I know, I know -- I should have just entitled the thread "thinking of buying a buggy for my horse." Yes, it's nearly 2005, and I don't have a Tivo. Didn't really want one until recently, but it looks as if it'll be a smart purchase and I could use some help. I don't watch much TV outside of sports, so would anyone recommend the 40-hour hard drive? Does anyone really need/use the 140-hour? Does this thing have to be hooked up to a wireless modem, and how well does it work with Direct TV? Can I record three or four games at the same time, on different channels? ANY help would be appreciated, thanks guys. I'm off to go churn some butter.
1. 40 Hours is good enough really depends on how much TV you actually watch, its good enough for me because I usually delete my stuff right after I watch 2. No 3. its practically made for DTV 4. No, I think they have a dual tuner TIVO now where you can record two programs at once but not 3 or 4 tuner
Call directv up and get their Tivo. A regular tivo will not work with Directv. I think they will sell you on for about $100 bucks and charge 5 or 10 dollars a month.
that's not true. Tivo works with everything. www.tivo.com but tivo is 12.95 a month whereas most sattelite places have $5/mo dvrs
You can get DirecTV Tivo boxes at Best Buy now for around $75. I have the 40gb and it is plenty, especially if you just clean things up occasionaly. I think my monthly costs are around $5.
I have an old Tivo and it works just fine with both DirecTv AND Cable. It can even handle when the channel is both on satellite and cable.
I just hooked up a dual tuner DVR for digital cable. How did I live without it? 120 GB HD baby! I think I should be careful with it. I'm renting it from the cable company for $10/mth. Well worth it.
How does the tivo box record 2 shows at once when normal directv recievers can only deliver one channel at a time?
I cant speak for Dish/Direct...but I know my cable TIVO will only record two programs at the same time...and even then, you can either watch a recorded program at the same time, or you must watch one of the shows being recorded. so it is definitely a 2 channel DVR... dont they have sat dishes that can feed three different boxes off the same dish now? If that is the case..then I dont see why it would be a problem to be able to record two channels at the same time with a setup like that.
I just got a DVR for my digital cable a little while back. 40 Hours may or may not be enough. My 60 gig box is constantly full because i record a lot of movies. I would definitly suggest geting one with dual tuners. If you only have a single tuner you cant watch and record and the same time, which can be annoying, especially if you want to record something thats on at the same time as sports.
I guess they're not the 'normal' receivers then. You need a Tivo capable of recording 2 shows, and you need a dual satellite receiver (w/ dual LNB dish). You can either get the Satellite receiver w/tivo combo, or buy them separately. I would highly recommend dual tivo with the satellite, or else you'll prob end up shutting off tivo's ability to record shows that it thinks you'll like.
I didn't bother to set mine up wireless (which I probably should have), but I did install a NIC since I don't have a landline in my condo. The wireless option was a lot more expensive and it just seemed like a luxury.
If you have DirectTV get the DirectTivo. Not only is it the only Tivo with two tuners (you'll need a duel-lnb sattelite dish) but it also records the signal digitally (as opposed to a stand-alone Tivo where the digital sattelite signal is converted to analog by the DirectTV receiver and then converted back to digital via the Tivo and then back to analog out to your TV). Check out Weaknees for some cool, modified (and warenteed) Tivo units. If you buy a 40 hour unit now and want to increase capacity, Weaknees sells upgread kits that are very easy to install. I love my Tivo. You can get a DVR from your cable company for cheaper but I don't think it's got nearly the features that Tivo has (i.e. Wishlists).
If you are a DirecTV customer, you should have the TiVo powered DVR. The cost is a $4.95 DVR fee, and the usual $4.95 "extra box" fee per month. The DVR fee is waived if you have Premiere. For sports, you probably want the bigger unit. However, If you get one, and decide it is too small, the technically inclined can replace the drive (more hours!) fairly easily. Each DirecTiVo can only record two things at a time. You can record two things and watch something saved. You have two satellite lines running to the DVR. It only has a single decoder though, so you can only *watch* one thing at a time (no Picture-in-Picture). I'm very happy with both of mine (one SD, and one HD), and would be happy to answer any questions...
I have my TiVo connected to my wireless network. No telephone line needed. It gets Guide programming data from the Internet and I use the HMO to stream MP3s and pictures to my TV. Like everyone else has said, I really don't know how I lived without it! Best. Invention. Ever!!
