Does Tivo work with Dish?

[KDRE]

Im curious as to why if it does, noone uses it instead?

 

[KyDave]

The standalone units would.

The drawbacks are that rather than storing the exact digital transmission from the satellite (as a DISH dvr would) the standalone Tivo would have to convert it from an analog signal back to digital. This might actually look ok, but I think you would have some quality loss.

Also, a stand alone tivo is $13/month.

 

[KDRE]

Tivo doesnt record digital images in this age?

 

[KyDave]

Not sure I follow you completely.

Yes, they record digital images.

The DirecTV tivos are specially made to record the exact satellite transmission, just as the DISH DVR'S do with Dish.

But the STAND ALONE, $13/month tivo's have to convert ANALOG signals on the fly to a digital format. And that is where you can lose some quality when setup with Dish.

 

[KDRE]

You pretty much get upconvert recordings?

Is it worth it

 

[KyDave]

I've never personally seen this setup. It might not really make too much difference on the picture.

Anyone else out there using a setup like this?

 

[gambler]

We have a standalone Tivo. We ran one connection from the dish to the Tivo and one straight to the TV, to see HD stations. We also have two settings for the sound since the HD doesn't go through the Tivo so watching it through the TV results in the sound not being synchronized.

 

[Popasmurf]

I have a SA TiVo attached to a 508 and a 301. The picture looks fine and I LOVE my TiVo. I use it and will continue to use it instead of my 508. JMHO.

 

[roadrhino]

Two stand-alone TiVos. They work just fine with E* ... pretty much exactly the same way that TiVo would work with digital cable.

Once cablecard is fully operational, a cablecard-ready TiVo would be able to record the digital stream(s) directly from cable, much like the DirecTiVo and the E* DVRs record directly from satellite now. However, that will perhaps be a while off.

I won't say that TiVo is for everyone, but if you can live without channel surfing, it may be a good move for you.

Certainly the stand alone TiVos have the ability (once you've bought a usb network connection) to move files to your computer for burning to DVD if you want an archive of some shows. I rarely use it, but when a friend misses a show, it is far easier to burn her a DVD than it would be to put the show onto VHS.

Honestly, if I were to do it all over again and start now, I would probably have DirecTV with TiVo instead of E* and stand alone TiVos, but there are some nice advantages of my current setup (DNS and locals is one) so I'll stick.

You may want to ask about E* in the tivo community forum, www.tivocommunity.com for some additional info.

The pricing is $13 a month or $300/lifetime for the 1st box on your account. Additional boxes are $7 a month each.

Hope this helps ...

Roadrhino

 

[carload]

I've got a 510 on one side, and a TiVo standalone with a 301 on the other side.

Benefits of TiVo SA + 301:
- Better remote
- Name-based recording
- If you pay unit "lifetime" fee up front, no monthly fees
- Can seamlessly record from OTA antenna (510 requires sub for locals)
- TiVo Series II can serve up audio, photos, and much more as part of in-home data network
- Otherwise unused hard drive space gets filled with sometimes-useful "suggestions"
- If you ever leave Dish, TiVo can be used with cable or D*

Benefits of 510:
- Better integrated guide (TiVo can miss new channels for a few days)
- Better picture quality (TiVo must recompress video to record)
- 100% channel accuracy (TiVo IR to 301 makes mistakes now and then)
- Cheaper monthly fee
- TiVo gets stuck on some "You Are Not Authorized" screens that require channel up-down to exit (blacked-out event, for example).
- One less device to plug in and manage

My 510 has a lot more hard drive space than my TiVo, but that can vary according to model.

Over the year+ that we've had both, we've migrated to the 510. When the TiVo fails to change channels to a desired program for whatever reason, that's no fun. Add in the better picture quality and (for us) increased storage, and that's why our TiVo is now our secondary DVR. For now.

 

[leaderc]

I've got a standalone Tivo fed by the S-video output of a 811 feeding a S-Video signal to my 65" and then I have the DVI from the 811 also feeding the TV, PQ sucks with the Tivo. I'm in the bind of most, HDDVR is too darned expensive and MPEG-4 can't be far off, what to do, what to do... Just my $0.02.

 

[roadrhino]

I've got a standalone Tivo fed by the S-video output of a 811 feeding a S-Video signal to my 65" and then I have the DVI from the 811 also feeding the TV, PQ sucks with the Tivo. I'm in the bind of most, HDDVR is too darned expensive and MPEG-4 can't be far off, what to do, what to do... Just my $0.02.

Yeah ... TiVo picture quality is pretty disappointing with a big (or in your case, HUGE) screen. Even at the "best" quality, it does some compression of the signal. This is not an issue with DirecTiVo because the mpeg stream is recorded directly to the hard drive.

I should have mentioned that earlier.

Roadrhino

 

[kbohip]

I've always thought it would be smart for Dish to integrate ReplayTV in their DVR's. If they could keep the price down to around $5 a month like Directivo, it would be great. I've always heard that Replay is a better service than Tivo. I've never had the chance to use it though.

 

[Grandpa J]

I have 2 SA Sony TiVos that were great - 8 years series 1 and 5 years series 2 both with "Lifetime Subscriptions" - no montly fees. Needed to replace hard Drives on each but it was easy and a few times the IR blaster drop a digit so it did not record what was scheduled. TiVo PQ, IMHO was not as good as PQ directly from receiver. For many years TiVo equipment and software was just plain better than Dish.

However, both TiVos are now for sale as I got 2 Dish 942s. While they are not TiVo the 942s I have work fine and are HD. Now can record upto 6 channels at once if need be (vs 1 at a time on each TiVo). IMO the 942 user inter faces are about equal to TiVo. If you are staying with Dish look at the 942s or wait for MPEG4 verison but who knows when they will be out.

 

[Stargazer]

For what they want for the lifetime fee and hardware on the Tivo's one can get a computer and the software and hardware to use it with that computer.

The good thing about the Dish Network recievers is that you dont have to pay $13 a month and the hardware can be cheaper.

 

[Popasmurf]

Actually, I think it's pretty hard for the normal person to find a computer for $400-$500 that will do what TiVo will do, unless you know what you are doing and order the exact system you need, or can build it yourself. My estimate was $300 lifetime fee plus $100-$200 for the unit itself. I have a Dish 508, a MCE PC, and 2 TiVo's. I wouldn't give up my TiVo's for the world. Though my co-worker built a Myth setup and it looks pretty cool. I do agree though that the Dish option is cheaper. I paid $150 for my 508, and have paid nothing for the monthly fee.

For what they want for the lifetime fee and hardware on the Tivo's one can get a computer and the software and hardware to use it with that computer.

The good thing about the Dish Network recievers is that you dont have to pay $13 a month and the hardware can be cheaper.

 

[jollygrunt]

I'm considering getting the Humax DVD-RW TIVO. Mainly because I want to be able to save some of the programs I DVR to DVD. Tivo is offering it for $199 on their website.

Would it connect to my set-up, using s-video, like this: 522 to Tivo to TV?

 

[Popasmurf]

It should be like any other Stand Alone (SA) TiVo, so yes, it should.

I'm considering getting the Humax DVD-RW TIVO. Mainly because I want to be able to save some of the programs I DVR to DVD. Tivo is offering it for $199 on their website.

Would it connect to my set-up, using s-video, like this: 522 to Tivo to TV?

 

[roadrhino]

I feel the need to mention two things that are unrelated to each other but are both related to topics in this thread.

First, there is no way that one can build a PC which is comparable to a TiVo for $400 (the cost of a TiVo box plus a lifetime sub) ... unless you've already got most of the parts just lying around already and aren't going to count those as adding to the cost. A nice read on the topic is Free TiVo: Build a Better DVR out of an Old PC. This is something I intend to do once my current box gets upgraded ... perhaps 2 years. MythTV is also a good call, but It seems to be more flakey from the POV of needing to fuss with the guide info issues every month or two.

Perhaps more pertinant to most, there are three options if you want to burn DVDs from shows. As noted, the humax box has a burner built in. This doesn't allow for editing of advertisements. The second choice would be any TiVo plus a usb network connection and a PC with DVD burner. One can pull shows from the TiVo to the PC, edit them there and burn a disc. The cost of the usb network connection can be about $30, the DVD burner about $50 and the software about $50. The third option would be only suggested only for those familiar with (or willing to become familiar with) linux. You could simply hack your TiVo box (this can be done both with DirecTV boxes and stand alone boxes). You could then bypass the $50 burning software and use free software that works at least as well for most needs.

Roadrhino

 

[Stargazer]

$199 is not that bad of a price for a Tivo with DVD recorder. A DVD recorde alone would cost you that. I wish they had a DVD recorder that would accept multiple DVD's in which you could tell it which shows to record and it would record it to any of the DVD's instead of having to replace each DVD. If you put DVD+RW's in it and it could hold like 10 or 20 or so DVD's then all you would have to do is watch the show off of the DVD and erase it when your done. If you want to save the show then take the DVD out and put another one in it. Having a hard drive to boot wouldnt be bad.