Official AVS TiVo HD Topic! - Page 158

^^^ glad it's working for you!

I just bought a second HD TiVo (Model TDC652160) off Craigslist asking $100.

When I e-mailed the guy to ask about whether it was monthly or Lifetime, he told me that when he called in to cancel his monthly subscription for it they offered him Lifetime for only $100.

Well, I jumped right on that and had him call back and accept the offer.

Tivo said it was completely transferrable to a new owner so I paid him $200 for the TiVo and the Lifetime.

Even with my Multi-discount, that pays for itself in less than a year.

I also happened to have a spare 1TB Western Digital AV drive still in the box that I cloned and put in the new unit, now it has 140 hrs of HD recodring capacity.

Moral of the story, if you have an old HD TiVo on monthly, try calling up to cancel and see what they offer you to stick around.

BTY, I did pay the $299 for lifetime for the first one I got off eBay about 2 years ago.

Lucky you. I wish they'd let me transfer my liftetime on my S2 series to a new model for $100!!

Sounds like you got a great deal, enjoy!

LOL. So, seriously, this guy was trying to sell a used TiVo HD without subscription for $100?

I've got an S2 w/ lifetime that's been collecting dust for over 4 years in my basement............

Need help clearing off Tivo HD for Olympics!

I'm kind in a bad position for the next weeks Olympics, I only have ~30hrs(less than a weeks worth on my 1TB drive) of programs in my deleted folder. I'd kind of like to offload to my PC(which is nearby) but I have NO router, I get my household internet only via WiFi.
Is it possible to hook my Tivo HD directly to my PC with a rj45 cat5 cable or maybe crossover cable? I know people network their Tivos to PC but I believe it's generally done utilizing a router. If a direct cable wouldn't work I guess I could purchase a router to tie between the two but would the router work without a DSL or Cable internet connection?(I assume not but then I'm not really PC savvy).
I'm starting to worry, with only a week to go I'll never be able to watch enough programs to be able to record the amount of Olympics I normally record(basically everything broadcast OTA).

I think we have had this conversation before. Yes, you can do a direct connect of PC to TiVo HD with a crossover cable or if you have a switch, you can use straight cable. You will then need to manually configure both PC and TiVo with static network parameters instead of DHCP (which you would get with a router).

Use internal IP addresses of 192.168.1.5 and 192.168.1.6 for PC and TiVo respectively.
Use subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

That is all you need for static IP connection between two devices. You will not see the TiVo on the PC. You need to download and install TiVo Desktop and input the TiVo's media ID to make the connection and transfer the programs -- you could also use "kmttg" but if you are a newbee at this I think I would recommend TiVo Desktop to start you off.

Remember, you can maximize the transfer speed by setting the two TiVo tuners to non-broadcasting (dead-air) channels. If it doesn't have to buffer live channels, it can devote all the processor power to doing the transfer. You will get ~14-15 Mbps with a TiVo HD which will transfer most HD recordings in slightly more than real time. Just set up the transfers to run over night. With TiVo Desktop, you can suck the titles back from the PC to the TiVo when you are ready to view them.

Thanks Kelson, I couldn't remember if I had asked you before if this could be done, either way it was so long ago I would have forgot anyway
Well it looks like I'll need to download "tivo desktop" simpler is better for me, where do get it from and does it cost anything? Kind of surprised it takes so long "slightly more than realtime" I would have thought it would be like a HS copy from HDD to DVD(8-16x) on a DVDR. If I could live w/o HD(something I'm probably not willing to forgo) I could also just copy my Tivo titles to my DVDR......actually the DVDR route may be quite a bit faster if it also takes ~realtime to copy my titles from my PC back to my Tivo to play them?(don't want to watch them on my PC screen). If they were on my DVDR I'd just play them there since no way to copy them back to the Tivo anyway. ~200 hrs of PC time to copy ~100 hrs of HD....I just might be talking myself out of the PC option.......what do you think? I've got over 100hrs SP open on my EH-55s HDD and of course it's already hooked to my Tivo via S-video and L&R audio(I'm OK w/o 5.1).

Kelson gave you great info for connecting the Tivo directly to your PC. But the transfer speed for a TivoHD is so slow that being wired may not be a huge improvement over a good WiFi signal. Just try Tivo Desktop or kmttg with your current setup and see how it goes. If it works well enough you don't need to mess with your setup.

I highly recommend kttmg over Tivo Desktop, by the way. Tivo Desktop is only slightly easier to use and has a lot fewer features.

BTW I'm in the same boat you are and am seriously thinking of installing the largest hard drive that my Tivo can support.

I really love the 1TB I installed almost day 1 and normally by this time of year I'm about done with my fall programs but not this year Lately I've only been watching(and deleting) CBS and NBC programs to free up more space. In my market FOX and especially ABC is almost 1/2 the file size for a given time Never even had to think of that before(I normally have at least 100 items(mostly 1hr HD) in my deleted folder) but now I am. I'll keep kmttg in mind too, it would be nice to learn one and only one program and have it stay with me as I learn more options.
Note the only issue with upsizing the HDD is it's nice to do when the HDD is mostly empty, saves quite a bit of time transferring over programs(I did mine when it was new and empty). I'm not sure what would happen if I installed my spare 1TB(ordered two at the time) drive now to use.....I'd hate to lose any of my programs or season passes/wishlists (which I have tons) when I hooked my old HDD back up.

LOL jjeff, all those years I've been telling you to get your TiVo hooked to your PC, and you didn't listen -- now it's crunch time -- tsk, tsk. Other than women's beach volley ball, I'm not a big Olympics fan. At my daughters request, I set a season pass on NBC for the Olympic coverage -- I can't believe how much is aired and how long it is. Fortunately, my TiVo HDD is empty -- anything I wanted to keep and still hadn't watched has long since been transferred off the TiVo to my NAS units. And just because of the shear volume of Olympic coverage (over 14 hr daily) I've also set a pass on my Media PC where I have "unlimited" disk space -- each hour of NBC HD coverage will run about 5GB.

TiVo Desktop is downloaded from the TiVo website. It is free for the basic program and $25 for the complete version. The complete version only adds transcoding ability to shrink a recording for playback on your mobile device. You won't need it, the free version is fine. kmttg is a good program that has some features that TiVo Desktop doesn't have -- I have both and I use both. kmttg is one-way only -- transfer TiVo --> PC; TiVo Desktop is bi-directional and more easy to automate for automatic series transfer. I have TiVo Desktop server running 24X7 on my media PC. Start with TiVo desktop first; get it going and get familiar first then add in kmttg when you know what you are doing.

Don't even think about reverting to your DVD recorder for this; using network transfer is the fastest way you can do this. With a DVDR, aside from losing the HD/5.1, you will be stuck with doing a show-by-show manual process and you can't use your TiVo for anything else since it has to play each program. With a networked TiVo and TiVo Desktop you can queue a bunch of programs for transfer, start the process and forget it -- it works in the background and you have full use of your TiVo while it is working. Just remember, when you go to bed, to tune the TiVo to dead-air channels to maximize the transfer speed. TiVo Desktop also has a series auto-transfer function. If you have multiple episodes of a show, you tell it to auto-transfer the series -- after your start the first one it will suck all the rest over without further intervention. I use this during the season to auto-transfer shows I collect as soon as they finish recording.

The slow transfer speed is due to the amount of work the processor has to do and its limited capability -- the Premier is like 3-4X faster than the HD for transfers. The TiVo recording is stored as audio & video transport streams. When you request a transfer the processor has to mux the streams into an MPEG-2 container with a .tivo wrapper and send it out -- not a simple HDD transfer. Transfers have the lowest priority vs. active user operations, i.e. recording and playback. Still it will be faster than using a DVD recorder because it will run 24x7 unattended.
He would need to buy the WiFi adapter for the TiVo HD, which I don't believe he has. I also believe that with his service he doesn't have an actual device network, just each unit makes a WiFi connection to the Internet and can't talk to each other. Kind of like cell phones connecting to moble broadband.

nothing like a real reason to get something done AFA Olympics, I'm no sports fan(Basketball, Football, Baseball, Hockey, etc.) but we do like our Olympics(Beach Volleyball, Gymnastics, Diving, Swimming). Luckily I'm OTA only which will limit my recording to NBC HD only.
Yes, all true. My devices(except Tivo) can connect to the internet but can't talk to each other...... the joy of Frontier WiFi service. I don't have WiFi to the Tivo because I don't feel the signal would be strong enough to be picked up by Tivo in it's location and with the Tivos small antenna.
Now to purchase a 25' X-over cable, I have a 10' cable but really need something longer to reach the Tivo from my nearest PC. If this will be a 24/7 operation I don't want to tie up my laptop.

Any modern PC should not need a crossover cable. Even my PCs from over a decade ago didn't need a crossover cable and would auto negotiate whether it was straight through or a crossover cable.

That has not been my experience. I have a new Dell that doesn't auto negotiate. The only devices I have with auto negotiate network ports are my newer switches.

The only pre-built PCs I've used during the last 15 years have been my Laptops/Netbooks and my HP MSS WHS. Everything else I built myself. So maybe some of the PCs are using some weird components. I just know the last time I had any issue with a cable being either straight through or crossover was back in the 20th century. It's very surprising that a newer Dell would not work. Maybe things have gone backwards to save some money on the builds?

Has anyone had success requesting Tivo do better with guide information for the Olympics?

Here in LA the guide information for KNBC4 has a 9 hour block listing multiple sports from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

okay so they do list the sports - but could they narrow it down? The answer is yes- but they refused to do so - claiming it's not their fault.

NBC Olympics.com's listing of KNBC4 after entering my zip code, multi-channel service provider, and verified NBC station, shows a grid with half-hour increments and listing for example: Rowing 2:30 PM-3:00 PM

defensively TiVo's technical support says they can only pass along the programming information given to them.

That is what TiVo said 4 years ago and is why I didn't tune into the Olympics.

^^^ I agree it would sure be nice to have better listings. Both yesterday and today Tivo showed 9 hr blocks on NBC showing multiple events. In that case the only thing I was interested in was the mens beach volleyball which was in hour 8 A 54GB recording with only the last hour of real interest Luckily I have a 1TB drive but at this rate I've really got to keep on top of things.

This has typically been the case with guide data for all the Olympics I've seen on TiVos over the last eleven years. As well as guide data on other STBs I've used.

Here is Tivo's written response to my request for better Olympic guide info:

Thank you for contacting TiVo Customer Support.

I would be happy to assist you with this. What I would like to have you do is setup a Guru Guide for the particular even you wish to watch. To do this go to TiVo Central > Find Shows > KidZone Recommendations & Guru Guides. You can also go to http://www.tivo.com/findtvshows/questions/aboutguruguides/index.html for full information about Guru Guides. Feel free to contact us back if you have any further questions!

Utter nonsense! The Guro Guide will simply schedule the entire 9 hour block of any program the desired sports appear in.

I have the TiVo set to record only the 8-12PM segment every night. However, I have my media-PC set to record all first-run NBC coverage onto a clean 2TB drive. So far I have 225GB worth of recording and we are only 2 days into it. I wondering if the whole thing will fit.

Saturday morning Tivo had one block listed(6am to 5pm, 11hrs!) that was over 76GB in size I don't think I've ever seen a file size that large on my Tivo. On my local ABC channel it would have been at least half that size......

My next attempt went like this:

Has Tivo attempted to ask Tribune for more detailed guide information? What about asking NBC for the same guide info they publish?

Rather than telling your subs this is all we get - why not make an effort to provide a better user experience?

Tivo Response: 07/31/2012 10:26 AM

Hello Billy,

Thank you for the updated information you provided. I have read through the previous contacts as well and would be glad to continue helping you with your scheduling issues.

While we do have more detailed information on which events are covered in which block of the "XXX Summer Olympics" episodes, we have not been provided with the exact times of each event. You can see more information by selecting an individual episode; for example channel 4 KNBC has an episode at 8 PM tonight that has "Gymnastics, Swimming, Diving" as the episode title and then "From London. Gymnastics: women's team final; swimming, finals: men's 200m butterfly, men's 4x200m freestyle relay, women's 200m freestyle, women's 200m individual medley; diving: women's synchronized platform final" as the program description. Your TiVo box does have all this information, and setting a WishList with a keyword search will narrow it down to the specific events you want to watch.

1. Go to Find Programs > WishList Search.

2. Enter the title keyword as "Olympics" and then an additional keyword for the event you want to record (in this example, Swimming). If you enter multiple keywords, be sure to press the THUMBS DOWN button twice to put them in parenthesis, making these keywords optional. This way it will return results with at least one of the optional keywords.

3. You can then either view the upcoming episodes with those keywords or choose to auto-record all upcoming episodes with those keywords.

We do apologize that the exact times are not provided to us, although of course you can also set manual recordings with Find Programs > Record by Time and Channel.

Thanks again for your patience and good luck!

Please continue to use reference number for further contact regarding this request. In order to respond to this email, please log into your account at www.tivo.com/mysupport. Replies directly to this email will not be received.


Sincerely,

When I saw that the network had an 11 hour broadcast scheduled on Saturday, I setup 6 manual recordings to cover the time. I really don't see any other way to handle this than what Tivo is doing. They (NBC) broadcasts many events semi- live and no one knows exactly when a nearly 4 hour road race will end, or how many sets will occur in a volleyball game.

perhaps you're right but NBC Olympics.com is publishing events individually by sport as noted by my previous example from this past weekend: Rowing 2:30 PM-3:00 PM. because the primary NBC over the air broadcasts do not include live coverage of the events my guess is the NBC Olympics.com guide information is fairly accurate.

my gripe is that the detailed guide information is available and TiVo isn't even attempting to take advantage of it. God forbid they actually pull up the NBC Olympic schedule and enter it into their system manually:eek:

Can anyone tell me if the new TIVO Priemere's use HDMI 1.4 or 1.3? I am concerned about being able to record and playback in 3D. It doesn't say anywhere on TIVO's website which makes me suspect that it's 1.3. Thanks Sam

Wrong thread (this is for the older HDs, not the Premiere) but the Premieres handle 3D channels just fine. It's HDMI 1.3 btw.

Please join me on Twitter in challenging TWCs assertion that the content providers require CCI=0x02

@xnappo
@TWCableHelp why oh why do you set CCI on all cable channels? don't say it the content owners since Verizon doesn't do it!
Expand
10 mins Time Warner Cable ‏@TWCableHelp
@xnappo Our apologies, however Time Warner Cable negotiates the distribution rights for the programming it carries with the individual
Collapse
9:53 a.m. - Feb 26, 2013 · Details
7 mins ‏@xnappo
@TWCableHelp Possibly you can get some negotiating skills from Verizon then I have a hard time believing every channel requires CCI=0x02

xnappo

Please stop cross-posting this in every Tivo thread, it's a pointless exercise..