TIVO via 800 Calling Card Success

Greetings,

"Kenny" wrote in message
...

"tooloud" wrote in message
...

Why so many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to
download program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a phone
line is beyond me.


It would be interesting to get some statistics from Tivo corporate on this.

I wonder how many people have the Home Media option which requires
some sort of network to read music and pictures from a PC.

I wonder how many people use Home Media to view recorded programs
on another Tivo.

I wonder how many people use the Internet to schedule programs on their
Tivo's.

I think the answers to these questions might explain why so many Tivo
users are anxious to have a network connection.

Larry Hazel

"Homer L. Hazel" wrote in message
news:[email protected]
Greetings,

"Kenny" wrote in message
...

"tooloud" wrote in message
...

Why so many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to
download program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a phone
line is beyond me.


It would be interesting to get some statistics from Tivo corporate on
this.

I wonder how many people have the Home Media option which requires
some sort of network to read music and pictures from a PC.

I wonder how many people use Home Media to view recorded programs
on another Tivo.

I wonder how many people use the Internet to schedule programs on their
Tivo's.

I think the answers to these questions might explain why so many Tivo
users are anxious to have a network connection.

Larry Hazel




I don't see how the answer to the question "how many?" would even be related
to much less the reason for for the question "why?" And I don't believe
that there really are a whole lot of people anxious to get their Tivos
connected to a network. Of the Tivo owners I know, not one of them has
networked their Tivo and not one of them has any plans too do so. People
buy these "toys" because the Jones' have one, they plug them in and very
quickly forget anything that they briefly skimmed over in the manual, so
they are generally clueless as to using it to it's fullest potential. They
learn how to record stuff by trial and error and that's good enough for
them.

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In article ,
tooloud wrote:
Leslie A Rhorer wrote:
Because some of us still own the first model Tivo ever produced...the
14-hour one, which isn't easily networked. By "isn't easily
networked", I

It's no more difficult than any TiVo. It's easier in some
respects than the newest ones.

It is? You're telling me that I can network my Series 1 Tivo as easily as a
Series 2 with a USB port on the back?

1) Purchase a TurboNet card.
2) Unplug and open your TiVo.
3) Attach the TurboNet to the edge connector at the front of the TiVo's
motherboard (it only fits one way, so you can't screw it up).
4) Feed a network cable through a convenient hole in the back of the case to
the RJ-45 connector on the TurboNet.
5) Close your TiVo.
6) Reboot and set your dialing prefix to (IIRC) ,#401 (or whatever it is).

There are maybe a couple more steps involved than for a USB dongle, but it's
nothing that a TiVo user of average intelligence can't figure out. If all
you want it to do is grab schedule info over your broadband connection, you
don't need to add any software to your TiVo.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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"tooloud" wrote in message
...
Leslie A Rhorer wrote:
Because some of us still own the first model Tivo ever produced...the
14-hour one, which isn't easily networked. By "isn't easily
networked", I

It's no more difficult than any TiVo. It's easier in some
respects than the newest ones.

It is? You're telling me that I can network my Series 1 Tivo as easily as
a Series 2 with a USB port on the back?

Yes. The Series 2 requires a USB to Ethernet bridge, which has problems
and pitfals of its own, and it is only USB 1.0 at ths time. The Series I
has the code for the Ethernet solution built in to the software. If you
consider opening and closing the unit to be "difficult", then fitting the
Series I with a network solution might be argued to be the more difficult
task. Otherwise, it is the simpler task, since all one must needs do is
install the TurboNet card, versus tryiung to get a networked USB connection
to work. From there on it is identical.


mean that some of us don't care to buy additional hardware and crack
open the case on a box that functions perfectly fine over the phone
line. Why so

"Perfectly fine" is definitely a subjective and specific
assessment. With my SBC phone lines, 2/3 or more of the attempts
failed. With teenages around the house, many more failed. What's
more, only the phone update worked at all. Telnet, FTP, tyServer,
and TiVoWeb all require networking.

While "perfectly fine" may be subjective, I'd be interested to hear how
many "normal" users, i.e. "users that don't regularly consult a
newsgroup",

I don't regularly consult a newsgroup. I don't even regularly read a
news group.

actually receive their program info via any means other than the built-in
modem. I'll bet it's pretty small.

You bet wrong. I don't know what fraction of users have DirecTiVo, but
I know it is not "pretty small". All DirecTiVo users get their program info
off satellite. For the rest, visiting a news group is irrelevant. I'm sure
9th Tee can tell you how many Ethernet cards they have sold, but the
percentage of Series I users who have or don't have Ethernet cards is also
largely irrelevant. The question was, "Why would any one want to go to the
trouble to network their TiVo?", although that's not the way the OP
originally phrased it. I answered the question.

many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to
download program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a
phone line is beyond me.

If it were just that, I would not have, but it isn't. The Network
based tools are extremely important to me, and in any case, once I
switched my phone server to Vonage, the TiVo daily call would not
work at all. I had to switch toa networked solution whetehr I really
wanted to or not (I did). Saving over $250 a year at a one time cost of
$69 while getting greatly enhanced features on both my phone and
my TiVo was well worth it.

I've read that Vonage doesn't necessarily cause the problems it's accused
of.

'Not according to Vonage. They specifically stated the TiVo would not
work with their service at the time I ordered it. Their tech support was
very helpful in trying to get it working, with the caveat it might never
work. With their help, I got it working somewhat for a short period of
time, but then it quit altogether. I spoke with them again, and they made
additional suggestions, but one of those suggestions - with the clear
warning it would void my warranty - was to get the TurboNet card. That's
right. I learned of the TurboNet card from Vonage Tech support. They were
the ones who suggested it. The warranty was irrelevant, because my warranty
had long expired. Of course, this was over ayear ago, and Vonage is no
longer using the Cisco ATA 186, so my information may well be out of date.

More to your point, however, is the fact the internal modem worked with
my Bell service as long as it was not wet outside or one of my teenagers
didn't interrupt the call, and it did not work with Vonage. I kept the Bell
line until I had both TiVo and my home alarm system working, and then
dropped the SBC service. I know the rain problem had nothing to do with
TiVo, because the reception was so bad when it was wet outside I often could
not even use the phone to get a regular phone call, and ordinary modem, fax,
and house alarm service were also impacted.

"Kenny" wrote in message
...

"tooloud" wrote in message
...

Why so many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to
download program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a phone
line is beyond me.


Actually it's about a two minute phone call that occurs mostly in the wee
hours of the night.

Which is when the teenagers do most of their talking, and when the wet
line problem was often worst. This is not really the point, however. The
point is, the daily call is the least important reason to network one's
TiVo. There are a number of important featires made available by networking
one's TiVo. Once networked, sending the daily call via broadband is
trivial, so there is no point in not doing it. The disadvantage of the
dialup may be slight, but why live with a even a small disadvantage and
inconvenience when it's totally unnecessary?


why are they so desperate?

I don't know that anyone is desperate. The networked TiVo offers a
great many more advantages than one which is not networked, and networking
them is easy.

Keep in mind that you are asking this in a forum for an
electronic/computer like gizmo. It's going to be mostly tech-heads that
reside in and get heard in such a forum. So the popular opinion on any
subject is going to be heavily skewed toward the tech-head view.

Which makes your question even less valid. People in this forum are the
sort who are more likely to take advantage of the broad range of features
offered by networking, whihc is why many of them want to network their TiVo.

The vast majority of Tivo users have never even heard of
alt.video.ptv.tivo

So what? Neither had I a week ago when I decided to peek in on a TiVo
newsgroup to see what the latest tech blurb was. It doesn't matte if the
number of people who want to network their TiVo is 1 or 1,000,000. It's
their right to do so for whatever reasons they want.

and see little or no reason to ever visit tivo.com and they also find
recording things at basic quality to be perfectly acceptable on their

Again, so what? No one is forcing anyone to network their TiVo or
suggesting anyone ever should be so forced. You act as if it is a personal
affront to you that anyone would wish to take more than average advantage of
the advanced technical features of a personal device, and blithely ignore
the existence of those features when you are told what they are, then
criticize those who do wish to avail themselves of such features. What's
your problem?

non-upgraded Tivos. They have no vanity to publicly display regarding
their Tivo or how they use it.

I rest my case.

why are they so desperate? Keep in mind that you are asking this in
a forum for an electronic/computer like gizmo. It's going to be
mostly tech-heads that reside in and get heard in such a forum. So
the popular opinion on any subject is going to be heavily skewed
toward the tech-head view.
The vast majority of Tivo users have never even heard of
alt.video.ptv.tivo and see little or no reason to ever visit tivo.com
and they also find recording things at basic quality to be perfectly
acceptable on their non-upgraded Tivos. They have no vanity to
publicly display regarding their Tivo or how they use it.

I agree 100%. Personally, the "network it" argument always seems like the
answer to a question that 98% of owners have never even asked.

That's precisely what most non-TiVo users say about TiVo.

My question is, why are you two so bent out of shape by those of us who
consider the networking features to be important? I use telnet and ftp
fairly regularly, and I use TiVoWeb and tyStudio almost constantly. Because
of its features and support, I am thinking about switching to TyShow.
Exactly what about my desire and that of those like me to make use of these
tools is bothering you?

I don't see how the answer to the question "how many?" would even be
related to much less the reason for for the question "why?" And I don't
believe

*YOU* are the one who made the following statement:

Why so many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to
download program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a phone
line is beyond me.

If you don't see it as related, why did you bring it up?

that there really are a whole lot of people anxious to get their Tivos
connected to a network. Of the Tivo owners I know, not one of them has

If you don't belive there are a lot of people wanting to do it, why did
you say there are so many who are desperate to do so?

networked their Tivo and not one of them has any plans too do so. People

You just said the question of "how many?" is not related to the question
"why?", yet once again you bring it up. Let me get this straight. You are
angry becasue so many people want to do it and it is invalid for them to
want to do it because no one wants to do it? If no one wants to do it, then
what's your question?

buy these "toys" because the Jones' have one, they plug them in and very
quickly forget anything that they briefly skimmed over in the manual, so
they are generally clueless as to using it to it's fullest potential.
They learn how to record stuff by trial and error and that's good enough
for them.

That's fine for them. Many people never even bothered to set the time
on their VCRs. If others of us wish to make the fullest use of our
belongings, it's not up to you to criticise that desire. Do you really
belive becasue many people are like that, we all have to be?

The question of, "why?", we have already answered. The question of
"How many" can be abswered by contacting TiVo and asking how many HMO
options have been sold and contacting 9th Tee and asking how many of the
various incarnations of Ethernet card have been sold, and add the two
together. I'm not going to do it, becaue I don't care. My reasons for
networking my TiVo are valid no matter how many or how few other people have
done it.

Oh, and just for the record, how many TiVo owners do you know, and how
many are even aware their TiVos can be networked, and how many are aware of
the features of TiVoWeb, tyStudio / TyShow, ftp, telnet, and HMO?

connected to a network. Of the Tivo owners I know, not one of them has
networked their Tivo and not one of them has any plans too do so. People

Scott Alfter wrote:
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In article ,
tooloud wrote:
Leslie A Rhorer wrote:
Because some of us still own the first model Tivo ever
produced...the 14-hour one, which isn't easily networked. By
"isn't easily
networked", I

It's no more difficult than any TiVo. It's easier in some
respects than the newest ones.

It is? You're telling me that I can network my Series 1 Tivo as
easily as a Series 2 with a USB port on the back?

1) Purchase a TurboNet card.
2) Unplug and open your TiVo.
3) Attach the TurboNet to the edge connector at the front of the
TiVo's motherboard (it only fits one way, so you can't screw it up).
4) Feed a network cable through a convenient hole in the back of the
case to the RJ-45 connector on the TurboNet.
5) Close your TiVo.
6) Reboot and set your dialing prefix to (IIRC) ,#401 (or whatever it
is).

That's no more difficult than any Tivo?

Personally, including ordering the card, that sounds like a big enough pain
in the ass that I never bothered, even when my modem fried. I dug up a 28.8
external modem from work and had it working the same day this "hack" was
discovered, which was also conveniently the day before I ran out of program
info.

And I didn't even have to remember where I left that Torx screwdriver I
purchased two years ago simply for the purpose of opening my Tivo.

snip

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply...

Leslie A Rhorer wrote:
"tooloud" wrote in message
...
Leslie A Rhorer wrote:
Because some of us still own the first model Tivo ever
produced...the 14-hour one, which isn't easily networked. By
"isn't easily networked", I

It's no more difficult than any TiVo. It's easier in some
respects than the newest ones.

It is? You're telling me that I can network my Series 1 Tivo as
easily as a Series 2 with a USB port on the back?

Yes. The Series 2 requires a USB to Ethernet bridge, which has
problems and pitfals of its own, and it is only USB 1.0 at ths time.

Does the speed really matter a whole lot in this case?

The Series I has the code for the Ethernet solution built in to the
software. If you consider opening and closing the unit to be
"difficult", then fitting the Series I with a network solution might
be argued to be the more difficult task.

Honestly? Yes, I do consider opening and closing the unit to be difficult.
Keep in mind that the unit has to be removed from its rack and a card only
available on the web needs to be purchased and installed. It would be a bona
fide PITA for an awful lot of people.

Otherwise, it is the
simpler task, since all one must needs do is install the TurboNet
card, versus tryiung to get a networked USB connection to work. From
there on it is identical.

mean that some of us don't care to buy additional hardware and
crack open the case on a box that functions perfectly fine over
the phone line. Why so

"Perfectly fine" is definitely a subjective and specific
assessment. With my SBC phone lines, 2/3 or more of the attempts
failed. With teenages around the house, many more failed. What's
more, only the phone update worked at all. Telnet, FTP, tyServer,
and TiVoWeb all require networking.

While "perfectly fine" may be subjective, I'd be interested to hear
how many "normal" users, i.e. "users that don't regularly consult a
newsgroup",

I don't regularly consult a newsgroup. I don't even regularly
read a news group.

actually receive their program info via any means other than the
built-in modem. I'll bet it's pretty small.

You bet wrong. I don't know what fraction of users have
DirecTiVo, but I know it is not "pretty small".

Eh, correct on a technicality. Let me rephrase: what fraction of users have
installed a method of communicating directly with Tivo or DirecTV via a
means other than the built-in modem?

snip

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply...