I've been a Tivo fan and when directv got their own version of a dvr I was bummed but had to go with it due to the free upgrade. I have 4 different DVRs in my house and 2 are tivo. The tivo ones are much better and last longer. This R15 model has had to be replaced twice. The first one froze so many times in one month that they sent me a new one. The one I have now freezes about once a month. I have to reset it and it takes a few resets to get it going. It also seems to have a mind of its own. It will record my shows for a period of time then it stops. I have to re-enter it. Going through the search is getting better but you have to remember to type in "the" first if the show starts with "the". The calling waiting feature is a good concept, but on this machine I had to turn it off since it worked when it wanted to and kept the wrong time and dates. The fast forward buttons are ok. They take awhile to get used to. There is no control to go directly to the end of a show. Some features seem like they take forever to get to and are slow. The machine does make noise, but with the tv on you can't hear it. I wish Directv still had the tivo service in their models. Tivo is much more accurate and user friendly. One good feature is that I don't have to hook a phone line up to it. Another is the length of recording time. I record a lot of shows!!!!