Z car on TV

[texasz]

Whoa, too much information there Tex.

Sorry, I love mine so much that I get excited when telling people about how great the are!

[MikeW]

Also on the rating shows and allowing TiVo to automatically record things for you based upon what it thinks you will like...you can turn this feature on or off as you please. Mine is off because I don't want TiVo recording a bunch of stuff and filling up my drive with shows I didn't specifically ask for.

I wouldn't worry about it filling up your drive. TiVo will always record something you've asked for before recording something it thinks you'll like and likewise will erase any suggestions as needed prior to erasing something you've asked for.

[Bambikiller240]

I have the same setup as Carl only I have 3 units total (one for each TV in the house). One more thing about TiVo that Carl didn't mention is that you can rate shows using TiVo. If you see something you really like you can give it one or more "thumbs up" ratings. Something you don't like gets the "thumbs down". TiVo gathers this information and will use it to automatically record shows for you based on what it thinks you'll like. It determines this by looking at how other people rated stuff that you also rated. Because of this, and the shows you've specifically told it to record you rarely watch live TV. After all, there's always a bunch of good stuff waiting for you to watch on your own schedule.

Yes, I forgot to mention the rating feature as I don't allow the DVR to record stuff that it thinks I like. I do rate shows, but only so that they appear in the "TiVo Suggestions" file. "I" make the decision to record or not from there.

I also didn't mention the Season Pass feature, but that is one of the best features. I never miss a Formula 1 broadcast (race, qualy, whatever), Survivor, Bill Maher, Deadwood, Reno 911, American Chopper, and a bunch of others. Once a week I spend about 10 minutes selecting shows that I want to watch in addition to the Season Passes that I have set up.

You can also search for programming by type of show, for movies by name, director, actor, or genre.

If you have a combined DirecTV / TiVo unit (like MikeW and I), there is no lifetime service available. We are limited to a monthly subscription. It's only $5-$6 a month, so it really isn't a burden (though IF I could get a lifetime subscription, I would do it). It beats the hell out of manually recording and/or viewing over the air (free to air) programming.

[MikeW]

If you have a combined DirecTV / TiVo unit (like MikeW and I), there is no lifetime service available. We are limited to a monthly subscription. It's only $5-$6 a month, so it really isn't a burden (though IF I could get a lifetime subscription, I would do it). It beats the hell out of manually recording and/or viewing over the air programming.

It's actually $5/month per household, not per unit so I don't have to pay $15 for my 3 units. The so-called lifetime option that TiVo offers on standalone units is actually the lifetime of the unit not your lifetime. While electronics these days last a long time you'll frankly want to by a super new unit with a 1000 hours capacity in a few years anyhow. My most recent DirecTivo device was $79 for an 80 hour unit.

Some of my season passes:

Reno 911

Mythbusters

The Daily Show

Classic car restoration

Overhaulin'

[Bambikiller240]

It's actually $5/month per household, not per unit so I don't have to pay $15 for my 3 units. The so-called lifetime option that TiVo offers on standalone units is actually the lifetime of the unit not your lifetime. While electronics these days last a long time you'll frankly want to by a super new unit with a 1000 hours capacity in a few years anyhow. My most recent DirecTivo device was $79 for an 80 hour unit.

Some of my season passes:

Reno 911

Mythbusters

The Daily Show

Classic car restoration

Overhaulin'

:knockedou I couldn't remember if it was $4.99 or $5.99 a month

Good point on the newer unit's. Even w/ 100 hours available, I have managed to nearly fill my recorder with programming that I want to keep. Now I need a DVD Recorder so I can dump programming to disc.

I needed to replace my regular (free) DirecTV unit after 7 years of use (it was getting glitchy) and in Dec 2003 they offered a 30 hour TiVo unit for $100, but they were out of stock when I called. They offered a $25 discount if I would wait until Jan for (free) installation. When Jan (actually 12/31)came they delivered the 100 hour unit and upgraded my dish to a dual LNB! Cool!

[Dans240z]

I got bashed for watching Full House!!! I thought of that when I started this thread!!!

I was simply wondering if anyone had seen the ad. I could have lied and said I was watching the news! You guys make me laugh

By the way has anyone gotten Gran Turismo 4? Or is that as lame as Full House.

[Alfadog]

Let me dumb it down for you Alfa.

Hey! I may ask some pretty daft questions about mechanics, but I'm not dumb.

Thanks for the explanations guys.

[59ghia]

.....best investment ever, she watches t.v. and I work on the Z, Ghia, Bug or Dart. Life is good!

[hls30.com]

Come on Dan,

We know you are sweet on the Olsen twins!

Personally, Lori Laughlin is ALMOST enough eyecandy to tune in-but the chance of catching a Z in a commercial clinches it!

Will

[lww]

Whats with you yanks calling it a "TiVo"??? Is that American for television or something else??

It appears that 3 TiVo's is the average of contributors to this thread. I find that very interesting.

I wonder what a Sociologist would tell us about the socio-economic conditions that lead us to this particular interest in both Z cars and TV?

By the way, I have 3. All series 1's (I'm an early adopter): 1 stand alone with 298 hours of recording time and 2 DirecTiVo's with 310 hours all upgraded w/ TiVo-NET and TiVo-WEB.

My wife thought I was crazy when I bought the first one and now she wants to know why she can't pause, 5 second jump back and 30 second jump forward the radio too!

The TiVo's really saved our marriage and her sanity when we had our first child. She has her's in the Den, I have mine in the living room and the SA is in the bedroom and I've wired the house with a video distribution system so we can watch what's on the Den and Living Room TiVo's from any TV in the house.

It truly revolutionizes the way you watch TV.

[texasz]

The so-called lifetime option that TiVo offers on standalone units is actually the lifetime of the unit not your lifetime.

Not true. This is a transferable lifetime service...that is transferable to another owner or another unit (as in if you upgrade to a newer one). I have done both in the past already.

As for the newest largest one available...a hacked unit will ALWAYS be larger that anything they sell in the stores for some odd reason. All it is a a computer hard drive from the store (this is how you upgrade a TiVo) and the units run a customized version of Linux to make it all work. Upgrading is really not all that difficult (mine was a bit more complicated as I took mine from a unit with two smaller drives to on big drive...this can become complicated). If you are not savy on these things there are a couple companies out there that will do it for you even. For those who don't know you should check out www.9thtee.com for all your TiVo goodies!

I've wired the house with a video distribution system so we can watch what's on the Den and Living Room TiVo's from any TV in the house.

I failed to mention this...I too have video distribution where the TiVo and the DVD player in the living room may be watched on any other TV in the house...this includes my arcade game in the second living room. That bad boy runs MAME and plays over 3400 vintage/classic and some newer arcade games, has a TVTuner card so we can watch TV/TiVo/DVD on it and is networked so it has internet access and can also play anything from our music collection via a video jukebox program which accesses our MP3 server in my home office.

The arcade was my pre-Z car project. I was prompted to finally finish it when I bought the Z and needed the garage for it instead.

If you are interested in the arcade project here's a link to the pix and some info: http://www.pape.ws/gallery/arcade1 If you'd like to discuss it with me please feel free to start another thread on it or shoot me an email.

[MikeW]

Not true. This is a transferable lifetime service...that is transferable to another owner or another unit (as in if you upgrade to a newer one). I have done both in the past already.

My understanding is that it can be transferred to a new owner of that machine or if your machine breaks and you need to replace it but doesn't count if you simply want to upgrade.

Here's what TiVo has to say:

http://tinyurl.com/6n34f