# Tivo Setup Question



## jenrock (Dec 31, 2002)

Hi again. I've recently ordered the $99 existing customer tivo deal and also upgrading to an oval dish as well. The installer is coming on tuesday to install the equipment.

Right now I have 2 standard receivers and will be adding a 3rd(tivo) this week. I do understand that the tivo will need 2 outputs and the standard receivers need 1 output for each, but was wondering if this would be enough for the oval dish? If not what other type of equipment would the installer have to put in?

Also when the tivo gets hooked up, how long does it take for the channels and guide to load up and would I be able to watch any tv while it's loading?

Any suggestions would be appreciated!


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

You're good to go on the dish. The Phase3 oval dish can support up to four tuners without a multiswitch. Since you have two regular receivers and you'll be getting a Tivo, which needs two lines for full functionality, there's your four tuners. The initial TiVo set up process takes 5-10 minutes, you can't watch live tv during this.


----------



## dlott (Oct 23, 2003)

jenrock said:


> Also when the tivo gets hooked up, how long does it take for the channels and guide to load up and would I be able to watch any tv while it's loading?
> 
> Any suggestions would be appreciated!


It can take up to 48 hours for the quide to gather the two weeks of quide data for the TiVo. However you can watch live TV and set up recordings for the data as it is collected. It is usually best to just wait a couple of days to set up your season passes and wishlist. After that you pretty much don't have to do anything. You will love the TiVo.


----------



## jenrock (Dec 31, 2002)

Thank you both for the information! I can't wait to use the tivo, since I've heard nothing but great things about it.


----------



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

jenrock said:


> Thank you both for the information! I can't wait to use the tivo, since I've heard nothing but great things about it.


Hi jenrock and a belated welcome to DBSTalk! :welcome_s

Yes, you will love the Tivo. Getting it setup is very easy. In case you don't know, be sure to program in your 30 second skip.

Have fun!


----------



## jdspencer (Nov 8, 2003)

jenrock said:


> Thank you both for the information! I can't wait to use the tivo, since I've heard nothing but great things about it.


And, you should go vist the TiVo Community forums, especially the one dedicated to the DirecTV DVR: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=7


----------



## jenrock (Dec 31, 2002)

Thank you for the welcome Chris! What exactly is the 30 sec skip? 

Thanks for the link


----------



## beejaycee (Nov 1, 2003)

jenrock said:


> What exactly is the 30 sec skip?


If you use the following keystrokes:
SELECT-PLAY-SELECT-3-0-SELECT (also known as S-P-S-30-S) 
you can change the skip forward to a 30 second forward skip instead of skipping forward to the next hash-mark on the recording. It's great for jumping over commercial blocks.


----------



## beejaycee (Nov 1, 2003)

Over in the TiVo community forums, there is a sticky that gives all of the 'secret' codes you can use to change/add some of the functions to your DTivo. The SPS30S is my favorite, followed by SPS9S which puts a clock and timer onscreen.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

The 30 second skip allows you to advance 30 secs automatically without fast forwarding, nice for skipping over commercials. The skip to the next marker button on the TiVo remote can be programmed to skip ahead 30 seconds by pressing, select-play-select-3-0-select. After entering the code you'll hear 3 dings, if you have sound effects turned on. You'll only have to reenter this code if you reboot the TiVo or if it loses power due to an outage, unplugging the unit or whatever. The Tivo is a great machine, you'll never watch TV the same again.


----------



## van_gogh (Apr 9, 2004)

Steve Mehs said:


> The 30 second skip allows you to advance 30 secs automatically without fast forwarding, nice for skipping over commercials. The skip to the next marker button on the TiVo remote can be programmed to skip ahead 30 seconds by pressing, select-play-select-3-0-select. After entering the code you'll hear 3 dings, _*if you have sound effects turned on.*_ You'll only have to reenter this code if you reboot the TiVo or if it loses power due to an outage, unplugging the unit or whatever. The Tivo is a great machine, you'll never watch TV the same again.


Is it possible to have the sound effects turned off? I like them, but the wife _hates_ them.
I'm sure the manual would tell me, but now that I have so much to watch who has time to read. :lol:


----------



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

van_gogh said:


> Is it possible to have the sound effects turned off? I like them, but the wife _hates_ them.
> I'm sure the manual would tell me, but now that I have so much to watch who has time to read. :lol:


Yes, go into "Messages and Setup" - "Settings" - "Audio" - "Sound Effects Volume".


----------



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

beejaycee said:


> Over in the TiVo community forums, there is a sticky that gives all of the 'secret' codes you can use to change/add some of the functions to your DTivo. The SPS30S is my favorite, followed by SPS9S which puts a clock and timer onscreen.


Those codes are available here at DBSTalk: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=27493


----------



## cclement (Mar 22, 2004)

I believe this question has been brought up before, but I'm not sure of the answer. Does the Direct Tivo have to plugged into a phone line. I have a cable broadband and cell phone house, no land-line. Will I be able to use a Direct Tivo Thank you.


----------



## paulh (Mar 17, 2003)

The Direct Tivo needs to dialup to receive software updates which is necessary before you can use it. You can check at www.tivocommunity.com about a user that was able to connect the tivo to his PC with broadband via serial ports to get those "phone" updates, but it did take some "hacking". Otherwise The Tivo software download does not also require a satellite connection, so you could bring the box over to a friends home for the initial updates (software updates may take 1 or 2 hours) and watch here for future software updates to see when you should bring the box over again.
After the initial setup, the Tivo will function properly without a phone, you just get an occasional nag message, and of course with any D* receiver you cannot order PPV via remote.


----------



## jenrock (Dec 31, 2002)

I just wanted to thank everyone for the responses! I had my tivo installed today and so far it's working just fine. I'm amazed on how easy it is, I thought for sure that it would be difficult, but I was wrong for sure. In a day or two I plan to setup the season passes, once all of the data are finished downloading.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions


----------



## IndyMichael (Jan 25, 2003)

We got our two Tivos installed on Wednesday. My only question is about name based recording, is it the fault of Tivo or my local stations, that some shows don't record til their end. I have this issue with Leno and Kilborn, I thought the Tivo would record all of them, even though they have odd start times here, Leno is on from 11:37-12:37 and Kilborn from 12:37-1:37. I manually adjusted the record times in the season pass for both, but thought Tivo would know when the shows start and end automatically?


----------



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

The TiVo (or any other DVR device) is only as good as the program guide information that it receives (i.e. Leno runs from 11:35-12:35). If your station goes off-schedule or a program runs beyond it's allotted time, the TiVo can't detect it.

An example of bad guide information occurred this week with _Case Closed (Detective Conan)_. The information that was sent down was that _Case Closed_ aired at 9 PM PT and _InuYasha_ aired at 9:30 PM PT. Apparently, there was a last minute change, and _Aqua Teen Hunger Force_ ran at 9 PM and _Case Closed_ at 9:30 PM. The guide information was fixed by Wednesday.


----------



## IndyMichael (Jan 25, 2003)

Another issue with tivoing Leno, I have the season pass set to tivo first run shows only, but it's recording both the nightly repeats as well as the overnight repeats.


----------



## IndyMichael (Jan 25, 2003)

Anyone know? It is set to record first run only, yet it records the 2:35 am repeat, even though it is shown as a repeat in the tivo guide.


----------



## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Leno is known to have bad guide data at times. The text "repeat" means nothing to the season pass. It's the internal episode number/data/broadcast date that matters.

Other shows are bad for this as well like the Daily Show. Once you get to know those programs, you may have to set a manual season pass for them. Even better, go to the TivoCommunity to the Now Playing forums and you'll find out why the show is recording multiple episodes. If there is bad guide data on any show out there, it will be posted there.


----------

