New to TiVo


-- Does the word TiVo stand for anything?

From gleffer, "It doesn't mean anything. Lots of possible meanings have been posted, but TiVo Inc. officially says that it has no meaning. "

Interesting Trivia: Before TiVo was called TiVo, it was called Teleworld.
Other Interesting Trivia: Another name TiVo was considering for TiVo was "Bongo."

-- Wear and Tear and Noise on the (constantly spinning) hard drive

Since the TiVo is always recording something (the 30 minute buffer, if nothing else), the hard drive is constantly spinning. Many people have expressed concern that all this activity is reducing the life of the hard drive.
Richard's answer: "Absolutely not true. I am working with Quantum, hoping they will put this in writing. In discussions I had with key technical guys at Quantum today, they implied that it is probably better to NEVER spin down, but certainly not advantageous to spin down regularly -- that is, for drive wear."

Although most people say they can't even hear noise from their TiVo, other's have complained about noise, although whether it comes from the hard drive or the fan is not always clear. One of the features of the Quantum drive is supposed to be low noise.
Richard's answer: "The noise thing is different. How old is your TiVo? The newer ones are quieter. Maybe you could get a quiet one and an upgrade to 30 in the same move!"


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-- Why does channel-changing take so long?

If you're running an antenna or cable lead (without the cable box) into the RF input, you're using TiVo's internal tuner to change the channel, which only leaves the MPEG encoder delay (about 1 1/2 second), which is the time it takes to encode the signal, write it to disk, read it back from disk, and decode.

IR delays (such as when controlling a cable box or Dish Network receiver) can add 2-3 seconds to that, depending on the IR speed you choose.

If you're using DirecTV serial port control, then the added delay from TiVo is I believe almost imperceptible. But, either satellite system's receivers are themselves somewhat delayed in channel changing (another 1 - 1 1/2 second?), even when no TiVo is around.

So, to summarize, my estimates of channel change delay are:

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-- Why didn't my program record?

You can look at the recording history in the the ToDo list to find out what happened.  Or better yet look ahead and see what is going to happen so you dont miss it in the first place.  I used to do that a lot when I first got TiVo until I understood more of what was going on.  With a StandAlone TiVo, you've only got one tuner so you are likely to run into scheduling conflicts.  Or worse yet, You're recording program A at 8pm and program B at 9pm.  The network of program A decides to run program A from 8pm to 9:02pm.  There is now a two minute conflice between program A and B.  Whichever one has the highest priority will be recorded.  The DirecTiVo has two tuners making this less likely, but if you record a lot it still happens.
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-- Why did I miss the end of my program?

As in the previous example, networks like to run programming starting one minute early or ending a minute late.   They do this to encourage people to stick with one network.  If the network lists the start and end time down to the minute, you'll likely get your entire show but then have a conflict on the next show.   The same happens if you tell it to record longer yourself.  Best case senario is when your record back to back shows on a single network.  then you'll catch the last joke of one show on the beginning of next. 
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-- Why do I get a lots of copies of a show?

TiVo is generally told to record first run episodes only.  It knows from the program information that a show is a rerun and does not record it.  Networks do not always share their full schedule information with Tribune, the company whose listings  TiVo uses.  When this occurs TiVo doesn't know if a show is a rerun or not, so it records it just to be safe. 
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-- Why is TiVo recording stuff I didnt' ask for?

Its likely recording TiVo suggestions. TiVo uses the free space on the hard drive to record show it thinks you may like based on what you currently record and what you have given thumbs up or thumbs down to. Over time as you use the thumbs to express a preference, suggestions can be quite good an finding new shows you may be interested in or in just grabbing shows you like but don't necessarily need a season pass for. Suggestions are deleted to make room for any programs you have specifically set to record. Some people turn off suggestions all together.

-- My lineup or guide data is wrong.

Problems with lineups (the list of channels available) or more specific regular problems with guide data can be reported through email to lineup@tivo.com or with the web form at http://customersupport.tivo.com/tivoknowbase/root/public/tv1050.htm? For email, make sure to include your TiVo serial number, zip code, and cable company along with a detailed description of the problem. TiVo will try to talk to Tribune to fix the problem, but sometimes the information is not available. For example, techtv and comedy central are frequently mentioned for not having episode information. The channel is not providing the information to Tribune in this case, and TiVo cannot do anything about it. Try contacting the channel directly - maybe if enough people complain, they will change. (Note that TiVo, ReplayTV, and UTV, in addition to many paper/online listings all use Tribune for guide information.)

If you notice a problem with a specific show that might affect other people, you can also post to the Season Pass Alerts forum. A good example of a problem for this forum is a last minute change in the schedule by the network that TiVo won't get in time or if a first-run season pass thinks a particular episode is a repeat, when it is not.

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