Philips HDR212 TiVo 20 Hour Digital Video Recorder
Believe the hype -- it will change the way your watch TV!
No more scheduling your time around TV programs! A friend had gotten his months earlier, and I didn't believe what he was saying. Finally when I needed a VCR replacement, I decided to get the HDR212. This is an amazing product. <br />I've had mine for over a year now, and I simply cannot imagine watching TV again without it. Pause when you have to run into the kitchen, or tend to something else at home. I normally start watching TV about 20 minutes after a program has started just so I can FF through commercials. $[money] a month for the TiVo service is worth the money. The TiVo guide is easy to use, and beats trying to grab a TV Guide or the newspaper to figure out when your program is on, and the season pass is just extremely convenient. This is the way TV was meant to be -- arranged around _our_ time. <br />Downsides: <BR>1. Watching TV again _without_ TiVo is a real pain! <BR>2. Phillips warranty is pathetic -- 90 days parts & labor... beyond that, $[money] for a repair. <BR>3. 6+ hours at Best quality (20 hours... yeah, whatever...) isn't enough. If you travel all week, by the time you get home, something's bound to have been erased. No problem though -- I bought an 80GB HD and upgraded the TiVo myself, and now I have 31 hours at best quality! (Check out the TiVo Hinsdale How-To guide on how to upgrade your TiVo). On the positive(?) side, my cable provider's quality is  [bad] enough, that I often couldn't tell the difference between Best quality (6+ hours), and High quality (9+ hours) using the original (before upgrade) TiVo capacity. <br />Now, if only TiVo could do something about the [bad] service from my cable provider! My building doesn't allow external antennas, unfortunately ...