Rating: 
Summary: Not yet but good idea
Review: It is a good idea to record video on hard drive because it has obvious advantage for navigation. The traditional re-winding takes time and you can't really freeze a frame nicely.BUT, my experience with Tivo ( as well as replaytv, I suspected since they are simliar product.) is that it is not good at receiving and recording at the same time through the antenna. I can only speack for antenna as I have one and there is no cable connected nor directTV...etc. That might makes a difference as cable signal are usually clear and crisp but antenna needs a lot of electronic tunning. The frame is fuzzy, frizzle and there is a lot of pausing showing blank with a sad face Tivo icon. TV set receives fine without Tivo connection but not so when it is. My guess is it has to do with the way it split the signals. Tivo wants to be able to record the 'live tv' while you were watching and that is why it has this glitch. It is not there yet ( as far as antenna receiver is concerned) but I like the technology idea. 2 stars is for idea. But nope, I won't buy it until two years down the road when HDTV comes ( that is when you have to upgrade to another Tivo anyway.. bummer. :) ) So, I bought yesterday and is going to return it today.
Rating:
Summary: Beware!!
Review: I have a cable system that has an A-B switch. Tivo does not support this. Their solution is to decide between using Tivo on "A" or "B". And when I wanted to switch, it took a 2 hour set up. Also, if your system requires a cable box you probably wont be able to watch another channel while Tivo is recording. (you would need another cable box or cable tuner of some sort)
Rating: 
Summary: tivo - There comes a time in every persons life when ...
Review: There comes a time in every persons life when they want to ... pause in the middle of a TV program. Now it is possible. Forget about it's "vcr capabilities", they are of secondary interest. Sure it is nice to be able to record in a convenient manner, not having to put in a tape etc. The real treat though is that you can pause, and even rewind, "live" TV on the fly. This have never been possible before, it is now. Though it may not seem like much it is a revolution no less - get it now.
Rating:
Summary: Tivo is the BEST electronic toy ever!!
Review: You'll never regret buying this! It's easy to use (my wife and kids had no trouble from the first day). It records shows you want to watch in MUCH better than VCR quality with no need to fumble for tapes or worry about switching cable box channels. With a few clicks, Tivo will automatically record ever episode of shows like Survivor, the Sopranos or The West Wing without you needing to do anything else. You watch what you want whenever you want to watch it. Tivo lets you pause live TV while the phone rings and pick up where you left off. It lets you rewind to see a great play during a ball game, and then catch up during commercials. The remote is the best designed remote I've ever owned. Tivo is GREAT!! Buy this -- you won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: The COOLEST and BEST Product on the Market
Review: Are you like me and tired of watching 20 minutes of commercials every hour--then you will love this product. How valuable is your time? How much time do you waste watching commercials? If you could cut that out, what could you do with that extra time? Hit pause and whatever you are watching is digitally recorded. Go make a sandwich and pick up where you left off, jump ahead of commercials. This unit is smart. Want instant replay? It's got it. Want to preselect programs to watch? It can. Want to give a program thumbs down and have it remember you don't like it. It can. Want 30 hours of record capabilty--IT HAS IT. Buy this recorder. You will NEVER regret it. It will change the way you watch TV. It makes VCR's look prehistoric.
Rating: 
Summary: TiVo-Mine has died twice
Review: I bought TiVo in early 2000. I love it, but the unit has hadit's share of problems. The warranty is ONLY 90 DAYS! My unit had problems with the IR receiver in the unit not receiving the commands. (Yes, it was the IR receiver as I have two remotes and neither worked unless you were 1-2 inches from the unit). It was over 90 days, but I had called several times on this issue and FINALLY got them to exchange it without charging me... But they do not ship the new unit until they receive the old unit. I sent that to Texas... and received a new one within a week. The second unit was what they called DOA (Dead on Arrival). It didn't work either. (It says refurbished on the bottom). So now I am sending it back at another shipping cost. Another issue is that this receiver 'learns' programs, actors, directors, etc. that you like. So, with each exchange, I lose all of the info it has learned. All of this will lead me to send a letter to the President of Philips, but even getting his name took two calls. When I explained why I wanted his name to the person who answered in New York City she hung up on me...
Rating:
Summary: Everything it is advertised to be.
Review: After running a phone line behind my stereo cabinet (which I could luckily do myself), I connected my TiVo to my VCR, Stereo and Cable Box in about 15 minutes. When I powered on the unit, it took me a few seconds to realize that my VCR input needed to be set to "Line" before I could see the TiVo screens. The on-screen guided setup procedure went without a hitch; the most difficult and time-consuming part was determining the remote control codes to allow the TiVo remote to turn on both my TV and Stereo system at the same time. I also had a few false starts configuring the system to control my cable box. The first time TiVo dialed into the main computer, the actual connection lasted only about 15 minutes, but TiVo busily sorted and indexed the downloaded information for about 2 1/2 hours. The system is so quiet, that if it weren't for the green light on the front, I'd have no idea it was even powered on. The software and the screens are well designed and very user friendly. I have friend who can barely change the channels on his TV using a remote control, and he was easily able to navigate the system and program it to record his favorite shows (I've been giving demos to all of my friends). The system can automatically update its own software every day, so I imagine there are many more features coming soon. Everyone I show TiVo to has some great suggestions for improvements, and I hope to see some of them in future versions. To summarize in 2 words: Buy it. I admit I was skeptical at first, but I'm a 100% TiVo fan now.
Rating: 
Summary: Concept great, hardware problem-plagued
Review: I've had two failed units so far since my purchase in February. The first one had problems within a week of purchase (freezing up literally every few minutes), and Amazon was wonderful about taking it back and shipping me a new one. The second one suffered hard drive failure by early July; I have shipped it back to Tivo & am waiting for unit #3. Because I'm still in my 1-year warranty period, I will receive a refurbished unit for $99.95. When it's working, it is wonderful, but this succession of failed units really makes me wonder about long-term reliability. After my warranty is up, will I be SOL? I also regret buying the "lifetime" subscription to the Tivo service because the duration of the "lifetime" now seems somewhat questionable (supposedly the subscription will transfer to a new unit as long as the same model is purchased, but do I really want to be a repeat customer?)
Rating:
Summary: Simply the best consumer electronic product I've ever bought
Review: I've got just about every type of consumer electonics product on the market, and in many cases 2 or more of each. For example, before I bought the TIVO I had 6 VCRs in the house. Today they are rarely used. The best HiFi VCR is nice, but pales in comparison to TIVO. TIVO is like having multiple VCRs in one room because it allows me record one program while watching another. But it's better than that. No tapes to worry about. No timers to set. No forgetting to program your VCR for favorite shows. No more being disappointed to find that your favorite show was on a different night or time this week. With TIVO's season passes, I never miss an episode of Law and Order or any other program I regularly watch. Tell TIVO what you like. Rate some programs that you've watched and let it go to work searching for things you might like to watch. TIVO takes the hassle out of TV. You never have to rush home to watch ANYTHING. If you like to watch TV, but are frustrated that there is never anything good on when you can watch it, then TIVO is for you. Of the many thousands of dollars I've spent of technology, the [money] I spent on TIVO is the best investment I've made. Buy one and I know you'll agree.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, took it back for a refund!
Review: With a 5-star concept like this, how could I give it only three stars? 1. Set-up problems prevented me from using it the night I took it home, a call to tech support (the next day, when they opened...hello, when are most people using a device like this?) remedied the situation. 2. Three hours for TIVO to download my cable provider's schedule, with hard-disk grinding away. In my bedroom at 1am, this wasn't well-received. ;-) 3. The most annoying thing to me: if I WANT to watch TV with no TIVO-meddling, it is impossible. You know how you can turn off your VCR if you want to just channel-surf? If you turn off TIVO, you don't get a signal to your TV. C'mon folks, this is a pretty easy feature to implement, since it's been a part of every VCR made in the past 15 years (or more?) It's irritating and kind of Big Brother-y. Let ME control how and what I watch...that's the whole idea! 4. Channel surfing in general is slow...for us remote-control jockeys, the delay when switching from channel to channel is mildly annoying. I'd rather have the recording delayed than my channel surfing... 5. Menu options are poorly implemented, IMHO. Too much paging from screen to screen, and no quick way to return four or five levels up...I found myself backing out of sub-menus all the time. Try this in your darkened bedroom for fun some time! I also bought a ReplayTV last year and took it back too for various 'n sundry reasons (one of which was that it wouldn't work with my satellite TV provider). I may not be the most forgiving consumer. However, I think the idea is SO GOOD that the consumer electronics manufacturers should hear the truth so they can improve the product. Hopefully someone will get it right in the near future. BTW, my "TIVO" was badged as a Sony, I guess Sony bought them out recently. Don't think the Sony is a new device. All my other A/V gear is Sony, so when I saw their brand-name I pounced (thinking maybe they'd addressed some of the problems).
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