TiVo Service ending on 31 October 2017

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2886 posts

Uber Geek

#1824681 18-Jul-2017 18:33

That sounds like a nice PC that should be plenty powerful. I have done a bit of research but haven't built a system yet. With that caveat in mind, if it was me and providing the computer had the slots, and budget permitting, I would be looking at:

a dual or quad terrestrial tuner card (Amazon UK had a better range than Amazon US last time I looked)
possibly a dual satellite tuner as well
possibly a Hauppauge colossus if you wanted to capture HDMI output from Sky/Blu Ray etc at a future date
a second hard drive in the 4-6TB range, or a multi-bay NAS on the network
NextPVR (or Myth TV)
MCE Buddy
Plex

Then I would network it. I think you can set up automatic processing so that once a recording is done MCE will strip out the commercials, then flip the finished file to Plex for indexing and viewing. Cheap clients, such as Kodi on Raspberry Pi, could then allow for viewing of content in the main room, and across a network in the bedroom etc.

EDIT: Typo

Dynamic

3866 posts

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#1824752 18-Jul-2017 20:26

JimmyH: ...Amazon UK had a better range than Amazon US last time I looked...

Just take care when buying tuners from overseas. I made the mistake of buying a HDHomeRun from Amazon USA at a bargain price. As soon as it arrived, someone with more experience than me in this area advised it was an ATSC model not a DVB-T model that we would need in NZ. It was only checking the fine print after the face that I saw my error. I was able to return it, but at a loss of course after freight and restocking fees... *doh*

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DMCM

78 posts

Master Geek

#1824960 19-Jul-2017 08:32

Dynamic:

JimmyH: ...Amazon UK had a better range than Amazon US last time I looked...

Just take care when buying tuners from overseas. I made the mistake of buying a HDHomeRun from Amazon USA at a bargain price. As soon as it arrived, someone with more experience than me in this area advised it was an ATSC model not a DVB-T model that we would need in NZ. It was only checking the fine print after the face that I saw my error. I was able to return it, but at a loss of course after freight and restocking fees... *doh*

True. I checked out the Happauge quad tuner and it's no cheaper on any of the Amazon offerings, anyhow. Much better in that case to go local.

knidu

55 posts

Master Geek

#1826946 22-Jul-2017 11:20

Hi everyone.

I see the warehouse have the DishTV T2200 on special for $199 at the moment.

Any opinions on whether I should grab one? (or two or three?)

thanks

EDIT: I see they are out of stock online. oh well.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

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#1828118 24-Jul-2017 09:07

Personally I've found a lot of the DishTV gear to be generic China OEM boxes, with the software tweaked for NZ use. I expect you'd find it poor coming from a TiVo, where the UI was reasonably simple.

Wiggum

1199 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1828139 24-Jul-2017 09:26

Jaxson: Personally I've found a lot of the DishTV gear to be generic China OEM boxes, with the software tweaked for NZ use. I expect you'd find it poor coming from a TiVo, where the UI was reasonably simple.

Have to agree. I had one a while back for a second TV, it was an absolute pain. Constant problems with recordings etc.. it went on trademe after 2 weeks.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1828350 24-Jul-2017 13:16

Wiggum:

Jaxson: Personally I've found a lot of the DishTV gear to be generic China OEM boxes, with the software tweaked for NZ use. I expect you'd find it poor coming from a TiVo, where the UI was reasonably simple.

Have to agree. I had one a while back for a second TV, it was an absolute pain. Constant problems with recordings etc.. it went on trademe after 2 weeks.

My parents one came up with the plain English error message of "Media not alive" when the hard drive failed...

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scuwp

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1828382 24-Jul-2017 13:42

Only advantage with Dish is that they have actual support in NZ (Hamilton). Just as well as by all accounts you will need it. As yet the only off-the-shelf replacement equivalent (and I use that term loosely) as far as I can find is still the Panasonic.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

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#1828441 24-Jul-2017 14:24

scuwp:

Only advantage with Dish is that they have actual support in NZ (Hamilton). Just as well as by all accounts you will need it.

May be wrong, but I'd be interested to see if the software developers are in Hamilton, or if that's the company portal back to China...

Dynamic

3866 posts

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#1828477 24-Jul-2017 15:09

I believe that I have heard, and experienced first hand once, that DishTV's phone/faulty support is excellent. I just found the boxes to be a bit clunky. A non-techy person may find them fine to use. My in-laws are more than happy with theirs (but would really like to be able to rewind live TV after learning that we can).

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mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#1828493 24-Jul-2017 15:22

Jaxson:

Personally I've found a lot of the DishTV gear to be generic China OEM boxes, with the software tweaked for NZ use. I expect you'd find it poor coming from a TiVo, where the UI was reasonably simple.

My main issue with this other boxes, isn't really the software. It is more how laggy they are compared to the tivo. Also the software can be confusing and disjointed. For the panasonic for example, they seem to have several different generations of interface, depending on what you are accessing. It is a pity sony haven't got a device, as their interfaces are reasonably good and logical. Simplifying interfaces is the sort of thing Apple excels in too.

DMCM

78 posts

Master Geek

#1828504 24-Jul-2017 15:38

mattwnz:

Jaxson:

Personally I've found a lot of the DishTV gear to be generic China OEM boxes, with the software tweaked for NZ use. I expect you'd find it poor coming from a TiVo, where the UI was reasonably simple.

My main issue with this other boxes, isn't really the software. It is more how laggy they are compared to the tivo. Also the software can be confusing and disjointed. For the panasonic for example, they seem to have several different generations of interface, depending on what you are accessing. It is a pity sony haven't got a device, as their interfaces are reasonably good and logical. Simplifying interfaces is the sort of thing Apple excels in too.

Do any of the solutions offered here (on this thread) take care of the lag problem? As we know the Tivo caches the guide to avoid this problem.

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

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#1828514 24-Jul-2017 15:47

At the same time, I didn't find TiVo particularly zippy either. They were 2009 boxes from Mexico, and some of their process trees were a bit clunky. I really didn't like a lot about TiVo, but the prices was excellent, and hardware wise mine has been really reliable. Even the terminology was weird at times, like Now Showing wasn't what was now showing on Live TV, but was previously recorded content for example.

Personal thought time here, but the end result of this is that I'll watch less and less broadcast TV. I'll move to on demand content, and not all channels have this. TV Channels (those with live TV broadcasts) stood a chance of me watching their content before, but without the ability to queue up programmes to record ahead of time, from any broadcast channel, I simply wont now.

Reality is I'm watching more streamed content than ever, so the need to record TV is fast dropping away. I rang my broadband provider earlier in the year and complained that I could get a better deal elsewhere, so they switched me to unlimited for the same price. Once that happened, the floodgates were opened and we don't care how much data it takes to source the entertainment.

The ratings system in this country is a total joke. I was asked to contribute once years ago in Auckland, but it wasn't smart enough to capture my viewing habits, in terms of I had to block a whole hour or more at the time to one show etc. something like that. It was clear that it just wasn't going to provide accurate data, just from me. Multiply that by the still very tiny survey pool, and the fact that it doesn't capture all types of online stream offerings, and it must be very hard for radio and TV channels to convince that they are obtaining the number of viewers they base their advertising price on.

DMCM

78 posts

Master Geek

#1828553 24-Jul-2017 16:52

Jaxson:

At the same time, I didn't find TiVo particularly zippy either. They were 2009 boxes from Mexico, and some of their process trees were a bit clunky. I really didn't like a lot about TiVo, but the prices was excellent, and hardware wise mine has been really reliable. Even the terminology was weird at times, like Now Showing wasn't what was now showing on Live TV, but was previously recorded content for example.

Personal thought time here, but the end result of this is that I'll watch less and less broadcast TV. I'll move to on demand content, and not all channels have this. TV Channels (those with live TV broadcasts) stood a chance of me watching their content before, but without the ability to queue up programmes to record ahead of time, from any broadcast channel, I simply wont now.

Reality is I'm watching more streamed content than ever, so the need to record TV is fast dropping away. I rang my broadband provider earlier in the year and complained that I could get a better deal elsewhere, so they switched me to unlimited for the same price. Once that happened, the floodgates were opened and we don't care how much data it takes to source the entertainment.

The ratings system in this country is a total joke. I was asked to contribute once years ago in Auckland, but it wasn't smart enough to capture my viewing habits, in terms of I had to block a whole hour or more at the time to one show etc. something like that. It was clear that it just wasn't going to provide accurate data, just from me. Multiply that by the still very tiny survey pool, and the fact that it doesn't capture all types of online stream offerings, and it must be very hard for radio and TV channels to convince that they are obtaining the number of viewers they base their advertising price on.

Ha - I thought it was just me that thought "Now Showing" was a really weird way of describing what had been recorded!

TENKAN

314 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1828560 24-Jul-2017 17:08

Does anyone know if the Samsung BD-F8500 PVR from Australia will work here, there's actually plenty for sale over there and these units have quite a good UI and have a easy to understand interface , plus the price is pretty much the same as the Panasonic units being sold here which really have a god awful UI which I can't wait to replace.

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