Re: Replace a TIVO with ?

[Simon McCaughey <simonmcc@xxxxxxxxx>]

This task is partly about expectation setting. You are not going to
get
another TiVo, adjust your mindset to a task of looking for the next best
thing out there, that won't be quite as good.

When my TiVo started to creek a bit a couple of years ago, I switched the
family over to using Windows media center, which is now Win7 media center,
and I have to say we have been very pleased with the whole experience.

We have a dual freeview tuner, the genuine M$ remote in an old pentium D
dual core machine, and it runs great. I also have a soundcard with optical
out  for my amp, and have programmed the MS remote to control the amp. The
whole setup cost me around =A3200, and has run incident free for a couple
o=
f
years.

As I have advised here before, if you do go this route, treat the PC like a
TiVo - don't use it as a family computer, internet browser for the kids
etc=
,
keep media center running fullscreen all the time, and pretend it doesn't
d=
o
anything else. This will help with trouble free operation.

And yes its not perfect, for some reason the guide data thinks the
Eastenders on most Tuesdays is a repeat, but in general very good.

Also the Media center extenders are a great job, giving almost the same
interface on two other PCs in our house, with zero maintenance.

Regards

Simon


On 18 February 2011 08:39, craig <craigc.lists@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> > Anyone have good / bad things to say about Humax, or able to
offer
> > alternatives ?
>
> I replaced TiVo a couple of years ago with Humax Freeview 9300 on my
main
> TV. I use Logitech Harmony as remote, and I managed to re-map the keys
to
> provide a 'similar' interface on the remote to TiVo. I found the
original
> Humax remote badly designed, eg the equivalent of the 'Now Playing' on
Ti=
vo
> is a tiny button called 'Play List' under the Humax remote flap at
bottom
> of
> remote. I just remapped this key to the original 'Now Playing' key on
the
> Logitech remote, so less confusion with remote etc.
>
> The Humax is not so good at remembering series links, so you need to
keep
> an
> eye on what is in the schedule.
>
> The other thing you should consider is a new TV with builtin internet
PVR=
.
> My second TV (Sony) has built in iPlayer, 4oD, five.tv, lovefilm, DLNA
> etc,
> so almost negates the need for a PVR & Media Player. Some BD
players also
> have this built in.
>
> What ever you go for, the UI, user experience and reliability will not
be
> as
> good as the TiVo experience you are used to, you just have to prepare
> yourself (and other users) for that. One of the things I still miss
from
> the
> TiVo from 2 years ago, is sound effects when fast forwarding 'blip
blip,
> blip blip, blip blip', and the 'bong' when you get to top/bottom of
> selections :)
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


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