Member Avatar for kc0arf

Does anyone ever watch "live" TV anymore, aside from Football games? With today's busy schedules, and active people, I am willing to bet a lot of us record our shows, such as ER or CSI or Law and Order, and then view them at a comfortable time and date. Today's gadget folks have a DVR, like TiVo; others use the old VCR. Either case, we both get burned when the networks run a show "overtime", and when they move it to a "special date and time".

TiVo, a leading DVR service, has designed into TiVo 7.2.1 software the ability to keep recording a show, and run it to completion before switching to the new show. For example, if you were recording a show, and it ends at 7:32, but you have a new show starting at 7:30, you can use the Season Pass manager to determine a priority for which one should be recorded.

A better fix would be simple: force the TV networks to start their shows on time, and end them on time. But we all know the real truth -- the commercials are the name of the game, and if a commercial is long, we need to air that at the expense of meaningful programming. We also know that TV networks don't really care if we watch the show -- I have seen several shows now get moved, clobbered, cancelled and no real notification to let us know. I lost track of Star Trek Voyager for that very reason: I could never find it!

Thanks to the guys at TiVo for building some decsision-making abilities into their software.

Christian

  • 5 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
  • 180 Views
  • 8 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by pt49
Member Avatar for stupidenator

With the DVR service from Cox Communications, you don't have to worry about that because their DVRs come with two tuners.

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

Please tell us more about your DVR service. I don't have a unit yet, and am thinking of one. Thanks.

Christian

Member Avatar for nightowl512

I have Directv with TiVO, and I love it!! Once you get one, and start using it you begin to ask yourself "how did I ever live without this?" It does have the ability to record two shows at once, which eliminates the problem you described above. I would recomend getting one.

Member Avatar for alc6379

Great post.

I would like to point out that like the Cox DVR mentioned above, you can now run dual tuners in Windows Media Center. Some cards like the Hauppage PVR-350 have dual tuners on one PCB, so you can install one card, yet record multiple channels. :cool:

Member Avatar for pt49

I have a TV but it's packed in the shed somewhere.

I have not had a TV in my house for any length of time for over 7 years now. I did dig it out to watch 911 unfold, but 2 days later I switched it off and dumped it back in the shed.

I browse the Sunday paper for 20 minutes, and that's it for me as far as keeping up with current news goes. I learn all I need to know through my computer.

What is TIVO?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.