Philips HDR312 TiVo 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder
Nice for gadget fiends
The TiVo machine works as advertised.  Being able to record and play at  the same time is the key advantage over VCRs.<br />There are a few drawbacks.   Channel surfing is quite slow as the TiVo box needs to send 4 keys (3 digit  channel plus enter) through the IR link.  It will not just send  &quot;Channel Up&quot; or &quot;Channel Down&quot; even if the channel  numbers are consecutive (which is usually the case).  There is no way to  alter the inter-digit delay to have TiVo send the keys faster.  Also,  setting up &quot;season passes&quot; is sometimes cumbersome, since a  single conflict will cause a M-F scheduled recording to fail.  (You have to  schedule each day manually if there is a conflict)  Be careful when pausing  live TV, because changing channels will erase the 30 minute live buffer.   It's easy to do this accidentally.  It would make more sense to have the  live buffer follow channel changes.<br />I had to experiment to get the  correct channel lineup.  My cable system was not listed under my zip code,  but another local zip code worked.<br />Overall, it's a nice way to make sure  there's always a good show queued up to watch.