TIVO question

[Crapshoot]

I'm moving into a new apartment and sadly, the only cable option available is Comcast - which wants to charge 15 bucks a month for a DVR, and requires a 70 dollar package (digital cable) before I can use their DVR. As such, I'm thinking of picking up a cheap TIVO from someone (have one for 50 bucks) and just paying the monthly TIVO fee (12 bucks). I intend to get standard cable from Comcast, and use the Tivo with a wireless adapter attacher to it.

My question is as follows:
1. I will not have a land line - TIVO's website says I only need a phone line to set it up initially, which I can do at a friends place.

2. Will TIVO be an issue if I'm not getting digital cable ? I'm thinking of TIVO solely because I dont want to pay the extra 30 bucks a month for digital cable.

Any help (this is Boston for you) is appreciated.

[saldana]

you should be fine without the digital cable. the reason comcast is trying to make you get that package is probably because their dvr's are built into their digital cable decoders. as far as the phone line goes, i think you need it all the time in order to get the program guide, and i know you need it for the the firmware upgrades

[saldana]

dola..
if no one has a better answer about the phone thing, PM me and i will disconnect one of mine for a couple days and see what happens.

[Crapshoot]

The phone thing is what TIVO says on their website, so I don't want to make you go through the bother 0 I really shouldn't have listed it as a question - the digital cable question was my real problem.

I'd rather support TIVO than Comcast, but is installing the thing a pain ?

Thanks..

[saldana]

The phone thing is what TIVO says on their website, so I don't want to make you go through the bother 0 I really shouldn't have listed it as a question - the digital cable question was my real problem.

I'd rather support TIVO than Comcast, but is installing the thing a pain ?

Thanks..


it should hook up just like any other cable box or vcr...run your cable into the tivo input, and the tivo output to your tv....im am not exactly sure about the hookup for a stand alone tivo unit, because both of mine are dvr/directv receivers.

[Pyser]

yeah, you can hook an ethernet cord up to the tivo after you make the initial landline call, and that works fine (even better, actually, because you can schedule the tivo from your comp)..

and i dont have digital cable, and it actually makes tivo better. with the digital box running through tivo, it takes like 5 seconds to switch the channel. without it, its instant.

[Daimyo]

You need a phone line to do the guided setup only. If you ever have to reset your box and repeat guided setup you need the phone line again. However, that is dependent on having an always on internet connection and a TiVo-compatible USB network adapter. If you don't have either one TiVo will stop functioning after 14 days as it has no way to download the guide or verify you're a paying customer.

You won't have any issue at all using TiVo with non-digital cable, but not all cable boxes are alike. You might want to call them and find out the exact model number of the cable box you'll get and then do a web search to make sure it works well. You connect the TiVo to the cable box with either a IR cable or a serial cable depending on the box. If you don't need any sort of cable box you can use the TiVo directly as it has its own tuner.

[Adamski47]

I just had DirectTV installed (love it, always have) with a DVR/Tivo thingy. I do NOT have a phone line as I just use my cell-phone and work phone.

I also just had Comcast install my cable internet. I do not, as far as I know, have a Comcast outlet in the room of the Tivo/Direct TV.

I'm sort of confused about getting this to work properly. I'd love to have the full capabilities without a phone line (other than using someones to install etc).

I dunno, I probably don't make sense it's late and I'm tired and have to get to sleep for work!

Any advice is appreciated. Feel free to email me even. This will be one of my weekend projects!

Thank you.

[Tekneek]

A standalone TiVo will have to have a phone line or you won't have a program guide on it. It won't just pull that off of the cable line, from what I have read. Comcast is supposed to have TiVo DVRs available in 2006. You should get one of those when that time comes. Those will potentially download their guides over the cable line and you will have the power, convenience, and reliability of TiVo with a digital cable box built in.

It is completely different with a DirecTV/TiVo combined receiver/DVR. The guide data is downloaded off of the satellite.

[wade moore]

Ok.. after being a veteran Cable TiVO owner for 3 years and then just upgrading (therefore having to go through a new setup) I think I can shed some light here...

A) You MUST have a phone line for initial setup. For whatever annoying reason, this is the only way to get through setup. It won't let you bypass setup or anything.

B) I have never gone through my cable box. If a cable box is required, I would recommend getting a switchbox and bypassing your cable box when using TiVO. An advantage to this is also that you can watch TV on the cable box while the TiVO is recording.

C) If you have used DirecTivo before - be forewarned. If you want to use the maximum number of hours (say 80 hours on an 80 hour box) the quality will NOT be the same as DirecTivo. You have quality settings on your TiVO that go from Basic to like Excellent.. the Excellent quality uses up a ton more space. (i know on my old 40 hour that I could only record 9 hours on the highest quality). While I use basic quality and it is fine for me, some will think it is unbearable.

D) Once you get setup, you can use a wireless USB Network Adapter to get updates. Obviously, you have to have a wireless network. In addition, go to tivo.com and buy one of their 'approved' adapters. I did not do this and ended up having to return the one i bought because it did not work and then go back and buy one of the approved ones.

Any other questions?