Rating: 
Summary: Great when it works, but I've had issues
Review: This device has completely changed the way I watch television. Now, whenever I feel like watching TV, I have dozens of my favorite shows ready and waiting, plus occasional new shows TiVo has recommended to me. I never watch live TV anymore unless I want to check the weather or news. No more channel surfing.That being said, I have been given 3 defective units. The first unit shipped to me would not boot up. I returned this to Amazon (very nice returns process, btw) for a new unit. After 2 months, the tuner on the new unit failed. This one was returned to TiVo, who shipped me a new unit. This third unit had the incorrect software installed on it (the 30-hour-unit software). TiVo tech support helped me correct this issue by having the unit dial in and download the correct software version. So far, there haven't been any problems since then. On the plus side of all the problems I've had, I can say that TiVo's customer support is excellent, and a pleasure to deal with. I just wish their Quality Assurance was as good. Even with all the problems, I have still recommended TiVo to my friends and co-workers, and I will continue to do so.
Rating: 
Summary: TiVo Rules!
Review: This is the Best Consumer Electronics product ever invented! 60 hours of my favorite shows to watch, whenever I want to watch them. Thanks TiVo!
Rating:
Summary: The newest and best yet...
Review: Tivo has brought out a new unit to answer one of the biggest customer complaints...not enough recording time...the 60 hour Tivo from Philips brings all the great features of previous Tivo models and twice the storage. ...this is a can't miss product.
Rating:
Summary: Best A/V item I've ever owned.
Review: TiVo is simply the best thing that you could possibly buy for TV. It is better than color TV. It is better than DVD. It is even better than HDTV. Just get this thing and I promise the whole way you watch tv will be changed for the better.
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Summary: Best thing to happen to TV!
Review: Tivo is the greatest thing to happen to television! Tivo customer service is extremly courtious and friendly (even called me back directly with more information once they researched what I asked about!) Tivo appears to very customer driven and employees of Tivo often engage in dialog in different Internet forums. The service is extremly easy to activate although you do want to set up your Tivo for the first time right before you go to bed - if you have satalite or lots of cable stations it can take 4-5 hours to do the initial setup. That is the only hitch, and it's a one-time pain. From then on, all updates to the guide data happen in the background without interrupting Tivo or it's ability to record shows. After that, life with Tivo is great! You can get season passes to your favorite shows and they are then waiting for you to watch them when you want to, instead of when some network thinks it would be a good time for you to watch TV. You can also optionally manually record shows or special events. As you watch TV on your Tivo, you can give programs you like Thumbs Up (or down) and Tivo will take that information and generate lists of suggestions. You can optionally have Tivo record these suggestions, but only if you have the space (Tivo never overwrites what you tell it to record with suggestions). I have found some very interesting shows based on what Tivo suggested and auto-recorded for me as well as rediscovered a few old favorites that I didn't realize were still on! And of course, if you still watch live TV you can pause and do instant replays - or even "rewind" back in Tivo's buffer. While these features are cool at first, once you start using a Tivo, you find you watch less and less live TV. It's still very handy for sporting events where idiot producers don't replay that one play you want to see again - with Tivo you can replay it as many times as you want, in slow motion or even frame by frame if you want. The power is yours.... This is the way TV was meant to be - no more worrying about time or channels - simply pick programs out by name and then watching them when you want to watch them. Total control over live TV. Also no fussing with VCR tapes ever again - it just works... Even if you are like me and don't watch that much TV, what little TV you do watch (or in my case get to watch :) can now be exactly what you want when you want.
Rating:
Summary: Useful technology...but has kinks to work out
Review: Tivo totally changes the way one watches TV...as a matter of fact, if basically forces the change upon you. The situation is as follows: if one uses a digital satellite system, such as DirecTV or Dish, then Tivo will not let one watch a program and record a different one at the same time...even if both programs that are coming from over the air antenna signals, such as the local affiliate channels - NBC, CBS, etc. This is because the stand-alone models of Tivo don't have a built in DSS decoder, and to prevent confusion, it totally forbids the ability to watch a channel and record another. This means that if one sets up an extensive recording program - i.e. a lot of time slots are reserved for recording, or if Tivo is voluntarily recording a show that it "thinks" one will like, one can't change the channel without stopping the recording. Therefore, the only alternative is to either watch what is being recorded (of course one can rewind to the beginning of the show) or watch something that has been taped before. Therefore, if one watches a lot of TV, Tivo will constrain one's ability to watch live TV and record shows. Of course, if one has little time to watch TV, then Tivo is a godsend (or a curse? - Tivo will definitely increase the time one spends in front of the TV) - program the shows that one wants to see, work all day, come back at night and voila, a whole menu of shows to watch. The downside to this is that it inhibits "channel surfing" - of course, this can be considered a positive. Nevertheless, this unit has many merits. It has a very large storage capacity - 60 hours at the lowest setting, about 30 hours at good image quality. The interface is easy to learn. Set up is relatively simple. The downsides are as follows. To actually prepare the unit the first time takes a long time...I left the unit cooking overnight, and it still didn't finish set up until about 10am the next day. This leads to a second problem. The CPU of the Tivo seems to be very slow. Sometimes it will take a long time (a factor of minutes) for it to accept an action, to load a menu list, etc. Furthermore, unlike the Replay, the Tivo does not have a skip 30 seconds function (the magical length of the standard TV commercial), so one has to fast-forward through the commercials. Thankfully, there are three fast-forward speeds, and at the higher speeds, when one presses Play, the unit automatically rewinds a few seconds to take into consideration the reaction time of the average user (which must be better than mine). Finally, the Tivo interface has many static frames, which can be on screen for extended periods of time while one searches for programs, edits the playlist, etc. This can pose a problem for those using rear-projection televisions, because of the danger of burning-in images on to the screen. Of course the people most willing to dish out [lots of money] for a fancy VCR are precisely the people that own large rear projection TVs. Therefore, be extra careful not to spend too much time with static images on the screen, even paused images from "live" TV, or the screen that appears while one is setting up the Tivo for the first time (my recommendation is to turn off the TV while the Tivo is number-crunching the initial set-up, and come back from time to time to see how it is progressing). All in all, I am pleased with this device, even taking the short-comings into consideration. Also be aware that there is a monthly charge in order to download the Tivo programming, or a flat fee of $200, which is non-refundable. This makes the Tivo as expensive as the Replay units, which offer the guides for free. Of course, Replay is no longer making the units itself (I believe some large electronics firm is currently licesing the technology and has a couple of Replay-compatible devices out). One final note - one has to have a telephone jack near the Tivo (or have a free wall outlet to use one of those RCA electrice wire-to-telephone jack units).
Rating:
Summary: WE LOVE TIVO!
Review: We never even heard of TIVO until our children gave us one last Christmas. The TIVO came with a lifetime subscription which made it even better. We are retired and not exactly "Hi Tech" people, so we paid someone recommended by our excellent store, Sound Advice" to hook it up and educate us in the use, etc. This service was great, as we also had to hook up a DVD player to the TV (a gift from another of our kids). There is nothing easier to program for recording. No tapes, no fuss . As sports fans we particularly like the ability to do our own instant replay. I no longer dread the telephone or doorbell interupting "Jeopardy", as I can pause the program and pick it up later. I recommend this product to everyone that loves TV.
J. T. Sarasota, Florida.
Rating:
Summary: WE LOVE TIVO!
Review: We never even heard of TIVO until our children gave us one last Christmas. The TIVO came with a lifetime subscription which made it even better. We are retired and not exactly "Hi Tech" people, so we paid someone recommended by our excellent store, Sound Advice" to hook it up and educate us in the use, etc. This service was great, as we also had to hook up a DVD player to the TV (a gift from another of our kids). There is nothing easier to program for recording. No tapes, no fuss . As sports fans we particularly like the ability to do our own instant replay. I no longer dread the telephone or doorbell interupting "Jeopardy", as I can pause the program and pick it up later. I recommend this product to everyone that loves TV.
J. T. Sarasota, Florida.
Rating:
Summary: WE LOVE TIVO!
Review: We never even heard of TIVO until our children gave us one last Christmas. The TIVO came with a lifetime subscription which made it even better. We are retired and not exactly "Hi Tech" people, so we paid someone recommended by our excellent store, Sound Advice" to hook it up and educate us in the use, etc. This service was great, as we also had to hook up a DVD player to the TV (a gift from another of our kids). There is nothing easier to program for recording. No tapes, no fuss . As sports fans we particularly like the ability to do our own instant replay. I no longer dread the telephone or doorbell interupting "Jeopardy", as I can pause the program and pick it up later. I recommend this product to everyone that loves TV.
J. T. Sarasota, Florida.
Rating:
Summary: I have the Sony- Tivo
Review: When I started looking at TIVO, Sony had not yet released their product. I was about to buy the Phillips, but had heard a boat load of complaints, from poor picuture quality to broken machines. I didn't feel comfortable with Philips as a manufacturer. So I waited two weeks. I can't say enough about the Sony product. I have yet to have a single problem (with the exception of a show starting 1 minute too early for TIVO (Next software release is supposed to fix that). I fell in love with the product. Rarely watch live TV. One touch season passes, the TIVO suggestions are all wonderful. I think the problems on this board revolve around the manufacuter not TIVO. When Direct TIVO came out I bought my father one, only Philips made it then. The first one had to go back in two days because it overheated and melted that stupid little card. I can't say enough for the TIVO concept. But the Philips product leaves a lot to be desired. Given the same price point why would anyone buy Philips over Sony. TIVO will change everything about the way you watch TV.... Philips may make you wish you never heard of the idea. Try the sony out... YOU WILL LOVE IT. When will AMAZON start to carry the better manufacture. Sony is clearly it!!!!
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