Daughter taking TiVo to college in the fall -- anything I've missed?

TiVolunteer · 06-19-2011, 06:22 PM

My daughter has asked if she can take one of our TiVo's to college with her in the fall. Given that one of our Series 3's is pretty much dedicated to her and her season passes, we could do that without much pain "viewing wise". And, knowing her viewing and studying habits, I can actually see how this could help avoid "appointment TV" and allow her to watch her "must see shows" after she has finished studying or even on the weekend. However, I want to make sure I've thought this through.

a) The college offers cable (SD and HD) in each dorm room as a part of the room fees. The signal is unencrypted (no cable card needed).

b) I've already verified that the channel line-up is already in TiVo's system (even named with the University name). The line-up matches what is on the university website exactly.

c) No OTA available but all major networks are rebroadcast on the cable in SD and HD.

d) Hardwired internet access is available in the room.

e) The Series 3 has lifetime service on it.

Is this as simple as...

1) Removing Cable Card and returning to Time-Warner
2) Connecting the TiVo in her dorm room and running guided set-up with the new channel line-up

Any issues with having TiVo's 100's of miles apart on the same account? Of course, she wouldn't be able to do any MRV given that they aren't on the same network, but she should still have access to everything else. Right?

Anything that you folks see I'm missing here?

steve614 · 06-19-2011, 07:14 PM

Yep, should be that simple.

Only possible snag I can think of...is the Tivo in question your qualifying unit for MSD?
If you have any Tivos on a monthly sub under MSD, you'll want to keep your qualifying Tivo at your address.

eDbolson · 06-19-2011, 10:57 PM

Be careful - I believe if you don't have a cable card, the TiVo service won't provide guide data for digital channels that aren't over the air (OTA). Perhaps that is not the case when a cable service doesn't use cablecards?

reneg · 06-20-2011, 07:46 AM

I did this last year with my daugther with a series 2 Tivo. I don't know how many times my daughter and her roommate moved the furniture in the room. Just in case, have the following:
1) A long (20-30ft) network cable in case you have to go around the perimeter of the room to get from the network jack to the Tivo
2) A power strip to get to the nearest power outlet.

classicsat · 06-20-2011, 10:08 AM

I see onlt two possible problems.

First, is connecting over the college network, which I heard is often a problem at most colleges, at least the dorms.

Second, is getting the digital channels to work without a cablecard.

Aero 1 · 06-20-2011, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiVolunteer

Anything that you folks see I'm missing here?

bolt it down so it doesn't get stolen by someone at the floor party.

doctord · 06-20-2011, 01:23 PM

Depending on how the cable channel numbering is setup on their system. You may need a cablecard to map the digital channels correctly to match the guide.
Since they are all unencrypted, you could buy an M-card from ebay to do that work. It shouldn't cause any problems even if you don't need it.

TiVolunteer · 06-20-2011, 02:34 PM

Thanks, folks for the great info. I greatly appreciate the help.

TiVolunteer · 06-20-2011, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctord

Depending on how the cable channel numbering is setup on their system. You may need a cablecard to map the digital channels correctly to match the guide.
Since they are all unencrypted, you could buy an M-card from ebay to do that work. It shouldn't cause any problems even if you don't need it.

Given that the students don't require a cable box of any kind right now (they just hook up the TV to the cable from the wall), I don't think that cable cards will be required to do the channel mapping. If it turns out to be otherwise, your suggestion could come in handy. Thanks.

TiVolunteer · 06-20-2011, 02:52 PM

After reading through the replies here, I decided to get more information. All of the channels are analog EXCEPT for the rebroadcast OTA stations which are HD/digital. All of the HD stations are listed with their OTA channel numbering in both the TiVo listings and the university website. So, I'm guessing that they must be combining the cable feed with an antenna feed onto the one cable to the room. That would be the only way I could see a student could just hook a TV up to the cable and get both.

Dan203 · 06-20-2011, 02:53 PM

If TiVo's guide data properly maps the unencrypted QAM channels to the guide data then you wont need a CableCARD. It's really all about the data. In most areas TiVo does not offer QAM mapping and instead they require a CableCARD to provide a map that can translate the simple channel numbers (i.e. 786) in the data to the QAM channel numbers (i.e. 87.2) They mainly do this because cable operators have the option of changing QAM channels around, and by using the CableCARD map they can ensure that the channel is never lost due to bad data. However if the university does not move their QAM stations around then it's possible TiVo could create a hard map for the stations as part of the data with no need for a CableCARD.

Dan

shwru980r · 06-20-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiVolunteer

Given that the students don't require a cable box of any kind right now (they just hook up the TV to the cable from the wall), I don't think that cable cards will be required to do the channel mapping. If it turns out to be otherwise, your suggestion could come in handy. Thanks.

You might want to create an account at

http://tvlistings.zap2it.com

and see if you can get a channel listing for the college.

Zap2it uses tribune media services guide data, which is the same guide data Tivo uses.

Dan203 · 06-20-2011, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TiVolunteer

After reading through the replies here, I decided to get more information. All of the channels are analog EXCEPT for the rebroadcast OTA stations which are HD/digital. All of the HD stations are listed with their OTA channel numbering in both the TiVo listings and the university website. So, I'm guessing that they must be combining the cable feed with an antenna feed onto the one cable to the room. That would be the only way I could see a student could just hook a TV up to the cable and get both.

If it doesn't work after the initial setup try moving the cable to the Antenna input on the back of the TiVo. It's possible that TiVo could treat this special case as an antenna lineup and not a cable lineup.

Dan

TiVolunteer · 06-20-2011, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan203

If it doesn't work after the initial setup try moving the cable to the Antenna input on the back of the TiVo. It's possible that TiVo could treat this special case as an antenna lineup and not a cable lineup.

Dan

I plan on carrying a splitter with me when I take her down there. I'm guessing I'll need to split the signal and hook up to both the cable AND the antenna.

TiVolunteer · 06-20-2011, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shwru980r

You might want to create an account at

http://tvlistings.zap2it.com

and see if you can get a channel listing for the college.

Zap2it uses tribune media services guide data, which is the same guide data Tivo uses.

Already did that and it maps exactly with what is on the university website. Also temporarily changed my provider on tivo.com and saw the listing on line. Also took one of my units through a guided setup to the point where I could see that the lineup was actually available. Looks good from this end.

TiVolunteer · 06-20-2011, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by classicsat

I see onlt two possible problems.

First, is connecting over the college network, which I heard is often a problem at most colleges, at least the dorms.

Second, is getting the digital channels to work without a cablecard.

Good point on the connections.

The university uses a Bradford Network Access Manager as its network access control system. It requires that each computer download a security agent which verifies stuff like latest antivirus, properly registered computer etc.

However, there is an option for registering a game console (e.g. Xbox, Wii). I'm hoping that I can register the TiVo as a game console.

The connectivity and speeds are supposedly pretty good (per some current students). Nothing close to speeds I have here at the house but definitely usable for getting guide info and a downloaded movie every now and then.

We'll see.