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I have some questions that will help me decide whether or not to buy a TiVo

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Posted by: Grim

A) Does TiVo edit commercials when recording?

B) How much storage space does a TiVo have?

C) Will I have the ability to record stored programs onto a VHS cassette?

If the answers to A & C are both 'yes', I will purchase one. Please do not refer me to the TiVo website because these questions are not addressed there.

[This message has been edited by Grim (edited 06-01-2001).]


Posted by: ayu168

A) What do you mean? If you are watching a record show, you can always press forward button to skip the commercials.

B) Depends on which one you buy. You can buy 14/20/30/60 hrs TiVo. (These are basic recording time.)

C) I am not too sure about Phillips TiVo. But if you get a Sony TiVo and you have a Sony VCR, yes!


Posted by: Grim

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
A) Does TiVo edit commercials when recording?


If I set a TiVo to record all the Star Treks it comes across, will it automaticly edit out any comercials played during it's broadcast?




Posted by: Jim West

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
A) Does TiVo edit commercials when recording?


If I set a TiVo to record all the Star Treks it comes across, will it automaticly edit out any comercials played during it's broadcast?


Hello Arkansas. TiVo cannot do this. However, you can fast forward through commercials at 60x and the TiVo will automatically back up some to allow for your reaction time.

Jim West




Posted by: sbourgeo

quote:

If I set a TiVo to record all the Star Treks it comes across, will it automaticly edit out any comercials played during it's broadcast?



You have to fast forward past them just like you would with a VCR.

------------------
Steve

Philips 312-03 30 hour
2.0.1-002-000

[This message has been edited by sbourgeo (edited 06-01-2001).]


Posted by: Jim West

Also, with Philips (as well as Sony) you can record from a TiVo to a VCR.

Jim West

[This message has been edited by Jim West (edited 06-01-2001).]


Posted by: Grim

OK, well I saw a commercial for SOMETHING that will auto edit commercials. Which product was that?


Posted by: sbourgeo

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
OK, well I saw a commercial for SOMETHING that will auto edit commercials. Which product was that?


None that I'm aware of. There are VCR's and one PVR that I know of (ReplayTV) with 30 second skip functionality.

Any PVR will allow you to forward through commercials very quickly, but not eliminate them completely.


------------------
Steve

Philips 312-03 30 hour
2.0.1-002-000


Posted by: Grim

I know I saw a commercial for a unit that would eliminate commercials completely from whatever program(s) you set it to record. I KNOW I DID. Please do not withold this information from me simply because TiVo is not the product that performs this function.


Posted by: arjay

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
OK, well I saw a commercial for SOMETHING that will auto edit commercials. Which product was that?


There are some VCR's which have a commercial advance feature which are supposed to be able to automatically fast forward through commercials with over 90% reliability during playback.

Even this feature is not operative when recording, and that's good, because otherwise, since they're subject to errors, they'd inadvertantly drop program material.

This feature is triggered by changes in the video signal transmitted when programming shifts to a commercial. I don't understand the technical details.

All digital video recorders released so far have either a fast forward or skip feature initiated by the user during playback. None so far have the commercial auto skip feature.


Posted by: Runestar

Grim,

As has been said Replay offers 30 second skip ahead. No other PVR allows you to skip all comercials. But think of it this way.

You get home late Star Trek is already started, you've missed the captain's log and the first Scotty's She can't take much more Captian, of the show. With Tivo and other PVRs you don't have to wait for the show to end, before starting to watch the recording. Infact you can start watching at the begining while it's still recording.

So you get home, hit the tivo button goto now playing and select the Star Trek Episode. By this time it's maybe half way through. You can start watching at the begining. Fast forwarding over the comercial breaks, and I bet by the time the show is over or close to it, you'll be ready for a new show.

I generally start watching TV around 9pm at night, and start my daily records around 7pm. By the end of the night, around 11 for me I've watched 4 hours of television in 3 by fastforwarding the comercials.

The reason these systems do not edit out the comercials for you is, the Broadcast industry would have a cow. That's how they get their revenue after all. I doubt you'll be seeing any system that will allow you to totally skip comercials. They'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they did.

Regards,

Runestar


Posted by: sbourgeo

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
I know I saw a commercial for a unit that would eliminate commercials completely from whatever program(s) you set it to record. I KNOW I DID. Please do not withold this information from me simply because TiVo is not the product that performs this function.


When you track down this device please post the name and manufacturer. It would certainly stimulate some interesting conversations on these forums one way or another.

I don't think anyone on this forum would hold back information to try to trick you into buying a TiVo. IMHO it's a great product, but I think any of the current crop of PVR's are pretty cool (TiVo, ReplayTV, Ultimate TV, Dishplayer, et al)



------------------
Steve

Philips 312-03 30 hour
2.0.1-002-000


Posted by: arjay

quote:
Originally posted by sbourgeo:
When you track down this device please post the name and manufacturer. It would certainly stimulate some interesting conversations on these forums one way or another.
I think any of the current crop of PVR's are pretty cool (TiVo, ReplayTV, Ultimate TV, Dishplayer, et al)


This is old news. The following VCR's advertise the ability to fast forward automatically through commercials:

Panasonic PV-V4520....$100.
Panasonic PV-V4540....$120.
SONY SLV-N50....$130.
SONY SLV-N60....$150.
SONY SLV-N70....$180.

The list was compiled by glancing through the latest J & R catalog. J & R also lists ReplayTIVO's and everything except a virtual kitchen sink. J & R's website: www.jandr.com

There are many other sources for these and other gadgets. I picked J & R to quote 'cause their catalog is big and it was handy.


Posted by: dmdeane

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
I know I saw a commercial for a unit that would eliminate commercials completely from whatever program(s) you set it to record. I KNOW I DID. Please do not withold this information from me simply because TiVo is not the product that performs this function.


No dice. You did not give the magic password or signify your membership in the Illuminati with the required secret handshakes, hand signals, or code words. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

What do you think this is, a free forum where anyone can say whatever they want? We have a conspiracy to keep on course! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/tongue.gif



------------------
dmdeane@rcn.com


Posted by: sbourgeo

quote:
Originally posted by arjay:
This is old news. The following VCR's advertise the ability to fast forward automatically through commercials:

Panasonic PV-V4520....$100.
Panasonic PV-V4540....$120.
SONY SLV-N50....$130.
SONY SLV-N60....$150.
SONY SLV-N70....$180.


Thanks for the info. These may be good candidates when we're looking for a cheap VCR for my son to watch kids shows on the upstairs TV.


------------------
Steve

Philips 312-03 30 hour
2.0.1-002-000


Posted by: Grim

quote:
Originally posted by arjay:
This is old news. The following VCR's advertise the ability to fast forward automatically through commercials:

Some of you are still missing what I am saying. I saw an advertised product that will record a program WITHOUT recording the commercials in that program. Not Fast Forward....IT WON'T EVEN RECORD THEM. It will pause recording when commercials begin and resume recording when the show resumes. THAT is the product I wish to purchase. I know it exists because I am CERTAIN I saw an advertisement for it.




Posted by: arjay

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
I saw an advertised product that will record a program WITHOUT recording the commercials in that program. Not Fast Forward....IT WON'T EVEN RECORD THEM. It will pause recording when commercials begin and resume recording when the show resumes.


OK. I can't help with that.

Perhaps you'll be able to tell us something new.

I hope the gadget you're thinking about works perfectly. In order for it to be useful it would have to.


Posted by: sbourgeo


Please post again when you track down this device.

What I wonder is how to you produce this device without ticking off the networks?

------------------
Steve

Philips 312-03 30 hour
2.0.1-002-000


Posted by: ETR

But Grim, you're missing the main point. The only question that matters is, "Do you ever watch TV?" If the answer to this question is affirmative, then yes, you should buy a TiVo. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

One man's opinion....

--- Eric


Posted by: Mike Lang

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
I saw an advertised product that will record a program WITHOUT recording the commercials in that program. Not Fast Forward....IT WON'T EVEN RECORD THEM.


No, you didn't. You think you did...but you didn't.

------------------
Mike Lang
TiVo Moderator
<FONT COLOR="red">It's a PVR for God's sake...calm down!</FONT c>

[This message has been edited by Mike Lang (edited 06-02-2001).]


Posted by: Grim

Where you there? Just because you are a moderator doesn't make you God. Please don't tell me what I did or didn't see. I was there. You were not.


Posted by: bareyb

The only device I know of that even vaguely resembles this is VCR's that have Commercial Advance. They go back over recordings and mark the commercials and then skip over them (fast forward over them) during playback automatically. I have heard that PVR's could easily adapt this solution and since they are non-linear would actually be able to skip the commercial as though it was never there. Of course TiVo would never implement this, but technically it IS possible.

------------------
Obsessed is such an ugly word... We like to think of ourselves as extremely focused.
V.2.0.1


Posted by: MoneyMINTR

You really can't have a simple electronic product predict the future can you?


Since the above is not possible, then no such recording device can automatically not record a commercial.

MM


Posted by: DaBuzz

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
Where you there? Just because you are a moderator doesn't make you God. Please don't tell me what I did or didn't see. I was there. You were not.
Just an observation but if you are "certain" you saw what you saw because you were paying such close attention, why didn't you catch the product name or manufacturer?

I can say for "certain" that I have never seen any product that performs or claims to perform such a function.




Posted by: Kablemodem

If you had a TiVo you would be able to rewind that commercial to see which product it advertised. However, if your product did erase commercials you would never have seen the ad and would never have known that such a product existed.... Whoa, what was that?... someone's head just exploded.

I am pretty sure there are VCRs that skip commercials automatically. Whether they do this as they record or during playback I have no idea. Last week (before I had TiVo) I had a friend tape a bunch of season finales for me. While watching them they automatically skipped the commercials - and parts of the show with them. I asked my friend why he did that and he said he wasn't even home when the shows taped and that the VCR did it automatically. Missing parts of the shows annoyed me enough to consider purchasing a TiVo, which I did. By the way, I am an insurance agent and most of my clients are TV commercial production companies. If you people don't watch those damn commercials I will be out of a job!


Posted by: MighTiVo

No TiVo does not skip commercials, nor does it make it easy to do so. You can FF but autocorrect makes it tuff to stop at the right place.

TiVo seems to say two things, they don't want you skipping commercials as it would place them in a bad stance with networks that rely on advertising revenue.

Yet in their commercials they tout the ability to skip through commercials.

In 1.3 you could enter a code that would enable quick skip on the TiVo like replay but that has been removed.

And for those that say TiVo does not advertise they can skip commercials, check out your Online TiVo magazine, Kids section, Comics. It says that with TiVo yor kids can watch commercial free comics. The listed programming is on regular superstations loaded with kid targeted commercials.

Why can't a $500 box perform the same function as a sub $200 VCR and attempt autoskip so I cold get the commercials skipped on kids programming. That is a great idea and cold be a value added feature for an additional charge! If it misses I can easily adjust with FF/REW or turn it off.
I would also like opportnity to use quickskip for 30sec jumps. If you want me to watch the commercials, don't make me pay for the service, make the advertisors pay for it.

[This message has been edited by MighTiVo (edited 06-02-2001).]


Posted by: arjay

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
Where you there? Just because you are a moderator doesn't make you God. Please don't tell me what I did or didn't see. I was there. You were not.


Grim, I'm going to open this post with an apology. In making this post I'm trying to make a point to other posters here, not to you, but this thread of yours is a perfect example.

I believed when I read your description that you were misinterpreting a commercial for a VCR with the commercial advance feature. But I wasn't going to say that because I don't know what you saw. I gave information that I had about the subject, and when you said it didn't apply, I was gonna' leave it at that.

But it's been interesting reading posts to this thread. Several posters were pushing TIVO or digital recorders, others were saying what you saw wasn't true, and at least one was just being humorous. I didn't think those responses were in tune with what you wanted to know. But they are so typical of what I see as a very routine lack of insight into another person's thoughts.

You will have to check whether or not you saw the commercial you remember. I know when I first heard of the commercial advance feature, it was not apparent at first how the commercials were going to be skipped.

Check out a commercial advance VCR and see if it's possible whether that is what you may have seen an ad for. It would be very difficult for a recorder to not record commercials, but record everything else perfectly every time.





Posted by: MighTiVo

Here is an official description of Commercial Advance .

COMMERCIAL ADVANCE(TM) technology for VCRs from Arthur D. Little Enterprises eliminates commercials from any television program recorded by the user. Developed specifically for integration into VCRs, the technology utilizes a patented principle of operation involving the "post-processing" of video and audio events.

Significantly different than the COMMERCIAL ADVANCE technology introduced for stand-alone product application, COMMERCIAL ADVANCE technology for VCRs is designed to use the VCR's main CPU, along with simple audio/video detection circuitry. During recording, the television broadcast is monitored for certain video and audio events -- such as black frames and low sound energy -- which occur at the beginning and end of each commercial. The locations of these events, according to the VCR's tape counter, are temporarily stored in memory for processing at the completion of recording. Events are analyzed in relation to each other using a proprietary software algorithm to identify which ones mark the actual beginning and end points of each commercial break.

The tape is then automatically rewound to the beginning and then advanced to the first commercial break beginning point. There the VCR briefly enters the PLAY mode and a coded signal is overwritten on the tape's control track to mark the start of the commercial break. The tape is then automatically advanced to the commercial break end point where the VCR again enters the PLAY mode and a coded signal is overwritten on the tape's control track to mark the end of the commercial break. This process is repeated to mark each commercial break beginning and end point.

When a commercial break start mark is detected during playback, the audio is muted, the VCR enters the FORWARD SEARCH mode, and a blue field is displayed on the television screen for a few seconds while the VCR skips past the commercials. This process is totally automatic and transparent to the viewer, since the blue field masks the garbled high-speed picture associated with the VCR's FORWARD SEARCH mode. Furthermore, with current VCRs capable of scanning through three minutes of recorded material in less than five seconds, the process is brief and unintrusive. When the commercial break end mark is detected, the VCR re-enters the PLAY mode and the picture and audio return to normal.



I have seen some ads misrepresent this functionality by saying the VCR does not record commercials and that may have been what you saw as well.

[This message has been edited by MighTiVo (edited 06-02-2001).]


Posted by: Kablemodem

The problem is his attitude. He may be right about the product he saw advertised, but as far as he is concerned it is beyond the realm of possibility that he was mistaken and he refuses to acknowledge any information to that effect. People are a lot more helpful if the person asking for the help is polite. When I made the decision to purchase TiVo I only looked at TiVo and UTV, so I am not that familiar with other products; however, no digital video recorder that I am aware of has a feature that automatically skips commercials. I am pretty sure that he either saw an ad for a VCR or he misunderstood an ad for a digital video recorder.


Posted by: MighTiVo

Here is an example of Commercial Skip being misrepresented. (Commercial Skip is even the manal mode, not auto skip, you have to press skip for every 30 seconds like Replay)

http://www.smartshop.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?c=72&cp=77225
This 2 head VCR from Panasonic has an on-screen display, and a universal remote control. The commercial skip allows the user to record only the TV shows and not commercials. This is a good functional VCR for the price.

While TiVo has the brains and technology to do full blown Commercial Advance and the interface makes it easy enough to correct if it gets it wrong sometimes, the least it could do is offer VCR like commercial skip. 30sec single speed FF intervals. You see the commercial wiz by even though TiVo could random access jump past it. That wold be just like a user pressing FF and then Play. BUT with a predicitable jump like instant replay is a predictable jmp back.


Posted by: F1 TiVoholic

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
Some of you are still missing what I am saying. I saw an advertised product that will record a program WITHOUT recording the commercials in that program. Not Fast Forward....IT WON'T EVEN RECORD THEM. It will pause recording when commercials begin and resume recording when the show resumes. THAT is the product I wish to purchase. I know it exists because I am CERTAIN I saw an advertisement for it.


Too bad you weren't watching this ad with a TiVo. Just think, if you had been you would now have undeniable proof (the ad in question) to support your magical, time warping, automatic commercial-free recording device http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif


Posted by: sbourgeo

quote:
Originally posted by Kablemodem:
If you had a TiVo you would be able to rewind that commercial to see which product it advertised. However, if your product did erase commercials you would never have seen the ad and would never have known that such a product existed.... Whoa, what was that?... someone's head just exploded.



You certainly wouldn't want to miss an important news flash, "High flood waters in your area, GET OUT NOW!"...
http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

Such a device would be useful though. You make yourself a commercial-free archive of the entire Star Trek line
.

------------------
Steve

Philips 312-03 30 hour
2.0.1-002-000


Posted by: DrStrange

quote:
Originally posted by arjay:
Several posters were pushing TIVO or digital recorders, others were saying what you saw wasn't true, and at least one was just being humorous. I didn't think those responses were in tune with what you wanted to know. But they are so typical of what I see as a very routine lack of insight into another person's thoughts.


Actually the first hostile volley in this thread was from Grim. All the initial replies were "I've never seen one" and explanations of what Tivo does, since many people get what Tivo does confused with other types of commercial bypassing. No one accused him of being mistaken, and no one even said no such device exists (though I don't think one does). Grims response was that everyone knew of the product and were all hiding it from him. Even after that the posts were still fairly polite until he accused people of not understanding him because they hadn't forked over the information he wanted. Even after that people were still more polite than he had been. People were trying to help, and he bit their heads off.

At this point he's got no grounds to complain about anybodys attitude until he apologizes for his.

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This message inspected by #47 and found to be free of cheesy low-res GIFs and gratuitously colorful multifont text.

[This message has been edited by DrStrange (edited 06-02-2001).]


Posted by: arjay

quote:
Originally posted by arjay:

Panasonic PV-V4520....$100.
Panasonic PV-V4540....$120.
SONY SLV-N50....$130.
SONY SLV-N60....$150.
SONY SLV-N70....$180.


Thought I should mention that the list above appears to be of VCR's which have a fast advance through commercials feature, but not the patented automatic "Commercial Advance" feature to which MighTiVo posted the link. That link indicates the brands (including Panasonic) which have the patented feature.

The catalog listing for the machines above used descriptions of Commercial Skip for Panasonic and Commercial Pass for SONY. That probably means that a button push is required to initiate the fast forwarding.

The description of "Commercial Advance" in MighTiVo's post is intriguing. I can only guess that no digital recorder has adapted it only because of the added cost that licensing it would require.

As clever as it is, when used routinely in a mechanical tape transport VCR, I would think it would have a negative affect of the lifespan of the unit, with all the tape shuttling that it seems to call for. But VCR's are relatively cheap so that may not matter.


Posted by: tj

quote:
Originally posted by MighTiVo:
No TiVo does not skip commercials, nor does it make it easy to do so. You can FF but autocorrect makes it tuff to stop at the right place.


For me, I would say it does make it easy to do, and easy to stop. If you start out with 2.0 autocorrect from the start but still don't like it you can just adjust it.


------------------
-TJ

TiVo Code (for those who know what it is):
P1&gt; UM/!/US/IN T1 Wafim C{keo++ mcng+ w- sdr--} E1
T1&gt; MP14 V2.0.1z16 E2 Q- F+ C+ $+ V! S- P63 W{k++ at}


Posted by: NFLnut

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
Some of you are still missing what I am saying. I saw an advertised product that will record a program WITHOUT recording the commercials in that program. Not Fast Forward....IT WON'T EVEN RECORD THEM. It will pause recording when commercials begin and resume recording when the show resumes. THAT is the product I wish to purchase. I know it exists because I am CERTAIN I saw an advertisement for it.


I think the answer here is that none of us are aware of the product you are asking about! We would not withhold that info if we knew what it was!

Having said that, I too was in the "give me a :30 sec skip or ELSE" camp when I first bought my TiVo over a year ago! But now that I have had this thing for a while, I MUCH prefer the TiVo way, with the FF-with-auto-correction.

WHY?

Because with a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) a skip is not linear as with videotape. It just jumps :30seconds. You don't see what you're skipping. I have found that I *LIKE* to see some commercials! Thus I will intentionally back up in order to watch them. Also, networks are realizing that if they don't start hiding promos for upcoming shows and other useful information (which I would DEFINITELY miss because I would miss out on some programs that I would've never otherwise known about!) in the middle of commercial breaks, the public WOULD start to demand total commercial skip in all DVR products in the future.

This all goes in line with TiVo's tagline: "With TiVo, *I'm* in control!" You actually SEE what you are FF'g past, and thus have the capability to back up and watch a commercial or promo. In the case of DVRs with :30second skip, you are NOT in control, because you literally do not know what you're missing! (And with TiVo, it only takes ~35-40 minutes to watch an hour show!)

As to your other questions: You can dump ANY program from ANY brand of TiVo to ANY brand of VCR. It is only a little easier from a Sony TiVo to a Sony VCR (Philips to Philips?).

Also, as to the amount of storage, it depends on which model you buy! TiVos come in 14, 20, 30, and 60 hr flavors. The DirecTiVo (aka "DirecTV receiver with TiVo Service") is available only in 35 hrs. HOWEVER, the 14, 20, 30, and 60 hrs on the Standalone TiVos are calculated in recording hours at Basic recording quality (which is not real good for typical viewing). The 35 hour DirecTiVo is 35 hours at BEST quality (the DirecTiVo ALWAYS records at Best, because it does not decode the bitstream). Bottom line: buy the largest capacity model you can afford, or visit the Underground if you're computer savvy and your Standalone 14hr TiVo can **poof** magically become a 200 hr TiVo http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif!!


------------------
NFLnut
- Private First Class, TiVo Marine Corps


Current Rank: 2.0.1

[This message has been edited by NFLnut (edited 06-02-2001).]


Posted by: MikeCG

quote:
Originally posted by NFLnut:
....I too was in the "give me a :30 sec skip or ELSE" camp when I first bought my TiVo over a year ago! But now that I have had this thing for a while, I MUCH prefer the TiVo way, with the FF-with-auto-correction.......


While I didn't go so far as to say "or ELSE," when I first started Tivoing I thought I would prefer the 30 second skip, but I quickly found myself very comfortable with the FF (I usually use the 20X speed), in part for the reasons you cite. I think it's one of those "to each his own" issues, but I also think the issue has been much overblown. It's just not that a big deal, IMHO, certainly not big enough to warrant selecting one product over the other solely because of the presence or absence of that feature.


Posted by: MikeCG

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:

Some of you are still missing what I am saying. I saw an advertised product that will record a program WITHOUT recording the commercials in that program. Not Fast Forward....IT WON'T EVEN RECORD THEM. It will pause recording when commercials begin and resume recording when the show resumes. THAT is the product I wish to purchase. I know it exists because I am CERTAIN I saw an advertisement for it.


I recall reading such a claim several years ago (not sure if it was an advertisement or a "future product" item in a magazine like Popular Science), and then read that the product didn't work consistently because it relied on a "secondary" TV signal that was usually, but not always, broadcast prior to a commercial. I think the signal was a warning, or notification, to local stations, that a commercial break was starting. I have never actually seen such a device, however.

Because of an ad, referred to in an earlier post, for a Panasonic PV-QV200 that seemed to describe a VCR that would not even record commercials, I looked at the Panasonic VCR site. None of their currently listed VCR models describe that function, but the PV-QV200 is no longer current.


[This message has been edited by MikeCG (edited 06-02-2001).]


Posted by: arjay

quote:
Originally posted by NFLnut:
I think the answer here is that none of us are aware of the product you are asking about! We would not withhold that info if we knew what it was!
Having said that, I too was in the "give me a :30 sec skip or ELSE" camp when I first bought my TiVo over a year ago! But now that I have had this thing for a while, I MUCH prefer the TiVo way, with the FF-with-auto-correction.


It's likely that Grim is mistaken, but since he doesn't think so, it's up to him to check it out.

I can't understand why NOT having a 30 sec. skip is an advantage.

The brands which offer it also have FF at their disposal. Some of 'em FF at really fast speeds too.

I wish TIVO would just offer 30 sec. skip too. Every other digital recorder's got it; it's an industry standard. There's nothing more to be gained by withholding it.

But that's what makes this recorder talk so interesting sometimes. We can all get out there with our micrometers and check with precision exactly how high our boats are being floated.


Posted by: JGassor

First of all, I dont see any further posts from GRIM so he has probably abandoned this group as we are not giving him the answer he is looking for (I am thinking we could not satisfy the question whatever we say).

In the days before I changed my life (I purchased Tivo), I used to sit there and edit the commercials out on the fly as I was trying to archive my favourite program. This meant that I would not anwser the phone, I could not pee (did I just say 'pee' in a thread?), and I used to have to be home on time every week for the show, this is annoying as it can ruin a perfectly good evening out.

After I purchased Tivo, subscribed to the show, and then stopped worrying, life was so much easier again. I didnt care that it recorded the commercials as I would just pause the video, fast forward on Tivo, and then resume recording. Its so easy....

It would be a shame if this was the driving factor in GRIM's choice of whether to purchase a PVR or a VCR. There are so many wonderful benefits that PVR's offer above and beyond what VCR's offer. I hopefully will never need to buy a VCR ever again.

Jim


Posted by: arjay

quote:
Originally posted by JGassor:

In the days before I changed my life (I purchased Tivo), I used to sit there and edit the commercials out on the fly as I was trying to archive my favourite program. This meant that I would not anwser the phone, I could not pee (did I just say 'pee' in a thread?), and I used to have to be home on time every week for the show, this is annoying as it can ruin a perfectly good evening out.
After I purchased Tivo, subscribed to the show, and then stopped worrying, life was so much easier again. I didnt care that it recorded the commercials as I would just pause the video, fast forward on Tivo, and then resume recording. Its so easy....


I'm just curious, enjoying the morning (afternoon for you East Coasters); why did you attempt to do that? Why not just have the VCR record the show, and FF when you watched it, just as you do now with TIVO?

I've never had any problem with using the timer (or setting the clock) to record programs with a VCR or any other timed recording device. (Have one rather awkwardly designed VCR which makes it a big hassle to go back an hour on its clock, so that one stays on daylight time. Only gotta' fool with it after an outage.) I'm not a dummy, true, but I'm not a technophile at all. This stuff is easy, it's just so.....gadgety, I guess.

Have to adnit that TIVO changed my life too.....by hanging out at this Forum I don't watch near the amount of TV that I could be!


Posted by: MighTiVo

I too fail to understand the argment that FF with atocorrect is better than 30 sec skip. This is not a zero sum choice, we can easily have both options at no cost to TiVo. No cost because it already worked in 1.3 so we know the code is there.

At a considerable cost (programming and license fees) we should also be able to get Commercial Advance as previously described. And as I sggested before this could be a value added service. Why should TiVo be afraid to add it if RCA, ProScan, G.E., JVC, Panasonic, Quasar, Hitachi, Samsung, and Sony are not?


Posted by: JGassor

quote:
Originally posted by arjay:
I'm just curious, enjoying the morning (afternoon for you East Coasters); why did you attempt to do that? Why not just have the VCR record the show, and FF when you watched it, just as you do now with TIVO?


Hi Arjay,

I was recording ST:Voyager. I have the entire series on VHS now. I use 2hr tapes and record in ELP mode giving me 6 hours record capacity. The episode is approx 44 minutes long, the rest is commercials. By editing out the commercials I can save 96 minutes of tape giving me two more episodes per tape. I enjoy watching the seasons again and it is nice to have the continutity in the episode.

Simply setting the VCR to record the show wouldnt give me this capability as you can see http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
Jim



[This message has been edited by JGassor (edited 06-02-2001).]


Posted by: Marco

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
Where you there? Just because you are a moderator doesn't make you God. Please don't tell me what I did or didn't see. I was there. You were not.


1. Please make your avatar stop flashing, it's giving me seizures. :-) Seriously, it's quite annoying.
2. Please take the chip off your shoulder. The moderator clearly had tongue planted in cheek.

I think lots of us would be interested in the product you are describing. Unfortunately, TiVo ain't it. The good news is TiVo does lots of other really cool stuff, and you should get one.

Have a nice day,
Marco

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P1&gt; UM/36/US/VA T3 Wabcfghijk C[c++ msrg+ $p--] E3
T1&gt; MP14 H81 V2.0.1 Q+ F+ C+ $ V S- P+++ W[a+ d k]
T2&gt; PD35 V2.0.1 F+ C+ $+ V S- P+
T3&gt; PD35 V2.0.1 F+ C+ $+ V S- P+


Posted by: arjay

quote:
Originally posted by JGassor:
By editing out the commercials I can save 96 minutes of tape giving me two more episodes per tape.
Simply setting the VCR to record the show wouldnt give me this capability as you can see http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
Jim


That's true. Makes sense to me!


Posted by: feldon23

This is a troll. Please close it and ban the user. Thanks.

TiVo gets rid of commercials just fine for me. It takes me less than 7 seconds to get through a commercial break and I hardly notice what's even being advertised. And I got a TiVo 2 weeks ago.


Posted by: Gordon

quote:
Originally posted by Marco:
1. Please make your avatar stop flashing, it's giving me seizures. :-) Seriously, it's quite annoying.

At least with MSIE 6, you can press the Esc key to stop the flashing, fyi. I use that on web pages with flashing ads or banners.

FYI,
Gordon




Posted by: DaBuzz

For what it's worth, I've had my TiVo for a few days now and find the "auto-correct" while fast forwarding at double and triple speed to be quite accurate. Since I have cat like reflexes, I tend to hesitate before pressing play again so I don't get the tail end of a commercial.


Posted by: MighTiVo

Great for you, kep in mind a commercial advance or commercial skip feature wold not negate your happiness and has the potientail to make many others happy as well.
Like I pointed out before skipping commercials is indeed a TiVo selling tool ad is even mentioned in the Tivoltion Magazine that is in the system now.


Posted by: DaBuzz

MighTiVo,

I agree and I didn't mean to imply just because the current setup works OK for me that the needs and wants of others were invalid.

If there was a 30 second skip button, I'd certainly use it as well. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

Sorry if I came off as against the idea.


Posted by: MikeCG

quote:
Originally posted by Gordon:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Marco:

At least with MSIE 6, you can press the Esc key to stop the flashing, fyi. I use that on web pages with flashing ads or banners.

FYI,
Gordon




Gordon, thanks for the esc. tip. I wasn't aware of that IE6 feature.


Posted by: MighTiVo

Escape is stop downloading a page in IE, just like clicking the Red Circle X on the tool bar. This also stops animated Gifs.


Posted by: theburn

get tivo it will change your life, and a shameless plug for ya, you can buy a new 94, 119, 173, or 198 hour system from tivo.sphosting.com! The 94 hour unit costs less than Philips' 60 hour unit!!!

------------------
TiVo Upgrades, kits, and full Custom TiVo units cheaper than the 9th tee!
http://tivo.sphosting.com
burnzine@home.com


Posted by: jsmeeker

quote:
Originally posted by Grim:
I know I saw a commercial for a unit that would eliminate commercials completely from whatever program(s) you set it to record. I KNOW I DID. Please do not withold this information from me simply because TiVo is not the product that performs this function.


What do you mean by "eliminate"?? Do you mean that this device will simply not even record the commericial?? Like, the program goes to commercial and recording *stops*. And then when the program resumes, reocrding *starts* back up?

Or are you talking about the ability to automtically, without any intervention on you part, zoom through a recorded commercial, and return to normal playing when the program resumes?

If you mean the first one, AFIK, there is no such device. For this to work, TV stations would have to announce "here comes a commerical" It's unlikely something like that would ever happen.




------------------
Jeff

Sony SVR-2000
"Let the Tivolution be televised"




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