question about Tivo

[ziggystardust]

i'm looking into it and have a question. Why would you go out and buy the box for hundreds of dollars when TIVO will give you one for free or a one time minimal fee when you sign up for service (Which you would need either way)?

Is there something I'm missing?

 

[momrek06]

i'm looking into it and have a question. Why would you go out and buy the box for hundreds of dollars when TIVO will give you one for free or a one time minimal fee when you sign up for service (Which you would need either way)?

Is there something I'm missing?

TIVO gives them out FREE

 

[Cindy B]

I got my Tivo from Directv for FREE. We have been with Directv for a very long time (since they began broadcasting in the Philly area) and have never switched.

We had been having some problems with the last install, etc.. and they offered us the hardware for free with out any rental cost, etc.

 

[my3kids]

I paid for my TIVO box because I wanted TIVO. We don't have Direct TV or any service like that. TIVO certainly wasn't giving them away when I bought mine. I paid a one time fee to install it and no monthly service fee though.

 

[minnie1928]

I'll try to help (and not confuse further). I believe the "free" or really cheap units are very small space units. Tivo sells by the recordable hour. I have one of the first ones made and I think it's like a 20 hour machine (?, I really need to ask DH and he's still asleep). Now they sell them with a much higher hour space, I think up to 120? Now I'm also assuming that you are talking about a unit that is not tied to some satellite service (DISH, DirectTV).

With that said, I will tell you that I adore my TIVO. It's one of the few "splurge" purchases in my life that if it crashed today, I would rush to Circuit City and buy another today.

You mention the service. Technically, you wouldn't need the service. You could use it as a VCR and tell it what program to record (date & time). The service provides the online TVGuide info and that helps with the automated recording functions.

Also, and I don't know if they still offer this or not, if they offer lifetime subscription service go for it. I purchased this when we bought our unit in 2000. I paid $200 back in 2000. Had I done the monthly subscription I would have paid over $700 in monthly fees by now!

A little side note, my remote died about 2 years ago. I called to see how much a replacement would be...they said about $80. I got one off ebay for $10, including shipping!

Hope this helps!

 

[markandtrish]

I believe the ones that are "free" are the single tuner ones(can only record one show at a time). We just purchased one of the duel-tuner ones a couple of months ago and love it. We got a great deal on it too. Paid $249 up front but got a $150 rebate. We invested in it, because we have alot of shows in the winter we like to watch and some are on at the same time, so tivo let's us record more than one at a time. Cant get that with a vcr or dvd player. I also believe the "free" ones require a year paid subscription upfront. Some people may just prefer to pay monthly. Either way you decide to do it, IMO, Tivo is a great investment.

 

[surfgirl]

We have the Tivo with the DVD burner, so I can record shows and then burn them to DVD. I get lots of movies that way and then delete them from my hard drive.

Remember.... the quality that you record a show at affects the amount of space. For example, a 3 hr. football game at best quality uses SIGNIFICANTLY more hard drive than Mr. Rogers at low quality. If you try to record a sporting event (other than curling) at a lower quality, you will see low picture quality.

We watch (and save) lots of football games ... so we have actually upgraded our hard drive space to 300 (used weaknees.com - they were AWESOME!)

I can't live without Tivo - I record kids' shows and my kids watch them for quiet time every day without paying attention to the real time.

 

[momrek06]

What about DVR? Doesn't anyone have a cable system in their area that offers DVR? Direct Video Recording. No need to purchase a TIVO at all. It is great. It has been in our area for at least 4 years. No equipment necessary, just record through the cable box you get from your cable company.

EASY & EASY!

 

[WDWorld2003]

We have a DVR from our cable company and love it, too.

I am curious about purchasing a TIVO for our basement though just for recording..... Someone said you can use it like a VCR and record programs without paying for the service. Does it still record live TV so you can go back and watch it and can you ask it to record a certain program at a certain time each week?

 

[markandtrish]

What about DVR? Doesn't anyone have a cable system in their area that offers DVR? Direct Video Recording. No need to purchase a TIVO at all. It is great. It has been in our area for at least 4 years. No equipment necessary, just record through the cable box you get from your cable company.

EASY & EASY!

We had a DVR through adelphia cable...it was a motorola and we ended up going through 5 of them in a 6 month time frame. They kept dying. Adelphia said they were having problems with certain models and were trying out different models in hopes of finding one that would work. We gave up and went with Tivo, and havent had one problem with it.

 

[golden1]

I had a 40 hour Tivo for a few years and I got hooked. I think it cost me $99 with rebates and then $12.99 for the service. It was only dual tuner. My cable company started renting DVR cable boxes with dual tuners and the capability to record in HD so I got rid of my TIVO to get this box, which I LOVE! It cost $3 more a month to rent than a regular cable box plus another $10/month for the DVR service.

It is seriously worth it!!!!

 

[Tjaleks]

We have a DVR from our cable company and love it, too.

I am curious about purchasing a TIVO for our basement though just for recording..... Someone said you can use it like a VCR and record programs without paying for the service. Does it still record live TV so you can go back and watch it and can you ask it to record a certain program at a certain time each week?

When you record without a subscription you manually program what time and channel you want the Tivo to record. You can also set it up to repeat daily, weekly, etc. It does not have a channel guide since it isn't communicating with the service. As long as the Tivo is hooked up you may pause live tv for 30 minutes. So if you have to go to the bathroom you can pause it.

 

[momrek06]

My cable company started renting DVR cable boxes with dual tuners and the capability to record in HD so I got rid of my TIVO to get this box, which I LOVE! It cost $3 more a month to rent than a regular cable box plus another $10/month for the DVR service.

It is seriously worth it!!!!

This is exactly what we have!! Here in MA where I live the cable is with CHARTER and the box is Scientific America Explorer for HDTV. We have had absolutely no problems with it at all. We never MISS a show! We love to travel and I have all the shows on the Travel Channel (where we are headed or would like to go) all set up to be recorded as they come on. We sit and watch them commerical-less!!

My DS' hate commericals sooo much that for shows like "24" they will DVR the show at the hour it is REALLY on (say 9pm) and when the show is OVER (at 10pm) is when they then watch it and scroll right through all the commercials. That way there is no interruptions at all from the intense excitement of "24"!!!

 

[Tjaleks]

This is exactly what we have!! Here in MA where I live the cable is with CHARTER and the box is Scientific America Explorer for HDTV. We have had absolutely no problems with it at all. We never MISS a show! We love to travel and I have all the shows on the Travel Channel (where we are headed or would like to go) all set up to be recorded as they come on. We sit and watch them commerical-less!!

My DS' hate commericals sooo much that for shows like "24" they will DVR the show at the hour it is REALLY on (say 9pm) and when the show is OVER (at 10pm) is when they then watch it and scroll right through all the commercials. That way there is no interruptions at all from the intense excitement of "24"!!!

I have to agree. We rarely, if ever, watch tv live any more. If for some reason we do I find something to do for 30min then come back to watch my show.

 

[ziggystardust]

Thank you for all your help! And it really did help!

I did just call Tivo and what they told me was that when you buy the box - your monthly service fee is $12.95 per month, where as if you get the free or cheaper box (the cheaper one is 80hrs and allows 2 shows to be recorded at a time) your monthly fee is $19.95 (or less if you sign up for more than 1 yr)

 

[DizneyDogs]

We bought the lifetime plan as well and it was $300 and well worth it instead of having to pay the monthly fees, however they stopped selling the plan awhile back.

 

[Good Ol Gal]

when you have more than one TiVo box your monthly cost is $6.95 per box.

We have one box that is lifetime, and three that are monthly (so ~$21 a month)

TiVo is the best thing ever!

 

[lUVTOGO]

I bought the 40 hr box at BestBuy for 150.00 and a 150.00 rebate was included. Then we bought the lifetime subscription for 299.00 and I will tell you it is one of the best things we ever did!!! I am sorry we did not buy the 80 hr one though. We also cannot live without our TIVO!

 

[branv]

Fair warning about getting Tivo/DVR - once you start, you can NEVER go back! It's really funny how many times I've been at another person's house watching TV and started to say "wait, rewind that, I missed it." and realizing, DANG I can't! You get into such a habit with it that you will be surprised how often you think about rewinding your radio when you miss something before you remember your regular ol' radio doesn't have that function. On top of that, my bladder has gotten spoiled...it no longer has to scream for help while it's being put off for a commercial break It's also VERY good for marriages - when your spouse talks over something you wanted to hear you're not tempted to shriek Rewind, fast forward, pause, stop, record...those are my five favorite words (ok, my favorite after "lottery winner").

We have DVR through Time Warner. I have a tip for anyone who thinks they might be having probs though - found this out AFTER going and picking up new receivers 3 times, b/c the people on the phone apparently weren't cued into this high tech repair. If your DVR starts acting up, freezing, etc., try unplugging it for about 30 seconds and then plugging it back in. I know, brilliant huh? I finally figured out that everytime our cable people sent a software update over the line, it hitched up our machine. Physically unplugging it was the only way to reboot it. Doy...

 

[PatMcDuck]

I am another TIVO nut. I have had mine for almost 2 years, and I also bought the lifetime service. With a rebate, this 80 hour box was about $99? Maybe less, I forget. The thing with TIVO, is the interface. It is SOSO user friendly. It's the searches by title, keyword, actor names, director, etc that make it so simple, and the season passes. Like the other cable provided boxes, you can record, pause, slow motion, replay, etc. It's the simple interface thats unique, and I can't stress enough how great it is.

We got a flat screen high def plasma a few months ago. I am still using the Tivo series 2 to record basic cable, I watch the high def without the Tivo, but I am itching for the brand new series 3 TIVO that is made for high def viewing & recording. Price: $799. Ouch. It's new technology, and it is sort of like a computer, new things always cost alot...... I just can't do it right now, but I still WANT it, lol.