TiVo Series2 Digital Video Recorder (*TiVo Service Fee Not Included)
judge it for yourself and see
Of course, if someone has a problem with something they are going to complain about it.  The few people that have had a problem with their TIVO are no exception.  <BR> <BR>I myself just got one and i think it is absolutely great.  <br />Contrary to what others are saying it doesn't degrade picture quality!  I use the video jacks it came with instead of the cable wire.  It's the use of the cable wire that will degrade the quality because the signal has to go from the cable box to the vcr to the tivo to the television.  If you use the video the signal goes directly from the cable box to the TIVO.<br />Also you do not have to pay the monthly service.  If you just want the pause and rewind live tv function and if you want to set your own channel and time then you don't need to pay for the updated tv grid which allows for the season pass function.<br />The setup itself was very easy and straight forward.  The only confusing part may be the ir probes, which i mention later.<br />It didn't take 10 hours or 2 days to set up like some have said.  For me it took about 2 hours to format the harddrive, but it's not like you can't start using it right away.  You can use the pause live tv function while it's formating.  You just have to wait before you can pick shows to record.<br />The basic setting, which gives you the maximum 40 hours, is indeed very tolerable unlike what others are saying.  It looks like a streaming video off of the internet on a CABLE MODEM, it gets pixelated at a few points.  But the best setting is still what I chose it leaves me with 11 hours of time, which is plenty.<br />The only thing i hate about it is the way it changes channels.  You have to attach these probe-like things to your cable box.  When you change the channels the signal goes from the tivo to the cable box via a wire attached to the back of the tivo that goes to the cable box by way of the probes.  This can get annoying at first because you have to find the right codes and settings.  Onceyou find it about 10 minutes later you should be alright.  Channel surfing can become stressing though because of this long delay to change the channel, so i suggest you use the guide.  I timed it and it takes 7 seconds to switch a channel.<br />If you are worrying about the daily call and if they are free, you can check tivo.com and they have a list of the numbers the device calls to.  I live in an area that isn't too major and i had two numbers to pick from.  They've added new numbers since then.  Also if someone calls or uses the phone while tivo is on it, it will automatically hang up and you wont know the difference, tivo will just make the calls later.<br />All in all it's money well spent.  Remember someone is going to have a problem, it's that way with anything.  And if it's a headache for them they will nitpick everything about the system and most likely exaggerate it.