** HD TiVo and HD DirecTV TiVo FAQ **

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mroe,

It's based on the particular TV market that you currently reside in. I believe they have rolled out locals to the top 40? markets at this point in time. If you live in the rural backwoods of Arkansas or something, I wouldn't hold my breath. If you live close to a MAJOR metropolitan city, then you most likely will be converted in the next year to two years. Please understand, "HD locals" does not imply ALL of the digital locals that you could possibly pull in with an OTA antenna. It's only the "Big Four" or "Big Five" for now... and sometimes not even that. I believe CBS is still having fits with D* and so many markets aren't even seeing CBS.

Hope that helps.

Regs,
Jeff

 

When I moved up to Seattle from L.A. last summer, D* told me I needed that extra antenna for HD.........don't know if that is still the case or not, haven't looked into it since then. :shrug:

 

I too would LOVE to be able to TiVo my HD signals from the D* Mpeg4 local channels... But, as far as I know, UNFORTUNATELY, there are no plans for a TiVo that will handle Mpeg4, such as those signals used by D* for the local HD signals? The TiVo/D* HD10-250 does OTA HD, but not Mpeg4???

The only thing that I have heard up til now is that D* will have a non-TiVo DVR for use with Mpeg4 signals by sometime "soon". Maybe this summer? Yeck...

It's my impression that D* has opted to do their own DVRs and not use TiVo on future receivers? I truly hate to hear that.

I currently receive the Big Four networks from Tampa Florida via D* on the H20-100 receiver. I've kept my SD DirecTiVos but as you probably know, they sadly don't do HD... <deep sigh>

 

I have Comcast (CT) cable, no box, with a TiVo series 2. I want to get a wide-screen HD TV which means upgrading the cable and especially TiVo, which is all I watch.

Is TiVo the answer - or the supplied Comcast DVR (is that TiVo)?

I imagine there's a thread somewhere here where this is discussed. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance.

 

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The DVR's offered by Comcast are NOT Tivo's.

They do function, but are not using Tivo software and many Tivo folks would find them a "bit" primitive. However, as I said they do work.

I believe Comcast is using the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR.

 

You mention that the Comcast DVR is not as good as the TiVo... any particilar features missing, for example, can you watch one (recorded) show while recording another?

What are the other downsides?

 

Lots of Comcast customers who opt for PVR through Comcast get the Motorola 6412. It's not Tivo, but it is HD and does performs the basics. Because of Comcast's investment relationship with Tivo, there's a good chance that Comcast will actually be offering Tivo service through the boxes they supply sometime in the not too distant future. (It's conceivable that they could even push a software upgrade out to existing STBs, but that seems unlikely to me.)

There a few good threads on this topic at avsforum (com), including one titled "Official Comcast 6412 w/ iGuide Discussion". I'd suggest you visit them and take a look. (I can't post a URL yet.)

 

Most DVR's will do 85 - 90% of what most people would want. They time shift, they pause, they rewind, you can program which shows you want to record.

The two giants in the DVR world are Tivo and ReplayTV. Tivo rose to pre-eminence due to its tie-in with DirecTV. There are vociferous advocates for both platforms and I do not wish to start that discussion... I currently own and have owned both Replay and Tivo units and love them both. I mostly use Tivo now because I wanted HD and Replay never came out with an HD unit to my knowledge. I also appreciate having the STB and DVR in the same box. I have always felt the quality of the recording is better this way as there are fewer analog to digital conversions taking place.

Now to actually answer your question...

What Replay and Tivo do that most of the other DVR's do not do is software related.... one in prioritizing which shows are more important to record and secondly in that Replay and Tivo are what is called "show-based" recording devices where most other DVR's are simply digital versions of a VCR.... you tell it what channel you want at what time and that is what gets recorded... it may seem to be show-based because you are clicking on the name of a show to record, but under the makeup the recorder is simply making a notation to record a specific channel from time A to time B.

Show based recordings can follow the show if it is moved or pre-empted... (most of the time) nothing is fool-proof!

 

In a conference call with investors, that's exactly what Tivo said they'd be doing (pushing a software upgrade out to existing STBs).

--chris

 

TiVo's advantage is the UI and functionality. Some of the things I have seen with my Scientific Atlanta (Adelphia) box, or a friend's Motorola (Comcast) box, include:

Scientific Atlanta box from Adelphia:
- only keeps 7 days of program guide, versus 14 for TiVo
- only lets you search for shows on a particular day, and only by the first letter of the show name, as opposed to the first n letters (however many you want to put in) for TiVo
- allows broad theme searches, with no sub-themes, no actor searches, etc
- if you start watching a show that is being recorded, and you come in during the middle of the show, you have to rewind to the beginning. There is no option to start playing a currently-being-recorded show from the beginning
- if you are watching a show that is currently being recorded, the DVR will skip you back to the beginning when the show ends in real time. So, if you were (for example) halfway through, you'll have to fast-forward to that point to pick up where you left off
- is very unreliable when you try to record multiple episodes of a show. The only options are "all episodes on this channel in this time slot" and "all episodes on this channel in any time slot". The idea of "this time slot" seems to not work at all ( sometimes it picks up the show in other time slots, and sometimes a 5-minute difference means you will miss a showing)
- has no concept of show IDs, first run versus repeats, etc.
- has no ability to recommend shows based on viewing habits
- shows only 5-6 channels at a time in the program guide

Motorola box from Comcast:
- Will turn itself on in order to record. That's great, except that, when it does this, it will turn itself off when the recording is completed. So, if the DVR had turned itself on to record, and you decide to watch something else on the other tuner, you will randomly have the DVR turn itself off when the show you are recording (but not watching) is finished.
- has similar shortcomings to the SA box when it comes to season passes, folowing shows that air at different times, and so on.

I obviously have more experience with the SA box. I hope this shows how much better the TiVo software is. I can't wait for the series 3 to make my HD DVR obsolete.

 

All your post did was make me grateful that my 3 Series ONE Tivos (DirecTV) are all fully functional and in great shape (knock on wood) and makes me never ever want to use anything but them

 

I recentlly bought an HDTV and moved into Time Warner's area. Because my TiVo can't do HD, I tried out the Time Warner DVR - but kept my TiVo going with my second television.

Someone earlier said that most DVR's can do 85-90% of what TiVo can do, and went on to discuss it quite well. However, there's one thing missing, I think.

My Time Warner DVR is only as smart as Time Warner apparently. And that's not too good. So its guide is often way off. For instance, when the NBA game is scheduled to bump local programming on our CBS affiliate (with several days warning), Time Warner DVR doesn't know it. But TiVo does!

This type of thing happens a lot, and not just with sports programming.

Another thing: when you tell the TW DVR to record all new episodes, it doesn't! If there are back to back episodes, it only records the first one. Stupid!

Also, tonight was the Alias finale, and my Time Warner DVR pooped out after 1 hr minutes. But luckily my TiVo in second bedroom recorded the entire 2 hours. Can you imagine missing the last 15 minutes of a 5 year series?

So can someone please tell me when I can get HDTV via TiVo - and I will RUN, not walk, to it! (PS - I'm no techie, but I am desperate to have my TiVo and HD too!)

 

The only way currently is with DirecTV and an HR10-250 HD-Tivo.... (which why I have two of the silly things)

 

wow...I had no idea...these are MAJOR shortcomings in my book and make the DVR useless...

 

stayton, go to newegg and get a HDtivo for 400 bucks. You wont be sorry (unless you can't get OTA). of course it depends on the channels you watch, that's the most important decision in getting the HDtivo.

 

That won't do him any good unless he switches to DirecTV...

--chris

 

OK, so if I switch to DirectTV, I can have a TiVo box that records HD?

 

Yup,

HBO, Showtime, HDNet, HDNet Movies, ESPN, Discovery and any channels that you can receive with an over-the-air (OTA) antenna - those would be your 'local' channels (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, etc.)

That's what we're doing at my house and at my girlfriend's until DirecTV comes out with their own high definition DVR that handles mpeg4.

 

Thanks - I'm fairly new except that I've had a TiVo since 2004 and love it. Am really shell-shocked by how poor the information is that guides the Time Warner DVR.

Question about the over the air antena for HD. Does it input to the TiVo box along with the cable?

 

the cable? you mean directv right? There are inputs for one OTA (split internally so you can record 2 shows) and there are 2 sat. inputs. So you can record 1 sat/1ota, or 2 sats or 2 ota at once, all while watching a prerecorded program.

to be clear, hdtivo only works with directv. And if you aren't able to get OTA, you'll be disappointed, assuming you watch the networks of course.

Also note that the Hd stuff like HDnet will currently work with the HDtivo just fine. However, at SOME point (anywhere from months to years but there are other threads for those arguments how long), HD will very likely be all mpeg4 and you will NOT be able to record HD via satellite. Since no one actually knows when this will take place, it's a calculated risk to enter the market at this time.

SD will definitely be mpeg2 for a very long time so you would always have that plus OTA HD of course. I'm happy with that but everyone is different