MokTask
01-23-2006, 02:19 PM
Here are my first week’s impressions of the Tivo - Series2 540040
The Bad:
Makes a "noise": I heard the dreaded “whine” from it the first time I powered it on. my wife heard it that night when she was up looking after our infant. It sounds like a HD spinning high all the time. Which it turns out is, but the HDs in these are supposed to be “quiet”, oh well. This is “normal" with all NEW Tivo units from reading and searching the forums. --- Guess I'll upgrade that HD sooner rather than later!
Live TV: It has become (or always was) a general consensus “You shouldn't ever watch Live TV on it (or channel surf)”. It isn't "made" for that, from most people perceptions. It /is/ made to record a show, while watching a pre-recorded show from earlier, that is what it is best at. It is also designed to start recording a show, then about 15 minutes into the original start time, start watching it, then just fast-forward through the commercials by the time the 1-hour show is over, you’ll be all caught up and almost on time to actual ending. This whole notion of not watching live TV is a very, VERY hard thing to get used too. My wife and I are having a very hard time getting used to this, also since
I've hooked it up from the Dish to the Tivo using the RCA cables, setting the Tivo in "standby" doesn't give me access to the Dish, oh well. I hope I’ll work around this soon as this could be the deal-breaker for my wife.
Re-learning the remote: The remote (and interface) isn't the "best" it isn't laid out all too well with button placement, you tend to hit buttons on the remote you don't want. Especially the thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons.... It also isn’t the most responsive remote I’ve used, it is downright sluggish. This could be more the Tivo unit, not the remote, as the remote “lights up” as soon as you hit a button.
The Tivo interface: The GUI has things in what I'd call the wrong places, but I guess you just have to get used to it. Settings, and other things just are too far down and you have to dig for them. Other things aren’t as obvious.
Tivo Suggestions: yeah. I think they’ve got some pretty “shady” programmers. First night it was set up. It downloaded 2 programs from the Soap channel, Dallas and old night-time soap. Yeah. Real funny guys, it DID enable me to learn that you can just hit “clear” on the Now Playing menu, to delete, instead of digging down into the program first. Still, Dallas, first night Tivo suggestion? I find that funny. This past weekend, it recorded like 3 shows off the game-show network. I had manually recorded a game show on Comedy Central (“Distraction”) but didn’t do an up or down preference on it, but the “Suggested” show was that old “match game” show, I don’t think so. I guess it will learn.
Reporting Home: The Tivo /can/ transmit your preferences There is a 1-800 number you can call, but I’m not sure. I do NOT like the idea of my Tivo phoning home and telling corporate headquarters which shows I record, “not identifiable” PAH-LEASE! Give me a break. The shows are encoded with the serial number, the user list is identified by the serial number, you REGISTER your serial number to subscribe to the Tivo service, and the thing calls home every night to get updated programming information. How stupid am I? Doesn’t send personally identifiable information. Yeah, can’t identify if it was me or my wife making the recording, nope can’t tell that. Can it identify which house recorded what, you bet your butt it does. My problem is, if I don’t let it transmit my recorded shows (and habits) will the Tivo Suggestions still work? Maybe I’ll create another thread to ask this question….. The information and number can be found here - http://www.tivo.com/5.11.3.asp
Thought I’d get my initial “bad” list out of the way, so on with the good!
The good:
Amazing technology: All the way around this hardware was/is made for Joe-idiot-consumer. I could tell as soon as I opened the box, they tried making this thing easy to use, with few support calls. How? Well, look at all the hook-up options you have. TV doesn’t have RCA plugs, use the RF (coax), has an Svideo, well then, by all means use that. I really would have liked another set of inputs though, but that’s just me (although I guess another set of inputs would almost demand a dual-tuner option). They also should consider putting in a large 1-sheet with more than just the 2 options of hooking up the system, you /could/ thumb through the manual, but the poster they have in there would be better if it were twice the size, and fit twice the setups on it, don’t make Joe-idiot-consumer search for the information.
Ease of use: Once we get over the whole "we don't (shouldn’t) watch Live TV anymore" this will be quite wonderful. But, I don't know if I'll ever get my wife to NOT watch live, we'll see. I would like to see a “default season pass” configuration, so you can just hit one menu item to set the season pass up, just the way you like it, you could still have one where you could configure all your options, but at least 4 out of 5 times, I set the season pass to the exact same way.
The power: Yeah. Power. I set up a season pass (which records the same "show" on that same channel no matter when it airs, every time, either ALL episodes, all new episodes, or every single episode even if it is already on the Tivo. There are also Wish-Lists - put in an actor, or show, and it will search all the channels you get and start recording that show/actor (whatever) all the time. It seems to be “smart”, if you are watching a show “live” and it needs to switch channels to record one you have set, if you answer no, it will try to find that episode again somewhere else and record it later.
The remote and channels: We’re down to 1 remote, instead of 3 (TV, Dish, Tivo). When we watch live TV (told you it was hard) if we want to watch dish, type in the dish channel on the remote, watch NBC, type in its channel number on the same Tivo remote, and it just tunes in the over-the-air channel. It is seamless, something I think Dish Network should have done with their remote, instead of having a TV and Dish button on it, if you want local channel 18 just type in 18, if you want Dish 169, you type in 169 and it tunes to the Dish. Oh well, can’t have everything.
Networking: Once the home network is completed, that bad boy will/can surf the internet. I can schedule recordings while at work or on the road, and tell it to record a program at home, and it will do it. This also means I can RIP shows from the Tivo to my desktops, and then re-encode them for burning on media or storing on the Media Server. The downside is they’re in a much larger format that I like to use, so it will take up more space than I’d like but I guess you have to pay the price somewhere, and this price is in storage size.
Expandability: So far from what I’ve read the max expansion is about 1Tera (so that's just over 1,000 hours on basic quality). That would be a pair of 500gig hard-drives in there. That is a whole lot of stuff, more than most people would need.
Medium and On-The-Fence Items (neither hot nor cold):
If we had cable, instead of Dish Network, this would be SO MUCH BETTER than it is right now. It works just OK for Dish (not bad, but not great either). With cable, it would be awesome. We’re talking the whole tuning thing, it has a built-in tuner, which could tune in standard cable channels, for the Dish, you have to use the IR-Blaster dongles, little things that convert the Tivo remote control buttons into Dish signals. It isn’t that hard, IR-Blasters have been around for a long time, basically I type in a Dish channel number on the Tivo remote, the Tivo then re-works them into a Dish unit signal and transmits it through a pair of little IR emitters that you “stick” to the Dish tuner box, which still tunes the channel.
General NOTES:
I'm pretty sure I can get rid of the "whine" by installing the new HD in there. If not, the original will go back in, and I'll get it replaced, unless the TV is on, I can't take the sound (I'm really sensitive to noise). I also noticed that it doesn’t make the noise when it is recording, and that noise is almost gone when it is playing back. So, definitely the HD. Problem is, I have a Maxtor drive still in the box that I /could/ use in it, but I recently replaced the HD in one of my computers recently with a Maxtor and it is a LOT more noisy than the stock on, same size too, 160gig. So, maybe I’ll try and get another type. The “noise” these drives makes is more of data-crunching, not a “whine” but I think that would get annoying too. Guess I’ll have to give one of the other two big-dogs a try, WD and Seagate. I’ve said it before, I have no allegiances to any HD manufacturer for reliability, every one knows someone who had a brand fail, so those are the bad-drives of the month. Fact is, they all fail, they’re very intricate moving parts, of COURSE they’ll fail, they have to, and they defeat the law of average if they don’t.
We recently switched our baby-sitters. She comes to our house every day to watch the boys and I /just/ taught her how to work the Dish remote, and now the Tivo remote is next. Not looking forward to that. Tivo really should get its act together on the “guide” too, why not put the picture in the corner so you can still “watch” while you’re looking at the guide? The whole “overlay” thing doesn’t work well, not at all in fact, but I guess you can still hear the audio, having it in a window would be perfect.
Also, why is there a “picture in picture” button on the remote if you aren’t going to use it? Come on, how many PiP people are out there that use it? Why not enable it so you can keep watching TV (live or recorded), and push the “Tivo” button, and the TV show is still shown in the window? Too much to ask? Ah, would be a nice feature.
Stand alone dual-tuner models. This would be GREAT. I would buy another Dish Receiver if I could get a dual-tuner Tivo. I /suppose/ I could get another Tivo for the 2nd Dish Recover, but that wouldn’t be as elegant. AND, it wouldn’t help with the whole “Live TV” problem I’m having. With dual-tuners, that becomes an invalid problem.
PC Based PVR: I’ve built and used one. This is a great asset. I could have forgone buying the Tivo in the first place, if my wife would have been more “up” for the idea of using it with the remote (clunkier than the Tivo, SageTV) and get “over” the idea of having a computer in the living room. I also had to make some “adjustments” to my setup on how things worked, old RV-only style TV needed to have something like the VCR on in order for this setup to work, but that was fine for me… Well, needless to say, the PVR is staying, but it will go in my office, and it will only be used for recording over-the-air broadcasts that we don’t (or can’t) catch with the main Tivo. I LOVE the HTPC, want another tuner, just pop one it, bigger HD, no worries. Set it to batch-transcoded the raw video into Xvix or Divx, excellent for saving space. Oh, and if I wanted to play a game or surf, do that right on the TV screen, the tuner cards use practically NO CPU overhead, so don’t have to worry about dropping or losing frames, or stuttering
The Bad:
Makes a "noise": I heard the dreaded “whine” from it the first time I powered it on. my wife heard it that night when she was up looking after our infant. It sounds like a HD spinning high all the time. Which it turns out is, but the HDs in these are supposed to be “quiet”, oh well. This is “normal" with all NEW Tivo units from reading and searching the forums. --- Guess I'll upgrade that HD sooner rather than later!
Live TV: It has become (or always was) a general consensus “You shouldn't ever watch Live TV on it (or channel surf)”. It isn't "made" for that, from most people perceptions. It /is/ made to record a show, while watching a pre-recorded show from earlier, that is what it is best at. It is also designed to start recording a show, then about 15 minutes into the original start time, start watching it, then just fast-forward through the commercials by the time the 1-hour show is over, you’ll be all caught up and almost on time to actual ending. This whole notion of not watching live TV is a very, VERY hard thing to get used too. My wife and I are having a very hard time getting used to this, also since
I've hooked it up from the Dish to the Tivo using the RCA cables, setting the Tivo in "standby" doesn't give me access to the Dish, oh well. I hope I’ll work around this soon as this could be the deal-breaker for my wife.
Re-learning the remote: The remote (and interface) isn't the "best" it isn't laid out all too well with button placement, you tend to hit buttons on the remote you don't want. Especially the thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons.... It also isn’t the most responsive remote I’ve used, it is downright sluggish. This could be more the Tivo unit, not the remote, as the remote “lights up” as soon as you hit a button.
The Tivo interface: The GUI has things in what I'd call the wrong places, but I guess you just have to get used to it. Settings, and other things just are too far down and you have to dig for them. Other things aren’t as obvious.
Tivo Suggestions: yeah. I think they’ve got some pretty “shady” programmers. First night it was set up. It downloaded 2 programs from the Soap channel, Dallas and old night-time soap. Yeah. Real funny guys, it DID enable me to learn that you can just hit “clear” on the Now Playing menu, to delete, instead of digging down into the program first. Still, Dallas, first night Tivo suggestion? I find that funny. This past weekend, it recorded like 3 shows off the game-show network. I had manually recorded a game show on Comedy Central (“Distraction”) but didn’t do an up or down preference on it, but the “Suggested” show was that old “match game” show, I don’t think so. I guess it will learn.
Reporting Home: The Tivo /can/ transmit your preferences There is a 1-800 number you can call, but I’m not sure. I do NOT like the idea of my Tivo phoning home and telling corporate headquarters which shows I record, “not identifiable” PAH-LEASE! Give me a break. The shows are encoded with the serial number, the user list is identified by the serial number, you REGISTER your serial number to subscribe to the Tivo service, and the thing calls home every night to get updated programming information. How stupid am I? Doesn’t send personally identifiable information. Yeah, can’t identify if it was me or my wife making the recording, nope can’t tell that. Can it identify which house recorded what, you bet your butt it does. My problem is, if I don’t let it transmit my recorded shows (and habits) will the Tivo Suggestions still work? Maybe I’ll create another thread to ask this question….. The information and number can be found here - http://www.tivo.com/5.11.3.asp
Thought I’d get my initial “bad” list out of the way, so on with the good!
The good:
Amazing technology: All the way around this hardware was/is made for Joe-idiot-consumer. I could tell as soon as I opened the box, they tried making this thing easy to use, with few support calls. How? Well, look at all the hook-up options you have. TV doesn’t have RCA plugs, use the RF (coax), has an Svideo, well then, by all means use that. I really would have liked another set of inputs though, but that’s just me (although I guess another set of inputs would almost demand a dual-tuner option). They also should consider putting in a large 1-sheet with more than just the 2 options of hooking up the system, you /could/ thumb through the manual, but the poster they have in there would be better if it were twice the size, and fit twice the setups on it, don’t make Joe-idiot-consumer search for the information.
Ease of use: Once we get over the whole "we don't (shouldn’t) watch Live TV anymore" this will be quite wonderful. But, I don't know if I'll ever get my wife to NOT watch live, we'll see. I would like to see a “default season pass” configuration, so you can just hit one menu item to set the season pass up, just the way you like it, you could still have one where you could configure all your options, but at least 4 out of 5 times, I set the season pass to the exact same way.
The power: Yeah. Power. I set up a season pass (which records the same "show" on that same channel no matter when it airs, every time, either ALL episodes, all new episodes, or every single episode even if it is already on the Tivo. There are also Wish-Lists - put in an actor, or show, and it will search all the channels you get and start recording that show/actor (whatever) all the time. It seems to be “smart”, if you are watching a show “live” and it needs to switch channels to record one you have set, if you answer no, it will try to find that episode again somewhere else and record it later.
The remote and channels: We’re down to 1 remote, instead of 3 (TV, Dish, Tivo). When we watch live TV (told you it was hard) if we want to watch dish, type in the dish channel on the remote, watch NBC, type in its channel number on the same Tivo remote, and it just tunes in the over-the-air channel. It is seamless, something I think Dish Network should have done with their remote, instead of having a TV and Dish button on it, if you want local channel 18 just type in 18, if you want Dish 169, you type in 169 and it tunes to the Dish. Oh well, can’t have everything.
Networking: Once the home network is completed, that bad boy will/can surf the internet. I can schedule recordings while at work or on the road, and tell it to record a program at home, and it will do it. This also means I can RIP shows from the Tivo to my desktops, and then re-encode them for burning on media or storing on the Media Server. The downside is they’re in a much larger format that I like to use, so it will take up more space than I’d like but I guess you have to pay the price somewhere, and this price is in storage size.
Expandability: So far from what I’ve read the max expansion is about 1Tera (so that's just over 1,000 hours on basic quality). That would be a pair of 500gig hard-drives in there. That is a whole lot of stuff, more than most people would need.
Medium and On-The-Fence Items (neither hot nor cold):
If we had cable, instead of Dish Network, this would be SO MUCH BETTER than it is right now. It works just OK for Dish (not bad, but not great either). With cable, it would be awesome. We’re talking the whole tuning thing, it has a built-in tuner, which could tune in standard cable channels, for the Dish, you have to use the IR-Blaster dongles, little things that convert the Tivo remote control buttons into Dish signals. It isn’t that hard, IR-Blasters have been around for a long time, basically I type in a Dish channel number on the Tivo remote, the Tivo then re-works them into a Dish unit signal and transmits it through a pair of little IR emitters that you “stick” to the Dish tuner box, which still tunes the channel.
General NOTES:
I'm pretty sure I can get rid of the "whine" by installing the new HD in there. If not, the original will go back in, and I'll get it replaced, unless the TV is on, I can't take the sound (I'm really sensitive to noise). I also noticed that it doesn’t make the noise when it is recording, and that noise is almost gone when it is playing back. So, definitely the HD. Problem is, I have a Maxtor drive still in the box that I /could/ use in it, but I recently replaced the HD in one of my computers recently with a Maxtor and it is a LOT more noisy than the stock on, same size too, 160gig. So, maybe I’ll try and get another type. The “noise” these drives makes is more of data-crunching, not a “whine” but I think that would get annoying too. Guess I’ll have to give one of the other two big-dogs a try, WD and Seagate. I’ve said it before, I have no allegiances to any HD manufacturer for reliability, every one knows someone who had a brand fail, so those are the bad-drives of the month. Fact is, they all fail, they’re very intricate moving parts, of COURSE they’ll fail, they have to, and they defeat the law of average if they don’t.
We recently switched our baby-sitters. She comes to our house every day to watch the boys and I /just/ taught her how to work the Dish remote, and now the Tivo remote is next. Not looking forward to that. Tivo really should get its act together on the “guide” too, why not put the picture in the corner so you can still “watch” while you’re looking at the guide? The whole “overlay” thing doesn’t work well, not at all in fact, but I guess you can still hear the audio, having it in a window would be perfect.
Also, why is there a “picture in picture” button on the remote if you aren’t going to use it? Come on, how many PiP people are out there that use it? Why not enable it so you can keep watching TV (live or recorded), and push the “Tivo” button, and the TV show is still shown in the window? Too much to ask? Ah, would be a nice feature.
Stand alone dual-tuner models. This would be GREAT. I would buy another Dish Receiver if I could get a dual-tuner Tivo. I /suppose/ I could get another Tivo for the 2nd Dish Recover, but that wouldn’t be as elegant. AND, it wouldn’t help with the whole “Live TV” problem I’m having. With dual-tuners, that becomes an invalid problem.
PC Based PVR: I’ve built and used one. This is a great asset. I could have forgone buying the Tivo in the first place, if my wife would have been more “up” for the idea of using it with the remote (clunkier than the Tivo, SageTV) and get “over” the idea of having a computer in the living room. I also had to make some “adjustments” to my setup on how things worked, old RV-only style TV needed to have something like the VCR on in order for this setup to work, but that was fine for me… Well, needless to say, the PVR is staying, but it will go in my office, and it will only be used for recording over-the-air broadcasts that we don’t (or can’t) catch with the main Tivo. I LOVE the HTPC, want another tuner, just pop one it, bigger HD, no worries. Set it to batch-transcoded the raw video into Xvix or Divx, excellent for saving space. Oh, and if I wanted to play a game or surf, do that right on the TV screen, the tuner cards use practically NO CPU overhead, so don’t have to worry about dropping or losing frames, or stuttering