Time to Purchase an OLD TIVO
Written: Mar 21 '03
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Pros: Very Easy to use, not just a glorified VCR
Cons: Until you use it, you can never really understand what it is.
The Bottom Line: A product that will change the way you watch TV PERIOD
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| jckatz's Full Review: Philips HDR612 60-Hours Video Recorder |
What is TIVO
TIVO is the original DVR (Digital Video Recorder), but this makes it sound like a next generation VCR.
To call a TIVO a glorified VCR is like calling a Microsoft Word 2002 a glorified type writer. Sure but are great for typing letters but tell me Word is only a glorified type writer when you want it to print out 9,000 labels and mail merge 9,000 letters .
Bells and Whistles
TIVO for $12.95 a month or a set about $200 for a life time membership will call a local number every day and download the latest TV listings. From these TV listings you can use the on-screen guide (just like with your digital cable company), or you can set programs to record well into the future. I for example purchased my TIVO just in time for SurvivorŪ. I work late often and Survivor is not always on Thursday thanks to sporting events, so I knew TIVO would make sure I didn’t miss a single episode.
When you find a show you like you set up a season pass. Season passed will record the show ANYTIME it is on. If they move it from Thursday to Wednesday not a problem. It will also give you the option not to record repeats.
YES, this part is just a Glorified VCR and at $300 an expensive one at that.
Tell it what you like
and it will record while you are away
As you are watching TV you can indicate this show is my cup of tea. The remote has a green thumbs up button and a red thumbs down button. Using this you can teach TIVO what you like and dislike. The very first day I owned TIVO this came in handy. I watched my 10 O’clock evening news like allows and gave it 2 thumbs up. I slept late the next day and missed the first 15 minutes of “This Week, with David Brinkley”, I a saw the red recording light and low and behold it was taping it!
Now a very nice thing about TIVO is you can watch what you are taping!. So I started watching “This week” from the beginning while my TIVO recorded the rest of it.
PAUSE LIVE TV
This my sound like nothing but it is the single most useful feature for me
I live 30 feet from the rail road tracks. If I am on the phone when a train goes by there is no way I will be able to hear the person on the other line. With TV I found myself always watching TV with close captioning on so I wouldn’t miss important dialogue.
Now I just hit pause. TIVO is always recording to a 30 minute buffer. When you pause LIVE TV you go start truly taking advantage of the buffer. Miss a joke rewind, not a problem. Want to see something again and again rewind play and rewind again, its as easy as if it were a tape, because it IS!
Watching a show and have to leave, it record and it will add the buffer to your recording so in truth you can capture the entire show even if you only decided to record it after 25 minutes.
Watching the TIVO
When I get home after work and going to the Y, I check what my TIVO has waiting for me. I pick a simple show that doesn’t require any though and turn it on. I then start watching it hit pause, go to the kitchen and start dinner. While the dinner is cooking I un-pause and watch my show again.
Why not Replay TV
My friend just purchased Replay TV since I loved my TIVO so much, he asked me why didn’t I get Replay since I admitted that Replay has better technology.
REPLAY OFFERS
- Ad skipping
- Unlimited buffer (unlike Tivo’s 30 minute
- Broadband connection for file sharing
Replay TV has already been sued by the powers that be, there product is designed to facilitate illegal activities IE sharing copy written TV shows and movies over the internet, and the not auto skipping of advertisements doesn’t make TV people happy..
As I said before TIVO with out the dial-up is nothing more than a $300 VCR and if Replay is forced to close shop because of its design flaws (broadband file swapping, then he will have not other option). TIVO from day one was designed to placate the TV people. I have to fast forward commercials (a 30 minute show will take me about 15 more seconds to watch than it does not Replay). And I can’t send my movies to my friends that own TIVO. For this reason TIVO will never be closed down by a judge the way Napster was, and I won’t be out $100.
Ohh yeah, the reasons now is the time to by TIVO, with the next generation boxes out EBay has TIVO’s cheap. They TIVO is good software and while the news Generation Two’s are smaller they do very much the same thing, so why pay $300, when for $100 you can get a perfectly good used TIVO at EBay.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 120
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Epinions.com ID:
jckatz
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Member: Joe Katz
Location: Springfield, IL
Reviews written: 152
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