PDA

View Full Version : Tivo as tuner?

equate9756
05-29-2007, 05:44 PM
Hello, I had a question about Tivo I was hoping someone could help me with. My TV's built in tuner decided to crap out on me, there is tons of static ans closed captions keep flipping on an off just displaying garbage.

Anyways, I was looking at just getting a tivo or something to use as a tuner. Will this work without a subscription? Eventually I plan on buying one, just not right now.

Thanks for the help.
bidger
05-29-2007, 06:19 PM
Don't you have an old VCR you could use as a tuner?
litzdog911
05-29-2007, 07:03 PM
Not a good idea without a subscription. And your TV will stll need auxillary AV inputs to connect the Tivo if its tuner is dead.
JimSpence
05-29-2007, 08:25 PM
I'd say it's time for a new TV. :D
supasta
05-29-2007, 09:56 PM
All other options aside (New TV being the best one, and using a cheap VCR a close second) an S1 TiVo would work perfectly as a tuner, however not the best choice IMO to add a sub to later with far superior new TiVo models.
lessd
05-30-2007, 02:21 AM
Hello, I had a question about Tivo I was hoping someone could help me with. My TV's built in tuner decided to crap out on me, there is tons of static ans closed captions keep flipping on an off just displaying garbage.

Anyways, I was looking at just getting a tivo or something to use as a tuner. Will this work without a subscription? Eventually I plan on buying one, just not right now.

Thanks for the help.

You can use any TiVo (except a Series 3 ) as a tuner even if you do not have aux. inputs to your TV for example the TiVo 540 Series 2 has a Ch 3 or 4 RF output and you do not need a sub to use the tuner and use trick play TV, will work great. The only downside is the TiVo will have to run all the time as it takes about 4 minutes to boot up, so that may cost you a few $/month in power (about 20 watts at 24/7) Some TiVos only have CH 3 RF outputs (the Humax 595 for example)
supasta
05-30-2007, 02:51 AM
You can use any TiVo (except a Series 3 ) as a tuner even if you do not have aux. inputs to your TV for example the TiVo 540 Series 2 has a Ch 3 or 4 RF output and you do not need a sub to use the tuner and use trick play TV, will work great. The only downside is the TiVo will have to run all the time as it takes about 4 minutes to boot up, so that may cost you a few $/month in power (about 20 watts at 24/7) Some TiVos only have CH 3 RF outputs (the Humax 595 for example)
This will not work if the OP's TV tuner is out...how can he tune to Channel 3 or 4 to use the TiVo? :rolleyes:
captain_video
05-30-2007, 06:04 AM
Never mind.
lessd
05-30-2007, 10:58 AM
This will not work if the OP's TV tuner is out...how can he tune to Channel 3 or 4 to use the TiVo? :rolleyes:

You are correct if the VHF is also out, I do not know how old the TV is or why the OP even brought this up on this form (to save an old TV..maybe its a built in) as CRT type TVs are cheep if you can find one now. The power cost of running a TiVo as only a tuner makes it not practical in my opinion to save one from purchasing a $150-$300 TV but we do not know what the OP has or wants for a TV.
equate9756
06-03-2007, 02:33 PM
Ah sorry for the late reply!

The TV is nice and its only a few years old. I do most of my "tv viewing" on my xbox with downloaded tv shows.

The TV has several RCA Aux inputs so yeah, with the VHF busted its my only way of playing on the TV.

Thanks for the help

edit:

I see where all the confusion came from. I meant to say in my original post I would run it through RCA and not the VHF for signal.