TiVo: 10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do
ARTICLE DATE:  11.03.08
By  Jamie Lendino

Buzz up!on Yahoo!

TiVo owners are a loyal bunch, and with good reason. Even in the face of less-expensive DVR options from cable companies, most folks who try a TiVo end up sticking with its streamlined operation, fun interface, and—especially with the latest TiVo HD XL—top-notch HD video and THX-certified audio quality.

And because TiVos are so easy to use, you could just go about your business setting up Season Passes and time-shifting live television for years without ever delving deeper into the device's functions. But as it turns out, there's plenty beneath the surface.

That's where we come in. Since the TiVo's launch almost a decade ago, enthusiasts have discovered all manner of hacks, upgrades, and operating system tricks. Some of them require a certain hobbyist's dedication to the craft. But many are simple, powerful features that you may have missed. For example, some are secrets that even TiVo doesn't like to discuss publicly, while others were added on the sly in recent software updates. So have a seat on the living-room couch, pick up your TiVo remote, and power everything up. Ready? Let's get started:

1. Wish upon a list.
TiVo's WishList feature is nothing new, but it's now more powerful than ever before. Originally you could just tell it to look for things like cooking shows using a basic keyword search; the system would then record those automatically. Now, you can really build search queries. For example, Bob Poniatowski, TiVo's director of product marketing for core DVR (and a TiVo employee since day one), suggested a good one: Record all Clint Eastwood movies from the 1960s that aren't war movies—only the westerns. To experiment, go to Find Programs & Downloads | WishList Search | Create a WishList Search, fill in the appropriate fields, and click Done Creating This WishList Search. Then click either View Upcoming Episodes or Auto-Record WishList Programs.


2. Regroup your view. There are two hidden shortcuts on the Now Playing List. Pressing the 1 button on the remote's numeric keypad will toggle between alphabetical view and recording-date view for displaying shows. Press the number 2 button to turn "foldering" on and off; this feature lets you group all the same 30 Rock episodes into one folder, or spread them all out on the screen instead. Meanwhile, on the TiVo Central screen, try the shortcuts embedded into the numeric keys. For example, press 1 to jump to the Season Pass Manager, press 2 to bring up the To Do List, or press 4 to Search by Title.


3. Group a bunch of episodes and go.
One of the TiVo's latest features is the ability to play an entire folder of shows at once. To do so, highlight a folder and press Play on the remote. Voilą: instant SpongeBob SquarePants-athon for the kids, and you won't have to run into the living room every 30 minutes to cue up the next episode.

This is also convenient for TiVo's newfound Music Choice partnership: Press Play on a Music Choice folder for an instant MTV-style music video channel (well, at least a 1980s-style MTV channel, before they stopped playing music videos).

Bonus tip: Don't need a bunch of already-recorded episodes? Highlight the folder and press Clear on the remote. Poof—they're all deleted at once.


4. Increase your (remote) control.
The TiVo's remote can also control your television set and A/V audio receiver, letting you power those on and off at the same time as the TiVo. Here's how: Find a button on your TV or receiver you'd like to port to the TiVo remote. Press the TiVo and Select buttons simultaneously for 3 seconds until the red light stays on. On the TiVo remote, press and release the button you want it to learn. Point the two remotes directly at each other, and then press the appropriate button on the other remote. If the light flashes four times, it was successful; if it flashes ten times, try again.

Bonus tip: Program the TV buttons first, and then the A/V buttons. The TiVo will automatically control the volume and mute for just the second device, not the first, which is handy if you have a nice home-theater setup and want to control the A/V receiver's volume.


5. Speed up the Trick Play bar.
The Trick Play bar normally hangs around for 3 seconds onscreen before disappearing. If you're the impatient type, try this: When viewing a recorded show, press Select, Play, Select, Pause, Select. This will speed up the process so that the bar always disappears after about 1 second instead.

Bonus tip: Need a clock for any reason? Press Select, Play, Select, 9, Select and one will pop up in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. (Fun fact: TiVo programmed this hidden feature back when it was conducting early customer focus groups; it helped TiVo time how long it took the participants to do certain things.) —next: Tips 6-10 >

6. Use TiVo as your guide—to the future. TiVo's Program Guide is more advanced than it looks. Press the Guide button while watching live TV. First, there's the standard Grid style. But there's another view called the TiVo Live Guide—access this by pressing Enter with the guide visible and choosing Changing the Style of the Guide. On the left-hand side of the Live Guide is what's currently airing. On the right, you'll see the next eight shows on that channel. Click through to see everything coming up in the next two weeks. Note that you can also search the Guide the same way you can program the WishList. For example, you can ask it to show you all of the martial arts flicks coming up, or to show which football games are on this coming Sunday.


Note: As a result of TiVo's recent announcement, owners will now be able to rent Disney movies for $2.99 a pop from CinemaNow, as well as independent films from Jaman.com. That's in addition to its existing movie rental partnership with Amazon Video on Demand, which offers access to a library of 30,000 TV and movie titles.


7. Skip commercials in 30-second chunks. This one's been around a while, but it's worth repeating if you don't know it. The trick turns the Advance button (the one that looks like an arrow pointing at a wall, on the right-hand side of the remote) into a nifty commercial-skip facility. To set it while playing back a recorded show, press Select, Play, Select, 3, 0, Select. You'll hear a bell signifying the deed was done. Repeat the keypad presses to set it back.


8. Get a jump on your lists. That same Advance button lets you jump between the top and bottom of any list. For example, it works when browsing your MP3 music library if you've shared it from your computer. In addition, when searching by title, try this: Press the Channel Down button; you'll jump over to the results list and then down one page. That's useful for when you're typing something in and see that the alphabetized results are almost correct, but that the right answer is probably just below what's visible.


9. Watch the election season the right way. In this heated presidential election, let your TiVo help out by setting up a WishList with the keyword Obama, McCain, Palin, or Biden; add exclusions as necessary. You can set the TiVo to search out and record any time, say, that Sarah Palin gives an interview—but not the SNL parodies. Another approach is to engage Universal Swivel Search so that it generates a list of political shows; from there, choose which ones to record manually. "Politics" is a popular tag right now, according to TiVo's Poniatowski. So are some of the company's other tags, like "Dark Hero," "Satirical," "Surgery," and "New York"—try them out and see what you think.


10. Automate your computer—and cell phone—transfers.
Don't forget that the free TiVo Desktop software works with Season Passes. For example, you can set the software so that every time a new episode of Boston Legal shows up in the TiVo, it will automatically copy the file over to your desktop or laptop PC. You can even have the software automatically transcode the episode for your Windows Mobile phone, which works using the standard free TiVo software and Windows Media Player. (Note: iPhone, iPod, and Treo owners can also get in on the automatic fun, but that requires a $24.95 upgrade to TiVo Desktop Plus.)


Bonus Tip (last one, I promise): Cue up the start-up video at any time by pressing the TiVo button, followed by the number 0 on the numeric keypad.

Copyright (c) 2008Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.