Tivo

[LilMamiBella]

I'd love to have a dvr but I heard that they need to have a phone line and we only use our cell phones.

 

[bicker]

Up until now, with Tivo Series 2, you only needed land-line for the first telephone call. After that, all the updates are done via wireless broadband, and you never need a land-line again. Most folks who are in your circumstance find a friend with a land-line and make the first telephone call that way.

The latest update of the Tivo software makes it so you no longer need a land-line. While such software updates are free to whoever has service, unfortunately, it isn't clear by when the latest updated software version will be pre-loaded on all new Tivo hardware. So, at least for the next few months, you could end up buying a Tivo that needs to be updated before you have the latest update of the software, thereby needing the land-line for the first call.

 

[KAMLEM]

You don't need a phone line with a DVR from Comcast.

 

[dzneprincess]

I have a question. One of my coworkers won a TIVO about 3 years ago. She never used it, and knew that I had been wanting one. She gave it to me about a month agao. It is a Phillips HDR 212. Is this still a good model? Will it work, and is it hard to set up? Should I even bother with it, I guess is waht I am asking?

 

[bicker]

I believe I have that unit. It's a Series 1, so doesn't have many of the new features. We use it as a digital VCR, nothing more. If you're interested in a real DVR, with the features we're been talking about, you will need a Series 2 Tivo. You can get a Series 2 very cheaply these days, and you pay the same service fee whether you've got the older Series 1 or the more feature-packed Series 2.

Series 1 Tivos do have the distinction of actually being of-use without paying for service. They work like a regular VCR: you schedule what to record by time and channel.

 

[Ava83]

We have a series 1 and we paid for service, it may differ between models.

 

[bicker]

Sorry; I may have not been clear enough:

With a Series 1 Tivo, the device will actually work without service. It does work better with service, but it still will do something without service -- i.e., it will work like a traditional VCR. That isn't the case with the Series 2 Tivos. Series 2 units are being given away so cheaply that it is clear that they make the profit solely on the service, and so the software is such that the devices serve no practical use without service.

AFAIK, the software is (now) the same across all models, within a Series. (There was a time when certain Pioneer DVR/DVD burners were stuck on their own software codestream, v4.x, because Pioneer wouldn't agree to do its part of the work for compatibility with v5 and v6, but that is no longer the case -- v7 is available for all Series 2 models. I'm not sure if that is because Pioneer finally did the necessary work, or rather gave Tivo the info it needed to do the work for them. Regardless, I believe that Series 1 models are all stuck on v3.)

 

[katedrew94]

<sigh> I am SO addicted to TIVO.

We have 2 that are linked via our wireless network.

We bought lifetime service, one broke after 14 months, and the other is still fine (knock on wood). We bought another to replace it and we are now paying monthly. i don't think that we will buy lifetime again just because of the risk.

 

[bicker]

The lifetime unit wasn't under warranty? If the warranty had expired, you could get the unit fixed by an authorized repair agent. I bet, at 14 months, if the unit was unrepairable, Tivo would probably sell you a new one and transfer the lifetime service. Surely worth asking.

 

[JVL1018]

I love love LOVE Tivo!
You can usually get them pretty cheaply with rebates.
Our first one we paid $49.99 after rebate and the second one a moth or so ago we got for $29.99 after rebate. This is the 40 hour version.

I love not having to find what time shows are on, messing with tapes etc.
It's worth it for the pause feature alone when you have kids.
I don't know about yours but it seems as soon as I finally get a chance to sit down and watch something they need me for some emergency immediatly(you know like a snack. LOL) Now I can just pause, do what needs to be done and come back.

I just set up my wishlist-put in Childrens/Holiday and it will record every holiday special without me having to hunt for them all.

The ONLY problem we've had is that our first Tivo kept freezing and we have to unplug it and plug it back, but if we're not home and it happens it doesn't record anything. Which happened during our vacations. Grrrr!

It happened ever since we bought it, so i thought it was what happened with them-a glitch. LOL
Found out it's not..we called customer service(53 minutes on hold-normal in our experience) and they said we could send it back, then when they recieve they would send us a new one, sinvce it was a hardware problem.
We've decided not to bother, we'd have to pay for shipping, and that added to the time we'd be without the Tivo, we decided to wait and when we can get it for $29.99 again, we'll just buy another.
We pay monthly, so we won;t be wasting the lifetime fee on that Tivo.

 

[Free4Life11]

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.

I agree. Hands down, that was why I didn't get Tivo. I already had cable, so satelite was a no go. And I only have one TV. The main reason I wanted a DVR was so that I could record two shows at once. Plus, DVR had NO upfront cost which was nice.

 

[mrsstats]

We have 2 Tivos, the DVR from the cable company and still have a VCR. We watch way too much TV. But to answer your question, we love Tivo. Don't know how we lived without it. We got the lifetime subscribtion. It is lifetime of the Tivo unit. The DVR from the cable company does not compare to Tivo.