Series 2 DT Questions

[DrgnFyre]

I currently have two Series 1 Standalone tivos. They are great and still running, but they have been locking up a lot lately. :( I've been thinking about buying a Series 2 DT Tivo (Model TCD649180) - Tivo has refurbished ones for $129, which is a great deal.

I do have a couple of questions, however.

What are the major differences between series 1 and 2? I searched, but couldn't find a feature comparison, etc. I do know about Tivo2Go and the Multi Room Viewing - other features?

Do the series 2 have any better padding options? I'm currently using endpad on both of my S1's to automatically pad whenever possible. I also know that the model i'm looking at buying is not currently hackable without a lot of work. I guess it's not the end of the world if it's still using hard-padding, but soft padding would definitely help seal the deal. :)

Question about the 2 tuners. I am planning on getting a digital box for all the higher / multiple movie channels. I'm in Omaha, NE using Cox Cable. Their digital boxes mimic all the lower channels with the same numbering scheme, so I just figured I'd drop those out of the 'digital lineup', and tivo will use the built in tuner for all the lower channels, right? (ie, 53 is scifi). My biggest question is - will tivo use the normal cable feed for two lower channels at the same time?

That is to say - I know it can record 2 channels at once of one cable feed, but what if I give it the digital box as an input as well? If I've told tivo that the digital box doesn't get any channel below 100, will it be smart and record 2 things at once of the normal cable feed? (At one point with both my S1's, I had a digital box attached - the IR blaster wasn't always reliable because of the box they use, so using the normal cable input was always MUCH more desirable.

Also - any bizzare chance someone in Omaha, NE is using one of these with Cox Cable? I'd like to know if the serial control is working for the DCT2000 boxes they use - I know that they never used to have the feature enabled - on the box.. (tried a hack to do it on the S1's, but no luck).

Any general suggestions you can give would be appreciated. I'm using the tivos now mainly as a backup for the DVR cox provides - it can handle HD, but occasionally will just not record a program for no good reason. I might be able to get my current S1 boxes to last a little longer if I start rebooting them daily or something - they seem to lock up more if they've been running for a while.

I'd like to get the S3, but I'm not really looking to spend the $800 for them. :(

[ZeoTiVo]

shop around and you can find an S3 for 600$ maybe even less at costco.


Why not get a DT 80 hour and put a bigger drive in on your own. Upgrading the drive on an S2 is just as easy as on a S1.


Yes the DT will record two lower channels at the same time. I do not think you even have to do anything to the channels you receive. Just hook upo the cable and the cable box and give the TiVo the correct lineups and the software will do the rest.


Padding on the DT is the same as any S2 or S3 tiVo for that matter. still the same old start x minutes early and/or end x minutes late set manually on a recording or on a season pass

[gastrof]

...Padding on the DT is the same as any S2 or S3 tiVo for that matter. still the same old start x minutes early and/or end x minutes late set manually on a recording or on a season pass

I believe the OP said they were using a hack called "Endpad" to automatically pad programs, apparently without needing to add the extra time manually.

[DrgnFyre]

Sorry - I should have clarified. I was wondering if S2 did any 'soft' padding? As it is now with my s1 - if I have two shows that overlap each other due to manual padding, one of them won't record at all. I imagine the situation is better with 2 tuners, but I can still think of situations where it would be helpful to have the soft padding.

Endpad fixes that by padding whenever possible. I know that I won't be able to use endpad on the S2, however. :( (unless the 80hour is different than the 180hr).

$600 for a S3 - still way out of my price range. :(

80hr instead of the 180 hr.. definitely an interesting idea. They have a "factory-renewed" 80 hour for $50.. I'll have to price some drives. :P Any recommendations on models, etc? I remember when I got upgraded drives for my S1, lower rpm drives were actually better.

[DrgnFyre]

Yes the DT will record two lower channels at the same time. I do not think you even have to do anything to the channels you receive. Just hook up the cable and the cable box and give the TiVo the correct lineups and the software will do the rest.

But will it record both lower channels from the cable input, and not one cable input, one digital cable input? This is why I think i'd have to remove the channels from the digital cable input lineup - if Tivo thinks the only source for SciFi is on the analog input, channel 53, and the only source for NBC is the analog input - channel 8 - will it handle that?

I am assuming that nothing has changed with my cable company's digital set top box, and that serial connections will not work. My goal is to not record any of the lower channels from the digital box at all, as IR blasting didn't always seem to work the best. (Following the troubleshooting guides, it usually worked, but taking it out of the loop on low channels helped as well).

[mick66]

Sorry - I should have clarified. I was wondering if S2 did any 'soft' padding? As it is now with my s1 - if I have two shows that overlap each other due to manual padding, one of them won't record at all.

The S2 (&3) Tivos have a feature called 'overlap protection'. If back to back recordings are scheduled, but there is an overlap of 5 minuts or less, the higher priority recording will be recorded in it's entirety and the other will be recorded minus the overlap minutes.

80hr instead of the 180 hr.. definitely an interesting idea. They have a "factory-renewed" 80 hour for $50.. I'll have to price some drives. :P Any recommendations on models, etc? I remember when I got upgraded drives for my S1, lower rpm drives were actually better.

5400rpm drives may not run as hot, but that doesn't automatically make it "better" than a 7200rpm drive. As far as I'm concerned, rpm's (5400 v 7200 anyway) is a non issue.

[GoHokies!]

But will it record both lower channels from the cable input, and not one cable input, one digital cable input? This is why I think i'd have to remove the channels from the digital cable input lineup - if Tivo thinks the only source for SciFi is on the analog input, channel 53, and the only source for NBC is the analog input - channel 8 - will it handle that?

It will - the internal tuners can both be fed from the analog cable input. That's how people that have a DT but no cable box (like me!) get the DT functionality.

[ZeoTiVo]

But will it record both lower channels from the cable input, and not one cable input, one digital cable input? This is why I think i'd have to remove the channels from the digital cable input lineup - if Tivo thinks the only source for SciFi is on the analog input, channel 53, and the only source for NBC is the analog input - channel 8 - will it handle that?It can indeed record both channels from the cable output - I have just basic cable like GoHokies does as well. It works fine. I know they have put some smarts in the box to deal with regular cable and a Set top box input working together but I do not recall much detail about it since I do not use a cable box. perhaps someone will chime in who uses a cable box.

there is no automatic padding in the TiVo series. The hack like endpad does not exist in that form on an S2 and you have to replace a PROM chip to hack a S2 so that is a pain.

now as Mick66 said TiVo has added a great conflict avoidance feature that will still record both shows is there is a 5 minute or less conflict. So you can pad your season passes by 5 minutes as you set them up and feel comfortable they will all get recorded save for some rare exceptions that the TiVo would tell you about anyway. The way the overlap feature works is that if it sees a 5 minute or less overlap than it will record the full part of the season pass higher in the list and just miss the 5 minutes of the other show.
Of course with two tuners the DT will first try and put the shows on different tuners and avoid the overlap altogether.


I bought a refurbed 80 hour DT and then added in 500Gig Maxtor drive. I Did not do the noise dampening feature and it is a little loud on drive seek but down in my family room it is not noticeable to anyone. I also have the 80 gig drive as a quick backup should the original drive fail. I even setup the season passes on the back up drive :)

[DrgnFyre]

Thanks All for the replies. The overlap protection sounds like it will do what I need. Plus, with the 2 tuners, I can do padding for shows that consistently run over. I'm definitely leaning towards getting an 80 hour DT and buying a 400 or 500 gig drive for it. But it is tempting to just get the 180 as I think that would be enough storage, and I wouldn't have to open it, etc. :P

Of course.. if I'm going to set it up with the digital box, it'll record a LOT more suggestions if I give it the extra space..... hmm..

:D

[ZeoTiVo]

Of course.. if I'm going to set it up with the digital box, it'll record a LOT more suggestions if I give it the extra space..... hmm..

:D
I record a lot more and let it sit on my DVR now
one word - Movies.

[DrgnFyre]

Pulled the trigger and ordered the 80 hour, and a 500 gig drive from newegg.. :P

Now I think the Cox DVR will become solely for HD content...