Is a Mac a viable Tivo replacement?

[spjonesi]

TiVo is a basic DVR thing right?

It records TV, and pauses it... or am I missing something?

If that is the case, then most computers (including Macs) can do it. Whether they are using Windows, Mac OS X or MythTV. You just need TV tuners and drivers.

You are missing something

The TiVo allows for recording of programs through a variety of methods of input. For example I can use tv.yahoo.com to tell which of my TiVo's to record which programs, and which programs should be 'preempted' in order to make room for my new ones. This is a function that I'm sure can be done with myth TV so I'll continue...

It also allows to -rate- the programs that you watch or that are on TV. So I watch a lot of Seinfeld and The Simpsons. I give them up to three thumbs up...depending on how much I like them. The TiVo, if it isn't busy recording something I've told it to record, will then seek out programs like Seinfeld and The Simpsons to record...and places them in a folder for me to check out if I have time. So lets say my TiVo picks up Family Guy <puts flame suit on for this> which I can't STAND. So I give it three thumbs down and delete it. My TiVo will never record it again.

But then it records other shows that I like, that, if I have the time, I can watch. Like an old favorite, Cheers...maybe Futurama. Shows that I like but not enough to fill my TiVo hard drive with them (all 750gb for my new TiVo HD!!!). So I give them between one and two thumbs up but don't set a recording for them.

The 'season pass' feature is one that I wish I had on my Moto 8600...season pass will record requested shows even if they change days and times on me. Maybe I forgot about the hour special...it'll grab it anyway. My moto box seems to be nothing more than a VCR with a hard drive.

This -may- also depend on the software the box is running. I'm sure there are some out there that prefer their cable boxes. Fine by me.

My TiVo box(es) can be upgraded by me. Something that I could do with also MythTV box, but not with my cable co box.

Amazon unbox downloads of TV shows and movies at iTunes or less prices...

I could go on, but I'm sure I'm boring. I look at it like I do my mac switch. After you have one, it wouldn't be fun trying to switch back. I'm sooooo glad that the TiVo HD is out, and at $299!

joneSi

 

[Gav]

You are missing something

The TiVo allows for recording of programs through a variety of methods of input. For example I can use tv.yahoo.com to tell which of my TiVo's to record which programs, and which programs should be 'preempted' in order to make room for my new ones. This is a function that I'm sure can be done with myth TV so I'll continue...

It also allows to -rate- the programs that you watch or that are on TV. So I watch a lot of Seinfeld and The Simpsons. I give them up to three thumbs up...depending on how much I like them. The TiVo, if it isn't busy recording something I've told it to record, will then seek out programs like Seinfeld and The Simpsons to record...and places them in a folder for me to check out if I have time. So lets say my TiVo picks up Family Guy <puts flame suit on for this> which I can't STAND. So I give it three thumbs down and delete it. My TiVo will never record it again.

But then it records other shows that I like, that, if I have the time, I can watch. Like an old favorite, Cheers...maybe Futurama. Shows that I like but not enough to fill my TiVo hard drive with them (all 750gb for my new TiVo HD!!!). So I give them between one and two thumbs up but don't set a recording for them.

The 'season pass' feature is one that I wish I had on my Moto 8600...season pass will record requested shows even if they change days and times on me. Maybe I forgot about the hour special...it'll grab it anyway. My moto box seems to be nothing more than a VCR with a hard drive.

This -may- also depend on the software the box is running. I'm sure there are some out there that prefer their cable boxes. Fine by me.

My TiVo box(es) can be upgraded by me. Something that I could do with also MythTV box, but not with my cable co box.

Amazon unbox downloads of TV shows and movies at iTunes or less prices...

I could go on, but I'm sure I'm boring. I look at it like I do my mac switch. After you have one, it wouldn't be fun trying to switch back. I'm sooooo glad that the TiVo HD is out, and at $299!

joneSi

Sounds a lot like the Sky+/Sky HD service we have in the UK. Sky is the only UK-based satellite broadcaster (and have market dominance, much like Microsoft).

The Sky+ Box has a 160GB hard drive (can be upgraded). It can:

• Record up to 2 Channels from Sky (Sky carry 99% of all UK channels)
• Pause/rewind Live TV
• Be set to record by SMS text message, or online.
• It downloads (via. Satellite) a large library of programs once a week that can be played back at lesuire.

The Sky HD box basically has a bigger Hard Drive, supports High Def & has 3 tuners (I think).

Sorry to go off topic, just thought it would be a useful thing to know for all you yanks

 

[spjonesi]

Sounds a lot like the Sky+/Sky HD service we have in the UK. Sky is the only UK-based satellite broadcaster (and have market dominance, much like Microsoft).

The Sky+ Box has a 160GB hard drive (can be upgraded). It can:

• Record up to 2 Channels from Sky (Sky carry 99% of all UK channels)
• Pause/rewind Live TV
• Be set to record by SMS text message, or online.
• It downloads (via. Satellite) a large library of programs once a week that can be played back at lesuire.

The Sky HD box basically has a bigger Hard Drive, supports High Def & has 3 tuners (I think).

Sorry to go off topic, just thought it would be a useful thing to know for all you yanks

Hmmm..it is similar then I guess. That sounds pretty cool too.

IIRC, you guys have TiVo over there too!

spjoneSi

 

[nplima]

hi

if you're still looking for homemade alternatives to your cableTV company DVR and TiVO, you might want to check out MythTV. http://www.mythtv.org/

if you shop around for the right TV Tuner components, you'll get a DRM free DVR that doubles as a computer.

there are even companies that sell ready-made MythTV boxes in the USA.

 

[cb31]

Sounds a lot like the Sky+/Sky HD service we have in the UK. Sky is the only UK-based satellite broadcaster (and have market dominance, much like Microsoft).

The Sky+ Box has a 160GB hard drive (can be upgraded). It can:

• Record up to 2 Channels from Sky (Sky carry 99% of all UK channels)
• Pause/rewind Live TV
• Be set to record by SMS text message, or online.
• It downloads (via. Satellite) a large library of programs once a week that can be played back at lesuire.

The Sky HD box basically has a bigger Hard Drive, supports High Def & has 3 tuners (I think).

Although the Sky+ box has more tuners than a UK Tivo its user interface and features are not a patch on a 6 year old series 1 Tivo(all we have in the UK) that has been extended with a network card and lots of hacks.

It's a shame but until Sky improve their software my trusty old Tivo is here to stay. I have been looking around to replace it as I would like 2 tuners but still cannot find anything as powerful, cheap and user friendly.

 

[Wolfpup]

Myth is the Linux based one, right? I like that it's open, and presumably works with over the air HD at least. And I assume it has the equivalent of Season Passes...

but I just saw on their site that Zap2it is shutting down the way that Myth has been grabbing scheduling data. I guess they're working on a work around, but still that's always worried me about doing a solution like that. Dump money into it, and risk it being worthless.

That new $300 Series 3 is a good deal, as long as it's hard drive is easily expandable (I don't know if it's got a SATA port like the original). But there's no way I'm touching it until Tivo 2 Go is fully supported on it.

I've eliminated Windows Media Center software as a possibility too, because my understanding is it wraps the files in DRM so there's no way to get a real DVD from it or watch it on any other computer. That's not something I need to do a lot, but I'm not buying a DVR that ties up it's shows like that.

I guess EyeTV records more or less open stuff, so I really hope/wish they'd finish up the interface, make it a fully useable Tivo replacement!

 

[isleofjib]

the biggest differences are certainly the tuner cards (getting the right ones that record with good quality, don't flake out, and don't hinder the recordings with DRM) and the software. the software being the biggest issue with a DIY dvr (imo). contrary to that rediculous post above, a mac easily has the horse power to do it, but it lacks the the tuner and software options to make it work. if it did, i'd have MB DVR in a heartbeat!!! talk about nice form factor! lol.

 

[0098386]

I use my iMac as a DVR. EyeTV for DTT (Digital), the quality is insane and upscaled from 576i to progressive. Can't fault it. I have a subscription that lets me record shows over the internet so if I'm abroad I just pop online, tell it to record and watch it when I'm home.

Fantastic really. Not analogue in sight.

 

[Wolfpup]

Does it do season passes though? Can you control basic interface elements from the couch, so to speak?

 

[spjonesi]

That new $300 Series 3 is a good deal, as long as it's hard drive is easily expandable (I don't know if it's got a SATA port like the original). But there's no way I'm touching it until Tivo 2 Go is fully supported on it.

On the new Series 3 Tivo HD:
The eSATA port does -not- work at this point (not like the original S3 which is the expensive one). I have to get home to get my hands on my new one, but the 'kickstart 62 method' does not work...

So the option is to open 'er up, and go to work. Which is what I am going to do. Check out www.tivocommunity.com as well as www.mfslive.org. There is a development version of MFSLIVE called WinMFS that enables Tivos drives to be modified in Windows XP SP2 and later. I am going to be testing the alpha development of this software on my new big drive tivo. It may go public beta soon...you can sign up for the alpha if you are brave enough to crack open a new tivo w/o fear of bricking it (you wont).

BTW, there -is- a second method of adding storage via the eSATA port that I don't know that anybody has tried. It involves opening up the unit and issuing commands as if the second drive was on the bus as the second sata drive...that may be something I try out...

spjoneSi

 

[steamboat26]

Not to experienced with Tivo, but my mac mini with elgato eye tv and fios tv box makes a pretty good DVR, although i can only record over the air hd. If you already have a mac, an eyetv hybrid will run you $120 or so, and you choose your own limit to recordings. No monthly fees

 

[Wolfpup]

On the new Series 3 Tivo HD:
The eSATA port does -not- work at this point (not like the original S3 which is the expensive one). I have to get home to get my hands on my new one, but the 'kickstart 62 method' does not work...

Well, at least it HAS an eSATA port. That's kind of promising. I was afraid it had been removed. If that gets activated, this new model will pretty much be the same thing as the old one, for less than half the price!

Thanks for the other info!

Not to experienced with Tivo, but my mac mini with elgato eye tv and fios tv box makes a pretty good DVR, although i can only record over the air hd. If you already have a mac, an eyetv hybrid will run you $120 or so, and you choose your own limit to recordings. No monthly fees

Does it do season passed though?

 

[spjonesi]

I would again liken this to using OS X. It is very hard to understand without using it. The fact that some people think that TiVo has simple DVR uses like a cable DVR, or a computer with DVR software for that matter, makes me think that TiVo has some serious marketing to do. Or maybe they have already failed. They really are impressive when fully running and recording all of the stuff you love.

With that said, so is MythTV IMO. I think it is better than a lot of the other alternatives out there, but it still isn't enough for me to stop paying TiVo $20 /mo for 2 boxes (with 4 tuners total). But there is also nice progress being made on those projects considering it is free. I'd love to see a more mature mythtv mac port, but again it is something that if it were close to a TiVo box, I'd go for it. As of right now, to me at least, they just aren't.

spjoneSi

 

[consumedsoul]

eyeTV = awesome

I just got an eyeTV 250 unit and absolutely love it. Been testing it for a week recording both HD and non-HD channels w/ great results (after the recording the software auto-converts to Apple TV format). I'm going to do one more week of testing then downgrade my Comcast HD package to basic cable, which will still allow me to get over the air HD via my coax connected to my eyeTV unit. My monthly rate of $85+ will go to $13.

P.S. The only thing is, a few programs seem to get captured via the eyeTV software fine, but when getting converted to AppleTV format there's some very slight skipping/'stuttering' of video (barely noticeable, but still noticeable). I'm assuming it might be due to my system having multiple applications open, but I have a Mac Pro 8-core w/ 10GB of memory so figured it could handle the workload?

Not sure which forum this goes into, but "buying advices" is about right...

I can still transfer lifetime to a Series 3 Tivo (at least for another week or two). I love my S2 Tivo, but the S3 doesn't support Tivo2Go yet, and it's always possible it never will.

Before I spend the money on the S3, I want to double check some other options.

One seems to be buying a Mac Mini, connecting two HD tuners from elGato, and connecting a giant external USB drive to store the stuff on.

Theoretically that sounds great (and fun!) but I'm not sure elGato's EyeTV software fully replaces a Tivo. I need 99.9% reliable recording, stability, and the equivalent of "Season Passes".

Anyone know if this would work for me?

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I'd also need this to be mostly controllable from a normal remote, at least where I could watch and delete shows-basically I'd hope to just leave the Mac Mini in my entertainment center and hardly ever do anything with a keyboard.

 

[Wolfpup]

How well is the "season pass" type functionality working versus Tivo? Seems like it would be pretty weak. And does it have a "10 foot interface" for that type of thing? (Guess it wouldn't be the end of the world if it doesn't as long as you can PLAY the stuff from your couch, so to speak.)

Oh, and how well does it handle multiple hard drives/tuners?

I still think a Mac Mini would make a nifty DVR...except it would have to have at least one USB hard drive and two USB tuners hooked to it...wonder if that would even work having that much USB traffic flowing around!

 

[consumedsoul]

Smart Guides

You can create 'Smart Guides' in the software, e.g.:

Title - contains - <Saturday Night Live>
Repeat - is false
Channel Number - is - <105>

...then save and set the option to record any new episodes > then export to Apple TV (or iPhone etc.).

The 'Program Guide' can be set to download new shows from the TitanTV database for your local programming daily, then the new shows that meet the search requirement for your respective Smart Guide will result in new shows that get added to the queue.

How well is the "season pass" type functionality working versus Tivo? Seems like it would be pretty weak.

 

[Wolfpup]

Thanks-sounds like it SHOULD get the job done.

I'm still wobling along with my single tuner Tivo for the time being. The S3 (ie Tivo HD) units are only going for $220ish (plus lifetime), which isn't bad...except they don't have enough storage space, and I hate having to rely on a passively cooled external hard drive for years of service...

So still not sure what I'll do when the time comes

 

[gvegastiger]

Ther is currently no viable Tivo replacement. There is nothing on the market that can record digital cable on more than 1 channel at a time. The only options out there require to cobble a bunch of components together and it will wind up costing you a lot more than a Tivo.

 

[lcseds]

Another post from 2007 resurrected. How do people find these??

 

[Wolfpup]

Ther is currently no viable Tivo replacement. There is nothing on the market that can record digital cable on more than 1 channel at a time. The only options out there require to cobble a bunch of components together and it will wind up costing you a lot more than a Tivo.

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking. The digital cable part doesn't matter to me-I've never had it and completely ditched cable last year-though theoretically a Windows computer could too...though the cost would be pretty high too.

Another post from 2007 resurrected. How do people find these??

I think it's cool, and anyway I'm still curious about how well that EyeTV stuff works!

I did end up buying a Tivo HD XL since I posted this. Using that and my Series 2. I really like it-so far not one problem in a year plus of use.

I would love if Tivo's had easily swappable hard drives, and let you add a second identical sized drive to do RAID 1...a drive dies? Just swap the dead one out and keep going without losing shows.

So far though even my 2005 Series 2 is running just fine on it's original drive, but still...

Oh, one thing I like about Tivos too is that they use less power than probably anything else could. Not sure about my Series 3, but the 2 uses a max of 30 watts, and I think usually less than that.