It works!

[triskellian]

My DVR finally does everything it's supposed to! Getting the guide data took a while because none of the official documentation told us that NTL doesn't transmit guide data, so we had to dig out our steam-powered aerial cable and plug that in, and hey presto! We have one week's worth of TV guide. And because the DVR is getting its data through the aerial rather than the set top box, we don't even have to remember to tune to a particular channel every now and again. Setting programmes to record is a simple matter of finding the programme in the guide and pressing the red button, and then leaving the DVR to get on with changing the channel on the cable box at the appropriate time. It picks up the programme name and everything. Hurrah!

wimble, you asked what it was: it's a Philips HDRW720, and it's shiny ;-)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_corpse_/]

One of the biggest problems with TiVo was that sometimes channels would deviate from their published schedules; earlier sports or news events might overrun, or maybe the chap who turns the channel on in the morning would get caught up in traffic or whatever. TiVo, relying as it did on those schedules, would therefore occasionally miss the start or end of a programme. You could add padding to capture the 10 minutes or so either side of programmes, but that then made recording sequential programmes problematic.

Ah, thought I, there at least Sky Plus should pwn TiVo. After all, Sky could easily transmit a programme-is-now-on signal which the Sky Plus box could use to ensure one never missed the beginning or end of a programme. They're in control of both ends of the signal, therefore it would be child's play to add in such an awesome feature.

Shame they didn't bother really.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

My TiVo has as "As used by Sky" banner. 'Cos originally, the Sky boxes had TiVo software in them. Then Sky decided to do it themselves, and the software took a step backward (the hardware took a step sideways, by capturing the raw signal, which avoids lossy recompression, but also means the user can't sacrifice quality for space).

For those who are willing to hack their way into their TiVo, there is a "soft-padding" module which adds an extra 2-minutes either side of every recording, unless this conflicts with another scheduled recording. And, to be honest, moth channels are now ok anyway. BBC 2 is the only regular culprit (and Cartoon Notwork, which is sometimes out by 25 minutes, on 30 minute programs, with no reason for any randomness at all).

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

most channels are now ok

Unless you like sport, in which case no channel is so well-organised as to be able to stop an England match going to penalties.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kent/]

We wants it. Preshus.

That is a seriously pleasant looking piece of kit. Any idea how easy it is to either a) swap out the hard drive or b) just network the hard drive?