TiVo and DVR

[Harsha Jay]

What is the difference between TiVO and DVR ? I know both are used to skip commercials and record programs as well. I tried Dr. Google, but in vain

-H

[fred rosenberger]

a Tivo IS a DVR. a DVR is anything that records TV onto a hard drive, basically.

Tivo is not only a DVR, but a service. they download content onto your dvr that is specially made for Tivo subscribers, they have partnered with Amazon to download movies, they have special offers, games, tivo-powered searches (find me shows that are similar to 'Lost' - and it gives you a dozen other tv shows that have similar themes), you can rate shows and Tivo will make other reccomendation based on your ratings...

and much more.

(yes, i drank the kool-aid...)
[ July 12, 2007: Message edited by: Fred Rosenberger ]

[Stan James]

I took the cable company's DVR without comparing Tivo. Is Tivo a better service? And does it make grunty little hard-drive noises the whole time you're watching TV?

[Gregg Bolinger]

I've had both Tivo and the cable companies DVR. I like the cable's DVR interface better than the Tivo interface. I also am not concerned about downloading additional content for various reasons like Fred likes to do. And my cable DVR is less / month than Tivo. Also, I don't want to have to buy a new Tivo box everytime something better comes along. And if it breaks, give or take your warrenty, I don't have to worry about it. Cable company just gives me a new one.

I was wanting to try and build a MythTV box but I read that they are losing their deal with delivering program data so I am going to wait until they get that figured out.

[Bear Bibeault]

My experience is completely different from Gregg's. You can have my TiVo when you pry it from my cold dead fingers. Its interface and functionality wipes the floor with the Time Warner DVR.

[Andrew Monkhouse]

Originally posted by Fred Rosenberger:
Tivo is not only a DVR, but a service. they download content onto your dvr that is specially made for Tivo subscribers, they have partnered with Amazon to download movies, they have special offers, games, tivo-powered searches (find me shows that are similar to 'Lost' - and it gives you a dozen other tv shows that have similar themes), you can rate shows and Tivo will make other reccomendation based on your ratings...

I turned off a lot of the additional "benefits" such as the "you liked movie x, you might like movie y" - at the moment I dont want extra shows being sent my way: what I am already watching is enough.

For me, some of the benefits of the TiVo are in the way it can handle a scheduling change by the networks, and the way you can set up requests for shows. Some examples of the later are:

my request for "all 1st release of Stargate Atlantis" - I don't have to care whether they are currently showing a new season of Atlantis or not - if it showing repeats, then it won't get recorded; if a new season starts then it will get recorded - simple.

I started watching "Dead Like Me" when it was being repeated on 2 different channels, so I set up my request queue to "any episodes I have not watched in the last 30 days.

That also brings up another point about TiVo - although I think you can request a recording for a particular time and channel, that is not the way you would normally work - you go and pick the shows you want, and TiVo will tell you what channels it is on, and what times. And this can often be used to handle scheduling conflicts as well, since if you set up one recording, then try to record a second movie that would overlap the time of the first, you quite often get to see what alternate times / channels the second movie will be on, so you can avoid the conflict.

I also drank the kool-aid

Regards, Andrew

[fred rosenberger]

we bought the life-time service contract, so our monthly bill from Tivo is $0. I doubt yours is less than that. the break-even point on that was just under 2 years, and our (silent, btw) unit is over 4 years old now.

I am not locked into the cable company's rules on how I use my tivo. I can hack the OS as much as I want, put in a larger hard drive, whatever. I can move to a different city, and my Tivo stays with me.

[Alan Wanweird]

No usch thing as Tivo here in Australia (although a recent deal with Channel7 suggests they will start to offer a service)..

So its a 4 way choice here:

1) Plain old VCR, or sit in front of TV at perculisr times of day after trying to analyise the TV listings in the papr to determine where and when your shows might boe on (and its VERY hard with Aussie netowkrs playing schedule obfuscation games all the time in a constant attempt to try and reduce their audience?!)

2) Off-the-shelf PVR - small disks, limited capabilities with little or no EPG.

3) Foxtel iQ (Pay through the nose for PVR capabilities on Foxtel channels, but still have no listings for FTA tv)

4) MythTV - Infinitely flexible and with several groups of people publishing listings (legally questionable practice), you can actually rely on it to work!

I spent AU$1000 and built a 400Gb, twin tuner MythTv box working beautifully AND I can watch content from my PC in the study when the main TV is being used for Playschool, Wiggles or other moronic kiddy shows....