[Stuart]

Originally Posted by sherer

Hi

Already done a search on this forum but have a few questions. I thinking about getting a TIVO off ebay or getting another PVR. Tivo seems the cheapest option at the moment. I've alredy got a TV card in my MCE machine but not happy with the quality of that.

At the moment i've got a Pace 1000 box and already have the redeye converter as well so should be ok for getting Tivo \ alternative up and running. please correct me if i'm wrong.

The questions I have about tivo are

1) can i still sunscibe to this even though they don't sell new boxes

As far as I know, you still can

2) how good is the learning functionality

Everyone I know found it irritating (ie, if you vote for a movie, it will record all movies of that type) so I have turned it off

3) what is the picture quality like. I have my TV fine but not happy with the video quality hence the need for an upgrade

The Tivo has several quality settings. These effect the capacity of the recorder and range from "Best" (which stores around 12 hours of video and gives near broadcast quality pictures) to "Basic" (which stores around 40 hours of video and gives slightly better than VHS quality pictures).

I use my Tivo on Basic as the picture quality only really degrades if there is a lot of action (or on Casualty for some reason).

4) i've seen ethernet cards available as well as extra hdd. what are these like

Dunno.

5) can i connect to this remotely and pull off the saved stuff onto my PC in dv-ms or other format
6) as above what format does it record in

With the standard Tivo software, you cannot as it usues a propriatory format based on MPEG 2.

7) does it support 16.9

Yes.

8) do i have to watch tv via this. My STB a apce 1000 only has one RGB output the video one isn't RGB. How does this setup work

The way they suggest wiring it up, the STB is wired through the Tivo. A Tivo has three scart sockets. Two are wired for RGB and are the input from the cable box and the output to the TV. One (labelled VCR) is not wired for RGB, and connects to a VCR (so you can archive recordings to tape). If you are watching TV, you can watch it through the Tivo and have the ability to pause and rewind it. Or, you can press the "Aux" button on the Tivo remote which will bypass the Tivo.

9) what hacks etc can i use to add to this..

Will do some more research on the Tivo community forum later but at work at the moment and can't access all sites

I haven't looked into hacking my Tivo much, but the Tivo community is an excellent source of info

What else do i need to know before i get this running. Am on the Bromley platform on digital cable.

The Tivo on it's own cannot control the Pace 1000 STB (the 1000 and 2000 series boxes use a non standard infra red protocol). You have to buy a special infra red transmitter to enable the Tivo to the control the box. These cost (I think) around £30 and are available from Tivo.