TiVo Series2™ (80 Hours) (80 GB) 80-Hours DVR

I will preface this review by mentioning one thing -- that TIVO is probably the greatest thing to happen to television since color. The fact that you can now pause live television (excellent for those of us with tiny bladders and a penchant for drinking large quantities of liquid) in itself is a great thing. Add that to the fact that you can tell this little wonder box what television shows you want to record for an undetermined period of time and it will do it for you (called a "season pass") fast forwarding and rewinding (wonderful if you find commercials a terrible nuisance), and all of the other features that make this the greatest thing since sliced bread. In short, I adore TIVO. As a matter of fact, I adore it so much that when I made the switch from satellite to cable (yes, I know it's backwards…but I moved into a new house and I didn't want the satellite dish on the roof…and yes, I miss the clear picture and good service I got with satellite, but that's another review…) I went out and bought a brand-new 60 stand alone unit to replace my old satellite receiver TIVO box. So, here's a few lines from an old TIVO "salt" about what I see as some major mistakes that TIVO has made on the new line.

For those that think that this 60 hour TIVO is packed with features, well, you should've seen it THEN. First, features. In "the good old days" (approximately 1 year ago when the first generation receivers were the norm), with the satellite models (I had a Sony SAT-T60) there were a few features that you just don't get any more with the Series 2 recorders – MAJOR features. Here they are in my order of importance:

1. Dual tuner – this feature was so cool that it actually appalls me that they removed it. You used to be able to record 2 shows at the same time. You could even record two shows and watch a third that you had already recorded. If this sounds like something that may not be that big of a deal, then think of this: Sunday nights have become great television. The Sopranos, The Simpsons, Malcolm In The Middle, King Of The Hill, The Practice (although this one is finding itself on my TIVO a whole lot less lately) – all on the same night, many coinciding with the others. Well, on the old TIVO, you could actually record BOTH The Sopranos AND Malcolm In The Middle (or whatever shows you desired) at the same time. Removing this feature, to me, is probably the worst mistake in the history of technology.

2. Dolby Digital Output – most videophiles are also audiophiles, and why shouldn't they be? You spend ALL this money on top notch equipment, so you deserve the best possible picture and sound, right? Well, for some reason, the good people at TIVO have decided that moving forward, they would remove the digital output, leaving you only the old RCA output for standard analog sound. To me, you're A/V system is only as good as its weakest link, and right now from an audio perspective, TIVO is beyond the shadow of a doubt now my weakest link. Don't get me wrong, the sound is okay, but that's just it…the old generation TIVO sound was better than okay…it was terrific. Now it's just, well, ordinary.

3. Recording Time – My old unit advertised 35 hours of recording time, the new one advertises 60 hours. So why am I complaining about recording time? Well, DO NOT BE FOOLED! 60 hours recording time, while technically accurate, is somewhat misleading. 60 hours recording time at the Basic Quality setting. And believe me, the Basic Quality setting is pretty much unwatchable. There are actually 4 levels of recording quality, and the highest level (which is the level I have found is most comparable to the quality of my old unit) promises only approximately 17 hours of recording time…half of what I had gotten in the past. So my guess is that they didn't even increase the size of the hard drive…they just allowed the recorder to record at a much lower setting.

These are just the major steps backward. There are a few other things that you have to get used to with this unit when going from the old satellite to the new stand alone versions. For instance, it is very hard getting used to the channel changing. On the old satellite unit, the TIVO was actually the receiver, so when you changed the channel, it was instantaneous. Now, you have to use the unit in conjunction with the cable box, and if your cable box does not a have a serial output that will work with the TIVO unit, you have to use what they call an "RF Blaster". This "RF Blaster" is basically a transmitter that will send a signal from your TIVO to your cable box to tell it to change the channel, much in the same way any standard remote does. Sometimes it just doesn't catch. So you may think you're recording one thing, and because the channel didn't change, you get something completely different. Just the other day, I thought I had recorded Judge Judy (don't make fun, I love that show!), but although TIVO showed Judge Judy had been recorded, I got some horrible UPN show. It just didn't change the channel properly. In all honesty, this does not happen often, but if I'm away and I miss even one episode of Survivor because the TIVO didn't change the channel right, the thing's going out the window.

Again, and I can't say this any more plainly, TIVO is great. I would recommend that anyone who watches television should have one. However, it's been extremely disappointing to me to see this incredible technology take such a giant leap backwards. I have been told that is has something to do with the fact that TIVO is now actually manufacturing their own boxes (as opposed to Sony or Philips or whoever did before), and it's going to take them a while to catch up to where the old ones were. Whatever the reason, although it's still great, TIVO is just not as great as it was just a year ago. Oh well, maybe next year there will be a Series 3... and then 4...and so on, and so on, and so on...