TIVO service required?

[Darth Paris]

My father is considering purchasing a TIVO, he doesn't care about a guide. He also doesn't want to pay the monthly subscription. All he wants is to be able to set timed recordings and use the pause/rewind functions for live TV. My question is is the service just for the guide?

[yoda313]

Hello,

I believe so. My understanding is you can still manually program it without the service. Though I'm not 100% certain as I don't own one. Check out tivo's website for more details.

Kevin

[makntraks]

My father is considering purchasing a TIVO, he doesn't care about a guide. He also doesn't want to pay the monthly subscription. All he wants is to be able to set timed recordings and use the pause/rewind functions for live TV. My question is is the service just for the guide?

If he has cable do they not offer a PVR? I have Brighthouse/Roadrunner and for ~$7 a month I get nearly the same feature set as Tivo......

I will say Tivo is a more mature product however....

makntraks

[yoda313]

Hello,

Activating the TiVo Service
The TiVo service includes the program information shown in the TiVo Live Guide™ and
used by the Season Passes, WishLists, and Search by Title features, as well as by
TiVolution Magazine, Showcases, and Service Updates.
If you haven’t activated the TiVo service already, you’ll be instructed to visit the TiVo
website at http://www.tivo.com/activate/ or to call 1-877-367-8486. To activate, you must
register the TiVo Service Number of your recorder and choose a billing option.
You will receive enough program information to give you a chance to try the TiVo
service. If you do not activate within about a week of completing Guided Setup, your
recorder will have limited functionality. The recorder was designed to be used exclusively
with the TiVo service. The TiVo service is required for proper operation of the recorder.
No functionality is represented, warranted, or should be expected without a subscription to
the TiVo service.
Activate today! Don’t miss a single day of using the TiVo service.
From the Congratulations! screen, press the TiVo button on your remote control to go to
TiVo Central® and begin enjoying the TiVo service. For help getting started, check out
the tours in Chapter 2 of this guide.
You can find the 15-digit TiVo
Service Number by going to TiVo
Central (press the TiVo button on the
remote), then Messages & Setup (press
the DOWN arrow to move the blue
highlight bar, then press SELECT), then
selecting System Information.
For instructions on programming
your remote to control your TV’s
power, volume, and mute settings, see

I've been curious myself if a paid subscription is REQUIRED or not (if I ever found a used model at a garage sale or something). The above quote is from a manuall in pdf form I found on www.tivo.com

From the text it seems that "activation" is intended to make programing a lot easier and a "fuller" experience" (whatever that means).

My guess would be that you don't have to fork over the subscripition fees. But it may become more difficult to use than you want...

Kevin

[Darth Paris]

If he has cable do they not offer a PVR? I have Brighthouse/Roadrunner and for ~$7 a month I get nearly the same feature set as Tivo......

I will say Tivo is a more mature product however....

makntraks

Nope, the cable company doesn't offer one.


Thanks for the info, I will look around the net and see what else I can find.

[northcat_8]

Not to off track the topic...but...

what is the difference between TiVo and DVR?

I have dishnetwork and I have a DVR receiver. DVR basically works like a digital VCR. I bring up the guide, and if there is a movie on at 3 am I want to see, I just check it and set a DVR timer and it will record it. I can record once, daily, or weekly. Fast forward, rewind, commercial skip, etc, etc. I love it.

Darth Paris - My DVR is the receiver, so the guide and all of that comes with it. But I will tell you this, since I have had it, I don't think I could live without it. It's great...60 hours of TV I can record and keep.

My daughter likes the show 7th heaven, she records it daily and can watch it after she gets home from practice. I record sporting events that I can't be home to see. It's great.

[yoda313]

Hello,

what is the difference between TiVo and DVR?

I believe it's like asking what the difference between Xerox and cannon are.... Not much. One is a common name given to all similar products like Kleenex.

Basically TIVO was one of the first digital recorders on the market. Since then others have come around. I think what makes TIVO different from some DVR's is that it DOESN'T require a cable/satellite signal. It can work with just standard aerial broadcasts. Like the old vcr it just hooks up and your ready to go.

Kevin

[Darth Paris]

Yeah, TIVO is just a brand of DVR.

[Silvas]

The main difference between Tivo and Dish Networks DVR is name based recording. You can tell a Tivo to record a certain show, say "Friends", and it will automatically search the guide and record it. Just new shows, all show, however you want to set it up. If the time of the show you want recorded is changed, Tivo will automatically change the recording time. Dish Network is starting to implement NBR (name based recording) on their new 522 dual tuner DVR. Mine hasn't been updated yet (hopefully by Tuesday according to Dish), but I'll be glad to get it. While having just the regular DVR functions are very nice (basically just a glorified vcr), having NBR will be like shitting in high cotton!

[makntraks]

.....having NBR will be like shitting in high cotton!

makntraks

[Roundabout]

I'm by no means an expert on TIVO, however, I do know that you can buy a used TIVO from someone on Ebay, for example, and if you get the series 1 you can use it for basic functions like what you mentioned without subscription fees. They seem to go for around $100 if upgraded with a larger HDD.

Do a Ebay search for HDR312 or Tivo Series 1 and you'll find some. Here's some info from one listed right now:

With up to 60 hours of program recording capacity, the Philips HDR312 is a personal TV recorder that's a tapeless alternative to analog VCRs. The HDR212 uses a 60 GB hard drive and TiVo technology to store compressed audio and video data. This server can pause live broadcasts and resume a program where you left off or return to real time. The remote allows you to rewind and fast-forward pretaped shows or skip recorded commercials.

From another listing:
This Tivo does not require a Tivo subscription to function as a basic recording device. The modem is functional.

[stiltman]

I've always wondered the same thing. I don't care about the TV listings it needs to download. I can get that from the net. I just want to use it like a VCR...Sure wish someone worked this out already google time

[Roundabout]

Stilt,

Like I mentioned, you can use the Series 1 units that way, like a VCR. I think all the Series 2 units require a subscription, however. That's why sometime later I'm going to buy a Series 1 and just use it for capturing TV shows to later burn to DVD or CD-R.

The other benefit to the older Series 1 is cost. Since they're going for under $100 on Ebay, it won't break the budget. A lot of the Series 1 units have been upgraded with larger HDD's so you can record longer.

As far as Series 2 unit go, I saw people sometimes advertising them on Ebay that had apparently been hacked for lifetime sub. I don't know what Ebay's policy is toward that, but sounds illegal.

That's about the extent of my knowledge about Tivo.

[yoda313]

Hello,

Darth Paris - any update?????

Kevin