Thanks for sending this in Dave. Sorry I didn’t post it earlier but, it sucks to be sick….

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been having some performance issues with TiVo desktop. On my PC, TiVo desktop use to take an excessive amount of time to startup and whenever I would start it, my computer’s hard drive would go crazy with activity. After doing some research, I stumbled upon the following thread on TiVoCommunity.com where a couple of users got together and came up with a solution to this problem.

According to the thread on TC, the culprit of the slowdown can be caused by an excessive amount of cache files within TiVo desktop’s cache folder (c:\Document and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\TiVo Desktop\). In the case of my PC, TiVo desktop had written out 11,266 cache files into the cache folder!

In order to improve TiVo desktop’s performance, all you have to do is periodically delete the contents of the cache folder. Along with deleting these files, you might want to look into reducing the amount of space that TiVo desktop can use for its cache (take a look at the following screenshot).

Thanks to the following script, I’ve gone ahead and scheduled it so that my computer clears the cache on a nightly basis. Now, TiVo desktop runs like a champ on my computer!

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As a side note, I would like to thank Scott and Jarrod for putting me down as their TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks Scott and Jarrod. It really is appreciated!

Just so you all know, I haven’t been active on this site for about a week because I’ve been battling a sinus infection and yesterday I had a minor surgery performed. I plan on being back to normal by Monday.

In the mean time, don’t forget to enter your name in the t-shirt contest. I plan on picking a winner tomorrow.

Update 2/17 @ 1:07 PM: And the winner is….RK. RK, I’ll send you an email in a couple of minutes so that I can get your shipping address.

Update 2/16 @ 3:30PM: I can’t believe there’s only 4 submissions for this contest! After all, who doesn’t want a free t-shirt. If you’d like, you can still enter your name because I plan on picking the winner later tonight…

Being the nice guy that I am, I went ahead and cashed in some of my TiVo Rewards points in order to pickup a TiVo t-shirt which I’m going to give away in the following contest.

Here’s how the contest is going to work:

• The winner of this contest will receive a white TiVo t-shirt (Large)
• To be entered in the contest, simply leave one comment on this post with a link to a previous comment that you’ve left on this site. Also, please make sure that you provide a valid email address so that I can contact you if you win.
• A winner will randomly be picked on 02/16.
• The winner must live in the continental United States.
• I’ll pickup the cost of shipping the t-shirt.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Stephen Mack just announced that TiVo has added ExerciseTV as a TiVoCast channel. As always, you can subscribe to ExerciseTV via TiVo Central Online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central –> Find Programs –> Download TV & Movies –> ExerciseTV.

Great job TiVo! Keep those TiVoCast channels coming!

Recently I went ahead and added my local Fox affiliate (33-1) to my Series 3 as a new OTA (over the air) channel. Right away, I noticed that my TiVo didn’t have guide data for Fox 33-1. Instead, my S3 would display “To be announced” whenever I accessed the guide data for this channel.

After doing some research I stumbled upon a form on TiVo.com where you can request a change to the guide data. Within two hours of submitting the form, I received an email from TiVo letting me know that the problem was being worked and that it should be resolved shortly. Once I got home from work, I noticed that my TiVo had received a new message. Sure enough, the message indicated that Fox 33-1 had been added as a new channel! Thanks to TiVo’s excellent customer service, I am now able to view the guide data for Fox 33-1 and ultimately schedule recordings on this channel.

I don’t know about you but, I’ve never seen customer service like this in my life… Great job TiVo!

For a limited time, TiVo is offering three months of TiVo service for free when you purchase a TiVo HD directly from TiVo.com. If you’re in the market for a TiVo HD, you might want to take advantage of this offer it’s only good until 2/17.

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As a side note, I would like to thank David for putting me down as his TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks David. It really is appreciated!

Lifehacker has published a rather lengthy howto which covers converting video files for playback on your TiVo. Unlike my TiVoGoBack howto, this one is written specifically for Windows and instead of using TiVo Desktop plus, lifehacker has instead decided to use a free program called Videora. Check out the review if you are interested in transcoding video files for playback on your TiVo.

Earlier today, Stephen Mack (director of TiVoCast operations) announced that TiVo has added Finding America to their growing lineup of TiVoCast content.

As always, you can subscribe to Finding America by heading on over to TiVo Central Online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central –> Find Programs –> Download TV & Movies –> PodShowTV –> Finding America.

TiVo has once again announced the top 10 Super Bowl Ads based on approximately 10,000 anonymous households. This year’s top ten Super Bowl ads are:

1. E-Trade: “Baby” (spitting up)
2. Pepsi Co: “Justin Timberlake”
3. Doritos: “Mouse Trap” (user-generated)
4. Coca-Cola: “James Carville and Bill Frist”
5. Ice Breakers: “Carmen Electra”
6. Bridgestone: “Headlights”
7. Bud Light: “Cavemen”
8. Vitamin Water: “Horse Race”
9. Cars.com Plan B: “Witch Doctor”
10. Life Water: “Thriller”

What was your favorite Super Bowl ad? Personally, I liked the Audi ad for the R8. I’m not much of car guy however; this car looks pretty sweet…