Comparison Matrix
From TivoZA
A comparison between TiVo, Windows Media Center (MCE 2005), other hard disk based PVR's and the old-fashioned VCR's. Solutions like MythTV (http://www.mythtv.org) and Freevo (http://www.freevo.org) are not in the comparison-list, because of their relative complexity in setting up, compared to the solutions below.
| Function | TiVo | MCE | PVR | VCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days worth of guide data available | 30+ | 30+ | 8 | 0 |
| Ability to pick a program to record by highlighting the name | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Schedule recordings from the internet or a cellphone | Y | Y13 | N | N |
| Ability to search for a program by name | Y | Y | N9 | N |
| Ability to get a season pass to all episodes of a series, no matter what time they are broadcast | Y | N11 | N9 | N |
| Ability to cope with late changes to broadcast times of scheduled programs | Y1 | N | N9 | N |
| Ability to automatically add a set time to the beginning and end of programs, providing it doesn’t conflict with other scheduled recordings | Y | Y | N8 | N |
| Ability to record programs based on a wish-list that could include directors, actors, words in title or description | Y | Y | N9 | N |
| Automatic recording of suggested programs based on what you have recorded in the past | Y | N | N | N |
| Retroactive recording: ability to record programs that have already started, when tuned in to that station (i.e. record from buffer). | Y | ? | N | N |
| A number of different recording qualities available from equivalent to long play VHS up to DVD | Y | Y | N | N |
| Image quality & smoothness | good | depends2 | good | average |
| Ability to upgrade the length of recording time available | Y | Y | N | N |
| Maximum recording time available at lowest quality in hours | 3603 | depends4 | 80 | 8 |
| Maximum recording time available at highest quality in hours | 1003 | depends4 | 80 | 4 |
| Listing of recordings available to watch on TV with program name, date recorded and channel identified | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Fully supported by a manufacturer with warranty and professional help | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Supported by multiple active Internet user groups | Y | Y | N | N |
| Automatic accurate time adjustment each day | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Can control external receivers (i.e. digital cable or sat) via infrared | Y | Y | N | N |
| Ability to work with another box of the same type to share programs over a home network | Y | Y | N | N |
| Recording of two shows simultaneously | N5 | Y14 | N15 | N |
| Guaranteed availability of guide data in the future | N | N | Y | N |
| Ability to download video and burn to VCD or DVD on computer | Y | Y | N10 | N |
| Can play multiple formats (DivX, XVid, etc) | Y12 | Y13 | N | N |
| Can play DVD's | N12 | Y | N | N |
| Stability | good | poor | poor | good |
| Maintenance-free | Y | N6 | Y | Y |
| Nice case, fits on top of other devices, quiet & living-room friendly | Y | N7 | Y | Y |
| Power consumption with one HDD | 25W | > 80W | 25-60W | 15-30W |
| Price | R800 - R2 200 | R6 000 - R10 000 | R2 000 - R3 000 | R600 - R1 000 |
1 Daily updates for schedule changes.
2 Might require tweaking, can be blurry and not very smooth. In-depth computer-knowledge required. System is not optimized for DVR-only tasks (base is WinXP)
3 Using a 300GB hard drive, see "Recording Time" for more options.
4 Depends on the hard disk size.
5 Dual recording is only available in the series 3 and some series 2 units (neither of which are recommended for use in SA).
6 Requires dedication to get it to work properly and requires patching & updating.
7 Requires a PC in the living room. The more silent and the more slicker the design is, the higher the price.
8 Non time based recordings start recording 3 minutes before the show begins and stop recording 10 minutes after the show ends, except for shows immediately following one another.
9 Limited support planned as an over-the-air update in in mid 2007.
10 Recordings can be played back and re-recorded on a third-party device e.g. DVD recorder.
11 The MCE device supports "season pass" like functionality but there is currently no guide data in South Africa to support this feature on an MCE.
12 Using nanVue (http://tivoza.nanfo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=423) you can convert and upload videos of most formats to the TiVo
13 Requires a 3rd party plugin
14 Requires specific hardware as well as a 3rd party plugin
15 With the PVR you are able to watch two other channels while something is being recorded but dual recording is currently still a PVR wishlist feature.
