QuickOverview

Tivos and other Digital Video Recorders (DVR) have made a huge splash in the market since they were introduced a several years ago. Basically, they allow TV owners to easily set programs for recording while they are not home.

Throw Away your VCR

Those replacing their VCR's with a Tivo will immediately see major advantages.

First of all, video tapes are no longer needed. The television programs are recorded onto a computer hard disk. Early models would fill up with about 10 hours of programming and more recent models can hold hundreds of hours. When space runs out, Tivo will automatically erase the old programs to make room for new ones as long as you don.t specify to keep it.

An additional advantage over VCR's is that Tivos are much easier to use. While watching a program, you can simply press a single button on the remote to record. Additionally, it is much easier to both record a single program that will occur in the future and to record all episodes of a given program.

Tivo even observes your viewing habits and suggests similar programs. You won.t see your VCR doing that.

When Watching Live TV

Tivo is also enjoyable to use when watching live TV. If the telephone rings, simply press pause and resume watching after your call. If you missed something or would like to see a replay during a sporting event, just click the rewind button.

The Bad

Besides the cost of the unit, Tivo charges a monthly service fee. Original units came with a lifetime subscription option, but the company has stopped offering that feature. Therefore, there is an additional fixed monthly cost to owning the unit.

Your Tivo unit will need to be connected to a telephone line. It makes phone calls in the evening to download the program guide information that it displays on the screen.

The video is stored on a computer hard drive in a compressed format. This means that the video quality is not as good as the original transmission. Most people won.t notice the difference, but video experts will. Some units have a configurable option that will let you trade off between video quality and recording capacity.

Though using Tivo is very easy, setting it up is difficult. Make sure the neighborhood computer whiz is around when you are setting it up. It is much better if you can connect the unit directly to your cable box or television rather than using the infrared transmitter. If you don.t know what that means, definitely get a computer whiz to help you.

Tivo vs. Other DVR's

Tivo was a pioneer in the DVR industry. However, numerous other products have come out. Notable examples are Microsoft.s Ultimate TV, Dish Network Video Recorder, and Comcast Cable DVR. Additionally, DirecTV has integrated Tivo into its satellite receiver.

Related Sites

Tivo Article on Wikipedia Encyclopedia