Rating: 
Summary: The best thing to ever happen to TV!
Review: There are two types of people in this world, those who have Tivo and those that don't. Don't let yourself be a person without Tivo. Tivo will change your life and the way that you think about TV.
Rating: 
Summary: Beware of misleading info others have posted here
Review: The main point I want to make about TIVO, and I believe this also applies to ReplayTV as well, is you DO need to pay for a subscription for this device to work. Many people are saying you can forgo the monthly subscription and use TIVO like a VCR and record things manually. This was true with the ealier model series 1 TIVOs, but the series 2 TIVOs will not record without an active subscription. So do not buy a new model TIVO unless you are getting the pay per month or the one time lifetime subscription.TIVO would get 5 stars from me if it offered a cheaper subscription rate. A $300 lifetime charge or a $13 monthly charge is way over inflated for simply connecting to a database for an hour to download what amounts to a small patch. It may be worth the cost, but the cost cannot be justified. If you are going to get this however, consider two things- 1.Lifetime subscription only applies to machine purchased, so in effect for most, lifetime will be about 5 years or less, depending how soon you want the next big toy. However, lifetime subscriptions are transferable, and make the resell price pretty near the buy price if you resell this thing several years down the road. Just check some auctions and look at the selling prices for old models with the lifetime subscription thrown in. 2.Month to month makes sense if your getting this machine to use maybe less than a year or two, till your cable or satellite company provides the service and then you plan to throw out the used machine rather than sell it. Or, it can be good as a one month test to see if it is something you'd want to shell out $300 for a lifetime or if you want to gamble the lifetime prices might fall far enough in the near future to justify paying month to month over a period of time before switching over. TIVOs competition ReplayTV just recently sold very inexpensive units with a free 3 year subscription and 99 cents a month after that 3 years, but now they also switched over to TIVOs price scale. Both services are good, with Replay having some extra functionality and TIVO being easier to use. The best buy will come from buying a used TIVO or ReplayTV that already has a paid lifetime subscription, though these tend to still sell over $300, even the old models. Another option for those who are good with computers and have a computer next to their TV is a TV video card with a bundled remote control and some tweaking using free software. You can basically simulate TIVO functionality with little money and no service fee, but it is not as easy as using TIVO. Also more and more companies, besides direct TV, are starting to bundle these types of devices into their packages, usually with a smaller initial and monthly cost than TIVO. Another thing to consider, as far as buying the actual hardware itself is you can upgrade TIVA and ReplayTV boxes using a standard IDE hard drive. Many of these units have an empty slot for a second drive and the mod itself is not too difficult if your good with computers and don't mind voiding the warranty. Each gig of HD equals about an hour on the lowest resolution setting, though most of you would be using the mid resolutions for a decent picture and the highest resolution for HDTV on a plasma or LCD TV which cut down the advertised record times. TIVO is still probably the best option for the casual user right now, unless your using direct TV, so if your looking to buy right at the time of this writing, TIVO isn't a bad choice, but keep in mind many new options seem to be coming thru 2004.
Rating:
Summary: Tivo - Absolutely worth the investment
Review: Tivo truly does revolutionize the way you watch TV. Until you use it, you might think it's just an incremental improvement over a VCR. However, the convenience of having 40 or 80 hours of your favorite TV shows instantly and easily available to you with no tapes to swap, rewind, etc, makes it more of a quantum leap than a small improvement. We now have 3 and couldn't live without them. The reason people get so excited about this thing is that it's not just a cool appliance (although cool it is). The reason you see a fanatical following for these devices is that they are lifestyle changers. I don't have to be home at 9 to watch West Wing or 24. If I start at 9:15 or 9:27 or 10:30 or whenever I want, it's just fine. I don't care if the phone rings during my favorite shows, I just pause it. I don't have to time my snacks or bathroom breaks to the commercials. I don't even have to watch the commercials. I have one in front of a piece of cardio equipment in the basement too, and in a 60 minute workout I can watch the evening news plus an hour-long show and catch a few sports highlights at the end, all just by skipping the commercials and the parts of the news I don't care about. It also enhances watching live tv -- miss something and you can rewind a little. Want to watch a great shot again and you can. In the middle of a good show and someone asks you a question, hit pause. The kids are so used to it that they don't understand why we can't "go back" on any TV when they like something... "This is just a regular TV" is met with confused stares like I probably gave my parents when they first said "we didn't have TV when I was a kid".... So for all these reasons, the whole DVR category gets 5 stars, no question. Only downside I've found on Tivo is that service is a pain. We had a modem short out, for no apparent reason, on one of ours and after much calling, had to ship it back, cost nearly $100, to replace, took 2 weeks, and they lost all our recorded shows in the process (I think they just replaced it with another unit). Modems should be a field replaceable item, especially since that seems to be a not uncommon failure mode. These guys clearly have not benchmarked themselves against better service organizations. But even with that one inconvenience, these units are unquestionably the way to watch TV.
Rating: 
Summary: Quick thoughts on TiVo
Review: I realize that all this is great BUT...I actually think that life was better when I had regular cable and I could channel surf like a mad man. I guess for me the thought was not "what should I watch on TV?" But rather "How comprehensively could I watch all 80+ channels utilizing my vast channel surfing skills and PIP tools?" Long stoy short, after several failed relationships - I went to digital and my channel surfing days came to a painful end. Here's my take.... And I realize that others have done a wonderful job with TiVo HW / SW / Service details so I won't. TiVo is an absolute necessity with digital cable or digital sat systems and is well worth the money. I didn't get the life time subscription because it is tied to the TiVo box itself and I feel that I may upgrade my box at some point. I also went with the TiVo (OEM) box and not a 3rd party system because if something goes wrong I want to deal with TiVo, not Sony or Toshiba or anyone else. Keep in mind that if you buy a 3rd party system - you would have support for TiVo HW and SW from two different companies (not desirable). Set up was easy and took 45 - 60 minutes. It is easy to use and the UI is better than Digital Cable (better menu's, guides, etc.) All in all - I'm very happy with TiVo. But I still miss the no hassel surfing days. Perhaps when my kids are all grown and out of the house, I will devorce my wife, buy a convertable, wear a pinkie ring and go back to regular cable so I can always watch all 80+ channels at the same time and never miss a thing:)
Rating:
Summary: TiVo is the best thing ever!
Review: Stop thinking about it. Get it! You are not going to regret it. TiVo has truly changed the way we watch TV. We now watch more TV, but spend less time watching it. We also do not have to schedule our life around the shows. TiVo will be there to record it, no matter what. After a while you will actually forget which day and at what times the shows come up, it does not matter anyway since most TV stations seem to be changing them from week to week. With TiVo you don't worry about that. You just get from work, sit in the couch and the show you really want to watch will be waiting for you. My only regret is that I did not get it sooner.
There is a monthly service fee of $12.95. You also need either a phone line, or a always on Internet connection to get the programming updates. Most people use the phone line for the updates. I did not want it to use my phone line so I bought a USB to Ethernet converter (about $30.00) and connected TiVo to my cable modem router. Now I get all the programming updates through the internet.
Rating:
Summary: Tivo Rocks!
Review: I got a TIVO series 2 last year for Christmas, and I have never looked back. It records all of the shows that I care to watch, even in the middle of the night! It is the best present I have ever received, and it was super easy to set up. I am planning on getting another this year and networking them with the home media option, so that I can have access to all of my recorded shows in the living room or the bedroom. Get a TIVO, you wont be sorry!
Rating:
Summary: I Hate TV But Love TIVO
Review: ...TIVO connects via phone line to the TIVO service ($300 lifetime or about $12.95 per month). The service provides, among other things, a program listing for your area,. If you then want to record all future Conan shows, you can make that selection and TIVO will do it. (TIVO, but not your TV, must be on to do this.) I understand that this charge is not negligible to many. In the first year you can spend the entire coat of TIVO on the service charge. However, TIVO, with no service charge, always records any program that you manually tune or schedule, so if $ are important and time is short, just skip all the monthly charges, and use it to skip all the commercial interruptions or to do a late night recording. Setup takes 30 minutes (an hour if you are not a tech type), and almost every possible TV setup is covered, including all of the cables. TIVO is of course capable of much more - for example schedule it to record many programs in advance to be played at any time that you choose. I use this only to record "Late Night With Conan O'Brien." Imagine if I liked TV and wanted not to miss four or five hit shows. (I have never seen a single episode of Seinfeld or Sex and the City.) Buy it without subscribing to the TIVO service. Try it and then decide if you want the monthly (or lifetime) service. There is no reason to make up your mind until you see if TIVO is attractive to you. Technically, TIVO is a big hard drive with all of the features of a VCR plus the extra smarts of a computer that knows what you want and searches a data base of program listings downloaded via a phone line. TIVO capabilities and features are often enchanced via downloads but only for those who subcribe to the TIVO service. Replay quality (selectable) seems as good as the original on the highesr setting. I am giving this to both of my adult kids for Christmas.
Rating:
Summary: Either you love it or you have not met it yet
Review: Unless you already know, it is difficult to clearly explain just how terrific this item is. If you know someone with a DVR (digital video recorder), they probably have already encouraged you to purchase one. When I discuss TiVo with others, they often say, "I do not watch that much TV". A DVR allows you to watch TV on your schedule instead of the broadcaster's schedule and besides most people grossly underestimate their TV watching time. Just for a moment, set aside the many nifty features a DVR has and imagine sitting down and watching your shows when you want to. This is hard for most non-DVR owners to understand and fully appreciate. A DVR gives you tremendous freedom. TiVo allows you to record any shows based on a wish list. This wish list can be an actor, director, subject or keyword. For example, my wife found a fondue set at a yard sale. I created a wish list for TiVo to automatically record shows that have "Fondue" in the description that are classified as "Cooking" shows. This task took about 2 minutes. This same method could be used to record sporting events with your favorite team. Telling the unit to perform tasks like this is done on the screen in large easy to read text with very easy to read instructions.
Before purchasing, I did some research looking into several DVRs. I read the Amazon reviews for both ReplayTV and TiVo. I went to the web sites for each manufacturer and read discussion group postings. Both units are very similar and offer mostly the same features. Some things to consider when looking: DVRs allow you to record shows on several quality levels (TiVo settings are basic, good, high, best). My 40hr unit is 40hrs on the 'basic' quality setting. If I recorded everything on the 'best' setting, my capacity would actually be about 13hrs. I have compared all of the quality levels and yes there is some difference. I only find the 'basic' setting is noticeably degraded so I use the 'good' setting at a minimum. I record certain shows on higher settings and others on lower settings. For example, I record cooking and stand-up comedy shows on a lower setting because the image quality means less to me; I record others such as nature shows on a higher setting as I want the image to be clean and sharp. I have had my unit for about six weeks and the one thing I did not consider was the temptation to park shows or movies on the unit with the intention to watch them on some rainy day. Storing shows on the unit takes up space. For this reason, I now wish I had gotten a larger unit. I had a few problems setting up my TiVo. The TiVo must take control over your cable box (if you have one) to be able to change the channel. This is done with either a serial cable or infrared blasters. Not all cable boxes have serial cable inputs. Mine did but the TiVo said it could not 'talk' with the cable box using the serial port during setup. I called my cable company and they said their cable boxes are not compatible with the TiVo unit. I went online and read discussion group postings and the fanaticism associated with TiVo was quite evident. I found out many cable companies deliberately make it inconvenient to connect a DVR as they plan to come out with their own competing models in the next several years. Just be aware if you have any problems setting up the unit, call TiVo support for help instead of your cable company. Again, unless you already have a DVR, it is difficult to entirely illustrate just how terrific they are. They give you tremendous freedom and control over your TV.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest
Review: The tivo is a device that will change the way you watch tv. I wont bore you with another regurgitation of the features because you can simply read that above. However, I will tell you of my experience with Tivo. It has been a little less than a year (xmas 02) since I got it, and I'm not sure if I would be able to live without it. I can honestly say that I use it every day, granted I watch a fair amount of tv, but it seriously does change the way you watch tv.
In reading some of the other reviews, I came across people saying that you don't need to buy the service for tivo, actually you do. It will work for like a week without the service but then you have to take care of it. However, you will never look back.
I consider myself quite adept at using electronics and computers (I am a CS major, after all) so I had no problem setting up tivo. I even have it setup to record one show and watch another at the same time. It's convenient when the OC and west wing are on at the same time. Take advantage of the season pass feature...it's priceless.
All in all, tivo is the one thing that I cannot live without. I even brought it up to school with me, I can't imagine living without tivo.
Rating:
Summary: I would take my TiVo over my Microwave ANY DAY!!!!
Review: Ask any TiVo owner which they would give up first, their TiVo or their Microwave. 100% will pitch the food-reheater long before they give up the convenience of their TiVo.
Sure, there are other DVRs...but those are nothing more than dumb VCR-like recorders that still take lots of setup and VCR+ codes.
And with a TiVo, you get the 8-second rewind button in case you have to hear that joke over and over and over.
Great user interface. Great set of usable features. Great picture quality (you get to select the quality). Great all around device that will change the way you think about TV.
Now...if only they made DVD players with the same resonsiveness and usability.
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