snowbunny

Not by default. You can hack it to FF 30 secs at a time. There's definitely the technology to get rid of adverts, and it's in use in Japan, but no way will the powers that be allow that to be sold in the US.

anotherlimey

I thought TiVo excluded adverts completely Oh well, lucky I didn't pay out for it.

After learning that I think the DVRs the cable companies give out are a better deal.

snowbunny

They just are not as user friendly. I can program my TiVo from the 'Net, and I can transfer media to and from each TiVo and computer (they are networkable).

Again, the SMPTE is there to allow the blocking of adverts but hell, remember, we still have REGIONS on DVD players.

anotherlimey

I can transfer from mine too, but not as easily. You have to installed a hacked Panasonic driver and you can only stream (and record) what is currently playing.

snowbunny

You know, if you talk about it for another six posts, you'll hit the 2,000 mark.

anotherlimey

S**t so I will, shall I do a Bob and put three words per post!!!!

Sarah

Malfunction malfunction, have...no...idea...TiVo....DVR.....SMPTE....what.. ..the...fu....malfunction....

anotherlimey

I think you should ask your cable company if they do a DVR (Digital Video Recorder), Comcast do them for $10/month + installation and maybe a 12 month contract.

TiVo are having problems making money, but if your husband is a bit of a geek he may want one because they are easier to mess around with.

ScousePete

The TIVO service with DirecTV is only $4.99 per month.

Couldn't imagine life without Tivo!

BritGuyTN

I got a tivo for recording f1 gp at weird times of the days, it obviously got hijacked for sex in the city episodes by the wife!!!

mine has no subscription cost but the downside is that you cannot view the channel listing more than 3 days in advance (but can still record well into the future)

franc111s

I have a replayTV and it automatically skips the adverts 95% of the time. It's very clever. I've had 2 replays for about 3 years and they network so you can watch shows on recorded on any of them on the other. You also connect it to your network if you have one and can upload them to your computers and watch programs when travelling. Pretty COOL.

BUT BUT BUT - let me straighten something out for you...

Most if not all PVR's have a skip forward 30 secs button. When adverts start on a playback, press it 6 times and maybe once or twice more and you've skipped the adverts. It < 5 seconds. Just because mine auto skips doesn't make it much better. Mine also allows you to enter 300 and skip and will skip 5 mins (300/60) forward or 300 back goes back 5 mins.

Once you have one, I promise you, you won't go back. I wasn't kidding when my wife who normally cringes at gadgets I buy, cannot live without it.

It's even more funny becuase if you watch TV at someone else's house and you have the remote, you think "oh I missed that, let me skip back and...." then you realise you can't go back. I've even puesdo done a skip back at teh cinema. Quite funny how the brain works.

Reminds me of a real funny moment when I sat on a plane once and quite naturally turned round to grab the seat-belt over my shoulder. My brain thought I was in the car. My wife pissed herself for weeks

Bob

get one of the original tivo boxes before they updated the software, because when it started, it was able to block adverts, but people kicked up a fuss and they had to get rid of the feature, bit like the competitors, but they went under getting sued because of the ad thing....but you can still find hacks online to mess the tivo up so it'll do all kind of things.

dbj1000

I actually find that it's screwed up the way I watch movies at the cinema. I'll let my mind wander or fail to pay attention to an important scene because subconsciously I figure that I can always hit the 10-second-jump-back button and watch it again. A couple of perfectly good movies have been spoiled that way so far!

...and as for there being no 10-second-jump-back button on the DVD player...

But yes, TiVo is one of those rare inventions that make you wonder how you managed before it was invented. That and my iPod. And Sonos...

dbj1000

Didn't the original TiVo boxes only record about 5 hours of TV?

As someone's already said, the 30-second-forward button is very nearly as good as automatic ad skipping, and doesn't require you to buy totally obsolete gear!

kevntrace

I use BeyondTV3 from SnapStream on my PC in conjunction with a TV capture card.

Provides most of the functionality of Tivo, has the ad skip feature, and I can control it over the web.

And best of all no monthly service fee.