Who Has A ReplayTV or TiVo?

[arwalden]

I just ADORE my ReplayTV... so much that we have TWO of them!

Most of my favorite shows are on during times that I'm not near the TV (Bewitched)... and sometimes an old favorite is being run on a network that I never watch normally (ie: Hogan's Heroes on Hallmark Channel) and I might have never found it but not for the search feature.

By setting up themes and doing searches based on keywords, it's very easy to have MORE pre-recorded stuff than we'll EVER get a chance to watch. But still... it's stuff that we've chosen, it's of interest to us, and we can watch it whenever we want (and we can zoom past the commercials too).

Other than watching news reports for breaking events, there's NOT MUCH at all that we watch live. Even CBS Evening News is recorded and watched after the fact (the same evening, but not live).

It's also great for those "huh? what-did-he-say?" moments. You know... when the dialog is so mumbled or fast or hidden behind sound effects that you can't make out what the actor is saying. Just press the skip-back button and you can listen again until you figure it out. (Or turn on closed captioning and rewind to the mumbled lines to read what they said.)

-- Allen

[Dem Agog]

1. We have TiVo!

My husband calls it the "marriage saver". We actually now have *cough* (embarrassed look) three. We have a hi-def one in the home theater, and we have a TV in our little bedroom "nook" and one in the main area of the house. We found that we never watch TV unless it's on the TiVo so I convinced my husband to buy that third one for the bedroom since it was "only" $50 more than a regular DirecTV receiver...

I record CBS Evening News as well. It's the only mainstream news show I watch.

[Longhorn]

2. We got a DVR about a month ago

and I really like it. I watch a lot less junk and more shows of interest to me. I'm still getting used to it -- I don't know how many times it dawned on me that I could have recorded something but I just didn't think of it.

I only wish I could record two shows at once and watch a THIRD but I guess I'm greedy. :D

[lazarus]

3. DVR

I love it. I can record two shows while watching one I've already recorded.

It's made tv viewing much nicer. I was with family over the weekend, and realised how addicted I was to "8 seconds back".

[Longhorn]

4. Our DVR (Scientifc-Atlantic from Time Warner)

came with piss-poor instructions. I had to go online and find a video that actually went into some detail about the different features.

As much as I love it, I have had some problems, such a recorded shows and scheduled recordings disappearing from the lists. And there's something wrong with the sound that we're getting from certain shows -- the background noise is so loud that you can't hear the dialogue. I had the cable guy out once already but he was clueless. I need to call again and see if I can get someone who actually knows something!

[lazarus]

5. ours is also a S-A

What model is yours, I may be able to help. I had an S-A cable box for years with Adelphia, then when I moved we had one with Cox, and so the DVR was a cakewalk to figure out.

Plus, I think the different companies get different features, etc. We just had a huge upgrade on services, but mine's acting funky. As soon as I tape off this season of Survivor and Lost, I'll have the guy come out and probably replace it.

[Longhorn]

7. It's an Explorer 8300HD.

Right now, the sound is the biggest problem but I was wondering if losing data is "normal" or I need them to bring me another box.

I still need to set mine up to transfer to the VCR. I hate messing with all those cords and stuff, though!

[lazarus]

9. I'm thinking that's our model, too

try this for the sound:

Hit the Settings button twice.
Scroll to Audio Range, then right arrow over. You'll have three choices, narrow, normal, and wide. Change it to narrow, and see i that helps.

As for losing data, that's not good. Check to make sure your connections are all tight. If they are, call 'em to come out and check it.

[Longhorn]

11. Thanks. I've tried that.

Here's one thing I was wondering. You know how you can set the remote to control the cable but to control the TV audio? Well, they gave us two remotes and one of them was programmed the other way so that it was controlling the volume through the cable box. I think the last setting was maximum volume before I reprogrammed that remote so that it also controlled the TV volume instead of the cable volume. If what I just wrote makes any sense at all, do you think that the audio is distorted because the cable box audio is set too high? I have no idea how all of that works, obviously! :shrug:

[lazarus]

12. that could be

Our remote doesn't do volume from the cable box. I wouldn't even know how to do that.

But definitely check the cable box audio.

[Pithlet]

6. TiVo, and I love it.

I love being able to watch stuff whenever I want to. Sometimes I'm not in the mood for a particular program when it comes on, so I can just record it and watch it later. I don't have to worry about missing a favorite show, either.

[Longhorn]

8. I love how I don't have to wait for commercials to leave the room

to change laundry loads or whatever. Or get mad when someone calls in the middle of my show! :D

[Pithlet]

10. It's great to have with kids, too.

I can record all my shows and watch them after they go to bed.