I Can Finally Enjoy Television
Written: Jan 31 '02
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Pros: Tivo is a godsend for busy people who don't have time to remember TV schedules.
Cons: Unhelpful Sony tech support. Sometimes records the same program several times.
The Bottom Line: Once you get over the initial hurdles, you'll forget them quickly because Tivo is an excellent system. Indispensable to my life, in fact.
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| musidorus's Full Review: Sony SVR-2000 (27.2 GB) 30-Hours Video Recorder |
Tivo is, in all, a godsend! I have an insane, inconsistent work schedule, and the furthest thing from my mind is remembering when my favorite TV shows are on.
When a friend showed me his Tivo, I was smitten by the "Season Pass" option, which records every episode of a given television series.
I bought mine for $299 (after $100 Sony rebate).
Setup could have been easier, I must say. Running the phone line to the Tivo was a drag, though if you have a phone close by that shouldn't be a problem, as you get practically any cord you could ever need with the system.
My big caveat is the Sony customer service. Once I was all hooked up (about an hour later, after the system made a couple of calls to get initialized), I was dismayed to find I had no sound coming out of my system. The Tivo sound effects played on my TV, so I knew it was a problem with the Tivo itself.
I spent about fifteen minutes with customer service, and we tried several different "fixes", none of which worked. Finally I was told that I had to take my Tivo in to be serviced, which made me furious, as I'd already waited a couple of weeks after pre-ordering the system. To wait an estimated 19-21 days for my system to be fixed seemed outrageous.
I thought I had no choice, though, until later that day a tech-minded friend suggested I try a different cable from the cable box to the Tivo -- I was using an S-cable, and tried one of the other ones supplied with the system.
It worked! But I do feel the Sony tech support man should have made this simple suggestion -- I would have been subjected to a lot of grief getting that Sony to the service center.
But once it was running ...
Tivo is great. The best options are:
-- Season Pass.
This will record every episode of your favorite series. So for me, I can finally see every episode of my favorite series, as well as reruns of syndicated shows.
The one warning, though, is that Tivo can't really tell what is a rerun and what is an original airing. So my Tivo was recording all three daily airings of "The Daily Show With John Stewart." However, I fixed this, a bit, by programming the Tivo to only keep two episodes on the system.
It's a minor gripe.
-- Suggested programming
Tivo will automatically record programs it thinks you will like. It's getting better and better at figuring out my tastes, and I'm a sucker for an old "All in the Family" and other classic shows I don't necessarily want to program my Tivo to record.
-- Movies
I'm trying to bone up on my classic films, and Tivo has been wonderful to have for this purpose. If "The Lady Vanishes" is on at 6am on Thursday, it's a real treat to simply tell Tivo to record it and have it waiting for me when I'm ready.
It's fun to run through Tivo's list of upcoming movies and see something I'd always wanted to see, and telling Tivo to record it.
-- Pausing Live TV
This is a really minor draw for me, but it's nice. I don't know why it seems to be the only thing publicized about Tivo when the real value of Tivo lies in the other options. Rewinding a live show is also quite fun. But this is a minor plus, not the major draw of the system.
-- Easy Interface
At first I was annoyed that Tivo "takes over" your cable box -- you really do have to use the Tivo remote to change channels, which is slower than with the cable remote (though I must compliment Sony on the well-designed remote control).
However, my annoyance with this waned because I ALMOST NEVER WATCH LIVE TV ANY MORE.
-- Conclusion
I still can't believe Tivo exists. It is a real treat to come home and see what's turned up on my system -- something I told it to record two weeks before I'd since forgotten about, or some funny classic episode of a series -- it's like a reliable pet, in a way.
The biggest problem with Tivo is you'll watch more TV!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 299 (rebate)
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Epinions.com ID:
musidorus
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Reviews written: 2
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