About TiVo
From NLTiVo
TiVo has approximately 4 million subscribers in the U.S.A., the U.K. and Canada. The TiVo-service is not commercialy available outside these countries. Work is in progress to roll-out the concept in the huge Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan) and Singapore TV entertainment markets. See this press-release and this website for more information.
So what does TiVo do?
TiVo has fantastic features that work like a search engine to find the shows you want (by time, channel, title, director, category, even keyword). Got a favourite movie-director or a specific genre you like? A Whish List search records every movie or serie you like. TiVo is even smart enough to record all your favourite car racing events. It can give you a taste of programs you otherwise would never watch.
TiVo works with almost any TV setup so you can use it anywhere: cable, digital cable, satellite, digital set top box, even combinations are possible. You will never miss an episode of your favourite shows by using Season-passes. If you like CSI, tell TiVo once and it will record all episodes automatically.
No loading tapes. No setting timers. Skip ads. Watch your favourite showings whenever you like, not when the broadcast-network wants you to!
What does it look like?
TiVo devices can be seen here. Please note that only series 1 devices can be used in The Netherlands. See these screenshots to get an impression of the look-and-feel of the user interface by taking a look at some screenshots of the various menus.
Why should I get a TiVo?
Using a TiVo changes the way you watch television:
- You'll use your time more efficiently
- You'll never have to worry about video tapes
- You'll avoid ever having to watch commercials again
And, most importantly, you'll get the feeling that this type of product is the "right" way to do things.
Television is all about time. It takes time to find decent shows, it takes time to watch shows and it takes time to "manage" your television time. Read on...
I am a nerd tech savvy. Isn't there more?
We understand. There are some really great apps & hacks for the TiVo enabling such things. Think about: streaming video to your PC or Xbox, extract recordings to DVD, settting up recordings via the internet, on-screen telephone Caller-ID. You can even write your own apps to run on the TiVo, so your options are unlimited. See our howto-section for guides on how to get some of these things up-and-running.
Statements from other users
It's not hard to see why TV-loving people should have a TiVo in their living room. See these statements from users across the internet:
"Like the iPod, TiVo's real edge over its competitors comes from their spectacular user interface design. Even the most non-technical of my friends and family are able to figure out TiVo easily, and the remote is a triumph of engineering."
"TiVo is not only a well-designed product, it's an undervalued entity. TiVo has a smart, net-connected box in the living room; this is where every media company wants to be."
"Don't get me wrong, I love TiVo. I have the HD DVR, several DirecTV DVRs, and some standalone boxes in my closet. I can't imagine not having it. MythTV, Freevo, and all the other clones are ok, but you can't beat TiVo for it's simplicity."
"And how much money did you spend on your Windows XP Media Center Edition? A TiVo costs far less and fits nicely right above my cable box. Do you really like the huge box sitting next to it and cost EUR1000+? XPMCE isn't going to be replacing people's TiVo's until the price and form factor actually work in the living room."
TiVo compared to other solutions
A comparison between TiVo, Windows Media Center (MCE 2005), other hard disk based PVR's and the old-fashioned VCR's. Solutions like MythTV or Freevo are not in the comparison-list, because of their relative complexness in setup, compared to the solutions below (although some people reported that it can be rather difficult to setup MCE).
| Function | TiVo | MCE | STB with HDD | VCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program information for one week ahead | Y | Y | Y1 | N |
| Ability to pick a program to record by highlighting the name | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Ability to get a season pass to all episodes of a series, no matter what time they are broadcasted | Y | Y | N | N |
| Ability to cope with late changes to broadcast times of scheduled programs | N | N | Y | N |
| Ability to automatically add a set time to the beginning and end of programs, providing it doesn’t conflict with other scheduled recordings | Y | Y | N | N |
| Ability to record programs based on a whish-list that could include directors, actors, words in title or description | Y | Y | N | N |
| Automatic recording of suggested programs based on what you have recorded in the past | Y | N | N | N |
| Retroactive recording: ability to record programs that have already started, when tuned in to that station. | Y | N | N | N |
| A number of different recording qualities available from equivalent to long play VHS up to DVD | Y | Y | N | N |
| Image quality & smoothness | good | depends2 | good | average |
| Ability to upgrade the length of recording time available | Y | Y | N | N |
| Maximum recording time available at lowest quality in hours | 7683 | depends4 | depends5 | 8 |
| Maximum recording time available at highest quality in hours | 2043 | depends4 | depends5 | 4 |
| Listing of recordings available to watch on TV with program name, date recorded and channel identified | Y | Y | depends | N |
| Fully supported by a manufacturer with warranty and professional help | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Supported by multiple active Internet user groups with over 200 members | Y | Y | depends | N |
| Automatic accurate time adjustment each day | Y | Y | depends | N |
| Ability to download video and burn to VCD or DVD on computer | Y6 | Y | N | N |
| Can control external receivers (i.e. digital cable or sat) via infrared | Y | N | N | N |
| Ability to work with another box of the same type to share programs over a home network | Y | Y | N | N |
| Dual tuner support in some models | N | Y | Y | N |
| Guaranteed availability of guide data into the future | N | Y | Y | N |
| Can play multiple formats (DivX, XVid, etc) | N | Y | N | N |
| Can play DVD's | N | Y | depends | N |
| Stability | good | poor | good | good |
| Maintenance-free and relatively easy to setup | Y | N7 | Y | Y |
| Nice case, fits on top of other devices, quiet & living-room friendly | Y | N8 | Y | Y |
| Power consumption with one HDD | 25W | > 80W | 25-60W | 15-30W |
| Price (in Euro's) | 100-450 | 800-20009 | 200-1000 | 100-200 |
1 Up to two weeks.
2 Might require tweaking, can be blurry and not very smooth. In-depth computer-knowledge required. System is not optimized for DVR-only tasks (base is WinXP)
3 Using 2x300GB disks.
4 Depends on the storage space (network and/or harddisk). Practically unlimited.
5 Depends on the size of the harddisk and the compression-methods.
6 Requires special network card.
7 Requires dedication to get it to work properly and requires patching & updating.
8 Requires a PC in the living room. The more silent and the more slicker the design is, the higher the price.
9 See: ExtremeTech's Dual-Core Media Center PC
More information
Hmm, I thought we were pretty thourough ;-). Anyway, for more detailed information on TiVo see this Wikipedia-article.
