TiVo Service ending on 31 October 2017

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5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1729025 2-Mar-2017 16:52

Does Tivo have any interest in the NZ market now? Seems that have left us well behind in the technology stakes. Looks like Telecom thought they were onto a winner, but like most things they introduce, they drop it, leaving the users to fend for themselves. I blame Telecom, not Tivo.

I found this interesting article today from NBR, published a few years back ... https://www.nbr.co.nz/sites/default/files/images/778%20TiVo%20Full%20Paul%20Matthews.pdf.pdf

robfish

683 posts

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#1729028 2-Mar-2017 16:57

Jaxson:

Cheap if I already have the gear.

You can buy a MiBox for US$70 with free shipping. They make great frontends.

Rob

mattwnz

20164 posts

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#1729029 2-Mar-2017 17:03

ZKDWF:

Does Tivo have any interest in the NZ market now? Seems that have left us well behind in the technology stakes. Looks like Telecom thought they were onto a winner, but like most things they introduce, they drop it, leaving the users to fend for themselves. I blame Telecom, not Tivo.

I found this interesting article today from NBR, published a few years back ... https://www.nbr.co.nz/sites/default/files/images/778%20TiVo%20Full%20Paul%20Matthews.pdf.pdf

Wasn't it also TVNZ. Apparently they owned a 1/3 of it http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2590540 . TVNZ could have made this a winner, although they then moved onto the igloo device, which has already failed.

The thing is that standard TV, and even Pay TV is getting less and less viewers. So why would companies invest in creating new PVRs? That is probably why the range in NZ is so limited. VHS has already died, DVD and Bluray may not have long left either, as these studios want people steaming so they have full control, rather than giving people physical copies.

jarledb

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#1729030 2-Mar-2017 17:05

ZKDWF:

Does Tivo have any interest in the NZ market now? Seems that have left us well behind in the technology stakes. Looks like Telecom thought they were onto a winner, but like most things they introduce, they drop it, leaving the users to fend for themselves. I blame Telecom, not Tivo.

I found this interesting article today from NBR, published a few years back ... https://www.nbr.co.nz/sites/default/files/images/778%20TiVo%20Full%20Paul%20Matthews.pdf.pdf

Who is Telecom?

Yeah, ok: i understand what you mean. But Telecom is not Telecom anymore, its Spark... Things change, is my point.

Just look at what is going on in the US at the moment. Google/Youtube is getting ready to provide a streaming TV-channels package that will probably put a lot traditional cable TV/satellite TV companies out of business.

YouTube announces cable-free TV subscription service

I would say that the future of products like Tivo does not look great..

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mattwnz

20164 posts

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#1729035 2-Mar-2017 17:09

jarledb:

I would say that the future of products like Tivo does not look great..

Although Tivo boxes in the USA are all up to date and from what I have seem, are a really good product. There are advantages of these PVR devices over streaming, such as being able to store the content, move it to other devices, skip advertising etc. Then streaming errors and buffering can still be a problem. But IMO, it is more about content control with trying to get rid of these types of devices, and replacing them with streaming.

DonGould

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#1729037 2-Mar-2017 17:13

mattwnz:... Tivo boxes in the USA are all up to date and from what I have seem, are a really good product....

Ok, so can we smash up a little box that will just pull the RF from USA to our TIVO's here and just watch US TV with all the functionality? With unlimited data plans on 1Gbit connections, how much data are we talking to just pull all the channel traffic?

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nickrout

219 posts

Master Geek

#1729068 2-Mar-2017 18:02

Google found references to a UK project providing EPG to UK Tivos that seem to have suffered the same fate in 2011 or thereabouts. So it probably is possible to use an external EPG service - and the NZ Freeview EPG in XMLTV format is easily available.

However as other have mentioned the hardware will die eventually, and someone has to maintain said EPG source.

There has been mention of MythTV and of course there are other Freeview compatible computer based PVR solutions. Despite rumours to the contrary, Mythtv is not that hard to set up, and once you have done so, very easy to use. Mythtv is linux software

TVHeadend is also very popular and quite easy to set up. It also runs on Linux (and maybe Android?)

For windows there is NextPVR or Mediaportal, both have good reputations.

For watching, most of the recording software has a "frontend" that is what shows on the TV and is controlled by your remote. However many people are using Kodi as a frontend.

Hardware wise you need

a "recorder" or "backend" - this machine does all the recording and has your big hard drive. It can be the same machine as the "frontend" or "watching machine" - although many people prefer to put the backend in a cupboard and use smaller prettier machines near the TV. You can, for example, use a raspberry pi and an external hard drive, so it can be cheap.
a tuner - I highly recommend the Silicon Dust HD Homerun for terrestrial Freeview, it has two tuners per device and connects to your backend over your network, meaning your backend doesn't have to be near your antenna connection. There are also PCI and USB based tuners for terrestrial and satellite Freeview.
A frontend which plugs into your TV via HDMI. As I said this can be the same machine as the backend, or you can use a variety of devices, from a raspberry pi, an Odroid C2, an asus|hp chromebox, an android box like the Xiaomi Mi Box or the nVidia Shield, an Amazon FireTV etc. You need one per TV.
A decent network in your home. Wired best, but AC wifi will work well.

My own setup is an HP workstation with lots of hard drives, mythtv running on ubuntu, an HD Homerun tuner and (mainly) asus chromeboxes running LibreELEC (an operating system for running kodi) for frontends.

I can record almost every Freeview channel at once (you need three tuners to get all of Freeview simultaneously).

I don't advocate that such a setup will be as easy as Tivo, but it is not rocket science either.

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alisam

830 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1729072 2-Mar-2017 18:14

I have two TiVo's and they have been very reliable.

I liked the fact they could be networked.

If anything it is probably the EPG that has been wrong and so the Tivo's recorded a repeat.

I am very, very wary of anything to do with Panasonic recorders.

My comment in my signature as regards my Panasonic Blu Ray recorder says it all:

Panasonic DMR-PWT530GZ Blu-ray Recorder (Rubbish!)

It is incredibly slow to bring up any menu e.g. Guide.

It randomly decides that a program I watch from week to week, is to be no longer recorded.

It does not recognise that a program is a repeat.

I doubt that it has ever had a Panasonic update.

I will be looking with interest as to what others are going to replace their Tivo's with (if at all).

I see the UK consumers can get a Tivo with 6 (yes 6) tuners.

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surfisup1000

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#1729078 2-Mar-2017 18:30

DMCM:

Yep, and I think there is where there is a gap in the market.

E.g. I can't be fagged fiddling around with a PC and tuner cards and installing (or even compiling source code) just to get tv recorded. I want a plug and play box that just works. Perhaps I'm asking for too much....

Exactly the thought of 99% of people. I tried setting up a HTPC once, and they are a painful and pretty expensive -specially compared against a tivo that you can grab for sub-100 from trademe.

Given declining TV audiences that gap is getting mighty tiny.

Stu

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#1729080 2-Mar-2017 18:35

They were launched at $920 with the HNP included for free. We bought our first at launch, got one free from the then Telecom if we agreed to a 12 month broadband contact (we were already customers), got one for (if I remember correctly) $100 and one free from a neighbour.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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clinty

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#1729081 2-Mar-2017 18:40

There arw some good threads on the dishtv product on Geekzone, may have to look into them

Having @joshhill96 floating around here could on help as well :)

At least we have some time to sort a replacement

Clint

robfish

683 posts

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#1729087 2-Mar-2017 19:05

Here is what my MythTV web UI looks like;-

Rob

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#1729092 2-Mar-2017 19:30

I still have mine in my garage, after I decommissioned it a few years ago. I guess I should have sold it then.....sigh

Has anyone pulled their Tivo apart. I have been contemplating making a MythTV box (or a NextPVR box) for ages now. Before I junk the Tivo, I'm wondering whether whether it can usefully be stripped for any parts for this build. Specifically, I'm interested in anyone who can knowledgeably respond to the following thoughts:

Is the twin tuner salvageable and usable in anything else?
Is the case/power supply a proprietary arrangement, or is it something I could readily use to put the guts of the HTPC in - it is after all quite an attractive case, and the PS could presumably power a new mobo and hard drive?
Is anything else inside it worth salvaging?
Is the remote usable as a remote on a new HTPC, with something like a FLIRC?

thecrane

11 posts

Geek

#1729099 2-Mar-2017 19:47

This announcement has made me mad enough to come out of lurker mode and post on this thread. :)

I have played with various setups over the years, but TiVo is the one which my wife and kids are able to use without any dramas. And while its useful days are numbered as Netflix and the on-demand services get better, it's still highly valuable I think - so much so, that I upgraded the internal HDD to a 1TB drive a year or so ago.

I'm thinking that there must be a way to intercept the request from the TiVo for the EPG data and then replace the data with NZ EPG data...surely? Has anyone sniffed the network traffic coming out of the TiVo when it goes to the service? Couldn't one create a simple-ish server that hosts the EPG data for NZ, and then set a local DNS alias that points any request from the TiVo to that data?

I'm sure I'm over-simplifying, but there must be some solution like that which would be viable?

@robfish - where has the NZ MythTV community gone? Where's the best place to go to plug back in to that community?

FlanManNZ

38 posts

Geek

#1729114 2-Mar-2017 20:51

This sux, as I only just upgraded my tivo drive over christmas due to the drive dying. $200 down the drain now.

Anyone know how to hack it to simply at least get the epg from somewhere, or, get the US tivo working in NZ.

Otherwise, whats a good set top alternative ? or DYI where I could at least re-purpose the SATA drive.

Anyone willing to start a facebook page petition ?

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