What a shame that Microsoft decided to abandon support of Ultimate TV. I own 2 boxes, both purchased in 2001.

Two months ago DirecTV incented me with an offer to give TiVo a shot, for free with a one-year service extension. I took the bait and it was installed.

Yesterday, I uninstalled TiVo and re-installed Ultimate TV, for $5 a month more.

I'm no technical expert, but would make the following observations:
1) the picture quality is absolutely outstanding and superior to TiVo
2) the menu and navigation of the system is clean, fast, and easy to follow
3) "Picture in Picture" works even if you do not have that feature on your TV. UltimateTV allows me to watch 2 sporting events on the same screen and also shuffle between the audio feed of each
4) Caller ID can be activated to pop up on the screen so that when the phone rings, one can make a quick, informed decision whether to blow it off.

If you can find these boxes out there, DirecTV will still support them. In my opinion it's still worth it.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 120