Cable AND Antenna

[Popasmurf]

I had as of today, Satellite and antenna as my setup. I want to now have Cable AND antenna. I don't see this listed as an option. Is there ANY way to do this?

Thanks!

[jsmeeker]

I had as of today, Satellite and antenna as my setup. I want to now have Cable AND antenna. I don't see this listed as an option. Is there ANY way to do this?

Thanks!


On which TiVo??


The Series 3 (when released) will be able to do both. (one input for cable, the other for antenna)

[petew]

Cable and Antenna is not an option. Generally Basic cable includes at least one feed for each network available OTA so this option would be of little benefit to most users.

[Popasmurf]

Well shoot! I really would like to get my antenna channels from surrounding areas...

[phox_mulder]

Ya got 3 TiVo's man!

Pick one to hook the antenna to, use the other two for Cable.

That's how mine are running, the two D*TiVo's obviously are hooked to satellite,
the SA is only hooked to antenna.


phox

[TiVo Troll]

Cable and Antenna is not an option. Generally Basic cable includes at least one feed for each network available OTA so this option would be of little benefit to most users.

Perhaps, but any way you slice it it's an uneccesary shortcoming of TiVo.

[petew]

Perhaps, but any way you slice it it's an uneccesary shortcoming of TiVo.

Not necessarily. OTA and Cable channel numbers overlap and are not necessarily the same, adding more complexity to the program guide for limited gain.

[terryfoster]

Not necessarily. OTA and Cable channel numbers overlap and are not necessarily the same, adding more complexity to the program guide for limited gain.

These are the kinds of complexities the S3 will need to overcome. I can get 9.1 from both cable and OTA and there will need to be a way to handle that.

[Popasmurf]

Actually, I noticed something with my Satellite/Antenna lineups. It listed an OTA channel and a sattelite on the same channel, I just chose which I wanted. ie - 10 was WGEM on both satellite and OTA, I just chose one or the other. Yes, there would be MUCH more of this with Cable, but it seemed easy to do with Satellite. I'm not talking alot of OTA, maybe 6 or 7 channels. The problem is Cable chooses 1 location to get my locals, but I also like to watch news from other surrounding large towns.

Not necessarily. OTA and Cable channel numbers overlap and are not necessarily the same, adding more complexity to the program guide for limited gain.

[Popasmurf]

LOL, yes I know. I just would like the opportunity to flip back and forth in my bedroom, and setting 1 TiVo to be a dedicated OTA won't allow this. What I MIGHT do is run a second coax cable for Antenna and run an A/B Box to the TV.

Ya got 3 TiVo's man!

Pick one to hook the antenna to, use the other two for Cable.

That's how mine are running, the two D*TiVo's obviously are hooked to satellite,
the SA is only hooked to antenna.


phox

[TiVo Troll]

OTA and Cable channel numbers overlap and are not necessarily the same, adding more complexity to the program guide for limited gain.

I'd just like the same cable, satellite, and OTA combinations as ReplayTV offers. TiVo has only two inputs, unlike ReplayTV's three, so all sources couldn't be available simultaneously, but Guided Setup could enable any combination of two.

Considering that ReplayTV presents no limitations regarding input selection, asking TiVo for any combination of two out of three isn't asking for the moon.

[gastrof]

Satellite uses different frequencies than cable or antenna...

AND it can only be piped into the TiVo thru an A/V setup. (Or maybe some satellite boxes convert to RF channel 3 or 4?)

Cable channels and OTA channels are, in the case of the first 13 channel numbers, IDENTICAL. The same frequency.

Also, some UHF channels (OTAs over channel 14) are close enough in frequency to high cable numbers that they overlap too (tho the channel numbers are different).

Would be next to impossible for the TiVo's own tuner to sort that out...

Unless the cable uses a cable box and feeds in thru A/V? Maybe a hack would be able to make use of the satellite/OTA or satellite/cable possibility, and combine that with the ability to control a cable box, and put that in place of satellite? Would have to be a fancy hack tho', wouldn't it?

[mattack]

Cable and Antenna is not an option.

It's not an option built in, but I suspect someone in this thread
http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=99172&perpage=20&pagenumber=1
describes how to do that too..

The thread is about how to make "analog and digital cable" available as separate options.

Hmm, but wait, it couldn't do that and use the same coax in, since obviously there's only one coax input.. But if you were willing to do the *antenna* on the coax, and cable entirely through a box (ewww) to the composite ins, I suspect it could be hackable.

[TiVo Troll]

Satellite uses different frequencies than cable or antenna...

AND it can only be piped into the TiVo thru an A/V setup. (Or maybe some satellite boxes convert to RF channel 3 or 4?)

Cable channels and OTA channels are, in the case of the first 13 channel numbers, IDENTICAL. The same frequency.

Also, some UHF channels (OTAs over channel 14) are close enough in frequency to high cable numbers that they overlap too (tho the channel numbers are different).

Would be next to impossible for the TiVo's own tuner to sort that out...

Unless the cable uses a cable box and feeds in thru A/V? Maybe a hack would be able to make use of the satellite/OTA or satellite/cable possibility, and combine that with the ability to control a cable box, and put that in place of satellite? Would have to be a fancy hack tho', wouldn't it?

All TiVo tuners except for the dual tuner Series 2 already tune both cable channels & OTA UHF; they just can't be set to do so in conjunction with controlling an outboard cable box although they do so along with controlling a satellite receiver.

There's a valid cost-effective legal reason why dual-tuner Series 2 TiVo's aren't capable of tuning OTA UHF channels. Any other shortcomings that TiVo's are saddled with limiting specific combinations of already implemented tuning and control capabilities are arbitrary decisions of TiVo's design and development team. Perhaps doing so is cost effective; perhaps not; but it's not rocket science and doesn't require chips or circuitry of unusual cost or complexity.

(Oh well, ReplayTV 5500's, which tune OTA and basic cable channels as well as digital cable boxes, are still available and so is ReplayTV "Lifetime" service for $299.)

No DVR is "best" for all applications! But it'd be neat if TiVo could control a cable box (and/or an ATSC digital OTA tuner) along with tuning basic cable and/or OTA channels with its internal tuner.

[gastrof]

All TiVo tuners except for the dual tuner Series 2 already tune both cable channels & OTA UHF...


At the same time?

Cable and OTA? That's' what this is about. Being able to tune both cable channels and OTA at the same time. (And not just UHF OTA, either, if I understand right.)

[TiVo Troll]

At the same time?

Cable and OTA? That's' what this is about. Being able to tune both cable channels and OTA at the same time. (And not just UHF OTA, either, if I understand right.)

No.

All TiVo's prior to the dual tuner Series 2 can be set to tune either basic cable channels (2-125) or OTA channels (2-13 VHF; 14-69 UHF) during Guided Setup. They can also control at the same time, by IR or serial control, satellite receivers but not digital cable boxes which send baseband analog signals through TiVo's line inputs. ReplayTV's are capable of controlling a digital cable box at the same time as directly tuning analog channel lineups.

It's confusing. I hope this helps!

[kb7oeb]

They could make it work with an antenna connected to the tuner and a cable box connected to the input. It could work the same as the way they support satellite combined with OTA. The software doesn't support it but I don't a technical reason preventing it.

[TiVo Troll]

They could make it work with an antenna connected to the tuner and a cable box connected to the input. It could work the same as the way they support satellite combined with OTA. The software doesn't support it but I don't a technical reason preventing it.

The issue is that while doing what you suggest enables a TiVo to record from a cable box it wouldn't control the cable box to change channels as needed.