George L. Schmauch Jr.
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[quote=”captain_video”]
I’ve owned several dozen Tivos over the past 10 years and I think I only had one hard drive failure in all that time. I’ve also never had a power supply failure or card reader issue.The series 1 DirecTivos did suffer from power supply failures, but it was still only on a small percentage of units. The same models had some hard drive failures, but the heat buildup inside these units was higher than usual which probably hastened the failure rates.[/quote]
I guess I’m really unlucky then, since I had 4 power supplies go in my units over the years and also 3 card readers. Mind you, my cards were never removed until the reader stopped working.
[quote]That being said, you can’t really blame Tivo for hard drive failures as they can just as easily occur in a PC as a Tivo (i.e., Tivo didn’t manufacture the hard drives). Power supply failures on later models could usually be isolated to a bad electrolytic capacitor on later models (easily diagnosed by a visual inspection). A pencil eraser could usually cure card reader problems by cleaning the contacts on the card.[/quote]
I can take exception to their choice in drives and their–in my experience–high failure rate, though. They may not have made the drives, but they did choose the manufacturer. Perhaps the faulty power supplies were even killing the drives. Who knows…
[quote]Overalll, I found the Tivo hardware to be extremely reliable.[/quote]
Either you’re really lucky or I’m very unlucky. As I said previously, with the amount of time and money being spent on repairing my Tivo units, the lost TV shows, the missed recordings, and the aggravation, I quickly realized that building my own HTPC with quality hardware would cost me LESS money. I even drew up a spreadsheet with the costs over the years and expected failures, then compared that to newer Tivo units, DirecTV DVRs, switching to cable, and an HTPC setup. SageTV won handily and I don’t have a single regret about the path I chose.
I think I’m on board with phoneguy, too. If that doesn’t work and you think it’s a codec issue, PM me and I’ll run one through my SageTV V6 setup in Windows.
I think I’m on board with phoneguy, too. If that doesn’t work and you think it’s a codec issue, PM me and I’ll run one through my SageTV V6 setup in Windows.
I assume you’ve tried playing the AVIs outside of SageTV and they work?
I assume you’ve tried playing the AVIs outside of SageTV and they work?
Perhaps Tivo has gotten better since my last foray into that realm with the DirecTivo, but I found the reliability to be lacking… from a hardware standpoint. I found this with the DirecTivo, as well as the standalone models. The software was pretty darn solid, but between hard drive failures, power supply failures (overheating?), and card readers failing, the Tivo hardware was a major issue for me over the years. That was the #2 reason (right behind DRM) why I built my own HTPC, followed shortly afterward by the server.
I do find it a little surprising that the same day they posted that comparison they also posted a poll about the [url=http://hd.engadget.com/2010/08/08/poll-whats-the-most-important-feature-in-a-hd-dvr/]”most important feature” for a DVR[/url] and the only thing they assumed was “connected to an HDTV” and listed “reliability” as an “extra feature”. How is that “extra”?!?! I don’t care how great everything else is if the thing can’t reliably record and play back my shows!
Perhaps Tivo has gotten better since my last foray into that realm with the DirecTivo, but I found the reliability to be lacking… from a hardware standpoint. I found this with the DirecTivo, as well as the standalone models. The software was pretty darn solid, but between hard drive failures, power supply failures (overheating?), and card readers failing, the Tivo hardware was a major issue for me over the years. That was the #2 reason (right behind DRM) why I built my own HTPC, followed shortly afterward by the server.
I do find it a little surprising that the same day they posted that comparison they also posted a poll about the [url=http://hd.engadget.com/2010/08/08/poll-whats-the-most-important-feature-in-a-hd-dvr/]”most important feature” for a DVR[/url] and the only thing they assumed was “connected to an HDTV” and listed “reliability” as an “extra feature”. How is that “extra”?!?! I don’t care how great everything else is if the thing can’t reliably record and play back my shows!
It’s probably not something as simple as this, but did you try beta 13 or 14 yet?
It’s probably not something as simple as this, but did you try beta 13 or 14 yet?
I just got through SG:U a month or two ago. I read reviews/comments which said that it started out slow and that you needed to give it a chance. I definitely agree and I’m very glad that I gave it a chance. The later episodes were very well done. It is certainly a completely different animal from SG-1 and SG:A, but you just need to accept the show for what it is and enjoy the ride.
BTW, speaking about addictive… I got through the entire SG:A series in about 2 months. I simply couldn’t wait to watch the next episode.
I just got through SG:U a month or two ago. I read reviews/comments which said that it started out slow and that you needed to give it a chance. I definitely agree and I’m very glad that I gave it a chance. The later episodes were very well done. It is certainly a completely different animal from SG-1 and SG:A, but you just need to accept the show for what it is and enjoy the ride.
BTW, speaking about addictive… I got through the entire SG:A series in about 2 months. I simply couldn’t wait to watch the next episode.
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[quote=”Skirge01″]
We’re [url=http://www.virtusphere.com/]getting closer[/url], though. I really would love to try this thing out!
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Holy Hamster Wheel, Batman! I hope that sucker has some sort of ventilation system. 😮
[/quote]LOL! It’s mesh, not solid.
[quote=”captain_video”]
[quote=”Skirge01″]
We’re [url=http://www.virtusphere.com/]getting closer[/url], though. I really would love to try this thing out!
[/quote]
Holy Hamster Wheel, Batman! I hope that sucker has some sort of ventilation system. 😮
[/quote]LOL! It’s mesh, not solid.
July 30, 2010 at 3:57 pm in reply to: Re: Vulkano-all-in-one DVR/placeshifting/media streaming box #158It’s certainly interesting and boasts quite a few features. I haven’t read everything about it, but since I’m a SageTV user, Placeshifter and/or their HD200 would be my choice. I do wonder how well it works as a DVR, though.
July 30, 2010 at 3:57 pm in reply to: Vulkano-all-in-one DVR/placeshifting/media streaming box #27058It’s certainly interesting and boasts quite a few features. I haven’t read everything about it, but since I’m a SageTV user, Placeshifter and/or their HD200 would be my choice. I do wonder how well it works as a DVR, though.
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