Rating: 
Summary: I love my Tivo!
Review: This has got to be one of the most useful gadgets I've ever bought. It allows me to record shows without having to know when they are broadcast. Now I never have to worry about missing my favorite shows again.The unit has been incredibly stable too. Once I got it setup, which took about 20 minutes, I've never had to do anything else. It's been plugged in for months now and it has never crashed or gone haywire.
Rating:
Summary: Better than sliced bread
Review: I'm quite convinced that if people knew more about what Tivo did, everyone would have one. It will become as ubiquitous as TV itself. It has revolutionized how my family watches TV. We watch what we want, when we want to. We never miss anything we want to see. If the baby cries during a show, we just pause it and resume later. Miss a really good play? Rewind and watch it again - everything you are watching is being recorded, so you can rewind and see it immediately. You can rewind/fast forward/pause while watching or recording. The most important thing about Tivo is that it is ridiculously easy to use. It's not like programming a VCR. It's as simple as browsing the onscreen guide (same as you do with cable), and pushing the record button when you see a show you want. You can even tell it to record all episodes of a show - and it know which ones are reruns and which are new episodes. Everyone that visits our house leaves wanting a Tivo - it sells itself.
Rating:
Summary: Can't live without it.
Review: As a first time Tivo buyer, and as I have never seen it in real
life before, I was a little bit afraid. Would it really work ?
Would I like it ? But then, after I set it up, which is very
simple and menu driven (I wonder why they included two
manuals), my life of TV watching completely changed. I no
longer need to waste my time to check TV programs, since Tivo
does it for me. I no longer need to walk around the video
stores to look for some movies (what a waste of time). I can finish David Letterman's show in 15 minutes (and I don't need
to wait in fron ot TV on time and be there for an hour). I have
had for 3 weeks and so far, it works perfect as advertised (and
more than I imagined). Even though it is advertised as 40 hour,
I set it up as High Quality recording which gives only 18 hours
or so. Normally this is really good enough. But when I watched
French Open Tennis, if things are moving so fast on all over
the screen, picture becomes blocky. If I use "Best Quality"
recording which gives about 12 hours of recording, there is no
such problem. Only if I can record two channels at the same
time... It is a littel bit annoying when there are so many
times I wanted to record two channels at the same time but I
can't because there is a slight overlap - for example, if a
program A ends at 3:15 and another starts at 3:00, I can't
record both of them at the same time. I have to manually set up one
of them (and will lose 15 minutes).
This is understandable with the current techonolgy. Tivo is
essentially a Linux computer server dedicated to compressing/
decompressing videos. To perform two video compressions at
the same time (and possibly uncompressing at the same time since
the user may want to watch previously recorded one while recording
two channels) would require some CPU power which prohibits the
low cost, low heat and reliability. But I expect that within a
few years this will be realized.
Thanks Tivo ! ^^
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't hire on to be a TiVo service tech!
Review: I really like my TiVo unit and the basic concept is great. The one fly in the ointment is that TiVo wants me to do a big part of their work for them. The main reason I wanted the TiVo unit is that it provides a listing of the programs currently on TV and coming in the days ahead. With my system they get the shows correct but the listing times are incorrect on many channels. I have informed them of this problem and spent hours on the phone, first waiting to talk to a technician and then working with them to document the problem. I also sent emails listing the channels with errors. They have fixed about half the channels I listed as incorrect and do not seem able to fix the rest unless I give them detailed data on what the TiVo system tells me is showing and what is really showing. I thought that is what I am paying them for, to know what is showing. I gave them a list of all the bad channels but they only fixed the ones that I researched and told them what was really there. Note this is very time consuming. If they can sell a listing of what I am watching why can't they find out what is on the stations and report the correct listing?
Rating:
Summary: Was there life before TiVo?
Review: First of all, TiVo isn't perfect. So why five stars? Because it's one of those devices (microwave, PC, air conditioner) that really becomes ingrained in the way you function. I can't rate customer service, because I haven't had any major problems. The device itself has had a glitch or two, and it required me to re-work my home theater setup. But at the end of the day, I'd suffer immensely without TiVo. No more setting the timer on the VCR (I'd rather go to the dentist than do that!) No more watching to clock to make sure I don't miss Alias. No more flopping down in front of the TV and finding that, with a zillion cable channels, there's just nothing on. With TiVo, I can see what I want to see when I'm ready, and there's always something I've got on a wishlist or season pass that I can watch when I need an hour of "down time." Admittedly, I wish that the TiVo engineers had designed in the ability to flip between TiVo TV and regular, non-TiVo TV... like a bypass or something. Kind of like the way you can switch between TV and VCR, even though the VCR is still recording. That would resolve a chief complaint of many people: that you can watch one recorded program while recording another, but you can't watch live TV while recording a different program. My fix... I have TiVo hooked up to Input 1 on the TV, and straight cable hooked up to Input 2. So I can watch one thing while TiVo records another. Or, if TiVo interrupts my show to start recording something, I can just switch to Input 2 and watch straight TV. That'll work for those of you who don't require a converter. Won't help for digital, though. I also wish TiVo would offer a release that would allow users to connect to their PC via the USB port and "burn down" recorded shows to a DVD burner. It would be nice to archive shows on something other than videocassette. My only technical problem was that, occasionally, a recorded show would start getting jumpy, the sound would go out, and the screen would get odd bands or blocks on it. Frankly, I never found out if it was TiVo or the cable system... it always happened on the same channel. I permanently saved a show that happened on, and it hasn't happened since. Probably a bad sector on the hard drive. Oh well, I'd rather just leave that program saved forever and sacrifice 30 mins of my recording time than mess with trying to change drives or units. All in all, definitely worth the investment, and worth the short investment of time to get the hang of it. Just be careful... once you can watch TV when you want, how you want, and can always have interesting programming at your fingertips, you just might find yourself watching a lot more TV!
Rating:
Summary: Welcome Addition to my Home Theater Setup
Review: You can get a feel for all of TiVo's positive aspects from numerous other review. I, too, love mine, but there are a couple of shortcomings I wish they'd deal with. First, while the unit isn't loud, it does make a enough noise to where you'd want to put it inside a cabinet. Of course, you can't do that with an IR remote, so I would suggest they make it an RF remote. The other thing I'm not nuts about is the toll call I have to pay every time Tivo updates my listings. Major cities are covered, but that's about it. You'd think the monthly service fee would provide for a toll free call. At least I have the option of buying a wireless USB networking card and having my updates take place over my home network. Overall I'm impressed.
Rating:
Summary: Note: UP TO 40 hours of recording
Review: Tivo degrades the picture quality slightly on the "best" (highest resolution) option for recording and at this resolution you will get about 11 hours of recorded material. Lesser quality (lower resolution) settings will record more material but, in my opinion, are unacceptable. If you want to transfer Tivo recordings to videotape, "best" quality is a must. Even if you're only a moderate TV watcher, you may want to consider the upgrade or you may find that 3 hour football game you intended to watch, deleted to make room for other programs.
Unless you're a hacker, the monthly subscription is a requirement but it's worth the money. The ability to scan program titles up to a week ahead or let Tivo search for your favorite movie, actor, or show by title, name or keyword is a great feature - especially for shows that occasionally run at odd times.
Also - three cheers for Tivo tech support. During the set up process, Tivo didn't match some channel numbers to the correct programs. The Tivo instruction manuals and online guides provided no clues, so with great reluctance I called tech support. After less than 30 seconds on hold, a cheerful rep lead me down a series of menus to "rebuild" the extended basic cable listings. Problem solved.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous product
Review: TiVo is a fabulous product. Especially if you regularly record programs. It works like charm and is very intuitive once you have it hooked up. The set up instructions are pretty clear. Not much problem there. However, I'd recommend that they add a scenario for how to hook it up through the home theatre system. I bought the Home Media option, so my TiVo is hooked up over my home network. This allows me to set the thing to record from any remote location. Just log on to the TiVo site and tell it to record your program. (Beware - it may take up to an hour to get to your TiVo, so don't wait until 5 minutes before the program begins to tell it to record from a remote location) The other thing I like about the Home Media option is that I can play MP3 files through TiVo, or I can display photos from my home computer on my TV. Most of my friends ask if it'll remove ads. No it doesn't do that. But, you can fast forward pretty easily. And if you're fast forwarding too quickly and notice the you started into the show a little bit, just hit play and it'll back up about 10 sec. Other cool stuff: pause live TV, set it to record a program and join the program half way through, watching from the beginning while it continues to record the rest of the program.
Rating:
Summary: Can't watch TV without Tivo!
Review: This is greatest invention since the TV! Why watch a TV show for an hour with all the commercials when you can watch it in 30 or 40 minutes? You can watch more of what you want when you want. The menus are easy to get through; it doesn't take a rocket scientist to set this up! This unit is able to expand for future uses as well. Once you get one, you'll want to get one for every TV in the house! This is not listed in the tech details, but the model number is R240040.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible Customer Service
Review: I never write reviews, but my experience with TIVO's customer service has motivated me to warn others. I recently purchased the TIVO and had difficulty setting up the service with my existing DVD, Receiver and older TV. Upon calling the 800 number, I learned that the technical service is a long distance number. The technical support number wait is approx. 30-60 minutes long. The wait into the 800 number was 90 MINUTES long. Needless to say, the setup did not work and with the advice of the support guy and my Receiver is broken. Be wary if you do not have a newer TV or an advanced setup. Stick with a VCR.
| 
