pcmag.com — TiVo has taken its sweet time to build its latest DVR, TiVo Premiere, which takes most of what was good with the TiVo HD and updates it with new hardware and software. The TiVo Premiere is a Series4 DVR and features a 320GB hard drive, good for about 45 hours of HD programming, or more than 400 hours of standard-def recordings.
Mar 29, 2010 View in Crawl 4
allanonMar 29, 2010
@kolop1CableCards are just now becoming a reality for computers, so in the past if you wanted any premium channels with a media center you would still needs a cable box. And if you wanted those channels in HD then at least for my cable company you would need to get a HD DVR which pretty much would be the same or more service cost as a TiVo with CableCards. Plus controlling that cable box with IR is less than optimal.
twinklyjesusMar 29, 2010
They don't switch channels around all the time. What they do is changes show times without notifying the cable companies or TiVo. That is the most common problem. Occasionally, they may move a channel but that is rare.I miss more shows because the network delayed a broadcast and didn't update the providers;
pashdownMar 29, 2010
You can use USB-serial instead of the IR blaster with a DirecTV box. It really isn't that big of a deal.I challenge anyone to tell the difference between DirecTV receiver 1080i and HD-PVR encoded 1080i. Plus I can do what I want with the content (ie: move it between devices). After setting up a MythTV box with 4 OTA PC-5500 and one HD-PVR for DirecTV, I sold off all my Tivos and I couldn't be happier.Warning: MythTV isn't for the stupid.
jerfooMar 29, 2010
I've had two TiVos running for 7 years. I just recently decided to ditch DirecTV and go with cable. The service provided by my cable company is GREAT, but their DVR is PAINFUL. I might switch back JUST BECAUSE the DVR is so inferior to my TiVo.
kolop1Mar 29, 2010
I hate to tell you, but you are wrong on just about all of the questions you asked and answered. Does MCE have a built in admin web interface? YesCan i automatically compress shows in various formats including Divx, H.264 and wmv? YesCan windows 7 automatically detect and strip out commercials? NO! Neither does Tivo.Does window 7 offer a client for other computers that are in the house but not running MCE? YesCan Windows 7 MCE transcode on the fly? NO! Neither can Tivo.Maybe you should not speak, because it makes you look stupid.
alphi1Mar 31, 2010
Yes, that is true, that the "lifetime" is for the lifetime of the box itself, and not the user.But you also have to bear something else in mind: the only "moving part" of the box is the hard drive, and is, therefore, the most likely point of failure. And that said, anyone who is a little tech savvy (such as willing to put the hard drive in their computer and run some open-source software on it) can either back up an existing TiVo drive, or even (with a purchase of a $20 CD) format a new drive for use in that TiVo box. The nice thing is that the TSN (the serial number) is what ties the machine to it's "lifetime" membership, and that number is built into the other hardware, and NOT the hard drive.
alphi1Mar 31, 2010
Could be - for what it's worth, I found an interesting posting today about the history of TiVo, including when each of the "series" machines were first released:<a class="user" href="http://blog.tivo.com/2010/03/tivo-celebrates-blue-moon/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.tivo.com/2010/03/tivo-celebrates-blue- ...</a>
alphi1Mar 31, 2010
They do - that's what the "XL" models are (both for TiVo HD and the new Premiere) - those have 1 TB hard drives in 'em.