TiVo, TiVo, TiVo...it's all about TiVo

[FineyMcFine]

We just got TiVo and I am in my seventh heaven!

However, I will never actually TiVo "Seventh Heaven."

I swear, it's like a religion for me now. I can't wait to not worry about setting the stupid VCR which I always forget to set anyway and to have my evenings be free if I want them to, not worrying about being done with dinner by 8pm because Gilmore Girls is on, etc. And then watch it all, sans commercials, on Saturday morning or Sunday morning or whatever.

I'm finding it VERY easy to use. The menu-guided setup is self-explanatory, and the remote is non-confusing. It wasn't that hard to hook up, either, once I RTFM. (Read the f-ing manual, that's what that acronym is.)

Who else has TiVo? Do you loooooooooooooooove it?

[Foomatic]

Hey Sally,

We don't have a TiVO, but we have a DVR from Comcast, it's pretty much the same thing. We love it! But yeah, any kind of digital recording device rocks! Get yours now!

[sam7777]

No TIVO either. I have a DVR from Charter and really once you go digital recording, you don't go back. It was especially hany for the Olympics. I was able to record all the events I wanted to see 3-4 hours daily. Fabulous. I can use it to record only the new eps of a show, all the eps of a show, all the eps in a time slot etc. Charter updates the device periodically adding new features. The only time I use my VCR now is to tape shows off of my DVR to give to friends.

[FineyMcFine]

Thursday night my sister's friend's boyfriend's band was on Jay Leno so I set the TiVo for it and it was such a satisfying experience to fast forward on the DVR, as opposed to a videotape.

I also like the WishList feature where you can enter in a list of actors you like, and periodically pull it up and see what shows are playing in the next two weeks that they'll be in. So far I put Alyson Hannigan, Renee O'Connor, and Lucy Lawless. (And apparently some really bad movie Renee was in with Bruce Campbell will be on tonight so we're going to TiVo it.)

However, in the actor list, there was no Amber Benson. Sad.

[sam7777]

According to PVRBlog, TiVo's new operating system update enables content protection flags on a per-show basis:
http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2005/09/tivo_72_os_adds.html

This apparently affects syndicated shows and the restrictions are not just limited to pay-per-view and video-on-demand. One example of a show that had a 7 day retention restriction was a two year old (2003) episode of "King of the Hill". The restriction also prevents copying to VCR and DVD. Check out the link above for screen shots.

Wired's question from last year seems pretty prescient now:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/view.html?pg=3

What if the higher-value content is just the beginning? This could be a Trojan horse.
That would be a violent blow to consumer flexibility. You could end up in a situation where different products by different manufacturers would have different rules. I don't think we would go along with it.

I imagine that he could still use a VCR to directly record the restricted shows off the antenna but that removes some of the usefulness of a DVR.

It's probable that this is an isolated incident where this guy's local Fox TV station set the flags wrong (he uses an antenna, not cable or satellite).

But even as a mistake it's a bad sign for the future IMHO.

I'll dump my DVR if restrictions start to hit the stuff that I watch. No point spending the $$ if I end up having to use my VCR to record shows directly. I'll prolly dump cable as well if that happens as cable simply does not pay if I can't hold on to shows long enough to watch them.

[Kieli]

Erm, actually there's a way to get around said restrictions I learned all sorts of creative things about TiVO after I bought the first gen one about 6 yrs ago. It rocks and we can't imagine life without it now. I can't begin to tell you how much a part of our TV viewing life it is. TiVO hacks exist all over creation and there are even books about it. Just so's ya know

[FineyMcFine]

Right, that's one reason why my brother-in-law said to get Tivo instead of a DVR from the cable company, something about Unix and hacking and stuff. I don't get it, but hopefully I won't have to.

The other great thing about Tivo is...so Jodie Foster's new movie Flightplan is coming out soon (unlike Ms. Foster, who isn't coming out anytime soon), so I searched for her name with a Wishlist and got the usual Maverick and other reruns, but also the talk shows she was going to be on: Regis & Kelly, Good Morning America, Letterman, Tonight Show, etc.

That's BRILLIANT! I would never, never, never sit and read TV guide or search online to see who is going to be on what talk show, that would never occur to me and I don't have the time. This thing does all the work for me. So I recorded them, fast forwarded to the part she was in, watched it, and then deleted it. Easy as can be, much easier than fooling with videotapes, and it took no time at all.

PS - did anyone watch JF on Letterman and notice the ring on her left hand ring finger?

[Flay of Goyfulgick]

I just got a new PVR(the old one wouldnt work cause it was being used to pirate[yarr] sattelite, and now we dont pirate anymore).

i was so thrilled when we got it, i just sat there randomly rewinding stuff then fastforwarding it, pausing and running off to do some random task then come back and watch right from where i left off, and randomly recording shows i wouldnt normally take the time out of my day to watch cause its on at such an inconvenient time. it was AWESOME!

so now with all these awesome new shows and some returning favourites premiering, i can watch em all AND let my mom see em too(cause she works swing shift). so im uberhappy.

[sam7777]

Kieli: It's certainly true there are alot of TIVO hacks out there. There are also Replay (TIVO's old rival) systems that will skip commercials and don't have DRM implemented. But your regular consumer won't necessarily know how to do these things and really you shouldn't have to hack anything to get your fair use rights.

The DRM (Digitial Rights Management) stuff will just get more and more pervasive as time goes on and won't just affect TIVO but all recording devices. The DCMA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) makes circumventing DRM whether by "TIVO hacks" or other means illegal. For example, DirectTV began suing people who bought smart card readers from online sites whether the device was used to pirate their satellite signal or not.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/17/directv_dragnet_snares_innocent_techies/
DirecTV dragnet snares innocent techies

The MPAA has started suing people who went to Bittorrent sites to download movies (they seized the site logs when they shut the sites down).
http://www.infos-du-net.com/en/actualite/5184-mpaa-poursuites-bittorent.html
The MPAA tracking downloaders on the Net

Sure there will always be a way to get around this stuff for techies but the consumer will still be punished. I love my DVR but I will obvously part with it if I can't use it to record and watch shows when I want to without artificial time limits.

[Kieli]

That's nothing new....the DMCA has been a problem in a plethora of venues for some time now. People have been fighting the measure in the courts for ages whether it's intellectual property issues, copyright issues, you name it. My opinion is, if you can't beat them, outwit them The TIVO hacks are no brainers, IMHO. They don't require all that much effort and you can even learn how to swap out the hard drives in them to put in larger ones for more storage space. Just letting people know that there are options.

[FineyMcFine]

Another reason why Tivo is great - last night my wife and I were watching a DVD and we were done watching it around 8:30pm. I thought to myself, I have about 30 minutes to finish washing the dishes before the premiere of Lost tonight. Then I thought, I'd like to take out the trash and recycling too, but probably will only have 5 minutes before 9pm once I'm done with these dishes.

And in the back of my mind, I thought, I'm not going to feel like taking out the trash at 10pm, let's get serious, and I won't get up early enough to take it out. I'll just resign myself to missing trash day again.

But no, my wife reminded me, we didn't have to be wedded to 9pm - in fact, we should start watching Lost at 9:20 so we could skip all the commercials. So smart! So that's what we did. The recycling and trash got put out and we spent less time sitting in front of the TV.

It's money well spent, I tellya. Even though we bought the DVR at $99 and now it's going for $49, I'm okay with it. Convenience! No panic!

[sam7777]

Yeah DVRs are great! I was recorning a documentary and anime at the same time while watching something that I had recorded. This capability would have required multiple VCRs in the past. I hope that DRM won't runin it:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092101655.html

TiVo Users Fear Recording Restrictions

Many fans of digital video recorders made by TiVo Inc. are beginning to fear that Hollywood studios will one day reach into their set-top boxes to restrict the way they record and store movies and programs.
...
Matt Haughey, creator of PVRblog.com, the Web site where the complaints first appeared, said some fans are overreacting about the red-flag incident. However, he said he is worried that TiVo has handed Hollywood a means to restrict recordings.

"TiVo would be of limited utility in the future if the studios were allowed to do this with regular broadcast content," Haughey said. "This is like cell-phone jammers. What if you couldn't talk on your cell phone? If customers can't do something with their TiVo that they could in the past, they will stop using it."

Of course you can always hack you way around such restrictions but why should you have to hack anything to get functionality that you paid for? This is acceptable for computers but not for consumer electronics that should just work. People are used to getting more features not less.

[Kieli]

Well we pay for a better government with the ability to have a say in the laws being made and such (hideous income taxes and what not) but we get less for that too. You can see why the black market, hacking, etc happens. If TiVO goes too far, people will find a way to get that functionality without having to pay a dime (much like online downloading of music, video, etc that goes on right now). I love my TiVO but if they go all Bill Gates on me, I'm going to use countermeasures.

[GayNow]

I got my mom TiVo for her birthday.

Now I have to figure out how to hook it up.

She's very excited about 80 hours of Will & Grace.

[GayNow]

Now here's a question....

Our TiVo has a USB port...what do I need to do/have to transfer recorded shows from TiVo to a computer?

Anyone? Anyone?