HD-Tivo OTA Questions

2889 Views 39 Replies 22 Participants Last post by jsjames, Sep 25, 2007

sailnut

Discussion Starter · Sep 4, 2007

I want to replace my Series-2 box with an HD-Tivo.

1: What is the quality of the OTA tuner.
2: Can I use one cable card and use the OTA feed for the second data source?
3: Will the guides be combined.
4: Will the HD-Tivo compress the OTA feed for buffering or pass it unchanged.
5: Can I watch OTA while recording cable or vice/versa.
6: Can I watch a previously recorded program and record both a OTA and cable program at the same time?

1 - 20 of 40 Posts

GoHokies!

· #2 · Sep 4, 2007

1. Awesome.
2. If you put one S-card in, the device will revert to single tuner mode. (there are some exceptions to this that someone will chime in on).
3. Yes.
4. All digital channels are directly recorded.
5. Yes.
6. Yes.

The OTA/Cable functions are completely integrated, there is no difference in the combination of watching and recording based on OTA/cable.

astrohip

· #3 · Sep 4, 2007

sailnut said:
3: Will the guides be combined.

GoHokies! said:

3. Yes.

The OTA/Cable functions are completely integrated, there is no difference in the combination of watching and recording based on OTA/cable.

Click to expand...

Since I am getting ready to add OTA to my two cablecard S3, I've been wondering something too...

When you say the guides are combined, how does it list the OTA channels that are the same as the cable channels? For example, ABC-HD OTA versus the same on cable (which is 313). What does it call the OTA channels, and where are they listed in the guide? Numerical order?

lickwid

· #4 · Sep 4, 2007

astrohip said:
Since I am getting ready to add OTA to my two cablecard S3, I've been wondering something too...

When you say the guides are combined, how does it list the OTA channels that are the same as the cable channels? For example, ABC-HD OTA versus the same on cable (which is 313). What does it call the OTA channels, and where are they listed in the guide? Numerical order?

Not sure how your cable channels are numbered, but I have Comcast and my HD/digitals channels are in the 700's. If you're doing QAM, the numbering system will be identical I believe, but the Guide shows up when you're using OTA.

So for example:
Fox Cable - 2
Fox Cable Digital - 702
Fox OTA - 2.1
Fox QAM - 2.1
NBC Cable - 3
NBC Cable Digital - 703
NBC OTA - 116.1 (don't ask why, for some reason Tivo doesn't remap it)
NBC QAM - 116.1
CBS Cable - 5
CBS Cable Digital - 705
CBS OTA - 5.1
CBS QAM - 5.1

you get the point I think...

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rainwater

· #5 · Sep 4, 2007

astrohip said:
Since I am getting ready to add OTA to my two cablecard S3, I've been wondering something too...

When you say the guides are combined, how does it list the OTA channels that are the same as the cable channels? For example, ABC-HD OTA versus the same on cable (which is 313). What does it call the OTA channels, and where are they listed in the guide? Numerical order?

All channels are listed in numerical order. So, the OTA digital channels will be listed as something like 3.1, 3.2, 13.1, etc. And it will use their station id just like cable except most stations will have a DT at the end (and sub channels will be like xxxxDT2, etc).

Hersheytx

· #6 · Sep 5, 2007

Will this box work with UNIBOX thing with Amazon?
I am wanting this box for just over the air HD. Can I hook up the HD ant. and just record HD over the air and not have cable?
Can I record to shows at the same time?
Does Tivo offer lifetime subscriptions?
I bought a TIVO in 99 before Directv came out with their DVR with TIVO and got the lifetime subscription.
Of course that box is long gone.

THanks

GoHokies!

· #7 · Sep 5, 2007

Hersheytx said:
Will this box work with UNIBOX thing with Amazon?
I am wanting this box for just over the air HD. Can I hook up the HD ant. and just record HD over the air and not have cable?
Can I record to shows at the same time?
Does Tivo offer lifetime subscriptions?
I bought a TIVO in 99 before Directv came out with their DVR with TIVO and got the lifetime subscription.
Of course that box is long gone.

THanks

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.
4. Not anymore.
5. You may be able to do a one-time transfer if your Tivo is a standalone (sounds like it) and you bought the lifetime in 1999 (sounds like it) and you haven't transfered it before.

Dr_Diablo

· #8 · Sep 5, 2007

Whats a good OTA antenna?

oo7plyr

· #9 · Sep 5, 2007

The Lacrosse by Terrestrial Digital.

I bought this OTA antenna and couldn't be happier. You can find it on Amazon or Target online. Worth every penny.

Dr_Diablo

· #10 · Sep 5, 2007

Reason I asked is that I have an HD antenna that a friend wants to sell... Voom TV's

I'm not sure if this antenna will work, more to the point of how hard it would be to align the thing, it weighs about 40 lbs...

20TIL6

· #11 · Sep 5, 2007

astrohip said:
Since I am getting ready to add OTA to my two cablecard S3, I've been wondering something too...

When you say the guides are combined, how does it list the OTA channels that are the same as the cable channels? For example, ABC-HD OTA versus the same on cable (which is 313). What does it call the OTA channels, and where are they listed in the guide? Numerical order?

Astro,

ABC HD OTA is 13-1
ABC HD cable is 313

CBS HD OTA is 11-1
CBS HD cable is 311

and so on... In the guide, OTA channels are number "dash" number. 2-2, 11-2, and 13-2 are like the 24hour weather feeds for those stations.

The channels are all listed in the guide, but if you want to select directly, punch in the first number, then the advance button is used for the dash, then the other number. Really easy.

Oh, and yes, they are listed in numerical order. You'll have 2 (nonHD cable), then 2-1, 2-2, 3, 4, .....11 (nonHD cable), 11-1, 11-2, and so on. The local HD via cable are all in the 300's as you already know.

Diablo,

I have a ChannelMaster 4221. It was about $25, but shipping was another $20 or so bucks. It works great. Even in my attic.

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acvthree

· #12 · Sep 5, 2007

Dr_Diablo said:
Reason I asked is that I have an HD antenna that a friend wants to sell... Voom TV's

I'm not sure if this antenna will work, more to the point of how hard it would be to align the thing, it weighs about 40 lbs...

There is no such thing as an HD antenna.

Al

control-z

· #13 · Sep 5, 2007

Yeah, the tuner in the HD Tivo seems really good, better than my Samsung plasma's tuner. Recording 2 programs at a time works great, pressing the Live TV button toggles between the 2 programs being recorded, or the program being recorded and channel-surfing on the second tuner. And of course you can still watch previously recorded programs at any time.

The channel setup screen is a bit awkward though, it doesn't let you monitor the channel the same place that you add/remove channels from the list.

Dr_Diablo

· #14 · Sep 5, 2007

acvthree said:
There is no such thing as an HD antenna.

Al

I beg to differ, or perhaps that thing is a alien space ship that landed ?

rainwater

· #15 · Sep 5, 2007

Dr_Diablo said:
I beg to differ, or perhaps that thing is a alien space ship that landed ?

It must be a space ship because there is no such thing as an HD antenna.

atmuscarella

· #16 · Sep 5, 2007

Originally Posted by Dr_Diablo
Reason I asked is that I have an HD antenna that a friend wants to sell... Voom TV's

Originally Posted by Dr_Diablo
Quote:
Originally Posted by acvthree
There is no such thing as an HD antenna.

Al

I beg to differ, or perhaps that thing is a alien space ship that landed ?

Diablo: I believe the way you are using terminology is causing mis communication. Voom TV was a satellite service so most people would call what you called an HD antenna a satellite dish. Again when most people use the word antenna with TV they are talking about an antenna for over the air (OTA) broadcast TV. There is no such thing as a "special" HD satellite dish or antenna - they are the same as the ones used for all signals.

The old Voom satellite dish will do you no good at all - you could point it at various satellites but without a satellite receiver you would not be able to receive a signal (stand alone TiVos do not have satellite tuners built in). The Voom service is now part of dishnetwork and would require a dishnetwork HD receiver and subscription to view any of the channels that used to be part of the Voom service.

Thanks,

Dr_Diablo

· #17 · Sep 5, 2007

That is so true, thus my asking if this HD antenna from the now defunct Voom would still receive OTA HD local channels... Since a Dish Network Oval dish is required, I seriously doubt this 6 year old Winguard OTA antenna would work...

atmuscarella

· #18 · Sep 5, 2007

That is so true, thus my asking if this HD antenna from the now defunct Voom would still receive OTA HD local channels... Since a Dish Network Oval dish is required, I seriously doubt this 6 year old Winguard OTA antenna would work...

I think you are still missing the point a Voom satellite dish is not a HD antenna its a satellite dish it was not designed to receive OTA signals. OTA antennas are antennas designed to receive UHF & VHF signals- nothing special (or new) required to receive HD OTA signals on the antenna side of things. My parents are using an OTA antenna that must be at least 30 years old for OTA HD locals no problems at all. If an OTA antenna is good enough for OTA HD local broadcasts doesn't have anything to do with the antenna's age. Sites that say they have "HD antenna's" are selling UHF/VHF antennas which have been around for decades.

Thanks,

Special note on terminology: a satellite signal is not what we are talking about when we say over the air (OTA). OTA refers to UHF and VHF land based broadcasts.

rainwater

· #19 · Sep 5, 2007

Dr_Diablo said:
That is so true, thus my asking if this HD antenna from the now defunct Voom would still receive OTA HD local channels... Since a Dish Network Oval dish is required, I seriously doubt this 6 year old Winguard OTA antenna would work...

Certain Voom receivers can still be used as ATSC tuners even wtihout the now defunct Voom service on the receiver. However, you would need a antenna hooked up to the Voom receiver to work. Even so, I'm not sure how that relates to TiVo since the S3 and THD have a much better ATSC tuner than the Voom receivers did.

acvthree

· #20 · Sep 5, 2007

Dr_Diablo said:
That is so true, thus my asking if this HD antenna from the now defunct Voom would still receive OTA HD local channels... Since a Dish Network Oval dish is required, I seriously doubt this 6 year old Winguard OTA antenna would work...

A 6 year old Winguard could work just fine for OTA. Over the air digital or HD does not require a special antenna. The one I'm using, in my attic, is 10 years old and purchased to bring in regular analog when the cable was down (that was happening a lot at the time). It works great for the digital signal. I didn't even have to re-align it since those signals are coming from the same transmitters.

Saying an HD antenna would be like saying you need a color antenna. There is no difference. You could even use rabbit ears. They will bring in the analog signal, the digital signal, the HD signal and the color signal.

The designations like "HD antenna" or "color antenna" are marketing statements to get more money out of people who don't understand.

Try this site:

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Plug in your address. It will tell you what type of antenna you need to bring in signals and what direction to point the antenna. It will also tell you if the signals are UHF or UHF.

Al

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