19 out of 20 people found this review helpful.
Best Accessory for the TV EVER!
Date of Review: Aug 27, 2005
The Bottom Line: You'll find yourself watching live tv less and less as once you get used to the Tivo it will free up your time for more important activities.... like PS2. :>
I have known about the Tivo device for the last few years unfortunately they were priced well above what I could afford.
When I saw the Series2 40hr at Circuit City for $100 I simply could not resist.
I bought my Tivo I am not recommending the $50 Tivo offer. With this deal you are required to sign up for a 1 year contract. Hell you either love it or hate it.... being committed to a 1 year contract if you hate it would seriously suck.
Setup was a breeze and took about 30 minutes. It's important to note that I do not use a cable box so how smooth the setup process is with digital-cable or satellite I really cannot say however the unit does come with several specific cables that are supposed to allow you to connect it to just about any Digital Cable Box or Sat Box.
I decided to go with the $12.95 monthly plan over the $299 lifetime plan for one simple reason. The lifetime plan covers the life of the actual unit. So if your Tivo were to croak outside of the warranty period you're screwed. I also decided to pickup the $40 3 year extended from CC as it's not a repair warranty but a flat exchange ( this will not effect a lifetime subscription as Tivo will consider the replacement a NEW unit and will void the lifetime subscription ). I'm usually not one to buy those things but considering the unit is ALWAYS ON I figured why not hedge my bets and drop $40 now rather than another $100 or more later.
The Series2 has both a USB port(s) for a wireless NIC card and phone-line interface for connection to the Tivo Service.
If you do not have a Land-Line phone or VoIP phone you cannot use this product. An actual phone call is required the first time the Tivo is activated. After that you can use a network..... but the very first time requires a phone-call from a land-line or VoIP phone.
I live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland which is essentially a technology dead-zone but there were 2 numbers to have the Tivo call that were local calls. If you don't want the Tivo to use your phone line you can connect it to your PC Network via a wireless router and use a Broadband connection to connect to the Tivo Service.
Please note that subscription and connection to the Tivo service is REQUIRED to use it and you must either activate online or via phone BEFORE using the unit.
After setup the manual says that you will have to wait between 4 - 8 hours before you can start using the advanced stuff but can manually record and pause live TV before that. Now I was able to do this within 2 hours but this may or may not be typical.
To activate the Tivo Services you simply push the Tivo button on the very top of the remote. This brings up your main menu:
Now Playing List - This is where you access the programs that have been recorded. From here you can watch, delete, or export to VCR, DVD Recorder, or PC via a network.
Watch Live TV - Obviously this allows you to watch live tv.
Music & Photos - If your Tivo is connected via a network to a PC running MS XP Media Center you can stream either to the Tivo and watch/listen to them on your TV.
Showcases & TV Guide - Essentially where you can access suggestions on shows.
Pick Programs To Record - This is where the Tivo really shines. This brings up a sub-menu offering:
Search by Title - Allows you to search for shows
or movies based on name.
Search using a WishList - This is really cool. You
can enter a list of your favorite actors/actresses
and the unit will find all the shows/movies they
appear in over the next two weeks.
Tivo Suggestions - When you first activate this will
be pretty empty but as the Tivo sees what you
watch it will start to make suggestions. Just the
other night it suggested 'Buck Rogers in the 25th
Century'. It was on at 4am and I would never have
known about it unless the Tivo had told me.
Record by Time or Channel - This one is obvious.
Season Pass Manager - Another of Tivos' really
cool features. Let's say you are a fan
of Law & Order: SVU ( or any series ) you can get a season
pass for the show and it will either record every
episode or just the new ones, sans repeats,
automatically and if there is a recording conflict
between the pass and something you have added
either manually or another season pass it will ask
you which one to record.
To Do List - Shows you what it's going to record
and when.
Messages & Setup - Tivo will actually send your unit messages on important issues such as down-times and will update the units firm-ware automatically when it calls into the service.
One other feature I failed to mention is the " thumbs up or down ". While you are watching Live-TV or a recorded program you can hit one of two buttons. One is Green ( thumbs up ) and the other is Red ( thumbs down).
When I first activated and setup my Tivo, and it had done it's thing via the 4hr process, I came home the next day and it had recorded " Bonanza " .... now i'm sure others may love the show it's not one of my favs so I hit the Red ( thumbs-down ) button. It never recorded that show again and on other shows that I hit the Green ( thumbs-up ) button on it only recorded them when they were not in conflict with a Season-Pass or a manually selected program. This feature helps to train the Tivo as to programs to suggest and/or record by itself.
One thing I feel is important to mention is the recording times. While the unit says it will record 40hrs, and it will, it will only record for that length of time in BASIC mode. The 4 recording modes are:
Basic - Essentially unwatchable unless you don't mind pixelated video that looks worse than a VCR's SLP ( 6hr mode ) on a tape that has been used a thousand times. 40hrs.
Medium - Good enough for News programs or shows/movies where a really crisp picture is not required. 23hrs.
High - My most common setting. It's crisp and clear with little to no artifacts or pixelation. 18hrs.
Best - This would be the setting to use if you are planning to export the recording to either a VCR, DVD Recorder, or PC. Freeze-frames look like photos and slo-mo is smooth. 11hrs.
Conclusion:
On the whole I would recommend the Tivo. It has essentially changed the way I watch TV as I am tending to watch the recorded programs much more than live tv. This is not to say that it doesn't have some things I don't like the main one being the ads.
Tivo not only adds advertisements to the main menu screen ( easy to overlook once you get used to it but will also pop-up a icon during some on-air commercials telling you more info is available about a certain product... this also will get easier to overlook but is still sort of annoying considering you do own the unit and are paying a monthly subscription fee ). This gripe however is very minor considering what the Tivo will do for you. In fact the only other gripe I have is that I didn't shell out the extra $50 for the 80 hour unit.
( Update 12/12/2005 ) I had to use the Service Contact.
The original Tivo died a silent death.... and after I called the Tivo Customer Service Line.... which had a hold time of about 15 mins. I was connected with someone who asked pointed questions and figured out that yes... the Tivo was dead.
Gave me a case # and sent me to CircuitCity. Next day I wandered on in to my nearest CC and told the CS person the deal.
Within 15 minutes, proof of purchase/original box/ ID etc I was on my way back home with a new Tivo. Sure beats the 4-6weeks Tivo wanted me to wait... worth $40? Hell Yeah!
Meijer
