Rating: 
Summary: Plasma TV with AV receiver & HD Digital Box READ UP
Review: "When your system is more toward the cutting edge TiVo falls a little short."Note that there is little written about how TiVo works or doesn't work when your AV system is more complex than television-vcr-straight cable. We bought the Series2 140 hour DVR thinking it would be perfect for our new plasma tv supported by it's hd digital cable box and cinema surround sound system. What we've found after approximately five hours of moving wires and cables from here to there with three different TiVo representatives is that TiVo doesn't seem to be compatable with systems like ours. It seems that if TiVo is not hooked up directly through the television (BOTH audio and video), there are profound delays between the picture and the sound - - if you get both the picture and the sound. In other words, you cannot watch live television through TiVo where the picture and sound match each other if your entertainment system is complicated, and, although we could get it to record, we have not been able to get the recording to play back with any sound whatsoever. We've tried every wiring configuration with every type of wires the representatives at TiVo could come up with without a desired result (I'm pretty good with wiring myself, too). I suspect it would work if we were willing to eliminate the AV Cinema sound system, but we've already spent a tidy sum on extra equipment with the intention of using it. The concept is wonderful! The telephone service center at TiVo did have a rather long waiting time (about 1/2 hour on hold), and the reps were helpful, all things considered. But I believe that when your system is more toward the cutting edge TiVo falls a little short. One of the customer service reps I spoke with confessed, when asked, that most of their customers did not have equipment comparable to ours and therefore did not have difficulties in getting their TiVo into working order. With the remote, the newer equipment (HD cable boxes, HD televisions) come with a 24-pin, not 9-pin port, so the remote control system leaves a lot to be desired. We found that it began to change our channels in a seemingly random fashion and at its own will so it needed to be disabled. Overall, the experience has not been favorable in this household and the equipment will have to be returned. We're very sorry it won't work out for us.
Rating:
Summary: Plasma TV with AV receiver & HD Digital Box READ UP
Review: "When your system is more toward the cutting edge TiVo falls a little short." Note that there is little written about how TiVo works or doesn't work when your AV system is more complex than television-vcr-straight cable. We bought the Series2 140 hour DVR thinking it would be perfect for our new plasma tv supported by it's hd digital cable box and cinema surround sound system. What we've found after approximately five hours of moving wires and cables from here to there with three different TiVo representatives is that TiVo doesn't seem to be compatable with systems like ours. It seems that if TiVo is not hooked up directly through the television (BOTH audio and video), there are profound delays between the picture and the sound - - if you get both the picture and the sound. In other words, you cannot watch live television through TiVo where the picture and sound match each other if your entertainment system is complicated, and, although we could get it to record, we have not been able to get the recording to play back with any sound whatsoever. We've tried every wiring configuration with every type of wires the representatives at TiVo could come up with without a desired result (I'm pretty good with wiring myself, too). I suspect it would work if we were willing to eliminate the AV Cinema sound system, but we've already spent a tidy sum on extra equipment with the intention of using it. The concept is wonderful! The telephone service center at TiVo did have a rather long waiting time (about 1/2 hour on hold), and the reps were helpful, all things considered. But I believe that when your system is more toward the cutting edge TiVo falls a little short. One of the customer service reps I spoke with confessed, when asked, that most of their customers did not have equipment comparable to ours and therefore did not have difficulties in getting their TiVo into working order. With the remote, the newer equipment (HD cable boxes, HD televisions) come with a 24-pin, not 9-pin port, so the remote control system leaves a lot to be desired. We found that it began to change our channels in a seemingly random fashion and at its own will so it needed to be disabled. Overall, the experience has not been favorable in this household and the equipment will have to be returned. We're very sorry it won't work out for us.
Rating: 
Summary: Degradation in picture quality....
Review: .... or, if you love something, set it free! I have two children and only one TV. Tivo was the perfect answer for getting to watch the shows I wanted to see, when I wanted to see them -- namely after the final clip of Dora the Explorer was done and my kids were in bed. Imagine getting to watch the rest of the game (interrupted by bath time) or the Sopranos or Meet the Press, etc., at your leisure. You mocked us for years, TV, but now we are in control! The good news... The unit was fairly easy to set up, the directions were clear and the service people very helpful. In fact, I was surprised to read of other reviewers' problems in this department. So far, I love Tivo. So why am I returning it? (That is, as long as I can cram it all back in the box.) Well, the bad news is picture degradation. Tivo is hooked up to my very nice, new flat screen TV. DVDs look awesome on the new TV. Unfortunately, my digital cable, which goes through Tivo, looks pretty bad. Worse than it did on my dearly departed 27" Sony "round screen" TV. Tivo technology added in some very noticable loss of picture quality. The support person I spoke to said that this might be a slight problem, particularly with video that has movement. Of course, that covers pretty much all TV. Otherwise, it's called a still picture. When I want that I read a newspaper or one of those books where you flip the page and the image in the corner looks like it's moving. So, for us, Tivo wasn't worth the overall loss in picture quality to get those few shows. Curses! Foiled again.... Another issue to bear in mind is the fact that Tivo adds in a slight delay when changing channels on your cable box. Tivo is not like another component that hangs off the TV, a la your VCR. It becomes kind of the central nervous system of the TV. Cable and your VCR must go through Tivo. This wasn't a problem, with the exception of the video degradation and the channel changing delay. My delay was not too bad but could be a problem for others. If you can deal with those issues, then you will love the product. Hence my 3-star rating on a product I'm returning!
Rating:
Summary: Pray you get one that works.
Review: 2 hours on the phone for technical support to exchange it for a Tivo that *might* work. I have no confidence that it will. A friend who ordered one at the same time I did, just threw his non-working-out-of-the-box TIVO thing in the garbage. He wouldn't wait on the phone to talk to the tech support people. I guess he can afford to toss 300 bucks worth of TIVO garbage out without fretting too much. But you will realize why his decision to throw it away was actually the logical thing to do. Seriously, if you are thinking of buying a TIVO please read this whole review. My TIVO worked great for 48 hours, then died. I still haven't gotten the replacement I labored on the phone with these TIVO people for 2 hours with in the mail. 2 hours is no exaggeration. Here is what you can expect if you are unlucky enough to recieve a TIVO that does not work... First you will call customer service. You will then talk to a recorded voice who cannot understand a word you say, and doesn't like it when you push buttons. If you push a button while she is talking, you will be sent back to the beginning of the annoying voice activated menu, where you will not be understood. After 5 to 10 minutes of trying to convince the mechanical voice that cannot understand you, that you really truly need to speak to a human, you will have to hold for about an hour to actually talk to somebody. The message that cuts into the elevator music when you finally make it to the waiting for a person stage of the call, will say that you can expect a 15 to 20 minute hold. The messenger is a liar. You can expect an hour wait. Once you get through to a human, (who will be rude), you have to explain to this person that your TIVO does not work. This will take some doing, as the person will insist you jump through a few hoops, plugging, unplugging, waiting, doing it again, then when you finally convince this person that your TIVO really is broken they will give you a number to call for Tech support. Remember, this first call was to CUSTOMER support. Customer support people can't work an exchange, you have to talk to TECH support. SO you call that number, and I swear on my grandmother's grave, you will repeat the process I just described, in it's entirety, exactly as it is written including the 1 hour wait and the rude person. The rude person who is really just trying to get you to lose your temper so that they can hang up on you. Then you might very well do what my friend did, tire of the frustration and throw the thing away. This seems to have become a new sales strategy in today's business. Be as impolite as the law allows, and you won't have to refund or exchange stuff that doesn't work. Brilliant.
I hope you are a patient person if you have to deal with TIVO people.
I felt compelled to post my story here, because I feel I owe this to the TIVO folks and those who are considering buying their products. People should know about this aspect of a company.
Rating: 
Summary: Service is required
Review: Contrary to the reviewer comments of Jan 2003, Tivo service is required to do any kind of recording with the unit, inlcuding manual if you have version 2 or later. Tivo made a change to all units after version 1.3 to ensure that all later units must have the Tivo service to work. 1.3 units were "grandfathered" and can manually record shows.
Rating:
Summary: Dissappointed with Tivo - there are options
Review: I bought a TIVO when they first came out and had nothing but trouble. The machine didn't record properly and power would go off and on. Customer service was not satisfactory, as others on this board have indicated. Frustrated, I switched to Brighthouse. They supply the equipment. Customer service is terrific and the machine works much better. I can record 5 programs with up to 200 hours of recording time. Tivo may have been first, but are they the best? Answer: NO!!!
Rating:
Summary: Piece of worthless junk.........
Review: I bought my Tivo awhile back and have had nothing but problems with it. I have since switched to Brighthouse and couldn't be more pleased. I get 50 hrs of recording, can record 2 shows while watching another one. No cost for equipment. SERVICE IS SPECTACULAR. With TIVO, service was no existant. I had to buy my own equipment and the reception from the satellite company that was recommended was terrible, especially when it rained. Even worse was the customer service people. These people could have cared less about me. Tivo lost my respect and my business. Jeers to TIVO. Cheers to Brighthouse. Tivo is a piece of worthless junk.
Rating:
Summary: HORRIBLE SUPPORT AND USE...TIVO SO MUCH BETTER =(
Review: I bought the replay unit a few weeks ago and I'm so sad that I did...My was defected and I tried to get support, which is HORRIBLE! I checked my friend's TIVO, and noticed it's SOOOO MUCH EASIER to use and he's never had a problem. I heard a hype about REPLAY so I bought it, and now am very sad I did. Learn from my misfortune, GO TIVO...not Replay...this piece of junk! =C
Rating:
Summary: TIVO Rocks the free world.
Review: I do not think my wife and I could communicate without Tivo. We are always talking during a show and we either get upset or miss a lot of details.
The Pause live tv as well as simply watching TV on your schedule saves us the headache of dealing with any of this.
Rating:
Summary: fantastic
Review: I don't know how we lived without it! The functionality and features are very, very cool - and the remote and learning menus are intuitive and very easy to use. Phone and internet tech support is excellent. Instal was easy - I was up and running, performing all sorts of cool searches & wish list recording in mere minutes. I actually watch less TV now, but NEVER have to watch something I don't really want to see.
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