Best off-the shelf TIVO replacement

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697 posts

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#1834510 31-Jul-2017 19:45

As long as you do not run a Guided Set Up or Clear & Delete on your device, after 31 October 2017 you will still be able to use your TiVo Device to:

convert and receive digital channels on an old analogue TV;
watch recordings made on the device prior to 31 October 2017 (“existing recordings”);
pause, rewind and instant replay live TV and existing recordings;
fast-forward existing recordings;
use TiVo KidZone and Parental Controls so far as they relate to existing recordings;
record the channel you are watching in a 30 minute block (from the moment you press record);
record items manually if you know the start and approximate end time for each program (although this will be a lot more difficult to do without the Electronic Programming Guide); and
transfer (subject to being Home Networking Package customer) existing recordings between TiVo devices on the same account; existing recordings from their TiVo device to a PC/ Mac; and home movies and photos already on the TiVo device from the TiVo device to a PC/ Mac.

TENKAN

314 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1834513 31-Jul-2017 19:50

Hey that sounds great, but just wondering how you set the clock on the tivo, how do you find this in the settings, cheers

cafeg

697 posts

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#1834517 31-Jul-2017 19:57

I guess we will find out on oct 31 but it boots up on the linux operating system which should be setting the time on bootup from a time server.

lucasnz

45 posts

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#1834525 31-Jul-2017 20:24

@cafeg:

record the channel you are watching in a 30 minute block (from the moment you press record);
record items manually if you know the start and approximate end time for each program (although this will be a lot more difficult to do without the Electronic Programming Guide);

All the recordings will likely appear under one group (if grouping is enabled) and all with the same name, something to the effect of "No EPG Data available". So you'll only have channel number, and time of recording to go on. And from memory the channel number is only displayed when you go into a recording. That's not very usable!

WRT time. I'd hope that the Tivo use NTP to sync time (like almost all devices). The question is, is the NTP time source a Tivo server that will be turned off come 31 Oct? If the NTP time source is turned off, or if it used some other proprietary time thing, then the Tivo's clock may drift. Another problem - can you set the Tivo's clock manually if it drifts??? My Tivo is now unplugged (been replaced with a Kodi + TVHeadend HTPC) so I can't check.

In summary, I don't think the Tivo will be usable post 31 Oct, and I think it's very unlikely that someone will crack them like the S1 devices (if that was going to happen, it would have happened years ago - the S2 devices have been out for ages!).

Luke

Spong

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#1834567 31-Jul-2017 22:36

@TENKAN: Hey that sounds great, but just wondering how you set the clock on the tivo, how do you find this in the settings, cheers

There isn't anywhere to set the clock I believe as it gets it online somewhere. Someone on the Whirlpool forums powered down their Tivo for a few months, and then powered it up off the network. The clock had lost several minutes during that time as you'd expect. Once connected back to the network it corrected the clock. Someone there did a few tests and believes that the Tivo receives it's time information from a standard source before connecting to the Tivo mothership, but I don't think this has been proven yet. I see this as a major potential problem after 31st Oct if this isn't true, as a drifting clock will make manual timer recordings difficult to say the least. Hopefully the smart guys working on keeping Tivo working past 31st Oct will sort all this. The likely mods will apparently involve a modchip to bypass the enforced connection to the Tivo mothership, and possibly a new HDD load to get it to connect to OzTivo for the guide. Progress is being kept fairly quiet until 31st Oct I believe. I wish I knew more. I have 4x Tivos that I love and a Panny 260 that I'm trying to love, but it won't have WAF at this stage.

Tivo upgrades to operate with the new OzTivo EPG, support and service. Over 400 performed here so far. See: www.hillcrest.net.nz

allan

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#1834855 1-Aug-2017 11:53

cafeg:

ok on Panasonic:

You hit the pause button on the channel you are on nothing happens.

nothing is cached on either tuner until you push the live tv button. then after asking a couple of questions it starts caching that channel.

while you are doing that only that channel is cached and then the pause button works.

every other function is locked out apart from the live pause. it just says that function is not possible for whatever you push.

to do anything else you have to stop live pause and answer a couple more screens then you are back to the controller functions again.

so basically as soon as you change channels you have to manually start the live tv function or you have no pause on that channel and once you have started it you cant do anything else on the PVR until you stop it caching the channel you are on. If you stop it and exit out to change channels that cache is gone.

So it doesn't cache the last 30 mins of each tuner like Tivo does and panasonic told me what Tivo does is impossible and can't be done.

I think panasonic need to get hold of a Tivo and see what a real PVR does.

@cafeg - My experience with the pause button on the Panasonic devices is definitely not what you saw. Hitting pause while watching live TV, did actually invoke live pause - albeit slowly, but without further dialogue. I could get the functionality to work by either pressing pause or the rewind button.

I agree with the rest of your observations though, including the rigmarole involved in getting back out of live pause mode.

cafeg

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#1834888 1-Aug-2017 12:58

I had the Panasonic DMR-BWT760 and updated it to the latest firmware as well.

you could push the pause button until you were blue in the face and it would do nothing until I pushed rewind live TV button first.

If it had of paused as soon as I hit pause I could have lived with that..

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

clive100

236 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#1834898 1-Aug-2017 13:16

Is there an option under basic settings to do specifically with live pause or Live TV that can be activated or deactivated to give faster access to the feature ? The earlier models I believe do.

cafeg

697 posts

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#1834907 1-Aug-2017 13:22

yes i had that ticked as well, i tried unticking it but an error message came up saying I had to have that box ticked for rewind live tv work.

I thought I had found the problem when I found that box under settings actually :)

old3eyes

9119 posts

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#1835403 2-Aug-2017 09:09

lucasnz:

@cafeg:

record the channel you are watching in a 30 minute block (from the moment you press record);
record items manually if you know the start and approximate end time for each program (although this will be a lot more difficult to do without the Electronic Programming Guide);

All the recordings will likely appear under one group (if grouping is enabled) and all with the same name, something to the effect of "No EPG Data available". So you'll only have channel number, and time of recording to go on. And from memory the channel number is only displayed when you go into a recording. That's not very usable!

WRT time. I'd hope that the Tivo use NTP to sync time (like almost all devices). The question is, is the NTP time source a Tivo server that will be turned off come 31 Oct? If the NTP time source is turned off, or if it used some other proprietary time thing, then the Tivo's clock may drift. Another problem - can you set the Tivo's clock manually if it drifts??? My Tivo is now unplugged (been replaced with a Kodi + TVHeadend HTPC) so I can't check.

In summary, I don't think the Tivo will be usable post 31 Oct, and I think it's very unlikely that someone will crack them like the S1 devices (if that was going to happen, it would have happened years ago - the S2 devices have been out for ages!).

Luke

I'll just use mine as a STB as it is now but without recording that is unless I buy a new TV..

Regards,

Old3eyes

dclegg

2806 posts

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#1835437 2-Aug-2017 09:46

Received my Panasonic DMR-HWT260GN yesterday. Was expecting it to be a bit clunky to use, based on the feedback here (especially when live pausing).

But our unit live pauses only using the pause button (although it takes a few seconds). The dialog when returning to live TV is a little cumbersome, but we'll get used to it.

On the plus side, it plays much nicer with our AV receiver*. When changing to some channels on the Tivo (e.g HGTV & Prime), we'd lose audio. We'd have to change channels away and back again, or do the same with AV inputs on the receiver, in order to get sound working. Used to drive us nuts! This doesn't seem to be an issue with the Panasonic.

We also had to ensure we turned on the AV receiver before the TV, otherwise Tivo audio would be lost altogether, requiring a TV or Tivo reboot to fix. At this early stage, this also no longer appears to be an issue.

We're also finding the Guide isn't too slow to load, as was mentioned here. And it's great having the OnDemand apps on this device. Previously we'd have to either AirPlay to our Apple TV, or use the PS4. This will streamline using OnDemand a bit.

All in all, I think this will work out to be a better Tivo replacement than I expected.

*If I ever met the person that came up with HDCP... well, I wouldn't do anything violent, as that's not my style. But I'll give them "the look" so hard, that they'd wish.... OK, OK, it'd probably have no effect on them, but I'll feel better. And I'd definitely not be buying them a beer... OK, thats just mean. But I would NOT be shouting two rounds. Mark my words.

allan

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#1835618 2-Aug-2017 12:06

dclegg:

Received my Panasonic DMR-HWT260GN yesterday. Was expecting it to be a bit clunky to use, based on the feedback here (especially when live pausing).

But our unit live pauses only using the pause button (although it takes a few seconds). The dialog when returning to live TV is a little cumbersome, but we'll get used to it.

Yes, that's exactly what I am experiencing as well on my DMR-BWT760, but for some reason @cafeg seemed to be getting a completely different scenario.

cafeg

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#1835699 2-Aug-2017 13:02

On thinking back, I may have been at fault not waiting long enough for the pause to start, I think I expected it to pause when I pushed the button straight away. I definatly didn't wait 5 secs, it would have only been a couple of 1 or 2 secs then when it didn't start looked for other ways in the book and followed what panasonic support told me to do.

My apologies if I have put anyone off the box with that.

scuwp

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1835758 2-Aug-2017 14:26

I'll just use mine as a STB as it is now but without recording that is unless I buy a new TV..

Unless I am missing something the theory is that will only be possible until there comes a time when you need to power off the device. If it can't phone home it wont load so it can be used as a STB and will be bricked.

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

cafeg

697 posts

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#1835769 2-Aug-2017 14:38

scuwp:

Unless I am missing something the theory is that will only be possible until there comes a time when you need to power off the device. If it can't phone home it wont load so it can be used as a STB and will be bricked.

well, there is one way to find out, unplug the network cable and phone line and restart it..

I'll give it a go and see what happens. I can always plug it all back in again while it can still call home.

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