TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorder (*TiVo Service Fee Not Included)
Great Idea, But Poor Product/Service
I have 2 TiVo units (80 hour and 40 hour) that I have connected to my home network via wireless. I purchased 2 units thinking it was going to be the ultimate television experience, and because there is no way to record 2 programs at once with one unit (e.g. 24 and Frasier concurrently).<br />The positives: Using TiVo to record programs is even easier than you will expect. Playback with pause and rewind of live TV is great. Once you get it set up, doing things over the home network really makes it simple. <br />The negatives: If you have a cable box with digital audio output, it (digital audio) will not work with TiVo, and neither will HDTV. Also, it does not include Component Video inputs or outputs, so you are left to use inferior connections. From these perspectives, buying TiVo now assures you are buying a product that will shortly be obsolete. You will be disappointed in the quality of playback on HDTV and of the audio quality, compared simply to just using a cable box or satellite with HDTV receiver. It is really behind the times on these areas. Also, their warranty and service is poor. There is only a 90-day warranty on labor (1-year parts), and you must call a toll (i.e. not toll-free) number and wait on hold for 10+ minutes to get service. Web support is non-existent. One of our units was louder than the other from the day we bought them, and has grown louder and louder to the point we needed to call for support. After initially refusing to service the unit unless I pay $99 for the service, TiVo (1 month past 3 month warranty window), finally agreed to reduce the cost to $49, since their web site led us to believe the sound was normal when we first received the unit. Unfortunately, this \\"fix\\" will only guarantee that the replacement box will work for 30 days - after that I will need to pay full price to repair it, if it has an issue. Given that they are sending me a replacement unit (i.e. from a \\"service inventory\\" rather than repairing the one I own), I have a feeling that there are far more issues with the boxes than people believe. It is not surprising, since the units use a hard drive with a fan (i.e. with moving parts - not flash memory), which run 24 x 7. Overall, I find product quality marginal at best and customer service to be exceptionally poor. (It took a lot to get the service price reduced, even though we firmly believe our unit was defective from Day 1.)<br />Also, don't be fooled by the capacity noted on the product. It only holds 40 hours of programming if you use the worst quality setting, which most people would find unacceptable. A more realistic capacity is 25% - 50% of the \\"quoted capacity\\", which is what you will find if you use the 2 higher quality settings. <br />Finally, I am most disturbed by the reviews of some of the TiVo fanatics, particularly some of the people on the TiVo community site. These folks believe that TiVo is the ultimate and will lead you to believe it, so you also buy it! Others are so thrilled with some of the features, they do not take the time to fully understand the product before writing a review. For example, a subsequent (to my first writing) reviewer claims there is no need to purchase a box + a subscription, but obviously has no idea what he is talking about. It is as plain as day on the TiVo site. You need to buy the equipment + either a monthly or lifetime subscription. If you want to share between the units (i.e. record on one watch on another), you also need to purchase network cards + the home media option for BOTH units. It is not inexpensive. 2 units + lifetime service + cards + HMO = over $1,200) It is also a little disturbing to see only positive reviews in the Amazon spotlight, given that there are genuine issues to consider when purchasing this product.<br />If you are considering TiVo now, I strongly recommend that you wait until they release a product that is compatible with HDTV and digital audio before making the investment. They market these Series IIboxes like they are the latest and greatest, but in reality, they are already about obsolete. Remember, a lifetime subscription pertains to the life of the unit - not your life. If you buy this now and find it obsolete in a year (i.e. when you buy HDTV), you will need to buy another unit AND service again.