Tivo - power outage

[dfudd]

New Directv customer here with probably a "dumb" question: when a power outage is experienced (happens at least half a dozen times a year here), how does this effect Tivo. Are recorded programs retained, or do they disappear when the power is returned to the unit?
Thanks in advance !!!

[beejaycee]

The recorded programs are stored on the hard drive so you won't lose them. However, if power outages are frequent, one will probably happen when the Tivo is in use which isn't good for any computer equipment. Get a UPS and protect your investment. They're not that expensive and you won't have to worry about corrupted recordings, surges, unexpected reboots, etc.

[Mark Holtz]

:welcome_s to DBSTalk, dfudd.

Unlike a VCR, DVRs can easily recover from a power outage. All the timers and programs are stored on the hard drive. When an outage occurs, it does take a few minutes for the DVR to restart (after all, it is essentially a computer), but you don't have a blinking 12:00 and timers to reprogram.

If you haven't already, get a UPS for the DVR. I'm using a older one with a new battery and have my DVR and VCR on the battery backup side. The DVD player, TV, and stereo are on the surge protector only side. New UPSes cost $50 or less. Check your local office supply store.

If your dish setup requires a powered switch, you will need a UPS on that also. The phase three dishes from DirecTV does not need a powered switch, but I'm not sure about the expansion switch to hook up more than four TVs from that switch.

[bonscott87]

Also when you have a power outage the program will continue to record after the reboot. So say you were recording CSI at 9pm. Brown out at 9:30, back up at 9:33. You will then have two entries for CSI: 30 minutes from 9:00-9:30 and then another for 27 minutes from 9:27 to 10:00. So you only miss the time it was actually rebooting.

Basically get a UPS. :D You can get cheap ones for $30-$40, pretty good ones for $150. Worth every penny, especially if you have a lot of brown outs like you say. If it's an extended power outage there won't be anything you can do. Personally I have a larger UPS with 6 protected ports. I have all my A/V equipment plugged into it. Might only last 5 minutes or so (especially with my HDTV plugged in) BUT that gives me plenty of time to properly shut down the equipment vs. a sudden loss of power which can blow various things up (mainly when the power comes back on and it's hit with that sudden surge or power). Plus a UPS will protect against surges and stuff as well.

Good luck.