# So who has bought an alternative and what did you get



## tivofromdayone (Aug 19, 2005)

With the proposed June 1st final nail in the coffin of UK Tivo series one (excluding any third party efforts to keep an EPG going), who has planned alternatives or have you already jumped ship? 

Have you gone freeview, Sky+, Virgin media (if you can even get VM of course)? Hidef or Standard? what direction have you guys planned or gone to after Tivo? 

If you already jumped, how are you finding your chosen box and is it worth others considering it?


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## rilian (Sep 23, 2003)

Summary: Sky+HD, horrible.

It's replaced my very old basic Sky box which is older than the TiVo! Basically I'm not sure if the replacement EPG project will come up with anything, and there was a £90 cashback offer to upgrade, so it seemed a good way to get 'insurance' through Sky+.

I expected the box to be horrible and it is. The picture quality is no better than Freeview-HD, the remote is insensitive and laggy, and I will 100% front it with TiVo as long as I can.

I was surprised that on allegedly 'HD' channels, Sky transmit plenty of non-HD programs! What a con. As soon as I can I'll be cancelling the HD subscription and just using it as a basic Sky box but more futureproof being capable of recording when the TiVo dies. 

This month I've also replaced my old CRT television with a new 40" Samsung - TiVo looks GREAT in mode-0, the television upscales very well indeed. I was afraid the larger screen would show up the age and resolution of TiVo badly but in fact it's no problem at all. If I'm in a fussy mood about quality I'll just put a rented bluray on!

I'm also using the television to watch lots of digital media such as the ones downloaded from the (still can't say, can we?) which is good too.


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## tivofromdayone (Aug 19, 2005)

For my part, already Jumped ship. Still watching EPG story on here, but as it stands, Humax HDR FoxT2 is now doing Tivos job, Tivo has been lofted.

Above Poll is multiple choice by the way. Figured some may crossover in choices

Girlfriend has sky+, but as it isn't mine I haven't selected it in the poll. Menu is slow, controls are slow. Search is painful in every way and trying to rush the scroll of choices can reset back to start f the search. Lets not forget that recording 2 programmes disables the information and search options until one recording finishes. Sky+ is functional at best, but it aint no Tivo (Or fox come to think of it, fox is near instant on menus and remote). But one thing I can say for Sky+ is it doesnt seem to ever cut starts or ends off a programme as far as I can remember

Fox is twin channel HD box, 500Gb drive (avoid the terrabyte version), has issues apparently) . Box does series links but not much else. Also has an 8 day EPG with a search options (genre and full keyword rather than first letter only that sky box uses)

500Gb = 120 hours HD recording

Box is a capable performer, but anyone buying one should update the firmware ASAP. Fresh out of the box it struggles with the keyword search option in some areas due to a Freeview broadcast change that affected a couple of manufacturers freeview boxes. Update (switch box off, download update via pc to USB, insert USB into fox, switch box on, update automatically runs) cured issue instantly.

Freeview broadcast change is a slow rollout so search already works fine for some areas without the update until newer compression broadcast data gets used by relevant transmitter. At which point you will need the firmware update to keep search options.


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## Philnic (Aug 3, 2002)

I bought into Freesat+.

Because I, in any case, wanted to (a) get a Bluray player and (b) replace an ageing DVD recorder, I decided to go for a Panasonic Bluray recorder with dual Freesat tuners built in.

I had previously been running an old Sky box into Tivo, but have now removed the Sky box. Tivo is still connected to the telly, but only for playing back the few remaining items that need watching before it gets dumped. I think I have 3 items left to view, so within a couple of days it's goodbye Tivo.

As for the Panasonic, it's probably the most complicated bit of home AV kit I've ever had, because it tries to do too many things. It's certainly no Tivo, but it was the only device on the market that did everything I needed and at the price I could afford. (Got it cheap via eBay.) The biggest flaws with the Panasonic are:

(1) the slow response to the remote control (every review has remarked on this, but I think the biggest problem is that most operations trigger a BLANK SCREEN, which make you think the thing has died. It strikes me that one thing Tivo got right was the TRANSITION between screens and operations). And

(2) As far as I can figure out, there is no "progress bar" that shows where you are in a recording when you play it back. Fast-forwarding through ad breaks is therefore difficult, as you get no real sense of how fast you are going. Again, this is something that Tivo got SO RIGHT!

Anyway, neither of these flaws is a deal-breaker for me, but I do keep saying "It's no Tivo!"

I also have a Humax SD Freeview PVR, which I have run in parallel with Tivo/Sky for about a year. I used to think the Humax interface was crude, but it feels very sophisticated compared to the Panny.

Tivo will be heading to an auction site near you within a fortnight.


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## Trinitron (Jan 20, 2003)

rilian said:


> Summary: Sky+HD, horrible.
> 
> It's replaced my very old basic Sky box which is older than the TiVo! Basically I'm not sure if the replacement EPG project will come up with anything, and there was a £90 cashback offer to upgrade, so it seemed a good way to get 'insurance' through Sky+.
> 
> I expected the box to be horrible and it is. The picture quality is no better than Freeview-HD, the remote is insensitive and laggy, and I will 100% front it with TiVo as long as I can.


Which box do you have? Amstrad 1TB Sky+HD here: I got it for £149 to replace an older HD box that ran out of space far too quickly. Fast and responsive with the latest software, and after a few months the EPG is becoming easy enough to handle - ok, so it doesn't have the flexibility of TiVo but there are ways of getting round some of the issues. Remote Record through the website is good, Anytime dumps some useful stuff on the box that I may otherwise have missed and Sky's Never Miss appears to work for finished series when they come back on screen.

Can't compare with Freeview HD because I can't get it, and the channel choice is restrictive on Freeview for the type of things I watch. The Sky box will never be as good as TiVo but I want it to watch TV not go 'ooh' and 'ahh' about its features!


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## stevencarpenter (Sep 4, 2003)

Tonight it was sad to watch the last piece of content on my TiVo. Ironically it was a reasonable film entitled 10,000 BC. That is indeed a lifetime. 11 years is not.

A VM TiVo will cost approx £800 for just 18 months (based on my current ISP package) compared to £900 approx investment for 11 years (TiVo+Lifetime Sub+New Remote+New HD's). It is still an amazing investment.
I have access to cable but will not be taking VM's quite ridiculous reduced offer...

I have turned to Elgato's EyeTV, a trusty Mac Mini, added an Elgato H264 HD encoder, external 2TB Green HD's, a Netstream DTT (Freeview) and a Netstream Sat (FreeSat) all designed to view content on an Apple TV.
Its been easy to duplicate the season passes into Smart Guides, the recommended recording capability I have given up on as trying to backup thumbs data seems to beyond most of the people on the forums, after 30 minutes of searching my TiVo is about to be powered down for the last time...

All in all its not looking too bad a future, but still miss the simplicity TiVo offered.

To paraphrase Douglas Adams,
People created a answering machine to answer the phone, a video recorder to watch TV and ultimately this would lead to development of an electric monk to think for man.

What we got with TiVo was not so much a way to record TV, but a way to manage the now endless rubbish into something meaningful for each of us, in a very intuitive way. It was almost personal.

TiVo S1 RIP


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## Automan (Oct 29, 2000)

Philnic said:


> I bought into Freesat+.


And we get CHN4 HD in a few days time 

Automan.


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## AMc (Mar 22, 2002)

Have built a Windows Media Center PC with dual Freeview tuner. Intending to add an HD satellite tuner and an xbox360 extender to add a second room once I've finished off my data cabling.
It's running in parallel with Tivo at the moment (due to extender and network issues and waiting for the remote from Hong Kong). Once that's all in place I suspect Tivo will drop out of use. I might keep it to allow my 7 year old daughter to choose and record her own TV if the altEPG project comes through.


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## Ian_m (Jan 9, 2001)

You forgot FreeSat boxes.


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## Paul_J (Jan 9, 2001)

I bought a second secondhand sky plus box for <£30 added a larger HDD as per Automans guide from my stock of old bits and bobs, rang up sky and it was all working and recording fine in less that an hour anc just cost £27. I am using it to record a few programs but mainly being controled by my TiVo.


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## martink0646 (Feb 8, 2005)

Keeping TiVo till the end, hopefully that will be many years with the new epg project! I have also got a (an?) Humax HD Freesat Box that runs totally independently. I would probably have gone Freeview HD but it's not available till next year in this part of the world & it has turned out to be a decent box that has definitely got WAF....but it is no TiVo.

Martin


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## tivofromdayone (Aug 19, 2005)

Ian_m said:


> You forgot FreeSat boxes.


Not sure if that was aimed at the poll. For what its worth, Iknew I had forgotten freesat the moment I finished. Always forget something when doing a poll that entails more than just a simple yes/no. 'other' was added just in case I did miss an option.even if it was a glaringly obvious one.

So far though (and it could change), instead of getting money from upgrading customers who were loyal to tivo, it is showing around 50 percent are looking elsewhere instead. A shame Tivo didnt consider freeview users and build a freeview HD box (or freesat), as the choice for the freeview users would be simple. As it stands, Tivo are losing customers.

The real downside is that they will class the Virgin thing a hit as people who were going to go virgin anyway will be lumped in with the 'look how successful the new Tivo box is' results.

Anyone see this weeks gadget show? small section on freeview PVRs. Humax came out top with the foxt2.


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## Nimbus (May 29, 2004)

tivofromdayone said:


> Anyone see this weeks gadget show? small section on freeview PVRs. Humax came out top with the foxt2.


Yes, for once the gadget show had an interesting relevant article that was to do with a 'gadget' rather than their usual nonsense..if a little short.. ( tho the rest of the show was its usual nonsense and quickly fast forwarded thro.. ).

The Humax got a very positive review, tho they clearly dont know tivo ever exisited..  anyway, back on topic.

I agree, what this poll really shows, is that those of us who dont already buy into a sky/virgin deal ( ie we only want 'free' tv, not pay..), wont be changing to virgin 'just' to get the new tivo.
Its just way too expensive !

Sure the freeview/sat alternatives arent as good as a S1 tivo, but the cost of ownership is so much less than a virgin tivo, that its a no brainer.

And if we can keep our S1s going with the new epg, then I'm sure most of us will do that too.


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## alan_semple (Dec 10, 2005)

Paul_J said:


> I bought a second secondhand sky plus box for <£30 added a larger HDD as per Automans guide from my stock of old bits and bobs, rang up sky and it was all working and recording fine in less that an hour anc just cost £27. I am using it to record a few programs but mainly being controled by my TiVo.


Is this a "Second Hand Contract" ie a 30 day rolling contract, or are you locked in for 12 months, or is it part of a multi-room contract ?

Sky used to do a "FTV" recording option at around £10 a month.

The question still is, are Sky subscribers paying £10 a month to record just like Tivo charged, or do the channels really cost around £19.50 (Minimum package) and the record option is free.

The downside is when you stop paying it stops playing previous "and" future recordings on the Sky+ as well. (Unless you pull the viewing card before the "cut-off" signal and keep it out for a while)

Apologies for the negative slant
Alan


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## LarryDavid (Jan 4, 2007)

alan_semple said:


> Is this a "Second Hand Contract" ie a 30 day rolling contract, or are you locked in for 12 months, or is it part of a multi-room contract ?
> 
> Sky used to do a "FTV" recording option at around £10 a month.
> 
> ...


To my knowledge (which may be wrong) ...

- If you are a SKY subscriber (at any level) the SKY+ service is now free. 
- If you buy a used box you can call them to register your existing card with the box and turn on SKY+ service for free. This would be under your current contract and does not tie you in for another 12 months.
- If you are not a SKY+ subscriber, you can pay them £10 a month for the EPG service to use with the Freesat (from SKY) channels. I don't know if this has a contractual obligation.

As you state, the SKY+ recording functionality stops compleley if you leave the service.


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## tivofromdayone (Aug 19, 2005)

Just a quick one. Anybody going down the second hand Sky+ box, avoid the Amcrap (sorry, Amcrap, nope, no matter what I do I cant add strad to am, must be allergic to the word).
Seriously though, look for a Pace box not an alan sugar box. We had lots of hiccups, lockups, crashes and general nastiness with the box. Searching forums found a lot of users having the same issues. Sky engineers used to cure recurring callouts by fitting a Pace box in place of the SugarShyte box.

Gf finally let me replace it when it got to one crash too many (seem to remember it just decided to stop recording for days on end). Pace Sky+ box bought from ebay for around 70 quid at the time, cured all the really bad issues of the old unit. One call to Sky to tell them we had switched the box and it took over almost seemlessly.

Menu system and controls are virtually identical, there were a few very minor differences in how things worked, but it did everything the Sugarshyte did apart from crash glitch and freeze.

Going from Tivo to any other PVR is less than comfortable, especially when so much you were used to doesnt exist on competitions boxes, but that said, you get used to it.


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## Trinitron (Jan 20, 2003)

Sugar hasn't been involved with Amstrad (sorry, I said it) for some time. Sky now have direct control of Amstrad production and build quality has improved significantly since the early days, although it is still something of a lottery in terms of what combination of hardware you get in your box. All of the HD boxes generally appear to be ok and my current 1TB box is definitely fit for purpose, even with the new Darwin software. I think it helped that I got it after the Darwin launch so avoided conflicts with the old software that bugged so many people.

The new software has just started rolling out to the DRX780 boxes so problems could begin surfacing there but the DRX890 and DRX895 models are nothing like the dogs of the Sky+ days.


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## tivofromdayone (Aug 19, 2005)

Trinitron said:


> Sugar hasn't been involved with Amstrad (sorry, I said it) for some time.


Maybe not, but the sky+ box delivered by Sky themselves as our PVR was manufactured by amshyte regardless of whoever owned the name when our box was made and regardless of how much build quality had improved, it was still as worthy of the Sugarshyte name as ever. It was buggy and ropey in every way possible.

The Main point I was trying to make though was that the Pace boxes were always a better choice if you had the option. So for anyone considering a second hand option. by choice, I would avoid sugarshyte affiliated boxes and find one that others have felt were more stable. If their is a sugarshyte box that doesn't have the old reputation now that sky build them? go for that. Just make an informed choice and not 'well, they are all the same aren't they' type buy

Or to put it another way, do your research before committing to a purchase. For us, the pace cured all (except for the lousy way Sky+ epg is slowly populated when needed rather than instantly on tap).


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## Trinitron (Jan 20, 2003)

tivofromdayone said:


> Or to put it another way, do your research before committing to a purchase. For us, the pace cured all (except for the lousy way Sky+ epg is slowly populated when needed rather than instantly on tap).


That's why I wanted to put the alternative POV, that the newer Amstrads are ok. You just carry on ranting because you had one bad box, that's fine.

PS The EPG on the DRX895 is much faster than TiVo


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## tivofromdayone (Aug 19, 2005)

Trinitron said:


> That's why I wanted to put the alternative POV, that the newer Amstrads are ok. You just carry on ranting because you had one bad box, that's fine.
> 
> PS The EPG on the DRX895 is much faster than TiVo


actually, no. I carry on ranting because others also had bad boxes. Which I only realised once we had had enough of ours. but as you say, alternative POV always good. (Just thought, wasn't ranting, what the hell I said 'I carry on ranting' for I have no idea.

Incidentally, by ok, you mean good? fault free? or just better than they were 

Humax EPG makes tivo look very slow as well btw


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## Trinitron (Jan 20, 2003)

tivofromdayone said:


> by ok, you mean good? fault free? or just better than they were


All 3.  A couple of lock-ups early on but nothing since the last update. Compares in size to the Humax (35mm narrower but 20mm taller), very quiet - strangely is noiser in standby than when 'on' - and no complaints about picture quality on HD or SD. It also has Anytime+ which gives around 500 movies on demand and other content through my Sky broadband connection.


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## tivofromdayone (Aug 19, 2005)

I am starting to wonder how many series one users are left. so few votes


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## gazter (Aug 1, 2001)

using Windows 7 media centre. Takes lots of tweaking to get right, but once right it seems reliable and stable. 

Got three tuners running a hd sky subscription (dreambox used as softcam for sky card).

Once setup it seems pretty good, it gives me season pass prioritisation, and works pretty well, lovely hd picture, even non hd is pretty good on my large 60 inch tv.

PC, standard i would have thought by current technology, intel quad, 3gb memory, w7 64 bit, ATI 5570 card (ati cards are always the way to go for computer to tv, they have onboard audio over hdmi making the tv to pc setup plugin and turn on), and three DVBS2 cards, two pcie and one firewire and 2 x 2tb hard drives, and 1x 64gb ssd drive for the windows centre.

The software that handles all the cards and the channels is dvblink. The tv guide data i use is digiguides which gets imported into the media centre every couple of days.

Its an awful lot of spec to replicate essentially an hd tivo, but there is no real alternative to it. Wife loves it.

PS. tried sage, sage does the same thing, also does it very well, but the mrs just didnt like how sage looked and insisted in wmc.


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## spitfires (Dec 19, 2006)

tivofromdayone said:


> I am starting to wonder how many series one users are left. so few votes


The topic title is about "what alternative have you bought..." - if you haven't bought an alternative then many people might not read it (let alone vote)!


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

tivofromdayone said:


> I am starting to wonder how many series one users are left. so few votes


Not really sure why you started a new poll when there was already another identical one active ?   Which other PVR are you moving to?

Tivocommunity is a only small proportion of tivo users anyway


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## mutant_matt2 (Dec 16, 2008)

Building a MythTV box with multiple Freesat (HD) and Freeview (currently SD) tuners, to augment the TiVo (assuming the replacement EPG project works out). The TiVo will then be used for only recording the SD Sky channels, and then perhaps, if it all works out, ultimately, if I can get it to work, Myth will do the Sky stuff also.

Looking forward to HD and multi-simultaneous recording!  (planning 3 x Freesat HD and 1 x Freeview SD tuners, each with at least 2 or 3 virtual tuners).

Matt


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## Jules (Mar 8, 2002)

Bought the Humax HDR Fox T2 last weekend. I have them running in parallel for the moment, but I doubt that will be for long.

It has one killer advantage in my view: HD recording. We don't get HD for another couple of weeks, but even without the Tivo service ending I think I would have been looking for an alternative pretty soon anyway.

I'll miss wish lists most, I think.


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## nitrochicken (Sep 9, 2006)

I have set up a Acer Revo R3700 as a media centre pc with two freeview tuners. I've had it running for 3 weeks now and it hasn't missed a beat. It has not even been restarted, just put to sleep and woke up using the standby button on my media centre remote.
I still have my tivo running in parallel but I've hardly used it. I will keep it going out of interest to see how the alternative guide data project goes but I think W7 media centre is the way forward for me.


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## imp1953 (Jan 25, 2004)

Once my wife learnt to use the Humax the TiVo has now been lofted. I had stopped using the TiVo due to poor pq on the pioneer plasma. I never got round to implementing mode 0.
The humax does not have the ease of use but folders are an advantage. Also I have never known it miss the start or end times like TiVo frequently did, even with padding. I guess freesat must provide accurate start and end markers.

Also why on earth are people eBaying them? They are only selling for the cost of the Sellotape to pack them. Perhaps buyers are salvaging the hard disk. 

Mine is in the loft waiting to see if anything comes of the epg project but I bet it's never used again. I suspect I will go apple tv or media centre.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

I bought one of these you should take a look, Shhhhhh, its got season pass and wish lists 

http://www.tivoland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=421


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## spitfires (Dec 19, 2006)

^ sshhh don't tell everyone Dave or they'll _all_ want one 

.


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## tivofromdayone (Aug 19, 2005)

mikerr said:


> Not really sure why you started a new poll when there was already another identical one active ?   Which other PVR are you moving to?
> 
> Tivocommunity is a only small proportion of tivo users anyway


because I didnt see the other poll when i looked for it


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