Tivo to offer ad search service

[yoda313]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051128/tc_nm/tivo_dc

I don't have a tivo but I don't think it would persuade me to get one with the ability to find every ron popeil infomercial ever made

[canadateck]

Tivo wont last another 5 Years.

[SoCalMK]

It still leaves me wondering why people still get a Tivo for hundreds of $$$ when one could easily do the same thing on their TV via their computer for a few $$.

[rkr1958]

It still leaves me wondering why people still get a Tivo for hundreds of $$$ when one could easily do the same thing on their TV via their computer for a few $$.

How? From my perspective TIVO is one of the greatest things since sliced bread. With a 4-year old (soon to be 5-year old) boy the ability to pause and timeshift TV is great. My wife and I didn't know what we were missing until we go a TIVO. By the way, a computer costs a lot more than a TIVO unit.

[sacajaweeda]

When I called Direct TV they had an install special. I think I paid 99 bucks and got the dish installed with reciever boxes in 3 rooms. I also took them up on their offer of a Tivo unit for 100 bucks with a 50 dollar rebate. So my Tivo cost me 50 bucks....which is the same price they wanted to charge me for a regular receiver in the 4th room. Maybe you got hosed when you bought your Tivo, but mine was 50 bucks.

[GullyFoyle]

It still leaves me wondering why people still get a Tivo for hundreds of $$$ when one could easily do the same thing on their TV via their computer for a few $$.

How? From my perspective TIVO is one of the greatest things since sliced bread. With a 4-year old (soon to be 5-year old) boy the ability to pause and timeshift TV is great. My wife and I didn't know what we were missing until we go a TIVO. By the way, a computer costs a lot more than a TIVO unit.

I feel the same way about my cableco dvr. Sure it isn't as refined as the Tivo but I can copy from it something Tivo is limiting.
And I like the HD recording and On Demand.
I've been full circle from cable to bud to Dishnetwork and back to cable. Bundling cable modem and cable package, and now voip, makes it the best buy around now.
When something better comes along I'll switch. But for now cable has all the bells and whistles for a decent price.

[SoCalMK]

I don't think to say that a computer costs more than a Tivo is the correct way to look at it since I didn't build/buy my computer solely for the purposes of having PVR capabilities. It was something I already had and decided to add that functionality later on. In addition to the PVR function, I can also archive DVD's, AVI's, etc. on the hard drive so I don't need a DVD player either. And since I have every computer networked every show that is recorded and every movie that is archived can be viewed in any room of the house. Can a Tivo do all this? DVD players, Tivos, etc. are all essentially expensive external casings for what is basically software. I'm glad you got your Tivo for $50 because to be generous that is what it is worth at the most. Its been a while since I owned a Tivo so I don't know how their pricing works anymore. Do they still charge a monthly fee or a one time bulk fee up front?

[sacajaweeda]

The bulk of my off-air recording is done using a standalone DVD recorder. The Tivo is handy for grabbing something else while the DVD recorder is busy or for going back to re-record something if there was a glitch durring the recording process. Sometimes the DVD recorder chokes on a damaged or defective disc half way through it. Or if I'm capturing via the PC any number of things can happen that can screw up a capture. That's where the Tivo comes in handy, especially for stuff like live broadcasts that are only run once that you don't get a second shot at. If you have a hardware or sorfware failure you simply don't get that second shot without a Tivo. That's how I use my Tivo. More as a backup than anything. For 50 bucks you can't beat it. The Tivo service is a negligible fee on my monthly bill.

[SoCalMK]

The bulk of my off-air recording is done using a standalone DVD recorder. The Tivo is handy for grabbing something else while the DVD recorder is busy or for going back to re-record something if there was a glitch durring the recording process. Sometimes the DVD recorder chokes on a damaged or defective disc half way through it. Or if I'm capturing via the PC any number of things can happen that can screw up a capture. That's where the Tivo comes in handy, especially for stuff like live broadcasts that are only run once that you don't get a second shot at. If you have a hardware or sorfware failure you simply don't get that second shot without a Tivo. That's how I use my Tivo. More as a backup than anything. For 50 bucks you can't beat it. The Tivo service is a negligible fee on my monthly bill.

So now you have two separate units to do your recording? And the notion that your Tivo was just $50 is not completely accurate. Just a negligible fee? Man, you must be rich. Of course you are, otherwise you wouldn't be using two separate and costly units for what can basically be done on a PC. You realize that Tivo doesn't even make money on their units; any money that they might make is off of the monthly subscriptions. Negligible? Own it for a few years and it all adds up; your once upon a time $50 unit is now hundreds of dollars. And for those who don't have satellites and weren't offered the kind of rebates that you had I feel really bad for. If you want to say it's kind of a cool toy to have or that you're willing to shell out money for certain conveniences than say that. But please don't say "you can't beat it" because one obviously can.

[sacajaweeda]

Don't get yourself so worked up coveting everybody else's Tivo units. Maybe mommy will tell Santa to bring you one this year if you're a good little boy.

[SoCalMK]

Don't get yourself so worked up coveting everybody else's Tivo units. Maybe mommy will tell Santa to bring you one this year if you're a good little boy.

Translation: I don't know any better.

Why don't you go out and get a Windows Media Center PC. That way you can keep shelling out your money for other people to keep figuring these things out for you.

[sacajaweeda]

What's wrong with you?

[Capt.Video]

If you have cable, sure, a home built PVR is great. But if you have DirecTV or Dish, then your a little but more limited. How you gonna change channles and such?

I have DirecTivo, DirecTV with Tivo built in, 1 box set top. I have a hacked HD that enables the USB port, and oftware is installed to allow me to connect to it (TyTool) and download MPEGs off of it.

1) I have 100% better picture quality with my DirecTV than with analog cable.

2) I cant live without my Tivo, I can watch what I want, when I want.

3) The unit has dual tuners, and I only get charged for 1.

4) I pay a greatly reduced rate for Tivo service ($4.95/mth).

5) I can download videos off my box and process them to Divx/Xvid/DVD.

Life dont get much better. Though, I do admint 480X480 1.5 CBR MPEG is not "high res" much less High Def, but the picture quality on my still analog TV is very good.

FWIW, Im going to be experimenting with DVB-T and DVB-S in the future, capturing HD.

Cheers,
Andrew