As we covered on our blog in January from CES, the deal between TiVo and Real/Rhapsody is now ready for purchase.
For $13/month, you can stream any of the four million Rhapsody tracks through your TiVo, and from there potentially into your home entertainment system. If you have a Series3 or TiVo HD, this means you can go all-digital to your receiver, so the sound quality should be pretty good.
The Humax DVD TiVo starting at $49 is generating just tons of questions, so this premier installment of miscFAQ will focus on that unit
Can this unit be used with DirecTV? Will it replace my DirecTV TiVo? How does service work for it?
-Yes, this works with DirecTV (or DISH, cable, antenna, or even a combination). This unit doesn’t have a satellite input – it must get the same type of input your standard TV would get. So it can control a DirecTV/DISH/cable box, and it takes that output. It changes the channel on the box as it needs to. So you need a “dumb” DirecTV/DISH/cable box for this (and/or antenna) – it can’t control a DVR.
-You pay TiVo directly for service for this box. It doesn’t have anything to do with DirecTV.
You guarantee lifetime service for this unit. I went on TiVo’s website and I don’t see that option. What’s up?
Since this is the only unit left that can do lifetime service, TiVo has taken the option off their website. But it is definitely still available for any of these Humax DVD units from us. We can’t speak for units from other vendors (if anyone has them) and we know that the ones that TiVo sold directly to customers don’t qualify, but ours do. And it’s $299 (EDIT: now $399). When you have your box, call TiVo at 877-FOR-TIVO and ask for lifetime, and tell them it’s for a Humax.
I see that the 40 hour box has a DVD burner in it that provides all of these features. How about the upgraded units? Do they also have DVD burners in them?
OK, to the seasoned TiVo veteran like yourself, this may seem like an obvious one, but somewhere, somehow, we seem to have raised some doubts here. So here’s the answer: YES! All of our Humax DRT400s have DVD burners and have the same features. The difference among the four different capacities is only the amount of TiVo recording space. That’s all – nothing else changes.
OK – that’s the first edition of miscFAQ. More to come on an occasional basis!
If you’ve got a question that you think merits inclusion here, drop us an email.
&The technology of the CableCARD has generated a lot of interest among our customers – and for good reason. CableCARDs have enabled end-users to get the content they want on the hardware they want. And without the dreaded cable box. Just as a web browser enables users to see internet content in a variety of ways on a desktop, laptop, PDA, or phone, CableCARDs allow users to view and record content on their choice of equipment, including TVs and DVRs.
Some quick background: the FCC requires all cable providers in all 50 states to supply CableCARDs when requested by subscribers (you can see some info about this on the FCC website – they call the technology “plug and play”). The FCC has allowed these cable companies to wire each and every home, so they’re regulated as part of those agreements, and the CableCARD standard has evolved from those regulations. At this point, the FCC doesn’t (and probably can’t) require satellite broadcasters (DirecTV and Dish) to adhere to CableCARD rules due to the inherent differences in broadcast mechanism. The standards for the CableCARD product are evoloved and maintained by a group called CableLabs.
So what is an actual CableCARD and how does it work? It’s really just a chipset housed in a metal case that’s about the dimensions of a credit card, and about three times as thick. Each cable provider can have different chips inside, but the key is that there is a descrambler in there, just like in earlier cable boxes. There is also a serial chip in there that holds an electronic serial number. That way, the cable company can link the serial number to your cable account and then tell that specific cable card that you pay for a certain set of channels, and to decode or unscramble only those. So in essence, it’s an unlocking device that can be controlled, in part, by the cable company.
Once the CableCARD is installed in your equipment (TV or DVR generally) then the equipment requests a certain channel and the CableCARD supplies it. As you change channels, the card follows along with the new requests. The best part is, this is totally seamless. You never have a cable box that didn’t get the message – the hardware is completely integrated.
The interaction between TiVo DVRs and CableCARDs is truly a great step forward for DVRs. Two TiVo units – the TiVo Series3 and the TiVo HD – can both use CableCARDs to get their programming. If you’ve used a cable box (or any set top box) in conjunction with a TiVo, this a significant advance, because you now only need one box instead of two. Since the TiVo doesn’t have to control a separate box, all of the attendant issues (cables getting moved, IR interference, the box switching off unexpectedly, etc.) are eliminated from the setup.
A new type of CableCARD is emerging that can decode two streams of encrypted cable signal at once. These are knows as M cards or multistream cards. With an M card, one card is sufficient to allow a compatible DVR to record two separate channels at once. Currently, only the TiVo HD is compatible with this feature of an M card. A Series3 TiVo can use an M card, but only to record one channel at a time. So for a Series3 unit, you’d need two M cards installed to have the ability to record two channels at once. If/when the Series3 units can receive two streams through one M card, notice should be posted on the TiVo M card support page.
(sample CableCARD setup screen on a TiVo Series3)
While the CableCARD technology is a great advance for TiVo users, there are a few drawbacks. The most important is that current support in TiVo DVRs for CableCARDs is limited to one direction: downstream. They can’t send signals back to the cable company. This means that Video On Demand and PayPerView cannot be initiated from a TiVo with CableCARDs. But if the programming is unlocked on the cable account (by phone, online, or from a cable box on the same account) then the TiVo’s CableCARDs will generally be able to view and record those shows. One other important note is that neither DirecTV nor DISH make any type of CableCARD, nor are they expected to. Since the FCC doesn’t regulate satellite broadcasters in the same way, and since their technological infrastructure is very different, we don’t believe that we will ever see this technology for use with satellite broadcasts.
CableCARDs make the latest generation of TiVos by far the best DVRs yet. They can receive signal from more sources than any previous unit, and their clarity and ease of use are unsurpassed. Essentially, the entire CableCARD platform was developed to let consumers choose their own equipment, and TiVo has produced DVRs that marry the best interface with the best HD and standard definition cable and antenna programming.
TiVoPony tells us that TTG and MRV will come to the Series3 and TiVoHD units in November, via a software update.
There will be some restrictions, as always, but by and large, you’ll be able to move content between any combination of HD and SD unit that supports these features. You won’t be able to move HD to an SD box (sounds like it won’t down-rez) and you won’t be able to move copy protected content at all. But it does sound like HD content will be movable to a computer – pretty cool!
Here’s how you uniquely address two HR20 remotes, or use one remote to control two units. This works for both the HR20-100 and HR20-700 units – one of each or two of either.
On unit #1 you leave setup normal, you might need to cover the IR front panel or unplug the unit so you’re only controlling unit #2. Unit #1 will be controlled with the remote slider in the “DIRECTV” position.
1) Now, that you’re only controlling unit #2 go to Menu > Settings > Setup > Remote > Receiver Mode and you will see either DirecTV or AV1/AV2, select AV1/AV2, at this point the remote will no longer control the unit so go to the front panel and select “Done.”
2) Now take the remote you want to use to control unit #2 and move the slider to AV1. Hold down the “Mute” and “Select” button until the green light flashes three times then enter 00003 on the keypad and the green light should flash twice to confirm the entry. Now, with the slider in the AV1 position it will only control unit #2.
Essentially, step 1 tells the DVR to listen to 00003, and step 2 tells the remote to use 00003 on the AV1 position. So if you want to just have two remotes, each controlling its own DVR, then you can set each remote to be used in the DirecTV position, and just change the code of the second one to 00003, and change the corresponding DVR to AV1/AV2 and it’ll only see that remote.
Thanks Nick!