Tivo

[TwingleMum]

I am thinking about getting TIVO for my family as a Christmas gift but I don't know many people who have it. What are the pros/cons?? Did you do the $300 lifetime service?? Are you glad you got it?? I have 3 boys under 5 and I thought it would be good to have shows for them that I did have to worry about recording or wheres the tape. And I could have it tape all the wdw shows on travel channel and I could watch them anytime What is the cost?? Is there a new model I should be aware of or are they all the same?? Any help greatly appreciated.Thanks so much

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Don't have TIVO, but I do have DVR from our local cable company and I love, love, love it! There is no more wondering if the tape is ready on Sunday nights (have to see Desparate Housewives and whatever is on HBO). It is so very handy. You can keep any show on the DVR (or TIVO) as long as you want, as long as you aren't in danger of using up all of your memory, which I think could be hard to do. I know this doesn't help your TIVO problem, but I do love the DVR. I think we pay $7 per month and that is it. No other costs. We don't own the box, but we don't pay any rental fees either.

Good luck!

 

[JennyMominRI]

I don't know how I lived without my DVR. I really don't

 

[MoniqueU]

We have 3 DVR's from Direct tv. I don't know what we pay for the service but whatever it is it is so worth it. I know this doesn't answer your question but either get sattelite. It's better then cable and they are probably running specials on direct tv for the dvrs for the same price as a tivo anyway. Or just bite the bullet and get the tivo. Personally I would be hesitant to lay out 300 bucks for a lifetime subscription because they could have something better come along but thats just me.
I have had a DVR for gosh probably 5 years now and can't imagine life without ours. That is what I am getting my mom for christmas. The ones from direct tv are dual line. You can watch and record on two different channels.

 

[clh2]

We have Tivo for 2 separate TV's. We paid the $300, for the "forever" option of service - (or as long as the boxes last.)

I love, love, love it!!!!!

I love the season pass option, that way if your fav. shows are on a different night, or you just get home late etc - you won't miss your show. We love the ability to back-up live TV, in case the doorbell rings, or the phone rings, or if the kids need your attention and you miss something.

I also love how easy it is to play a DVD. (With our former video set-ups, it was a very frustrating scenario to switch all the remotes (TV, cable box, and DVD player) to get things working.)

Did I mention I love it???

I suppose if I had to point out a downside - we do not have a "picture-in-picture" TV, so we do not have the ability to watch one show and TIVO a different one. I believe that if you have P-I-P, you can watch one channel and record a different one. Again - since we have 2 TIVO's (and since there are only 3 in our house) this is rarely a problem for us.

 

[WIcruizer]

I notice some new TVs are advertised as "Includes built in DVR included." What does that mean? I always assumed you needed the hardware AND paid a fee for the service. Does this mean if i buy a TV with built in DVR, I still have to pay the $6 a month from my cable company?

 

[Mickey Fliers]

I would guess that you are still going to pay for the service, even if you have the hardware. Our DVR (from cable) does allow for P-I-P and it is pretty cool. I just finished watching tonights Survivor (parent/teacher conference night) and it was so great to zoom through the commercials. Then, I thought I missed something, and it was so easy to look back again.

BTW, I do agree that DirecTV is great. We had it in our last home, but these darn pine trees up here in Maine are blocking our view of the southern sky!

 

[bicker]

I've tried Comcast's DVR and went right back to Tivo, and bought a second one!

I just received the new feature: If two favorite programs overlap, the Tivo will record as much of both of them as possible. So I wouldn't have to worry about missing CSI, because ER starts at 9:59PM.

 

[TwingleMum]

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately I can't get satellite either because my house backs up to a huge county park with lots of trees and horse trails. (well actually its not unfortunate because I love it and wouldn't trade the location for a satellite dish )

 

[crz4mm2]

I got a TIVO unti from Directv about 3 months ago and LOVE it. I don't know how I did without it. It costs about 5 bucks a month and is SOOOOOO worth it. I LOVE it.
The unit was 99 bucks but had a 100 rebate (got it at best buy) so look into that. I am sure you can find a good deal.

I would do it.

 

[KAMLEM]

I've tried Comcast's DVR and went right back to Tivo, and bought a second one!

What did you like better about TiVo? We have 2 Comcast DVR's and we love them. They are dual line and I thought that TiVO was only a single line. Just curious about why you prefer TiVo.

 

[ktglads]

I have a dual line tivo. I also used to have Adelphia's DVR, but like the TIVO much better. My reasons are:

Much easier searching - can type in the name as opposed to searching through the channels for something

Season pass manager (with ranking) so that my favorites will get taped but if they are not on, it will pick up shows from other channels

Suggestions - I left that option on and get some really good shows taped that I would have otherwise missed

The only thing I miss is the pic in pic so that I could watch 2 shows at once, but with the rewind option and being able to watch live on 2 channels and be able to rewind on both, I am okay with that

 

[crz4mm2]

I have a dual line tivo. I also used to have Adelphia's DVR, but like the TIVO much better. My reasons are:

Much easier searching - can type in the name as opposed to searching through the channels for something

Season pass manager (with ranking) so that my favorites will get taped but if they are not on, it will pick up shows from other channels

Suggestions - I left that option on and get some really good shows taped that I would have otherwise missed

The only thing I miss is the pic in pic so that I could watch 2 shows at once, but with the rewind option and being able to watch live on 2 channels and be able to rewind on both, I am okay with that

How do you turn the 'suggestions' off?
Thanks.
Never mind, I found it

 

[Ava83]

TIVO for my dd3 has is wonderful, her shows are recorded and so are ours. We never need to stop to watch anything (we watch at later times) I love it and we have the lifetime option. WE LOVE OUR TIVO, I would RUN to the store to purchase a new one if this one broke. It really changes the way you watch tv.

We have a 1st generation one that has been hacked so we have upped the recordable hours to about 180. Ava and I will enjoy it while Daddy is in prison (our warrenty expired, it hurt nothing to upgrade)

When we build our new house Corey wants to do some type of computer that is even better then TIVO to run the tv (not exactly sure I understand or care, he is in charge of all things with motherboards)

 

[robinb]

We have ReplayTV, which is like TiVo but is a different service. We like ours so much that we now have two units . Once you have a DVR, your TV viewing habits will change. I almost never watch anything "live" anymore.

We keep a selection of children's shows available on the DVR for my DD. She's home sick today and she's curled up watching Mulan which I recorded last week.

 

[KAMLEM]

I have a dual line tivo. I also used to have Adelphia's DVR, but like the TIVO much better. My reasons are:

Much easier searching - can type in the name as opposed to searching through the channels for something

Season pass manager (with ranking) so that my favorites will get taped but if they are not on, it will pick up shows from other channels

My DVR has these things, too.

 

[TwingleMum]

So if I decide on the Tivo I should look for a dual line as opposed to a single line so I can watch one channel while recording another, is that right??? My TV does have have pic in pic. Thanks I'm not that savy with these things.

 

[LoraJ]

Other cool features with TiVo:

If you have a wireless or ethernet network in your home, you can hook it up to the internet. This way, you can easily program your TiVo when you are away from home either through tivo.com or yahoo.com and your TiVo will receive the info within 20 minutes. For example, last weekend my boyfriend and I were in Puerto Rico. His mom called him asking him if he was watching the Penn & Teller show. He was so upset that he didn't know about the show and ran and found me. We went to our hotel room, logged in on my laptop, set my TiVo to record it. Since it was already in progress, we missed recording the first 20 minutes, but it was better than nothing.

Also, I have two TiVos and they are networked together (through my wireless internet router) and I can transfer shows from one to the other. I can also transfer shows to my laptop so I can watch them on a plane or in my room where I don't have cable. Also, these files can be converted to be played on the new ipods or PSP's.

ALso, the Wishlist feature is great. For example, my favorite band is Barenaked Ladies. I put their name in as a keyword to record any time they are on anything. I also do the same thing for Disney World. It's great to look at my TiVo and see all of these great WDW shows it recorded for me without even knowing about them.

I love my TiVo(s)!

 

[bicker]

I would go with the two Tivos (the service fee for the second one is very inexpensive!) rather than looking for dual tuner Tivos... dual tuner Tivos are only available for satellite subscribers. The two Tivos with the wireless networking between them is actually better in many ways.

 

[KAMLEM]

I would love to have the internet features with my DVR's. They'll probably come out with that at some point. I wouldn't want to give up the dual line, though. Even though we have 2 we still find ourselves wanting to watch something and record something else. We can even record 2 things and while watching something that we had recorded previously.