# Newbie - Tivo question



## mzaheer (Apr 26, 2007)

Hello all

I have recently purchased a tivo with lifetime sub and upgraded the hardrive (400gb preconfigured - bigs thanks to Tivoheaven!) and installed a cachecard with 512mb, everything seems to be working ok with the exception of sound from the tivo (live TV)?. I get sound via my amp if - I press the Aux button on the tivo remote, surely the Live TV should have sound coming as normal (picture is fine, just no sound?).

I have connected the equipment in the following way -

Tivo Aux to Sky+ (TV Scart)
Tivo TV Scart (RGP Pal) to Plasma Scart (RGB Pal)
Left and Right phono from Tivo to Amp (CD input phono) - Denon 3803 amp
Pacelink rf2link - from Sky+ Rf2 output to Tivo 
Is this the best way to connect the Tivo?

I cant understand why the sound is not coming through the Live TV (Tivo)?? - but works ok through Aux?

Also, my picture occassionally has minor flickers (randomly, probably once every 3-5mins - its really quick but you can notice it if you really concentrate when viewing with Live TV. Is this a fault with the unit?) 

All help appreciated!
mzaheer


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

For the sound, have you tried pulling the plug and replacing it after 10 seconds. Sometimes a 'hard' reset is necessary to reset hardware components, which a 'soft' reset via the menus won't do.

Not sure what difference it might make, but I take the phono outputs on my TV to my amp, since it is always synchronised with the picture source.

If you have Mode 0 enabled (a hack that increases the resolution to DVD levels), then flashing can often occur, since the MPEG decoder is being run 'out-of-spec'. It varies between machines, and most people find it worth it, especially if you are using an LCD or plasma screen.


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## mzaheer (Apr 26, 2007)

iankb said:


> For the sound, have you tried pulling the plug and replacing it after 10 seconds. Sometimes a 'hard' reset is necessary to reset hardware components, which a 'soft' reset via the menus won't do.
> 
> Not sure what difference it might make, but I take the phono outputs on my TV to my amp, since it is always synchronised with the picture source.
> 
> If you have Mode 0 enabled (a hack that increases the resolution to DVD levels), then flashing can often occur, since the MPEG decoder is being run 'out-of-spec'. It varies between machines, and most people find it worth it, especially if you are using an LCD or plasma screen.


"For the sound, have you tried pulling the plug and replacing it after 10 seconds. Sometimes a 'hard' reset is necessary to reset hardware components, which a 'soft' reset via the menus won't do."

Just to clarify, do I leave Sky+ on and completely turn off the Tivo and wait 10 seconds, then turn it back on? - yes 

Thanks
mzaheer


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

The no sound problem is caused by failure of the sound chip to initialise correctly at startup and is very common with upgraded TiVos with large drive. It can normally be cured by a soft reboot - ie. from the System Reset menu - *not* a 'hard' reset 

As Ian says, the flickering you are seeing is very probably the 'white flashes' commonly associated with Mode 0 operation. They are normally worse on aerial-only systems and BBC channels; you will probably never see them on Sky Movies for instance. However, if they really bother you, you can always swich off Mode 0 temporarily and see whether the reduction in picture quality is an acceptable trade-off for no flashes.


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

mzaheer said:


> Just to clarify, do I leave Sky+ on and completely turn off the Tivo and wait 10 seconds, then turn it back on?


Yes. The TiVo is a computer, and you just need to reset that. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an on/off switch, so you need to actually remove the power lead, or switch it off at the wall. It has been designed so that pulling the plug will not hurt it, but it is advisable to leave it for a few seconds before reconnecting.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

As I just said, a soft reset should be all you need


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

For your flashes on screen problem go to the Resources Editor in TivoWeb and change DBS Best VBR Birate to 4800000 instead of 7500000. If that doesn't work you could change DBS Best Resolution to 4 instead of 1. That should definitely cure the problem, although your recording resolution will be a bit lower.


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## mzaheer (Apr 26, 2007)

blindlemon said:


> The no sound problem is caused by failure of the sound chip to initialise correctly at startup and is very common with upgraded TiVos with large drive. It can normally be cured by a soft reboot - ie. from the System Reset menu - *not* a 'hard' reset
> 
> As Ian says, the flickering you are seeing is very probably the 'white flashes' commonly associated with Mode 0 operation. They are normally worse on aerial-only systems and BBC channels; you will probably never see them on Sky Movies for instance. However, if they really bother you, you can always swich off Mode 0 temporarily and see whether the reduction in picture quality is an acceptable trade-off for no flashes.


Thanks Blindemon - I have managed to install everything ok, although I have cut both hands trying to install the cachecard 

Having watched Live TV now, sound is back after reboot - I'll leave it @ mode 0 for now :up:


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## mzaheer (Apr 26, 2007)

Pete77 said:


> For your flashes on screen problem go to the Resources Editor in TivoWeb and change DBS Best VBR Birate to 4800000 instead of 7500000. If that doesn't work you could change DBS Best Resolution to 4 instead of 1. That should definitely cure the problem, although your recording resolution will be a bit lower.


Thanks Pete77 - will definetly try this later today.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> For your flashes on screen problem go to the Resources Editor in TivoWeb and change DBS Best VBR Birate to 4800000 instead of 7500000. If that doesn't work you could change DBS Best Resolution to 4 instead of 1. That should definitely cure the problem, although your recording resolution will be a bit lower.


Many people have reported that the VBR bitrate has no effect on white flashes and my experience bears this out. I make most of my recordings at 3660000/6000000 (Mode 0) and still get occasional white flashes. The recordings I make at 7500000/9000000 have no more white flashes as far as I can tell.

Switching off Mode 0 is an obvious solution, but is not a cure for the white flashes in Mode 0


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## mzaheer (Apr 26, 2007)

iankb said:


> Yes. The TiVo is a computer, and you just need to reset that. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an on/off switch, so you need to actually remove the power lead, or switch it off at the wall. It has been designed so that pulling the plug will not hurt it, but it is advisable to leave it for a few seconds before reconnecting.


"It has been designed so that pulling the plug will not hurt it"

I hope Tivo is a lot more stable than Sky+, in the last 5 years I have replaced the disk 3 times due to failures (system lockups).


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Don't worry - TiVo is a properly written, well debugged piece of software that makes Sky+ look like it was written by a 9-year-old 

That's not to say it's perfect, of course - nothing is - but I have never heard of anybody ever losing their recordings or setup due to a software fault; the only time that ever happens is if you get a drive failure.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

blindlemon said:


> Many people have reported that the VBR bitrate has no effect on white flashes and my experience bears this out. I make most of my recordings at 3660000/6000000 (Mode 0) and still get occasional white flashes. The recordings I make at 7500000/9000000 have no more white flashes as far as I can tell.


The learned iankb seems to report otherwise as also does yours truly who does watch all his Live tv in Mode 0 even if I don't record much in Mode 0.

When my VBR Bitrate was 7500000 I got white flashes in live tv viewing but at the lower VBR bitrate I hardly ever do. I did see one a couple of days ago for the first time in ages.

I watch a lot of news channels live, especially for instance after a major event like today's Kent earthquake.


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## mzaheer (Apr 26, 2007)

blindlemon said:


> Don't worry - TiVo is a properly written, well debugged piece of software that makes Sky+ look like it was written by a 9-year-old
> 
> That's not to say it's perfect, of cours - nothing is - but I have never heard of anybody ever losing their recordings or setup due to a software fault; the only time that ever happens is if you get a drive failure.


Can anyone recommend a good url or link to show how and what TivoWeb can actually do (apologies I'm a complete newbie). I'm interested in managing my recordings over the web - if this possible.

mzaheer


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

mzaheer said:



> Can anyone recommend a good url or link to show how and what TivoWeb can actually do (apologies I'm a complete newbie). I'm interested in managing my recordings over the web - if this possible.
> 
> mzaheer


see the following which cover Tivoweb and more:-

www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo

http://tivo.lightn.org/

www.ljay.org.uk/tivoweb/

www.garysargent.co.uk/tivo/hacking.htm

www.beaconhill.plus.com/TiVo/tivohacks.htm

http://www.arielbusiness.pwp.blueyo.../TiVo/HowTo.htm

http://alt.org/wiki/index.php/TiVoWeb Modules

http://thomson.tivo.googlepages.com

http://tivo.stevejenkins.com/network_cd.html

http://thomson.tivo.googlepages.com/tivowebplus

http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/?search=oztivo&x=0&y=0

www.tivohackman.com

http://www.planetbuilders.org/tivo/...rade_diary.html


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## mzaheer (Apr 26, 2007)

Pete77 said:


> see the following which cover Tivoweb and more:-
> 
> www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo
> 
> ...


Thank You.

How is "padding" between recordings handled with Tivo, for example timed recordings between 4-5pm on Channel 4 and 5-6pm on Channel 5 - will the start and finish of recordings be ok? Can this be customised or is it best to leave it to Tivo to decide?


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> The learned iankb seems to report otherwise as also does yours truly who does watch all his Live tv in Mode 0 even if I don't record much in Mode 0.


Well, clearly YMMV - but my experience is different. It does also seem to be somewhat dependant on the individual TiVo, so there's another factor to try to account for. However, IMHO, the situation is nowhere near as black & white as you made it out to be and I was just trying to inject a bit of balance into the advice being offered - sorry 



Pete77 said:


> I watch a lot of news channels live, especially for instance after a major event like today's Kent earthquake.


News channels are particularly bad for white flashes as the quality is usually pretty poor which just aggravates the situation.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

mzaheer said:


> How is "padding" between recordings handled with Tivo, for example timed recordings between 4-5pm on Channel 4 and 5-6pm on Channel 5 - will the start and finish of recordings be ok? Can this be customised or is it best to leave it to Tivo to decide?


There is no padding by default so in the example you give the TiVo will change channels and start a new recording at about 5 seconds before 5pm.

You can set "hard" padding in the TiVo menus for Season Passes, Wishlists and individual recordings which will force the TiVo to add x minutes to the start and/or end of the recording you are padding. Any clashes will result in the other recording being scrapped and rescheduled if possible.

However, many people with network access install EndPad instead which is much more sophisticated and gives you loads options to tinker with


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

blindlemon said:


> Well, clearly YMMV - but my experience is different. It does also seem to be somewhat dependant on the individual TiVo, so there's another factor to try to account for. However, IMHO, the situation is nowhere near as black & white as you made it out to be and I was just trying to inject a bit of balance into the advice being offered - sorry


No need to apologise as all these matters are highly variable in terms of the behaviour of individual Tivos and the tolerance of different individuals to white flashes versus maximum possible recording resolution.

My Tivo as a week one of production shop demonstrator seems to have had an extra going over at the factory in terms of component testing before it was released and has never suffered with the sound loss sound bug for instance and nor has it managed to wear out its existing power supply after 6 years use as some Tivos have. This despite supporting a Cachecard and 2 x 250Gb hard drives for nearly 2 years now. It also didn't have the Nicam bug although I suppose that Currys might have had this fixed when the hard drive was also possibly changed judging from the case clearly having been opened (not back on the runners on one side) before I bought it.

I believe a lower VBR bit rate than 7500000 does significantly increase total recording time even if the while flashes level is not affected?


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## mzaheer (Apr 26, 2007)

Pete77 said:


> No need to apologise as all these matters are highly variable in terms of the behaviour of individual Tivos and the tolerance of different individuals to white flashes versus maximum possible recording resolution.
> 
> My Tivo as a week one of production shop demonstrator seems to have had an extra going over at the factory in terms of component testing before it was released and has never suffered with the sound loss sound bug for instance and nor has it managed to wear out its existing power supply after 6 years use as some Tivos have. This despite supporting a Cachecard and 2 x 250Gb hard drives for nearly 2 years now. It also didn't have the Nicam bug although I suppose that Currys might have had this fixed when the hard drive was also possibly changed judging from the case clearly having been opened (not back on the runners on one side) before I bought it.
> 
> I believe a lower VBR bit rate than 7500000 does significantly increase total recording time even if the while flashes level is not affected?


Appreciate all your help guys, thank you!


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

Pete77 said:


> [With reference to reducing the VBR ...] The learned iankb seems to report otherwise ...


Please don't misquote me Pete.

I have never posted anything in relation to improving on the flashes by changing the bitrate, since I have only ever used 7500000/9000000. The reason that I haven't tried changing it is that I've been lucky enough to almost completely avoid white flashes at those settings, and that is just the luck of the draw in component selection when my TiVo was built.


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

blindlemon said:


> Don't worry - TiVo is a properly written, well debugged piece of software that makes Sky+ look like it was written by a 9-year-old


I would be really insulted if I was a 9 year old.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

Pete77 said:


> especially for instance after a major event like today's Kent earthquake.


Interesting definition of a major event. Bet it makes for rivetting TV!


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> Interesting definition of a major event. Bet it makes for rivetting TV!


It was a slow day for news so they virtually cleared the decks for non stop wall to wall earthquake coverage for several hours on Sky News. Also while it was a trivial earthquake by world standards it was a big one by UK standards and especially by London and the South East standards (which you will surely long ago have realised more or less is the whole UK from the point of view of the various national news organisations) hence the level of coverage.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

I'm more concerned that you evidently watched it!


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> I'm more concerned that you evidently watched it!


On in the background while using the computer, replying to messages in this forum and a bunch of other stuff. I didn't avidly watch it all like a film or something.

Apologies for the fact that I did A and S level Geography (scoring Grade 1 Distinction in the latter) and that I am actually interested in such natural phenomena in our own country. Personally I find it equally remarkable that some of you take such an avid interest in the various non UK originated series that Sky Digital is thrusting down your throats. Very little of it seems to be up the quality of something like say the original Star Trek.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

I hardly think you're going to get much scientific info from the rolling news channel coverage of slightly wonky chimney pots!

As a TiVo and MCE owner, no channel thrusts anything down my throat - that's kind of the point of all this kit!

Given the vast number of channels and the huge amounts of money that American TV has, it's hardly surprising that the very best of it is in fact rather good. I'm a big STTOS fan, but if you remember it as being high quality your memory may be slipping since you earned your Grade 1 distinction.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> I hardly think you're going to get much scientific info from the rolling news channel coverage of slightly wonky chimney pots!


There was actually an interview during the rolling coverage with some eminent British geologist who ran us through the more major quakes in Kent and the English Channel areas in the 14th and 16th centuries as well as the one in 1950 that was roughly similar to today's event. Yes there was a lot of "the electricity is off in Folkestone" type stuff but some other stuff in between. I wasn't watching it as such - it was on in the background and I paid attention when something interesting was being said.



> I'm a big STTOS fan, but if you remember it as being high quality your memory may be slipping since you earned your Grade 1 distinction.


The plot was highly innovative and many of the actor characterisations quirky, individualistic and amusing. Yes the sets look horribly crungy now but for the 1960s it was pretty impressive stuff. Especially if you compare it with sci fi tv programs churned out in the 1950s.


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## ericd121 (Dec 12, 2002)

Apologies to *mzaheer* for keeping this thread off-topic, but...


Pete77 said:


> ...for the 1960s it was pretty impressive stuff. Especially if you compare it with sci fi tv programs churned out in the 1950s.


Except you weren't comparing it to 1950's sci fi, but to today's.


> the various non UK originated series that Sky Digital is thrusting down your throats. Very little of it seems to be up the quality of something like say the original Star Trek.


Many fondly remembered shows are almost unwatchable today, and the current crop of US drama series contains many that are truly great works of art, or at least great entertainment.

I was thinking the other day about how unfortunate it was that
"*Seven Days*" was made about 5 years too early, 
before budgets ballooned: it had a great concept, let down by 
poor acting, poor plotting, poor dialogue, poor directing and poor special effects, 
all of which could have been fixed by throwing some money at it.


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