Posts Tagged ‘Tivo’
Question Asked: How Do I Skip Commercials On My Tivo?
In the good ol’ days, back in the first Tivos, and Replay TV systems, there was a “skip commercial” button. But people who make commercials complained and Tivo got rid of it.
The good news is, it’s still in Tivos, just not “officially.” It’s a pretty simple hack to get it to work, too.
When watching Live TV, simply press Select, Play, Select, 3, 0, Select.
Your Tivo should chime two or three times. (Twice for Series 3, Three times for other models.)
That’s it. Now you can use the “Move to Hash” button to skip ahead 30 seconds when watching recorded tv. If you don’t know, the Move to Hash button is the one directly to the right of the “DVR Select” button, and diagonally below the Slow Motion button.
One note: any time you reboot your Tivo, this hack resets, and you’ll need to re-enter the code.
Question Asked: How Do I Transfer Video To My Tivo From My PC?
With an older Tivo, the video can only come off your Tivo. You can’t put it onto the Tivo.
However, with a Series 2, Series 3, or XL Tivo, you can purchase the Tivo ToGo Plus software, which is $24.95. This software allows you to not only transfer shows from your Tivo to your PC, but you can also put video from your PC onto your Tivo.
The software/Tivo only supports certain file types, so some downloaded video may need to be converted before transferring it to your Tivo.
The downside is that the transfer software doesn’t tell you if the file is supported or not. So, if you spend 3 hours transferring an HD movie to your Tivo, and then try to play it, and the file type isn’t supported, the Tivo gives you an error message.
For more details on Tivo Desktop software, check out their website.
Question Asked: How Can I Get a Replacement Tivo Remote?
It’s a bummer when that remote stops working, because most of the older Tivos don’t have buttons on the front of them, rendering them useless.
The bad news is, the only remote that fully works with a Tivo, is the Tivo remote.
You can get a universal remote, but the only ones that remotely work well with Tivo (that’s a pun, get it!?) are more expensive than the Tivo remote itself.
The only two place I can find that sell the Tivo remotes are Tivo themselves (obviously), and Amazon.com. The remote runs about $50, for the “Premium Glo” version. The Series 2 remotes aren’t available on Amazon anymore, except from a few sellers, for a few dollars.
Your best bet is to take advantage of the opportunity, and upgrade to the new
HD Tivo
Question Asked: How Do I Know How Much Room Is Left On My Tivo?
By default, Tivo doesn’t do a great job in telling you the total amount of space you’ve got left on your Tivo hard drive, which is a bummer. Especially now that the TV show season is starting back up.
You could drop a little bit of money, and get the external Tivo Hard Drive
Or, your could actively monitor the amount of disk space left, with a nifty program called TivoPlayList.
The application connects to your Tivo(s), assuming they’re on the same home network (wireless), and gives you a list of all the shows you’ve recorded, how much space they’re taking up, and the option to download/save that file to your computer. It looks like this:
Tivo PlayList, Click to See Large
Soem programs, however, are copyprotected, and you can’t save them to your PC.
You can see, in the image, that the Tivo in my office here has about 17 hours worth of disk space left. (The stats about how many records, and how much space you’ve got left are at the bottom of the screen.)
Also, as I do with a lot of shows, you can use the Tivo Desktop to auto transfer some of your shows to your PC over your wireless network. Assumingly your PC has more hard drive space than you’re Tivo does. What I do, is transfer the majority of shows I want to be sure I don’t lose, to my PC automatically, then delete them from the Tivo to make room for new shows. Then, when we want to watch a show that’s on my PC, I transfer it back to the Tivo. Simple.
If you’re concerned with running out of space, you should definitely get TivoPlayList, and keep an active eye on your storage space.
Question Asked: Is Tivo Really Worth It?
Having previously named Tivo as the greatest invention of the 20th century, personally, I’d say yes.
Many people think that Tivo’s just a way to digitally record TV shows, like a new-age VCR. While that’s true, that’s only part of what Tivo does for you.
Tivo 
People may claim to have a “Tivo
A few months later, we purchased the Tivo HD Series 3
Not only will Tivo
Hate commercials? Who doesn’t. Got a Tivo
I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first. I had gotten an old Sony Tivo (the original series) years and years ago, as a promotion from a company that I worked for. I wasn’t sold on the idea, so I sold the Tivo on eBay.
Years later, when visiting some of my wife’s family down in New York City, I experienced Tivo
I’ve been asked if Tivo
Let’s assume you get the standard Tivo
That’s $145.40 for the first year of service, compared to Tivo
Seeing really is believing though, if you have an inkling to get a Tivo, but aren’t 100% sure, go try one. Surely someone you know owns one. If not, most Best Buy stores have a working demo of the HD version in their stores.
If you’re considering going with the one from Comcast or DirecTV, just because it’s “easier”, think twice. If you look up reviews of those boxes from people who own them, you’ll find that the majority of them are negative reviews. While Tivo, on the other hand, are glowingly positive in most cases.
If you’re in the Boston area, I’ll gladly demo my HD (and non-HD) Tivo