TIVO commercials

mikester · 07-18-2005, 11:51 AM

So...here's an article:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/biztech/07/18/tivo.commercials.ap/index.html

Says TIVO is trying to encourage us to watch the commercials now...

Personally - I ACTUALLY LIKE THE IDEA!

honestly I do watch commercials, some are entertaining as heck and some are products I am interested in (like porsches) and some are movie trailers. Now the movie trailers are the most interesting for me because there is a pop up that says click here for more info and it takes you to the longer trailer which can be fun...so while analysts say this is a bad road I think ultimately it will be successfulish.

Whatcha think?

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

TIVO is desperate to show black ink. This icon/longform commercial gambit will get revenue from advertisers who think people will want to see their stuff. Initially, this will be good for movie studios and 'infomercial' users, since the longform commercials don't exist for much of anything else.

Come to think of it, a Victoria's Secret longform commercial might be nice...

Wrecked944 · 07-18-2005, 12:00 PM

No flipping way. My fave Tivo feature is that beautiful fast forward button. They'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands before I go back to watching commercials. After all, I have cable. That means I'm already paying to watch my TV. I don't need to pay twice by watching commercials.

Neilk · 07-18-2005, 12:52 PM

Janus, what's the fast forward button? I prefer my 30 second skip button.

In case you haven't enabled it, just click on Select-Play-Select-3-0-select. You'll here 3 chimes and pressing the button just above the 3 will skip everything forward by 30 seconds.

I can't remember the last ad I have watched, strike that, if they have a HOT chick in the first second of the the ad, I might watch it once.

mikester · 07-18-2005, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by techweenie
TIVO is desperate...

...a Victoria's Secret longform commercial might be nice...

All that's needed...

Beer commercials typically rock as well.

88BlueTSiQuest · 07-18-2005, 02:41 PM

I already find it annoying that precious hard drive space is already occupied by commercials we can't get rid of in the first place. Those 'spots' they are selling to the movie companies and car companies that show up in your main Tivo menu a few steps below the 'Now Playing' menu, I can't stand that and would much rather have my hard drive freed up of that video spam.

I'll stick with the 3x fast foward, as it's fast enough to get you through all the commercials, but at the same time enables you to see if there is anything worth viewing.

Joeaksa · 07-18-2005, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Neilk
In case you haven't enabled it, just click on Select-Play-Select-3-0-select. You'll here 3 chimes and pressing the button just above the 3 will skip everything forward by 30 seconds.

Great tip, need to print this off and go downstairs and try it out. Have been using the three X fast forward but a 30 second button would be nice.

Cannot live without TIVO these days...

JoeA

Joeaksa · 07-18-2005, 08:14 PM

Ok guys, next question. Anyone ever try to burn the content on the Tivo onto a computer then a DVD?

Finally got burning a DVD worked out on my computer and know that there is a Cat 5 connection on the back of the Tivo machine, so bet that there is a way to do this and offload the saved programs from the hard drive. The Tivo has a "save to VCR" function and wonder if that could be used??

TIA,

JoeA

Paul T · 07-19-2005, 04:30 AM

JoaA, you can use the "save to vcr" function to copy to a dvd recorder...there are ways to extract the entire contents of the HD but I've never tried it (technically illegal I think). Google for Tivo video extraction and you'll get lots of hits.

osidak · 07-19-2005, 04:36 AM

I know DVArchive works with Replay TV. Makes your computer appear to be another Replay and they allow you to see video stored on other Replays in your house or on the internet.

Set it up for a friend and it works great.

mikester · 07-19-2005, 11:00 AM

Download the TIVO media explorer I think it's called - you can download the content directly from your TIVO to your computer.

I haven't tried to burn it to a DVD yet but will and let you know how it works.

88BlueTSiQuest · 07-19-2005, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul T
JoaA, you can use the "save to vcr" function to copy to a dvd recorder...there are ways to extract the entire contents of the HD but I've never tried it (technically illegal I think). Google for Tivo video extraction and you'll get lots of hits.

But then you are going digital to analog, then from analog to digital in the computer. I'd think you are going to lose some quality there.

I think Mikester's way is the way to go. That way you can take it straight from Tivo in the MPEG2(or whatever it is) format, and convert that to DVD and be fairly lossless.

Joeaksa · 07-20-2005, 06:28 AM

Mikester,

Tried to find Tivo media explorer and cannot find it. Googled it and no luck. Have found several people saying to use DVD Decrypter but no experience with this.

Do you have a link to Media Explorer I could use?

Thx,

Joe A

mikester · 07-20-2005, 07:34 AM

It's actually called "Tivo Desktop."

Here's a link:

http://www.tivo.com/4.9.4.1.asp

Hope that works...

I haven't tried the burn yet - I will try thursday night if I can - won't be home tonight. I couldn't do it on my laptop but that doesn't have all the software my desktop has.

Paul T · 07-20-2005, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 88BlueTSiQuest
But then you are going digital to analog, then from analog to digital in the computer. I'd think you are going to lose some quality there.

I think Mikester's way is the way to go. That way you can take it straight from Tivo in the MPEG2(or whatever it is) format, and convert that to DVD and be fairly lossless.

I agree this does look like the way to go, but for some reason I thought this was not available on the DirectTV Tivo's - not sure which one you have. This looks interesting though, I need to investigate more!

mikester · 07-20-2005, 07:45 AM

I have a tivo tivo not a DTV branded box - also the extracted video IS Mpeg-2.

Joeaksa · 07-20-2005, 08:23 AM

Just off of the phone with the Tivo people. Lots of questions but they were helpful.

I need a WiFi box that is USB, not the cat 5 one I have. Not a problem, Fry's is just down the street and they are not that expensive these days.

Asked about V7.1 of the software which allows you to install a hard drive of anything under 250 megs. You have to ask for it, and then its shuttled to your Tivo box during the nightly downloads. Did so and am scheduled for this in the next 3 days. Asked them why it was not just done for everyone and they said it will, but not right now. If you ask for it the upgrade will happen sooner.

The Tivo Desktop. Found it thanks to the link and the Tivo guy told me that once I have WiFi and the desktop that I can copy programs to my computer. Asked him if I can do anything with then after that and he laughed and said yes. We both know that I want to make copies to DVD but he cannot or would not talk about that.

Has anyone used http://www.weaknees.com/ for Tivo upgrades? Looks like a good site and lots of nice upgrades there. One takes my 40 hour box up to 900 hours! http://www.weaknees.com/tivo_series2_tcd540040.php

Joe A

Paul T · 07-20-2005, 11:44 AM

Have not used them but I've heard great things about weaknees. Also might want to check out http://www.tivocommunity.com lots of good info there.