mskvarenina
09-15-2006, 08:27 PM
On a local CableVision Yahoo group there's been a hot discussion on why TiVo. many of these people are used to the piece of junk SA 8300HD and simply don't know what a TiVo is and what makes it so great. Here's a partial list I posted there and thought other may with to add to this list. Perhaps we should make a permanent list to pus to people when they ask. Anyway, here's my list:
1. When watching a program in the 8300 and you exit out by going to live TV or you turn it off, the next time you go to play the program it starts from the beginning. "Play from current location" only works if you first exit to the recorded list. TiVo always remember exactly where you left off no matter how you exit a program.
2. When watching a program on TiVo, the program is divided into 15 minute sections so if you want, you can press a button to jump to each 15-minute interval. With the 8300 all you can do is press the fast forward (up to 4 times) then sit and wait until it reaches the latter parts of a program.
3. Folders. TiVo (series 2 and above) group recorded programs into folders. So if you've got 5 ER's recorded, there will a single folder with the 5 recordings within it.
4. Selecting a program to record. In the DVR you need to know what channel and what time for something. With TiVo all you need to know is the program name. Search for it by name, select it and tell TiVo how and when to record it. As you may know, with the 8300 you must know the date, time and channel. You can't search by name.
5. Wishlists. Like Billy Joel? Simply create a "wishlist" for Billy Joel and TiVo will record any program with "Billy Joel" in the description. (Billy Joel si just an example, you can enter anything).
6. Photos. TiVo can display photos stored on your computer. May sound korny at first but I can't tell you how many times I've had company over who wanted to see photos from some recent event. I just turn on my TV, enter the photos menu on TiVo and the pictures appear.
7. Remote scheduling. From my office I can log onto TiVo and scheduled recordings. No more missing something I just heard about driving in this morning on the radio.
8. Audio cues. When clicking buttons and navigating menus, TiVo makes a clicking sound on your TV. Pressing the fast forward button once makes one sound, pressing it again raises the pitch a bit, pressing it again raises it again. May sound useless and not needed but having both TiVos and an 8300, I find the audio cues very helpful. Once you hear it and get used to it, you'll love it.
9. Season pass manager. The SPM allows you to see, and prioritize the programs you have scheduled.
10. To-do list shows you everything it will record and the not-recorded list will show you what wasn't recorded and why.
11. Recently deleted shows you what was recently deleted and allows you to "restore" something you may have accidently deleted.
12. Delete warnings. In the "now playing" list, TiVo shows you when something is nearing deletion with a yellow icon next to the program. The 8300 tells you nothing and things just disappear when they expire.
There's more....this is what I came up with in 5 minutes.
There's some other features such as multi-room viewing (Series 2 only for now) that I don't use but allow you to move programs from one TiVo to another for viewing in other rooms, Internet connectivity which allows TiVo to access the Internet and show local weather, traffic updates and other things. There's also a feature which allows you to save recorded programs to your PC. I don't use this but I suppose it could be useful.
1. When watching a program in the 8300 and you exit out by going to live TV or you turn it off, the next time you go to play the program it starts from the beginning. "Play from current location" only works if you first exit to the recorded list. TiVo always remember exactly where you left off no matter how you exit a program.
2. When watching a program on TiVo, the program is divided into 15 minute sections so if you want, you can press a button to jump to each 15-minute interval. With the 8300 all you can do is press the fast forward (up to 4 times) then sit and wait until it reaches the latter parts of a program.
3. Folders. TiVo (series 2 and above) group recorded programs into folders. So if you've got 5 ER's recorded, there will a single folder with the 5 recordings within it.
4. Selecting a program to record. In the DVR you need to know what channel and what time for something. With TiVo all you need to know is the program name. Search for it by name, select it and tell TiVo how and when to record it. As you may know, with the 8300 you must know the date, time and channel. You can't search by name.
5. Wishlists. Like Billy Joel? Simply create a "wishlist" for Billy Joel and TiVo will record any program with "Billy Joel" in the description. (Billy Joel si just an example, you can enter anything).
6. Photos. TiVo can display photos stored on your computer. May sound korny at first but I can't tell you how many times I've had company over who wanted to see photos from some recent event. I just turn on my TV, enter the photos menu on TiVo and the pictures appear.
7. Remote scheduling. From my office I can log onto TiVo and scheduled recordings. No more missing something I just heard about driving in this morning on the radio.
8. Audio cues. When clicking buttons and navigating menus, TiVo makes a clicking sound on your TV. Pressing the fast forward button once makes one sound, pressing it again raises the pitch a bit, pressing it again raises it again. May sound useless and not needed but having both TiVos and an 8300, I find the audio cues very helpful. Once you hear it and get used to it, you'll love it.
9. Season pass manager. The SPM allows you to see, and prioritize the programs you have scheduled.
10. To-do list shows you everything it will record and the not-recorded list will show you what wasn't recorded and why.
11. Recently deleted shows you what was recently deleted and allows you to "restore" something you may have accidently deleted.
12. Delete warnings. In the "now playing" list, TiVo shows you when something is nearing deletion with a yellow icon next to the program. The 8300 tells you nothing and things just disappear when they expire.
There's more....this is what I came up with in 5 minutes.
There's some other features such as multi-room viewing (Series 2 only for now) that I don't use but allow you to move programs from one TiVo to another for viewing in other rooms, Internet connectivity which allows TiVo to access the Internet and show local weather, traffic updates and other things. There's also a feature which allows you to save recorded programs to your PC. I don't use this but I suppose it could be useful.