Tivo vs. Eye TV

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Hi all.



My Eye TV seems to have died. While I've been in contact with el Gato customer support, I've been considering getting a Tivo. I have an Eye Home, so I am able to view all my video on my TV, and so my question is whether or not it's possible to get the video off the Tivo and onto my Mac. I understand that Tivo is coming out with a Mac version of the software that allows you to do this on a PC (and I also have a PC, but it's not on the network because, well, it just decided it didn't want to be on the network anymore for some windows-only-knows reason).



So...is the Tivo worth it if I really want to archive my video? Or should I just get another Eye TV and go back to normal? My other complaint about the Eye TV is that they have yet to come out with their IR blaster to change the channel on cable boxes



Thanks in advance.



Cheers

Scott

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Personally, I would recommend EyeTV over Tivo. Admittedly, I have never used a Tivo, but from what I hear there is a lot of evil behind-the-scenes scheming going on. (You viewing habits are recorded, mandatory commercial downloads/software updates, banner ads when you fast-forward through commercials...) Tivo is undoubtedly "commercialized", somewhat spoiling the "friendlyness" it could easily have earned.



    But, here are some utilities for Mac and Tivo:

    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10056

    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/11370

    http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9934



    Also, I have a EyeTV400 and although I know it doesn't work with the EyeHome, I would be interested in your reviews/bugs/opinions of the product. (Its nice to have both sides of the story before purchasing) I may consider getting one after my wallet recoups from the holiday season. My dream would to use my computer as a DVD archive (eventually) for my entire house.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    Personally, I would recommend EyeTV over Tivo. Admittedly, I have never used a Tivo, but from what I hear there is a lot of evil behind-the-scenes scheming going on. (You viewing habits are recorded, mandatory commercial downloads/software updates, banner ads when you fast-forward through commercials...) Tivo is undoubtedly "commercialized", somewhat spoiling the "friendlyness" it could easily have earned.







    Nope, they don't record your viewing habits, there are not banner ads when you fast-forward through commercials and there are no mandatory "commercial downloads".



    You can get a good feel for Tivo by visiting the forums over at www.tivocommunity.com and you'll actually learn what TiVo is all about.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    I would be interested in your reviews/bugs/opinions of the product. (Its nice to have both sides of the story before purchasing) I may consider getting one after my wallet recoups from the holiday season. My dream would to use my computer as a DVD archive (eventually) for my entire house.



    You want my comments on the Eye Home?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rberry88

    Nope, they don't record your viewing habits, there are no banner ads when

    you fast-forward through commercials and there are no mandatory "commercial downloads" .






    Case&point 8)



    Quote:

    Originally posted by midwinter

    You want my comments on the Eye Home?



    Sure. I know it sounds strange, but I mostly hear only one side of the story. If you are having trouble, I would like to know what to look out for.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby



    Case&point 8)





    Sure. I know it sounds strange, but I mostly hear only one side of the story. If you are having trouble, I would like to know what to look out for. [/B]



    Mine has worked flawlessly since I got it in the early Fall. The only confusing thing about setting it up was that when the green light on the front is illuminated, the unit is OFF. Really confusing.



    I just plugged it straight into the Airport base station and it finds all the computers in the house running the server software.



    It does NOT play iTMS music, though, which sucks. The content management could be better. At the moment, nested folders and aliases give it trouble, and so new content (i.e. video) must be aliased and added manually to the ~/movies folder. A bit of a pain.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby



    Case&point 8)





    [/B]



    They don't record peoples viewing habits, they do have the ability as a total consensus to know when the rewind and pause feature along with keyword searches in the "search for programs to record" section. They have no way to tell what any individual is watching at anytime.



    The banner ads were just speculation and a huge rumor that haven't seen the light of day and the "commercial downloads" are simply a commercial that you can watch anytime (no different than manually recording a commercial) but these are downloaded with the normal guide data which are easy to miss unless you are looking for them.



    The items that you posted are no different than speculating about a G5 powerbook being released next month.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Well, el Gato is now saying that my Eye TV is most likely fried. And so I'm left with the following options:



    1) Get another Eye TV USB for about $160

    2) Get an Eye TV 200 for $300



    Live with the pain of there not being an IR blaster to change the channel.



    3) Get a Tivo and wait for them to release the Tivo2go software.



    Any advice?
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