TiVo is the TIGHTEST
Written: Aug 11 '00
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Pros: Makes TV 2x as good, Cool, WOW factor, It is the future
Cons: If you dont use TV, there is no point
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| eeks's Full Review: Philips TiVo PTV 300 Digital Recorder |
Pause your TV. Rewind your TV. Watch TV without commercials. Have your VCR tape shows that you don't even know are on, shows that you end up liking but you didn't even know it. Whoa. Stop Salivating. This can be yours AND MORE, from TiVo, the first convergence device that is actually worth having.
Description
The Panasonic TiVo 30 hour unit is basically an advanced hard drive for your TV with its own management system, a graphically covered version of Linux. The way you go about it and control everything is through the ergonomically designed remote controller. With a touch of a button you can enter the TiVo management screen from which you can control all that your TiVo can do, including automatic recording, manual recording, view TiVo's "To Do" List, viewing archived programs, setting all the video recording quality options and having TiVo recommend programs that you might like. It's all packaged in the a very intuitive interface and it is all easy to do.
TiVo also buffers every channel 30 minutes in each direction. What this means is that if you come in late and miss the first 30 minutes of your program, then you can simply rewind 30 minutes and catch the whole program without missing a beat. Conversely, say you want to watch Survivor (1 hour long), but you hate commercials. Simple, press pause, wait about 17-20 minutes, press play and each time you get to a commercial, hit fast forward right through the commercials. Awwwwwww - the rapture.
The recording options work like the Six Million Dollar VCR - stronger, faster, smarter (Do you hear the music in the background?). All the standard VCR recording options are available - manual record, weekly repeating record, daily record et cetera. But there is also the bonus of the "Season Pass" option. TiVo works by obtaining all your hinkfo about your cable lineup when you go through the initial setup, it then updates which shows will be on and at which time each night while you sleep. SO each time you use TiVo it is aware of when every show will be for the next 10 days. If you want to record a show and you don't know when it shows, you just go through the GUI (Graphical User Interface) and type in the name of your show and it will tell you when the next showing is and give you the option for the Season Pass - the option to record all possible showing of a particular program. Example - I love "Kids in the Hall," so I have a Season Pass for it and it records it 3 times a day. I can then watch KITH at my leisure.
There are 4 recording options which effect quality and the space which each setting takes up. They rank in descending order from highest quality and most space used, from Best to High to Medium to Basic. The 30 hour unit of TiVo can hold 30 hours of Basic quality and about 9 hours of Best.
There is also an option that allows you to rate each program from 3 thumbs down to 3 thumbs up. TiVo is busy behind the scenes cross referencing your tastes by on genre, actors, director and other things, and then deciding what movies you might be interested in seeing. You can access this list in the GUI and you can also turn on a feature that lets TiVo basically take control if you are inactive and record movies or shows in which you might be interested. At first, I was skeptical, but then I found TiVo taping some of my favorite movies - Coming to America, Chinatown,The Verdict et alia. The results from this particular feature can vary greatly depending on how easy it is to gauge your taste and on how actively you rate programs.
The Scoop
It works as advertised. It enhances TV. It is easy to use. I am pumped to own one. It has made TV so much better for me. It has made TV fit into my life AND waste much less of my time, which time in turn has spent on my quest to make THE GREATEST WEB SITE EVER(niceFire.com).
You might also have heard of ReplayTV a similar device - well don't buy it. It costs much more and you don’t make it up on saving with their free service. Plus the options are much more skimpy.
Another beautiful things is that the TiVo people are constantly working on updates and new features and that these new features can be added automagically by updates to the operating system while you sleep. Earlier in March, they released version 1.3 of their operating system, and release 2.0 is expected with the next month or so, offering a bevy of new features and options. I am real jazzed up.
Caveats
Channel switching lag. The way the remote works is it sends its IR beam to the TiVo box which then relays that hinkfo through a wire and then retransmits it directly into the cable boxes IR receiver. So there is a significant amount of lag between when you change the channel and when the channels changes - this can make channel surfing a bit unwieldy. I still do it and your mileage may vary, as the latency is unique to each person's setup.
Whenever you change channels, the buffer "flushes." This means that if I have been watching the "Buffy" for 19 minutes and then I change the channel, and then change back to "Buffy," I cannot see the first 19 minutes of Buffy anymore.
You have to pay $9.99 a month or $200 lifetime for the service. Although you could theoretically save money by not buying the service, it would weaken greatly TiVo as a product. The service is what let's you get all the information regarding what shows are on when and allows TiVo to store that hinkfo and thus use it for Season Pass, recording and recommendations. Without the service, TiVo would be not be worth it.
Conclusion
Wow, I can rewind my TV? Can you? The "wow" factor for TiVo is through the roof. As a TiVo owner, when/if you display it's awesome might to a TiVo virgin expect their jaw to drop. The 30 hour unit costs about $340 if you are good at finding deals, and it is worth so much more. WOW, what a bargain! Seriously, if I were to rewrite that song, "My Favorite Things," I would just sing "TiVo TiVo TiVo, those are a few of my favorite things."
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 335
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Epinions.com ID:
eeks
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Member: Willy Holt
Location: Boston, Mass
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 157 members
About Me:
Wow--looking back on this half my articles were atrocious and embarassingly titled--all for the bling-bling.
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