<p>Has anyone tried setting up a Tivo in the honors dorms (specifically Riverside West)? Technically all you need is a phone line and a cable connection - right? And of course a TV. We already have a Tivo account for her machine that we pay so that shouldn’t be a problem. My daughter wants to bring her Tivo but I don’t want to send it across the country if it isn’t going to work. BTW - this board is amazing…</p>
<p>I hope my son does not see your post. Of course, he watches most shows on his computer anyway!</p>
<p>^^^Ditto to that, vlines. Thank God my son doesn’t read CC. I think if you could get TiVO, my son’s suitemate would have figured it out. The boy had Netflix and every video game system, plus at least four computers, I’m not kidding, in the suite. Talk about a Man Cave. We’re hoping for a more study oriented group this year.</p>
<p>I’m so NON-techy so I don’t really know how it works, but I wonder if she’d be fine with just her computer. I know my S and one of last years roommates bonded in the mornings over breakfast and “THE OFFICE” using one of their laptops. </p>
<p>Remember, if this is something she’ll want for the holidays and summer it means packing it back and forth.</p>
<p>Yes, a tivo will work in Riverside West. I used one last year and you need a phone line OR an internet connection, not both. I don’t think it’ll pick up the channels in HD though because there’s no one to get a cable card from, but you can get a splitter so you can at least watch in HD if it’s live.</p>
<p>Sorry to resurrect this thread. But if anyone knows a student that is tech saavy - my daughter could use some help. We couldn’t get the Tivo up and running before we left. IT help support wasn’t open and we couldn’t get the internet connection to run without a password and the phone line wouldn’t dial out (we brought both the internet connection and phone connection with us thinking we could get one or the other to work). We left all the equipment with her but doing things like this is tough long distance. Since Aleut got it to work last year I know it is possible - we must have been doing something wrong. So if anyone knows someone there that they think could get it up and running could you PM me. Thanks so much.</p>
<p>Not sure if this will help at all. My son is a freshman and lives in lakeside west. He took his very fast gaming desktop computer to Alabama. I got him and external hd tuner for his computer (hauppauge 950q) and we attempted to set it up when he moved him in. This TV tuner uses Windows Media Center like a tivo, just click on the programs you want to watch or save to the computer hard drive and watch later. It wouldn’t work. U of A’s cable service would no come in on the local zip code. The very next week I was sending my son a package and notice Paty Hall had a completely different zip code than I had found for other parts of UA. I called my son and the Paty Hall package center zip code fixed the problem. I have a tivo at home in Georgia and I had to use my local zipcode to locate my cable provider. Could it be that your Daughter is using the wrong zip code for her tivo. You can test this at zap2it. Also UA has a cable TV instruction page with a Tivo instruction link. I’m not good at linking so just paste or type this web address</p>
<p>[Cable</a> Television Information](<a href=“http://www.ua.edu/financial/aux_svcs/vending/cable_television.htm]Cable”>http://www.ua.edu/financial/aux_svcs/vending/cable_television.htm) </p>
<p>into the address bar or just Google it. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Most of the University has the ZIP Code 35401 or sometimes 35404; the 35487 and 35486 ZIP Codes are for departmental mail and PO boxes, respectively.</p>
<p>Thank you for the link the the instruction page and the advice about the zip code. We will give it a try. I really appreciate the help on this board.</p>
<p>What cable system do the dorms use?</p>
<p>I know that at The Bluff Apts Comcast was used. We were able to rent a DVR for about $10 a month…maybe it was $15. Don’t remember exactly.</p>
<p>Younger son’s apt at The Retreat comes with a DVR.</p>
<p>The University uses a system called Campus Televideo. They just started using it last year. It’s some kind of custom system that caters to universites and can get its channels from multiple providers I believe because some of the channels get DirecTV loading screens occasionally and some like CSS are not available from DirecTV.</p>
<p>Anyway, you should hook your tivo up through ethernet but you have to register it on your computer first at [Register</a> Your Game Console](<a href=“http://dhcp-svr1.ua.edu/game.console.reg.html]Register”>http://dhcp-svr1.ua.edu/game.console.reg.html) using its MAC address or it cannot connect to UA Resnet. The zip used is 35401 and the provider shows up as University of Alabama.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Bumping this up to see if anyone can add any info to this. Waudio1, did you ever get the Tivo working?</p>
<p>^^^ OK, I guess the answer depends on what kind of Tivo you have. The older Tivo boxes required you to connect them to a traditional phone line … obviously this would mean that in order to get Tivo to work there would need to be a phone line in the dorm and traditional land-line service. The room description for Ridgecrest South where my D lives indicates that phone service is available “at no charge” but needs to be requested.</p>
<p>If you have a version of the TIVO that will connect to the internet via an ethernet cable, then you’ll need to do a couple things. 1) since you’ll probably want to connect computers to the internet in the room, you’ll need a “switch” so that the switch attached to the ethernet plug in the room, and your computer can then share the connection with the Tivo. Both the Tivo and the computer can plug into the switch. (Note: the dorms have wireless, but at peak hours the wireless can be slow and my D learned that when in her room, she ALWAYS connects via ethernet cable to get fastest connection. 2) anything that connects to the internet at UA needs to be authenticated by their MAC address. This is a unique “code” associated with every device connecting to a network and is tied to the physical device. When a computer connects to the ua network for the first time, the browser negotiates this trade of information with the UA network so that the computer is “known and trusted” on the network. However, devices like Tivo, game systems, Smart TVs, etc. d not have a browser to negotiate this communication. Therefore, you need to find the MAC address for the device, usually listed somewhere on a sticker in the box, the device, or documentation, and “pre-register” the MAC address with the UA network BEFORE trying to connect it. There is a website on the UA network for entering in MAC addresses for game consoles … this site will actually work for any device. From your students PC / laptop they can connect the the following location ([Register</a> Your Computer](<a href=“http://netreg.ua.edu/registration.html]Register”>http://netreg.ua.edu/registration.html)) which will have a blue link for registering a game console. Follow that link to enter the MAC address of your Tivo device and your Tivo will now be able to connect the the network. Obviously you’ll also need the cable for connecting to the cable service for the TV too. :-)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>We asked housing about the description of RCS saying a phone line was available before moving in last year. They told us it was inaccurate and that phone service is NOT available in that dorm. I’m not sure about others. You will also find the list of items on the housing website is sometimes contradicted by the information you will receive at BB.</p>
<p>Thanks so much. Helpful info for the PS3 too - if he decides to bring that. I know move in will be stressful enough without having to try to struggle with hooking up a myriad of electronics.</p>
<p>In answer to your question we never got it working. We tried on our last day there before our flight left (on Sunday AM) and there was no one available at the IT tech center to ask questions and we ran out of time. We got some instructions after we got home but my daughter couldn’t ever get it to work so we gave up. I’m sure given enough time my husband could have gotten it working but long distance it was difficult. Later my daughter discovered she could find most of her shows on the internet and started watching on her computer. We plan to hook up the Tivo next year when she is in her own apartment. Our daughter managed to survive without it (although at the time it was on her “must have” list).</p>
<p>I think that if you stick the the method I published above (minus the phone line reference if that’s not really available), you should be successful. Registering the MAC address of the device that needs access to the internet is KEY and it must be done BEFORE you try and connect the device. The University maintains a list of the “trusted” MAC addresses and the link provided above will work with any device that has ethernet connectivity and supports DHCP for getting it’s internet address. Technical mumbo-jumbo, i know, but My daughter’s Sony Smart TV worked by following this procedure by just registering it as if it were a game console. Good luck, and Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Thanks Dad, I’m sure I will figure it out. BTW, I think you and I live in neighboring and I think I went to high school in the town where you live now (if I remember reading an old post correctly)</p>
<p>^^^ interesting! Glad to know more from northern IL are jumping on the UA bandwagon! Roll Tide! Feel free to PM me anytime if you have any questions.</p>