I have heard rumors that TiVo is coming out with new hardware with dual tuners that can record two programs simultaneously rather than just one. That would be enough of an improvement I would buy it without a second thought. Can anybody elaborate on this?


That's the Directivo, a Direct TV ONLY tuner system. It has no analog inputs, and no mpeg encoder... It basically just stores the DirecTV mpeg stream. It will eventually support dual tuners.. The hardware is there, just waiting on the software..... Hmmmm... Lot like 1.1. Maybe it will happen when 1.1 becomes an actual product instead of the "Really, the features you are looking for is in 1.1, but we can't let you have it, it isn't ready... but it's there... Really" that it currently is.

But it is coming. Downside to the directivo unit is the lack of an encoder, therefore it's impossible to use it with anything besides DirecTV.

To the best of my knowledge, Tivo is NOT planning a dual tuner version for the SA (standalone) versions.

At first I thought I wanted more capacity... but I realize that even with "only" 30 hours of recording time, the TiVo records more programming than I can possibly find time to watch. I think they made a good choice in terms of cost/benefit with the 30 GB hard drive in the standard unit.

I record everything in BEST mode... Even the 30 hour isn't enough to handle a weekend of the shows I watch if I have to go out of town. The 30+80 does handle the job nicely, without getting too slow in the process. Besides, there is nothing that says you HAVE to watch it's suggestions, but it does give a heck of a choice.


There is a bug in the TiVo hardware that I hope someone has a workaround for... I feed the output from my TiVo and my VCR through a combiner into my TV set, using the RF co-ax cables (it's an old TV and doesn't have the newer type inputs) There appears to be no way of stopping the TiVo from sending a signal through it's RF output, so if I want to play a videotape, I have to physically unplug the output cable from the back of the TiVo, otherwise it clashes with the VCR output. Even turning the TiVo "Off" doesn't do it (the TiVo is still powered when in the "Off" mode so it can record programs.)


I'm really afraid I don't know about this one. I haven't watched a RF modulated program in FOREVER. Hell, you've got an Empeg, got a Tivo... Splurge and get a REAL TV.. S-video and Component inputs are the ONLY way to go... short of full digital, that is.

I assume that by off you are referring to the standby mode, but even then, yes, it's passing the cable input through. I don't know if anyone else would really consider this a bug.... It's pretty much the same functionality of any other AV gear I can remember using.