Philips HDR312 TiVo 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder
Tivo is awesome!
I've been a consumer electronics junkie for years, but I've never made a purchase that comes anywhere close to making me as happy as my TiVo.  <br />I bought mine and set it up with my Direct TV  with no trouble at all.  It took about four hours to do the complete install but only about 20-30  minutes of this required me to be there.  If you buy one, try to set it up  as early in the day as possible so you won't have the agonizing wait  overnight to try it out. Setting up recordings, watching shows, pausing,  etc. are all incredibly easy but very powerful.  This is not a dumbed down  product, but it is EXTREMELY well thought out, which makes it an absolute  pleasure to use.  It is so refreshing to see a consumer electronics maker  actually think about how people really use their product before releasing  it!  <br />People have raved about the intuitive nature of the product and its  remote control, and they are correct.  This is the only remote I've seen  that has this many features but can be easily operated without looking at  it.  In under two days I had it mastered and could do it  blindfolded...<br />Recording quality is very good, particularly on the high  setting, but medium is just fine for nearly all everyday recording, even on  a big screen TV.<br />The only thing I  don't like about my TiVo is that I'm watching a LOT more TV than I thought  I ever would...oh well, at least I'm saving time not watching commercials  ever again...that alone is worth the price...