Unless you live in a box, you probably already know that TiVo and Yahoo announced a partnership back in November ‘05 that allows you to schedule recordings on your TiVo directly from Yahoo’s website. When I heard about this news, it made me wonder why anybody would want to use Yahoo’s website when TiVo already has TiVo Central Online. To try and come up with some type of answer to this question, I’ve decided to put together the following table which is suppose to compare the features of Yahoo! TV to TiVo Central Online.
|
Feature
|
TiVo Central Online
|
Yahoo! TV
|
| Browse by date & time |
X
|
X
|
| Advanced search |
Title, Description, Actor/Director, Category/Subcategory, Date Range
|
Program Title, Subtitle, Description, Keywords, Cast/Crew, Date Range
|
| Daily Picks |
X
|
X
|
| Most Recorded Shows |
X
|
Yahoo has a ratings feature however you can’t easily record shows from this page
|
| Top Actor Wishlist |
X
|
|
| Top Director Wishlist |
X
|
|
| Browse by category |
X
|
X
|
| Annoying advertisements |
X
|
|
| Email a friend |
X
|
|
| Show details |
X
|
X
|
| Link to a show |
X
|
You might be able to do this with Yahoo! however, they don’t make it easy
|
| Recommendations |
X
|
Based on this unscientific comparison, I’ve concluded that there really is no reason why you should use Yahoo! TV as opposed to TCO. TCO has all the features that Yahoo! TV has plus some. Yahoo! TV is a nice website however; it just doesn’t have all the features that TiVo Central does. Also, TiVo central has a much better user interface.
Which remote scheduler do you use? Did I not compare a feature that I should have?
I must live in a box along with most people because this is the first I’ve heard of this.
I’m glad you heard it here
.
I don’t have a series 2, so don’t use either, but could see using Yahoo on occasion if I did because the TV listings show up on my My Yahoo page and it would be easier just to so it from there if I saw something from interest.
Unless there is a reason why you can only use one of the schedulers.
No, there is no reason why you need to use only one of the schedulers. Good point about my.yahoo, I hadn’t thought about that.
The difference, I think, is that I wouldn’t have the Tivo page as my homepage…I would have to go there specifically. For Yahoo, I have the TV grid on my homepage along with other news and blog feeds (like this one
… it is very nice to be reading the news, notice a show, and tell my Tivo to catch it without going all over the web to do it. Also…Yahoo already has my login, so I don’t have to try to remember my Tivo password.
Yep, I use my yahoo to access the yahoo TV page. It’s much quicker for me since I’m already on my yahoo for my rss feeds, weather, news, etc.
Recently tried meevee, which doesn’t have recording ability but which can help you lay out your tv schedule to avoid those pesky conflicts. I really need another tivo or the Series 3 with a second tuner.
One more difference between the two services:
Sends Chinese Dissidents To Prison- TCO(no) Yahoo!(yes)
It’s the grid, pure and simple. Yahoo has the grid that shows me everything that’s playing for my channels at a time of my choosing.
If I know what I want to record, I usually go to TiVo Central. But, if I’m just browsing, I go to to Yahoo.
And, Yahoo’s grid on my home page.
I agree with most commenters in that I use the Yahoo TV! functionality because it’s more easily accessible for me through MyYahoo! and the Yahoo! Toolbar. If I need to do something that only TiVo provides (wishlist), then I go there.
Are you kidding? Is this an advertisement from Tivo Central?
The Yahoo interface is far more useful. How can you browse for programming without a listings grid? Tivo has no grid. You want me two call up every channel individually to see what’s on.
I want to see what is on today on every channel at one time. Yesterday, when I discoverd Online scheduling I had a TVGuide page up and the TivoCentral page up to cross-reference back and forth.
Today I have the Yahoo page up and that’s it. I’m sure Yahoo has its problems too. It thinks my Tivo is using the wrong cable provider, and Yahoo may not force my Tivo to connect and schedule the recording as the Tivo site appears to do.
Bu c’mon YOUR grid is ridiculous.
[...] I prefer TiVo Central over Yahoo! TV. What’s your opinion about Yahoo! TV? Do you use TiVo Central or do you prefer Yahoo! [...]
I think Yahoo TV is far easier to use, but it stopped working for me some time back, so I haven’t used it in a while. Just gives me an error every time I try and request a recording. And while I’ve posted the issue on the yahoo forums I never heard anything back from them.