Philips HDR112 Tivo Digital Video Recorder
This is the future -- some day we'll all have a TiVo
VCRs are great, except for the fact that they are complicated and obsolete.  Even computer programmers have trouble programming their VCRs, the programming becomes messed up every time the TV schedule changes or a show is preempted, and it takes forever to fast forward through VHS tapes  looking for a particular show.  TiVo changes all that.  It makes it easy to  record and replay shows.  Instead of telling a VCR to record Channel 4 each  Thursday at 9:00pm, you tell TiVo to record ER. That's it! If you've seen  the episode before, you can delete it instantly.  And the feature that  let's you go back and watch live shows from the beginning while they are  still being broadcast(if, for example, you get home 15 minutes after your  favorite show starts) is awesome.  Likewise, if you have kids, the ability  to pause live TV is terrific.  Some day, we will all use products like  TiVo.  The only question is whether to buy now (in which case you will pay  twice as much and get a product with less functionality and more bugs) or  hold off for a year or two while they improve the product and drop the  price.  Personally, I'm glad I bought now.  I have loved having the TiVo  system.  It's not perfect, but it does what my VCR should have done (if it  weren't so complicated and slow).  The VCR is an antique, TiVo is the  future.