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Summary: Tivo is a company poised for growth
Review: Tivo has an outstanding product and is signing people up at an amazing speed. Stock symbol = TIVOI'm looking for the stock to go up significantly in the future.
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Summary: Best DVR available
Review: I've had a Tivo ever since they first came down in price enough for normal people to be able to afford them. I love being able to tell it to record every episode of a show. I really love being able to search by actor, director, even key words. We currently have our cable service's DVR. It's nice that it has two tuners built in, but we still use our Tivo to find what we want to record because the cable guide is horrible. We're seriously considering getting a second cable drop and a second Tivo rather than deal with the cable company's DVR.
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Summary: Once you go Tivo you won't go back.
Review: I have owned Tivo for 3 years now and couldn't think of life with out it. No more running home, no more worrying about the time of a show is on. No more watching Jerry Springer because nothing is on. You think you would watch more TV with Tivo, that is wrong. You watch less TV, but you only watch the shows you want to watch when you want to watch them. Also forget taking bathroom breaks during commercials. Commercials, what are those? Consider them gone with Tivo. I have talked 10 people into tivo and everyone says the same thing. Once you go Tivo you will never go back. Honistly everyone else is just living in the stone age.
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Summary: Started w/ ReplayTV, then a set-top box, ended happy w/ Tivo
Review: Started with Replay TV almost 4 years ago. Its "commercial skip" feature misfired often enough that I didn't use it. Used my friend's Time Warner set-top box while house sitting for 2 weeks and if you think that has anywhere near the functionality of a Tivo you will be sorely disappointed. Upgraded to the 80 hour Tivo and found it as easy to set up as a VCR and I even have both cable *and* satellite inputs (it accepts both at the same time). When using the cable, there's a trick so that you can record one show while watching another live show -- see Tivo FAQ's (you can always do that if the show you're watching is one you've already recorded). One minor glitch I had was cleared up by Tivo's tech people which I found very friendly. Tivo has the most advanced and easy-to-use software (in contrast to Replay and cable or satellite set-top boxes). With set-top boxes it's said that they will not be permitting you to record their Video On Demand features. With Tivo, you record anything you want and transfer what you want to VHS tape or DVD (if you have a DVD burner). Just buy the "lifetime" Tivo subscription -- that $299 will amortize itself in no time -- better than paying a monthly fee to Tivo or to your satellite or cable provider which could be raised at any time. If you're new to DVR, you won't believe how many times you will start using simple functions like pausing live TV to get something from the fridge or replaying a 30 second clip because you missed what they said or because something hilarious happened that you want to see again a couple of times. You'll purposely start watching a news show 15 minutes after it begins so you can start it from the beginning and skip thru either commercials or segments you're bored with. As you skip forward, you're catching up with live TV, thus a 30 minute sitcom is watched in 20 minutes, a 60 minute drama is watch in 40 minutes. If you don't want to watch a news segment that's been already over-played, just skip past it. When you come home, it's nothing at all like a VCR. All your recorded programs show up on the TV (like files on a computer terminal). Just choose the one you want to watch first. If you discover it's a rerun that you've seen, just delete it like you delete a file on the computer -- blip, it's gone -- no fast forwarding to the next show like with a VCR. Now that's efficiency! If, in your opinion, there's only about 4 hours of good programming on in a 2-week period, that's the best reason to get Tivo. You look at the programs coming up over the next 2 weeks and choose those programs that may interest you. If a few turn out to be duds, blip, just delete them when you play the first minute and are disappointed. Just move on to another item on your "Now Playing" list. People with Tivo don't channel surf, they have enough in programming already stored on their hard-drive that they can always pick something of interest. Personally, I find the larger capacity storage (80hr. vs. 40hr) worth it for only a $100 difference in price, but either way, get one of the Tivo's.
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Summary: Friend's broke after 1.5 years
Review: Lost all of his shows, which he waited to watch so we could watch them together. Like 6 episodes of Boston Public, gone forever. I have a replay TV 4504 40 hour I bought with lifetime activation for $350 - 10% techbargains.com discount. Replaced 40 gig with 250 gig HD for $150.
You can send shows from replay TV to computer using a special program. Your friends can download your shows from the internet. Keep in mind tho, I made a concious decision to go with STANDARD CABLE (the kind that your regular TV can change the channels on). It's the cheapest way to get Fox Sports West to watch the Lakers. So if you go satellite, get DirecTivo, I think it does not convert to analog before recording to hard drive, so much better quality/memory performance. If you go Dish, get the Dish DVR, but you have to get at least the $34 package to get the DVR service for $5/month (cheaper packages raise service fee to like $12!).
If you want to watch recorded shows on your laptop on the road or just in the bathroom (hehe), get the Replay TV. If you have the bandwidth (2 mbit for standard quality) you can watch the show as it streams to your laptop. This is using free 3rd party software, of course :P
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Summary: Got to find a way to muffle it.
Review: I have one major problem with the Tivo and one minor complaint. While trying to watch a movie the noise from the box is terrible and the only way to stop it is to unplug it from the wall. Right now I,m building a cabinet to stick it in for a little peace and quiet. My other complaint is that I have to spend time every day erasing programs that I don't want and have no interest in. It's a good product but could be even better if I could turn off the self recording feature and the hard drive when I wanted a nice quiet background. All I want is a little control.
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Summary: Much better than ReplayTV!
Review: After researching the DVR market for the past few months, I first decided upon buying ReplayTV. I was impressed by their Commercial Advance feature and their product was $50 cheaper than Tivo's. Anyways, I bought the ReplayTV and set it up. However, I had the hardest time getting the ReplayTV remote to recognize and work well with my Digital Cable box. Even if the remote did work, I couldn't get the right channel to record. So after a few hours of frustration and being unable to reach customer service, I decided to send it back.
With my proverbial tail between my legs, I began to look at Tivo, somewhat skeptically this time around. I took the risk though, and after an easy setup process, I was able to get it working right from the start! After only a few hours, I'm already so much more impressed by the ease of use, the great instruction manuals, and the reliability. I decided to write this review for those who are unsure of which brand to choose. At this point, my vote has to be with Tivo!
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Summary: I can't remember. Was there life BEFORE Tivo?
Review: I can't say enough about this product. I watch so much LESS television than before I owned one. Now, I can watch the shows I want, when I want to. Get it, get it, get it. It's worth it.
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Summary: Unit died after 7 months
Review: This is not about the Tivo service (which is great by the way). This is about this unit. It worked fine for 7 months but the other night died on me. I've read reports of other units dying on people which was why I didn't buy the life time subscription. I called Tivo and because it's not under waranty I'm going to have to pay $100 + shipping and wait 3 weeks to get a refurbished unit. My suggestion, see if the store your buying it from has an extended warrenty and GET IT. Don't even think twice about it. I now regret not getting mine from where I bought it. I'm very disappointed in Tivo with the quality of this unit. With reading reports that this has happened to other people, I'm pretty disgusted right now.
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Summary: it's all true
Review: I work a lot and varying hours. I can now watch what I want when I want. I don't spend more time watching T.V., it's just that now I have the programs I want when I sit down to relax instead of channel surfing only to find nothing on that I find entertaining. I also LOVE being able to pause live T.V. and then pick up where I left off with a program.
I can't believe I waited so long to get this.
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