Okay...so how many hours do I *really* get?

I've been reading up on Tivo because I'm definitely interested, but I keep
getting stuck in the decision process at which box to buy. I'm a rabid
TV-watcher, so I think I'll want the 180-hour model, but I'm wondering if I
could actually get by with less (to lower my box price).

From what I've read, the maximum-advertised hours for each box is based on
the assumption that the user will be recording at lowest possible quality
level. And no doubt for most of my crappy weekly series, I will be
recording at a low quality. But if I was to tape *everything* at the
highest possible quality level, how many hours do the 40, 80 and 180 models
provide?

the 80 hour yields 36/54/80

You really do not want the lowest quality as it can be highly pixelated.
I got the 80-hour tivos and upgraded the hard drive to 300G.
\
Never had a problem with my 30 season passes running out of space.


jamsrt wrote:
I've been reading up on Tivo because I'm definitely interested, but I keep
getting stuck in the decision process at which box to buy. I'm a rabid
TV-watcher, so I think I'll want the 180-hour model, but I'm wondering if I
could actually get by with less (to lower my box price).

From what I've read, the maximum-advertised hours for each box is based on
the assumption that the user will be recording at lowest possible quality
level. And no doubt for most of my crappy weekly series, I will be
recording at a low quality. But if I was to tape *everything* at the
highest possible quality level, how many hours do the 40, 80 and 180 models
provide?

Howard wrote:
"jamsrt" wrote in
news:[email protected] .com:

I've been reading up on Tivo because I'm definitely interested, but I
keep getting stuck in the decision process at which box to buy.
I'm a rabid TV-watcher, so I think I'll want the 180-hour model, but
I'm wondering if I could actually get by with less (to lower my box
price).

From what I've read, the maximum-advertised hours for each box is
based on the assumption that the user will be recording at lowest
possible quality level. And no doubt for most of my crappy weekly
series, I will be recording at a low quality. But if I was to tape
*everything* at the highest possible quality level, how many hours
do the 40, 80 and 180 models provide?

Not that this is a hard and fast number, with VBR, but somewhere in
the ballpark of 40 = 11, 80 = 23.5, 180 = 53.

http://customersupport.tivo.com/know...lic/tv1219.htm

Is this also true with the Directv tivo? I do not think they have a setting
for the recording quality.

Jeff

On 2006-07-26, jamsrt wrote:
I've been reading up on Tivo because I'm definitely interested, but I keep
getting stuck in the decision process at which box to buy. I'm a rabid
TV-watcher, so I think I'll want the 180-hour model, but I'm wondering if I
could actually get by with less (to lower my box price).

You want to buy the TiVo with the smallest harddrive then add in one or
two of your own drives. That's by far the best way to go.

--
This is my .sig

"Jeff" wrote in message news:[email protected]
Howard wrote:
"jamsrt" wrote in
news:[email protected] .com:

I've been reading up on Tivo because I'm definitely interested, but I
keep getting stuck in the decision process at which box to buy.
I'm a rabid TV-watcher, so I think I'll want the 180-hour model, but
I'm wondering if I could actually get by with less (to lower my box
price).

From what I've read, the maximum-advertised hours for each box is
based on the assumption that the user will be recording at lowest
possible quality level. And no doubt for most of my crappy weekly
series, I will be recording at a low quality. But if I was to tape
*everything* at the highest possible quality level, how many hours
do the 40, 80 and 180 models provide?

Not that this is a hard and fast number, with VBR, but somewhere in
the ballpark of 40 = 11, 80 = 23.5, 180 = 53.

http://customersupport.tivo.com/know...lic/tv1219.htm

Is this also true with the Directv tivo? I do not think they have a
setting for the recording quality.

No, the numbers are different. On a DirecTiVo, the units with a 40gig drive
are approx up to 35 hours. There is no quality level settings on the unit
themselves, that is handled at the DirecTV uplink center. Everything gets
compressed there and the DirecTiVos record exactly what is sent.

In article [email protected], "Jeff"
wrote:

Is this also true with the Directv tivo? I do not think they have a setting
for the recording quality.

The DirecTv TiVo records in the incoming digital stream. It is basically
perfect quality, and gives one about 1 hour of recording per Gig of Hard
Drive for Standard Definition.

jamsrt wrote:

From what I've read, the maximum-advertised hours for each box is based on
the assumption that the user will be recording at lowest possible quality
level.

Correct. For the four quality settings, the divisors are close
to 1, 1.5, 2, and 3.

Approximately:
180 hours at Basic, 120 hours at Medium, 90 hours at High, 60 hours at Best.

-Joe

Jeff wrote:

Is this also true with the Directv tivo? I do not think they have a setting
for the recording quality.

That is correct. DirecTiVo records what the network sends verbatim.
A 40 GB disk is advertised as holding 35 hours of recording, but it
depends on the bitrate being used at the time. For movies on the
premium channels, it might fill up after 28 hours. For highly compressed
late-night stuff, it may be more than 40 hours.
-Joe

Seth wrote:
"Jeff" wrote in message
news:[email protected]
Howard wrote:
"jamsrt" wrote in
news:[email protected] .com:

I've been reading up on Tivo because I'm definitely interested,
but I keep getting stuck in the decision process at which box to
buy. I'm a rabid TV-watcher, so I think I'll want the 180-hour model,
but I'm wondering if I could actually get by with less (to lower my box
price).

From what I've read, the maximum-advertised hours for each box is
based on the assumption that the user will be recording at lowest
possible quality level. And no doubt for most of my crappy weekly
series, I will be recording at a low quality. But if I was to
tape *everything* at the highest possible quality level, how many
hours do the 40, 80 and 180 models provide?

Not that this is a hard and fast number, with VBR, but somewhere in
the ballpark of 40 = 11, 80 = 23.5, 180 = 53.

http://customersupport.tivo.com/know...lic/tv1219.htm

Is this also true with the Directv tivo? I do not think they have a
setting for the recording quality.

No, the numbers are different. On a DirecTiVo, the units with a
40gig drive are approx up to 35 hours. There is no quality level
settings on the unit themselves, that is handled at the DirecTV
uplink center. Everything gets compressed there and the DirecTiVos
record exactly what is sent.

Sounds like an advantage then, especially when dealing with a 40 drive which
is what I have.

Thanks.

Jeff

Joe Smith wrote:
Jeff wrote:

Is this also true with the Directv tivo? I do not think they have a
setting for the recording quality.

That is correct. DirecTiVo records what the network sends verbatim.
A 40 GB disk is advertised as holding 35 hours of recording, but it
depends on the bitrate being used at the time. For movies on the
premium channels, it might fill up after 28 hours. For highly
compressed late-night stuff, it may be more than 40 hours.
-Joe

Thank you all. Good to know.

Jeff