I've had a Tivo for a couple of years and finally one of my mates has
decided that he wants one. He's looking on eBay. I'm just wondering
whether after all this time, whether Tivo is worth getting into or
whether there's something better on the horizon, perhaps with built in
DVD-R (though budget would be a problem for my mate, so no £800+ units
please!)? He's on NTL cable, so Sky+ is a no-no and neither is the
Pace Twin thing.

Ideas? Cheers!



andyt

On Fri, 2 Jan 2004 Andy Turner wrote:

I've had a Tivo for a couple of years and finally one of my mates has
decided that he wants one. He's looking on eBay. I'm just wondering
whether after all this time, whether Tivo is worth getting into or
whether there's something better on the horizon, perhaps with built in
DVD-R (though budget would be a problem for my mate, so no £800+ units
please!)? He's on NTL cable, so Sky+ is a no-no and neither is the
Pace Twin thing.

Unless he's a complete video quality freak I'd tend to go for the TiVo
now, hook it up to a VCR for archival, and when the price of DVD
recorders drops sufficiently put one between the DVD and TV so you can
archive in RGB quality.

There are some nice HD/DVD+-R combination units on the horizon but,
while their picture quality will be top-notch, they're very expensive
and they don't have nearly the same functionality as TiVo with regard to
Season Passes etc.

--
Kev
__________________________________________________ ________________________
"Patient has left his white blood cells at another hospital."
Medical chart entry

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 17:16:57 +0000, Kevin Reilly
wrote:

There are some nice HD/DVD+-R combination units on the horizon but,
while their picture quality will be top-notch, they're very expensive
and they don't have nearly the same functionality as TiVo with regard to
Season Passes etc.

'Expensive' is the part I'm noticing, there seems to be nothing at
anywhere near the TiVo's price even for a straight DVR. Which is weird,
seeing how the price of hard drives and other hardware is falling
through the floor, they are still trying to flog DVRs at around the
thousand pound mark. Even using off-the-shelf components from PC World
you can do it for less than that (a complete PC with 40GB hard drive for
about 500 quid, video input card for under 100, TV out card for 100 if
that, extra 120GB hard drive for 100, DVD writer (all formats) for under
200). If you bought (even one-off prices) from somewhere like DABS it
would be cheaper. Or go for one of the mini-ATX boxes with built-in
TV-out, add DVD writer and decent sized hard drive for even less and a
minute footprint.

Chris C

On Sat, 3 Jan 2004 Chris Croughton wrote:

'Expensive' is the part I'm noticing, there seems to be nothing at
anywhere near the TiVo's price even for a straight DVR. Which is weird,
seeing how the price of hard drives and other hardware is falling
through the floor, they are still trying to flog DVRs at around the
thousand pound mark.

There is certainly some profiteering going on by the manufacturers (the
dollars = pounds conversion between the US and UK markets is always a
giveaway), but I suppose they're also trying to recoup some of their R&D
losses from the past couple of years. There's a world of difference
between banging a PC-based PVR together for an enthusiast to poke at,
and creating a stand-alone piece of consumer hardware with an interface
that even granddad can understand.

A lot of time and money has been spent in the last few years trying to
make this hardware consumer friendly, and it's like everything else in
that the early adopters pay for the privilege. Once PVR/DVD combos
become popular and the bargain basement brands get in on the act, the
prices will plummet.

--
Kev
__________________________________________________ ________________________
"Due to a typing error Governor Dukakis was incorrectly identified in the
third paragraph as Mike Tyson." Massachusetts newspaper

"Andy Turner" wrote in message
...

I've had a Tivo for a couple of years and finally one of my mates has
decided that he wants one. He's looking on eBay. I'm just wondering
whether after all this time, whether Tivo is worth getting into or
whether there's something better on the horizon, perhaps with built in
DVD-R (though budget would be a problem for my mate, so no £800+ units
please!)? He's on NTL cable, so Sky+ is a no-no and neither is the
Pace Twin thing.

Buy a TiVo - the resale value looks fairly strong so as and when there is
something better you should be able to get back most of your money on eBay -
nothing to lose!

- Simon.

On Sun, 4 Jan 2004 20:18:13 -0000, "Simon Heather"
wrote:

"Andy Turner" wrote in message
.. .

I've had a Tivo for a couple of years and finally one of my mates has
decided that he wants one. He's looking on eBay. I'm just wondering
whether after all this time, whether Tivo is worth getting into or
whether there's something better on the horizon, perhaps with built in
DVD-R (though budget would be a problem for my mate, so no £800+ units
please!)? He's on NTL cable, so Sky+ is a no-no and neither is the
Pace Twin thing.

Buy a TiVo - the resale value looks fairly strong so as and when there is
something better you should be able to get back most of your money on eBay -
nothing to lose!

Good point, cheers for all the answers guys!

My own research threw up the Pioneer DVR-810H, which seems very good,
but I understand it won't work in the UK?

http://reviews.cnet.com/Pioneer_DVR_...8.html?tag=dir



andyt

Try looking at Telly. http://www.interact-tv.com/
It costs more initailly but there is NO subscription fee for the online
guide AND no additional cost for the media option. It's all included and
Telly is open sourced so if you want to add something it's much easier and
it designed for add ons. Also, with TIVO if you want to watch your recorded
programs on another TIVO you have to subscribe (pay for) to the online
guide on both TIVO's and and the Media option in order to move files from
one unit to another. With Telly, this is all part of the package.
Jerry Heere
"Andy Turner" wrote in message
...

I've had a Tivo for a couple of years and finally one of my mates has
decided that he wants one. He's looking on eBay. I'm just wondering
whether after all this time, whether Tivo is worth getting into or
whether there's something better on the horizon, perhaps with built in
DVD-R (though budget would be a problem for my mate, so no £800+ units
please!)? He's on NTL cable, so Sky+ is a no-no and neither is the
Pace Twin thing.

Ideas? Cheers!



andyt

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 20:11:03 -0500, Jerry Heere
wrote:

Try looking at Telly. http://www.interact-tv.com/
It costs more initailly but there is NO subscription fee for the online
guide AND no additional cost for the media option. It's all included and
Telly is open sourced so if you want to add something it's much easier and
it designed for add ons. Also, with TIVO if you want to watch your recorded
programs on another TIVO you have to subscribe (pay for) to the online
guide on both TIVO's and and the Media option in order to move files from
one unit to another. With Telly, this is all part of the package.

It looks good. One big problem -- this is a UK newsgroup, and the Telly
is a US product which has no information about using it in the UK (mains
voltage, EPG for UK channels, whether it accepts/produces PAL, etc.).
PAL and the EPG are the main ones, it's no use at all if it only does
NTSC and little use if it only knows about US TV programmes.

Chris C