The following is a slightly updated review of my PTV100 review. The PT100 is essentially discontinued, having been replaced by the larger PT300 and Sony models. Other than storage capacity, the PT100 and PT300 models are identical.

About a year ago, after reading about the TiVo online (including this site) I decided that I had to have a TiVo. I had gotten a decent bonus, and the TiVo sounded like a fun electronic gadget. Since then, I've become completely addicted to the thing, like pretty much all TiVo users, and have convinced several friends to buy one as well.

I'm going to divide this review into three sections. #1 : Why you want a PTV, #2 : Why TiVo is the best PTV and #3 : How get one.

Part #1 : Why you want a PTV

First of all, you have to understand that a PTV cannot replace a regular VCR. Those people who have posted epinions saying that they don't want a TiVo because they won't be able to play rented tapes or permanently save programs don't yet understand this fact. A PTV doesn't replace an ordinary VCR, it's an entirely new thing that just happens to do a couple of things that VCR's can also do.

The big advantage of a digital VCR is that you can watch your shows whenever you feel like it. I have probably ten to fifteen hours of TV I watch a week. If I wanted to use a VCR to tape and watch those programs I'd have to find a blank tape, set up the VCR to tape the shows that I want to see, label that tape appropriately, wait for a time when the VCR is not busy, find the tape that I want to watch, fast forward or rewind to the right place in the tape, and then finally get to actually watch the programs that I taped. With a digital VCR you just set up the programs that you want to watch and the digital VCR will tape them automatically whenever they air. You can then pick from a list of the available programs and the digital VCR will automatically find the show on its hard drive and play it back to you. It can even tape one show while you are watching another. (Or watch the beginning of a show as the rest of the show is taping.)

There are a lots of little advantages too. Such as being able to pause live television. And having TV listings that you can browse at the press of a button. And having a computer predict programs that you might enjoy watching and automatically recording them for you.

The point is that you use a PTV almost entirely different than a regular VCR. And, yes, there are some tasks that a PTV cannot do that a regular VCR can. But a PTV will completely change the way you watch television. After a month of owning a TiVo, I can't stand to watch live television anymore. I need to be able to fast forward through commercials. I need to be able to watch whatever I feel like instead of whatever is on. I need to be able to hunt through the week's TV listings to find programs worth watching.

In short, TiVo is highly addictive. You'll love it. Trust me. This is the future of TV. I liked it so much that I convinced by friends to buy TiVo's too. I liked it so much that I bought stock in the company. I've never met someone who didn't love their TiVo.

Part #2 : Why TiVo is the best digital VCR

There are two major players in the digital VCR market right now. The big two are TiVo and ReplayTV. In most ways, ReplayTV and TiVo are very similar. To get a detailed comparison of the two, I'd recommend the following webpages:

* http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/elund/ptv.htm is an excellent comparison of the two services with feature by feature comparison charts.
* http://www.iwantptv.com/compare/Comparison.htm also has a feature comparison chart, but its much less detailed. However, you can also browse the iwantptv.com site to get lots of good information about both the TiVo and ReplayTV.
* browsing the Tivo and ReplayTV home pages is also useful (http://www.tivo.com and http://www.replaytv.com). TiVo even has their entire User Manual on the site.

This is my one paragraph summary of the differences. TiVo has a $10 monthly subscription charge ($100 lifetime, if you count the $100 rebate), whereas ReplayTV's subscription is free (but less featured). On the other hand, TiVo generally has more features than the ReplayTV and is generally easier to use. Most importantly though, TiVo has market momentum. TiVo is outselling the ReplayTV drastically. ReplayTV is looking a lot like BetaMax did the eighties. In my mind, you can get a TiVo for considerably less money than a Replay (even accounting for the lifetime subscription). Why buy a PTV with less features and less market momentum for more money?

Part #3 : How to get a Tivo

Here's the tricky part. TiVo subsidizes the hardware manufacturers (Philips and Sony currently) in order to get the subscription revenue. And the hardware manufacturers often have minimum advertised price arrangements with the retail chains. The bottom line of this is that if you just go out and order the first TiVo you see, you will likely pay more than you have to.

From practical experience it seems that the best way to buy a TiVo is either via auction (check eBay or click the link on this page) or a reverse auction (such as www.nextag.com).

But most importantly, completely ignore the price that epinions lists. It's completely out of date. Glancing at the recently completed eBay auctions, the going price of a PTV300 series is about $250.


THE BOTTOM LINE:
It's Tivo-licious. Buy one. You'll love it. It will change the way you watch TV forever.

TiVo will be the ultimate Christmas gift of 2000 and 2001.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 250