eohatdan's Full Review: TiVo Series2â„¢ (80 Hours) (80 GB) 80-Hours Video ...
Ok, I'm going to jump on the Tivo bandwagon. I really have little to say that the other reviewers haven't said already, but I wanted to add my vote for the TiVo experience.
Yes, it is great to be able to pause live TV. My partner and I pause for commercials and take time to chat about what we are watching -- something we never did before. Then we zoom thru the commercial break and pick up the show we want to watch. This is especially great for watching NFL games. My main motivation for purchasing TiVo was that I was annoyed with myself for sitting through repetitive beer commercials, often back-to-back.
Being able to set up a wish-list is a superb (and simple) use of technology. TiVo downloads information from our local cable provider during the wee hours of the morning and then schedules all our favs for recording.
The on-screen guide is well designed, allowing to quickly scan through the listings for the next couple of weeks and flag anything that we want to record. (Actually, this is fun and can be done while live TV is on "pause".)
I was concerned that TiVo would tie up my phone line while doing the download, but we turn off the ringer on our phone when we go to bed anyway, so it has not been a problem.
We have the DVR II 80 hour model and have not come close to reaching capacity, as we delete shows that have been recorded after we watch them.
I think we watch about the same amount of TV as before, but it is what we *want* to watch, instead of the pablum that the network chooses to serve up.
The real bonus is in not having to watch commercials. I wonder how the sponsors of the shows feel about TiVo, but I guess the size of the TiVo student body is sufficiently small that this is not a problem (yet.)
So far, the only difficulties encountered were:
(1.) The unit shipped originally (from TiVo) was defective and had to be replaced. TiVo's return process is *not* user-friendly. I had to convince the service rep over the phone, in real-time while fiddling with the defective unit that it was, indeed, not working. Since technical support hours are 0700 to 1900, this meant giving up quality time to do the convincing. Since I am a working stiff, like most people, I don't have much time outside working hours and resent having to spend it this way.
(2.) The channel listings provided by my Charter Communications, my cable provider do not match exactly with the channels actually used. For example, the listing shows ESPN as channel 43, but that is being used for CNN.
If you are considering TiVo, be prepared for a bit of of a learning curve. Suggestion: learn to use it when your partner is not watching you fumble. Also, put it on mute or go into preferences and turn off the "bong" noise that TiVo makes when confirming choices. Those little "bong" noises are irritating, especially to your partner who is trying to get ready for work and is suspicious about the whole TiVo thing.
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