Philips HDR312 TiVo 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder
READ THIS before you buy and SAVE A LOT OF TROUBLE!
I wasn't sure whether to give this Philips Tivo zero stars or five stars. Zero stars because the quality stinks. Five stars because it's such an amazing product.<br />On the negative side, the modem on my Tivo went dead in just six months. After reading all the Amazon reviews, it appears that this is a VERY common problem that can't be ignored. It wouldn't be so bad if the warranty weren't so short and if Philips/Tivo support weren't so completely incompetent. It's now been five weeks and they still haven't returned my Tivo -- even though I had to pay for them to fix it! I'm told the delay is because they ran out of refurbished units to send me. I don't find that an acceptable excuse.<br />Since I still believe that Tivo is the most amazing invention since the personal computer, I still definitely recommend you buy one.  Besides, it's not Tivo, but Philips that seems to have the quality problem (I'm not sure how the Sony versions rate on quality).  <br />But there are some steps you should take if you buy one:<br />First, buy the extended warranty plan that most stores offer. You'll pay extra, but it will still be less then paying $100 for Philips to fix it. And store warranties last 3 years, unlike the awful 3 months labor, 1 year parts warranty that you get from Philips.<br />Second, buy a special power strip that includes inputs for cable and telephone lines. This will stop any power surges from hitting your Tivo, which is what I suspect is causing a lot of these failures. (My Tivo died after during a mild thunderstorm.)<br />Good luck!