign up for a priority list. To the best of my knowledge this does not exist at this time, however it may appear shortly after the "mini" rollout.

I'm hearing a rumor that there will be for the first time for S3 owners an opportunity to sign up for a priority list. To the best of my knowledge this does not exist at this time, however it may appear shortly after the "mini" rollout.


Thats my understanding. Once the 'big switch' is thrown, you can go to the download priority page and request priority.

I was looking forward to Multi-Room viewing and TiVoToGo but after seeing every show I record flagged except for the basic networks and the size of files that will have to be transferred (multiple hours per HD show at best) it doesn't appear so much like Christmas. :)

I still love TiVo but all told until you can transfer everything you record (at least from TiVo to TiVo) at Gigabyte speeds I don't see the practical use of the features. Unless you want to backup offline a lot of network content.

For now I'll keep the Terabyte drive in each of the TiVo HD's.

Improvement in Emergency Alert Handling


Woooohoooo! Any more detail on this? The ability to resume a recording after an emergency alert?

Woooohoooo! Any more detail on this? The ability to resume a recording after an emergency alert?Full details from the Tivo web site:

Emergency Alert Message Handling in 9.1 and later (http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?cid=6f129cdd-73b3-4147-a713-8e2de8369a83)

I was looking forward to Multi-Room viewing and TiVoToGo but after seeing every show I record flagged except for the basic networks and the size of files that will have to be transferred (multiple hours per HD show at best) it doesn't appear so much like Christmas. :)

I still love TiVo but all told until you can transfer everything you record (at least from TiVo to TiVo) at Gigabyte speeds I don't see the practical use of the features. Unless you want to backup offline a lot of network content.

For now I'll keep the Terabyte drive in each of the TiVo HD's.

See this works exactly the opposite for me. Almost all HD shows I do record are regular network shows so this is going to eliminate any conflicts for me. Some of my conflicts would be like on Thursday, Supernatural, Greys Anatomy and CSI. Now if TW in my area would get off it's but and give us the CW in HD all would be great.

Full details from the Tivo web site:

Emergency Alert Message Handling in 9.1 and later (http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?cid=6f129cdd-73b3-4147-a713-8e2de8369a83)

Finally! Thanks for the link.

See this works exactly the opposite for me. Almost all HD shows I do record are regular network shows so this is going to eliminate any conflicts for me. Some of my conflicts would be like on Thursday, Supernatural, Greys Anatomy and CSI. Now if TW in my area would get off it's but and give us the CW in HD all would be great.TWC in San Diego is rolling out the CW in HD on the 2nd. It's only been in HD for the past 5 years, continously since the cable company has had HD rebroadcasts :rolleyes:. (I'm currently in a Cox neighborhood, which has had CW HD for a year, but I'm going to be forced to move soon and will probably end up in TWC territory).

See this works exactly the opposite for me. Almost all HD shows I do record are regular network shows so this is going to eliminate any conflicts for me.This time of year I probably watch and or record more network shows than not but I have very little interest in keeping a copy of them around. With the amount of time it takes to transfer a HD show I much rather go into the other room and view it. If I didn't want to view it for a day or two then it would be fine.

For me I have TiVo HD's in the den and theater and I'd like to be able to transfer programs of interest to the theater for later viewing. Now I have to go into the theater to schedule any recording I may want to view in there. Not that bad since I have a little TV in the component closest and I don't have to fire up the projector but still not ideal.

I know I can schedule recordings over the network/Internet and more than likely I'll end up using that quite a bit.

Regarding the online scheduling feature, I have a question that I don't believe I've seen here before. When I schedule somethiing online, I have always received the e-mail telling me that my request has been received. But I only occasionally receive the e-mail regarding the status of the request. I have only had my S3 a short time, so I have scheduled very little on it, and virtually nothing via the website, so far. I got called out of town due to an ill family member, and I have been trying to set up schedules for a bunch of the new shows via the web interface and seeing the results I mentioned above. If I don't get the status e-mail, does that necessarily mean it wasn't successful in scheduling the recording. Or is that somewhat 'normal.' The 'request received' e-mail seems to imply that I would get some kind of notification, even if it fails. I am really hoping that everything I set up to record is getting done, as this happened suddenly and I didn't get anything set up on my Moto box, either. I had planned to set all the new stuff up over the weekend...the best laid plans....

Anyway, any info would be appreciated...

Thanks,
Randy

Regarding the online scheduling feature, I have a question that I don't believe I've seen here before. When I schedule somethiing online, I have always received the e-mail telling me that my request has been received. But I only occasionally receive the e-mail regarding the status of the request. I have only had my S3 a short time, so I have scheduled very little on it, and virtually nothing via the website, so far. I got called out of town due to an ill family member, and I have been trying to set up schedules for a bunch of the new shows via the web interface and seeing the results I mentioned above. If I don't get the status e-mail, does that necessarily mean it wasn't successful in scheduling the recording. Or is that somewhat 'normal.' The 'request received' e-mail seems to imply that I would get some kind of notification, even if it fails. I am really hoping that everything I set up to record is getting done, as this happened suddenly and I didn't get anything set up on my Moto box, either. I had planned to set all the new stuff up over the weekend...the best laid plans....

Anyway, any info would be appreciated...

Thanks,
Randy

I read this question a few hours ago and hoped someone else might pop in with a clear response. Now I've had my coffee, breakfast and my mind is clear but unfortunately I can't say for sure that everytime I sent a request in that I got an email saying "scheduled as requested." I seem to remember getting an email saying "will schedule next time TiVo checks in."

I do seem to remember some occurrences when I scheduled something and it didn't go through. Sometimes I got an email saying it could not schedule due to conflict but I'm pretty sure that sometimes I had to do some detective work to figure out what happened and did not get an email response. When I have done that I always have found a conflict. So I guess the only way to be certain your program will get scheduled is to make sure you don't set the "do not schedule if there are other recordings scheduled" button.

Sorry if that isn't much help, it's kind of the best I can do. There's a lot to be recorded now and as much as I like to help you I don't want to go screwing around with my own schedule to test.;)

I read this question a few hours ago and hoped someone else might pop in with a clear response. Now I've had my coffee, breakfast and my mind is clear but unfortunately I can't say for sure that everytime I sent a request in that I got an email saying "scheduled as requested." I seem to remember getting an email saying "will schedule next time TiVo checks in."

I do seem to remember some occurrences when I scheduled something and it didn't go through. Sometimes I got an email saying it could not schedule due to conflict but I'm pretty sure that sometimes I had to do some detective work to figure out what happened and did not get an email response. When I have done that I always have found a conflict. So I guess the only way to be certain your program will get scheduled is to make sure you don't set the "do not schedule if there are other recordings scheduled" button.

Sorry if that isn't much help, it's kind of the best I can do. There's a lot to be recorded now and as much as I like to help you I don't want to go screwing around with my own schedule to test.;)

Thanks for the reply. I sure wouldn't want you to mess with your schedule to test anything! I realized after I posted this that it doesn't necessarily belong in this thread since it isn't really specific to the HD/S3 TiVo. I think I'll post the question over at TCF to see if maybe someone has a more definitive answer...thanks again for the input.

Randy

Regarding the online scheduling feature, I have a question that I don't believe I've seen here before. When I schedule somethiing online, I have always received the e-mail telling me that my request has been received. But I only occasionally receive the e-mail regarding the status of the request. I have only had my S3 a short time, so I have scheduled very little on it, and virtually nothing via the website, so far. I got called out of town due to an ill family member, and I have been trying to set up schedules for a bunch of the new shows via the web interface and seeing the results I mentioned above. If I don't get the status e-mail, does that necessarily mean it wasn't successful in scheduling the recording. Or is that somewhat 'normal.' The 'request received' e-mail seems to imply that I would get some kind of notification, even if it fails. I am really hoping that everything I set up to record is getting done, as this happened suddenly and I didn't get anything set up on my Moto box, either. I had planned to set all the new stuff up over the weekend...the best laid plans....

Anyway, any info would be appreciated...

Thanks,
Randy

If my memory serves me well, I think that there is an extra check box that you need to click if you want your TiVo to email you back that it has successfully scheduled your program. I sometimes forget to click that check box. Do you remember if you checked the box?

If my memory serves me well, I think that there is an extra check box that you need to click if you want your TiVo to email you back that it has successfully scheduled your program. I sometimes forget to click that check box. Do you remember if you checked the box?

There is, and I believe I was sure to check it everytime. I'm pretty sure about that since I do get the initial e-mail acknowledging that the request has been received....

Thanks,
Randy

While we're on the subject of programming via computer, I would like to put in my two cents on where to go to do it. I think it is much simpler to program from zap2it.com then from the TiVo site. Easier to see the listings and also easier to navigate. YMMV

While we're on the subject of programming via computer, I would like to put in my two cents on where to go to do it. I think it is much simpler to program from zap2it.com then from the TiVo site. Easier to see the listings and also easier to navigate. YMMV

Good tip Hookbill. I didn't know that you could do that from sites external to TiVo. I'll check that out.

Very good to know...I'm not a fan of the Online Scheduling at the TiVo site. Will Yahoo work with S3s, or just S2s? I'm guessing they just haven't updated the site to say it will work with the newer boxes, but I thought it would be worth asking....

Thanks,
Randy

thanks for the suggestion. is there anyway to transfer a lifetime subscription from a series2 to a series3?

I just purchased a S3 from Best Buy. I'm not sure if this is old news or good news, but I remembered hearing about the transfer from S2 to S3 for $199. After looking into it, I saw that the offer had expired. I was about to activate my new S3 online and figured I'd give TiVo a call just for the heck of it. It worked. They transferred my S2 lifetime to my S3 and I got the 1 year extra on my currently broken S2... sweet.

Very good to know...I'm not a fan of the Online Scheduling at the TiVo site. Will Yahoo work with S3s, or just S2s? I'm guessing they just haven't updated the site to say it will work with the newer boxes, but I thought it would be worth asking....

Thanks,
Randy

Since I don't go there I can't say, but I can tell you that Zap2it.com is where TiVo gets it's guide data (Tribune Media) and I think they just added this recently, or at least I just noticed it.:o If you don't see it at Yahoo then go to zap2it. Much easier.

While we're on the subject of programming via computer, I would like to put in my two cents on where to go to do it. I think it is much simpler to program from zap2it.com then from the TiVo site. Easier to see the listings and also easier to navigate. YMMVHook - The problem I see with that is TCO is the only online scheduler that shows the entire integrated program guide (including OTA HD and cable). You can't set your prefs in Zap2It (or any other online scheduler) to the integrated program guide. You have to choose either cable or OTA; one or the other, but not both. If there's a way to do that, can you share?

I just checked Messeges and Settings and apparently I got the update. It said "pending restart" so I am restarting now. I'll follow up with more later.

Hook - The problem I see with that is TCO is the only online scheduler that shows the entire integrated program guide (including OTA HD and cable). You can't set your prefs in Zap2It (or any other online scheduler) to the integrated program guide. You have to choose either cable or OTA; one or the other, but not both. If there's a way to do that, can you share?

Nope, can't be done. But even when I schedule directly with TiVo using the remote I still have to set prefererences afterwards. That is unless I want the show I'm setting up to be number 1 on season pass list.

It does allow you to set up stuff like SP's and if you want all episodes or just new and how long to keep them.

I just checked Messeges and Settings and apparently I got the update. It said "pending restart" so I am restarting now. I'll follow up with more later.

OK I just want to mention a few things I heard rumors about with this update that I want to dispell. First, the 30 second skip and tick does still works, you just have to reset it like you always do after reboot. Second the 30 second skip and tick isn't slower then previously. Finally, and most important, if you have eSATA it does not affect that in any way. The main thing it does on first glance is give you more flexablity with the wishlist. Do not expect TTG, To Come Back, or MRV at this time as it still says i.i.i. in the TiVo to Go box on system information.

It says it may take an hour to complete, in fact it took about 20 minutes.

That's pretty much all I have. If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer if I can.

I just checked Messeges and Settings and apparently I got the update. It said "pending restart" so I am restarting now. I'll follow up with more later.

I've been doing forced connects for days now, but no joy... Still at 8.3.

Now I'm getting itchy to go home and try some more! :)

Since I don't go there I can't say, but I can tell you that Zap2it.com is where TiVo gets it's guide data (Tribune Media) and I think they just added this recently, or at least I just noticed it.:o If you don't see it at Yahoo then go to zap2it. Much easier.

Yup. It is easier. I had used it a few times after reading Megazone's ARTICLE (http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/09/13/schedule-tivo-recordings-from-zap2itcom/) about it. Worked well enough for me. Less "laggy" than TiVo's website.

I've been doing forced connects for days now, but no joy... Still at 8.3.

Now I'm getting itchy to go home and try some more! :)

Paul, I'm sure you know this but TiVo Pony says forcing the calls won't make a difference. If you get it you get it.

Now in my case I fully expected not to get it early since I got it early the last time. So I didn't force calls. So I was very surprised to see I got it early again.

It's like they say, "A watch pot never boils." ;)

Paul, I'm sure you know this but TiVo Pony says forcing the calls won't make a difference. If you get it you get it.

Now in my case I fully expected not to get it early since I got it early the last time. So I didn't force calls. So I was very surprised to see I got it early again.

It's like they say, "A watch pot never boils." ;)

I know, I know, I know...

It's just that rather than wait until 2AM for the update to happen, I want it NOW! :)

Have you had a chance to play around with the Advanced Wishlist stuff yet ? If so, care to give a rundown on what you can/can't do ?

Have you had a chance to play around with the Advanced Wishlist stuff yet ? If so, care to give a rundown on what you can/can't do ?


I'm not that big on wishlist but the things that I believe are different are the "Keyword" category and now there is a "Title Keyword" which is the same as "Title". There is a "directors" category. I've read that there is more but I just haven't had that much time to play. I tried putting in the word "rock" on my concert wishlist (keyword) and it gave me 3 concerts as opposed to the usual 100 I get. I'll let you know if I see more, I should get a chance to play again in about another hour.

I've had a chance to play with it a bit. I tried setting up the "actor" wishlist which I never have used before. Much to my surprise just like when searching for a program a list of names comes up on the right. Just remember "last name first". I didn't get that right away. And I don't really know if this is new, but I've never seen it before.

I can't test the Emergency Alert Handler but I assume it works.:)

Then there is the Creston Intergration. Don't know how to test that either.

One thing I do see and it's no big deal but I'll bet the people at the TCF will be whining and crying about this. When you hit the replay it takes about a half a second longer to go back. It's not a big deal but it is noticeable. Just a slight stall is what I would really call it. But knowing the people at TCF I can hear the complaining already.:)

Everything else appears absolutely fine. If anyone has an idea of what exactly the Creston Intergration does or how I can check it out let me know. It sounds impressive.:)

I'm not that big on wishlist but the things that I believe are different are the "Keyword" category and now there is a "Title Keyword" which is the same as "Title". There is a "directors" category. I've read that there is more but I just haven't had that much time to play. I tried putting in the word "rock" on my concert wishlist (keyword) and it gave me 3 concerts as opposed to the usual 100 I get. I'll let you know if I see more, I should get a chance to play again in about another hour.

Here are some wishlists I have: Keyword wishlist with "2007" with a category of HD / Movies.


Keyword wishlist with "Presidential" with a category of News and Business.


Keyword wishlist with <Your favorite sports team> and "AT" with a category of Sports / <type of sport>.

Full details from the Tivo web site:

Emergency Alert Message Handling in 9.1 and later (http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?cid=6f129cdd-73b3-4147-a713-8e2de8369a83)

from this link:
"~ If a recording is scheduled to begin at the same time there is an EAM, the TiVo DVR will tune to the EAM. When the EAM broadcast is over, it will automatically begin recording the originally scheduled program. (This may result in a partial recording of the program). "

This is HORRIBLE!!!! Why is no one raising a huge stink about this?!?!??? At least with regular emergency broadcast stuff, the worst you'd get is a noise with a reduced volume of your show...but to actually miss recording part of your show is terrible!! With the buffering ability and 2 tuners, why should we miss any of the show - unless we're recording 2 things at once, and in that case I would expect the lower priority show to get interrupted, and leave the higher priority one alone...

And it's not real clear on what happens when the eam occurs in the middle of a show recording...but it sounds like you'll lose show material then too. UGH!!!!!!

from this link:
"~ If a recording is scheduled to begin at the same time there is an EAM, the TiVo DVR will tune to the EAM. When the EAM broadcast is over, it will automatically begin recording the originally scheduled program. (This may result in a partial recording of the program). "

This is HORRIBLE!!!! Why is no one raising a huge stink about this?!?!??? At least with regular emergency broadcast stuff, the worst you'd get is a noise with a reduced volume of your show...but to actually miss recording part of your show is terrible!! With the buffering ability and 2 tuners, why should we miss any of the show - unless we're recording 2 things at once, and in that case I would expect the lower priority show to get interrupted, and leave the higher priority one alone...

And it's not real clear on what happens when the eam occurs in the middle of a show recording...but it sounds like you'll lose show material then too. UGH!!!!!!


No one is making a stink because it's a vast improvement over the way TiVo currently handles these situations. Pre 9.1 when the cable company came up with an emergency broadcast message BY LAW the S3 has to break away to show the message. The problem was that it would not go back to the channel it was recording afterwards hence you would receive a partial recording. With the 9.1 build you will see the emergency message upon playback but you will not lose your entire recording. After the message is over the S3 (and I suppose other TiVo's) will return to the channel(s) it was recording and continue so that way you don't get 10 minutes of a show and nothing more.

And as far as "priority tuner" goes, the law doesn't work that way. So don't blame TiVo.

No one is making a stink because it's a vast improvement over the way TiVo currently handles these situations. Pre 9.1 when the cable company came up with an emergency broadcast message BY LAW the S3 has to break away to show the message. The problem was that it would not go back to the channel it was recording afterwards hence you would receive a partial recording. With the 9.1 build you will see the emergency message upon playback but you will not lose your entire recording. After the message is over the S3 (and I suppose other TiVo's) will return to the channel(s) it was recording and continue so that way you don't get 10 minutes of a show and nothing more.

And as far as "priority tuner" goes, the law doesn't work that way. So don't blame TiVo.

Ouch! Guess I was lucky enough to not get hit by that yet on the tivo. My replaytvs and the sony hd recorder just do what you see on tv, none of this changing channel stuff.

So you're saying if you have 2 recordings going on, BOTH are going to get interrupted??? How rude.

But I wasn't blaming Tivo...just voicing an idea.

On another note, I did (finally) find a sata ii cable (seemed to be hard to find online, while making sure it had the right connectors!) and hooked up my esata drive...seemed to go well! We'll have to see how recordings go. Now I'm just worried about what happens when that drive dies - wish I could mirror it! But I guess the same susceptibility is true for the internal drive... and that's why I record all of my "important" shows on 2 different devices, with the replaytvs as a backup. It'll be nice when I can use the tivohd as a backup device with mrv and when I can expand that hard drive space like on the S3.

Yes, I'm serious about my tv viewing!

So you're saying if you have 2 recordings going on, BOTH are going to get interrupted??? How rude.

But I wasn't blaming Tivo...just voicing an idea.



This is funny. So many people feel the same way you do. Tornado coming my way? Unless it's right on my street don't you dare interupt my show!

Just kidding, and actually I've only had EB interrupt on one occasion in the past year, but it did cause a partial recording. The only partial I've had since going from SA 8300 to the S3. With this update it will only be a "brief" interruption.

This is funny. So many people feel the same way you do. Tornado coming my way? Unless it's right on my street don't you dare interupt my show!

Just kidding, and actually I've only had EB interrupt on one occasion in the past year, but it did cause a partial recording. The only partial I've had since going from SA 8300 to the S3. With this update it will only be a "brief" interruption.

And in fact, don't even interrupt if it's right on my street!!! I'm sure I'm pretty safe in my basement home theater, probably the safest place on the block with the double walls and such! :)

Yeah, I know what you're saying, though...but really - why mess with recordings at all? I mean, wouldn't you think that most of the time people are watching the recording way after the warning has expired?? Even if you just start watching it a little late, like 30-45 minutes to skip commercials and such, I would think most warnings are over by then. Just seems kinda silly of cablelabs to require that for scheduled recordings.

And in fact, don't even interrupt if it's right on my street!!! I'm sure I'm pretty safe in my basement home theater, probably the safest place on the block with the double walls and such! :)

Yeah, I know what you're saying, though...but really - why mess with recordings at all? I mean, wouldn't you think that most of the time people are watching the recording way after the warning has expired?? Even if you just start watching it a little late, like 30-45 minutes to skip commercials and such, I would think most warnings are over by then. Just seems kinda silly of cablelabs to require that for scheduled recordings.

The issue would be with somebody watching live more than something recorded. The requirement (which I'm sure has nothing to do with Cablelabs unless it for some type of FCC compliance) is really for anything with a tuner, I believe...they can't really know if it is being watched at the time it is being recorded (scheduled or not), so they err on the side of caution. Sure, it is an inconvenience, but a really small one in this context....

YMMV,
Randy

Yeah, I know what you're saying, though...but really - why mess with recordings at all? I mean, wouldn't you think that most of the time people are watching the recording way after the warning has expired?? Even if you just start watching it a little late, like 30-45 minutes to skip commercials and such, I would think most warnings are over by then. Just seems kinda silly of cablelabs to require that for scheduled recordings.I don't think anyone here would disagree with you on point. If the DVR can determine that the viewer isn't watching, there's no practical reason to switch over to the warning, but that's the law.

I don't think anyone here would disagree with you on point. If the DVR can determine that the viewer isn't watching, there's no practical reason to switch over to the warning, but that's the law.
The only thing I can think off more annoying than the mandated weather warnings is the distressing practice of local network stations of showing the SD version of an HD show in order to superimpose a window with a weather map in it over the network show. More often than not, the area of heavy weather is 90 or 100 miles away. Arrrg! When they do that EVERYBODY is inconvenienced, not just S3 and THD owners.

The only thing I can think off more annoying than the mandated weather warnings is the distressing practice of local network stations of showing the SD version of an HD show in order to superimpose a window with a weather map in it over the network show. More often than not, the area of heavy weather is 90 or 100 miles away. Arrrg! When they do that EVERYBODY is inconvenienced, not just S3 and THD owners.

That's not what we are talking about. We are talking about when the cable company uses the Emergency Broadcast System to actually give an emergency announcement.

I agree with you those weather announcements and what they do to HD television are also annoying, specially when they are from a show you recorded last week. However at least those don't drop your whole recording. They just ruin most of the enjoyment of watching your recording.

Why does anything have to break away? Why can't the EAS warning be superimposed over the video and leave the recording alone. Then you can pause live TV, watch the EAS, then resume watching your show.

Why does anything have to break away? Why can't the EAS warning be superimposed over the video and leave the recording alone. Then you can pause live TV, watch the EAS, then resume watching your show.

Excuse me. You are attempting to use logic in dealing with not only the cable company but the Government as well. And when the Government wants your attention, by God you're going to give it to them!

Need I say anymore?;)

That's not what we are talking about. We are talking about when the cable company uses the Emergency Broadcast System to actually give an emergency announcement.

I agree with you those weather announcements and what they do to HD television are also annoying, specially when they are from a show you recorded last week. However at least those don't drop your whole recording. They just ruin most of the enjoyment of watching your recording.
Yeah, but shifting from HD to SD in order to show a – mostly – irrelevant weather map is STILL a pain in the patootie. Equally maddening is the practice of many stations of giving their popinjay weatherman 15 minutes to talk about the weather during a network program and then showing the rest of the show 15 minutes late. If you are recording the program instead of watching it live, as many if not most TiVo owners do, the last 15 minutes of the show are usually gone forever.

We agree on the fundamental principle, though: leave us alone! Don’t interrupt our shows, if we are worried enough about the weather we’ll check a Web site or turn on the radio. In short, this is 2007, not 1977.

The only thing I can think off more annoying than the mandated weather warnings is the distressing practice of local network stations of showing the SD version of an HD show in order to superimpose a window with a weather map in it over the network show. More often than not, the area of heavy weather is 90 or 100 miles away. Arrrg! When they do that EVERYBODY is inconvenienced, not just S3 and THD owners.

Okay, if you want to skew wildly off topic, and talk annoying, how about the ads for upcoming shows DURING your current show that take up now ONE THIRD OF THE G*DD*MN SCREEN!!!?!?! I mean, geez, we used to think the little network logos were annoying (STILL ARE!), then they started with these little popup ads in the corner of the screen, but c'mon, this is getting RIDICULOUS!!!!

Sorry, can you tell I really don't like these things? :)

Where does it end???

It ends when you rent or buy the DVD.

Where does it end???It ends when it is no longer effective. People complained about this being the case on TNT for a while, exclaiming, "No other company does this." Now Discovery Home Theater is doing it -- a completely different company. And many other companies also do it to a lesser extent. Why? Obviously because it works, even though many of us would prefer it not be so.

It ends when it is no longer effective. People complained about this being the case on TNT for a while, exclaiming, "No other company does this." Now Discovery Home Theater is doing it -- a completely different company. And many other companies also do it to a lesser extent. Why? Obviously because it works, even though many of us would prefer it not be so.

I've noticed NBC has picked it up a bit too. I don't like it.:mad:

I doubt any viewer likes it, but apparently more-than-enough respond to it in the manner networks want.

The networks are just trying to combat the ever increasing use of DVRs. People are zapping the full screen ads more than ever--they can't zap these. I notice that blatant product placement is also in full-effect.

The networks are just trying to combat the ever increasing use of DVRs. People are zapping the full screen ads more than ever--they can't zap these. I notice that blatant product placement is also in full-effect.


I think of it more along the lines of what happens at baseball parks and such. The more advertising you put up the more dollars you make. Certainly those little side ads arn't being put there free of charge.

It's also so that viewers can get a distinct look at their upcoming programing and can't FF through it.

And I couldn't agree more about product placement. Budweiser, Coors. You see it all and the big difference is they actually show the actors drinking. In a regular ad that isn't allowed.

Sorry to ask a question that I'm sure it's already been answered; the thread is huge and searching for "component" didn't help.

Does this DVR output video from hdmi and component at the same time? My main display is a CRT rptv and I have a bedroom flat panel on the 2nd floor above the room where the rptv is. I don't watch on both at the same time so having the component connected to the rptv and the hdmi to the bedroom flat panel would work out great.

I think of it more along the lines of what happens at baseball parks and such. The more advertising you put up the more dollars you make. Certainly those little side ads arn't being put there free of charge.

It's also so that viewers can get a distinct look at their upcoming programing and can't FF through it.

And I couldn't agree more about product placement. Budweiser, Coors. You see it all and the big difference is they actually show the actors drinking. In a regular ad that isn't allowed.The more ad-zapping by people with DVRs the less valuable the interleaved full-screeen ads are and the less the advertisers are willing to pay for them. It's a problem that television execs have publically complained of in recent years.

Another factor is that it it increases the value of season sets on video discs. People who capture television and archive it generally like to remove the interleaved ads--they can't remove the overlay ads. Buying video discs sets will become the only way to see the content without overlay ads.

On TNT, one of the pioneers of overlays, they even sometimes overlay the soundtrack with sound effects for the ads :rolleyes:.

Does this DVR output video from hdmi and component at the same time?The TiVo HD does.

The TiVo HD does.

Thank you. I'm a little tired of TW's SA boxes. A big pet peeve of mine has been the 8300 not letting me use both connections concurrently. Looks like I'll be joining the Tivo community soon.

Thank you. I'm a little tired of TW's SA boxes. A big pet peeve of mine has been the 8300 not letting me use both connections concurrently. Looks like I'll be joining the Tivo community soon.

You'll be very pleased. Once you see how different TiVo is from the SA 8300 you'll wonder how you ever put up with it. Good decision.

You'll be very pleased. Once you see how different TiVo is from the SA 8300 you'll wonder how you ever put up with it. Good decision.
Amen! As most of the regular posters here know, I think that the S3 made no economic sense when I bought it shortly after the new year. Still, I have loved the thing. Now that the HD is available for a LOT less money than the S3 cost me, choosing a TiVo over an 8300 should be a no brainer, it seems to me.

A couple of weeks ago I had to use the 8300 that is attached to my other HDTV for a couple of days and it reminded me why I spent what it took to replace another 8300 with my S3. The 8300 is primitive and crippled. It’s only saving grace is that it’s cheap. It works, but not very well.

Thank you. I'm a little tired of TW's SA boxes. A big pet peeve of mine has been the 8300 not letting me use both connections concurrently. Looks like I'll be joining the Tivo community soon.I used to use two DirecTiVos (with DirecTV of course) and I really liked TiVo. However when I switched to cable I couldn't justify buying the Series3 units so I ended up with Motorola's 6416s.

I actually like the 6416 and prefer some things it does over the TiVo like always being able to listen and view a channel regardless of where you are in the menus.

When the TiVo HD came out I decided to give them a try. Overall the 6416 doesn't have the "friendly" interface of TiVo but for everyday use I prefer it and I never had any recording issues.

Doing the math the cost ended up close to the same over three years. Two TiVo HDs versus the three year lease fee for two 6416s. I decided to go with TiVo for three reasons. It was some thing new to play around with and offered the ability to upgrade the hard drive space.

And finally for the Internet features along with Multi-Room and TiVoToGo. So far other than downloading a few pilots I haven't used the Internet access to any degree. Looking at the transfer times and restrictions I don't see myself using either of the those features.

Oh I still like TiVo and hopefully some Internet stuff will come along to bring some added value. I upgraded both to terabyte drives and if things keep going as they are I'll probably return them and drop the originals back in.

That way I won't be paying a premium for TiVo since I just as soon be using the 6416. However the TiVo HDs are quieter and the image is a little more detailed which are nice benefits.

Amen! As most of the regular posters here know, I think that the S3 made no economic sense when I bought it shortly after the new year. Still, I have loved the thing. Now that the HD is available for a LOT less money than the S3 cost me, choosing a TiVo over an 8300 should be a no brainer, it seems to me.

A couple of weeks ago I had to use the 8300 that is attached to my other HDTV for a couple of days and it reminded me why I spent what it took to replace another 8300 with my S3. The 8300 is primitive and crippled. It’s only saving grace is that it’s cheap. It works, but not very well.

I know I'm preaching to the choir when I respond to your post but for me cost was never a consideration. I just wanted something that worked reliably and my previous experience with th D*TiVo made me confident on the TiVo brand.

If I knew 1 year from when I bought the S3 the HD TiVo would be available at a lower cost, I still would have bought it. And just to show the "snob" in me you HD TiVo owners are driving Chevys. Mines a Cadillac.;)

You can now put your TivoHD or S3 on the priority list for the new 9.1 software. This will get you that software within 48-72 hours (a week or two before most).

http://www.tivo.com/priority/

This rollout could easily take another month especially since it includes S2s and S3s. Therefore it would certainly be within the realm of possibility that the "switch" (as Paul calls it) would be "thrown" in November (only after the rollout is complete) as Pony mentioned over in TCF.

Nope. The "big switch" has been thrown, per TiVoJerry HERE (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5556842&&#post5556842). You can put your TiVo on the priority list if you need the release right now, but we'll all eventually get it over the course of a week or so.

A curious thing about TiVoJerry's comments... He mentions the "naming" bug that's been kicking around for a while, where your TiVo's "name" on tivo.com is lost. He mentions that it'll be fixed in November, and adds a winking smiley.

I'm beginning to wonder if the TTG/MRV release also scheduled to happen in November will happen in the form of another software release, or if it's purely a switch that they'll have to throw up at tivo.com. These two seemingly unrelated functions will both be issued to users in November, as confirmed by various TiVo reps on TCF. I previously thought that 9.1 would contain all the code necessary for TTG/MRV. I'm not so sure now...

Nope. The "big switch" has been thrown, per TiVoJerry HERE (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5556842&&#post5556842). You can put your TiVo on the priority list if you need the release right now, but we'll all eventually get it over the course of a week or so.

A curious thing about TiVoJerry's comments... He mentions the "naming" bug that's been kicking around for a while, where your TiVo's "name" on tivo.com is lost. He mentions that it'll be fixed in November, and adds a winking smiley.

I'm beginning to wonder if the TTG/MRV release also scheduled to happen in November will happen in the form of another software release, or if it's purely a switch that they'll have to throw up at tivo.com. These two seemingly unrelated functions will both be issued to users in November, as confirmed by various TiVo reps on TCF. I previously thought that 9.1 would contain all the code necessary for TTG/MRV. I'm not so sure now...Wrongo....what I meant is the switch to be thrown for enabling MRV.

Wrongo....what I meant is the switch to be thrown for enabling MRV.

OK, misunderstood you. There's two switches we're dealing with anyways :

Switch1 is the 9.1 roll-out, which has just occurred.

Switch2 is the November event which we're all looking forward to. This will enable TTG/MRV, and fix the tivo.com naming problem, and who knows what else will come along for the ride. I still can't quite figure out if this will be a server-side change only (with the customer-side boxes remaining with their current 9.1 release), or if TiVo is gonna roll out yet another software release to the customer base. As a software engineer, I really can't see 'em distributing more software so quickly after the 9.1 release, but you never know...

I previously thought that 9.1 would contain all the code necessary for TTG/MRV. I'm not so sure now...I thought it because a friend who works on TiVo firmware thought so. He was surprised to hear that we'd been told that the functionality wouldn't be coming until November, since as far as he knew, the code was in the 9.1 release which was due to roll out in a matter of a few days (when I last spoke to him).

Delaying activation of the feature makes some sense, since people with multiple TiVos probably won't get the upgrade on the same day. By delaying until all TiVos have been upgraded, you avoid useless service calls from people trying to use MRV between units, only one of which has the new code.

I thought it because a friend who works on TiVo firmware thought so. He was surprised to hear that we'd been told that the functionality wouldn't be coming until November, since as far as he knew, the code was in the 9.1 release which was due to roll out in a matter of a few days (when I last spoke to him).

Delaying activation of the feature makes some sense, since people with multiple TiVos probably won't get the upgrade on the same day. By delaying until all TiVos have been upgraded, you avoid useless service calls from people trying to use MRV between units, only one of which has the new code.

TiVoJerry confirms all of this. MRV's not happening between 9.1 and non-9.1 units. They've all got to be 9.1 in order for it to work. He says that they're trying to update all of an account's boxes all at once in order to avoid these incompatibility issues. So, in for a penny, in for a pound if you have multiple TiVo boxes...

I added myself to the 9.1 Priority List once it was announced, and ended up getting it late last night. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but expect to have plenty of time to fool around with the new goodies tonight.

If anyone has any questions about the new stuff, or old stuff for that matter, I'll gladly answer what I can...

Is there a way to keep the clock bright? I can't read it from across the room when it dims. Kinda worthless unless you're right in front of it.

Is there a way to keep the clock bright? I can't read it from across the room when it dims. Kinda worthless unless you're right in front of it.

No... It would kill the life of the OLEDs to do that. Hit the info button and they will go to 'bright'.

Has anyone ever seen the message "not supported mode"? In a window in the center of a black screen? (note that it's not "mode not supported", it actually says "not supported mode".)

I have an s3 and a tivo hd. I have a problem on the tivohd where I select any of the last 3 items on the "find programs" menu - swivel search, download tv and movies, or guru guide - and I get this error, on the tivo hd. The s3 works fine. I have 9.1 now, and I waited to call tivo until after I got it, but I still have the problem. They are elevating it, says he hasn't heard of this before. Anyone here?

Has anyone ever seen the message "not supported mode"? In a window in the center of a black screen? (note that it's not "mode not supported", it actually says "not supported mode".)

I have an s3 and a tivo hd. I have a problem on the tivohd where I select any of the last 3 items on the "find programs" menu - swivel search, download tv and movies, or guru guide - and I get this error, on the tivo hd. The s3 works fine. I have 9.1 now, and I waited to call tivo until after I got it, but I still have the problem. They are elevating it, says he hasn't heard of this before. Anyone here?

You didnt provide any info on your TV... but it sounds like a Samsung though. That message is coming from the TV... not the Tivo. What Video output mode did you select on the TivoHD? Try Hybrid (first choice) or Fixed 1080i (second choice).

You didnt provide any info on your TV... but it sounds like a Samsung though. That message is coming from the TV... not the Tivo. What Video output mode did you select on the TivoHD? Try Hybrid (first choice) or Fixed 1080i (second choice).

Interesting....you're right, the family room tv where the tivohd is located is a samsung dlp...and I believe it is set to hybrid (hdmi) but I'll verify that tonight. (the s3 is on my projector.)

Assuming it is...is there a fix? from a search here it looks like the samsung might not like getting anything less than 720p over hdmi? but the tivohd menus work, so maybe it's a tivohd problem, that they're not using 720p consistently or something?

Interesting....you're right, the family room tv where the tivohd is located is a samsung dlp...and I believe it is set to hybrid (hdmi) but I'll verify that tonight. (the s3 is on my projector.)

Assuming it is...is there a fix? from a search here it looks like the samsung might not like getting anything less than 720p over hdmi? but the tivohd menus work, so maybe it's a tivohd problem, that they're not using 720p consistently or something?

If the DLP's native resolution is 720p, you probably wanna set up your TiVo to feed it that resolution to rule out any incompatibilities between the two.

Remember, the HME applications (Swivel Search, Unbox, etc) by TiVo all run in 480p, so your TiVo is changing resolutions between video content (1080i/720p) and the HME menus (480p). The only exception is the HD Photos app, which obviously runs at HD resolutions.

Just in case you didn't catch it, the "fix" is to change your video output format setting from "HYBRID" to "FIXED". In "HYBRID", it will display 480i and 480p content as 480p, and if what Paul says is true, the menus as well.

I just noticed this (http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=cbecf1b9-88de-4b74-82c1-754c3260112a) at TiVo's site. I'd seen the FCC filing on the "tuning resolver" proposal, but this blurb at their site is awfully positive about it:
We expect the adapter to be available to consumers before switched digital becomes widely deployed.To listen to them, it sounds like a done deal. We can only hope that they're right :).

It's interesting that the filing is primarily a point-by-point attack on a Consumer Electronics Association proposal by the National Cable Television Association with the collusion of TiVo, Inc., a regular CEA member (http://www.ce.org/Membership/Directory/MemberDetail.aspx?id=000010041858) :D.

I'd just like to go on record saying that I DO NOT LIKE 9.1.

My main complaint is the loss of a feature that I used to use every day.

Previously, in Find Programs, Browse by Channel mode, when the channel selector was selected, pressing channel + or - switched to the far right list and did the + or - action. Now it just makes the boink noise.

Further, now if you have used the channel + or - on the right list and then go back to the channel selector and change channel, the right list changes back to the initial start time.

Just crap.

I'd just like to go on record saying that I DO NOT LIKE 9.1.

My main complaint is the loss of a feature that I used to use every day.

Previously, in Find Programs, Browse by Channel mode, when the channel selector was selected, pressing channel + or - switched to the far right list and did the + or - action. Now it just makes the boink noise.

Further, now if you have used the channel + or - on the right list and then go back to the channel selector and change channel, the right list changes back to the initial start time.

Just crap.I understand your frustration, but when weighed against all the features of TiVo, this is really not a major issue. Still an issue, granted, especially since you use it every day (however, why would you browse by channel mode? Why not just browse in your channel grid; that's why I do)...just not a dealbreaker at least IMO.

I just noticed this (http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=cbecf1b9-88de-4b74-82c1-754c3260112a) at TiVo's site. I'd seen the FCC filing on the "tuning resolver" proposal, but this blurb at their site is awfully positive about it:
To listen to them, it sounds like a done deal. We can only hope that they're right :).

It's interesting that the filing is primarily a point-by-point attack on a Consumer Electronics Association proposal by the National Cable Television Association with the collusion of TiVo, Inc., a regular CEA member (http://www.ce.org/Membership/Directory/MemberDetail.aspx?id=000010041858) :D.This is OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD NEWS which I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere. This should answer those who have moaned and groaned about how SDV will "kill" TiVo.:D

That Tivo SDV dongle customer service notice has actually been up for a while now. I saw it right after the August FCC hearing. Forgot about it and then discovered it again when I was having a nice conversation with a 2 brain celled pompous half whit concerning Tivo.

Even with the posted Tivo notice some people refuse to believe Tivo is sincere. Unbelievable. I'm not a Tivo user and probably never will be but that doesn't mean Tivo isn't a fine product backed up by an honest company.

Good luck with the SDV!

That Tivo SDV dongle customer service notice has actually been up for a while now. I saw it right after the August FCC hearing.I'd seen plenty of discussion of the dongle since just after the filing but I hadn't run across the TiVo customer notice. The tone of most of the discussions has been fairly negative--"well, it's just a theory until we see it" and "it'll probably take forever to become available if it ever does", etc, whereas TiVo's notice makes it sound like fait accompli, all over but the shouting :).

I'd seen plenty of discussion of the dongle since just after the filing but I hadn't run across the TiVo customer notice. The tone of most of the discussions has been fairly negative--"well, it's just a theory until we see it" and "it'll probably take forever to become available if it ever does", etc, whereas TiVo's notice makes it sound like fait accompli, all over but the shouting :).

I agree.

It is a publicly traded company. The notice is on the official Tivo site. It sends the reader to a document filed with the FCC. The customer service notice had to pass legal. Publicly traded companies can get into trouble for statements that tend to mislead. Granted it's not an SEC filing but this would not past muster if was purposefully misleading. The notice does not have to be there. Tivo made a choice to post it.

I would say things look better because of it.

Cablecard #2 in my s3 loses the ability to decode Encore and HBO about every 7-8 days. I have to call Comcast, schedule an appointment, and a tech has to come out and re-hit the card. I have asked them several times to replace the card and they claim to be out of cablecards. Isn't that like Pizza Hut being out of pepperoni? This has been going on for almost two months.

The problem with TiVo's statement about the dongle is that it can be true across a wide range of interpretation. Since they wrote it, they get to determine what "widely deployed" means, not you or I. Furthermore, the time-frame for design, development, manufacture and testing of a piece of electronics is invariably tied to how complex the device is, without regard to the deployment of something external to it (i.e., SDV), so assertions that don't show a clear understanding of the technical requirements for that time-frame are invariably going to be met with skepticism.

The problem with TiVo's statement about the dongle is that it can be true across a wide range of interpretation. Since they wrote it, they get to determine what "widely deployed" means, not you or I. Furthermore, the time-frame for design, development, manufacture and testing of a piece of electronics is invariably tied to how complex the device is, without regard to the deployment of something external to it (i.e., SDV), so assertions that don't show a clear understanding of the technical requirements for that time-frame are invariably going to be met with skepticism.See what I mean by "negative tone" :D?

If this device should not manifest itself in time to keep their stock from sliding down the toilet because sales have flattened due to widespread use of SDV and TiVo's being sued into non-existence by a group of investors whose expectations of their performance had been bouyed by this optimistic statement, the courts will get to decide what "widespread deployment" means :).

Just in case you didn't catch it, the "fix" is to change your video output format setting from "HYBRID" to "FIXED". In "HYBRID", it will display 480i and 480p content as 480p, and if what Paul says is true, the menus as well.

Yes, thanks...when I went home last night, I put it on 720p fixed, and that fixed it. I should call tivo back and tell them what the fix is, since I would imagine others could see this issue, and they (2nd level support) hadn't heard of anything like this before - he said he was elevating it to engineering.

The reason I didn't think of this initially was the regular menus worked fine, like the Tivo Central menu, so they must be putting that out at 720p and the hme menus seem to be 480p for some reason.

Yes, thanks...when I went home last night, I put it on 720p fixed, and that fixed it. I should call tivo back and tell them what the fix is, since I would imagine others could see this issue, and they (2nd level support) hadn't heard of anything like this before - he said he was elevating it to engineering.

The reason I didn't think of this initially was the regular menus worked fine, like the Tivo Central menu, so they must be putting that out at 720p and the hme menus seem to be 480p for some reason.

The internal menus are generated by the software running within the box itself. The HME applications are really being generated by a combination of the application server (residing at TiVo, or TiVo Desktop running on a PC) and the box. The officially released TiVo HME SDK currently only supports 480p, and thus the menus it generates are only 480p. Actually, TiVo just yesterday (after a 2 year gap) released an experimental update to the SDK that supports HD resolutions, but its not quite ready for prime time yet.

... the courts will get to decide what "widespread deployment" means :).I doubt it would get that kind of attention.

I doubt it would get that kind of attention.Well, let's hope that the TiVo-stock-down-the-drain-due-to-SDV scenario never comes to pass because they get this fairly simple band-aid in place.

I personally would be very surprised if they didn't already have the thing breadboarded by the time of the NCTA filing and had not since gone ahead and created a manufacturable industrial design.

Im gonna plug my S3 into a wireless router via ethernet connection, anyone have any issues with this?

I have the wireless adapter now and it works great, but we are about to get the Tivo HD for the living room and want to move it to that one.

Im gonna plug my S3 into a wireless router via ethernet connection, anyone have any issues with this?No. Ethernet works great.

I personally would be very surprised if they didn't already have the thing breadboarded by the time of the NCTA filing and had not since gone ahead and created a manufacturable industrial design.I agree. However, the hard part will be getting the cable companies to accept the design, and the getting them up to speed supporting it. This isn't a device TiVo can issue; it must be issued by the cable company, integrated into their systems, not TiVo's.

I agree. However, the hard part will be getting the cable companies to accept the design, and the getting them up to speed supporting it. This isn't a device TiVo can issue; it must be issued by the cable company, integrated into their systems, not TiVo's.Conceivably, the device doesn't need to do anything but send and receive arbitrary messages in the out-of-band frequency the cable companies are using for SDV. TiVo need only be given the details of the proprietary protocols that the cable companies' equipment suppliers are using for this, which shouldn't be difficult to give to them. There are no issues of security involved; knowing where a channel is on the line doesn't give you the ability to access it (in any case, the headend knows whether or not a requestor is a subscriber to a particular service and can respond accordingly).

They can store which companies are using which systems where they store their channel line-ups.

The real place where regulatory assistance is needed is to get the cable companies to standardize on a protocol for SDV. TiVo and others have suggested this before and there were efforts in this direction.

TiVo need only be given the details of the proprietary protocols that the cable companies' equipment suppliers are using for this, which shouldn't be difficult to give to them.I wouldn't be surprised if they disagree with you completely on that. Prudence dictates that we should plan on TiVo having to work THROUGH the cable companies to provide this, with the cable companies not providing any of their proprietary information to TiVo, regardless of whether or not there are security interests.

For those with the Tivo wireless AG0100 adapter, how's the range on that? I plan on having my Tivo in the basement and my wireless router on the 1st level, was wondering if anyone has it this way and found it to be acceptable, before I order online.

I think you'll be fine. They seem to be substantially better than the wireless adapters we replaced.

Josh, the delightful TiVo tech support representative, Monday 10/08/2007; ~6 p.m.

delivered the absolute WORST service I have received from any company - ever. This guy simply refused to assist me in resolving a cable-card problem. I asked to be transfered to his supervisor and he said sure, it will be 15-20 minutes to speak to his supervisor, Albert. Then . . . he hung up on me. His tone was sarcastic, his voice overrode mine when I was trying to explain, and he simply didn't get off square one in resolving the problem. He was the biggest jerk I have encountered all year and - wait - I'M PAYING FOR THIS SERVICE!!!

This is the service I got after waiting a week for my Comcast cable installer to get here with the cable cards, the Comcast guy stating that he wouldn't even install the cards due to the TiVo box requiring a specific Software version starting with 8.3.something.something. instead of the 8.1.something.something. The Comcast guy just told me that I'm S.O.L. and walked out without even attempting to install the cards. Kevin was the contractor's name from the delightful Comcast pool of contractors. What a shifless loser. Came in to punch his timecard and turned around without even making a fair attempt at it. No wonder he is a Comcast contractor. I suppose that attitude won't elevate his career much beyond that.

Josh, the delightful TiVo tech support representative, Monday 10/08/2007; ~6 p.m.

delivered the absolute WORST service I have received from any company - ever. This guy simply refused to assist me in resolving a cable-card problem. I asked to be transfered to his supervisor and he said sure, it will be 15-20 minutes to speak to his supervisor, Albert. Then . . . he hung up on me. His tone was sarcastic, his voice overrode mine when I was trying to explain, and he simply didn't get off square one in resolving the problem. He was the biggest jerk I have encountered all year and - wait - I'M PAYING FOR THIS SERVICE!!!

There's no excuse for that kind of behavior. I'd contact TiVo in the morning and really let 'em have it.

This is the service I got after waiting a week for my Comcast cable installer to get here with the cable cards, the Comcast guy stating that he wouldn't even install the cards due to the TiVo box requiring a specific Software version starting with 8.3.something.something. instead of the 8.1.something.something. The Comcast guy just told me that I'm S.O.L. and walked out without even attempting to install the cards. Kevin was the contractor's name from the delightful Comcast pool of contractors. What a shifless loser. Came in to punch his timecard and turned around without even making a fair attempt at it. No wonder he is a Comcast contractor. I suppose that attitude won't elevate his career much beyond that.

The installer is flat-out wrong. My Comcast guy installed two CableCARDs in my S3 with 8.1 very little problems (the only problem was trying to find two cards that weren't dead on arrival before even plugging them in), and that was many months ago. I'd call Comcast and bitch them out as well.

This is the service I got after waiting a week for my Comcast cable installer to get here with the cable cards, the Comcast guy stating that he wouldn't even install the cards due to the TiVo box requiring a specific Software version starting with 8.3.something.something. instead of the 8.1.something.something. The Comcast guy just told me that I'm S.O.L. and walked out without even attempting to install the cards. Kevin was the contractor's name from the delightful Comcast pool of contractors. What a shifless loser. Came in to punch his timecard and turned around without even making a fair attempt at it. No wonder he is a Comcast contractor. I suppose that attitude won't elevate his career much beyond that.That's not acceptable.

There isn't even a 8.3.x release for the TivoHD. The 8.3.x software is only for the Series3.

Looks like big cable is tossing yet another monkey wrench into the works with SDV.
The folks over at Tivo can't seem to get a break. Seems like the all powerful cable co's and the cable co owned Cable Labs have an endless supply of tricks up their sleeves to eventually kill any DVR type device not rented out to the consumer directly from the cable operator.
Cable saw Tivo HD coming and said... Ok, we'll let you play on our system... but you still need to use our rented cable cards... Tivo said fine and made the S3 work with cable cards. Now cable says... hmmmm- they figured out the cable card trick... lets hit them with the SDV trick next. So, now Tivo's working hard to implement an as yet non-existent piece of hardware called a "tuning resolver" which will again be rented to the end user by the cable co's in addition to the rented cable cards which you will still need. So, now that's three pieces of equipment you'll have to pay the cable co for every month in order to use your S3 Tivo. What's next in big cable's bag of tricks to kill Tivo... A dual channel tunneling neutrino beam 1024 bit super reverse encrypter? - which of course is built into the cable co's rental DVR but will be required as an additional rental item (or two) for anyone with a S3 Tivo.

It's just insanity- it seems like cable is going to do whatever is necessary to keep Tivo and any other hardware manufacturer off of their system.

What's next in big cable's bag of tricks to kill Tivo

They will force people to go with sat or fiber or another cable company.

It's just insanity- it seems like cable is going to do whatever is necessary to keep Tivo and any other hardware manufacturer off of their system.

I thought that the switched video is to free-up the bandwidth for more content on the last-mile coax. And not necessarily to inhibit consumer electronic companies sales, although cable companys get this for "free".

I thought that the switched video is to free-up the bandwidth for more content on the last-mile coax. And not necessarily to inhibit consumer electronic companies sales, although cable companys get this for "free".

This is what the cable company says. If you choose to believe that then fine. Others feel that the cable company is out to get TiVo or any other DVR manufacturer.

Why replayrob decided to replay this whole thing again is beyond me. This is nothing new, it's been discussed to death. Look I'm not one who is a cable company fan but the dongle is an idea to help resolve the issue of SDV. The major companies have stated they want to work out a way to resolve this issue as well.

So pick a side of the fence and stand on it or hope for cooperation. Getting upset and ranting and raving about it does nothing as far as I'm concerned.

Getting upset and ranting and raving about it does nothing as far as I'm concerned.Yes, I agree. I think our best approach is to crystallize the risks, so folks can make the best decision for themselves, rather than layering on emotional baggage that may obscure the reality.

Has anyone else noticed that the tivo listings show "to be announced" instead of prison break and whatever show follows it on Monday, 10/15?? The rest of the listings are all fine, and my sony hdd500 shows prison break at that time, but the S3 says "to be announced"...which of course means it won't record (as of last night)! I forgot to check what the tivohd has on it, I'll check that tonight.

I actually tried to add a season pass for "to be announced" but it said I already had 2 things scheduled (prison break and heroes) and minutes might be cut off...but the to do list says nothing scheduled for prison break.

Anyone else see this?

Edit: Okay, I just looked at titantv and zap2it...titantv lists prison break, but zap2it seems to have the correct story - baseball! sox vs indians...I guess they caught tivo (and titantv) in the middle of their info gathering or something, so they saw something was different, but didn't have the data on what was actually scheduled. I guess that explains the "to be announced".

Has anyone else noticed that the tivo listings show "to be announced" instead of prison break and whatever show follows it on Monday, 10/15?? The rest of the listings are all fine, and my sony hdd500 shows prison break at that time, but the S3 says "to be announced"...which of course means it won't record (as of last night)! I forgot to check what the tivohd has on it, I'll check that tonight.

I actually tried to add a season pass for "to be announced" but it said I already had 2 things scheduled (prison break and heroes) and minutes might be cut off...but the to do list says nothing scheduled for prison break.

Anyone else see this? Is there someone we can call to find out what's going on? I'm guessing that tivo tech support isn't going to be much help, but I could try that if you think I should...

That's going to change in a bit. There's a little thing going on that's going to interrupt your two shows called "The American League Championship" that's scheduled for that Monday during that time.

Zap2it.com, which is Tribune Media has it correct in their guide. Give it a couple of days and it will change in your guide as well.:)

Ron,

Every 48-72 hours, the Tivo connects to download guide information. If you don't have any guide information for October 15 or later, then that means one of two things. Either (1) you haven't paid your bill, or (2) the Tivo hasn't been able to connect to the service to download that information.

You can login to your account at Tivo.com to check your current account status (i.e. if you've paid your bill). You can check to see whether your connection to the Tivo service is working under Settings -> Phone & Network. That screen lists the date and time of the last successful and next scheduled connection to the Tivo service; it also provides the means for you to test that connection.

Now, if the missing guide information is specific specific timeslot, but you have data beyond that, it means the network hasn't yet finalized their schedule for that date / time as of your last service connection.

Ron,

Every 48-72 hours, the Tivo connects to download guide information. If you don't have any guide information for October 15 or later, then that means one of two things. Either (1) you haven't paid your bill, or (2) the Tivo hasn't been able to connect to the service to download that information.

You can login to your account at Tivo.com to check your current account status (i.e. if you've paid your bill). You can check to see whether your connection to the Tivo service is working under Settings -> Phone & Network. That screen lists the date and time of the last successful connection to the Tivo service, and it also lets you test your connection.

Now, if the missing guide information is specific specific timeslot, but you have data beyond that, it means the network hasn't yet finalized their schedule for that date / time.

No, remember I said that all the other listings were fine, it was just those 2 hours. I'm not sure what show is on after prison break.

Hookbill had it right, and I discovered it after my original post but before I saw hookbill's, it's the baseball game. I just haven't noticed the "to be announced" in this type of case before, like it was in a transition phase or something.

I also didn't think about the baseball game because I've had the same thing happening on my replaytv's, for friday nights at 8pm for deal or no deal. The past couple of weeks have said "to be announced" on replaytv, even though deal or no deal has been on.

Just my two cents:

I have Comcast Cable and my install went 100% perfect. No problems whatsoever. I have one gripe though.

I have a Philips Philips 42" 1080p LCD TV (42PFL7422D/37), and I can't use HDMI cables from the tivo box to the TV. The reason being, that when I change channels or go to the tivo menu, the screen flashes on and off for about 20 seconds saying the HDMI is not permitted. SO ANNOYING! So I fixed that by using components, but still, I'm probably losing picture quality out of this.

Has anyone found a way to go around this or fix this by still using HDMI cables?

Just my two cents:

I have Comcast Cable and my install went 100% perfect. No problems whatsoever. I have one gripe though.

I have a Philips Philips 42" 1080p LCD TV (42PFL7422D/37), and I can't use HDMI cables from the tivo box to the TV. The reason being, that when I change channels or go to the tivo menu, the screen flashes on and off for about 20 seconds saying the HDMI is not permitted. SO ANNOYING! So I fixed that by using components, but still, I'm probably losing picture quality out of this.

Has anyone found a way to go around this or fix this by still using HDMI cables?

Decent article from ecoustics concerning PQ and HDMI vs. component here:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/122868.html

Moral of the story - it depends.

Decent article from ecoustics concerning PQ and HDMI vs. component here:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/122868.html

Moral of the story - it depends.

Thanks!

Do you have the problem that I stated above? I guess it doesn't really matter......I'm sticking with Components anyway. I didn't notice a difference.

Thanks!

Do you have the problem that I stated above? I guess it doesn't really matter......I'm sticking with Components anyway. I didn't notice a difference.

Usually most people avoid this by not setting the reception to a specific mode. Is you're TiVo set to native? If so, try setting it at either 1080i or 720p. If you know what your television's native setting is, try it there.

Usually most people avoid this by not setting the reception to a specific mode. Is you're TiVo set to native? If so, try setting it at either 1080i or 720p. If you know what your television's native setting is, try it there.

It's on Native. It didn't fix or correct the issue.

The native panel resolution of your Philips is 1080p. Set the Tivo to 1080i fixed and see if the issue goes away.

It's on Native. It didn't fix or correct the issue.

Yes, I was saying take it off Native as Moxie suggested. It could be because it's 1080p that you will still have this problem but try both 1080i and 720p (because it's "Progressive") and see what works better.

Back in August is was stated -
Let me rephrase: you will not get any sort of guide for digital channels received over cable without CableCARDs. You will only able to manually record them by entering a specific day/time/channel. No other TiVo features (Season Pass, Wishlist, Swivel Search, etc) will work with them, and nothing will show up in the guide for them.Has this been fixed yet? I have HD DVRs without cableCards and they show me the GEMstar guide data for the HD local broadcast channels on the cable. During setup I mapped the cable channel to the OTA broadcast channel (i.e., cable 105.1 is OTA 7.1). I was hoping to add an additional HD DVR and the Tivo HD looks good except for the problem mentioned in the auote above.

Back in August is was stated -
Has this been fixed yet? I have HD DVRs without cableCards and they show me the GEMstar guide data for the HD local broadcast channels on the cable. During setup I mapped the cable channel to the OTA broadcast channel (i.e., cable 105.1 is OTA 7.1). I was hoping to add an additional HD DVR and the Tivo HD looks good except for the problem mentioned in the auote above.

Fixed? It's not designed that way and further, all DVR's including cable company DVR's will have cable cards. That's the law. Now there are still lots of DVR's that don't have cable cards out there but as new ones are manufactured they will have cable cards.

You can get a guide however from the HD TiVo if you are using it OTA. You can use it with cable and OTA if you desire. But any encrypted digital programs need a cable card to receive both data and reception.

all DVR's including cable company DVR's will have cable cardsNo. They will have cablecard slots but will not require cable cards for non encrypted channels. And many will continue to provide Guide data for those non-encrypted channels without a cablecard.

I assume by your argumentative answer that this problem has not yet been fixed. I will look elsewhere for my next HD DVR.

No. They will have cablecard slots but will not require cable cards for non encrypted channels. And many will continue to provide Guide data for those non-encrypted channels without a cablecard.

I assume by your argumentative answer that this problem has not yet been fixed. I will look elsewhere for my next HD DVR.

Yeah, you do that. When you find it let me know.:rolleyes:

Yeah, you do that. When you find it let me know.:rolleyes:OK: Sony DHG-HDD250 and Sony DHG-HDD500. That wasn't hard.

OK: Sony DHG-HDD250 and Sony DHG-HDD500. That wasn't hard.

I understand that Sony's DVR is a pos compared to TiVo. bicker1, don't you have one of these things?

all DVR's including cable company DVR's will have cable cards. That's the law. Now there are still lots of DVR's that don't have cable cards out there but as new ones are manufactured they will have cable cards.That's just completely untrue. First, the "law" (FCC order) you are thinking of applies only to cable-company provided DVRs...not TiVo or Digeo or anything else. Second, it doesn't even apply to all cable markets...just most of them. Third, CableCARDs will never be required to receive local digital networks (assuming they are present), and that is the law.

No, I have a Motorola DCT-3416 (in addition to my TiVos).

The problem with the Sonys is that they're discontinued. There just wasn't a market for them in the US, so Sony stopped selling them. Also, they only support QAM in-the-clear -- there is no way to receive encrypted channels using these DVRs.

If you're just looking for a local broadcast HD DVR, the Sonys aren't a bad option, IF you can find one to purchase, and if you have about $700 to spend. Check eBay.

That's just completely untrue. First, the "law" (FCC order) you are thinking of applies only to cable-company provided DVRs...not TiVo or Digeo or anything else. Second, it doesn't even apply to all cable markets...just most of them. Third, CableCARDs will never be required to receive local digital networks (assuming they are present), and that is the law.

OK, but basically what I said is true not completely untrue like you say. Since "Most" companies that would be the majority. "Most" markets. And I was talking about digitally encrypted channels, not anything else.

Correction accepted, but please don't try to make it out like I made a totally false statement.:)

No, I have a Motorola DCT-3416 (in addition to my TiVos).

The problem with the Sonys is that they're discontinued. There just wasn't a market for them in the US, so Sony stopped selling them. Also, they only support QAM in-the-clear -- there is no way to receive encrypted channels using these DVRs.

If you're just looking for a local broadcast HD DVR, the Sonys aren't a bad option, IF you can find one to purchase, and if you have about $700 to spend. Check eBay.

Not true. These units can receive all encrypted channels subscribed to with the cable card installed in its slot, which I receive, but yes, they are discontinued.

It is still pretty significant, though, that three years after the law went into effect supporting privately-owned cable boxes, and three months after the law went into effect forcing MSOs to use cable boxes comparable to the privately-owned ones, TiVo remains the only supplier offering products to the general public in this space -- AND is losing money in the bargain, instead of commanding prices worthy of the virtual monopoly they are sufficient to ensure profitability.

Not true. These units can receive all encrypted channels subscribed to with the cable card installed in its slot, which I receive, but yes, they are discontinued.I actually checked the specs (http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/DocsConnect/docget.asp?manualid=24532&DL=) specifically to see if they had CableCard slots, and totally missed the bit that they did. Sorry about that. Thanks for the correction.

Correction accepted, but please don't try to make it out like I made a totally false statement.:)The original poster was asking only about 3rd-party DVRs. Your response applied only to cable-company DVRs. So in the context of the question, it was a pretty inaccurate response. Why the hostility toward supplying guide data in the absence of CableCARDs?

The original poster was asking only about 3rd-party DVRs. Your response applied only to cable-company DVRs. So in the context of the question, it was a pretty inaccurate response. Why the hostility toward supplying guide data in the absence of CableCARDs?

Perhaps my perception of what he was asking was wrong but I thought that what he was saying was "When is TiVo going to fix it's HD DVR's so they don't require cable cards."

I read the question a couple of times before I responded. I thought it deserved the response I gave it.

A lot of people have wanted to have the ability to manually map in-the-clear cable channels for the TiVo so guide data could be used for scheduling without CableCards since this thread began. People understood it would only occur for non-encrypted channels, and most seemed fairly shocked that it wasn't already included, if I recall correctly. So while it is reasonable to say that the TiVos weren't designed to do it, is probably also fair to say that a significant number of folks expected them to work on this down the line, particularly given TiVo's reputation for listening to their user community. It might have to be offered through some sort of 'backdoor' approach due to supportability concerns, but most thought it would be forthcoming. So while to say it hasn't been 'fixed' wasn't necessarily accurate, the question wasn't what I would call unreasonable....just my $.02....

Randy

A lot of people have wanted to have the ability to manually map in-the-clear cable channels for the TiVo so guide data could be used for scheduling without CableCards since this thread began. People understood it would only occur for non-encrypted channels, and most seemed fairly shocked that it wasn't already included, if I recall correctly. So while it is reasonable to say that the TiVos weren't designed to do it, is probably also fair to say that a significant number of folks expected them to work on this down the line, particularly given TiVo's reputation for listening to their user community. It might have to be offered through some sort of 'backdoor' approach due to supportability concerns, but most thought it would be forthcoming. So while to say it hasn't been 'fixed' wasn't necessarily accurate, the question wasn't what I would call unreasonable....just my $.02....

Randy

A problem with that logic is that cable companies are free to re-assign their channel mappings any way they see fit. Even worse, these mapping can differ between municipalities. There is no standard convention about how these mappings occur, and there is no clearing house where these mappings are made public.

At least with a CableCARD, you automatically get the QAM<->channel assignments. Without a card, and you're on your own, and it'd be next to impossible to maintain a centralized database for all of the mappings. For one, it'd be very difficult to harvest all of that information, and secondly it'd also be quite difficult to keep up with the changes on a town-by-town basis.

I'd be EXTREMELY surprised to see something like this happen.

I'd be EXTREMELY surprised to see something like this happen.The Sony DVRs figured out how to support this. Windows Media Center supports this. The Digeo Home Cinema Edition DVR is planned to support this. TiVo appears to be alone in missing this feature. Why would it surprise you to see TiVo doing nothing more than matching the features of their competition?

A problem with that logic is that cable companies are free to re-assign their channel mappings any way they see fit. Even worse, these mapping can differ between municipalities. There is no standard convention about how these mappings occur, and there is no clearing house where these mappings are made public.

At least with a CableCARD, you automatically get the QAM<->channel assignments. Without a card, and you're on your own, and it'd be next to impossible to maintain a centralized database for all of the mappings. For one, it'd be very difficult to harvest all of that information, and secondly it'd also be quite difficult to keep up with the changes on a town-by-town basis.

I'd be EXTREMELY surprised to see something like this happen.

I totally agree that official support would be cumbersome, if not impossible...which is why I mentioned that if it were to happen, if would likely be a backdoor type of thing; like the 30 second skip, for example. And for what it is worth, I wasn't really even saying that I thought it would happen...just that a lot of people seemed to think it would, and that asking the question wasn't unreasonable. I didn't mean to imply any more than that....

Randy

The Sony DVRs figured out how to support this. Windows Media Center supports this. The Digeo Home Cinema Edition DVR is planned to support this. TiVo appears to be alone in missing this feature. Why would it surprise you to see TiVo doing nothing more than matching the features of their competition?

How do they implement it ? I'm asking, since I don't know how the other guys do it ?

My point is that it's not a question of willingness on the part of any particular company to do it, it's a question of whether or not it's even technically or practically possible to implement such a feature.

If they're simply relying on the PSIP data coming from the datastream, that's very likely to be error-prone, or incomplete since not all channels support PSIP properly.

If they're relying on users to enter their own mappings, there's no guarantees about user-error or channel re-assignments.

Perhaps my perception of what he was asking was wrong but I thought that what he was saying was "When is TiVo going to fix it's HD DVR's so they don't require cable cards."More specifically, the question was with regard to the need for cable cards to effect channel mapping.

More specifically, the question was with regard to the need for cable cards to effect channel mapping.

Well, then it was my misunderstandings. Maya Culpas to all.

So while it is reasonable to say that the TiVos weren't designed to do it, is probably also fair to say that a significant number of folks expected them to work on this down the line, particularly given TiVo's reputation for listening to their user community.Expecting something not promised, though, is not grounds for calling such an unfulfilled new feature request a "bug" -- and that misdirection was how this corner of this thread got muddy. This kind of misdirection seems to get a lot of threads muddy, all across the Internet -- fostering unfounded expectations just leads unsavvy readers to disappointment; it doesn't help them better enjoy the options available to them. As such, I feel hookbill's correction was very constructive. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/images/icons/icon14.gif

So while to say it hasn't been 'fixed' wasn't necessarily accurate, the question wasn't what I would call unreasonable....I agree... The question was not "unreasonable" just "improperly worded".

How do they implement it ? I'm asking, since I don't know how the other guys do it ?All done with manual channel mapping: user tells the box, "This Signal should be associated with This Guide Data." If signals change frequency, user must update information.

Most TiVo users would probably be completely satisfied with this; for those that aren't, CableCARDs would be the fallback option.

All done with manual channel mapping: user tells the box, "This Signal should be associated with This Guide Data." If signals change frequency, user must update information.

Most TiVo users would probably be completely satisfied with this; for those that aren't, CableCARDs would be the fall back option.

Problematic for TiVo, since they really don't key their guide data on the call letters of a particular channel. I believe each channel has a particular ID number associated with it (designated and used by TiVo internally). It'd be completely against TiVo's long running modus operandi (keep it simple, stupid) to ask a user to have to manually configure a significant number of channels, between a given QAM/frequency and a list of channel designations.

Problematic for TiVo, since they really don't key their guide data on the call letters of a particular channel. I believe each channel has a particular ID number associated with it (designated and used by TiVo internally). It'd be completely against TiVo's long running modus operandi (keep it simple, stupid) to ask a user to have to manually configure a significant number of channels, between a given QAM/frequency and a list of channel designations.You may be right (might be difficult due to internal database structure; might have some philosophical slant against it), but it is also true that TiVo stands all alone here. Personally, I give TiVo engineers more credit than that...if Sony, Microsoft and Digeo can make this work, our friends at TiVo could too. They'd even sell more boxes.

You may be right (might be difficult due to internal database structure; might have some philosophical slant against it), but it is also true that TiVo stands all alone here. Personally, I give TiVo engineers more credit than that...if Sony, Microsoft and Digeo can make this work, our friends at TiVo could too. They'd even sell more boxes.

Well, you'd think that they'd have given us some sort of Free Space Indicator as well (which would be beyond trivial to implement), and we all know the score there. Tivo on occasion makes a decision that over-simplifying or over-complicating something isn't worth doing, and decides to simply not do it at all. It's confusing at time, but also internally consistent with their philosophies of operation.

Well, you'd think that they'd have given us some sort of Free Space Indicator as well (which would be beyond trivial to implement), and we all know the score there. Tivo on occasion makes a decision that over-simplifying or over-complicating something isn't worth doing, and decides to simply not do it at all. It's confusing at time, but also internally consistent with their philosophies of operation.

As big of a fan as I am of TiVo's sometimes I have to admit they mystify me. The free space indicator is one thing. Another is all the little hidden things, most minor and some big ones. A good example of this is 30 second skip and tick. I love it, some could care less but I believe most like it yet it is not "officially" supported and not offered as a set up option. I also wonder if in fact with the S3 that eSATA will ever "officially" be acknowledged.

Right now I'm having a very strange cable card problem. I have a very good contact in my cable companies (TW) head end whom I can call directly when I have issues. ABC HD in my area is on channel 705. Since I received 9.1 I have been having sound issues on that one station only. That issue being no sound at all.

Now my contact and I have gone through this with a fine tooth comb. She's looked for hidden streams and found nothing that should interfere. I believe I have found a bit of a pattern for how this is happening although I can't explain why. It seems that if the tuner is on an analog station when the channel is changed this "mute" seems to occure. In order to remedy this I have to put the problem card on a regular encrypted digital channel and then the sound returns once I switch to 705 (which is unencrypted).

I don't have this problem of course with the cable company's STB. And I also know for a fact that this particular station has had problems with their 5.1 since introducing it a few months back. Even today I noticed that their live newscast is a bit out of synch.

So I kind of have to "watch" how the channels are going to switch when tuning to this station to make sure everything is OK. It's a pia but I don't believe it's TW's fault. I think that cable cards are just so tricky that if something is just slightly out of wack, you have a problem.

If anyone out there thinks they got some insight I'd sure like to hear about it.

A good example of this is 30 second skip and tick. I love it, some could care less but I believe most like it yet it is not "officially" supported and not offered as a set up option.Skip-to-tick is part of the normal supported UI, isn't it? The primary purpose of 30 second skip is zapping ads, and TiVo cannot openly advocate that. I think that it's nice of them to leave the hack in there :).

Skip-to-tick is part of the normal supported UI, isn't it? The primary purpose of 30 second skip is zapping ads, and TiVo cannot openly advocate that. I think that it's nice of them to leave the hack in there :).


Realistically couldn't you say the same thing about the fast forward as well?

Realistically couldn't you say the same thing about the fast forward as well?Fast forward requires that you look to detect that you've reached the end of the ads and while looking some image in one of the ads might catch your eye and cause you to stop and go back. Even using 30 second skip I occasionally see something interesting among the ads and go back and check it out.

The real scourge was ReplayTV's playback-without-any-ads feature, which reviewers thought was pretty good at ad detection and removal. That one got Sonic Blue sued out of existence by a cavalcade of angry major broadcasters. TiVo doesn't want any of that. In fact, they have an entire development group busily devising ways to help advertisers get through to you; I have a friend who is a member of it.

Hello,

Was wondering if anyone has heard if Tivo is going to have a unit that works with the Directv HD? I really do not want to use a Directv box, really like the Tivo software.

Thanks JR

TiVo and Directv may be in preliminary talks but it is too early to predict what the final outcome from the talks will be.
Hello,

Was wondering if anyone has heard if Tivo is going to have a unit that works with the Directv HD? I really do not want to use a Directv box, really like the Tivo software.

Thanks JR

TiVo and Directv may be in preliminary talks but it is too early to predict what the final outcome from the talks will be.

Really? I haven't seen anything to suggest that they are in preliminary talks. Can you provide a link?

I think you are referring to a statement by one of D*'s new owners and I'm paraphrasing that anything can happen including a return to the TiVo platform. Hardly a move to preliminary talk and as I mentioned previously TiVo is quite busy already with their contracts with other cable companies right now.

They have agreed (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070801-updates-show-more-signs-of-new-love-between-tivo-directv.html) to have TiVo update the software that runs on the HR10. Many reasonable folks have taken that to mean that the relationship has warmed enough that they could also have a chance of talking about a new DVR.

Really? I haven't seen anything to suggest that they are in preliminary talks.Tivo said just last week that they expected to renew talks with DirecTV after Liberty Media took formal control.

Liberty Media -- the new owner of DirecTV -- is also a major equity investor in Tivo.

Tivo said just last week that they expected to renew talks with DirecTV after Liberty Media took formal control.

Liberty Media -- the new owner of DirecTV -- is also a major equity investor in Tivo.
If DirecTV gets a full fledged HD TiVo, they'll have my business in a second.

Tivo said just last week that they expected to renew talks with DirecTV after Liberty Media took formal control.

Liberty Media -- the new owner of DirecTV -- is also a major equity investor in Tivo.

Do you have a link? I think this is great news for D* people, I know they would love to have TiVo back but I want to see something in black and white, no offense bfdtv, then just what people say they "heard."

The DirecTV HR20 is "okay" as DVRs go, but it doesn't have nearly the polish and functionality of the TiVo. Having DirecTV provide a TiVo DVR would be a real plus for the sat service.

Do you have a link? I think this is great news for D* people, I know they would love to have TiVo back but I want to see something in black and white, no offense bfdtv, then just what people say they "heard."Here are some links about TiVo and DirecTV:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070801-updates-show-more-signs-of-new-love-between-tivo-directv.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070606-tivo-directv-may-get-back-together-comcast-to-launch-tivo-in-august.html

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/31/directv-tivo-owners-to-get-update-in-early-08/

Here are some links about TiVo and DirecTV:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070801-updates-show-more-signs-of-new-love-between-tivo-directv.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070606-tivo-directv-may-get-back-together-comcast-to-launch-tivo-in-august.html

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/31/directv-tivo-owners-to-get-update-in-early-08/

I looked at the engadget link (the one I recognize ;)) and it would seem to indicate that there could be a dialogue at least going on between D* and TiVo.

Hey as I said earlier I'd like nothing more then to see D* people get new D-TiVo's. I sure liked mine. Nice to see there will still be updates for the older D-TiVo models.

I understand that Sony's DVR is a pos compared to TiVo. bicker1, don't you have one of these things?

Actually, I have one, and I like it, other than it only having one tuner. I especially liked the ability to adjust the skip forward and skip backward times.

Happily, it's been reliable for me, though I have heard of other people having problems. But, I don't think they're generally available any more. I think I would have gotten another one (or two) if they were still making them, instead I got the S3 and then a TivoHD - which I may have done anyway because of the multiple tuners.

Actually, I have one, and I like it, other than it only having one tuner. I especially liked the ability to adjust the skip forward and skip backward times.

Happily, it's been reliable for me, though I have heard of other people having problems. But, I don't think they're generally available any more. I think I would have gotten another one (or two) if they were still making them, instead I got the S3 and then a TivoHD - which I may have done anyway because of the multiple tuners.

You may find some at a Sony clearance outlet. I have the Sony and TiVo. TiVo is far and away the better product, but if you've never used one before then the Sony would probably seem like the best thing since sliced bread.:D

You may find some at a Sony clearance outlet. I have the Sony and TiVo. TiVo is far and away the better product, but if you've never used one before then the Sony would probably seem like the best thing since sliced bread.:D

I have 3 of the Sony's and they work fine for me. I do read this thread with interest, however, as once the 2/2009 digital switchover occurs the Gemstar guide will likely go away and relegate these units to no better than an expensive VCR. A couple of friends have the Series 2 units and love them so I hear good reviews from many places. Still can't justify that extra monthly fee though.....

I have 3 of the Sony's and they work fine for me. I do read this thread with interest, however, as once the 2/2009 digital switchover occurs the Gemstar guide will likely go away and relegate these units to no better than an expensive VCR. A couple of friends have the Series 2 units and love them so I hear good reviews from many places. Still can't justify that extra monthly fee though.....

Have you seen how TiVoHD and an S3 work? If you understood the many additional features you get then you would understand, beside the very simple fact that you get two tuners not one.

Simply put after having TiVo I was so spoiled that it was the ONLY DVR I wanted.

Have you seen how TiVoHD and an S3 work? If you understood the many additional features you get then you would understand, beside the very simple fact that you get two tuners not one.

Simply put after having TiVo I was so spoiled that it was the ONLY DVR I wanted.

I have seen an S3 demoed at CC and was impressed by it's capabilities. Also my friends with their S2s rave about their units. However, I have enough trouble watching what I record now (mostly OTA and unecrypted QAM HD). I'm afraid I'll become a real couch potato!

That said, I will likely need another DVR option come 2009 and TiVo seems to be the best option - I am NOT impressed with the cable company DVR option....

Have you seen how TiVoHD and an S3 work? If you understood the many additional features you get then you would understand, beside the very simple fact that you get two tuners not one.

Simply put after having TiVo I was so spoiled that it was the ONLY DVR I wanted.

That's interesting...I started out with the lg lst-3410a hd recorder...the interface on that pretty much sucked, but it was the ONLY choice for recording hd at the time. Then I got the sony, and it was great, I was happy with it, HUGE improvement over the lg. When I added the s3 and the tivohd, I can't say I felt as much of a difference (other than the 2 tuners, of course), at least for what's important to me. Even now, I still have the sony in my system, and I don't hesitate to use it.

I'm sure some people value some of the features that I don't use, though, like suggestions, so that could account for some of the difference in opinions.

That's interesting...I started out with the lg lst-3410a hd recorder...the interface on that pretty much sucked, but it was the ONLY choice for recording hd at the time. Then I got the sony, and it was great, I was happy with it, HUGE improvement over the lg. When I added the s3 and the tivohd, I can't say I felt as much of a difference (other than the 2 tuners, of course), at least for what's important to me. Even now, I still have the sony in my system, and I don't hesitate to use it.

I'm sure some people value some of the features that I don't use, though, like suggestions, so that could account for some of the difference in opinions.

Also playing music through your TiVo. TiVoCast. Amazon Unbox. Photos from your computer. And the new swivel search is really great.

I just broke down and got the Tivo HD.

I tried using a HTPC. Works ok but I don't want to take a step back. When using a single STB you can't record 2 shows at once. Recording HD 1080i/720p isn't supported with MCE.

I tried using a cable company DVR. The HD crashed in the first week. I replaced it but it still was locking up. The user interface was almost not usable. Trying to setup season pass was very diffucult because you need to know the date/time/channel info. Why I can't just search for a title is absurd. The list goes on....

So far I give the Tivo HD 2 thumbs up. The cable technichan installed 2 cable cards and it's passing HD and SD formats to the Sony HD LCD. It recording 2 HD shows while I watched another. I loaded Tivo desktop on my HTPC and now it can play all my mp3's right of my PC, SWEET! I activated Amazon unbox and downloaded a missed episode of Office from LAST week and w/o comercials.

I would like to see it run for 1 week w/o any problems recording show and stuff. Then I would start recomending to my friends as the BEST DVR solution.

Also playing music through your TiVo. TiVoCast. Amazon Unbox. Photos from your computer. And the new swivel search is really great.

Don't forget : 720p HD photo viewing, transfers to/from the box (coming in November), as well as official eSATA support (coming soon).

...Then I got the sony, and it was great, I was happy with it, HUGE improvement over the lg. When I added the s3 and the tivohd, I can't say I felt as much of a difference...Wow...I had several of the Sony DHG units and only one worked semi-reliably. I had terrible problems with that unit. I had gotten it in November of '05 to tide me over until the S3 was available in Sept. '06....I dumped it in January of '06. It was a real piece of poo. My TiVo is light years ahead of the Sony DHG....I'm puzzled as how you can say you hardly noticed a difference when going to TiVo from the Sony....the feature-laden TiVo makes the Sony look like a twinkie...:rolleyes:

Also playing music through your TiVo. TiVoCast. Amazon Unbox. Photos from your computer. And the new swivel search is really great.

Like I said, things I don't use...I do use tivocast, there's some fun stuff on there. But amazon unbox is absolutely worthless to me until they get AT LEAST widescreen material on there...not to mention HD material. My apologies if they've since fixed this, but when I last looked, the only tivo downloads they had were all 4:3. Blah. Only the pc downloads had widescreen available. wtf??

As far as music through the tivo, I assume you're talking about rhapsody? I wonder how many people find it worthwhile to pay ANOTHER $13 per month to get music through their tivo?? (no, this isn't a poll.)

And I can't say I've tried swivel search because the "turn off your privacy options" or whatever kind of turned me away from that. What makes swivel search so handy? To me it just looked like a kind of enhanced "suggestions" feature. (of course, like I said, I haven't actually tried it.)

Wow...I had several of the Sony DHG units and only one worked semi-reliably. I had terrible problems with that unit. I had gotten it in November of '05 to tide me over until the S3 was available in Sept. '06....I dumped it in January of '06. It was a real piece of poo. My TiVo is light years ahead of the Sony DHG....I'm puzzled as how you can say you hardly noticed a difference when going to TiVo from the Sony....the feature-laden TiVo makes the Sony look like a twinkie...:rolleyes:

Probably because I was apparently lucky in getting one that I never had a problem with - I got one when they first came out, and it's still working well.

Like I said in reference to your last sentence, maybe it's because I don't bother with most of the advanced features of the tivo...I just want to timeshift hd programming and be able to (easily) skip over commercials, basically...of course I noticed a difference, and if I had to choose of course I would choose the s3 and the tivohd, but for what I use it for, it's similar to the sony.

As far as music through the tivo, I assume you're talking about rhapsody? I wonder how many people find it worthwhile to pay ANOTHER $13 per month to get music through their tivo?? (no, this isn't a poll.)



No, I'm talking about playing music files on your computer through TiVo. As it stands alone it will only play mp3 files, however Dan203 from the TiVo forum has come up with an app that will also play almost every type of music file. If you use Itunes you can find a way to unprotect the file and it will also play AAC files. Or even if you just load cds into Media player it will work.

I have 8 days worth of music and I can play it all through TiVo into my home theater system.

As far as music through the tivo, I assume you're talking about rhapsody? I wonder how many people find it worthwhile to pay ANOTHER $13 per month to get music through their tivo?? (no, this isn't a poll.)

Nope. Not Rhapsody (although you can do that too). You can stream music that resides on your PC to your TiVo (many different formats supported), and also internet radio as well.


And I can't say I've tried swivel search because the "turn off your privacy options" or whatever kind of turned me away from that. What makes swivel search so handy? To me it just looked like a kind of enhanced "suggestions" feature. (of course, like I said, I haven't actually tried it.)

I suppose you could consider it an interactive form of Suggestions and advanced search feature all rolled into one. You can start from the SwivelSearch menu item and enter text to search for, or you can Swivel directly from a ToDo or NowPlaying show listing. From that, you can see upcoming showings of the currently listed show, see what other upcoming shows people who starred/directed/wrote the existing show.

So, for example, Swivel Search for Tom Hanks. You'll see a list of his movies. Pick one, let's say Gump. Now you can see all the upcoming showings and/or downloads available for up Gump. You also can now choose Gary Sinise, and see what he's starred in that's upcoming like CSI:NY. You can go on, and on, and on...

Swivel search is cool, but I have to say that I've found no practical use for it whatsoever. I imagine that if you find Unbox to be usable it might be cooler, but I don't think it's a feature that does much to sell TiVo.

I'd probably be much more impressed with all of the multimedia features of TiVo if I didn't normally park my laptop in my entertainment system. (I'm editing this on my 46" 1080p LCD panel, seated on my couch using a wireless keyboard and mouse on a laptop cart). If I want to listen to digital music or watch digital video, I'd rather use it. Other than its DVR functions, which have it all over Media Center, there's nothing TiVo can now or ever will be able to do that I can't do better with an HTPC.

Still, it's very cool that they keep working on it and adding new features and capabilities. It's nearly unique among mainstream entertainment devices in that respect. Only video game consoles rival its constant growth (no doubt both the Xbox 360 and PS3 will eventually have IPTV DVR functionality).

Swivel search is cool, but I have to say that I've found no practical use for it whatsoever. I imagine that if you find Unbox to be usable it might be cooler, but I don't think it's a feature that does much to sell TiVo.

Yup. They need HD content, for sure.


I'd probably be much more impressed with all of the multimedia features of TiVo if I didn't normally park my laptop in my entertainment system. (I'm editing this on my 46" 1080p LCD panel, seated on my couch using a wireless keyboard and mouse on a laptop cart). If I want to listen to digital music or watch digital video, I'd rather use it. Other than its DVR functions, which have it all over Media Center, there's nothing TiVo can now or ever will be able to do that I can't do better with an HTPC.

I fooled around with an HTPC a long while ago, and it was really a usability nightmare, along with various performance hiccups and stutters. Sure, you can add all sorts of features, goodies and what not, but using it as an every day system was really difficult. Never mind trying to get the wife to use it...


Still, it's very cool that they keep working on it and adding new features and capabilities. It's nearly unique among mainstream entertainment devices in that respect. Only video game consoles rival its constant growth (no doubt both the Xbox 360 and PS3 will eventually have IPTV DVR functionality).

...from two companies (Sony and Microsoft) who have continually shown that they can't properly write software. Just because they're popular as gaming platforms doesn't mean that they'll succeed as DVRs or IPTV receivers.

But amazon unbox is absolutely worthless to me until they get AT LEAST widescreen material on there...not to mention HD material. My apologies if they've since fixed this, but when I last looked, the only tivo downloads they had were all 4:3.That is still the case, and they are NOT closed captioned, so Unbox is basically a non-offering for the hearing impaired.

Can't say that I'm enamored with the swivel search feature yet. Seems sort of helpful, I guess. For those who tout this feature, the enthusiasm for it strikes me as a little out of proportion to it's actual usefulness, from my perspective. Maybe one day it will just "click" for me and I'll wonder how I ever lived without it. But as of right now, I don't see myself using it often, if ever.

The Unbox feature is not ready for prime time, it seems. I'll give it a try when the bulk of user reviews turn positive.

I don't need the streaming music feature as I have a Squeezebox for that with much better flexibility/convenience. Though I can certainly appreciate how this Tivo feature might be very attractive to others with do not already have any sort of sophisticated digital music streaming device.

Wishlists, however.. this is another story. I CANNOT live without those! This Tivo feature saves me loads of time as I no longer need to waste time manually searching through weekly listings to ensure that I do not miss appearances of some my favorite (or most curious about) musicians, actors, personalities, programs or what have you. I've got well over 100 wishlist entries set up for my Tivo.

I don't need the streaming music feature as I have a Squeezebox for that with much better flexibility/convenience. Though I can certainly appreciate how this Tivo feature might be very attractive to others with do not already have any sort of sophisticated digital music streaming device.


I've had Apples Airport and I had more problems with that thing trying to keep it connected. It was a pia. With TiVo I never have a problem with my wireless connection.

However I will point out at this time that with the release of 9.1 the app for playing AAC files seems to have a bug. Right now if I want to hear my Itunes files I have to convert to MP3. I'm not the only one having this problem, Scsiraid reports it as well. Unfortunately the gentleman who developed this app is on his honeymoon and seems to feel thats a bit more important then fixing this problem:rolleyes:

The nerve of some people.:D

anybody else encounter this yesterday? I experienced an unusually high number of screen "blinks", so to speak. A half second/second long click and picture dropout, as if the screen image was blinking it's eyes.

Not pixelation or audio dropouts (well, except for that split second when it's making a clicking noise), that's something different. It was more like the kind of thing where the resolution changes between a commercial and a program or another commerical, and you get that lightning quick "click" and picture dropout out. Except, this was happening at least a few times within each program, for the recorded Heroes episode that I watched a few hours after it's original airing and the live bits of the Tonight Show I caught last night. It only seemed to be an NBC thing, but I didn't spend much time on other channels to absolutely confirm this.

It's either a Tivo issue or an NBC feed issue. Can't be an antenna reception issue. Anybody else experience the same last night? Hopefully something weird was going on with NBC. I get a little paranoid at a drop of the hat when it comes to the possibility of something going wrong with my Tivo. :o

I've had Apples Airport and I had more problems with that thing trying to keep it connected. It was a pia. With TiVo I never have a problem with my wireless connection.



I'm glad to hear it. Good to know that if I need to use Tivo's streaming as a backup or whatever, that it will likely perform as advertised.

But whether it's Tivo or Airport Express, I just really like the functionality of not having to rely on computer screen or a television screen to provide navigation. Having the visualization of the music verbal descriptions/search capability built directly into the streaming device itself (Squeezebox, Sonos, etc.) is more convenient. Of course, you must pay extra for that convenience.. but we know us Tivo people are already well acquainted with paying for our conveniences. :D

But whether it's Tivo or Airport Express, I just really like the functionality of not having to rely on computer screen or a television screen to provide navigation. Having the visualization of the music verbal descriptions/search capability built directly into the streaming device itself (Squeezebox, Sonos, etc.) is more convenient. Of course, you must pay extra for that convenience.. but we know us Tivo people are already well acquainted with paying for our conveniences. :D

Now I felt exactly the opposite. I couldn't pause anything unless I ran all the way back to my computer room, couldn't change songs out where my amp is at. I like being able to do it on the tv screen.

That is still the case, and they are NOT closed captioned, so Unbox is basically a non-offering for the hearing impaired.


Bicker, Did 9.1 address the CC issues successfully?

for those using e-SATA, does tivo re-format & lock the drive? i am thinking of getting a 750GB dual-interface external hard disk with eSATA and USB. i plan to use 250GB of that hard disk for media files and the rest for tivo. i will connect the eSATA to tivo and the USB to a network AV receiver like the Onkyo TX-NR905. this will give the tivo expanded storage and my receiver will have all my media available for distribution to Zones 2 & 3. is this possible?

this will give the tivo expanded storage and my receiver will have all my media available for distribution to Zones 2 & 3. is this possible?No. The Tivo formats a drive using its own MFS filesystem. All media stored on the drive is encrypted. If you modify any files on the drive with another device, chances are good that you will lose all of your recordings.

Now I felt exactly the opposite. I couldn't pause anything unless I ran all the way back to my computer room, couldn't change songs out where my amp is at. I like being able to do it on the tv screen.

I would agree that the tv screen is better than the computer screen for this purpose, that's for sure (unless your computer is always handy, of course). I just don't like the idea of having to turn on/leave on my tv solely for this purpose, but I can see how doing this might not be worth a second thought to some.