Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (
More info?)
uray wrote:
> "Joe Smith" <joe@inwap.com> wrote in message
> news:Ef-dnb37hKPmD1rfRVn-oQ@comcast.com...
>> Evil Raphy wrote:
>>> whats the difference of a regular Tivo and the Direct tv Tivo? :-\
>>
>> Have you looked at any of the previous postings in this newsgroup?
>> I answered that question here a week ago.
>>
>> =======================================================
>> GTD wrote:
>>
>>> I've just started looking into Tivo, and have a few questions:
>>
>> What kind of TiVo are you looking at?
>>
>> Standalone = local broadcasts, unscrambled analog cable channels,
>> A/V inputs for external tuner/sat-receiver/cable-box.
>>
>> TiVo with DVD recorder = Standalone that can record programs
>> or groups of programs to a DVD. Certain models
>> can operate without a TiVo subscription. This
>> "Basic Service" is free but limited.
>>
>> DirecTV combo units = satellite only, but has two tuners.
>> This is a TiVo recorder built inside of a DirecTV
>> receiver; product support comes from DirecTV instead
>> of from TiVo. Recording two shows at once is great.
>>
>> HD DirecTiVo = High-definition DirecTV (two satellite tuners)
>> and local digital broadcast (two ATSC tuners).
>> Does not do analog broadcasts nor cable-TV.
>>
>> A TiVo subscription is required for all but the ones that come
>> with Basic Service (or the older Series 1 units).
>
> Another important distinction between Direct TV Tivos and the rest is that
> DirectTivos record the satellite mpeg stream directly, there is no encoding
> done in the unit. This means that there is no quality setting on a
> DirectTivo, everything is recorded at best quality. Generally, DTivos
> record a much better picture in a lot less space on the HD. A 80 hour
> standalone Tivo may only get 30 hours at best quality, but an 80 hour Dtivo
> gets about 80 hours at highest quality. The prime reason for this
> difference is DTV can afford to buy top end mpeg encoders and do multipass
> encoding of the video, standalones have to get by with a cheaper single-pass
> encoder.
How would they do multipass encoding?