TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorder (*TiVo Service Fee Not Included)
This TiVo is great: Dispelling some other reviewers issues
This product is great, i love TiVo, but I'm not going to concentrate on reviewing TiVo itself, rather this TiVo brand DRV. People need to understand that TiVo is really just a service and software, too often these reviews are filled with info on the service, which is fine, but doesn't help the reviewer make a decision on which DVR unit to buy.<br />Ok the first thing i want to do is dispel some of the complaints of other reviewers. For the reviewer who stated \\"However, I was disappointed in the picture quality. I record at Basic Quality so as to get the most hours of recording time\\", i would say that if you look at the different quality settings you will see that \\"Basic\\" is the lowest, so of course you are going to have the lowest quality. It doesn't really matter what the levels of quality are called, if you pick the lowest one, you're going to get the worst quality, try using a higher quality setting.<br />Next, for the reviewer who stated \\"This is a very cool product, but it's extremely loud. The fan and hard drive combine to create a high-pitched whistling noise that we found impossible to live with\\", I'm not sure what he/she is even talking about, it must have been a defective unit. Mine is silent, i really can't hear a thing. Now the manual clearly states that you shouldn't set the TiVo directly on top of another component, or put another component on it, as this maybe block ventilation. So if this person has created a \\"component sandwich\\" with their TiVo in the middle, maybe the fans are coming on frequently, I don't know, mine makes no noise.<br />One review states \\"Be sure to understand that not only do you need to buy the TiVo (the player) itself, but you also need to buy the sevice!\\", this is 100% false. You don't have to purchase any service at all. The service gives you access to the \\"Season Pass\\" feature where you can tell TiVo to record every showing of a certain show. But you can always set the TiVo up to do this manually, you do not have to purchase any service at all.<br />Another reviewer has this to say, \\"Another thing: no power switch. Again, for casual TV users, this is a waste of equipment lifespan & electricity.\\" This is really quite nitpicky, if you turn the TiVo off, it cant make its dial-in call to get your updated schedule of shows, and it cant search for shows you might like based on your preferences. Besides that it doesn't use much power at all, and the only thing that would be getting any wear and tear are the hard drives and they sleep when they aren't in use. He also states \\"it's just a very expensive toy\\", um hello.... Of course it is, that's the fun of it.<br />Finally there is this complaint, \\"You need a credit card to activate the service. This is a real problem for those who do not have, or choose not to use, credit cards\\". Ok lets see, first of all you don't need to sign up for the service, and if you don't have a credit card I'm guessing you run into this problem all the time, it isn't just with TiVo...<br />This TiVo unit works as advertised, I cant really say anything else about it. One thing to realize is that, while this is an 80 hour unit, that really is only about 25 hours of recordings at the highest quality level. I know some of you are saying \\"25 hours is plenty\\", and you're right, but if you were looking at a unit with less recording time, remember that you only get about 30% of the total time at the best level. The only other problem I have with this is that recording a show while watching something else on live TV is impossible if you have a cable box for your TV. I have digital cable, and therefore I need a cable box, well you cant split a digital signal very easily and its then impossible to record on one channel and watch another. But it isn't that big a deal as one can still watch a recorded show and record another.e any service at all.<br />Another reviewer has this to say, \\"Another thing: no power switch. Again, for casual TV users, this is a waste of equipment lifespan & electricity.\\" This is really quite nitpicky, if you turn the TiVo off, it cant make its dial-in call to get your updated schedule of shows, and it cant search for shows you might like based on your preferences. Besides that it doesn't use much power at all, and the only thing that would be getting any wear and tear are the hard drives and they sleep when they aren't in use. He also states \\"it's just a very expensive toy\\", um hello.... Of course it is, that's the fun of it.<br />Finally there is this complaint, \\"You need a credit card to activate the service. This is a real problem for those who do not have, or choose not to use, credit cards\\". Ok lets see, first of all you don't need to sign up for the service, and if you don't have a credit card I'm guessing you run into this problem all the time, it isn't just with TiVo...<br />This TiVo unit works as advertised, I cant really say anything else about it. One thing to realize is that, while this is an 80 hour unit, that really is only about 25 hours of recordings at the highest quality level. I know some of you are saying \\"25 hours is plenty\\", and you're right, but if you were looking at a unit with less recording time, remember that you only get about 30% of the total time at the best level. The only other problem I have with this is that recording a show while watching something else on live TV is impossible if you have a cable box for your TV. I have digital cable, and therefore I need a cable box, well you cant split a digital signal very easily and its then impossible to record on one channel and watch another. But it isn't that big a deal as one can still watch a recorded show and record another.