Antenna and cable at the same time?

[TiVoEvan74]

Is there any way of attaching an over-the-air antenna *and* cable to a Series 2 Tivo at the same time? And selecting from which source we wanted to record?

I'm asking because right now we get the minimum cable possible--5 channels--but over-the-air offers some digital channels with shows we'd like to record. And I'd rather not be connecting and disconnecting antennas, cable lines on a daily basis.

Would it make any difference if we upgraded and got a Tivo HD XL unit? Would that it make possible to attach both sources?

My guess is not because the guide set up is for one or the other, but I'm hoping the latest model, maybe, has a new configuration set up option!

[rmcurtis]

For a Series 2, I don't believe there is any way to connect 2 sources like you want.

The good news is that the Tivo HD and HDXL do support separate inputs for cable and antenna, and you can access the channels an each in the guide. If you get a channel on both, they are identified with "(Ant)" or "(Cbl)" at the end of the channel name.

--Ryan

[ZeoTiVo]

For a Series 2, I don't believe there is any way to connect 2 sources like you want.

The good news is that the Tivo HD and HDXL do support separate inputs for cable and antenna, and you can access the channels an each in the guide. If you get a channel on both, they are identified with "(Ant)" or "(Cbl)" at the end of the channel name.

--Ryan
I do this now with TiVo HD and analog cable input. That is the other piece of good news. If no digital channels from cable are looked for then no need for cable cards.
Just hook up the antenna and the cable on the two RF inputs and do a guided steup telling it you have both and away you go with the great TiVo interface making it easy to just do the same setup of season passes and wishlists as you are used to now.
better picture with the Tivo HD as well eitehr with HDMI on my one set or svideo on my other Tube based SD set (which ironically does the HD OTA recordings). :up:

if you record analog you have a choice of recording quality - digital you do not as it records the digital stream straight to the hard drive.\

[TiVoEvan74]

Oh, my word! That's great news. Being able to record from over-the-air and cable at the same time would be the ticket. I think we may just have to get an HD XL model!

You've also provided me with another nugget of information! If our cable co. isn't yet broadcasting in digital-- or the very few, lifeline channels we get aren't sent out that way--then we don't need to mess with cable cards! That'll be convenient, too!

Of course, spending $470 on the unit (amazon) and $300 on yet another lifetime is a big chunk of change... but the ability to record from both types of input would be fantastic!

I'm going to hi-jack my own thread and ask a related question.

Given the $$ involved, is there any other set up you all might recommend? At one point, I started to look into getting a Mac Mini and Eye TV so that we could also grab some of the Internet streaming classic TV shows, but that got pricey, too! Especially as El Gato now requires a monthly fee for the TV Guide info it uses. Then there's Apple TV, but that's more about sending TV shows and movies that you've purchased to the TV, not about recording or watching streams.

I suppose one way of reducing the price hit would be to sell our Humax Tivo DVD burning unit that has lifetime service on it... but it might not be worth that much anymore, there's the hassle of selling--and we really like the DVD feature! Of course, it only has 80 hours capacity and we already have a Toshiba Tivo DVD unit that can record 201 hours!

Any thoughts welcome!

[fyodor]

If you're comfortable doing the setup work, you could get a small form factor PC that does analog cable and OTA tuning relatively cheaply. Windows Media Center, SageTV, and BeyondTV are all popular platforms. I'd recommend poking around the AVSforum HTPC forum.



I'm going to hi-jack my own thread and ask a related question.

Given the $$ involved, is there any other set up you all might recommend? At one point, I started to look into getting a Mac Mini and Eye TV so that we could also grab some of the Internet streaming classic TV shows, but that got pricey, too! Especially as El Gato now requires a monthly fee for the TV Guide info it uses. Then there's Apple TV, but that's more about sending TV shows and movies that you've purchased to the TV, not about recording or watching streams.

Any thoughts welcome!

[ThAbtO]

The Series 2 would need to have a converter box for OTA reception.

However the Series 3/HD/XL does not need a converter box for OTA, it has 2 coax inputs, 1 for antenna, and other for cable only. It can also record 2 channels at the same time from either source.

[newskilz]

Maybe my memory is a little fuzzy, but can't a single tuner S2 Tivo receive BOTH antenna and cable, by connecting cable (assuming no cable box) to the coax input and connecting the OTA (w/converter box for digital reception) to the composite input? Seems like it can do that, or maybe I'm thinking of my S1.... ?? Like I said, memory is a little fuzzy, and definitely can plug in that way but may not be able to get guide data for both. Anyone?

[Adam1115]

Maybe my memory is a little fuzzy, but can't a single tuner S2 Tivo receive BOTH antenna and cable, by connecting cable (assuming no cable box) to the coax input and connecting the OTA (w/converter box for digital reception) to the composite input? Seems like it can do that, or maybe I'm thinking of my S1.... ?? Like I said, memory is a little fuzzy, and definitely can plug in that way but may not be able to get guide data for both. Anyone?

Yes, that's how we used to do SAT + OTA.

[newskilz]

Yes, that's how we used to do SAT + OTA.

Ah, so I'm not getting TOO old then. Guide data too for both OTA and Cable?

[ZeoTiVo]

Of course, spending $470 on the unit (amazon) and $300 on yet another lifetime is a big chunk of change... but the ability to record from both types of input would be fantastic!
get a TiVo HD (regular size) and save 220$ then spend half of that to get a 1TB drive when you fell the original drive is too small. Unless you record a lot of movies I think you will find the original size drive has enough space, especially when you can record cable shows on the other units and then MRV them to the TiVo HD to watch there if desired.


PS - I had thought you could do OTA on the S2 the way described in this thread but had not done it and did not have the time to look it up. Worth researching further for the OP since he does have some good S2 models already

[classicsat]

Only the Standalone HD models support cable and antenna at the same time.

The Series 1/2 models can support two separate sources only when one is satellite, and the Series 2 DT can support analog cable and digital cable with box at the same time (one channel for digital box though, and it does not support antenna at all).

[TiVoEvan74]

I appreciate the insights... you've helped me think through various options.

No converter box needed!

You all answered a question I hadn't posed, too! Namely about whether a converter box was necessary with the Tivo HD series (I had guessed it might not be, but it's always best to check these things out!).

PC Media Center Approach

I've been a little hesitant about the media PC approach, partly because we're on Macs and I'm not that much of a techie, DIY. But I should look into a little bit more just to see what the options are!

HD non-XL Unit Capacity vs. Our Experience

I've been pondering the lower cost HD (non-XL) (a good alternative idea), which would save some upfront sticker shock... there's a "renewed" unit on sale at tivo.com for only $200. So that would save $270 vs. amazon's cost for the XL, or $250 vs. tivo's cost for a renewed XL.

Still, it's often the case that in the long run, spending more upfront gets you something better, sooner, and, depending on your bank account cushion, the extra $$ might not be missed that much anyway!

It seems that the lower end Tivo HD would provide from 20 hours (HD) to 180 hours (SD), which would be 2x the size of the Humax we might replace, but smaller than our Toshiba-- for which we're running out of room! Given that, and with the luxury of both a dual tuner in an HD unit-- AND the ability to record OTA, I figure we're going to be drowning in programs--and need the greater space.

Total Cost of HD with External Drive

So, we'd be pretty likely to get an external drive for the plain vanilla HD. An external 500 gb drive is $150... which would mean a total of from $350 to $400 for HD + 500 meg. Or $400 to $450 for HD + 1 TB external. At that point, the combined cost is pretty close to the XL, so it will probably make more sense to just bite the bullet up front!

How Much Would a Humax DVD burning unit with Lifetime Fetch?

If we go that route, spending more upfront, we might then think about selling the Humax.... although I think that'll be hard to part with. (It's an DRT800 Tivo, IIRC.) I'm wondering, however, how much it would be worth on the open market...

What's Brewing?

Anything new on the horizon? Anything imminent--e.g., a Series 4 which would knock the price down of the HD series--and mean we should wait before taking the plunge? Or have these HD'ers just come out? I've been out of the loop.

[classicsat]

I am going to stop short of calling the S4 Vaporware, but I am sure its release is not imminent enough to affect a buying decision today.