DVR vs. Tivo.....pros, cons, what's the difference

[Ted and Holly]

Which ever you chose, get one with 2 tuners. This is what pushed us to the DVR from our cable company. At the time, a Tivo with 2 tuners was either too expensive or only available with satellite or something like that.

We now have an HD DVR and we love it. It might not have the online and networking features of Tivo, but it still kicks butt.

I just wish our cable provider used the same DVR software as where we previously lived. Same company, different region.

 

[ead79]

This is just my opinion, and I'm sure other folks might feel differently, but I highly recommend getting the TiVo brand name instead of the DVR from your cable provider.

TiVo has several features that make it easier to use, plus some features that make it more functional.

For example, you can set up Wishlists in TiVo by keyword, actor, etc. So I could put in a Wishlist for "Disney World." TiVo would then show me a list of programs that have that keyword in the title or description of the program and I can choose whether or not to record them. DVR's don't have this capability.

As was already mentioned, you can remotely schedule your DVR using their online interface if you'd like to (I haven't used this feature, but I know some folks love it).

TiVo does an excellent job of keeping track of whether or not a program is moved for a week to a different time slot.

If you have high speed internet at your house (like a cable or DSL connection), then you don't need a phone line for TiVo after it's initial setup (which is also super easy). It can then just use the internet to get its program guide information about upcoming shows.

We have friends who have regular DVR's, and our TiVo is much more functional and easier to work with. We actually had one friend see our TiVo in action and get one to replace their DVR. This is just my two cents.

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

Maybe I missed this in the Pro-Tivo replies............can you tell me about how much Tivo is, and how much a month fees are? The DVR through Comcast would be about $12 a month here.

thanks!

 

[MouseJunkie]

Well, I had Tivo w/ Direct Tv until I moved a couple of weeks ago. I just got cable w/ DVR this week. I didn't keep the Directv as it was cheaper to have the cable modem/cable package vs. direct tv and cable modem separately. I do like the tivo better. I just think it's overall better. It could be a little bit I'm just used to tivo, but I do think the way some functions are layed out with Tivo is better.

 

[MosMom]

The biggest and by far most important reason to have a Tivo is when you start up the Tivo, a very cute and Disney like animation of the Tivo dude surfing through your TV plays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RsLsp7VQw0

 

[DisneyTeacher]

The biggest and by far most important reason to have a Tivo is when you start up the Tivo, a very cute and Disney like animation of the Tivo dude surfing through your TV plays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RsLsp7VQw0

I love my TiVO man!!

 

[MouseJunkie]

Well, I just found a reason to like tivo better. I messed up on the dvr and didn't record Grey's anatomy. I apparently selected the right show, but wrong channel. Yeah, I think tivo is a little more user friendly. Now I have no idea what happened on Grey's.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

One gripe about DVR, no season pass option

 

[MouseJunkie]

You can do a series option like the season pass. It just functions differently which is why I messed up. It picked the wrong channel when I set up the series. It evidently picked the channel I was on rather than the channel my show was on.

GRRR....Yup I agree w/ It's Tivo's dumber little brother.

 

[mill4023]

For example, you can set up Wishlists in TiVo by keyword, actor, etc. So I could put in a Wishlist for "Disney World." TiVo would then show me a list of programs that have that keyword in the title or description of the program and I can choose whether or not to record them. DVR's don't have this capability.

I know you are right that Tivo's have more functionality. But my DVR does allow me to search with keywords. My understanding of Tivo's wishlist is that it allows you to set it up so it automatically records anything with a certain keyword. Not sure if that's correct, but if so, that is something my DVR cannot do. I can do a keyword search for "Disney" and it will show me all the Disney related shows and let me choose which ones to record, but it won't remember that in the future. So if I didn't want to miss any Disney related shows, I'd have to do a keyword search at least once a week and set it to record those shows.

You can set it up to record all shows that are a part of a series and you can also choose whether you want it to record a particular show only on one channel or on any channel it airs on. You can also choose whether you want to record repeats or only first-run episodes.

So for the Grey's Anatomy example above, all I have to do is search for the show, then tell it to record all episodes on all channels and I'd never miss any of them. I'm not sure how that poster missed an episode unless it was scheduled to air on one channel and later changed to another. Or if the schedule changed for some reason.

 

[Tinkerbell2002]

I *think* that Tivo is a DVR - it is just a brand name. We got a DVR through the cable company - the stuff is stored in the cable box.

I know one person who has an actual Tivo - everyone else I know gets it through cable or satellite companies. I don't know why, but she had to get a phone line just for the Tivo. For a long time, her Tivo was recording things she didn't tell it to record because it thought she'd like it to do that. It might have been her fault - I don't know. But that was driving her nuts. Other than that, she had zero problems with her Tivo.


)

That is actually a setting on the Tivo. I have a Tivo box through Directv and there is a way to turn that off. It took awhile for me to figure out how, but boy that Tivo thought I would want to watch some crazy things. My brother-in-laws Tivo thought he would want to watch "That's so Raven" and he doesn't have any kids. We teased him about his tv viewing habits for a long time!

I have a Tivo and DVR box through Directv. I definitely prefer the Tivo box. It is much more user friendly.

 

[olena]

We have Tivo. We're on our second one actually. We have Comcast with HD and our Tivo has dual tuning and HD recording. We had to get a second cable card to insert into the Tivo. Comcast will do it but you may have to be persistent. We can record two things at once in HD. I like having a show on one channel and an alternate on the other. When one hits a commercial, I flip over and back up through the buffer of the other show so I can avoid ads.

When we got our first Tivo, we did the lifetime subscription, which paid for itself. When the next generation came out, they had an offer to upgrade and transfer our lifetime deal...for a fee. Even then, we jumped on it.

The phone line hook-up isn't much of a hassle. We got a wireless device for that.

 

[cristit14]

We have both. I think Tivo is easier to search and DH likes the fact that he can transfer shows to the computer and burn them on a DVD. I like my DVR because it has a dual tuner (for some reason, can't remember why, the dual tuner Tivo wouldn't work for us). I like being able to record two different shows at the same time on the DVR.

 

[chamonix]

TIVO revolutionized my tv watching! I used to never bother with TV, but with TIVO, there is always something on the box that I want to watch since it records all the stuff that interests me whenever it's on. Not watching commercials is a huge bonus. (commercials? what are those, I am starting to forget....) It also takes so much less time to watch a show if you cut out the commercials, credits, etc. Love it love it love it. Could not live without it.

DVR is the stupid second cousin of TIVO. TIVO has many more features and is much more user friendly. We purchased the lifetime package for our box and it has saved us money. Also, our TIVO box can burn DVDs, so we can burn any show/movie we want onto a DVD for our own use. That has also saved us tons of money.