Can you sell an activated Tivo?

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NZRobin

146 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 69352 6-Oct-2010 21:21
Sorry I know this sounds like a dumb question but I assume from what I've read that activating a Tivo allows it to download the EPG. Does activating do anything else? I ask because I wondered what happens if you buy a second hand Tivo. If the Tivo has already been activated by the previous owner what happens when the new owner uses it from a different email address? If a Home Networking Package is purchased I understand that media can be uploaded to/from the Tivo. My question is can you stream prerecorded media to a computer from it or does the whole program need to be downloaded to the computer first? Thanks

graemeh

1162 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 389152 7-Oct-2010 13:12
When I bought my second hand one the guy I bought it from changed the email and password on his account for me. He had to trust me to put my credit card details into the CASPA setup too. There is an option to deactivate or something from your account. I'm not sure what happens next and what happens to the homenetworking key. You can't stream the media to a computer, it is transferred BUT you can start watching it before it finishes copying.

NZRobin

146 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 389351 7-Oct-2010 21:35
Ok. Well that sounds ok, Thanks. Of the machines I'm interested in, it seems only the Tivo has a decent EPG AND allows outputting of recorded content in HD.

tdgeek

1732 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Telecom NZ

Reply # 389358 7-Oct-2010 21:49
When you acquire a pre-owned TIVO, you need to change the ownership online. You can do that once you have created your account, you transfer the TIVO to your account using the TIVO device number ( I cannot recall the exact description of that number) If you are with Telecom you need to advise us so we can add the TIVO code to your account. We then check the TIVO number is genuine, i.e. legit and not stolen, then after 2 days your TIVO traffc will be unmetered so will not count towards your broadband usage

robbyp

1163 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 389379 7-Oct-2010 22:53
NZRobin: Ok. Well that sounds ok, Thanks. Of the machines I'm interested in, it seems only the Tivo has a decent EPG AND allows outputting of recorded content in HD. They are very cool devices. The only problems are that the EPG, which doesn't have maori and prime. The other thing , is that if you happen to be recording two shows, you are stuck on watching those two channels. However with the mysky box, I believe you can record two channels and watch a third, at least that is the way it is advertised, so I assume it has 3 tuners instead of two like the tivo.

graemeh

1162 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 389463 8-Oct-2010 10:26
robbyp: NZRobin: Ok. Well that sounds ok, Thanks. Of the machines I'm interested in, it seems only the Tivo has a decent EPG AND allows outputting of recorded content in HD. They are very cool devices. The only problems are that the EPG, which doesn't have maori and prime. The other thing , is that if you happen to be recording two shows, you are stuck on watching those two channels. However with the mysky box, I believe you can record two channels and watch a third, at least that is the way it is advertised, so I assume it has 3 tuners instead of two like the tivo. You do have the option to watch recorded content while two channels are recording.

myopinion

535 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 389467 8-Oct-2010 10:39
Yeah the MySky has 3 tuners. Its amazing how many times having only 2 tuners is a problem for me with the TiVo. It seems that 3 tuners is the ideal so TiVo got that wrong I think.

tdgeek

1732 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Telecom NZ

Reply # 389479 8-Oct-2010 10:54
MySky has 4 tuners

myopinion

535 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 389485 8-Oct-2010 11:02
Yeah I believe that may be true but its my understanding that only 3 are active.

myopinion

535 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 389487 8-Oct-2010 11:04
the fourth is reserved for downloading the electronic programme guide

graemeh

1162 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 389492 8-Oct-2010 11:14
myopinion: Yeah the MySky has 3 tuners. Its amazing how many times having only 2 tuners is a problem for me with the TiVo. It seems that 3 tuners is the ideal so TiVo got that wrong I think. I use a Series 1 Tivo so that effectively gives me a 3rd Tuner and it has the EPG for Prime. TV3+1 is also very useful when the tuners are all in use.

NZRobin

146 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 390029 10-Oct-2010 00:09
graemeh: robbyp: NZRobin: Ok. Well that sounds ok, Thanks. Of the machines I'm interested in, it seems only the Tivo has a decent EPG AND allows outputting of recorded content in HD. They are very cool devices. The only problems are that the EPG, which doesn't have maori and prime. The other thing , is that if you happen to be recording two shows, you are stuck on watching those two channels. However with the mysky box, I believe you can record two channels and watch a third, at least that is the way it is advertised, so I assume it has 3 tuners instead of two like the tivo. You do have the option to watch recorded content while two channels are recording. Well at the moment we're using a single tuner vcr so anything would be a step up. Normally there isn't more than three channels we want to watch with conflicting times. This way we can record two channels and watch a third using the TV's on-board tuner. If we were going out and needed to record a third channel, then the plasma I'm planning on buying allows a preselected channel to be recorded to an external hard drive as well. In the unlikely event we needed to record a fourth channel then I still have the option of using a usb Freeview tuner on the laptop, but I think that if i could FIND four things i wanted to record at the same time I'd likely feel I was watching far too much TV! Yes I would miss prime on the epg. At the moment we use the TV-Guide to select programs and manually set the times to record. So if I only have to manually record one or two channels instead of half a dozen then i think I can live with that.

robbyp

1163 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 390673 11-Oct-2010 22:02
graemeh: robbyp: NZRobin: Ok. Well that sounds ok, Thanks. Of the machines I'm interested in, it seems only the Tivo has a decent EPG AND allows outputting of recorded content in HD. They are very cool devices. The only problems are that the EPG, which doesn't have maori and prime. The other thing , is that if you happen to be recording two shows, you are stuck on watching those two channels. However with the mysky box, I believe you can record two channels and watch a third, at least that is the way it is advertised, so I assume it has 3 tuners instead of two like the tivo. You do have the option to watch recorded content while two channels are recording. Yes, but what if you want to record two, and watch a third. The other problem is when you are recording two shows one after another, and they are both on the same channel, as by default they overlap. You then get locked on that single channel, as the tivo has to be on the same channel for both tuners. Otherwise you have to alter the start and finish times, so they don't overlap. I suppose this is overcome by having the TV have it's own freeview tuner, but mine currently doesn't.

graemeh

1162 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 390749 12-Oct-2010 08:48
robbyp: graemeh: robbyp: NZRobin: Ok. Well that sounds ok, Thanks. Of the machines I'm interested in, it seems only the Tivo has a decent EPG AND allows outputting of recorded content in HD. They are very cool devices. The only problems are that the EPG, which doesn't have maori and prime. The other thing , is that if you happen to be recording two shows, you are stuck on watching those two channels. However with the mysky box, I believe you can record two channels and watch a third, at least that is the way it is advertised, so I assume it has 3 tuners instead of two like the tivo. You do have the option to watch recorded content while two channels are recording. Yes, but what if you want to record two, and watch a third. The other problem is when you are recording two shows one after another, and they are both on the same channel, as by default they overlap. You then get locked on that single channel, as the tivo has to be on the same channel for both tuners. Otherwise you have to alter the start and finish times, so they don't overlap. I suppose this is overcome by having the TV have it's own freeview tuner, but mine currently doesn't. Yes, unfortunately there is no perfect solution. They all have their faults. Having a TV with a freeview tuner won't really help as people with devices like Tivo get used to watching what they want, when they want so don't really watch much live any more. You could always buy a second Tivo from Telecom, they are pretty much giving them away at the moment.

NZRobin

146 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 395268 24-Oct-2010 16:50
Well, I've ended up buying the Tivo and at the moment I'm quite happy with it apart from two little issues. As mentioned by others after my last post, to watch live TV you have to use one of the tuners which then leaves only one tuner to record with, not an ideal situation. Its an understandable situation because to pause live TV Tivo needs to know you are watching the same channel its on. I had neglected to realize that unlike my VCR the Tivo has no aerial pass-through. This issue has meant that I have to change my viewing habits to record first and watch later. Now I don't have too much of an issue with that but the Wife is finding it harder to accept delayed watching when her favorite viewing has started. Now it has been simple to overcome the lack of aerial pass-through by keeping my VCR and and using it's aerial pass-through. It also doubles as an extra recorder should I need to record three channels. Later I'll simply put a splitter on the aerial. The other niggle is not being able to put the Tivo into stand-by via a dedicated remote button. Having to go through a couple of levels via the Tivo button is OK put still a pain.