Easier Than A VCR But Takes A While To Setup
Sep 05 '00
I was going through my Sunday newspaper when I came across an advertisement for $200 in rebates off of TiVO. I had seen TiVo at electronics stores for a while now, they were just kind of expensive & out of my price range. When I saw the $200 in rebates I went out & purchased a Philips TiVo player from Best Buy.
The TiVo is basically in some ways like your ordinary VCR. It has a built in hard drive so you can record TV shows ride to the hard drive rather than a VCR tape. It is constantly on all the time so you can pause a program if you have an incoming phone call or have to leave the room to do something. The user interface is very easy to use & friendly. It is self explanatory to set up & get working in your home. TiVo has 2 different models with 2 different size hard drives. One has only a 14 gigabyte hard drive while the other one which I bought has more storage capacity with a 30 gigabyte hard drive.
The TiVo monthly service costs $9.95 a month or you can choose their yearly plan for $99.95 a year of if you choose to pay up front for a lifetime subscription of $199.00. When you setup your TiVo the unit the very first time be prepared to wait a while if you have a satellite system. My setup time was a little over 5 hours since I had Dish Network. If you have a regular antenna or cable the setup time is only around 2 to 3 hours. When you read the instruction manual it states the TiVo units works more with cable subscribers & people that have a regular antenna connection. I even called up their 1-800 phone number & they told me the same thing. But, it does support DirectTV & Dish Network programming. It just takes longer to download the information & setup your TiVo unit.
When you hook up your TiVo unit you need to have a phone jack nearby since it makes a call out once a day to update the programming information on your personal TiVo unit. The first time you set it up it walks you through on screen guides asking for your zip code & area code & what cable or satellite service you have. This way it can download the correct programming information to your TiVo unit. As I mentioned above the initial setup takes around 5 hours if you have satellite programming through Dish Network or DirecTV & only 2 to 3 hours if you have cable or an antenna. After it setups you then can begin using your personal TiVo unit.
Also before I forget to mention, if you have a satellite receiver that the remote control is UHF & not infrared TiVo will not be able to control your satellite receiver for it to change the channels on it. TiVo is very easy to use & understand. Since it s constantly recording all the time all you have to do is hit the record button on the remote if your watching a TV program & it will record it for you. It records the program till the end of the show at the specified time. You can also use TiVo to record your favorite shows during the season with their season pass option. This way you only have to specify to TiVo once the TV show to record on a regular basis. I especially like the feature where you can pause the TV show then hit the pause button again to pick up the rest of the TV show as it records the rest to the hard drive. This way you don't miss any part of what your watching.
The TiVo hooks up either through Super VHS connections, RCA cable connections, or your standard RF cable connections. To control your cable box or satellite receiver if your satellite receiver is an infrared satellite receiver it uses small infrared controls you place in front of the unit it in controlling to change the channels. Other options for hook up are a serial connection like on a computer.
The TV guide portion of TiVo allows you to see up to 14 days in advance of what is coming on TV. This is every helpful if you want to plan out your TV programs ahead of time. You also get a detailed idea of most programs through TiVo telling you what the TV show is about.
When you record something you just go into TiVo's what's playing now to see what has been recorded. You can then watch it right off your hard drive. It also gives you the option of taping it to your VCR & gives you a 5 second time span to setup your VCR tape for the recording which is a nice feature.
I have had my TiVo unit now for 3 days & I have already fallen in love with it. It is very easy to use & when you record something onto the hard drive the picture is much better than your VCR could get. It is just as clear as if you were actually watching the TV program off of your TV although your watching it off the TiVo's hard drive. I highly recommend it to anyone looking into getting a TiVo unit.
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Epinions.com ID:
BucthFL
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Location: South Florida
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 2 members
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