TiVo R54080 (80 GB) 80-Hours DVR
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- Type: Video Recorder (DVR)
- Broadcast Type: Cable Satellite
- Compatible Service: TiVo
- Analog Tuner: NTSC
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As indispensable as you've heard
Pros
Ease of use, accurate, and fun!
Cons
Not very customizable. Monthly fee
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Easy to use, lots of features, and enhances TV by a great deal.
I received this as a gift and I wasn't sure just how much I'd use it. I had heard people say things like "It changes the way you watch TV" and "I watch TiVoed shows more than live shows". After using it for a couple days I thought they were greatly exaggerating. After using it for 2 months, I was saying the same things they were.
This TiVo comes with everything you will need to hook it up to your TV and cable (box) and get up and running. It comes with video cables, an IR controller for your cable box, remote, batteries, etc. Getting the basic part of it set up was a breeze.
The software setup isn't complicated at all. It walks you through things fairly well. Basically, it's just entering in some basic location information and choosing your cable provider and package.
Once it is complete, you have to call in within about two weeks to subscribe. WARNING: This machine is a doorstop without the subscription! It cannot be manually programmed to record! The subscription process was very simple and the CS rep was very friendly.
Now that it is up and running, you can pick the programs you wish to record. This is probably why anyone would get the TiVo. It automatically records programs on a recurring basis. If the program changes time within a certain amount of time in advance, the TiVo will adapt. You rarely record a show you didn't mean to or want to. A little caveat is that the machine defaults to a setting where it will record other programs based on programs you have picked or ranked (the remote has a thumbs up and thumbs down button to let you rate shows). If this feature is left on, you will fill up your TiVo pretty fast with shows you most likely won't watch. You can search by title, actor, and keywords. You can program by time and date, and you can even ask for suggestions. The listing is about two weeks in advance, so if a show is beyond that, you have to program it into your Wishlist, and set it to automatically record.
As for watching live TV, it can be a blessing and a curse to be able to pause live TV. You can pause it at any time and rewind for as long as you have been watching it, but you may want to change channels afterwards and wind up hopping into another program already in progress. In the end, that doesn't matter because if you really wanted to see that second show, you would have set TiVo up to record it. The on-screen guide is very nice, although slow to navigate through and does not show which shows are going to be recorded :-\
I've never gotten the TiVoToGo to work for me, although I do not have an internet connection at home to properly configure my router. However, the TiVo software does not work on my computer for reasons even TiVo cannot answer.
When you set a program to record recurringly, what is called a Season Pass, I suggest going to Programs to Record->To Do List and go through the descriptions of the shows it intends to record. I filter through the shows to make sure I don't get any shows I don't want to see or already have on DVD.
In the end, it has been a blessing. I love it and can't imagine TV without it.
This TiVo comes with everything you will need to hook it up to your TV and cable (box) and get up and running. It comes with video cables, an IR controller for your cable box, remote, batteries, etc. Getting the basic part of it set up was a breeze.
The software setup isn't complicated at all. It walks you through things fairly well. Basically, it's just entering in some basic location information and choosing your cable provider and package.
Once it is complete, you have to call in within about two weeks to subscribe. WARNING: This machine is a doorstop without the subscription! It cannot be manually programmed to record! The subscription process was very simple and the CS rep was very friendly.
Now that it is up and running, you can pick the programs you wish to record. This is probably why anyone would get the TiVo. It automatically records programs on a recurring basis. If the program changes time within a certain amount of time in advance, the TiVo will adapt. You rarely record a show you didn't mean to or want to. A little caveat is that the machine defaults to a setting where it will record other programs based on programs you have picked or ranked (the remote has a thumbs up and thumbs down button to let you rate shows). If this feature is left on, you will fill up your TiVo pretty fast with shows you most likely won't watch. You can search by title, actor, and keywords. You can program by time and date, and you can even ask for suggestions. The listing is about two weeks in advance, so if a show is beyond that, you have to program it into your Wishlist, and set it to automatically record.
As for watching live TV, it can be a blessing and a curse to be able to pause live TV. You can pause it at any time and rewind for as long as you have been watching it, but you may want to change channels afterwards and wind up hopping into another program already in progress. In the end, that doesn't matter because if you really wanted to see that second show, you would have set TiVo up to record it. The on-screen guide is very nice, although slow to navigate through and does not show which shows are going to be recorded :-\
I've never gotten the TiVoToGo to work for me, although I do not have an internet connection at home to properly configure my router. However, the TiVo software does not work on my computer for reasons even TiVo cannot answer.
When you set a program to record recurringly, what is called a Season Pass, I suggest going to Programs to Record->To Do List and go through the descriptions of the shows it intends to record. I filter through the shows to make sure I don't get any shows I don't want to see or already have on DVD.
In the end, it has been a blessing. I love it and can't imagine TV without it.
