Looking for comments on TiVo....

[autumnbaby9]

We got TiVo about a year ago and I don't know how we ever lived without it. It is so cool to be able to pause when ever you have an interuption (phone, child, bathroom, etc). I work really odd hours and I'm never home when my shows come on, now I never miss them . Plus no commercials, this is really good for the reality tv shows that cut off at annoyin moments

 

[Jillpie]

Again, I'm new to this, so bear with me. Coming from only having a VCR...but you can pause with a VCR too? And you can skip thru a commercial with a VCR, so whats the difference when you say you can do these things with ease with a Tivo?

 

[DISUNC]

Long time Tivo User here!

What everbody else before me said!

 

[hlbtimes2]

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

Or THREE!

I can't imagine going back to life with out tivo. Does anyone else find themselves wanting to tivo the radio? I always want to rewind if I didnt hear something or record when I have to get out some where.

 

[autumnbaby9]

Again, I'm new to this, so bear with me. Coming from only having a VCR...but you can pause with a VCR too? And you can skip thru a commercial with a VCR, so whats the difference when you say you can do these things with ease with a Tivo?

Don't have to deal with a tape. Don't have to set VCR to record by putting date,channel and time. you can set up a season pass option so it will record your show when ever it comes on (not only just the times you are aware of). You can pause live TV, so if you have to go to the bathroom or if the phone rings you don't have to miss any of the show even if your not recording it.

 

[disneyfan67]

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 )

Just got home from work at 2:30 am and I can sit down and watch CSI that was recorded on my Tivo. I have had Tivo since 2003 and I can't imagine being with out it. The fast forwarding through commercials, pausing live tv, or rewinding something you missed the first time is priceless. A chimp can record a program on Tivo, it's that simple. Getting a season pass for a show you want to watch each week is really cool as well. Bottom line, Tivo is one of the greatest inventions that was produced in the last 5 years or so.

 

[disneyfan67]

Again, I'm new to this, so bear with me. Coming from only having a VCR...but you can pause with a VCR too? And you can skip thru a commercial with a VCR, so whats the difference when you say you can do these things with ease with a Tivo?

Tivo uses a hard drive inside the unit to record the show you want. There's no tape to mess with and the recording is flawless. The hard drive allows you to pause live tv up to 20 minutes and you can fast forward or back track as you wish. To compare Tivo with a VCR is like comparing a brand new lear jet to a 30 year old Cesna single propeller air plane. They both will fly you to where you want to go, but that's where the comparsion ends.

Tivo will also record programs it that thinks you might like when you set your unit up and start recording different shows. Like for instance, if you record home and garden shows, it might find another home improvement show that it thinks you might like and record that as well. You can turn that feature off of course, if you don't want your unit to do that. It literally takes seconds to record a program or set up a season pass. The world of Tivo is facinating and I'm only scratching the surface of what it can do.

Do yourself a favor and get one, you will love it and wonder how you did without for so long.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

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!!!!!

If I were you, I would get the dual tuner box. That way you can record a show and watch another one, using the TiVo features on the show you are watching (it's possible to watch a show and record another with the one tuner box, but then you don't have the TiVo features on the show you are watching--you're just watching it and once you get used to pausing and playing back, you'll want to do it). Also, sometimes you'll want to record two shows at a time.

If it's mainly you watching/recording. the 80 hour might be perfectly fine. What got us in to trouble was our two teen boys who love to record things. Also, I like to record series shows (Amazing Race, Survivor, etc) and keep them for the season. I'd like to transfer some of them to DVD, but don't have a way to do that unless I can do it via the computer. So I use mine for a lot of storage that a lot of people might not use theirs for.

As far as the service fee for more than one box, the fee for the second box is reduced, but it's in the fine print on the TiVo website. My DH really had to search for it. I think it's about $6.99/month for the second unit, but I could be off on the exact amount (I'm forever getting it mixed up with the XM radio second device fee ), but it is reduced quite a bit. On our first unit we have the lifetime service, but I don't believe that's offered anymore.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Oh, and one more thing concerning having more than one unit--they can be "tied together", either via wireless connection or hardwire and a show cna be recorded on one unit and watched on another. We have the hardwire connection. Last night my DH wanted to watch a show downstairs that was recorded on our family room TiVo and he went down and watched it while it transfered. The transfer rate was fast enough that he was still able to fast forward through commercials.

There is a TiVo forum that is the DIS boards of the TiVo world. http://www.tivocommunity.com/

 

[Hermosa11]

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

You said the "free" on sucks. Ummm, you mean the free one you get at TiVo.com or Free from Comcast. The basic model with TiVo.com is free.....
The next step up model is $30 (again at TiVo.com)......

Thanks!~

 

[Tigger&Belle]

You said the "free" on sucks. Ummm, you mean the free one you get at TiVo.com or Free from Comcast. The basic model with TiVo.com is free.....
The next step up model is $30 (again at TiVo.com)......

Thanks!~

Get the dual tuner--it really makes a difference!

That's a one time fee, but if you don't you'll end up doing what we did and buy a second unit just so you have that feature.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Again, I'm new to this, so bear with me. Coming from only having a VCR...but you can pause with a VCR too? And you can skip thru a commercial with a VCR, so whats the difference when you say you can do these things with ease with a Tivo?

Also, with a VCR, if you are taping a program from 9 to 10, and you get home at 9:15, you have to wait until 10 to rewind it and watch it. But with Tivo, you can start it from the beginning and watch, fastforwarding through the commercials until you catch up, while it is still taping. That is the biggest plus for me.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Also, with a VCR, if you are taping a program from 9 to 10, and you get home at 9:15, you have to wait until 10 to rewind it and watch it. But with Tivo, you can start it from the beginning and watch, fastforwarding through the commercials until you catch up, while it is still taping. That is the biggest plus for me.

And we do that a lot on purpose. Not arrive home late , but start watching a show a little while into it, so we can then FF through commercials.

 

[Princess89]

And we do that a lot on purpose. Not arrive home late , but start watching a show a little while into it, so we can then FF through commercials.

I've been blasted by DH for this. Glad to see I'm not the only one

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I've been blasted by DH for this. Glad to see I'm not the only one

You just have to be careful and make sure the show is recording or at least on the correct channel... I think there was a time or two that I didn't.

Honestly, I feel that we are living high on the hog now, with the two TiVos, XM radio in the house and van, and the navigation system in the van.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Again, I'm new to this, so bear with me. Coming from only having a VCR...but you can pause with a VCR too? And you can skip thru a commercial with a VCR, so whats the difference when you say you can do these things with ease with a Tivo?

TIVO you can pause LIVE.

You are watching Survivor now--you PAUSE.

with a VCR..you wait until the recording is finished and then watch. You get in half way through the show--you have to wait until it is finished before you can watch the beginning. Not so with TIVO. No waiting required.

 

[disneyfan67]

And we do that a lot on purpose. Not arrive home late , but start watching a show a little while into it, so we can then FF through commercials.

I do the samething too. I get tired of the commercials and with Tivo, it's like you're in charge of editing the tv program your watching. That alone is one of the biggest pluses to owning a Tivo.

 

[Jillpie]

Thank you everyone for these explanations. I'm still a little confused about coming into a program half way thru. Ok, (remember, VCR is still in my mind, so hard to get out of it) So you come in at 9:30, show started at 9, I get that you can start watching it and FF the commercials, so when you get thru with the first half without commercials, it is now 10:00 and you can watch the rest?

And this live thing confuses the heck out of me. Why can't I get it?? You pause it and it starts recording, yes? You come back from the bathroom, you watch the recorded part and what happens to the part that you are now missing because you're watching the recorded part? I feel like a little kid trying to understand how to spell or something!

 

[Caropooh]

I just told DH last night that now that I've been recalled to Boeing and will be working 2nd shift that we ARE going to get TIVO or something like it. No way am I going to try and remember to record my shows with the VCR. He said OK.(like he had a choice!) Time to do a little research!

 

[disneyfan67]

Thank you everyone for these explanations. I'm still a little confused about coming into a program half way thru. Ok, (remember, VCR is still in my mind, so hard to get out of it) So you come in at 9:30, show started at 9, I get that you can start watching it and FF the commercials, so when you get thru with the first half without commercials, it is now 10:00 and you can watch the rest?

Yes, it's that easy.

And this live thing confuses the heck out of me. Why can't I get it?? You pause it and it starts recording, yes? You come back from the bathroom, you watch the recorded part and what happens to the part that you are now missing because you're watching the recorded part? I feel like a little kid trying to understand how to spell or something!

[I]Let's see if I can help you out a little more. Don't think of a VCR when it comes to TIVO. The reason you can pause live tv or come in the middle of a show, rewind it and still be able to finish it, is due to a computer hard drive inside the tivo unit. It's like being able to open up a couple of different windows on your PC at the same time. The hard drive is recording but you can go back and check out what you might have missed a dozen times and when you get up to the current scene it's like you never left the room. You can only disturb a TIVO recording by stoping the recording by using your remote and like a computer, it asks if you really want to do that. It's simple to use and once you get a Tivo, you will never want to watch regular tv again.[/I]