[MartyBoy]

Ok... I was the one in Austin with all the "local channel" problems... They tried and tried... and they just could not get me Austin channels.. even though they were on the MAIN satellite....


So... I went and bought a TiVo unit (even though I am a die hard Ultimate TV man).... Lo, and Behold... the locals were immediately there.......


For the past 24 hours, I've enjoyed my new TiVo unit... (the UTV unit will be up and running right next to it as soon as I hook up the multi-switch I've ordered).... First... TiVo is so incredibly simple... anyone could do it....


Now... what I don't like about it----- (1).... I miss the 30 second advance button.... (2)... You can't go to guide or anything while you are watching a recorded program... it takes you out of it... and then you have to go back... (3)... when you set up "Season Passes" it doesn't have the buffer.. .so if you try to create one, you can make a mess... (eg. Must See TV on NBC)...


Here's what I like... The bar at the bottom actually shows the time... I love that... I can advance to the "minute" I want....


More later on the two as I watch them side by side.... I have to admit, I imagined the quality wouldn't be as good on TiVo... but it reallly is... No difference in quality..at all...

 

[NetworkTV]

Quote:

Originally posted by MartyBoy Now... what I don't like about it----- (1).... I miss the 30 second advance button.... (2)... You can't go to guide or anything while you are watching a recorded program... it takes you out of it... and then you have to go back... (3)... when you set up "Season Passes" it doesn't have the buffer.. .so if you try to create one, you can make a mess... (eg. Must See TV on NBC)... ....More later on the two as I watch them side by side.... I have to admit, I imagined the quality wouldn't be as good on TiVo... but it reallly is... No difference in quality..at all...

There is a backdoor code to enable the 30 second skip - check the TiVo forum for this. It's a sticky at the top of the forum.


The quality will be equal on PVRs with built in DTV receivers. They both record the sat stream as it comes down with no extra compression. Where you lose quality is with standalone units where the signal is converted to ananlog prior to recording, though at best quality the difference is not as much on most TVs. You just won't get as much recording time.

 

[StuJac]

The backdoor code is;


Select-Play-Select-30-Select


Just hit each button, then the numbers 30 then select again - make sure it's pointed at the TiVo - if it doesn't work the first time - keep trying. If you have the sound effect turned on you'll hear confirmation beeps.

 

[videoholic]

That's a lot of buttons to hit if you have to hit it 4 times to get thorugh a 2 minute commercial break.


My life revolves around the 30 second skip. Well it almost does anyway.

 

[MartyBoy]

Thanks for the tips.. It worked..

 

[austinsho]

Quote:

Originally posted by videoholic That's a lot of buttons to hit if you have to hit it 4 times to get thorugh a 2 minute commercial break. My life revolves around the 30 second skip. Well it almost does anyway.

No, no, no , you just have to that once, then hit the arrow once per 30 second skip.

 

[MartyBoy]

Another very cool feature on the TiVo unit I just discovered...


Sometimes a show will be on, so it is being buffered... and I will come into the room and think, "Gosh, I wish I could watch that from the beginning... but not right now." With UTV, it wouldn't let me.. if you hit "Record", it would make you go LIVE thus losing the buffered section. TiVo actually goes back and includes the buffered part in the recording.


I love that feature.

 

[NetworkTV]

Quote:

Originally posted by MartyBoy Another very cool feature on the TiVo unit I just discovered... Sometimes a show will be on, so it is being buffered... and I will come into the room and think, "Gosh, I wish I could watch that from the beginning... but not right now." With UTV, it wouldn't let me.. if you hit "Record", it would make you go LIVE thus losing the buffered section. TiVo actually goes back and includes the buffered part in the recording. I love that feature.

That feature is soon being added to UTV.

 

[rocket]

I understand that enabling the 30 sec skip on a tivo replaces the 15 minute skip that the key would otherwise do. And someone mentioned that w/o that feature, the fast forward doesn't cut it because it doesn't have the 300x that utv has. I would actually like the replay feature I heard about, combining the skip and a number key (don't know what order you enter these in) so that to skip say 2 minutes you could do skip/2 5 minutes skip/5 (or 5/skip).

 

[MartyBoy]

I have been waiting forever on UTV features... (and believe me, I love this standard)... but I think it may be coming down to what I had to face in 1984... Beta was actually the "better" format... but it disappeared because it didn't make it in the "commercial" world.... so I had to give up 60+ Beta tapes.. and switch...


The only thing that sucks is that TiVo is very expensive unless you find a really good deal...


So far, there is nothing about TiVo I don't like... (and I was completely surprised)

 

[ianken]

Quote:

Originally posted by NetworkTV That feature is soon being added to UTV.

By who? Is there anyone at MSFT still working on UTV features or bug fixes?

 

[kuroyama]

Quote:

I understand that enabling the 30 sec skip on a tivo replaces the 15 minute skip that the key would otherwise do. And someone mentioned that w/o that feature, the fast forward doesn't cut it because it doesn't have the 300x that utv has.

No, it doesn't replace it. Pressing the skip button while in play mode will skip 30 seconds. But pressing the skip button while fast-forwarding will skip to the next 15 minute mark.

 

[NetworkTV]

Quote:

Originally posted by ianken By who? Is there anyone at MSFT still working on UTV features or bug fixes?

http://www.blindsquirrel.org/UTV/37/PDVD_006.JPG

http://www.blindsquirrel.org/UTV/37/PDVD_005.JPG

 

[scopeman]

I also made the Tivo switch from UTV a few months ago - miss the UTV, but not enough to pay the extra $5 and put up with the other issues I was having.


Tivo has some features I really like - and I just figured out a new one today:


Tivo has a list of every show that will record in the next two weeks (the "To Do" list). You can go into that list and edit each entry as required.


So on the way out the door for a week vacation I can delete the planned recording of the kids TV shows and other junk and leave only the important ones in the list. This ensures I will not run out of drive space while traveling. Editing this list DOES NOT affect the long term programming rules - after the week of edits is over it goes right back to the normal schedule. THAT is a nice option.


However, Tivo still lacks a few nice UTV options....


At the end of the day Tivo will probably catch up. Even now it is close.

 

[Staind]

Quote:

Originally posted by scopeman Tivo has some features I really like - and I just figured out a new one today: Tivo has a list of every show that will record in the next two weeks (the "To Do" list). You can go into that list and edit each entry as required.

This is not exclusive to TiVo, this can be found in My Shows also. By viewing all upcoming recordings. Changes can be made and you can choose whether to apply that change to all future recordings or just that occurrence.

 

[scrim67]

I also have UTV and Tivo


After using both for over a year TIVO is my hands down winner.


Picking programs to record using tivo WISHLISTS vs the UTV search TIVO is a handsdown winner.


Also, how many time are you watching a good show live then there is a commercial so you decide to surf then come back to the show. Well with over 200 channels sometimes you forget to get back to that show in time. With TIVO all I do is when there is a commercial, I switch tuners and surf using the other tuner then even if I forget to go back after two minutes I don't miss anything!!!!!


With UTV I would have to keep that annoying PIP window open to accomplish this.


For the above alone that's why I have TIVO in my primary TV watching room.

 

[scrim67]

I must admit that I do on occasion watch a ballgame in PIP while viewing something else non-sports related on the main screen.


PIP can be useful at times which is an advantage of UTV.



I still give TIVO the solid edge though

 

[NetworkTV]

One word: Keyboard.


It makes searches so much easier.

 

[Argee]

I have both Tivo and UTV.

The keyboard is nice but Tivo as you enter each letter in the search the best matched results pop up and most times I just need to click the first 3 or 4 letters before I find it instead of inputing the complete title. Keybord is really not that much of an advantage.