The channels you will get depends on what your cable company offers, it has nothing to do with Tivo. You can have multiple Tivos and, if connected to your home network, you can share shows among them (unless they are copy protected by your cable company). Never had DTV so I can't comment on the comparison.
Thinking of getting Tivo Premiere...our first Tivo experience
We have had Direct TV HD DVR for last 9 years. We bought a home where mediacom is offered. So, we would like to not transfer DirectTV to the new home, since it would be nice not worrying about bad weather affecting TV watching. Also want mediacom for Internet, as we currently have satellite Internet which is VERY slow and has limit on bandwidth. we are used to having two DVRs so we can record more shows.
Is it possible to have two or more TiVo premieres? Can one watch same shows on either TiVo, by transfer? If so, easy to do?
Also, how much better is TiVo premiere compared to DirectTV HD DVR? Will we get same amount of HD channels? How fast is changing of channels? On DirectTV there is quite a bit of lag between changing channels and accessing menus etc.
We won't be using the Netflix, blockbuster or internet features. I mainly want for menu, recording features etc. Though we will use iPad app for TiVo.
Is it possible to have two or more TiVo premieres? Can one watch same shows on either TiVo, by transfer? If so, easy to do?
Also, how much better is TiVo premiere compared to DirectTV HD DVR? Will we get same amount of HD channels? How fast is changing of channels? On DirectTV there is quite a bit of lag between changing channels and accessing menus etc.
We won't be using the Netflix, blockbuster or internet features. I mainly want for menu, recording features etc. Though we will use iPad app for TiVo.
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You can have as many TiVos as you want. In fact you can have up to 9 in the same room since TiVo has a way to assign specific remote codes to each unit so that they do not interfere with one another. (I have 4 in one room myself) You can also put them in separate rooms and transfer recordings between them using your home network. However there are limitations. The biggest being that it's possible for the cable company to tag a show, or an entire channel, with a special flag that prevents TiVo from transferring the recording to another TiVo. If this is common on your cable system then the room to room viewing feature can be severely crippled.
As for how much "better" TiVo is then the DirecTV DVR... that's subjective. Most DVRs these days have the same basic features as TiVo, so it's more a matter of UI preference. The extras TiVo offers, like Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, etc.. are a nice bonus, but you don't seem to think you'll use any of those so they probably wont weigh in on your choice much.
As for number of HD channels... You'll probably get less. One major advantage DirecTV has over cable is that it uses the H.264 codec for it's channels. H.264 allows more compression then MPEG-2, which is what cable uses, so it allows them to offer more channels in their limited bandwidth. Cable is starting to use some tricks, such as eliminating analog stations and using switched digital video, to free up bandwidth and allow room for more HD channels, but in most markets they're still limited to between 30-70 HD channels rather then the 160 or so offered by DirecTV.
Dan
As for how much "better" TiVo is then the DirecTV DVR... that's subjective. Most DVRs these days have the same basic features as TiVo, so it's more a matter of UI preference. The extras TiVo offers, like Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, etc.. are a nice bonus, but you don't seem to think you'll use any of those so they probably wont weigh in on your choice much.
As for number of HD channels... You'll probably get less. One major advantage DirecTV has over cable is that it uses the H.264 codec for it's channels. H.264 allows more compression then MPEG-2, which is what cable uses, so it allows them to offer more channels in their limited bandwidth. Cable is starting to use some tricks, such as eliminating analog stations and using switched digital video, to free up bandwidth and allow room for more HD channels, but in most markets they're still limited to between 30-70 HD channels rather then the 160 or so offered by DirecTV.
Dan
Post your location. Maybe someone with MediaCom in that location can tell you about copy protection. You also need to know whether they are using SDV so you know whether you need a tuning adapter.
Waterloo, Iowadlfl said:Post your location. Maybe someone with MediaCom in that location can tell you about copy protection. You also need to know whether they are using SDV so you know whether you need a tuning adapter.
They appear to offer quite a few HD channels, at least for cable standards, but still nowhere near as many as DirecTV...
http://www.mediacomcc.com/cable_hdtv.html
Dan
http://www.mediacomcc.com/cable_hdtv.html
Dan
Do we have to have phone line to use TiVo? As we use our cell phone as our main phone and have for the last 8 years.
Internet connection is much better, although you can use a phone line with a $30 USB adapter dongle on the TiVo. An old fashioned land line will work -- any other phone service needs to be investigated on an individual case basis. Actually I think even the land line can be a problem if there isn't a local call number for servicing TiVo's -- big LD charges.Do we have to have phone line to use TiVo? As we use our cell phone as our main phone and have for the last 8 years.
A couple of comments since I've tried to do the same thing, i.e. drop DirecTV since I was already paying for Time-Warner cable modem.
1. The DirecTV HR2x UI is superior in most respects than the Premiere (IMHO) unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool Tivo fan.
2. The DirecTV "Whole House" solution is much superior since it streams box-to-box rather than copying the entire file, which you can't do anyway if the copy protect flag is on.
3. The DirecTV HD picture is much better due to the MPEG-4 compression, on a par with OTA. Its especially noticeable when there is a lot of movement, the cable picture will look "blocky".
For these reasons, I ended up keeping DirecTV and having cable also, mostly for BBCA-HD. I record OTA, BBC and SD on the Premiere and other HD on the HR21
1. The DirecTV HR2x UI is superior in most respects than the Premiere (IMHO) unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool Tivo fan.
2. The DirecTV "Whole House" solution is much superior since it streams box-to-box rather than copying the entire file, which you can't do anyway if the copy protect flag is on.
3. The DirecTV HD picture is much better due to the MPEG-4 compression, on a par with OTA. Its especially noticeable when there is a lot of movement, the cable picture will look "blocky".
For these reasons, I ended up keeping DirecTV and having cable also, mostly for BBCA-HD. I record OTA, BBC and SD on the Premiere and other HD on the HR21
So using Internet connection only works? Will be using mediacom for Internet. We don't want phone service if not needed.dlfl said:Internet connection is much better, although you can use a phone line with a $30 USB adapter dongle on the TiVo. An old fashioned land line will work -- any other phone service needs to be investigated on an individual case basis. Actually I think even the land line can be a problem if there isn't a local call number for servicing TiVo's -- big LD charges.
Don't like having dish on house, and working around bad weather, plus wanting mediacom for internet and thought why not have both internet and cable with same company, Reason we were wanting to change to mediacom. Like The whole house option on DirectTV though.Tony Chick said:A couple of comments since I've tried to do the same thing, i.e. drop DirecTV since I was already paying for Time-Warner cable modem.
1. The DirecTV HR2x UI is superior in most respects than the Premiere (IMHO) unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool Tivo fan.
2. The DirecTV "Whole House" solution is much superior since it streams box-to-box rather than copying the entire file, which you can't do anyway if the copy protect flag is on.
3. The DirecTV HD picture is much better due to the MPEG-4 compression, on a par with OTA. Its especially noticeable when there is a lot of movement, the cable picture will look "blocky".
For these reasons, I ended up keeping DirecTV and having cable also, mostly for BBCA-HD. I record OTA, BBC and SD on the Premiere and other HD on the HR21
No phone connection needed if you have Internet.So using Internet connection only works? Will be using mediacom for Internet. We don't want phone service if not needed.
I don't agree with this at all - Comcast using mpeg2 in my house looks every bit as good as DirectTV at my in-laws, no matter what program is shown. This entirely depends on how many channels a cable system chooses to cram into a single QAM freq.3. The DirecTV HD picture is much better due to the MPEG-4 compression, on a par with OTA. Its especially noticeable when there is a lot of movement, the cable picture will look "blocky".
Quite true.I don't agree with this at all - Comcast using mpeg2 in my house looks every bit as good as DirectTV at my in-laws, no matter what program is shown. This entirely depends on how many channels a cable system chooses to cram into a single QAM freq.
DirecTV's picture quality is pretty good right now. Some cable companies will look as good as DirecTV, some may look a good bit worse if they cram too many HD channels in a single QAM.
Heck, Fios actually looks a little better than DirecTV and it works with TiVo Premiere.
Nationwide, picture quality goes something like this:
Fios > DirecTV > Dish Network > U-Verse
Your cable company will fit somewhere along this continuum, but it depends on your local cable system. Comcast in one market may look worse than Comcast in another market. In most cases, the cable company will look no worse than Dish Network, and possibly a good bit better.
I agree with all of these points. I was a long time DirecTV customer and switched to Comcast for the much lower price and TiVo. Also, if you're a new customer to DirecTV, you will 99% of the time get a refurbished HR21-HR23 which are all excruciatingly slow compared to a HR24 (and a bit slower than the HR20). Then again, the HDUI on the Premiere is also slow, but it beats the HRxx in terms of features (Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, etc.) if you care about those.A couple of comments since I've tried to do the same thing, i.e. drop DirecTV since I was already paying for Time-Warner cable modem.
1. The DirecTV HR2x UI is superior in most respects than the Premiere (IMHO) unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool Tivo fan.
2. The DirecTV "Whole House" solution is much superior since it streams box-to-box rather than copying the entire file, which you can't do anyway if the copy protect flag is on.
3. The DirecTV HD picture is much better due to the MPEG-4 compression, on a par with OTA. Its especially noticeable when there is a lot of movement, the cable picture will look "blocky".
For these reasons, I ended up keeping DirecTV and having cable also, mostly for BBCA-HD. I record OTA, BBC and SD on the Premiere and other HD on the HR21
DirecTV is getting way too expensive (easily $100 after credits for 2 HD DVRs and 1 SD receiver). Meanwhile, Comcast is $90 here for internet, phone, and TV (1 HD DVR, 1 HD receiver, 1 SD receiver, +extra CableCARD for TiVo).
You can use an internet connection w/o a phone. To do so, you need to make a direct LAN connection (wired) to your TiVo, or buy a compatible wireless LAN adaptor (TiVo doesn't come w/wireless capability).So using Internet connection only works? Will be using mediacom for Internet. We don't want phone service if not needed.
You need to check to see if you need to use the TiVo brand wireless adapter with the Premiere or whatever Tivo you get, unless you decide to plug an ethernet cable into it and the other end into your router.So using Internet connection only works? Will be using mediacom for Internet. We don't want phone service if not needed.
There's been a history of some non-TiVo brand wireless adapters working with some of the TiVos with USB ports and some of them not.
We plan on getting mediacom Internet, which I was told comes with router that is wireless. So still need a TiVo wireless adapter?Stuxnet said:You can use an internet connection w/o a phone. To do so, you need to make a direct LAN connection (wired) to your TiVo, or buy a compatible wireless LAN adaptor (TiVo doesn't come w/wireless capability).
Think of wireless as walkie-talkies. Or telephones.We plan on getting mediacom Internet, which I was told comes with router that is wireless. So still need a TiVo wireless adapter?
There has to be one on each end of the conversation.
I'm guessing that your mediacom internet account is going to provide you with something that is both a cable modem and a router all in the same unit, and, although I don't know if it will have any ethernet jacks for wired connections or not, apparently it will have wireless capability built in.
That's one side of the "conversation".
The other side is stuff like computers that want to connect wirelessly to the internet or Tivos that want to. Either is going to need some sort of wireless adapter in order to "converse" with the router wirelessly.
Every "wireless" router I have ever owned(3 different brands) also has 4 ports for for wired connections. I currently have a PC and 3 Tivos with wired(ethernet) connections to my "wireless" router.We plan on getting mediacom Internet, which I was told comes with router that is wireless. So still need a TiVo wireless adapter?
Well, actually I guess I'm lying, because I do have a small wireless "travel" router that does not have ethernet out ports, but otherwise...
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