TiVo TCD540040 Series2 40-Hour Digital Video Recorder
Tivo satisfies
I've had my TiVo player for about a month now and it's great. Just wanted to mention a few things. <br /> <br />1. You CAN watch one channel while recording another. You just can't have digital cable. I am probably the last human being on the planet without cable - I use a rabbit ear antenna - and by purchasing a few extras cables and whatnot, you can set it up for this function. This also works if you have analog cable. Instructions can be found on TiVo's website, or in their manual. <br /> <br />2. As you can probably tell, I am technically challenged. Yet I was able to set the TiVo player up, hook it up to my VCR, and do what is mentioned above...all by myself. TiVo is the easiest thing out there. <br /> <br />3. TiVo DOES have a 30-second commercial skip, you just have to program it.  I used this website to help me: [...] <br /> <br />4. You CAN program your TiVo through the internet, with no extra fees. Apparently they used to charge for this feature, along with some other networking stuff that I don't even understand. However now they don't. So I can be at work, log into TiVo central online, and program my TiVo to record later that night. It's very cool....and it can do it with a dial-up internet connection! <br /> <br />5. Purchase the highest capacity TiVo you can afford. Because you will love it and tape all sorts of things. I have the 40 hour for me and my husband. He barely tapes anything, and I find that I have to monitor the Tivo frequently to clear things away. So I think 40 hours is ok for one person, but for two or more active TV watchers, you'll want to get a higher capacity. <br /> <br />Before purchasing, I agonized over whether I should purchase a TiVo versus Replay. It appeared from the reviews that Replay had more functions, but as you can see...Tivo has just as many \\"useful\\" functions as Replay. <br /> <br />Tivo does cost more, but I ultimately settled on Tivo because even before I subscribed, I could find answers to my questions via their website. With Replay TV I couldn't. <br /> <br />With all that said, I'm now actually considering getting basic cable, because my CBS and ABC are fuzzy and I have to tape in Best Quality just to make out the picture. Which means I'd lose the ability to watch live TV and record...but really, I never watch live TV anymore anyway!