The jury is still out on this one, as far as I'm concerned. Either I'm an idiot (highly likely) or TiVo is really stupid (also highly likely). I bought a TiVo yesterday on sale at Best Buy ($50 once I get the rebate check back). I saw on the box that a landline was required for setup and I asked my friendly neighborhood Best Buy blueshirt "do I really need a landline?" And he said, "no you can use a USB cable." Perfect.
I take the box home. No time to turn on the Bears game...I must set up TiVo in time for the premiere of "24." Open it up, connect all the wires and whoozits. Step 6: connect your landline to a wall jack. Hmm....21st century young adult...wireless internet and cell phone....I don't have a damn phone jack! Not one. I am sure of it. I unscrew several electrical coverings. No secret phone jacks ANYWHERE.
Call to TiVo customer support. Wait in telephone hell for 20 minutes. Finally..."This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes."
"Hello? I don't have a phone jack."
"Well sir you are gonna need that."
"There's no way around this? I can't connect with a USB and use my cable modem or my wireless router?"
"No sir you need a landline."
"So, this 21st-century TV technology is completely dependent on a dying 20th-century technology?"
"Yes."
(long pause)
"Is there anything else I can help you with sir?"
"Sorry I just, I waited a very long time on the phone and I was hoping there was a backdoor or something."
"For the initial setup you will need a landline. You can take it over a friend's house to set it up."
Wonderful. So at 4:30 on my Sunday afternoon, the stroke of genius hits me to take the TiVo to work and set it up. Two horrifying hours later, the TiVo is not set up and I am leaving the office, tail between my legs, to go home to watch the 24 premiere. On regular old TV. With no recording capability whatsoever (what, you thought I had a VCR? That's SO five years ago).
In the end, I decided (after conferring with Howie) to ditch TiVo and their stupid dependency on the landline in favor of the DVR provided by my cable company. Sigh.
4 comments:
Screw the cable dvr as well. Have Howie make u a computer PVR. Using mythTV (linux program), and a Hauppauge pvr-150(or 250) tv capture card, allows you to setup a superior system for doing what you want. Granted it will cost you extra up front, but there is no monthly or yearly fees.. which could possibly go up, and you won't have to worry about the companies deleting your shows (look it up.. it has been happening quite a lot lately). You can even plan ahead and buy a HD capture card, so when HD is commonplace and you own a HD tele, you can capture in HD.
I definitely will, once the timing is right. For now, the $13 a month is not too bad. My desktop is a shambles and my harddrive is (gulp) 20 GB.
hahaha 20GB! i filled my 120GB(actually 109) and i just got a new 300GB(probably 260) today.
Building the Gozilla PVR for under 5 grand
11 tuners and a Terabyte in a really cool home theater looking case
http://blogs.snapstream.com/2006/01/18/godzilla-pvr/
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