# Sad Day in the Smiffy Household



## smiffy (Mar 6, 2002)

It is with much regret that I have finally switched off my long serving and faithful Tivo 

Having seen the bilboard advert on the London Tube many years ago, and not fully understanding why they had a chap easting toast with his mouth open. I finally joined the fold when they were priced at £199 plus the lifetime subscription. 

I bought another when Dixons/Comet/Currys popped them out at £99.

They were hacked, upgraded and loved by all the family, they replaced my fancy video recorder that would change the skybox TV channel prior to recording. I could even rip off the recordings over my network and burn them to DVD.

I did dabble with the original Sky+ though I swiftly returned to using Tivo.

However unfortunately now with the likes Iplayer & Windows MCE (still no where near a reliable as Tivo) I no longer watch what the good old Tivo has suggested.

Thanks to Tivo I've never seen adverts at normal speed for many many years - and for this alone I am very grateful. Unlike my own childhood, my children have never had to be home at a specific time to watch their favourite show.

And now after many many years technology has finally caught up with that Tivo inspiration.

And reluctantly now Tivo must make her way to silicon heaven (or eBay) unles I can find another user for her - suggestions welcome.


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

A sad day indeed


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## betts4 (Dec 27, 2005)

Hard to lose a good friend.


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## Trevor73 (Feb 21, 2005)

We all share your pain... 

My tivo means almost as much to me as my pet - And when it started playing up two days ago (The Tivo, not the pet) the feeling I have is similar to being in mourning. I hope to resolve the issues soon. I am still very much committed to tivo, and nothing I've seen even comes close to its brilliant functionality. 

If you're looking for a new home for your beloved Tivo, I will promise to look after it lovingly. 

T73


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## speedyrite (May 18, 2002)

I shall observe a minute of silence later on...


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## velocitysurfer1 (Sep 6, 2006)

My TiVo's heart (PSU) stopped beating the other week, and we had to use Sky+ whilst I ordered a new heart. It was a very long week indeed. Whilst the benefit of recording two things and watching a prerecorded show at the same time was good, the lack of information and crap interface meant that even the wife longed for TiVo. _Note that my 5 and 6 year old children prefer the TiVo remote over the Sky+ one, mainly due to the big yellow pause button!_

The heart's been replaced and sky+ has been resigned as a back up recorder for those odd occasions.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

I am glad and proud to say that we have got to a point in our household where I now know for definite, even if all Tivo's are retired in the future, it will not be to benefit sky in the form of sky+ or skyhd+


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## deshepherd (Nov 30, 2000)

smiffy said:


> Unlike my own childhood, my children have never had to be home at a specific time to watch their favourite show.


So did you have to do the "other peoples TVs don't have pause and record buttons like ours does" talk?

My children were 5 and 1 when we got TiVo and there was a stage for each of them when it dawned on me that they had no concept of live TV and found it very strange in other peoples houses that you couldn't pause the TV while you went somewhere else.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

Luckily F1 is still not yet shown in HD and so long as it isn't there is no pressing reason for me to replace my Tivo.

Even when F1 is shown in HD I can still keep my Tivo going as I no longer view F1 programs recorded if I can possibly avoid doing so and only view them live. This is simply because if you don't watch an F1 race live it is near impossible not to hear the result later that day unless you avoid all news broadcasts and if you know the result there is no point in watching. I also find an F1 race's length too much to cope with in the evening when one is inclined to fall asleep. After several years of Tivo ownership I can confidently say that with live sport you should only watch it live or not bother at all.

Tivo's are however a great way to keep track of tv series you are following that have no live component and that can be watched satisfactorily at any time.


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

Surely you mean "almost live" ? 
I always leave it at least an hour before starting to watch the GP so I can fast forward past the processional parts - which is a large part of it nowadays. I've usually caught up to real time by the actual end of the coverage.

The only time I watch TV live is at other people's houses...


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## speedyrite (May 18, 2002)

mikerr said:


> The only time I watch TV live is at other people's houses...


The only time I watch TV live is when there's a big news event!


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## Jo.Cassady (Jul 21, 2002)

I heard about TiVo apparently appearing on Virgin Media a few months back. My heart sank as I didn't live in a cabled street.

Well, now I have Virgin Media. I've tried googling for info. What has happened? Did they drop the plans to use TiVo? 

The elegance , simplicity & ease-of-use is unrivalled. I end up using iPlayer and bittorrent etc. but I love TiVo so much. Such a time-saver.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Jo.Cassady said:


> Well, now I have Virgin Media. I've tried googling for info. What has happened? Did they drop the plans to use TiVo?


No. You haven't missed anything  Nothing is due until "the end of the year" I think was the last statement I read.


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## paulpenny (Oct 7, 2001)

speedyrite said:


> The only time I watch TV live is when there's a big news event!


That reminds me, I must get round to watching the general election.


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## BrianHughes (Jan 21, 2001)

paulpenny said:


> That reminds me, I must get round to watching the general election.


Don't bother. Everyone tried their best but the Government still got in.


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## steveroe (Oct 29, 2002)

Hey! Spoiler tags please


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

steveroe said:


> Hey! Spoiler tags please


They wouldn't help. I didn't watch the last election, but I still found out anyway.


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

iankb said:


> They wouldn't help. I didn't watch the last election, but I still found out anyway.


At least as long as you set a season pass or wishlist it will pick up the next one when it happens any time in the next five years


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

RichardJH said:


> At least as long as you set a season pass or wishlist it will pick up the next one when it happens any time in the next five years


I'm interested in the subject of elections but after trying to create a Wishlist for the word election at the start of this one I had to delete it because it was going to record such an absurd number of programs.

The only really enjoyable election program is the actual election night results broadcast and that has to be watched live and not as a recording if it is to be any fun.


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

Pete77 said:


> The only really enjoyable election program is the actual election night results broadcast and that has to be watched live and not as a recording if it is to be any fun.


The only fun to be had out of that is watching them trying to predict the future government after just one result has come in.

Damn lies and statistics. A bit too much like the campaign promises.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

iankb said:


> The only fun to be had out of that is watching them trying to predict the future government after just one result has come in.


Unfortunately this time their exit poll was correct to within one seat for the Conservatives and to within three seats for Labour and the Lib Dems so no fun had to be there either.


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## Jo.Cassady (Jul 21, 2002)

cwaring said:


> No. You haven't missed anything  Nothing is due until "the end of the year" I think was the last statement I read.


Oh, why must they be so cruel to us? Whilst I'm ecastatic TiVo is returning, it's just cruel to delay it.


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