Is it possible to have a TiVo unit and a VCR connected to a single Television?

In article ID [email protected], Lenroc
writes:

If you have digital, you'd need a second Digital Cable Box to be able to
watch something live off cable on TV and have Tivo record something else.

Not really necessary, because you still get an analog signal with digital
cable. So, you just split the cable before the cable box.

I have one TiVo recording off of the analog signal (before the cable box) and
a second TiVo recording off of the digital box itself. The first unit uses the
TiVo internal tuner, the second TiVo changes the cable box tuner via serial
cable.

That's not to say you couldn't pay $5 more per month for a second digital
cable converter. Just that you wouldn't "need" to.

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 19:24:48 -0500, Phil Leonard wrote:

Not really necessary, because you still get an analog signal with digital
cable. So, you just split the cable before the cable box.

Good point.

In some neighborhoods though, mine included, you can't get practically
anything without a Digital Converter. In my case, I can tune channels 1-22
without one

--
Lenroc

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 19:24:48 -0500, Phil Leonard wrote:

Not really necessary, because you still get an analog signal with digital
cable. So, you just split the cable before the cable box.

Good point.

In some neighborhoods though, mine included, you can't get practically
anything without a Digital Converter. In my case, I can tune channels 1-22
without one

--
Lenroc

In article ID [email protected], Lenroc
writes:

Good point.

In some neighborhoods though, mine included, you can't get practically
anything without a Digital Converter. In my case, I can tune channels 1-22
without one

We get channels 1-100 analog, 200-350 digital. That's always been one of the
big selling points of cable vs. Sat. (Since there isn't much else to compare,)
that you can have as many TV's hooked up as you want without another
converter.

I've never heard of a cable company that ONLY offered channels 1-22 without a
box. Have they scrambled everything else? What cable company is this? Just
curious.

In article ID [email protected], Lenroc
writes:

Good point.

In some neighborhoods though, mine included, you can't get practically
anything without a Digital Converter. In my case, I can tune channels 1-22
without one

We get channels 1-100 analog, 200-350 digital. That's always been one of the
big selling points of cable vs. Sat. (Since there isn't much else to compare,)
that you can have as many TV's hooked up as you want without another
converter.

I've never heard of a cable company that ONLY offered channels 1-22 without a
box. Have they scrambled everything else? What cable company is this? Just
curious.

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 09:45:33 -0500, Phil Leonard wrote:

I've never heard of a cable company that ONLY offered channels 1-22
without a box. Have they scrambled everything else?

Not sure what you mean by scrambled, but if you just mean that I can't
tune in channel 23 without a Digital Cable box, then yeah

Anything except "Limited Basic" (1-22, $15/mo) needs a Digital Cable box
in my area. For Basic Cable (1-~99, $40/mo), a Digital Cable box is
required, but they will give you your first 2 free (rental fee waived).
For Digital Cable, they require a Digital Cable box, and none are free.

What cable company is this? Just curious.

Same as the one referenced countless times in my header?

Cox Communications.

It is not like this in other parts of my city though. I live in Tempe, AZ,
a suburb of Phoenix, and I know for a fact that (most, at least) residents
of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, etc. do not have this, they can get channels
1-99 without a box. AFAIK, only select areas in Tempe are the 'lucky' ones
(I actually live in an apartment complex where Cox just took over from
another cable company, and they spent almost a week working on the outside
wiring. I just sorta assumed that they only ran digital, but since then
I've heard that other parts of Tempe are the same way...).

The funny part is that they advertise "Free standard service on all
aditional TVs", then only give me channels 1-22 (what they call "Limited
Basic", not "standard") on additional TVs....

--
Lenroc

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 09:45:33 -0500, Phil Leonard wrote:

I've never heard of a cable company that ONLY offered channels 1-22
without a box. Have they scrambled everything else?

Not sure what you mean by scrambled, but if you just mean that I can't
tune in channel 23 without a Digital Cable box, then yeah

Anything except "Limited Basic" (1-22, $15/mo) needs a Digital Cable box
in my area. For Basic Cable (1-~99, $40/mo), a Digital Cable box is
required, but they will give you your first 2 free (rental fee waived).
For Digital Cable, they require a Digital Cable box, and none are free.

What cable company is this? Just curious.

Same as the one referenced countless times in my header?

Cox Communications.

It is not like this in other parts of my city though. I live in Tempe, AZ,
a suburb of Phoenix, and I know for a fact that (most, at least) residents
of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, etc. do not have this, they can get channels
1-99 without a box. AFAIK, only select areas in Tempe are the 'lucky' ones
(I actually live in an apartment complex where Cox just took over from
another cable company, and they spent almost a week working on the outside
wiring. I just sorta assumed that they only ran digital, but since then
I've heard that other parts of Tempe are the same way...).

The funny part is that they advertise "Free standard service on all
aditional TVs", then only give me channels 1-22 (what they call "Limited
Basic", not "standard") on additional TVs....

--
Lenroc

Lenroc ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
Anything except "Limited Basic" (1-22, $15/mo) needs a Digital Cable box
in my area. For Basic Cable (1-~99, $40/mo), a Digital Cable box is
required, but they will give you your first 2 free (rental fee waived).
For Digital Cable, they require a Digital Cable box, and none are free.

That is so screwed up.

For "Basic", you get two TVs for $40/month, and this includes some digital
channels.

But, if you want to get more channels (and are willing to pay for them), you
have to go to "Digital" *and* pay extra for boxes that you currently don't
pay anything for.

--
Jeff Rife |
For address harvesters: | http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/Dilbert/InstallVirus.gif
|
|
|

Lenroc ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
Anything except "Limited Basic" (1-22, $15/mo) needs a Digital Cable box
in my area. For Basic Cable (1-~99, $40/mo), a Digital Cable box is
required, but they will give you your first 2 free (rental fee waived).
For Digital Cable, they require a Digital Cable box, and none are free.

That is so screwed up.

For "Basic", you get two TVs for $40/month, and this includes some digital
channels.

But, if you want to get more channels (and are willing to pay for them), you
have to go to "Digital" *and* pay extra for boxes that you currently don't
pay anything for.

--
Jeff Rife |
For address harvesters: | http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/Dilbert/InstallVirus.gif
|
|
|

Steven B. wrote:

Which method of connections will allow me to still surf live Cable TV
and also be able to record to the TiVo while watching something else?

This one:
Another way is to put a splitter in front of the cable box:

/----------------------- RF
Cable-TV -| VCR-- TV
\-- Cable Box - TiVo - L1

Use the VCR to select between
A) Raw cable (unscrambled analog chanels) or
B) TiVo (via the VCR's Line 1 input).

As you can see, the VCR (or the TV when the VCR is in bypass mode)
has full access to all the unscrambled analog cable TV channels.
Surf away!

Also, someone metioned to me that you can record 2 shows to TiVo at
the same time. Is this really possible?

The only units that can record two channels at the same time are
the DirecTV+TiVo combo boxes.

-Joe