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cellioThere is a Tivo box sitting in my TV room, taunting me.
A coworker gave me his old Tivo (he upgraded). Tonight I hooked it up, sort of. If I use the S-video connection, it works but trumps my DVD player -- weird. (The DVD player is connected via component video, the red/white/yellow trio of plugs. I'm not sure why, other than its predecessor was.) If the Tivo's cable is connected I see the Tivo on "video 2"; if it's not I see the DVD player there.
Ok, fine, I figured -- I can use component video to connect the Tivo. I swapped out a VCR that was doing just that, so I expected to see the Tivo on "video 1" where the VCR had been. I half-do -- it's a black-and-white picture. Yes, I've swapped cables. Yes, I've checked that connections are tight. Right now it is connected via both component video and S-video, on "video 1" and "video 2", one black-and-white and one color.
Setting that aside, I figured I could at least try to set it up, and see if the IR connection to the digital converter box works. (A programmable device is considerably less useful if you can't change channels.) I told it I had cable, which is wrong but I thought that would be closest to "I have a box you have to deal with". It spent a while churning (most of that in phoning home), and then displayed a toll-free number and told me to call for support. Whee. :-) After 10 minutes on hold I gave up; I'll try again tomorrow.
Nothing is ever simple. :-)
A coworker gave me his old Tivo (he upgraded). Tonight I hooked it up, sort of. If I use the S-video connection, it works but trumps my DVD player -- weird. (The DVD player is connected via component video, the red/white/yellow trio of plugs. I'm not sure why, other than its predecessor was.) If the Tivo's cable is connected I see the Tivo on "video 2"; if it's not I see the DVD player there.
Ok, fine, I figured -- I can use component video to connect the Tivo. I swapped out a VCR that was doing just that, so I expected to see the Tivo on "video 1" where the VCR had been. I half-do -- it's a black-and-white picture. Yes, I've swapped cables. Yes, I've checked that connections are tight. Right now it is connected via both component video and S-video, on "video 1" and "video 2", one black-and-white and one color.
Setting that aside, I figured I could at least try to set it up, and see if the IR connection to the digital converter box works. (A programmable device is considerably less useful if you can't change channels.) I told it I had cable, which is wrong but I thought that would be closest to "I have a box you have to deal with". It spent a while churning (most of that in phoning home), and then displayed a toll-free number and told me to call for support. Whee. :-) After 10 minutes on hold I gave up; I'll try again tomorrow.
Nothing is ever simple. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-10 05:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-10 12:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-10 06:27 am (UTC)The black and white thing is weird, though. Is it just the Tivo screens, or also the TV signal?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-10 12:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-10 10:15 am (UTC)Composite video uses one cable for video, coded yellow. It's very likely that both an old TiVo and a non-HD tv set has that.
Stereo sound generally uses two cables, red and white, and can go with either of the above.
A common failure mode of an S-Video cable, including loose jack connections and intermittent or broken wires in the cable, is to show the picture in black and white.
The people at TiVo will want to sign you up for monthly or yearly service. Without it, you will not get channel listings or program guides.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-10 12:57 pm (UTC)The TiVo came with a lifetime subscription which I understand is transferable.
tivo and hd
Date: 2009-06-10 11:06 am (UTC)In particular, about half way down the page, is a link to
http://www.tivo.com/assets/pdfs/prm/digital-transition/Antenna_Converter_Instructions.pdf
Also, if the tivo hasn't been plugged in for a while, you'll probably want to set up a network connection, or, at least, a phone cable, and leave it attached for a few days. That way, it will grab the latest version of the software.
Re: tivo and hd
Date: 2009-06-10 01:09 pm (UTC)I have a bootstrapping problem, it appears -- I need to first set it up for analog via antenna so that it can go get the software update that will let me set it up for DTV. That first part is running now.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-10 12:40 pm (UTC)If you're lucky, the TiVo fairy might show up here to offer assistance. Or you could ask at
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-10 02:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-11 01:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-11 01:55 am (UTC)(TiVo update: In order to proceed to the part where it talks to my digital converter box, it needs to update itself to software version 9.something. At present it is at 3.something. This may take a while. Meanwhile, the setup dialogue said that I would be able to watch live TV while that's happening and I actually can't; don't know what's up with that. I've turned the DTV box off, so it should be getting a raw antenna feed just like it thinks it's getting.)