Philips HDR312 TiVo 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder
Don't let your expectations get too high
Yes, TiVo is great!  We've had it for less than a month and definitely love it.  BUT, we already had digital cable with the on-screen menu, so TiVo didn't exactly knock our socks off.  That aside, the convenience is remarkable.  It's especially nice with a baby in the house because we can put on her favorite show within 5 seconds -- no fumbling for tapes and rewinding or fast-forwarding through the tape.  My favorite feature is that you can start to watch something already recording and catch up to it live.  One major drawback is that you can't record one show and watch another on live tv at the same time, but you can record something while watching something already recorded.  (has something to do with the cable box)  And if you have a cable box, be prepared for slow channel changing because the TiVo uses infrared to tell the cable box to change the channel - very irritating!  The only other thing that's strange is the &quot;membership&quot; follows the piece of equipment, not you.  So, if your TiVo breaks and you get a new one, unless the warranty specifically covers it you'll have to pay the sign-up fee all over again.  All in all, it's great and I would definitely recommend it.