What's TiVo Good For?
Well, I now have DirecTV. I know that I said a while ago that I was getting Dish Network, well they tried to install it but had line-of-sight issues. DirecTV is different, in the sense that it uses two satellite dishes instead of one "Super Dish" that Dish Network uses. They were able to place the two satellites in different places, and eliminate the problem.
But with it, I got the DVR. I had heard about the DirecTV DVR using TiVo, but it was never really advertised like that, so I didn't think they used it. Well, I was wrong. I now have a TiVo unit with a special receiver for DirecTV.
And after using TiVo for a little while, I've realized it's only good for one thing: recording TV. Period. So far, I haven't found any useful feature that hasn't been in MythTV. In fact, MythTV can do so much more that TiVo can, it's not even funny. When you take into account all the features in MythTV like DVD playing/ripping/burning capabilities, intergrated weather, an intergrated web browser, RSS feed support, MAME, MythTV's ability to remotely schedule recordings, podcast support (if you set it up right), and countless other features that you can do with other plugins, why would anyone not want MythTV?
Oh, but I guess I mispoke. There is a great feature that TiVo has called "Suggestions". When it is enabled (which it was by default), it will record shows it thinks you will like if there's free space on the HD (without bothering to ask). The added advantage to this is when you try to record a program you actually want to see, you're informed that it's already recording something. And after a few days of leaving this feature on, the HD is cluttered with useless recordings you'll never watch anyways...
Someone needs to step up and be able to manufacture a cheap MythTV box, because TiVo is still cheap. An 80 hour TiVo is $300, while the cheapest MythTV box I saw would be the $500 one that guy is documenting. I know, if you get a lifetime license it does amount to $500, but you can pay a monthly fee, that's probably what most people do.
(Oh, and did you hear that TiVo is not selling anything directly? They're redirecting users to BestBuy)
But with it, I got the DVR. I had heard about the DirecTV DVR using TiVo, but it was never really advertised like that, so I didn't think they used it. Well, I was wrong. I now have a TiVo unit with a special receiver for DirecTV.
And after using TiVo for a little while, I've realized it's only good for one thing: recording TV. Period. So far, I haven't found any useful feature that hasn't been in MythTV. In fact, MythTV can do so much more that TiVo can, it's not even funny. When you take into account all the features in MythTV like DVD playing/ripping/burning capabilities, intergrated weather, an intergrated web browser, RSS feed support, MAME, MythTV's ability to remotely schedule recordings, podcast support (if you set it up right), and countless other features that you can do with other plugins, why would anyone not want MythTV?
Oh, but I guess I mispoke. There is a great feature that TiVo has called "Suggestions". When it is enabled (which it was by default), it will record shows it thinks you will like if there's free space on the HD (without bothering to ask). The added advantage to this is when you try to record a program you actually want to see, you're informed that it's already recording something. And after a few days of leaving this feature on, the HD is cluttered with useless recordings you'll never watch anyways...
Someone needs to step up and be able to manufacture a cheap MythTV box, because TiVo is still cheap. An 80 hour TiVo is $300, while the cheapest MythTV box I saw would be the $500 one that guy is documenting. I know, if you get a lifetime license it does amount to $500, but you can pay a monthly fee, that's probably what most people do.
(Oh, and did you hear that TiVo is not selling anything directly? They're redirecting users to BestBuy)
Written by Justin @ 9/23/2005 06:10:00 PM | Permalink
1 Comments:
At 5/07/2006 12:04:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Does anyone know of a DVR and/or software that records in THEORA?
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