Suggestions for a soon-to-be TiVo owner and a long-time Mac owner/user.

[Kiahlin]

Hi there,

Well I've spent most of today scouring over the forums here (uggh!). After everything I've read, I thought I would post my questions/concerns in a new thread and hopefully get some helpful feedback/suggestions regarding what I should buy.

I've never owned a TiVo unit, but probably like most new users, I've known about TiVo for a very long time now. Due to events beyond my control (translate: laid off from my mainframe computer job), I've been re-introduced to the mind-numbing beauty of digital cable. I'll be starting a new job soon, and now I've finally decided I'm going to need some sort of TiVo unit to survive missing all of those shows of which I now can't do without!

Ok, here's some background. It's long -- I'm terrible about digressing. The questions are somewhere below listed separately:

I'll want to archive shows to DVD. No doubt. I have a Mac G4 desktop, a G4 widescreen Powerbook (I love it), and a PC laptop which is really a bit of a fossil (nice large 15" screen though, and it does what I need it to do, but it's only 300mhz). As for home theatre equipment, I have a 51" Toshiba rear-projection TV that gives an incredible picture and in my experience and that of others who've seen it, comes as close as you can get without being HD, so even though I don't currently have an HD tv, picture quality is extremely important. I have a Kenwood VR-6070 THX A/V receiver hooked up with a very nice surround sound system attached (imo, anyway), a very good quality JVC DVD player, a lackluster Sony VHS recorder (supposed to be high quality but is just a piece of @#$@), a Sanyo Beta HIFI VCR-7500 (yes, BETA), and a HALO XBox. The digital cable box is a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3250 through Cox Communications. I also have a home LAN via an SMC wired/wireless router. I use the wireless only when necessary -- wired is just so much faster and more secure (yes, I use WEP on wireless @256-bit, and router is passworded).

The DVD player and the XBox are hooked up via component video and optical digital for sound. The TV is also connected via component video. Currently the digital cable box is hooked up via S-Video and coax digital for sound, but I plan to rent another digital cable box with component connections, and move the S-Video one to my bedroom to the 20" non-component TV. The rest is hooked up via composite. Ok, I know that's TMI, but there it is.

So I was considering the Humax DRT800, but after reading the forums here, it looks like there is a picture quality issue. Although it seems like that can be alleviated by recording stuff in the best quality, it appears that I'll still have issues watching live TV. I think that's a problem that I won't be able to live with. So I'm now thinking the Humax is probably not for me -- but the DVD burner was attractive.

I did install a nice Pioneer DVR-108 DVD burner in my desktop Mac G4 awhile back, but as I've been reading on these forums, I would need a PC to decode the TiVo files for viewing or burning. I do have that Compaq Armada PC laptop (running Win98SE), but I think relying on such a fossil for this might be too much to ask for (Is it a simple unlocking type of situation, or CPU-intensive decoding? If it weren't CPU-intensive, I could use the PC laptop and then transfer the decoded video to one of my Macs...).

Whatever I buy, I'll definitely "crack" it open and upgrade the hard drive to probably 300gb (or more if it can take more than one HD?). I currently don't have a standalone DVD burner hooked up to my home theatre, but it is an option.

Also, I think I'd like more than the TiVo basic that comes with some DVD units, and I would probably do the TiVo service month-to-month at first. Can you decide at some point later, after paying for a subscription month-to-month, to buy a lifetime sub?

So here it is in list form(and if you skipped my long digression to this I totally understand :P ) :

a) I'm ready to buy some sort of TiVo unit (in the next 2 or 3 weeks, in any case), and I've never owned one -- so I'm looking for suggestions based on my particular needs/quirks
b) I have digital cable and high-speed broadband (via cable), so I don't want anything to do with satellite service (no DirectTiVo, etc)
c) I'll be hooking up whatever TiVo unit I buy via ethernet - no silly phone line connection (I know I'll need an ethernet adapter unless there are units sold with an ethernet connection now)
d) I'll definitely want to archive stuff to DVD
e) That being said, I'll also upgrade the HD of whatever TiVo unit I buy
f) I currently don't have a standalone DVD burner, but do have a nice Pioneer DVD burner installed in my desktop Mac, but I'm aware that this will not work currently with TiVo (but might in a few months...might)
g) I would consider buying a standalone DVD burner for my home theatre system, to facilitate archiving stuff
h) Picture quality and sound quality mean a _lot_ to me (even w/o HD tv)

What TiVo unit do you think would be best for me, especially in regard to picture and sound quality? Is there a combo TiVo/DVD unit that does have a high quality picture (and sound)? According to many forum posters, Humax is not it (also, I understand that partly, in TiVo/DVD combos, it's an issue with video format -- MPEG2 vs proprietary 'tystream', so will any combo give a high quality picture, esp. in live TV?). Should I consider buying a standalone DVD burner since I'm a Mac user, and since I'll want to archive video to DVD? If so, any suggestions on a high/good quality dvd burner? I'll want to connect the TiVo and DVD burner via component. That being said, what kind of solution is out there (like a KVM switch) to increase the component connections on my A/V receiver, with minimal if any signal degradation? I know I would have to switch between the extra ports/connections, but that's better than having to connect & disconnect cables frequently, as I've already reached the limit of component connections on my receiver. Also, if keeping the TiVo unit connected via ethernet, will this allow for software/firmware updates as well (sorry if this has been answered, but I've read so much today my mind is a-jumble)?

Thanks for any and all help inaugurating me into the TiVo world!

--Kiahlin

[gastrof]

You seem to want a stand-alone TiVo to work with cable.

That'd be a Series 2, since the Series 3 machines aren't out yet. (Later this year.)

Do NOT get lifetime on the series 2 if you think you might want to move to a Series 3 later this year. (Can tune two different channels at once, either standard Over The Air NTSC, over the air digital High Def, or if you get a cable card, digital cable. Also, seems to have external storage on an auxiliary hard drive.)

The TiVos with DVD burners have their pluses and minuses. They make for quick burning of the DVD off the hard drive. These figures may not be right, but they illustrate the point- a two hour movie will burn to disc in 15 minutes. Something like that.

Problem?

You can't edit the recording in any way. No removing of commercials, nothing. You also have to burn to disc at the quality setting you used when recording on the TiVo. Also, if the TiVo recording goes beyond the capacity of the disc at that quality setting (say you recorded a few minutes before and after to "make sure you got it", and a movie times out at two hours six minutes), the machine will make you use TWO different DVDs for the one movie.

These machines do burn directly to the disc, tho', so no analog conversion quality loss.

Many prefer a stand alone TiVo with a separate DVD unit because they can edit the recording (as in hit pause on the DVD during commercials) and also choose your own quality setting on the disc.

Problem?

To get the TiVo recording to the DVD recorder, you have to use connecting cables, which means the recording is converted to analog first, then re-encoded digitally by the DVD recorder. Some quality loss.

You also have to do the transfers in REAL time. In other words, if it's a two hour movie, it'll take you two hours to get it from the TiVo to the DVD.

Personally, I like the latter choice, two separate machines, despite the drawbacks. In my opinion, even on an el-cheapo DVD recorder like mine, the picture quality is fine, and it sure beats not being able to edit the recording when creating the disc.

My one complaint is the real time transfer thing. Oh well. You can't have everything. (Where would you keep it?) :p

[Kiahlin]

Thanks very much for your reply. I hadn't thought about the conversion to analog with a separate DVD player. As far as editing out the commercials, I could do that on my Mac after the DVD was created (sounds like if I were to go the way of a single unit with a DVD player that I'd want to use RW if I were to edit out commercials and then transfer to non-rewritable, or spend a lot on discs). That is if I got a single unit w/DVD burner.

Is there analog conversion with TivoToGo? My guess is no, but I'm really not sure. And could I even use the old PC laptop I have for it (which only has a 300mhz CPU), or is that too CPU-intensive? Like I said, if the laptop could take it, I could just transfer the now-readable file to my desktop Mac for burning.

In any case, thanks again -- I really hadn't even considered the analog conversion. The single unit w/DVD burner seemed interesting until I read numerous posts over the picture quality (on the Humax, in any case). If I had to consistently record in the best quality, that wouldn't be an issue considering I would increase the hard drive size anyway, but from what I read, it seems I wouldn't be able to view live TV in the best quality, which was a huge put-off.

Lots to think about.

--Kiahlin