TiVo Newbie

[MrCoffee]

I'm thinking about buying a TiVo for my parents. They use the same tape every night to record different shows and I think its just too funny to see them fastforword to get to the parts of the tape. I know they're offering deals on the tivo for the holidays.
Here's my question... do you need to buy the subscription service? They really do not need to be able to record shows from their office or any of that crap. I just want them to get rid of the VCR and tapes. Just set it to record whatever shows and the next day select and watch them.

Also if you do not need the subscription service, then I might pick one up for myself for back at school. so some good hacking site/forums would be helpful too.

[98Camaro3.8]

It's pretty retarded...you can't use the TiVo recorder without paying for the subscription. It'd be a useless box if you didn't pay the fee. There may be some other good DVRs out there, but TiVo is crap IMHO.

[MrCoffee]

thanks for the fast response man.

Thats what I was afriad of too.

Anybody know of some DVRs that just take the place of a VCR?

[camaro_speedemon]

Originally posted by 98Camaro3.8:
It's pretty retarded...you can't use the TiVo recorder without paying for the subscription. It'd be a useless box if you didn't pay the fee. There may be some other good DVRs out there, but TiVo is crap IMHO.

You have to pay to rent a DVR to. I know as soon as I have some free money, I'm tossing my DVR and switching to tivo. The one that my cable company provides is pure crap. I doesn't record half the shows its suppose to, randomly reboots, says its recording, when its not, amoung a ****load of other things that are just annoying.

[MrCoffee]

geez... I really didnt think these things were so complicated. Itd probably be cheaper to get a computer running linux with a tv tuner card hooked up.

[Greg94Red392]

I dont know about you guys but around here most people have Charter Communcations as a provider. I have their DVR. It's like an extra $10 a month. I think tivo is something like $15. The thing works great, I really couldnt be happier with it.

[camaro_speedemon]

Originally posted by MrCoffee:
geez... I really didnt think these things were so complicated. Itd probably be cheaper to get a computer running linux with a tv tuner card hooked up.

DVRs and Tivos ARE computers running linux with a TV tuner.

[98Camaro3.8]

Originally posted by camaro_speedemon:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by 98Camaro3.8:
It's pretty retarded...you can't use the TiVo recorder without paying for the subscription. It'd be a useless box if you didn't pay the fee. There may be some other good DVRs out there, but TiVo is crap IMHO.

You have to pay to rent a DVR to. I know as soon as I have some free money, I'm tossing my DVR and switching to tivo. </font>[/QUOTE]Not to get stuck on semantics, but TiVo is a DVR.

Originally posted by MrCoffee:
Itd probably be cheaper to get a computer running linux with a tv tuner card hooked up.

It's not really that hard to input tv audio and video and record it on a PC, be it Linux or Windows.

There are also DVD recorders that have built-in HDD DVRs with no subscription fees, but you end up paying as much because they're expensive.

Bunch of info here: http://www.byopvr.com/

Actually, after doing some research, I'm thinking I may just build my own. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[MrCoffee]

yea I didnt realize there was such powerful freeware for dvr systems. I think all I need is a tv tuner card.