Standby or Turn off? Total Noob Question

Yes, there's no off button. The TiVo is constantly recording: either 30 minute buffers, or scheduled recordings. There is only one advantage for using standby that I know of: NOT changing the channel during Emergency Alert System testing.

 

I believe the "no off button" is very odd and I'm surprised that people on here don't agree. When I am not using my TiVo I have no need for it to buffer programs that I'm not watching. Isn't that kind of a waste of the hard drive life? I record maybe 6 shows a week. I don't need it to constantly be in the process of recording something. My cable DVR always had a power button. I would turn it off at night and the hard drive would stop spinning but it would still record something I had scheduled. This is the equivalent of putting a DVD on and setting it for endless repeat...forever. Let's see how long that DVD player lasts.

 

If it notices a program on in the middle of the night that it thinks you might like (i.e. it is like other programs you have recorded or marked with thumbs up) it will record it for you.

With regard to hard drive life, the most stress occurs when it goes from a cold stop to a full up working. The fewer times you give it that stress, the better. Keeping it running all the time will limit that stress.

 

Advertisements

Actually, it's not very equivalent. Since a TiVo records on a hard drive, it is likely much less stressful on the drive to have it continuously spinning and always recording. Constantly powering on and off a hard drive is the worst thing you could do to it, and will probably make it fail faster.

 

If you put the Tivo in standby any recordings scheduled will not be interrupted by Emergency broadcast system warnings or tests.

 

Not really too much of a waste. We pay 15 cents per kwh so to run 24/7 it costs 11 cents a day or $3.24 a month.

 

Correct. Standby does nothing except turn off the audio/video outputs (and keep the Tivo from recording EAS broadcasts). Everything else remains active. The only way to fully turn off a Tivo is to pull the plug.

Depends on your perspective.
The Premiere uses about the same amount of power as a 25W light bulb.

 

Back in 2001 when I got my first Tivo and set it up, it seemed very strange that it didn't have a power button or any way of turning it off. But later that day when I considered what it was designed to do, record what I want no matter when it is broadcast, it made perfect sense for it to be up and running 24/7. If you want to use it in a way it was not designed to be used, you don't have a valid complaint.

 

Maybe you only record 6 shows a week, but I'd wager that the average TiVo user has between 15 and 60 season passes/wishlists. Of those, I'd guess that 10-15 are things that are currently recording on a regular basis. Hell, my TiVo probably records 5 or 6 things on Thursday night alone.
Use it's spare time to your advantage. What I normally tell people is to go into the guide, find a movie channel and start scrolling forward over the next two weeks and picking out some movies (you can, of course, do this on any channel). It's nice to turn on your TV when you get home from work to find some movie or TV show that it picked up at 3am that you forget about.

As for HD life, my S2 is still running strong after 7 years, even with the additional heat from a second drive.

To the OP, your question is pretty common for new TiVo users. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. After it starts to get a feel for what you like and don't like, you'll be glad it's on 24/7 as the suggestions start filling in.

 

In addition to the other reasons mentioned here, if your TiVo is off when it's time to get the daily program guide data, how's it going to do it?

 

Exactly. Since day one TiVos were never intended to be shut down entirely. Off never really meant off. Premieres draw what, about 25-30 watts at idle?

 

I just recently got a Tivo (series 2) after a decade with cable company DVR and last two years with Replaytv's as well. I too thought it was odd no power button and then discovered you had to go into the (I agree again odd) set up system to put in standby then noticed it did not matter the drive was still spinning. On related note when I was first setting up kept looking at remote for SETTINGS button was getting frustrated then wondered if the little tivo thing was button pressed and found it. Another odd thing is how long it takes to boot when the power is interrupted, and then goes to screen asking you what to do instead of just going back to what ever it was before. And also no STOP button either.

 

A stop button for what? To stop a recording? If it's something you chose to record, just change the channel and a dialog box will pop up to confirm that you want to stop the recording. If it's a suggestion, it'll automatically stop and delete the partial recording. Suggestions never interrupt anything you are doing.
As for losing power. If it's recording something (other then a suggestion) when it powers back up it will continue recording, but you'll have two listings in your Now Playing list, one for each piece of the recording. A common work around is to put the TiVo on a UPS to keep it up and running if your power goes out. If you have a cable box, you'll want to put that on a UPS as well since most cable boxes won't turn themselves back on after a power loss and you'll end up losing all your recordings until you turn it back on manually.

 

Playing a recording press stop could go to screen asking if you want to save or delete play another recording or simply go to the recorded list or back to live TV, OH so many things a STOP button could do. Guess you haven't had experiece with other DVR's not saying one way is better than another it's just odd.

 

Ahhh, you mean from within a recording. If you hit Live TV, it'll take you to Live TV, if you hit the Tivo button, it'll take you to the menu screen. If you do either of those within the last 5 minutes of a recording it'll first ask you if you want to delete the recording. Come to think of it, hitting the Guide button will also take you to Live TV.

Different machine, different quirks, you'll get used to it. But no, I've never used another DVR outside of a TWC DVR for about 30 seconds at a friendss house.

 

Exactly what I meant too. and with the cable company one have been thru several software changes last one for a while took away frame by frame advance, not long after change cable guy was at my house I complained about that and several other changes he said every where he's been since change everyone had same complaints and company was already going to put it back.

 

You can add in: hitting the left arrow key while playing back a recording will take you back to the previous information menu. Hitting the left arrow key while doing most anything will take you back to the previous menu. Very handy when setting "Channels I Receive"; After checking/unchecking, hitting Live TV while help confirm the channels you want. Left arrow from Live TV will take you back to the "Channels I Receive" menu.

 

Around 25 watts with four concurrent programs running.(recording two programs, watching a previously recorded program and transferring a program)

While the non DVR boxes I had from Comcast and FiOS each drew around 38 watts, 24/7, even when you hit the off button. You had to unplug it to prevent it from wasting power. They had one tuner and no hard drives.