Looking for comments on TiVo....

[Hermosa11]

Anyone have this? I am considering it....I am looking for comments on TiVo.
Thanks!
(My tv service -Comcast - has a waiting list for their DVR )

 

[MagicalMom]

Once you have Tivo, you can never go back. Love it!!!

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Agreed!!! Tivo is AWESOME!!!!!!

 

[Charade]

I don't have a TIVO but my dgf's mother does. I've used it a few times. I actually prefer my Dish Network PVR over the TIVO. Granted the PVR from Dish isn't quite as sophisticated, it's interface is better IMO.

The bottomline IMO, is once you "TIVO" (or PVR), you'll never want to watch TV without one again.

 

[chell]

Once you have Tivo, you can never go back. Love it!!!

Exactly. It is VERY addictive.

 

[LoraJ]

I love it so much I have 3 and they are all networked together!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I love it. We are with DirecTV..our receiver can record two shows at the same time . Nice for nights when multiple programs come on at the same time.

 

[Libby X 3]

Once you have Tivo, you can never go back. Love it!!!

What she said.. You start out with one and then you end up with one for each TV!!

 

[Jillpie]

We are considering it too. Can you all tell me what you love about it so much? I use my VCR ( I know, antiquated, but its all I know) all the time. But as you know, it only records 6 hours. So can you tell me about TIVO and its capabilities? And also, did you buy the service with the machine all in one or do you pay for your service once a month? I'd rather pay for it all at once and get it over with.

 

[debloco]

You won't regret getting it, we love ours!
I can blow through an episode of Jeopardy! in 15 minutes!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Pause--potty break

Pause--drink break

When commercial comes--zippy on past.

Oh this program looks interesting--record and it will record it from when you started watching it and not when you started recording it (though it has a certain window so it isn't perfect).

no tapes, no discs

No multi machines so when I want to watch one while record another--zip zip zip and done all in one box...no clicking between tv and vcr.

Actually show selection of recording (please record this show--one time--or season pass) instead of "please record this show on this date at this time).

The only caveat--buffers for shows that follow sporting events..like Amazing Race on Sunday nights--sometimes you have to learn the hard way...TIVO isn't smart enough to figure out a game or other show delay. It only knows what has been programmed through DirectTV. It will know that the presidential address is on--but it will not know that a football game ran 20 minutes over. So being familiar with that and just adjusting the recordings with buffer takes care of that.

 

[juligrl]

We had Tivo and loved it. We had it with Direct TV who then raised their rates. Being penny pinchers we shopped around.

Comcast offered a really good deal with their DVR so we got it and are somewhat disappointed by it because it's elementary and clunky compared to Tivo. It's functionality is basically the same, but it's just not as slick as Tivo. It may be completely different where you live. Ahh, to have the Tivo back...

 

[Princess89]

We have the DVR through cable and its basically the same thing...I can not live without it. I love it. I rarely ever watch live TV programming. I blow through 3 hours worth of TV in half of that time

 

[Cool-Beans]

DVRs are the best thing to happen to TV since color.

My very favorite thing is that I no loger watch commercials. Ever. Someone recently complained about all the political ads and I was like, "Oh, yeah, I remember that." It is GREAT!

You don't have to remember to record House everytime it comes on. You just set it to record House, and it records the show every single time. Or it'll record just new episodes, if you don't want re-runs.

I love getting an extra 15-20 minutes. Since it is already recording House, I can goof off on the DIS for 15 minutes, then just hit the rewind, wait 5 or 10 seconds and start from the beginning. By the time the show is over, I'm caught up (because I FFd the commercials.)

And it is wonderful if someone knocks on the door or you have to go potty. Just hit the pause.

Another great thing is that if you're flipping channels and start watching some great old movie, but have no idea what it is, you hit a button and it tells you the name of the movie, who starred, and what it is about.

The only problem I had was once in a while I'd hit the pause, go away and come back and un-pause. Then, as I'm watching, I'll accidentally hit a button and change the channel. If it wasn't recording, then when I flip back I'm in real time again, and missed part. The trick there is to either set the remote in a place nobody can touch it OR just hit record so that if you accidentally change the channnel you can go back and rewind.

If that last paragraph didn't make sense, it will after it happens to you.

Oh, and DH can watch stupid, boring sporting events (and I can record what I want to see and watch it later.) I suppose it was always POSSIBLE to watch one thing and record another...we just couldn't figure out how to use the flippin VCRs. This is EEZEE.

Just beware! Once you get a DVR, you won't go back...no matter how much you think, "Oh, how great could it be?" It changes the way you watch TV forever!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I couple things--once you have one, you'll want more than one. And if you get one, start with the dual tuner with lots of hours because you'll use more hours than you think you will, especially if you have children and you don't want to worry about having to erase things all the time. Maybe if it's only 1-2 adults in the house you can get by with fewer hours, but we have one TiVo that we just put in the basement on the red room tv (was upstairs, but we got a new TiVo) that has I 120 or 140 hours and then the new dual tuner has I think 180 hours. Lots of hours, but we use it a lot and so do our kids (teenagers).

 

[Beth76]

My only comment is JUST GET ONE!!!!! or two

 

[katerkat]

Get a BIG one, too. We have the free 40-hour box and it really can only tape about 29 hours worth in "high" quality. (The second level of quality.) The only way to get 40 hours out of it is in the worst quality. When we move, it's HD and more than 100 hours and this Tivo goes in Russ's room!

We have it without a "service" - it's not through a dish or cable. Ours is connected to the router and I can transfer shows back and forth amongst all the computers, so we can save all the episodes of the Backyardigans on the PC and transfer some onto the laptop for traveling. (And I can save all the dumb shows my husband watches while he's deployed.)

And let me put it this way - I'm going to my parents during my husband's next deployment, and if there was a way to take my Tivo, I would do it. Their DVR is just not as easy to use.

 

[ALittleDisneyFan]

Can't imagine my life without a DVR. We started out with Tivo... then they canceled our account and lied to us. It made me very upset. Now we have cable DVR and its the pits.

 

[Hermosa11]

Wow, thanks so much. I know the theory of DVR/TiVo is fantastic. I have no doubt about that....and it seems that TiVo (service/product) is terrific. too.
Like I said, Comcast's DVR has a waiting list with NO idea of when it will be available.....week....two months.....6 months....

Question...for those of you that said you have more than one.....do you then get two "boxes" and also must now pay twice the monthly service cost?
I would guess so. It's just husband and self (kids grown up)...and I am the one with the "need" to watch 'my shows'.....so I would guess the minimal hour box would be fine.

Thanks again!!!!!

 

[katerkat]

My parents and sister who share a house have two boxes and they pay twice the monthly fee, yes.

We paid the lifetime subscription on this box (which I think you can't do anymore?) Actually, I just looked at the website - they do 3-year, 2-year, 1-year or monthly subscriptions. We figured (at the time) that we'd break even in 2.5 years instead of doing monthly. It looks like they also have a monthly discount on multiple boxes.

Oh, and we have Comcast too - you DON'T have to wait for them. Go to Best Buy or some other electronic store, especially around a holiday, and pick up a box for $100 or so (the "free" one sucks, remember!) They offer lots of rebates. Hook it up yourself (which DH did so I can't say if it was easy or not!), follow the on-screen instructions (which is easy, I did it!) and voila, Tivo! You just have to put down the cash yourself instead of waiting for Comcast to loan you a box. And if you own your own, you can either pay the monthly fee from Tivo or pay a 3-year subscription for less.