I've been watching Tivo for over a year now and this Christmas there was a $100 rebate which brought it down to $279 so I took the plunge. As I expected it has changed the way I watch T.V.

I have a very busy career and an active life so I'm rarely home enough on a regular basis to watch the shows I like. The only exception I make on a regular basis is N.F.L. football for which I'd stay in on (often sunny) California sundays to watch my favorite teams as well as rushing home early on Monday night. With Tivo, I don't need to stay home anymore and have been able to go out on mountain bike rides and otherwise take advantage of the sunshine and then I just start the games I want to watch whenever I get home.

The times of sitting in front of the T.V. watching stupid programs is over. Now once you schedule the shows you want to record and Tivo learns what you like, you will always have an arsenal of good programs to watch, when you want to watch them.

The menu is similar to Digital Cable, if you don't already have digital cable this in itself is a nice perk because it's a mini-TV guide telling you what's on, who's in it, when it started, what's on next, etc. It's very easy to use and picking programs to record beats programming a VCR hands down.

Another bonus is that you can easily fast forward through commercials (which I always do now) as well as being able to replay (great for sports) or pause T.V. (live or recorded). With easy installation of a splitter, you can also watch one thing while recording another.

As far as comparisons, the Sony unit seems to be the exact same thing, just a different color and a slightly different remote (with the same functionality). They were the same price and I chose the Philips just because they've been making Tivo units longer so I figured they would have better support.

Other formats to consider were WebTV which has a similar option and Replay TV but I didn't want WebTV and with Replay's recent financial troubles I decided to bet on Tivo since they're more likely to be around for as long as I own the product.

Everyone I know who owns a Tivo has become an evangelist. If you're thinking about buying one, do it, you won't be sorry!



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 279