Rating: 
Summary: nice when it works, on my 3rd in five months
Review: My Hughes Directivo broke after about 4 months of use. After much digging, I was able to find a tech support phone number where, after walking me through a few steps, the offered to mail me a new one - provided I provide a credit card number that will be charged for a new unit if they don't receive my broken one within one months time. One week later I got the first replacement unit. That one didn't work. After one more week I got the second replacement unit. This one has worked a day, so far. I am not impressed. Plus I have to mail back two broken units AT MY OWN EXPENSE. If I only knew what I know now, I would have bought a different brand.
By the way, I asked tech support for a customer service phone number. They said they do not take calls! Was provided a fax number. I faxed and mailed a complaint letter over a week ago, and I have gotten no response. DON'T BUY HUGHES! Other than the quality of the product, I love the way it works. I can't imagine not having TiVo now. But this Hughes product is unreliable, and the customer service is non-existent.
Rating: 
Summary: I love my TiVo!
Review: NOTICE: This review relates to TiVo, not this specific hardware device. I have a Sony SAT-T60 DirecTV/TiVo combination receiver.
My wife and I became addicted to TiVo within 1 month after installing it. We have gone from watching 90% live TV/10% recorded (VCR) to 90% Tivo/10% live TV! We hardly watch anything anymore at its regular time. We simply pull up the "Now Playing" menu, which lists all the shows I have previously recorded, and watch whatever we're in the mood for - drama (Law and Order or Once and Again), comedy (Friends, South Park), reality TV (Survivor, Fear Factor), or sports (Illinois basketball, cliff diving). There are so many cool things about TiVo, but these are my THREE FAVORITE things:
1) Season Pass, which once you set it up, allows you to record a particular show EVERY time it's on or all shows with a particular actor or subject,
2) Easy to record (simply choose the show, not the time and channel) and easy to find and play (scroll through "Now Playing" list of prerecorded shows and choose "Select" to play),
3) Record two shows at once (like Survivor and Friends, which both start at 8:00 on Thursday) with a DirecTV/TiVo combination receiver, which we have. We started with the monthly subscription and moved to the lifetime after just a month (it's good for the life of the box, not you). We have a Sony model, and I've found Sony to always be reliable (two TVs, one VCR). I bought a 4-year warranty as a safety precaution (new technology and insurance against the lifetime subscription). DirecTV customer service is decent, but not great (they handle the TiVo side as well). The BEST resource for TiVo is the TiVo AVS forum, which you can link to from the Buzz section of the TiVo Web site. It's a "must read" prior to buying this unit. But I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the coolest, most liberating invention to come out since the World Wide Web. No joke! You will fall in love with your TiVo too. UPDATE (1/13/02): I've just discovered that DIRECTV/TiVo combination units rarely hold the number of hours suggested. Note that this unit advertises "up to 35-hour recording capacity." In reality, the data density of the DIRECTV signal is variable and you will rarely have even 30 hours of capacity. I have been maxing out at around 25 hours before things get deleted involuntarily. You can control the recording quality on stand-alone units and therefore, you can tell exactly how much capacity you're using. Recording quality is not an option with the combo units, but you should assume that you will NOT be able to retain more than 22 to 25 hours of programming before shows must be deleted in order to make room for new recordings. This doesn't change my enthusiastic view on TiVo or the combo units one bit. But I might need a second one now.....
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy! It is unreliable with no customer service.
Review: Ours stopped working 3 months after purchase. Sent it back to Hughes for repair. 3 months later we are still waiting for a repaired unit. Customer service completely unhelpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Tivo the Great!
Review: The combination of DirecTV and Tivo is fantastic. Hookup for existing DirecTV customers is relatively simple, requiring only a hook up of existing cables and a phone call to DirecTV (to change access card numbers and to set up your Tivo subscription). This unit can view either Tivo or DirecTV style program directories, and with the automatic software upgrades, can record two channels at the same time (requires two satellite feeds). My only complaints are that the remote has very limited control over TV's, and it doesn't have the nine-channel pop-up favorites box which I used on my original Hughes DirecTV receiver.
Rating:
Summary: Quick Review
Review: The Hughes GXCEBOT has dual satellite inputs for recording two shows at once while watching a recorded show or watching live TV while recording another show at the same time. If you have a multi-switch (not a splitter) you can run two outputs from your multi-switch into the DVR without paying DirectTV for an additional receiver. Cool! I don't have HDTV so I can't say absolutely that the recorded picture is flawless. But, I've not noticed a difference in quality between live and recorded.
The only reason I gave it 4 stars out of 5 is I think it's a discontinued item.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Combo
Review: The TiVo/DirecTV combo is a winner. The TiVo system is very easy to use, and it works seamlessly with the DirecTV receiver. I tested the UltimateTV/DirecTV combo, and the TiVo is MUCH faster. Buy this system (or something like it). You won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This Hughes DirectTV/TiVo receiver has no noise problem as described in another review. Sound and picture are both excellent. TiVo has changed the way we view tv!
Rating:
Summary: ungodly cool.
Review: This is one of the coolest and most useful, easy, and fun peices of equipment I've added to my home theater system.
It is awesome to be able to watch your shows whenever you want and not have to bother with fiddlesome tapes and VCR programming.
The picture and sound are excellent, and it supports Optical out for my surround sound system, which is even better.
The programming guide does load a little bit slow, but it's a fair traedoff because it stores something like two weeks in advance of program info. Plus you can change to a different style of displaying the information which seems to load faster anyway. Much recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This unit is NOT loud and makes no audible noise, that is unless you are in a room that is absolutely dead to sound, and this is the only unit turned on...you might hear something then. In my system, sound goes out to Martin Logan SL3 speakers, which expose every flaw in the system (reference speakers for many magazines). I have yet to notice anything out of the ordinary -- the sound quality is superb. The video quality is also superb, as displayed on our Panasonic CT34WX50 16:9 direct view monitor. No issues. No cons, I have never been more happy with television. Buy this, you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable, and disturbing, device
Review: TiVo is more than just a glorified VCR. It is a fundamental change in the way television and viewers interact. TiVo enables you to control what you watch and when in a easy, simple format. Now that DirecTV and TiVo are offering this machine for around..., it is an excellent value. Technically, the Hughes receiver with Tivo is well-made. The box is clean and stylishly designed. The remote is very good, although it lacks more sophisticated controls for the television, such as an input button. I found it to be whisper-quiet. The packaging rivals that of a Dell computer in ease of set-up. I have to mention that the cables included are so good I used them instead of the standard connections I already had. The picture quality is excellent. Video and audio reproduction is vastly superior to a VCR. The on-screen menus and programming guides load a bit slower than the Hughes DirecTV receiver I previously had, but it is bearable. What is disturbing is the way TiVo wants to take over your TV watching. For example: your TiVo video library is referred to as "Now Playing". Beneath that listing is "Watch Live TV". TiVo isn't really "playing", it's waiting for you to watch it or delete it. This may seem like semantics, but it is a revealing use of language. My wife thinks that I watch more TV now. She's right. I watch all the stuff I'd watch if I was home from work sick. It's a great product, but I hope I tire of it soon.
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