Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

"[email protected]" wrote in message
...


"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...

8

I rarely want to archive programs forever, just time shift them and for
that the TiVo excels in performance and most particularly reliability.
The TiVo really is, IMO, the canines cojones of PVRs. I say "is" rather
than "was" as I think it still outperforms the vast majority of PVRs even
today. Just a shame you can't get a new one in the UK. :-(

AFAICS the only thing TiVo offers above a media center PC is that it
decides to record stuff by its self.
If that is something you need then you need a TiVo.
I prefer the better quality that you get on Sky+ and on MCE.

....but, have you ever owned a TiVo?

Tim

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...



...but, have you ever owned a TiVo?

Tim





i have.
as a user experience it was great but sky boxes do the important bits
better - i.e sound and picture quality, 2 channel recording and HD viewing
and recording.
those things outweigh the Tivo user friendliness.
now if you could pay to load tivo software onto a sky hd box - that would be
something i'd do.



--
Gareth.

that fly...... is your magic wand....

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

The dog from that film you saw wrote:
"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...



...but, have you ever owned a TiVo?


i have.
as a user experience it was great but sky boxes do the important bits
better - i.e sound and picture quality,

Since we got a new bigger hard drive and I started doing all my recording on
"HQ", I can't say I've noticed any difference from broadcast. That said, I
hardly ever watch TV "live" so it's possible that there is a slight
degradation.

2 channel recording

Would be nice but it's not something that bothers me often

and HD
viewing and recording.

I wish I wish I wish they would sell the HD TiVo in the UK!

those things outweigh the Tivo user friendliness.
now if you could pay to load tivo software onto a sky hd box - that
would be something i'd do.

I aknowledge that the TiVo is getting left behind but as long as the
majority of terrestial broadcasting is in standard definition I'll be
keeping mine. It's a great shame that they haven't licenced the software to
be run on PVRs in countries where TiVos aren't being sold.

Tim

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...


I aknowledge that the TiVo is getting left behind but as long as the
majority of terrestial broadcasting is in standard definition I'll be
keeping mine. It's a great shame that they haven't licenced the software
to be run on PVRs in countries where TiVos aren't being sold.

Tim




i just don't think their business plan works - other than the seriously
obsessed ( nerds like myself ), who is willing to pay a tenner a month for
tv listings? - yes there's a lifetime option but again, who would pay for
that even?



--
Gareth.

that fly...... is your magic wand....

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

The dog from that film you saw wrote:
"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...


I aknowledge that the TiVo is getting left behind but as long as the
majority of terrestial broadcasting is in standard definition I'll be
keeping mine. It's a great shame that they haven't licenced the
software to be run on PVRs in countries where TiVos aren't being
sold. Tim

i just don't think their business plan works - other than the
seriously obsessed ( nerds like myself ), who is willing to pay a
tenner a month for tv listings? - yes there's a lifetime option but
again, who would pay for that even?

Apart from rubbish marketting, sales were killed by digital telly and free
EPG. It's very hard to convince folk of the merits of paying for program
information!

We paid for the lifetime option as it only represented less than 2 years
subscription.

Tim

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

In message , fred writes
In article , Paul Ratcliffe
writes
On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:55:38 +0100, fred wrote:

If it is U/S, would it be a likely cause of the symptoms? It has 2200
microF, 10V, HD(M), 105C and HD243 printed on it.

Try these:
http://uk.farnell.com/panasonic/eeuf...10v/dp/9691952

That's only 1000 instead of 2200.

Ooops, sorry bout that, the one below is the right one and still pretty
cheap.

Any stock problems and these will also work and have a slightly better
spec (at a slightly higher cost):
http://uk.farnell.com/panasonic/eeuf...10v/dp/9691979

Seems to be the proper replacement, assuming it's physically small enough
to fit.
Yes, agreed

Strangely:
Farnell do these for 59p each exc. VAT, min. qty. 5, free postage,
total £3.44
CPC do these for 55p each exc. VAT, min. qty. 1, postage £5.95,
total £7.48
seeing as Farnell and CPC are supposedly the same company...
Different cost models, free post offset by higher margins on the goods,
quite handy for little orders like this one.

But then, I could have sent him one for nothing ...

--
geoff

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

In your case that capacitors is almost certainly the output smoother of a
SMPS. It has to take a LOT of high frequency ripple current, and is the
one most likely to suffer if its even slightly suspect in the first place.
It will get hot and eventually either short, or cease to do its job.

Actually, you've made a good point the many capacitors in that role are
properly specified to handle the high frequency, high amplitude ripple
current, and a bog standard electrolytic may fail very prematurely, even if
of the correct capacity and voltage.

SteveT

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:

I know TiVos were well respected, though I've never used one, do they
still have "killer" features that aren't available anywhere else?


The user interface is fantastic. So much more intuitive than Sky+. Massively
better than the freeview boxes I've tried. Not seen a V+ box but keen on
having a play...

The other thing that TiVo does really well is searching and season passes.
It used to be the case (might still be?) that if you set a series link on
Sky+ and the show wasn't on in the next 2 weeks then it wouldn't get
recorded.

I set a season pass for Scrapheap challenge in series 1. It's not missed an
episode yet (although I'm tempted to kill it now with the new version of
the show...).

My son loves watching it and wanted to see the Land Yacht episode. Quickly
set an autorecording wishlist for episodes of scrapheap challenge that
mentioned the word "yacht" in the description. A few weeks later it had
recorded the show at 3am on some satellite channel.

That sort of thing is what I now take for granted and nothing else seems
to offer :-(

Just a real shame TiVo couldn't have done a deal with C&W/NTL/VirginMedia
to produce a real Sky+ killer :-(

Darren

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

In article ,
The dog from that film you saw wrote:

i just don't think their business plan works - other than the seriously
obsessed ( nerds like myself ), who is willing to pay a tenner a month for
tv listings? - yes there's a lifetime option but again, who would pay for
that even?

I agree - and I'm a TiVo lover :-(

The only chance I really saw them having was to get in with the cable
companies (well, company now) when Sky launched the Sky+ box.

I'd pay 500 quid for a HD twin tuner Virgin media box without thinking
twice if it was running TiVo software. Unfortunately, most people
wouldn't.

Darren

Repairing a Freeview box (was Freeview STBs and TiVo)
 

In article ,
Tim Downie wrote:

Ours eventually needed a new hard-drive from tivoland but other than that,
has been absolutely reliable. Probably worth a shot if your's is getting
whiney.

Heh, I put a bigger drive in it years ago. Got a spare PSU upstairs
somewhere as well. It's features I'm lacking.

Getting fed up with not having multiple tuners - and I want HD now I've
actually got a TV that could make something of it.

Darren