Is The Dual Tuner TiVo Too Little Too Late?
Is the dual-tuner TiVo too little too late? Ed Bott seems to think so in his posted titled: “Who does TiVo think will buy its dual-tuner boxes?“.
Ed has pinpointed some serious limitations in the dual-tuner TiVo namely that it doesn’t easily allow for dual tuner digital cable recording and that it doesn’t support over the air (ota) recording. In my opinion, the dual-tuner TiVo is more of a entry level dual-tuner box which is meant for people who simply want to record analog cable. As I said before, the dual-tuner TiVo is a great solution for somebody like my Mom who doesn’t subscribe to digital cable and who doesn’t care about HDTV. Granted the dual-tuner TiVo isn’t cutting edge however, it does fill a gap in TiVo’s product. A similar media center pc would cost a lot more and for somebody who simply wants to record two analog channels at once the dual-tuner TiVo is a great solution.
I understand that Ed is a tech geek like me but, lets not forget that there are people out there who don’t want cutting edge technology. For this type of person the dual-tuner TiVo is a great solution. If you want more capabilities then the DT TiVo has to offer you might want to consider waiting on the Series3 TiVo. The Series3 TiVo is supposed to be a dream come true for anybody who is geek like me.
June 12th, 2006 at 10:25 pm |
So, I’m a serious geek, have digital cable, have had a tivo for three years and covet the series 3. Still, I went and bought a DT, and am loving every minute of it. In some parts of the country, it is all but impossible to get OTA TV, so that it is not an issue. Also, while we record many of our shows up in the digital range, there are plenty of channels down in analog that we want: Food Network, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, just to name a few. Its nice knowing that I can reocrd a movie without missing an episode of Good Eats or the Daily Show.
For $100, it was more then worth it for my family.
June 13th, 2006 at 9:16 am |
Our family used a DirecTIVO unit until finally getting tired of the lack of upgrades for it and getting tired of losing signal in rain/snow.
We went to Comcast with a digital cable box having dual tuners. The Motorola box interface/remote sucked to put it bluntly. We treied a SERIES 2 Tivo but no second tuner, which we had in the Directivo unit caused us to return it.
While we eagerly await the Series 3 we are loving the Dual Tuner. The recent update gave us the ability to recover recently deleted shows and the lack of a second digital tuner has not been a problem.
When the Comcast/TIVO Series 3 is shipping we will consider HDTV and match our video with our audio which is a more than respectable Meridian 5.1 system. Until then we are more than satisfied with the DT although I do wish we could download Rocketboom on it. What’s up with that?
June 13th, 2006 at 9:48 am |
I’m not a serious tech geek, but I love my Tivo. I plan to upgrade to HDTV, but Tivo is *not* going to support that for satellite, which is what I have. (The cable company here sucks and I won’t be switching back. Also the sports packages we get through the satellite are important to my husband and son.)
The dual-tuner Tivo also won’t work for me either. I have no use for a second tuner that won’t record from the satellite.
I feel like I’m getting left out of any new Tivo advancements, and I’m pissed. I don’t care about the reasons for it; Tivo bears the brunt of my anger. I feel like Tivo has screwed me no matter what I do.
I currently use a standalone Tivo w/DVD burner and not a DirecTivo. I didn’t like the limitations of the DirecTivo, though if I’d known about the IFR controls, I’m not sure I’d have done it that way, but I also didn’t like the DirecTivo unit. We’ve only had our unit for 1 1/2 years and it’s broken more than once.
All the new features that Tivo *is* giving me seem geared towards a bunch of crap that I don’t need or want (advertisements, buying stuff online through the Tivo, etc.). The new games also don’t work very well with the remote, so they are pretty useless, too.
I love the Tivo service, but their hardware is crap and their advancements should include everyone–and they should stop with turning Tivo into one big advertisement. I pay for the Tivo service already. I don’t need advertisements in the menus and elsewhere.
June 22nd, 2006 at 3:39 pm |
Tivo is great, but paying $14 a month is not right, especially now that they bloated it with advertising and crap no tv viewer need.
I am especially annoyed at the car advertising, it is so annoying when you are not in the marked for a new car.
Anyways on the subject DualTuner I was initially interrested, then I realized that the price of my monthly subscription would be screwed up 16.99 are they insane? for a freakin program guide because that is all I am interrested in.
June 22nd, 2006 at 4:36 pm |
> Tivo is great, but paying $14 a month is not right
June 22nd, 2006 at 4:37 pm |
“Tivo is great, but paying $14 a month is not right”
Depends on whether the service is worth it to you. Some people complain about $14/month for TiVo but will happily pay $40+ per month to yap-yap-yap on their cellphones all day…
I got my TiVo free after rebate. The $13/month it costs me is more than offset by the time savings and controllability it affords me.
June 28th, 2006 at 12:42 am |
Like Hugh McMillan we recently switched from directivo to comcast (we moved and could no longer get directv).
He is totally right about the comcast DVR. That Microsoft ultimate tv sucks sweaty donkey balls. It’s frustrating and infuriating all at once.
So we too are waiting to see what the Comcast Tivo offering will be like and how much the Series 3 will cost.