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Television Media Announcements

TiVo to Go Released 238

Posted by Hemos from the go-forth-and-experiment dept.
SimCityHippy wrote to us with the news that TiVo has TiVo To Go. Right now, the To Go feature is supported only on Windows XP & Win2k; no word on whether the feature will be rolled out to OS X or WinME. It's also interesting to note that while they recommend Windows MP, VLC gets a nod as well.
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TiVo to Go Released More

TiVo to Go Released

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  • Sir, do you have that project I asked for? Not quite.... What are you doing...... Nothing... Are you watching TV? This is what's going to happen in office everywhere!

  • What other products have this capability? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by duplo1 ( 719988 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @07:59AM (#11243587)
    I've been staring at my Scientific Atlantic DVR with the usb and firewire ports for a while just willing them to go live so I can transfer my shows.

    Are there any products besides the Tivo that support transfering video over the network or perhaps via firewire/usb2?

    • Re:What other products have this capability? (Score:4, Informative)

      by grung0r ( 538079 ) * on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:07AM (#11243621)
      ReplayTV supports transfers over the network via DVarchive [dvarchive.org]. The old 5000 ReplayTV series can share over the network nativly.

  • Obligatory product bashing (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Monoman ( 8745 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:00AM (#11243592) Homepage
    Now we get to hear from all the folks that say Tivo sucks and how Myth and ??? is better. If you haven't actually used a Tivo for a week then you probably can't say.

    The same goes for me I guess becuase I haven't spent any time with Myth of whatever else is out there. I just know that my Tivo works and it is simple enough for my parents to use it.

    • Re:Obligatory product bashing (Score:5, Informative)

      by Umrick ( 151871 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:30AM (#11243713) Homepage
      Having both a Tivo Series 2 and a Myth TV box...

      Out of the box, Tivo is much nicer. After pulling hair and much fighting, MythTV is a heck of a lot nicer. There was a lot of pain to get there though, definately not for the faint of heart.

      The main thing I learned in the process is don't overcomplicate. A PVR-250 is a fine card to use, the PVR-350 is just more features to pull out hair over.

      TV Listings are a pain though. I have Direcway satellite as nothing else is available. The satellite receiver does some strange proxying. Because of that, my MythTV TV listings must be fetched via a ssh tunnel to a tinyproxy box at the office, otherwise it just fails.

      If you have time, and patience, the MythTV solution is much more satisfying, otherwise Tivo is probably a better bet.

      In our house, both are used. When Tivo finally dies though, it'll be replaced by MythTV.

      • Re:Obligatory product bashing (Score:5, Informative)

        by wizbit ( 122290 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @09:53AM (#11244202)
        Same situation here - Series 2 TiVo and a nice orphaned Windows PC-turned-MythTV box give me some experience with both.

        I find myself hardly using the TiVo these days. I've moved all the "season pass" show schedules over to the Myth box. Originally got going with Myth because it would let me play my assortment of DivX movie files and let me record/watch tv simultaneously with a second tuner card, and the level of control linux/myth give me is keeping me on it.

        One oddity - the best way to share video in multiple rooms with myth seems to be to NFS a huge volume with your recorded video. I remember Tivo's multi-room viewing gave you a combined list of programs and, when requesting one from another Tivo unit, simply downloaded the program to the one requesting the video and played it when ready. It'd be nice if I had each frontend contribute storage to the other frontends without having to build a huge storage machine and worry about it frying one night and losing all my saved programs.

        Anyway.

        I agree that the 350 is more needless hair-pulling for most, but if you're setting up separate backend/frontend boxen, a 350 is a nice one-card solution for watching TV on a cheap-o linux machine. Then again, so is a motherboard with on-board TV-out and ethernet.

        My main concern right now (and one of the reasons I've not dumped another grand into building a nicer backend machine and some frontends around the house) is Myth is currently only useful for analog cable. The HDTV cards out there can only receive OTA signals (unencrypted) and the future of cable TV seems to be cable company-provided receivers w/ PVR capability that aren't easily controlled from a PC. Sure, there's some work being done for the firewire ports on some of the newer receivers, and you can usually get an IRblaster going or something to control the unit, but, bye-bye multiple recordings to my backend, and so on.

        Myth could use some polish (I still like the satisfying little beeps and blurps when I use the Tivo) but I'm surprised at how much it does already. KnoppMyth [mysettopbox.tv] is making strides to lower the learning curve for new setups. DVD burning still takes some hard work, but it's getting easier, and MythDVD has built-in background ripping/transcoding. Cool add-ons like MythPhone and mfe are fun to play with and could become more useful soon. And the Hauppauge cards are just wonderful - kudos and much thanks to Chris Kennedy and the IvyTV community for supporting this hardware so diligently. I'll be a Myth user for a long time if I can get an acceptable HD solution working with it.
        • That's odd. My family has had a replayTV for about a year. We visited my in laws for Christmas and they have a Tivo. We were interested to see it but we both said at about the same time "can you turn those sounds off?!". We both thought it was annoying as hell.
          • Fair enough, I just think there are appropriate times for audible cues, especially when skipping through commercials (eg, higher-pitched == faster) and such. Also, I tend to mash the remote control buttons a bit, so hearing a sound and knowing that the PVR's already received the "Enter" button-push event, and it's working on it, is better than mashing it again and causing something I hadn't intended to happen.
      • What do you use for the remote control with MythTV? Is it as nice and elegant as TiVo's remote [nytimes.com]?
    • tivo doesn't suck (and yes I have/use one).

      But they are getting a little to cozy with the content providers and advertisers for my taste, hence why I also use a homebrew PVR [byopvr.com] so that the "man" can't tell me how long I can keep six feet under "taped" [boingboing.net] or whether or not I can backup Sopranos to DVD.

      =P

      with that said, I'm eager to see how well TivoToGo works as it does address one of my major annoyances with TiVo STB (vs homebrew PVR/Myth boxen) -- content portability.

      e.
    • Yes, but how do you justify paying $13/month for just a program guide which is free on tv.yahoo.com or your cable provider's site? Or keeping a landline for TiVo to use when you probably already have broadband and a cell phone? Also don't you sometimes want to send a VCD of your favourite episode to a friend?

      If MythTV is too complicated to setup, just get the cheapest Windows PC and use whatever PVR program comes with the TV tuner. Might want to throw in a wireless keyboard+trackpad.
      • "Yes, but how do you justify paying $13/month for just a program guide which is free on tv.yahoo.com or your cable provider's site?"

        I justify the TiVo monthly service expense for the convenience. It's fairly easy to understand if you start from the premise that you and I place different values on nearly everything - Starbucks coffee, restaurant meals, cars, mortgages, computers, etc. But mostly for me it's about valuing time and convenience. Although I am technically capable of doing so, I have no desi
      • "Yes, but how do you justify paying $13/month for just a program guide which is free on tv.yahoo.com or your cable provider's site? Or keeping a landline for TiVo to use when you probably already have broadband and a cell phone? Also don't you sometimes want to send a VCD of your favourite episode to a friend?"

        well I think the monthly charge is a little high, but the landline thing you mention is bunk.

        You can setup/use your TiVo series 2 with a usb broadband adapter to download listings/updates/etc... T
      • Yes, but how do you justify paying $13/month for just a program guide which is free on tv.yahoo.com or your cable provider's site?

        Easy.

        I can work as many hours as I want, and my billing rate is $40/hr.

        If I have to spend more than ~20 minutes* babysitting the box in one month... then I've "spent" the $13 dollars.

        * I'll leave the exact calculation for the truly pedantic... this post is costing me money. ;-)
      • Yes, but how do you justify paying $13/month for just a program guide which is free on tv.yahoo.com or your cable provider's site?

        The program guide in TiVO allows a direct connection between the search and record features.

        Now, you may like combing through tv.yahoo.com and programming the PVR manually, and you can choose to spend your time doing that. But for $13/mo TiVO will let the PVR directly connect to tv listings, and searches of them.
      • Yes, but how do you justify paying $13/month for just a program guide which is free on tv.yahoo.com or your cable provider's site? Or keeping a landline for TiVo to use when you probably already have broadband and a cell phone?

        I'm also paying $13/month for product updates. But tv.yahoo.com doesn't provide the program guide for free.. they pay for it with ads. It's not like they provide an XML feed of tv listings for you to use.

        I also don't keep a landline for TiVo. TiVo gets updates over my wireless n
        • As someone who gets his tv listings, for his Tivo for free I'd like to chime in.

          I'd pay the monthly fee to get the listings. Every few weeks I have minor hassles to deal with because of my method of getting the tvlistings, I'd gladly get rid of the problem by paying for the listings if I could. (I'm in Canada, tivo service isn't offered)

          The listings are provided, for free, by a company which is being overly generous and will someday change it's tune. The emulation software has occasional issues which make
    • Tivo doesn't suck. Tivo with DirecTV... that sucks. Don't get me wrong: the high-defintion box works well.

      But I absolutely HATE the fact that they don't enable the USB ports (you can enable them, but the next time they update their software they're disabled again). And absolutely no Home Media option.

      Why? Because the content providers are too afraid that the pristine MPEG I'm getting direct from satellite is "too" clean, and thus sharing should be made as difficult as humanly possible (even just copyi
      • The USB ports are active (but useless) on the latest version of the DirecTV DVR software. The Home Media software is also on there, but hidden. Everything is in place for HMO to be activated on DirecTV DVRs. Rumors are that it won't be too much longer.

  • as longas we're stcuck with stingy ISP (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:00AM (#11243593)
    upload bandwidth, we still can't watch our favorite programs remotely. Perhaps tivo2go will create enough demand for increased to change their tune.
    • Yeah, right. My ISP caps my outbound mail to a maximum of 1000 recipients a day (which sucks, since I manage community mail lists that have > 130 members each). All while promoting "video mail", which a single one eats up far more than a hundred messages to my lists.
    • The problem with this is that the two most common broadband systems were never designed for upstream data. DSL was originally designed for TV on demand, which didn't need it much. Asking a single copper twisted pair to handle such a data demand both ways over long distances is a bit much. I don't think cable was originally designed for upstream transmissions in the first place.
    • Personally I was wondering if the shows would be DRMd at all so that I would be able to convert them to AVI and watch them on my portable media device.

      Currently I use Tivo's "record to VCR" option and play the shows to my Archos in real-time so that I can carry them with me wherever I am. It's a bit of a hassle when you want to record multiple shows to VCR as you seemingly have to do them one at a time.

      With Tivo2go I'd be able to back all the MPEGs up to AVI in one shot and watch them on my Archos.

      I won
    • Considering Comcast is rolling its own PVR, I highly doubt they'll boost upload speeds to reward TiVo owners.

      Actually, I bet they'll do something similar to TiVo2Go and not throttle upload speeds for their system. Because they're bastards.

  • burning to dvd... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mobiux ( 118006 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:05AM (#11243611)
    I have a feeling that the burning to dvd option will be a big thing. Big as in a desired feature and as a big problem with the studios.

    People pay big money for full seasons of thier favorite shows.

    If anyone can just set their tivo, and spend 5 minutes a week burning it to dvd, the studios may take issues with that.

    • Re:burning to dvd... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Wordsmith ( 183749 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:12AM (#11243642) Homepage
      The fact that this is even a point of concern shows that we've been conditioned to accept new norms for IP.

      Burning to DVD is a problem for the studios? Yes. They'll certainly fight for DRM or other limitations. But why should it be this way? For years and years everyone KNEW they had a right to videotape whatever they pleased for their own personal collections. Many fans of shows videotaped every episode, and kept a complete personal archive. In what way is it different to do this with a Tivo and DVD than it is with a videotape? Hell, leave out the middleman - there are plenty of DVD recorder decks now available for consumers, and they work more or less like VCRs.

      But we've gotten to a point where we assume that just because the studios have found a business model, anything that rips into it is fair game for litigation. And the studios might win such litigation. And that's just sad.

      • For years and years everyone KNEW they had a right to videotape whatever they pleased for their own personal collections. Many fans of shows videotaped every episode, and kept a complete personal archive. In what way is it different to do this with a Tivo and DVD than it is with a videotape? Hell, leave out the middleman - there are plenty of DVD recorder decks now available for consumers, and they work more or less like VCRs.

        The difference, according to the studios, is that you can make a one-for-one copy

        • The difference, according to the studios, is that you can make a one-for-one copy of the original. With VHS recording, you got a copy that was a poor replication of the original, and would inevitably degrade. With Tivo to DVD recording, this degradation does not occur.

          No, the degredation doesn't occur in the TiVo->DVD stage. It occurs in the original->broadcast and the broadcast->TiVo stages. And it's a HUGE difference. I TiVo'd the Deep Space Nine series last year, and then I missed an episode
      • the average person doesn't have the time or know-how to tivo all their shows, transfer them to their pc, and burn them all to dvds. lets face it, that's not a trival thing to 90% of people out there. so basically it boils down to most people will throw down ~$30 to buy a dvd season thats already made for them... and it even comes with a pretty box with dvd menus, extras and all.

        the bad part is even though the entertainment industry realizes this fact, they still want to cripple any capabilites which are

      • Re:burning to dvd... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:40AM (#11243766) Homepage
        But why should it be this way? For years and years everyone KNEW they had a right to videotape whatever they pleased for their own personal collections. Many fans of shows videotaped every episode, and kept a complete personal archive.

        Knew as in "this is a legal right" or "we'll just do it anyway" as is the case with current P2P networks? I'm sure you're about to quote me Sony vs Universal (aka the Betamax case), but it found that time-shifting was a fair use. It did not explicitly deal with personal libraries, but one would be a temporary copy, the other permanent. That would be an additional factor weighing against fair use, and the Betamax case was a narrow (5-4) win to begin with. In addition, timeshifting was believed to increase the market by including people who could not see it at the original broadcast time, while it is clear that creating a personal library reduces the market for selling permanent copies.

        Kjella
      • In what way is it different to do this with a Tivo and DVD than it is with a videotape?

        It's different in that data on a DVD is bits, that are readily transferrable to half the internet-capable world with just a few clicks. Like it or not, that makes it different than VHS tapes, which took time, money and equipment to pirate content on a large scale.

        I'm not trying to defend the studios (far from it!) but saying that digital content is the same as physical content is missing the mark.

      • If you go with the original intent of the Betamax ruling, VCRs were allowed because they usually weren't bought with the entent to build libraries of copied material, but rather to allow time-shifting.

        With the digital recording and Internet retransmission, those copies can be distributed much farther than what fair use intended. Computers also multitask, and download video much faster than real time too. VHS was almost always a 1:1 copy, and nothing else could be done while the deck was in operation.
        • No, it was because the VCR allowed for substantial non-infringing uses ... just like tivo+tivo2go+dvd does. There's no infringement in keeping your own personal copy of data the content providers sent you over the air or over cable lines. You can even edit the content - remove the commercials or create your own version of the Phantom Edit. Just don't redistribute it - that's copyright infringement.

          And this stands true whether we're talking about perfect digital reproductions (which we're usually not with o
      • I don't believe recording for purposes of archival into a personal library is covered by the current fair-use laws. Just liking taping your rentals from Blockbuster, the laws themselves are not changing, and if you're already using DVD, your reality isn't changing either (DVD and DRM both employ digital encryption). It will be just as easy to tape a show to your VCR from your new Internet device, and it won't be any more difficult as it is now.

        It just won't be any easier than now to make analog copies ei

    • People will still buy the show DVDs, if only to get rid of the annoying logo splashed over the show. Not to mention the ads for other shows that TV stations just love to show in the corner during the show you're watching.

      Along with commentary tracks, outtakes, and other extras, the DVDs will still have value beyond recordings taken from the TV. Not to mention the convience of jump points in the episode already being set and not needing to crop the show to size and remove ads.

      All in all, there's still

    • Distribution and/or use of such tools to transfer copyrighted works outside of your home may constitute an infringement of the rights of copyright holders and/or a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and could result in legal action. TiVo reserves the right to terminate the TiVo service accounts of users who transfer or distribute content in violation of the TiVo Service Agreement.

      Mark my words. This feature will cook for a while, say three to six months, then huge numbers of people

  • I've had this forever (Score:4, Informative)

    by Bruha ( 412869 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:06AM (#11243617) Homepage Journal
    If you know anything about Linux and drivers you can enable the features on your DirectTvio.

    Sorry I always forget the regular SA Tivo's have this enabled but DirectTV wont turn these features on for people.
    tivocommunity.com has plenty of links in the forums to enable features that are locked on DirectTivo's but they're not for the faint of heart.
    • Sorry I always forget the regular SA Tivo's have this enabled but DirectTV wont turn these features on for people. tivocommunity.com has plenty of links in the forums to enable features that are locked on DirectTivo's but they're not for the faint of heart.

      So you can technically do things with the TiVo that other products and open source software can do, it's just incredibly difficult. That's a glowing endorsement of TiVo. ;-)

      • >So you can technically do things with the TiVo that other products and open source software can do, it's just incredibly difficult

        Actually there is NO open source product that allows you to record the raw MPEG stream as it comes down from the DirecTV satellites. That means with the DirecTV/Tivo combo unit you can watch time-shifted TV with NO loss in quality.

        And yes, that is the main reason I'm not using an open-source alternative to tivo.

        And if anyone thinks that is not a big deal they probably also
  • Can somebody please explain what this TiVo To Go feature is? Not all of us keep up to date on these things.

    • Re:To go? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Duvs ( 845831 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:38AM (#11243756)
      TivoToGo is a feature that allows Tivo subscribers to transfer recorded content from their Tivo devices (Series2 only) to their PC/laptop for viewing and/or burning to DVD. At this time the transfer is only one-way (Tivo -> PC), there is not current ability to archive to PC, then put back on the Tivo for viewing later.

  • Mac version on the way (Score:5, Informative)

    by Audiophyle ( 593650 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:22AM (#11243683)
    On the TiVoToGo FAQ:

    Are TiVoToGo(TM) transfers available for Apple Macintosh computers? At this time TiVoToGo transfers are not available for Apple Macintosh computers. TiVo is working hard to enable TiVoToGo features available on TiVo Desktop for Mac. We are currently working on ways to enable playback on Apple Macintosh computers. We will let our customers know in our newsletter as soon as this feature is available.

    • So is world peace. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ChaosMt ( 84630 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:55AM (#11243848) Homepage
      This answer reminds me of a politician promising to deliver world peace without making any specific measurable promise. In other words, don't count on it any time soon. TivoToGo was promised a year ago to be release a half year ago. If I remember right, the rumor sites were saying the mac side of it was a problem not because apple wasn't cooperative, but because the OS doesn't have the DRM built in as deeply. This issue is a big problem for Tivo. Tivo has a much greater share of mac users than the general population. They're taunting 1/3 of their customer base.
      • I just read your linked site about Distributism. Do you actually believe in this stuff? Its hilarious. Especially this page: http://www.distributism.com/objectives.htm

        and this one:
        http://www.distributism.com/compare.htm

        I take it this economic system is based on a particular religon. Whats the point of designing such a system knowing full well you'll never get 100% or even 75% of the population to be a part of any one religion?
      • If I remember right, the rumor sites were saying the mac side of it was a problem not because apple wasn't cooperative, but because the OS doesn't have the DRM built in as deeply

        That's why they're rumor sites. TiVo2go transfers mpeg2. The problem is most likely the fact that playing mpeg2 files on OSX is a pain in the ass.
        • How is playing mpeg2 files a pain in the ass?

          seriously, I have a Mac and have no difficulty playing DVD's, nor creating them, so how can playing MPEG2 be a problem?

  • If they support VLC... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Eggplant62 ( 120514 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:26AM (#11243702)
    Then it should be dead simple to get it to work under Linux. The Linux VLC port is nearly flawless, and I love the idea of streaming video on a home network where if I don't want to hang on the couch with the laptop while doing school work or stuff for work at home, I can still watch some tube or just simply listen to the audio portion.
    • Alternately, it shouldn't take too long for MPlayer to support the TiVo codec. From there, it's just a matter of "mplayer -vo yuv4mpeg -ao pcm YourFavoriteTVShowHere.tvo" to a fifo and encode to your favorite "open" format. Looks like it uses a simple MPEG2 codec (without any DRM?), so it very well could very well already work with ffmpeg/libavcodec. Probably doesn't even need to be transcoded.

      All I can say is SWEET!
  • Since the TivoToGo service is based on the same protocol, with some extensions, that was used for the Home Media Option to show hosted photos and music, I'm hopeful that the folks at JavaHMO [sourceforge.net] will be able to add support for transferring videos to and from the TiVO for us Linux users.

    In fact, since the current version of the TiVO software won't let you do the transfer back, this would be GREAT added functionality.

    ---

    More on this and other opinions of mine can be found here [blogspot.com] :-)

  • i just spent 30 minutes reading through all the material on tivo's website about this, drool dribbling down my face happily as I gleefully rub my hands together in evil scientist fashion...only to find in the end that Direct TV subscribers cant use this in the tivo units that come with the service. i saw a post by someone about linux drivers and enabling features but a quick perusal of that shows that for the average-non-linux-guru human, that is a SWAMP. ...must...control...fist..of...death

  • the fine print (from tivo.com) (Score:5, Informative)

    by DiscoRaj ( 794735 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @08:31AM (#11243720)
    *Note: Not all shows may be eligible for transfer from your TiVo box to your computer. Programming providers may restrict or limit the ability to record, display, view or transfer any particular program using a variety of copy protection mechanisms.

  • A couple of weeks?? (Score:4, Informative)

    by pikapp767 ( 781015 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @09:00AM (#11243869) Homepage
    According to http://www.tivoblog.com/ [tivoblog.com] this update could take several weeks to be deployed. Hopefully it doesn't take that long.

  • Bah software rollout!!!!! (Score:4, Informative)

    by da1duc ( 531067 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @09:02AM (#11243882)
    From Tivo:
    Please note: Due to the large number of customers who are eligible for this software release, it will take several weeks for you to receive the software after you put in your request. Your patience is appreciated. You can check that you have received the update by confirming that your DVR is reporting software version "7.1x" in your System Information screen. You will also receive a message on your TiVo box once the new software has been installed. For more information about using the TiVoToGo feature, visit www.tivo.com/togo and our Customer Support site. Thank you for using the TiVo Service! TiVo Customer Support
    This should have been something they were rolling out a long time ago. Wish they had a way for us to find out when this was going to happen. I was just about to do my New Year's clean up on my Tivo. Duc
  • I guess it's time to consider the replay 5xxx series dead now. Tivo finally has everything that made replay special. With no new developments on the horizon from Replay I guess it's time to say R.I.P.
    Replay TV 5xxx series 2003-2004

    P.S. May you be reborn in a 6xxx series with support for viewing ALL media formats available on your network. Including documents.
  • The ToGo service requires an updated software to be installed on your DVR box (7.1-x). They expect that the rollout of this software to take several weeks and months, though you can fill out a priority request form with your DVR's service number to get yourself higher in the queue. Until you get this software, you'll have nothing on the ToGo side from the PC.
  • Here's what I want - I want to be able to watch Tivo recorded programs elsewhere besides the family room. I figure here are my options:
    • Buy Tivo unit for every tv in the house. Not gonna happen, and not useful for taking stuff with me on the laptop.
    • Buy Tivo w/DVD burner built in. Expensive little sucker, though.
    • Buy regular DVD burner to add to home entertainment stack. Will Tivo let me burn stuff to DVD just like it does to VCR now? Is it worth it or will it suck?
    • Get this TivoToGo thing, transfer s

    • Re:Ok, what should I buy now... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by enrico_suave ( 179651 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @10:17AM (#11244391) Homepage
      "Here's what I want - I want to be able to watch Tivo recorded programs elsewhere besides the family room. I figure here are my options:"

      "Build MythTV box. Not gonna happen in my house, as I could never get away with having a noisy server sitting in the entertainment center..."

      You don't *have* to put the "media center server" in the same room as the TV... you can use thin clients over a wired network like MediaMVP [hauppauge.com] (quasi how to "thrifty pvr" article on my site [byopvr.com])

      People use modd'ed xboxes as the front end of their mythTV/other media/PVR backend.

      That's just one approach... there's a couple others that are worth investigating.

      e.
    • You forgot this one

      Pick up the TiVO box and carry it to the other room, and plug it back in. This works anywhere, TiVO is fully functional at playback even if disconnected from the cable/DirectTV.
  • Why don't they just add a network port or USB/FireWire interface? In the case of the network port, have an FTP server running on the TIVO so that people can pull off the shows they have recorded easily. (And have full or Nearly full FTP support so that we can delete the shows through the FTP as well so I can write a program to do this automatically for me.) In the case of USB/FireWire, treat it as an external HD. Same fun can be had this way.
  • Here's something interesting to note:
    The 1.x version of the TiVO desktop is 8.1mb for Windows, and just 236k for the Mac.
    What's up with that?
    • The Mac version is a shim that exports your existing iTunes playlists and iPhoto Albums, while advertising the computer to the TiVo (over Renvezvous/ZeroConf) Since it merely uses existing subsystems on the Mac, it doesn't have much to do. On Windows, they have to provide a much more extensive UI for file selection etc.
  • Awwww... that's nice. Tivo users can finally do something MythTV users have been able to do forever. Actually, with a MythTV "frontend" installed on any computer in my house, I can watch recorded programs, extract video, or even watch live TV over the ethernet.

  • Other new software features? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ischorr ( 657205 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @12:08PM (#11245562)
    I notice my series 2 Tivo is running version 4.0b, and the Tivo-to-Go software is installed in version 7.

    I guess they just started rolling out the updates, and when I signed up on the "priority upgrade list" to get the upgrade sooner, I'm told that it may still be weeks.

    Has anyone else gotten the newer software? Is there anything else new? I remember the version 3 to version 4 upgrade as being pretty big, perhaps going up 3 major revs will be better (I'm expecting versions 5 and 6 were just for different hardware than I have, though)?

    If they do nothing else but eliminate some of the raw *wait time* when I'm managing the box ("Please Wait - this may take a minute" usually takes me anywhere from one to 10 minutes??), I'll be a happy camper.
  • ...when Jobs is announces a new firmware for iPod Photo to enable video playback with TiVo To Go support Jan 11 at Macworld, can't you read between the lines?

    So much for Apple needing sellable MPAA content to justify a cool feature without getting sued.

    iPod TV

    I need to start my own rumors site.
  • Looks like they're only enabling transfer of video from your TiVo to your PC and not the other way around. At least, that's how they're define TiVoToGo. Their FAQ on it mentions nothing about transferring programs from the PC back to the TiVo.

    I've been having problems with one of my Series2 TiVos and was hoping I could transfer everything from it to the PC, do a full reset of the unit, and transfer everything back. Since the upgrade to two 120 GB drives, and several times yesterday, it would restart and

  • Congratulations Tivo! Only took 4 years to copy (Score:3, Informative)

    by skintigh2 ( 456496 ) on Monday January 03, 2005 @01:03PM (#11246030)
    what ReplayTV does for free.

    How Tivo makes news:
    1) ReplayTV releases feature for free using free, built-in hardware
    2) Many years pass
    3) Tivo copies feature and charges extra for the hardware and adds a monthly fee
    4) News!
  • So for all you Canucks out there... Tivo doesn't so much work in Canada, so what do you all use for your PVR option?

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