TiVo TCD540040 Series2 40-Hour Digital Video Recorder
It works, but, hidden cost  ($12.95/month), noise, ...
I bought a TIVO before Christmas. I spent about 2 hour with customer support (95% time was on hold). Finally, set up was done and I could enjoy advertising free TV.   But, no more than two weeks, I realized TIVO has the following 5 dark sides. <br />1. Poor customer support, slow, poor training, and providing inconsistent information  <br />2. Series 2 will become a \\"Dead Box\\" (I'm borrowing TIVO customer rep's word) after the trial period, if you don't want to pay $12.95 per month to subscribe TIVO services.  Actually, you can get better service from Comcast for $9 per month.  <br />3. TIVO has no stand-by feature. The hard drive and fan constantly running which makes noise and costs more energy. The noise is not very loud, but it does bother me during the quiet period in a movie.  I don't know how much it will cost me for  for keeping fan and hard drive running in a whole year.  The Stand-by is a matured, more than 30-year-old, technology. It has been used in almost all electronic today, even in low quality cheap products.  I don't understand why TIVO does not implement stand-by.  Dirty quick, low quality products and poor services could be TIVO's approach. <br />4. If you don't have a phone jack near your TV, you'll have hard time to connect TIVO to your phone line. <br />5. can't record for 40 hours.  <br />