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Thompson TiVo Personal Digital Video Recorder
(UK Version)
What is it, and how does it work?
- It's based on a Linux-driven set-top box, not that you would know it
unless you opened the recorder up and examined the contents of the HDD. The box is a simple VCR size and weight, with no controls apart
from the remote. Two LEDs on the front show power and recording
status.
- Its purpose is to make watching TV a much easier process by time-shifting
programs so that you can watch TV when it's convenient to you.
- It has four recording quality settings, from Best (12 hours), High (19 hours),
Medium (25 hours), to Basic (almost 41 hours). As the
compression level increases and the quality decreases, you get to squeeze
more recording time onto the hard drive. I tend to use
medium quality as it is acceptable for all but the fastest moving footage.
- The TiVo connects to your TV, digital receiver, and VCR. It directly
controls the digital receiver by way of two IR (InfraRed) "arms",
that are placed in front of the digital receiver's IR input. Thus you
use the TiVo to change channels on your satellite or terrestrial digital
receiver, so it's a little on the slow side (i.e. you tell the TiVo to
change channels, and it changes the channel on the digital receiver). High speed channel
surfers that change channels every 0.98 seconds need not apply here.
- The TiVo is connected between the digital receiver and your TV, so
effectively you are always watching the transmission through the TiVo.
What I like:
I really really like this recorder now that we've had it for almost two
weeks. These are its best points:
- No video tapes to change or label - no hassle, no mess, and no fuss.
- Once you've chosen to record a program every week, you'll never miss an
episode again because the TiVo will automatically record it for you.
- Recording programs is so easy - just choose the time, date and channel
from a menu, and the TiVo will do the rest. You can choose and line up
as many programs to record as you like with minimal effort - no need to fuss
with manually entering the date, time and channel, and no changing tapes for
each recording. TiVo has a season pass, which makes it automatically
record the selected program each week, so you never need miss an episode
again.
- For the programs you want to keep for longer than a few days, just wait
until you don't need to watch the TV, and record the TiVo program directly
to your VCR. Unfortunately you can't watch another program while the
TiVo is playing onto your VCR, so I tend to wait until I'm going to bed
before starting this off.
- The TiVo can record one program while you watch another - this is one of
its best features, and is the one that truly contributes to its function as
a program time-shifter. This is what makes it more practical to move
to watching TiVo rather than live TV.
- The TiVo is always buffering the channel you're currently watching, with
up to a half hour of buffer. This allows you to "pause" live
TV when someone phones you, and carry on watching. The best bit is
coming into the TV lounge to watch your favorite series 10 minutes late,
starting from the beginning of the program, so when the adverts come on you
can just fast forward through them!
- Lastly, you get to vote for each show with up to three thumbs up or
down. This helps the TiVo to learn what you like to watch. Then,
using any free recording space, TiVo will record suggested programs for you
to watch. I didn't expect very much from a fairly primitive AI system
like this, but it's not bad in choosing programs at all. The suggested
programs that TiVo has recorded will be overwritten by any programs that
you've specifically chosen to record if the TiVo runs out of space.
What I didn't like:
- One problem with it is that it makes you watch almost too much TV as there
are always good programs available. You quickly become more selective
in terms of what you watch.
- There's no easy way of copying the MPEG2 video files to your PC and
burning them to a CD, for example. Of course the big movie companies
are really going to allow that, yeah right!
- The subscription service you subscribe to does tend to get a few program
names wrong. In fairness I've not yet complained about this, and most
probably this is caused by last minute changes on the part of the particular
TV channel. I've not had the TiVo long enough to learn which is to
blame here.
- You need the subscription service to gain the full use out of the TiVo, as
otherwise the TiVo box doesn't download program and schedule
information. This is a good way to gouge the customer for more
shilling (10 pounds per month), but at least you can pay a once-off 200
pounds and get the lifetime subscription. They've probably judged this
quite finely, as two years might well be close to the lifetime of this
product.
- The slow changing of channels using the TiVo - it's still acceptable, but
only just.
Web Links:
The
ArsTechnica review. This is the review of the US system, made by
Phillips, although the points made apply equally to the Thompson unit available
here in the UK. This review had me panting after a TiVo here in the UK,
but unfortunately it only came out here some six months later. I'm not
normally an early adopter because it always costs extra to buy equipment when it
first comes out, but this one was worth it to me.
Tivo UK FAQ
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