Opinions about TiVo

[JenfromWI]

I was thinking about getting this for my DH (and myself) after seeing an infomercial this morning. I did a search and was unable to find previous discussions about this, so I'm sorry if this is an old topic. We only watch a few shows, and often forget to turn on the VCR to tape them. I also thought that it would be nice to tape Sesame St to have on hand for DD, as we are rarely home when it's on here. Is it worth the money? I deal I saw was the box for $49.99 ($150 rebate) plus service, of course, which I haven't looked into yet. Thanks for your help!
Jennifer
Mom to Ellie 2/04

[Sarah1]

LOVE it. It's addictive! That sounds like a great deal, too.

[kellyotn]

I'm a TiVo newbie, and so far I love it. I admit, I didn't really see the appeal at first, but once you have it, you "get" it.

Its perfect if you have a few favorite shows. You just set it to record them and boom its done. You don't have to search miles of tape to find them or keep them in order, they are all there by date in a menu. Its great b/c then when you do actually get time to sit down to watch TV you can just watch the good stuff you recorded instead of what's on at the moment. I love being able to record some of the "good" kid TV shows and always having them handy. I work from home, but the times are all over the board, so its nice to be able to store mom-approved shows for her to watch on the fly when I need to work for a bit.

Another AWESOME feature is the instant rewind. With kids (ie, constant interuptions ;-) ) its nice to be able to rewind and see what someone said, or for sports and missed plays, or I ALWAYS miss the text they display at the end of a Dateline-type show. Ya know, where you watch the whole thing about an interesting crime case or something and then they update it at the end with a written paragraph, just when your DD wakes up needing to go pee NOW....

Also nice, and related to the rewind feature, is that it keeps the preceeding 30 minutes available for said rewinding. So, you can tune into the beginning of a show, go start the laundry or something, come back up to 30 minutes later and rewind to the beginning and skip the commercials.

HTH!

[Calmegja2]

I love it.

I would marry TiVo, if I didn't already happen to be married.

[ribbit1019]

We have a DVR (digital video recorder) same concept with out the brand name. We are addicted and wish we had one that taped more than one show at a time and allowed for live T.V. viewing. Especially on Thursdays at 8pm. I am so missing Alias. :(

Christy
"My Mommy" to Maddy born 06/09/04
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040609/3/4/0/-5/.png
and soon to Little Man due 03/02/06
http://bd.lilypie.com/cKLom4/.png

[kellyotn]

That's true. My techie brother ordered ours, and it does have two cable lines, so you can record one thing and watch another. Or, it can record two things if the TV is off or if you watch one of the things. I probably wouldn't have ordered it this way, but I'm glad to have it now. My brother is staying with us, and let's just say he has very different taste in shows/movies, so the ability to record lots of different stuff is good!

Can you set your ol' VCR to record Alias?

[kdeunc]

I love TiVo! I am also one of those who didn't see the big deal until I had it. Now we have two and I have told everyone that I know that it is the best invention ever.

[octmom]

We have the Adelphia DVR (through our cable company) and we really like it. I'm sure there are TiVo models with better features, but this one meets our needs pretty well. DH records lots of kids stuff for DS (Backyardigans, Little Einsteins, Bear in the BIg Blue House, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids) and it's nice to be able to watch them on our own schedule and not the network's schedule. DH also records stuff he is interested in and he watches in the wee hours of the morning when he soothes DS back to sleep (often). He likes to hold him for a while before trying to put him back in his crib, so the DVR comes in really handy. Ours is in the family room (downstairs) and I watch most of my TV in our bedroom (upstairs), so I don't use it as often as DH. I've toyed with the idea of getting another for upstairs, but I can't justify the added expense.

Jerilyn
DS, Sean 10/03

http://bd.lilypie.com/UB6Bm4/.png


"Baby makes days shorter, nights longer, home happier, and love stronger."

[cmo]

Can't say enough good things about it! I'd definitely recommend a box that has 2 cable/satellite lines going into it, so you can record 2 things at the same time, or record one while watching another (live) one. We bought a box that offered a lifetime subscription ($200 at the time), and that has paid off well as the box is still going strong 5 years later. However, I have heard that there can be more problems with newer boxes, and the lifetime subscription is for the box, not the owner.

As PPs have said, it's hard to explain what makes it so great and useful, but once you have it, you'll never want to be without it again!

[Toba]

My husband bought me a TiVo for Christmas last year and we returned it!! I HATED that I had to watch what I was recording ... what's the point of that!!?

Please! Call your cable provider and ask them if they have DVR services! Most DVRs come with the two tuners, which allow you to watch another live program while you're recording another, or record two live programs, as other PPs have said. This is INVALUABLE!!

It's also cheaper! FWIW, my TiVo was $300 (80 hour), with a $100 rebate, so really $200 (this was last Christmas, so I don't know if they've gone down or up since then). Then the service was $13 or $14 a month. Then the box was mine. If I wanted to upgrade it (to, say, a DVR with DVD recording capabilities), I'd have to purchase a new box. If I wanted to get a dual tuner TiVo (which TiVo has said would be too cost prohibitive for the general public at this time), I'd have to purchase a new box. With my cable DVR (which is supposed to be coming out with the DVD recording soon, and has just signed with TiVo to provide us dual tuner boxes with the TiVo interface), I didn't pay for the box and I only have to pay $10 a month for the service ... also, I have a dual tuner DVR.

My DVR works the SAME way, if not better, than TiVo. We have the same option as the Season Pass too (I've seen people say before that DVR doesn't have that option, but that's untrue in my case). Even if my DVR service was more money monthly than the TiVo service, I think I would have stuck with the DVR just to have the dual tuner capabilities!! :)

Also, I am pretty sure that DirecTV offers a dual tuner TiVo, but I think they are the only one. For us, we MUST have a cable modem because of our VoIP phone service, but if you're interested in satellite TV, that might be worth checking out too.


~Kimberly Anne~
Noah Nevan, March 12, 2004
*the light of my life*

[Calmegja2]

We do have a dual tuner DVR from DirecTV, the TiVo version. which probably is part of my great love.

[CiderLogan]

I love TiVo! I happen to think it's the perfect new-parent gift (if I had that kind of budget for all my friends and family) because I got to watch all my favorite shows while nursing DD in the middle of the night!

It has also been great for us for DD's favorite shows, because she likes to watch the same episodes over and over, and they are ready for her to watch whenever she wants to (and I let her - she'd watch tv all day if it were up to her, ugh).

Jenny
Mom to Julia, 8/03

[babymama]

Don't think you need 2 cable lines, just need a TV with the right kind of hook ups and the right wires.

We had to upgrade our TV to be able to watch something and record something else. DH was pleased as pie to have a reason to upgrade my little 13 inch (15 yr old) TV finally. I think most newer TVs have the right hook ups and I don't know where he found the cables, but I'll tell you that he's not really tech savvy at all - so if he can figure it out, I'm sure anyone could.

Lydia
Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03 and
One on the way, due 01/03/06

[wencit]

If you want the Tivo to be able to record two conflicting shows (say, Alias at 8PM Thursdays and Survivor at 8PM on Thursdays), then you do indeed need the dual tuner version. The cheap and ineffective solution to this is to get a splitter, which allows one signal to feed through to the Tivo, and the other signal to either feed directly to your TV (which you can then watch live) or to a VCR.

I love love love my Tivo. If my house was ever on fire, I'd grab my pictures and my Tivo. Seriously. Watching regular TV is utterly painful now.

[babymama]

LOVE my TiVo. DH bought it for me as a gift. I thought "yea, this is one of those gifts that he enjoys more than I do" - like the PDA he bought me, that he ended up using or the Sirius radio that's now in his car. But actually I use it way more than him, and I really really enjoy having it.

Before TiVo, we'd record programs on our VCR for DS or for us to watch. So I always thought, why would you need TiVo if you can record on a VCR? I thought it would be a big waste of money.

But now that I have it - I'm a believer. I love the Season Pass - you set the system to record all the episodes of your fave shows for the current season. I really like not having to remember to set the system every week for the same show (as we had to do w/ the VCR).

Good luck researching this further.

Lydia
Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03 and
One on the way, due 01/03/06

[Calmegja2]

When we watch regular, non- TiVo'd shows, my husband and I will both point imaginary remotes at the screen and say, "Bdoop bdoop" (the sound our TiVo makes when zipping through commercials).

We need help. LOL!

[KrisM]

I have ReplayTV, which is the lesser known brand of DVRs. I've had it for 4 years now and I love it. I wouldn't watch TV without it.

[kellyotn]

We do have three lines (2 for Tivo and 1 for another TV), though it may be possible with splitters, etc. We have DirectTV and our dish is a "3-line" dish. They removed the old cable and installed three new ones which are visible along the ceiling of our garage. My brother's box is older, so maybe the new ones can split one line? I have no idea! :-) But, we definitely have two separate lines going into the Tivo box.

All I know is that you CAN record one thing and watch another. Or, you can record two things at the same time as long as you are watching one of them. In a true pinch, you could change the input and watch snowy antenna TV. ;-) And, the third TV is independent w/ its own non-Tivo box.

[Toba]

We actually routinely start watching live shows about 10 minutes after they start, just so that we can fast forward through all the commercials!! :P


~Kimberly Anne~
Noah Nevan, March 12, 2004
*the light of my life*

[daniele_ut]

We just got Comcast digital cable with a DVR after a very long stint of no cable at home and I am SO happy we did! Our is a 2 tuner, 60 hour box and we have the option of recording an individual episode or the whole season. There is no way I could go back to regular TV now! We love that the DVR checks for updates to the TV schedule and that we never forget to set the VCR anymore. No more fastforwarding hoping to find what we think we recorded. Hour long shows only take us 40 minutes to watch now since we fast forward through the commercials. I LOVE that I can pause live TV and that it has a 45 minute buffer, so that as long as the TV was tuned to that channel when the program started I can go back to the start.

Check with your cable company, since we got the box free and free service for a year for signing up!

[wencit]

>We do have three lines (2 for Tivo and 1 for another TV),
>though it may be possible with splitters, etc. We have
>DirectTV and our dish is a "3-line" dish. They removed the old
>cable and installed three new ones which are visible along the
>ceiling of our garage. My brother's box is older, so maybe the
>new ones can split one line? I have no idea! :-) But, we
>definitely have two separate lines going into the Tivo box.

I suspect you have a DirecTivo DVR, which does indeed allow two cable lines, so you can record two programs at the same time. If I recall correctly, DirecTV no longer has a partnership with Tivo, so you can only get the newest dual tuner boxes through DirecTV. Most of the Tivo standalone models (i.e. those boxes not affliated with DirecTV) have one tuner, so you have to use splitters, which does not allow you to record two shows at once onto the Tivo (though you can still record onto a VCR).

Clear as mud, right? ;)

[lisaE]

Yes it is SO worth it! I am not trying to be funny when I say that Tivo gives you the gift of time. We Tivo everything and have not watched commercials in about 2 years. It will change your life. (Obviously we love t.v. around here!)

[kdeunc]

You are so right! We do not ever watch live TV, except maybe the local news and even that is paused and fast-forwarded usually. I am so addicted to TiVo that I try to rewind my radio all the time!

[redhookmom]

I will agree that you just don't get it till you have one. My dh really wanted it so we bought it and I resisted at first. Now I could never go back!
I don't know the workings of it all but I can TiVo something while watching something else. But, ours can not TiVo 2 things at the same time.
I love that I can TiVo Dora and Max and Ruby for my dd. Then come dinner time I can just put on a Dora and when it is over it is over. I also TiVo some shows from animal planet for my son.
I TiVo my way through Dr Phil in about 20 minutes at night.

I actually watch TV less and enjoy it more since getting TiVo.

[kath68]

If I were a poet, I'd write an "Ode to Tivo" here.

I love the Season pass option -- never miss an episode again.

You *have* to get the upgrade so you can record on one channel and watch the other. That is the best.

I rarely watch a show at the time it is scheduled, and I rarely watch commercials. No more television by "appointment".

If I hear about a show I might be interested in while I am out and about, I can email DH (who works from home), who will tell Tivo to record it. It is no trouble at all.

I have DS's beloved Teletubbies on a season pass, so there are always five different episodes ready and waiting when *I* need them. No fussing with DVDs. Just point and click.

Most of my t.v. viewing is done off of the lists I have told it to record. I rarely channel surf anymore. I surf the lists, which includes the programs Tivo selects for me, based on my preferences. It is always fun to see what Tivo *thinks* I like. Sometimes it is brilliant, and sometimes way off the mark.

The only down side is that I can turn into a serious couch potato and watch for hours at a time without getting up. Used to be commercials were the signal for me to get up and do something around the house. No more!

I also have no idea what channel my shows are on. It is totally irrelevant to Tivo. I find "My Name is Earl" on the alphabetical list of shows, and tell it to record all of the shows for the rest of the season. That's it.

[Tori_s mom]

We love both our Tivos! We have one in the bedroom and one in the living room. We also have a mini-network so they can swap programs. It's so easy to use that my 19 month old managed to get to Dora the Explorer on the now playing from live tv. A DVR has certainly made our lives easier. No more tapes to keep track of.

Tasha

[muskiesusan]

I was another who didn't understand the appeal of TiVo, until we got it a month ago. I LOVE IT. We have the DirecTV version where we can record two shows at once. I really can't say enough about it and can't stand to watch regular tv anymore. I am now able to watch more shows in less time b/c of this wonderful invention. Even my almost 70 year old mom was jealous of the power I now hold in the palm of my hand.


Susan
Mom to Nick 10/01
& Alex 04/04

[JenfromWI]

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my question. You all are wonderful! I now know what DH is getting for Christmas (or maybe before). From all your comments, I'm too excited to wait until then!!

[dogmom]

I thought the point of TIVO was never having to watch live TV again. I never watch live TV, just stuff that I have recorded on TIVO. So I don't really need to lines. Otherwise I have to pause and let some time go by in the show so I have enough show buffer to fast forward bast the commercials.

Jeanne
Mom to Harvey
1/16/03

[lindauer72101]

My husband got TiVo a couple of years ago. At first, I thought it wasn't needed. Now, I wouldn't be without it. TiVo is nice because you can record to shows at the same time, unlike many of the dvrs out now. Also, if you are recording two shows and want to watch something you have TiVoed, you can do that too. You never have to worry about setting a vcr again and you can do all sorts of great things with it. Go for the duel tuner and you will be set. We actually have two TiVos. One in the family room and one upstairs. I tape my soap and Oprah upstairs each day as well as some other things. We use the one in the family room for our primetime shows. Now, I am not saying we ever get to watch everything, but it is there. Plus, no more tapes.

Good luck. I will honestly say, you can't go wrong.


Angela

Chelsie Lea 7/9/2004
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040709/3/0/1/+10/.png
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif

[R2sweetboys]

Hi Jennifer! It sounds like you've already decided to go for it but I still just had to pledge my love for our DVR!! :P It is WONDERFUL!!! We have ours through Time Warner Cable, not Tivo. It's cheaper than Tivo and offers all of the same features. We can record two shows at once while watching another that we have already recorded. Or we can record one show while watching another live show. The ability to rewind a live show is the best!

I'm not sure if you're going the Tivo route or the cable DVR route, but I encourage you to at least look into it with your cable company first to see what they offer. I know for us it's much cheaper and, from what I understand, has all the features of Tivo if not more. I know not all cable DVRs are the same so it's worth it to call and ask. Have fun with it!! You'll never go back, that's for sure. :)
~Leslie

SAHM to...
Ryan 8/14/00
Matthew 2/14/03