Official AVS TiVo HD Topic! - Page 136

I'm not sure what you mean by "external forces", but I can live with them simply fixing existing bugs and maintaining current level of utility for the useful life of the device. My question was prompted by a bit of their advertising on the web-site comparing the cost of TiVo premier vs cable co DVR over a 5 year period. Yes, I know it is marketing, but it does explicitly imply that if you buy their TiVo Premier today you will be using it beyond 5 years from now.

That's where you're going off-course I think: Their responsibility ends when the Universe changes -- they have no control over such things. The best example of this, for you, is when federal law changed the parameters of DST, for the first time in decades. The DST problem was not an existing bug, at the time that the S1 was moved from routine support into end-of-life support, and so it was not reasonable to expect that a fix would be forthcoming when the government threw a wrench into the machine. Another good example is SDV -- another external force that affected the utility of TiVo without TiVo having any control over that force.

It is really important for consumers to ground their expectations in what is reasonable for society rather than for themselves, and it is not reasonable for society to impose an expectation that a product manufacturer will upgrade a device that worked fine as it is when it was sold but through forces external to the manufacturer no longer is as useful as it was. If you want satisfaction, in such a scenario, try to get it from the external force that messed things up for you -- it's their fault, and so their responsibility if anyone's.


It absolutely does not explicitly imply anything significant in that regard. It is simply a financial analysis for the reader to consider and factor into their purchasing decision along with other considerations (i.e., how likely it is that the TiVo Premiere will be useful five years from now).

I can give you some idea of my personal experience. I divide utility into three categories: Full utility, limited utility, and no utility. My S1 provided full utility for two years and (very) limited utility for six additional years. My first S2 provided full utility for three and a half years, and a pretty high level of limited utility for three additional years and counting. My second S2 provided full utility for less than two years and no utility since then. My S3 has provided full utility for almost three years, so far.

YMMV.

I'm not looking to get into a debate on consumer expectations and society. I just want to hear opinions and experiences from long-time TiVo users as to how TiVo has supported their retired equipment. So it looks like from your experience, a 6 yr usable lifetime is not unreasonable.

Hopefully others will chime in.

I have an 8 year old Series 1 DirecTivo and they did fix the DST with a minor firmware upgrade. They haven't added new features like folders, MRV, TTG, and TTCB. However it has everything and more than when I first bought it. It's is on Ver 3.5 so it's missed eight major releases.

As was a two year usable lifetime.

Here's the situation. In my area right now they are doing a massive line up change. This was suppose to be effective 3/8/10 and in fact it is in some areas, but not at my house.

So since some people have the new line up and others don't Tribune Media has updated the guide for the area. It's been like this for 3 days now.

It's effectively turned my TiVo's into VCR machines. I have to cancel the scheduled recordings and add them back on with the old channel number as a manual recording.

I don't know who to blame. Time Warner Cable or Tribune Media, but It's driving me nuts.

Any suggestions? I've tried complaining to the cable company but you can imagine where that got me. Should I tell TiVo that Tribune Media jumped the gun for some of us, not all of us?

Or do I just sit here and be patient?

If 1/2 the people on your system are one way and 1/2 the other I don't see what Tivo or Tribune can do, either way they'll P.O. 1/2 the population
Personally I'd give them a little time to straighten things out, at least with Tivo you have the option for manual events, as primitive as it may be.
It will be nice when all or most of this switching around stuff will be done or at least down to minor changes.

Pretty much what I'm doing. Called Customer Service today and they said they think everybody will be switched over by tomorrow. I doubt it. What was funny was the CSR telling me that "You'll need to reprogram your shows." They just don't understand TiVo.

Why, do you use wishlists for everything? Which reminds me, TiVo should have had the ability to change channels for season passes for like ever. Ridiculous they ignore it. I wanna say Passport used to have this, but I don't remember.

I dont use wish lists. I don't know where you got that. Tivo knows where the new channels are. I just don't have them yet.

TiVo does have that ability. Season passes are not channel number specific; they are network specific. If HBOHD moves from channel 500 to 600, then any season passes you have on HBOHD will record from the new channel.

The same thing applies when you switch providers. Switch from Comcast to FiOS, or vice-versa, and your season passes still record from the correct channels. Switch from cable to OTA, or vice versa, and your season passes on local channels still record from the correct channels.

Repeating manual recordings are the only number-specific recordings on a TiVo, so those must be deleted and recreated on the new channel numbers. If you move from one market to another, then you'll also have to recreate the season passes on the local networks, because those are tied your local affiliate name rather than the network name (ex: WUSA, not CBS).

Interesting. All my recordings stopped working when they switched the lineup to the 1000s here. I didn't even know the channel lineup changed at first - thought it was some issue with the tivo.

All of my season passes migrated to the new channels. But since I don't actually have the new channels I'm canceling the recording and doing manual recordings on the correct channel.

I think what happened now that I think about that is there was two identically-named time warner entries here when I did the setup and during the migration one got removed, which of course was the one I was using so nothing updated came up. I thought it was strange a tivo couldn't deal with that kinda stuff...

Since I'm about to get a TiVo HD or Premiere DVR, I have to ask this question: once I get the Wi-Fi connection established and the Comcast tech sets up the mCard CableCARD to work with my DVR, will the DVR automatically reconfigure itself when Comcast does its digital transition channel change in Sacramento, CA on March 29, 2010?

(For those who don't know, Comcast in Sacramento, CA will turn off all analog cable channels above Channel 30 on March 29, 2010. The reason why I want to get the TiVo HD or Premiere box is so I can watch all the channels above 30 that's part of now-Extended Basic package (soon to be Digital Starter package) plus all the HD channels that are part of the Digital Starter package.)

If the TiVo DVR does this change seamlessly, all the more better. I don't want to have a Comcast technician come out again after March 29, 2010 and have them manually reconfigure the CableCARD for analog Channel 2-30 and digital above Channel 30 service.

You'll probably need to select the 'Comcast World of More' lineup in the Tivo after you get migrated to digital - I know that's what we had to do in the ATL recently. Otherwise you may not get all the new HD channels by default. You have to hit enter in the channel list menu to change the lineup, and it's pretty straightforward from there. I think it's Msgs & Settings->Channels->Channel List.

If you get the DVR after the migration, just select the WOM lineup when you set it up.

When Comcast prepares major changes to their lineup, Tribune (TiVo's guide data provider) will usually create a new lineup with a different name that reflects the changes. This lineup should ultimately replace the old lineup automatically, but may not do immediately after Comcast makes the changes. To have the changes take effect immediately, you would re-run guided setup (under Messages & Settings -> Restart or Reset TiVo) and select the new lineup.

You can see the available lineups and their channel numbers for your zip code at Tribune's public site, zap2it.com. You'll see the same lineup selections on the TiVo.

Hoping you all can provide a little help here:
My gf's Series 2 box has not been able to capture the channels she is used to since they moved them to Digital.

But since they are still included on her expanded basic plan, she can view them on her HDTV with no issues after a scan.

Can she use any kind of after market tuner to supplement her S2 box to catch these moved channels?

or

Will we have to buy a HD Tivo for her so they can be scanned in after any movement?

Thanks.

My current TiVo HD A/V setup is pretty simple: OTA only; TiVo HDMI into Panasonic 50" 1080p plasma; TiVo optical audio out into Onkyo AVR; TiVo set to "native" output -- plasma does all the scaling. We do it this way because we watch maybe 50/50 with/without surround sound. A single click of the Harmony remote is all it takes to turn on the AVR and mute the plasma or vice versa.

Although my AVR passes HDMI video through as-received, it features Faroudja DCDi upconversion for analog inputs (output through AVR's HDMI). We stream a lot of 480i content (ripped DVD's on my server) through the TiVo, so my thought is to run the component outputs of the TiVo HD into the AVR and see what it does -- does it look better than HDMI video upscaled by the plasma. It just seems a shame to have all those unused inputs/outputs . So a few questions:

• I'm pretty sure this has been covered multiple times, but just to make sure: the HDMI output and the component output are simultaneously active even if both are connected to devices -- right?
• When the output format on the TiVo is set to "native", does that also apply to the component outputs? Or are there separate settings in the TiVo menus that have to be addressed. Will they output the as-received range of 480i to 1080i just like HDMI.
• In a practical sense, do people see any real difference in PQ between component and HDMI output? If it's the case that component is clearly inferior to HDMI to start with, then I probably won't bother with the experiment -- can't make a silk purse . . .

Has anybody done this kind of experiment already with their AVR and TiVo?

I just set up my Tivo HD and another DVR to do this.

Tivo -> HDMI -> AVR - > HDMI -> TV

Tivo -> component -> TV (also, analog sound to TV)

I've set up two activities on my Harmony 550 remote, one with the AVR and one without. GF can watch Tivo all day over component with TV sound without having to worry about the receiver and when I get home, I select the other activity which changes inputs to HDMI and uses the AVR.

There's only one setting for video format on the Tivo, regardless of what cables you're using. I haven't noticed any difference between HDMI and component.

Is there really a lot to worry about? Make the activity "TV" just turn on the receiver and use it for volume. BAM! It works...

Cool. Although I'm going to set it up the opposite way, you've answered my questions -- particularly the one about PQ for component vs. HDMI.

As far as the GF vs. AVR. My wife is pretty much the same way. Even though my Harmony has a nice button labeled "TiVo Surround" (right below the one labeled "TiVo"), she won't use it and always opts for the TV speakers. Surround audio is just not important to her; if the TV speakers sound OK, that's good enough. Makes it hard to justify new components to her, especially since they don't come in "pretty colors".

FYI just received an email form Amazon stating the WD DVR companion 1 TB is again available for shipment starting 3/25.

Just checked the Amazon Web page that shows the WD DVR companion. The Technical Details state that "Firmware updates from Tivo that need to be downloaded to Tivo boxes before they will work with our new DVR Expander." Sounds promising.

That's not new. That's exactly what my 1tb DVR Expander said.

I had no idea whether it was new or not -- and really didn't care. My point was merely to make clear that the hard drive I provided the Amazon link for is, indeed, compatible with TiVos.

Oh, excuse me I thought the part of the point was that maybe something had changed. Apologies, counselor.

No apologies necessary, partner. Thanks for your courteous rejoinder. I probably misled you because, even after all these years, I have yet to buy an eSATA drive for my S3. Thus, I was no more than vaguely aware that the 1TB WD drive for TiVos had been shipping for awhile. The last one I paid real attention to was the 500GB model.

Not "after market" -- she can rent a tuner box from the cable company, which the TiVo can control.

Really?! Great news then...if the cable box can be integrated inline with the S2 Tivo & for intents & purposes become the Tivo's digital tuner?