Quiet Please... how to make the TiVo be quiet at night?

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DonGould

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#103362 5-Jun-2012 19:59

Is there a magic trick to making the TiVo be quiet without just powering it down?

I see there's an option for turning off the lights on the front panel, and I get that it's disk won't spin down if it's recording something, that's obvious.

But is there a 'standby' mode that I can kick in?

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MikeB4
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#636294 5-Jun-2012 20:10

I never hear our TiVo

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

DonGould

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#636297 5-Jun-2012 20:12

KiwiNZ: I never hear our TiVo

Is it in the bedroom?

Does your wife have super sonic hearing?

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wallop

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#636303 5-Jun-2012 20:13

settings --> standby

I would guess you will need to have suggestions turned off, and if there is anything scheduled it will start up.

Or earplugs?

gregmcc

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#636304 5-Jun-2012 20:14

DonGould: Is there a magic trick to making the TiVo be quiet without just powering it down?

I see there's an option for turning off the lights on the front panel, and I get that it's disk won't spin down if it's recording something, that's obvious.

But is there a 'standby' mode that I can kick in?

Basically no, there is no standby mode as it's always recording the last 1/2 hour of whatever 2 channels it's on. The only pratical way to make it totally noise free is to turn it off, but then there is the huge long startup time :(

If it's that noisy I would say that there is a problem as we have one in the bedroom and don't hear any noise from it.

MikeB4

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#636308 5-Jun-2012 20:19

DonGould:
KiwiNZ: I never hear our TiVo

Is it in the bedroom?

Does your wife have super sonic hearing?

Her hearing is normal, if your TiVo is excessively audible I would suggest you get it services, they are usually a veryquiet device

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

DonGould

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#636313 5-Jun-2012 20:24

KiwiNZ:
DonGould:
KiwiNZ: I never hear our TiVo

Is it in the bedroom?

Does your wife have super sonic hearing?

Her hearing is normal, if your TiVo is excessively audible I would suggest you get it services, they are usually a veryquiet device

Cheers, it's only the disk doing seeks. I'm wondering if it might be just be amplified by what it's sitting on and would be more quiet if I put it in a cabinet.

personally I think the HRV makes more noise.

I wondered if I could just pull the disk out and put an SSD in it, but that would sort of make it quite an expensive little machine.

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Gilco2

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#636320 5-Jun-2012 20:31

I have one tivo 2 foot from end of bed in bedroom and cant hear it. Very very quiet. Very pleased with how quiet it is.

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MikeB4

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#636322 5-Jun-2012 20:31

Put the unit on a rubber mat.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

DonGould

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#636325 5-Jun-2012 20:36

KiwiNZ: Put the unit on a rubber mat.

Nice. will look at that.

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mattwnz

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#636331 5-Jun-2012 20:39

gregmcc:
DonGould: Is there a magic trick to making the TiVo be quiet without just powering it down?

I see there's an option for turning off the lights on the front panel, and I get that it's disk won't spin down if it's recording something, that's obvious.

But is there a 'standby' mode that I can kick in?

Basically no, there is no standby mode as it's always recording the last 1/2 hour of whatever 2 channels it's on. The only pratical way to make it totally noise free is to turn it off, but then there is the huge long startup time :(

If it's that noisy I would say that there is a problem as we have one in the bedroom and don't hear any noise from it.

I think it stops recording after a period of time after no button is pressed, as sometimes when I turn mine on, you can't go back 1/2 an hour, only back to when the tv was switched on through the tv remote.
I have one in a bedroom and noise isn't a problem. I is definately noiser when it is recrding or transferring, but when it isn't being used it seems to be quieter.

Gilco2

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#636362 5-Jun-2012 21:34

I cant hear mine when its recording yet I can hear the clock ticking in the hallway, and thats with my bedroom door shut. I am amazed how quiet the unit is.

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Skolink

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#636364 5-Jun-2012 21:41

Maybe you could take the HDD out and check the acoustic setting on it. I don't know what the default is with the stock HDD, but when upgrading it is standard practice to set it to quietest / min performance, as I did.

DonGould

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#636374 5-Jun-2012 21:49

Skolink: Maybe you could take the HDD out and check the acoustic setting on it. I don't know what the default is with the stock HDD, but when upgrading it is standard practice to set it to quietest / min performance, as I did.

Oh cool... how do you do that?

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Skolink

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#636379 5-Jun-2012 21:56

Instructions here
How do I reduce the seek noise on my new hard drive?

Drives marketed for DVRs come preconfigured with firmware settings to minimize noise. Most other drives come configured for best desktop performance, not the lowest possible noise.

Hard drives from Hitachi, Maxtor, and Western Digital -- but not Seagate -- support a feature known as Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM). This configurable setting allows one to reduce seek noise at the expense of some performance. Many drives ship with AAM disabled so as to provide maximum performance on desktop computers. Since such performance is unnecessary in a DVR, it makes sense to enable AAM. An AAM setting of 128 will provide the quietest possible operation.

The easiest way to change the AAM is to download and run the free Hddscan for Windows utility. This utility will change the AAM value for both USB and SATA drives under Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. To use it:

Download HDDScan from http://hddscan.com.
Extract (i.e. unzip) the downloaded RAR archive to give you the actual HDDScan program. To do that, double-click on the file and drag the "HDDScan3.2-release" folder to your desktop.
Launch Hddscan from the "HDDScan3.2-release" folder on your desktop. If using Windows Vista, you'll want to launch Hddscan by right-clicking on HDDScan.exe and selecting "Run as Administrator."
Select your new/replacement TiVo drive from the drop down list.
Click the round blue "New Task" button and select Features -> IDE Features.
Drag the Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM) slider all the way to the left, until it reads 128. Click Set.
You're done.

If you do not have access to Windows, then you can also change the AAM setting on your Hitachi, Maxtor, or Western Digital drive using Hitachi Feature Tool v2.11. This free utility available as a boot CD and a boot floppy. The full manual can be found here. Note Hitachi Feature Tool only works on SATA and eSATA connected drives; it does not work on USB connected drives.

You burn the Hitachi Feature Tool image to a CD using a program like Nero or ImageBurn. You turn off your computer, connect the new DVR drive to your computer, and then boot with the Hitachi Feature Tool CD. From the Feature menu, choose Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM). Select the option to enable AAM with a user-defined value. Set the AAM value to 128 and click Ok. You're done.

DonGould

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#636387 5-Jun-2012 22:01

Thanks :)

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