Tivos for �99.

**Tim.Lad** · 29th October 2002

These things are great dixons online have got them for �99. again hurry they won`t last long

www.dixons.co.uk

**dave208** · 29th October 2002

dont you need a subscription for these or somethin?

**Tim.Lad** · 30th October 2002

yeah �10. a month or a life time sub witch a carn`t remember how much

**Jesta** · 30th October 2002

hmm seems pretty cool.. but what kind of inputs does it take? and do u need a 'subscription' to view terrstrial tv? is there somewhere i can get more info?

cheers

**Tim.Lad** · 30th October 2002

best place to go for info is here

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...php?forumid=14

i have had mine for over 18 months now and even the �300 price tag back then it was still worth every penny..

**dave208** · 30th October 2002

id like one but the �10/month and needing a phone line thing puts me off

**subhuman** · 30th October 2002

Just to let you know dixons.co.uk no longer have any of these in stock.

Cheers,

sub.

**biggy7** · 30th October 2002

these things are like hot cakes!

how do these compare with $ky + ?

**subhuman** · 30th October 2002

No, I lie, they're back.
Dixons seem to be resetting the stock levels each hour.

Rumour has it these are end of the line models (6020). Tivo 2 or something will be out at some point.

Tivo's (or rather, the technology) are HUGE in the States - the beauty is they are Linux based, and can be hacked to hell, for all sorts of purposes.

As for Sky+, well you get two digital tuners in that (along with a quad LNB), which is much better... however, it is expensive and I believe there are restrictions on what you can do with recorded content. Don't quote me on that though - I don't know anyone who has one.

Cheers,

sub.

**wizer** · 30th October 2002

you might as well spend the money on setting up your own pc based hdd recorder

**Yazmon** · 30th October 2002

Originally posted by subhuman
As for Sky+, well you get two digital tuners in that (along with a quad LNB), which is much better... however, it is expensive and I believe there are restrictions on what you can do with recorded content.

There are two good points about Sky+, a) You can record something while watching another satellite channel, and b) it records the digital stream. (As a pose to resampling.)

However, it cannot:
Record things 'on spec' for you. (the TiVO learns what sort of programms you like and will record you programms accordingly.) The season pass (what records everything of one series) works on the TiVO, regardless of the channel! Its also a lot cheaper, and very hack-able!

On the painfull side the service charge is �200 (or was) for a life time subscription. (or �10 a month, like Sky.)

Honestly, its the best peice of kit Ive ever bought. Well worth the money, and I probably couldnt live without it!!

**RhinoBanga** · 31st October 2002

On the painfull side the service charge is �200 (or was) for a life time subscription. (or �10 a week, like Sky.)

Don't you mean month?

**mini-me** · 31st October 2002

Originally posted by wizer
you might as well spend the money on setting up your own pc based hdd recorder

Dunno where you would find a hardware mpeg2 encoder that can encode off RGB for your PC for �99

Add on �60 for a turbonet card and you can extract the video over your network to your PC and convert to DVD/SVCD.

So even if you didn't take out a subscription, for �160 you can have a hardware mpeg2 encoder that records off RGB and is completely independent of your current PC's spec, so long as you have a nic.

However once you have used a tivo for even a week you will begin to realise how you can never be without it again. Watch hour programs in 45 minutes (fast forward through ads), wishlists, season pass, pause "live" tv (if you still watch it I know I very rarely do now).

**Yazmon** · 31st October 2002

Originally posted by RhinoBanga
Don't you mean month?

Yes, sorry, slip of the, er, finger!

**EvilBoB** · 31st October 2002

I have just ordered 2. Called up Dixons orderline and they said they have none in stock at the moment. This offer is only for this week too.

You CAN use them without a subscription just as a DVR but you will not get any program guides etc.

Personally I am willing to pay the tenner a month if it makes my life easier

Now all I gotta do is have a look at the format of the files on the HD and we can make our own EPGs!

**wizer** · 31st October 2002

http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/

**bobbydavro** · 31st October 2002

I have Sky+ and I must say it is superb, well worth every penny I spent. Never again would I go back to normal Sky/TV.

Sky+ also has the season lists etc the only thing Tivo has on top of sky is recording things it thinks you may want... but to be honest I didn't like this feature in Tivo as it ended up recording a load of crap (could have been my fault mind you

)

After having both Tivo and Sky+ I found the Sky+ to be far easier and better. The ability to watch one channel while recording another is superb.

What can be gained from hacking it incidentally? if its just the larger HD this can be done with SKy+ very easily too.

**wizer** · 31st October 2002

how much is sky+?

**fe_man2000** · 31st October 2002

From skys web site

The Sky+ set-top box costs �250 (was �300, save �50), standard installation is �50 for Sky digital subscribers (�100 for non-subscribers). The Sky+ subscription costs �10 a month. Sky digital packages start from �10 a month.

**fe_man2000** · 31st October 2002

I think it still �300 if you dont have sky already though.

I dont tend to have a problem watching 2 channels at once so the Tivo (and an extra drive I have knocking about already) will be fine - ordered mine.

cheers
Ironman