TiVo FAQ - Basic Information

[Author's note: I am not affiliated with TiVo in any way. -- Dave]

Well, I finally broke down and bought a TiVo (5/24/02). I've had a lot of trouble finding answers about how certain things worked, so I put this together to try to help answer some of the questions.

Overall, I really like it, and it has been a good investment so far. However, you will read a number of criticisms and shortcomings as well. It's not perfect.

[My apologies for the horrible screenshot quality in the pictures linked below. I took the easy way out and took digital shots of the TV screen, rather than taking the extra time to get things hooked up through my TV capture card. I'll clean them up if I get ambitious.]

Other Resources

There's a great site, tivofaq.com, that has a bunch of answers to more advanced questions you might have. It's mainly intended for people that already own TiVo. This site is more for those who are thinking about buying one, because I had trouble finding answers to these questions online.

Another great site: tivoportal.co.uk.

What I Bought, What I Paid

I paid $400 for the 60-hour TiVo-branded one from Best Buy, and I couldn't find it online any cheaper. A lot of places are having trouble keeping them in stock. A number of people on the web suggested buying the extended warranty from the store ($80 from Best Buy), since the Series 2's have had more than their share of hardware problems, mainly the modem. The guys at Best Buy said the price was going up on the extended warranty soon because they'd had so many returns. No problems with mine so far, though.

Note that in addition to the hardware cost, you must also buy the interactive program guide service ($13/month or $250 lifetime). I bought the lifetime plan. I'm feeling lucky.

Industry Trend Away from Standalone TiVo

There appears to be a trend away from standalone TiVo or ReplayTV; many of the DirecTV satellite receivers are starting to include the basic functionality, and the quality is reportedly better, because they can store the compressed feed directly from the satellite, rather than uncompress it, then recompress it to MPEG-2 to record it onto the hard disk.

However, I'm not ready to switch to a dish as part of this deal. And, I can always use this unit later anyway if I do. Note that some of the satellite receivers have 2 tuners, which allow you to record two shows at once. Alas, mine does not.

Capacity of the "60 Hour" Model

60 hours means:

• 62 hours at basic (low) quality
• 38 at medium quality
• 28 at high quality
• 18 at best quality

All these numbers depend on a number of factors, mainly how compressible the feed is, so the numbers are approximate. The compression is affected by motion and signal quality, mainly. I've been using medium for most of the run-of-the-mill stuff, and high for stuff I care about.

Q & A

Can I record one thing while watching another?
Yes, it is possible to record one thing to the hard disk while watching another that's already stored there. In fact, this is the best way to go, as you'll see as I go through some of the later questions.
'Now Playing' Screenshot, where you'll find all the stuff you've already recorded

How does watching live TV work?
Watching live TV is of course possible, but it's always streamed through the hard disk in Best mode. This causes a noticeable quality degradation on several channels (although none at all on others, it's weird). This makes it possible to pause and rewind live TV.

How far back can I rewind live TV?
The live TV buffer is 30 minutes long, so you can pause for up to 30 minutes before you start losing stuff. This is incredibly useful, and even after a few days, you start to get really pissed that you don't have it on your other TVs.

Does the live TV buffer start over when I change channels?
Yes. In other words, if you've been watching channel 8 for the last 30 minutes and you switch to channel 6, you lose the history from channel 8, and the buffer starts over. I'm not sure why this is, but I don't like it.

What happens if I've been watching something live for a little while and I want to keep the whole thing for later?
You can hit Record, and it'll automatically save it from the beginning, assuming it's in the live TV buffer (that is, you've been watching it for less than 30 minutes). For example, if I'm 10 minutes into an hour-long show, I can hit Record. It'll automatcally trim the recording right to the correct start time, and continue recording it through the rest of the 50 minutes. When it's finished, the recording shows up in 'What's Playing' under the correct name and everything. This is very cleanly implemented and very nifty.

Can I skip commercials on stuff I've recorded?
Yes. TiVo does not have the 30-second skip-forward button like ReplayTV does (I'm guessing Replay patented it), but you can fast-forward and rewind at three different speeds. Fast-forwarding at the middle speed is about right for getting through the commercials quickly. Once you see that your show is back on and you hit 'Play,' it automatically compensates for your reaction time and rewinds it a little so you don't miss the first few seconds after coming back from commercial. Cool. (Note: in the next software version, you can hack the skip-to-end button to do the 30-second skip. See this article from tivofaq.com.)

How does the 'Instant Replay' button work?
It jumps back and plays the last 8 seconds. I use it more often than I thought I would ("what'd he just say?").

What does 'Time-Shifted' mean?
Any time you use instant replay, pause, or rewind during live TV, you start watching it several seconds behind its live air (although you can't really tell). You can easily catch up during the commercials.

Do I have to purchase the online guide service?
Yes. It costs $13 per month, or a one-time fee of $250. TiVo will record live TV without it, but that's about it. The guide is very well implemented. Actually, the whole UI is incredibly well done.
Guide Screenshot

What's the best way to watch if I have a TiVo?
I'm starting to get the impression that watching live TV is a bit of a disadvantage with this box -- it's much more advantageous to watch something that's already on the hard disk, for a couple reasons: first, you can still be recording something else to the hard disk. (If you're watching live TV, it's the only thing you can record.)

Is there any way to watch one channel of live TV while recording another?
Yes. Split your cable coming out of the wall & run it directly into a second input on the back of your TV. That way, you can still watch a live feed (although you lose the ability to pause/rewind, which sucks). Also, in my case, since I have digital cable, I can't get my digital channels through this feed.

What happens if I'm watching something live when I've scheduled TiVo to record something else?
TiVo will pop up a little dialog box, asking you whether you want to continue watching what you're watching, or let it switch the channel. For example, let's say you're watching channel 2 on live TV, and it's 7:59pm. You've previously scheduled TiVo to start recording channel 8 at 8:00pm. It'll pop up a dialog box asking you if you want to allow it to switch to channel 8 to record as planned, or stay where you are. (The default is to switch, and kicks in after like 30 seconds.) This never happens if you're watching something already on the hard disk, because TiVo can happily take control of your cable box and you never know the difference. Of course, you also have the cable-splitter option here too.

Does TiVo allow me to save programs off to my VCR?
Yes, sort of. It has a feature that allows you to record stuff to tape, but really all it does is play it & tell you to go hit record on your VCR. It is nice, though, in that it puts up a little marquee at the beginning showing what the show is, and you can stop recording part way through & it'll remember where you left off and let you pick up recording without having to start over.
'Save to VCR' Screenshot

If I stop watching a recorded show in the middle, will TiVo remember where I left off?
yes. If you interrupt watching a show for some reason (say, you go back to the 'Now Playing' menu), then you go back to the show you were just watching, that show will have a 'Resume Playing' item on its menu. This turns out to be very useful, because you don't have to have big blocks of time to watch longer things -- you can watch them piecemeal and you don't have to worry about remembering where you were each time.

What's a 'Season Pass?'
If you like a show (like the Osbournes), you can ask for a Season Pass, and it'll record all episodes on that specific channel. You can prioritize the season passes too, so if they collide, the higher one wins. This is a great feature -- I'm getting stuff I always miss, like Jackass and Dennis Miller. It's also possible to record the same show by title regardless of what channel it's on using the 'Wish List' feature, which lets you search for words in the title.

Can I search by keyword?
TiVo has a feature called a 'Wish List,' and you can use it to find any program by a particular keyword. For example, I set one up for 'AUTO RACING'. You can either view upcoming programs matching your keywords, or have TiVo automatically record themn for you. (In the case of auto racing, the auto-record turned out to be way too much.)
Wish List - Upcoming Screenshot
Wish List - Auto Record Screenshot

What happens if I try to set up something to record, and I've already got something set up to record at that time?
TiVo will tell you if the time conflicts with something you've already got scheduled, and you can pick which one you want to record. If it's showing at some other time (say late at night), it'll give you that option too, which is nice for things like HBO movies. When you set up a Season Pass (above), it'll show you which items will and won't get recorded because of conflicts with other things you've already set up.

Will TiVo auto-record things it thinks I'll like?
Yep. The TiVo remote has a 'Thumbs Up' and 'Thumbs Down' button on it. When viewing any show, you can give it up to three thumbs up/down. TiVo's service will, in theory, automatically record other things for you that it thinks you'll like based on your ratings. So far, it's totally out in the weeds, and has been mostly recording stuff that's on the other end of the spectrum from what I like. Presumably it'll get better over time. (The automatically recorded stuff gets thrown out first if you start to run out of hard disk space.) tivofaq.com has links to some discussion threads with more detail on this topic.
The TiVo Remote

Once I've set up a bunch of stuff to record, can I tell what TiVo plans on actually recording?
Yes, There is a 'To Do List' that you can review to make sure it's going to record what you expect. You can also see what it knows it won't record, so you can fix it if you need to.
'To Do List' Screenshot -- all the upcoming recordings TiVo has planned

TiVo didn't record something I wanted. Can I tell why not?
Yes. The 'Recording History' will show you why it didn't record something.
'Recording History' Screenshot -- which programs did not record
Failed Recording Screenshot -- example screen when something doesn't record

How does TiVo change the channel on my cable box?
In order to record the right programs, TiVo must have complete control of your cable box. There are two ways to set this up. Some newer cable boxes allow a serial cable to be run from the back of the TiVo to the back on the cable box. (Even though my cable box is less than a year old, and one of the supported manufacturers, and with the right 9-pin serial port in the back, this didn't work for me.) The second way is to mount the 'IR Blaster' onto the front of your cable box. This is an IR transmitter that acts as a remote control, and it's what TiVo uses to send channel-change signals to your cable box.
IR Blaster Picture -- as it's hooked up to my cable box

Summary

Overall, once you have enough stuff stored up to watch, there's almost no motivation to watch live TV again. You can skip through commercials on everything you watch, and you can always be recording one thing while watching another. Once you get used to this, it totally changes the way you watch TV. Money well spent so far -- now, if there was just something decent on... :)