[skruggie]

I am contemplating ditching my DirecTV subscription, and going to very very very basic local channels only cable, since I never watch tv and the whole thing has just been a complete waste of money for me.

If I do this, my thoughts are that I would re-subscribe my stand alone tivo and use my netflix subscription. I would want to record the dvd's to the tivo and watch them at my leisure. Is this something that is possible?

Also if I do this, does it make sense financially to upgrade to a lifetime subscription? My tivo is about 3 years old,its a series 1 that was upgraded to 140 hours.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated

 

[ZeoTiVo]

first off the sereis 1 will require hacking to add a network card and then further hacking to allow video being copied to it.

since you have no lifetime on it - I would get a series 2 and lifetime it. teh cost of an 80 hour sereis 2 woul be the same as buying the network hardware and cache for a series 1. Plus you can sell the series 1 to those that like to hack via ebay and if it can do manual record without a sub it is even more valuable.



with the series 2 you have TiVoToGo which out of the box will do what you want and even let you keep the DVD video on your PC and just copy over the one you wnat to watch next. The one thing is you will need to decrypt and rip the DVD to an mpeg2 format on the PC in order to copy it to the TiVo for playback.

do a forum search on TiVoToComeback for more on the subject and check out the TiVoToGo/HME forum here

 

[Adam1115]

I am contemplating ditching my DirecTV subscription, and going to very very very basic local channels only cable, since I never watch tv and the whole thing has just been a complete waste of money for me.

If I do this, my thoughts are that I would re-subscribe my stand alone tivo and use my netflix subscription. I would want to record the dvd's to the tivo and watch them at my leisure. Is this something that is possible?

Also if I do this, does it make sense financially to upgrade to a lifetime subscription? My tivo is about 3 years old,its a series 1 that was upgraded to 140 hours.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated

It would be WAY easier to buy a $40 DVD-Burner for your PC and burn copies...

 

[skruggie]

With the series 2, do I have to get my computer involved at all? Would I be able to just hook it up to my dvd player and record? Or does the macrovision on the dvd's get in the way of that?

I have a dvd burner on my computer, I can always go by way of the "mac the ripper" software that I have, but I'm not looking for any kind of long term storage, I just want to watch and delete and that seems like a lot of trouble to go through what is really just an extended rental.

 

[Aflat]

Easier, maybe, cheaper, definatly not. Just rip your DVD's using DVDfab decryptor, shrink them using DVDshrink, and change the .vob to .mpg and you can watch it on your TV through Tivo. Start to finish it takes about an hour depending on your machine you are ripping with.

 

[ZeoTiVo]

the ripping is the easier way as mentioned.

to record the DVD directly to TiVo - first you would have to put something on the analog output from the DVD to clean out macrovision adn then you have to set up a real time recording for the TiVo that will take the length of the movie, not be able to record anything else during that time and have wahtever name the guide data gives the "channel and time" you recorded it. A real hassle.

so either rip the DVD as described above or else make a copy of the DVD and just play the DVD or else just keep the DVD until you watch it. I use Netflix and at first thought I would make copies to keep the movies coming but over time just found it easier to just keep the DVD until I watched it.

and yes if you put them on a PC hard drive then just delete them when done. after about 5 it will take very little actual sit at the PC time

 

[skruggie]

Regarding the idea of ripping on my computer - I have a mac, not a pc. I have an emac with a dvd burner so that isn't an issue, does anyone know specifically what I would need to do on a mac/what software I would use as opposed to how to do this on a pc?

I'm also trying to learn how to put movies on my Palm Lifedrive, so perhaps both can happen in the same way?

It sounds like that for my purposes, I really wouldn't need a tivo subscription at all at this point since I don't watch almost any broadcast television anymore.

 

[ChuckyBox]

since you have no lifetime on it - I would get a series 2 and lifetime it. teh cost of an 80 hour sereis 2 woul be the same as buying the network hardware and cache for a series 1.

Or buy a refurb 40-hour on tivo.com -- they're practically free. Get the 12 month prepaid service (so you get the instant rebate) and then upgrade to lifetime when you activate the service. If somewhere down the road you decide to go another route (like getting the series 3), you'll be able to sell the 40-hour unit and recoup almost all of your money.

The other advantage of the series 2 is that you'll get all of the latest service features -- including broadband content downloads that might soon make your Netflix subscription unnecessary.

 

[ZeoTiVo]

Regarding the idea of ripping on my computer - I have a mac, not a pc. I have an emac with a dvd burner so that isn't an issue, does anyone know specifically what I would need to do on a mac/what software I would use as opposed to how to do this on a pc?

I'm also trying to learn how to put movies on my Palm Lifedrive, so perhaps both can happen in the same way?

It sounds like that for my purposes, I really wouldn't need a tivo subscription at all at this point since I don't watch almost any broadcast television anymore.

missed the Mac part before. the TiVoToGo software won't work on the mac as of now and TiVo has given a timeline of mid 2006 to have working TiVoToGo on a Mac.

Maybe you should just a get a Mac mini with a DVD player.

 

[petew]

to record the DVD directly to TiVo - first you would have to put something on the analog output from the DVD to clean out macrovision adn then you have to set up a real time recording for the TiVo that will take the length of the movie, not be able to record anything else during that time and have wahtever name the guide data gives the "channel and time" you recorded it. A real hassle.

I recorded a Netflix DVD once on a Humax DRT-800, on the Humax it's actually much easier since you have front panel inputs and software support. Also Macrovision wasn't a problem. Tivo honoured the copy protection by allowing save to disk but preventing TivoToGo and Save to DVD. So the Humax would meet the OP's needs, though not cheap.

 

[davezatz]

So the Humax would meet the OP's needs, though not cheap.

I got a refurb last month through TiVo for $99 plus a year of service ($~$155) pre-paid. I thought it was an excellent deal!

Honestly, the easiest thing for the OP would be to expand his Netflix subscription to have more DVDs at home at any given time and skipping to the ripping/copying/transfering/whatever since he doesn't intend to build a massive DVD library.

 

[classicsat]

Outside of the technical issues (I will admit to recording a rental DVD to my TiVo), doing what you propose is techincally illegal.

Your license to the content is only legal as long as you posess the original, and since you don't actually own the disc, you may not even be legally allowed to copy it.

Besides, I thought the concept of Netfilix was to reasonably allow you to keep the disc for a reasonable time and watch at your conveinience..

 

[petew]

Besides, I thought the concept of Netfilix was to reasonably allow you to keep the disc for a reasonable time and watch at your conveinience..

Tivo records so much TV I don't have time to watch DVDs.

The other legal option is to cancel Netflix and subscribe to a premium chanel, then use Tivo to record Movies from there.

 

[ZeoTiVo]

I got a refurb last month through TiVo for $99 plus a year of service ($~$155) pre-paid. I thought it was an excellent deal!

Honestly, the easiest thing for the OP would be to expand his Netflix subscription to have more DVDs at home at any given time and skipping to the ripping/copying/transfering/whatever since he doesn't intend to build a massive DVD library.

yep I was ignoring all the legal stuff, which classicsat is correct on.

I also ignored the DVD TiVo models which let you name the recording, though Dave brought up a steal on the Humax model. Bear in mind though that the recording is still real time and seems like you should just watch the DVD if you have time to record it

 

[skruggie]

Here is an idea - what if I got a mac mini, used mac the ripper to record dvd's onto the hard drive, and then hooked it up to the television to watch? Being as i'm in the market for a secondary mac this wouldn't really be that much of a hardship, and much cheaper than the emac I had my eye on.

 

[TheSlyBear]

Another possibility is to use DVD-RWs. That way you could re-use them after watching them. I've only had good luck with Fujifilm media on my G4 though.

 

[skruggie]

well i'm testing out mac the ripper with a dvd that I currently own - if this works I can store the dvd's on my computer's hard drive until I am ready to watch them on my laptop, and then I'll delete them when they are done. Not the solution I was looking for, but better than nothing. Definetely the most economical one.

 

[ZeoTiVo]

Here is an idea - what if I got a mac mini, used mac the ripper to record dvd's onto the hard drive, and then hooked it up to the television to watch? Being as i'm in the market for a secondary mac this wouldn't really be that much of a hardship, and much cheaper than the emac I had my eye on.

Maybe you should just a get a Mac mini with a DVD player.

makes sense to me TiVo is not the best solution for every situation. You would get much better resolution as you skip the analog conversion of recording the DVD via some input

 

[JoeTivo25]

What ever happened to the Netflix - Tivo deal. I'm a fan of both, and was looking forward to using my Tivo to download movies directly from Netflix. I haven't heard of anything coming of this parternship / agreement for almost a year.

 

[TheSlyBear]

TiVo is not the best solution for every situation.

Though lord, I wish my DVD remote had the "skip back 8 seconds" button!