TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorder (*TiVo Service Fee Not Included)
I love my TiVo!
NOTICE: Most of this review relates to TiVo in general, not this specific hardware device, although they all pretty much work the same. I have a Sony SAT-T60 DIRECTV/TiVo combination receiver and a Hughes GXCEBOT DIRECTV/TiVo combination receiver.  I've provided a few comments on these combo units because I highly recommend them if you are looking at buying a TiVo.<br />My wife and I became addicted to TiVo within 1 month after installing it. In fact, we bought a second TiVo for the bedroom about six months after purchasing our first one.  We have gone from watching 90% live TV/10% recorded (VCR) to 90% Tivo/10% live TV! We hardly watch anything anymore at its regular time. We simply pull up the \\"Now Playing\\" menu, which lists all the shows I have previously recorded, and watch whatever we're in the mood for - drama (Law and Order or Boomtown), comedy (Friends, South Park), reality TV (Survivor, Fear Factor), or sports (Illinois basketball, cliff diving).<br />There are so many cool things about TiVo, but these are my FOUR FAVORITE things: <BR>1) Season Pass, which once you set it up, will record a particular show EVERY time it's on or even all shows with a particular actor or subject, <BR>2) Easy to record (simply choose the show, not the time and channel) and easy to find and play (scroll through \\"Now Playing\\" list of previously recorded shows and choose \\"Select\\" to play), <BR>3) Record two shows at once (like Survivor and Friends, which both start at 8:00 on Thursday) with a DirecTV/TiVo combination receiver, which we have.  The TiVo Series2 product you are shopping for will only record one show at a time, but you CAN watch a previously recorded show while taping a show that is currently being broadcast.<BR>4) Replay button - skips back 7 seconds, which comes in handy whenever you miss something that was said, or you want to go back and pause something so another person can see it.  We probably use this button more than any other on the entire remote.<br />HOW HAS IT CHANGED OUR LIFE?<BR>Let me just give you 3 examples:<BR>FIRST, we watch TV on our time.  We never worry about what time, or even what day something is on.  We have TiVo recording about 20 different shows for us each week and we watch them at various times, depending on our schedule.  It doesn't matter when I get home from work, whether I'm out of town, or what time the kids go to bed.  Our shows are on when WE want to see them.<BR>SECOND, we have a Season Pass for three kids shows (Sesame Street, Clifford, Teletubbies).  Every day, it tapes the new one and deletes the one from yesterday.  So, there is always a fresh show to put on for our kids when we need to get them out of our hair.  No bulky video tapes, and none of the stories get old.  They're seeing and learning something new every day.<BR>FINALLY, we pause and replay shows all the time.  Want to stop and get a drink?  No problem-pause.  Phone call?  No problem-pause.  What did she just whisper?  Replay it.  Who was that behind Julia Roberts at the Oscars?  Replay it, then pause or slo-mo.  Use TiVo for a month and you won't believe that you ever watched television without it.<BR> <BR>We started with the monthly subscription and moved to the lifetime after just a month (it's good for the life of the box, not you). I bought a 4-year warranty as a safety precaution (new technology and insurance against the lifetime subscription). DirecTV customer service is decent, but not great (they handle the TiVo side as well). The BEST resource for TiVo is the TiVo AVS forum, which you can link to from the Buzz section of the TiVo Web site. It's a \\"must read\\" prior to buying this unit (if my review hasn't answered all your questions). But I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the coolest, most liberating invention to come out since the World Wide Web. No joke! You will fall in love with your TiVo too.<br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>A note regarding DIRECTV/TiVo units: First, it looks like the Justice Department is going to block the Echostar-DIRECTV merger.  So, any fears that subscribers might have had about losing TiVo service to Echostar's technology are likely overblown now.  I've also discovered that DIRECTV/TiVo combination units rarely hold the number of hours suggested. My Sony advertises \\"up to 35-hour recording capacity.\\" In reality, the data density of the DIRECTV signal is variable and you will rarely have even 30 hours of capacity. I have been maxing out at around 23 hours before things get deleted involuntarily. You can control the recording quality on stand-alone units and therefore, you can tell exactly how much capacity you're using. Recording quality is not an option with the combo units, but you should assume that you will NOT be able to retain more than 22 to 25 hours of programming before shows must be deleted in order to make room for new recordings. This doesn't change my enthusiastic view on TiVo or the combo units one bit.