TiVo Community Forum Archive 1 - Recording One, Watching Another (yes, I read the FAQ)

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TiVo Community Forum Archive 1 (http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/index.php)
- TiVo Coffee House - TiVo Discussion (http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=3)
-- Recording One, Watching Another (yes, I read the FAQ) (http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=79273)

Posted by Qrashman on 10-08-2002 04:42 AM:

Recording One, Watching Another (yes, I read the FAQ)

Fellas and Ladies,

This is a great community you have here. I've learned alot reading through everything. However, one thing is still unclear...

Is it at all possible to tape one show while watching another?

I know you can do it with Replay TV, but I can't figure out how it would work with Tivo.

I did read the FAQ, but I was hoping for the "Recording for Absolute Dummies" version. I have the 60 hr. series 2 hardware.
------------------------------------------------------

I'm brand new at Tivo, and so far I haven't seen many advantages over a VCR, except not having to use tapes, which might be worth the money in itself

But, if you have to watch whatever you are taping, whats the big advantage? Its only good for taping things while you are at work. Sure, the rewinding is cool but not neccessary.

Hopefully I'll pick up a few tips from these forums. Thanks in advance,

Q

Posted by JLWINE on 10-08-2002 05:47 AM:

With any TiVo you may watch a previously recorded program while taping a live program. Additionally, only with a DirecTiVo (supplied with two satellite feeds) unit may watch one live program while taping a different live program, also you could watch a previously recorded show while taping two separate live shows all at the same time.

__________________
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Proud owner of:
DirecTV HR 10-250 powered by TiVo
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Posted by phone1 on 10-08-2002 06:27 AM:

A stand alone TiVo connects just like Replay. You can watch an existing recording while it's recording another program.

A stand alone TiVo conects just like a VCR, without the above feature.

If you want to watch live while recording, split cable signal. If you have a box, split before the box to TiVo and TV. You can only view analog channels live on the TV while recording if you have TiVo connected to the cable box output.

All this is in the FAQ's and the TiVo setup guide.

If you think the only benefit of TiVo over VCR is "It's only good for taping things while you are at work. Sure, the rewinding is cool but not neccessary..." then why did you buy it the first place?

Don't you know what Season Passes and Wishlists are?

__________________
HDVR2 35 Hrs. -> 212 Hrs. with TwinBreeze™
TiVo Series 2 60 Hrs. -> 223 Hrs.
SVR-2000 - stock
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Posted by Qrashman on 10-08-2002 07:26 AM:

yes, I've set up my season passes and wishlists. I have it taping Law and Order at 1:00 every day while I'm at work. I also have it checking for Kari Wuhrer movies (grrrrrrrrrrr).

There are some advantages, of course. But quite honestly so far I don't think its worth the 400 bucks for the receiver plus another 250 for service. Not being able to watch live TV while I record something has just gotten me quite turned off.

I'm going to have to try to split the cable to see if that works, but I don't get how that would work without some kind of switch.

It's kind of pointless to have to be watching something that you are recording. It's not often that I want to tape something if I'm already watching it , which means that I get the most out of Tivo when I'm at work.

So far the bigggest advantage is not having to use tapes. If I want to record 3 programs, I dont have to worry about using Super Long Play and sacrificing quality.

Posted by loopey on 10-08-2002 07:30 AM:

Wait, what about using standby? I have a cable box so it won't work for me, but can't people that have a direct feed into the tivo put the tivo on standby and watch live tv while tivo is recording something else? Try doing a search in this forum for standby or it might be in the FAQ.

You will realize the benefit once you use it more.

__________________
cruelest dream reality

Posted by dgh on 10-08-2002 07:35 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by Qrashman
It's kind of pointless to have to be watching something that you are recording.

I never do that. I watch shows out of now-showing. At the same time, TiVo, may or may not, be recording some other show. I don't care what it's doing on the recoding side because I never press the live TV button.

__________________
Dave Hicks
(Now only 31 years until I'm allowed to be opinionated!)

Posted by phone1 on 10-08-2002 07:40 AM:

I don't understand your confusion. It's all covered in the FAQ's and also in the setup guide. Yes you can use standby if you feed the analog signal through TiVo to your TV.

Otherwise look at this diagram:

http://www.electrophobia.com/tivo/#tivo-av_tv

If you don't have a cable box, just connect RF directly to TiVo.

__________________
HDVR2 35 Hrs. -> 212 Hrs. with TwinBreeze™
TiVo Series 2 60 Hrs. -> 223 Hrs.
SVR-2000 - stock
Best Universal Remote (for the money - $18): OFA URC-6131

Posted by eweu on 10-08-2002 07:41 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by Qrashman
It's kind of pointless to have to be watching something that you are recording.

Commercials, or lack thereof. Keep using your TiVo for awhile and you'll eventually pick up this habit as well. You just need time to break your live TV habits.

My suggestion is to record everything. Glance through the guide, use wishlists like crazy, and pick out as much to record as you can stand. You'll end up with so much to watch you won't have time to watch live TV. Then you'll come back here and start a "The Transition is Complete" thread. I guarantee it.

Posted by johnd7 on 10-08-2002 07:42 AM:

I think the point your missing here is that most of us TIVO owners here do not watch live TV too often. Eventually you will build up lots of shows in TIVO so you can watch a show from the Now Playing section while TIVO records your other shows. That way you can fast forward thru commercials. You mentioned watching what it is recording which begs the question...if you want to watch it live why record? Watch other stuff on TIVO while it records. Or just split the cable in to the TV and watch something else live if you must.

Posted by phone1 on 10-08-2002 07:49 AM:

I agree about watching live - sometimes, however, a recording conflict requires it, and IT CAN BE DONE!*

*With limitations using a cable box.

__________________
HDVR2 35 Hrs. -> 212 Hrs. with TwinBreeze™
TiVo Series 2 60 Hrs. -> 223 Hrs.
SVR-2000 - stock
Best Universal Remote (for the money - $18): OFA URC-6131

Posted by tivoman on 10-08-2002 08:44 AM:

The only channel I watch is KTN. [K Tivo Network] About 1½ years ago before I had one I though why would you want a tape less VCR.

Good luck Tivoing....

__________________
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[03-06-02] Philips DSR6000 - 35 Hrs
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[12-04-02] AT&T 2 - 41 Hrs*
[12-11-02] Sony SAT-T60 - 67 Hrs
[05-14-03] Hughes HDVR2 - 35 Hrs
[04-05-04] ReplayTV - 40 Hrs*

* - These units are sitting in the closet.

DVD Collection - here

Posted by gunzour on 10-08-2002 02:15 PM:

Hey Qrashman, welcome to the Tivolution.

The problem you are running into is that watching TiVo is a paradigm shift from watching live TV. For some people it does take some getting used to.

You say: "It's kind of pointless to have to be watching something that you are recording. It's not often that I want to tape something if I'm already watching it , which means that I get the most out of Tivo when I'm at work."

How about watching what you previously recorded while Tivo is recording something else? This you cannot do with a VCR. Many of us who have Tivo's simply do not watch live TV anymore. We Tivo everything.

Now if the problem is that there are two shows on at the same time, and you want to record one and watch the other, things are more complicated. You don't say whether your have cable or satellite. With satellite, you would have a DirecTivo box which can record two things at once. With cable, you are limited by the fact that your cable box only feeds one channel to the Tivo, so the Tivo has no way to let you watch live TV while it records something else.

You can probably split your cable signal *before* it goes to the cable box and plug it into your cable-ready TV. This lets the Tivo use the cable box as a tuner, and you can use your TV's tuner to watch live TV. This would mean that you use your TV set to change channels, instead of the cable box, for watching live TV. Tivo would use the cable box to change channels.

Tell us some more about what your current setup looks like and I'm sure people here will be able to help you out. Do you have cable or satellite? Is your TV cable-ready? Do you have a regular/analog cable box or a digital one, or none at all? Which Tivo do you have?

Posted by Gruneun on 10-08-2002 02:53 PM:

I'm a new TiVo owner (as of this past weekend) and have already begun to watch television on my schedule. With a nasty commute for work and a class in the evenings, it's more out of necessity. I have a dozen season passes and numerous episodes of Law & Order in my to-do list. However, it still blows my mind that the TiVo doesn't have 2 tuners.

First and foremost, it would make justification of the purchase to my wife easier ("What do you mean we can't watch something else while it's recording?"). To counter the immediate response, cable-splitting would be a reasonable argument... if the TiVo did the splitting and it was a matter of hitting "Input" on the TiVo remote.

Second, two tuners would make short work of conflicting season passes (CSI vs. Will & Grace... again the important wife factor). My remote has a switch for controlling a second TiVo. Why not have a cable from one to the other for communication and a chained RF line. The first box could hold all of the scheduling info, with the second box being a dummy that receives direct commands from the first. I'd be more than willing to purchase another box (though I'd be hard-pressed to pay for service on the second).

Last, I'm new, but don't hesitate to flame me if I missed something obvious or failed to read a section in the manual.

Posted by CutisDoc on 10-08-2002 04:47 PM:

You don't have to split- if your coax goes straight into the Tivo then off to the TV, simply put the Tivo unit in standby and watch live TV. I do this regularly when it wants to record something and I want to watch the baseball playoffs of a football game. Its simple and a solution without having to do a splitter.

Posted by IJustLikeTivo on 10-08-2002 04:50 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Gruneun
I'm a new TiVo owner (as of this past weekend) and have already begun to watch television on my schedule. With a nasty commute for work and a class in the evenings, it's more out of necessity. I have a dozen season passes and numerous episodes of Law & Order in my to-do list. However, it still blows my mind that the TiVo doesn't have 2 tuners.

The issue is not really the 2 tuners problem. Tuner chips are cheap and available. The bigger issue is the need to have dual Mpeg encoder circuits. They are not cheap. Not cheap at all. The reason Directivos have 2 tuners is the same reason why UTV had them. All they are is DTV Receivers. The encoding is done before transmission. All the box does is record the digital bit stream. Since only one can be played at once, only one Mpeg decoder is needed. In point of fact, DTivo's are most likely cheaper to build than SA units.

I have both and Dtivo rocks. BTW, where in Fredneck do you live? I fly up around there a lot. If you hear a Piper, it might be me.....

IJLT

Posted by Gruneun on 10-08-2002 05:31 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by IJustLikeTivo

The reason Directivos have 2 tuners is the same reason why UTV had them. All they are is DTV Receivers. The encoding is done before transmission. All the box does is record the digital bit stream.

I have both and Dtivo rocks. BTW, where in Fredneck do you live? I fly up around there a lot. If you hear a Piper, it might be me.....

IJLT

Interesting point about DTV only recording, not encoding. Still, I'd like to see some "smart" chaining of multiple TiVo (TiVi? Do we have a plural form of TiVo?).

I'm about a quarter-mile past the community college in the North Crossing development. I won't tell you anymore because I can't have you swooping in to grab my new toy.

Any chance you dropped in to the fly-in up in Libertytown a few months ago?

Posted by IJustLikeTivo on 10-08-2002 08:19 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Gruneun

Interesting point about DTV only recording, not encoding. Still, I'd like to see some "smart" chaining of multiple TiVo (TiVi? Do we have a plural form of TiVo?).

I'm about a quarter-mile past the community college in the North Crossing development. I won't tell you anymore because I can't have you swooping in to grab my new toy. Any chance you dropped in to the fly-in up in Libertytown a few months ago?

Yep DTivo's only record, the do not encode.

Nope I was not at Libertytown. Who ran the flyin? Airnav lists that as a private field. Based on where it is, I certainly have flown over or near it any number of times. We use that region as a practice area for stalls, steep turns. slow flight etc. It is just north of the DC class B so it is pretty handy.

Of course, since I fly pipers we generally don't land much on turf as they don't handle it as well as a high wing plane might.

IJLT

Posted by Graymalkin on 10-08-2002 08:43 PM:

The only reason for a TiVo owner to watch a show live is that they have to go to sleep right after the show's over, have to get up early to exercise, and need to know what happened for the water-cooler arguments at work later that day.

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Posted by jon777 on 10-08-2002 08:56 PM:

The only thing I watch live is Sports. Even if I'm home at 8:00 and want to watch something that starts at 8:00, I'll watch something else first, so I can watch w/o commercials...

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DSR6000 (unhacked... for now)

Posted by mbalgeman on 10-08-2002 09:53 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by IJustLikeTivo

The issue is not really the 2 tuners problem. Tuner chips are cheap and available. The bigger issue is the need to have dual Mpeg encoder circuits.

It's not really an issue of hardware at all.

Take a look at http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-v...&threadid=78081 Scroll down and find TiVoPony's post. He explains the situation pretty clearly there.

Posted by phone1 on 10-08-2002 09:58 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Gruneun
However, it still blows my mind that the TiVo doesn't have 2 tuners.

Two tuners and two encoders might work fine for those who use the RF input. Based on what I see here, I think the majority are using cable boxes, meaning you'd have to rent another box, hide the IR blasters, etc.

Despite how nice it sounds, you would be driving the price up to add a feature that many people wouldn't or couldn't use.

__________________
HDVR2 35 Hrs. -> 212 Hrs. with TwinBreeze™
TiVo Series 2 60 Hrs. -> 223 Hrs.
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Posted by Tiger on 10-08-2002 10:23 PM:

To answer the original question, you can record one, watch another with TiVo in two senses of the words in most cases.

You can *always* watch something previously recorded. It does not matter what TiVo is doing. Even if it is recording something else, you can watch a recorded program. I say previously recorded, but the same applies to currently recorded. You can start watching something from the beginning when it is 15 minutes into recording it, for example.

If you have straight cable (No box) you can just throw the TiVo into standby mode and use your TV's tuner to watch whatever you want.

If you use a cable box, you need to split the cable before the box and send it to your TV (Ideally TiVo into an AV input and cable into coax input, less ideally a switch to select which) then use your TV's tuner to watch whatever you want

If you use satellite, either get a second reciever, or better yet if you use DirecTV, get a DirecTV reciever with TiVo service built-in. It allows you to record one and watch another on it's own. In fact, it allows you to record two at the same time.

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Posted by JLWINE on 10-08-2002 10:41 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Graymalkin
The only reason for a TiVo owner to watch a show live is that they have to go to sleep right after the show's over, have to get up early to exercise, and need to know what happened for the water-cooler arguments at work later that day.

Even then I won't start watching until 15 or 20 minutes into the show so I can still FF through the commercials.

__________________
Jack --Indianapolis--

Proud owner of:
DirecTV HR 10-250 powered by TiVo
Sony DirecTiVo 108hrs
Sony DirecTiVo Unmodified
TiVo owner since 09-99
DirecTv owner since 09-94

Posted by Lori on 10-08-2002 11:04 PM:

Good point, Jack.

I even waited till 8:15 to start the Buffy season premiere. That was torture...but ultimately worth it.

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http://www.loripiper.com

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Posted by jsmeeker on 10-08-2002 11:09 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Lori
Good point, Jack.

I even waited till 8:15 to start the Buffy season premiere. That was torture...but ultimately worth it.

Nuts!! You guys are nuts!!

Sooner is better than later.

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Posted by Tiger on 10-08-2002 11:16 PM:

EXACTLY! And by waiting, you find out what happens after the cliffhanger around a commercial break sooner than you would if you started watching it right away.

__________________
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Posted by jsmeeker on 10-08-2002 11:34 PM:

how so?? How can you see it sooner than it actually airs?

Posted by Tiger on 10-08-2002 11:45 PM:

You don't see it sooner than it airs, but you see the resolution to the commercial break cliff-hanger sooner after you see the set-up for it, since you can just catch up with fast-forward. And if you time it right, you finish watching right as everyone else finishes watching it, so when you get that phone call from your friend telling you what happened, they can still be your friend.

__________________
Are we not men? We are TiVo!

Posted by Qrashman on 10-09-2002 11:16 PM:

Thanks everyone. There have been some great responses. Most other communities would give an "if you don't like it get the hell out of here" response.

I do have a cable box, so it seems like it might be a little difficult to watch one and record another. Right now I have my cable line split so I can run my cable modem, so I'm going to have to split it twice now.

I'm gonna give it a go. I'll let everyone know if I can figure it out.

Posted by Tiger on 10-09-2002 11:23 PM:

Instead of using 2 splitters, get a 3 way splitter. You will get better signal quality.

__________________
Are we not men? We are TiVo!

Posted by Dancar on 10-09-2002 11:37 PM:

Qrashman:

Does your TV have more than one set of inputs on the back? If so, splitting the cable with one to the cable box and/or TV and the other directly into the TV will let you watch live TV while TiVo records.

Also... I'm suprised to read that "most TiVo users never watch live TV!" What do you do when two shows you like are on AT THE SAME TIME? On Thursdays we watch Friends on live TV (through ther split cable), then start Survivor on TiVo at 8:30, while the actual broadcast is half over.

That never happans to most people?

__________________
Dancar
SVR-2000 upgraded to 80 hours

Posted by Tiger on 10-09-2002 11:49 PM:

Thats easy Dancar.. If 2 things are on at the same time, I have my DirecTiVo record them both! I've rarely found a time when 3 things I wanted were on at the same time and not again later.

__________________
Are we not men? We are TiVo!

Posted by Qrashman on 10-10-2002 12:04 AM:

Dancar,

My TV has the normal input plus the S-Video input, but I'm using that for my XBox/PS2/Gamecube, etc. It does not have two of the normal inputs, if that makes sense.

Posted by Dancar on 10-10-2002 06:34 PM:

By normal input are you refering to the RF (coax cable) input or a set of red, white and yellow jacks?

When you change the channels on the TV, do you have to watch a numbered channel (including channel 3 for your game machine), or do you have something like Input1, Input2 or AV1, AV2, etc.?

Here's what I have:

From my wall the cable goes into a splitter. One side goes to the cablebox. The cable box connects to TiVo and the TiVo connects to AV2 on the back of my TV. So I set the TV to AV2 to watch TV through the TiVo and for anything on a digital channel.

The other cable from the splitter goes straight to the RF (coax) connector of the TV. That allows me to change channels on the TV remote and watch Friends live while Survivor records.

AV1 on the TV is connected to the DVD Player because that's the input with the S-Video input.

If all you can connect the TiVo to is RF, according to other messages here you can hit the power button while Tivo is recording (which actually puts itin standby), then use your TV remote to watch a different channel.

__________________
Dancar
SVR-2000 upgraded to 80 hours

Posted by IGotsTivo on 10-11-2002 03:30 PM:

Piper, can I go for a ride? Drop me at the antiques barn up near the community college... --J, aka Wishlist Mama

Posted by IGotsTivo on 10-11-2002 03:51 PM:

Qrashman, I guess that means you aren't interested in any of the old shows that are on at 1:00 am or 4:00 am or whatever. Or any syndicated recent programs you missed first time around. Or early years of shows you started watching later. Or comedy, to cut through the gray fog of the 21st century so far. Or...

Another question... if you save 60 hours of TV, watch, delete regularly, and keep saving, when do you catch up? How many hours of saved TV is enough? (doesn't apply to those with a family and 2 TVs with Now Playing)

Posted by Qrashman on 10-12-2002 01:45 AM:

quote:
By normal input are you refering to the RF (coax cable) input or a set of red, white and yellow jacks?

I use the RF input for the cable coming from the tivo. The red white and blue are being used for my S-Video switch, which is controlling my X-Box/Gamecube/PS2.

I go to Channel 00 to use my game systems.

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