TiVo R54080 (80 GB) 80-Hours DVR

I got this unit for Christmas and was using it the next day without any problems. The unit easily connects audio, left and right to your stereo and video output to your TV. I use Comcast cable for the input. It also needs to phone home to Tivo, either via a phone line or Internet connection. Initial setup had to be done with a phone connection, but it was easy to convert to my home network to use the Internet connection for "phoning home." I used a standard Linksys Wireless USB adapter without problems. So now I do not need the phone line.

I got the Tivo to work with my 6 in 1 Radio Shack remote, model 1994 – no longer available. After initial setup and getting the remote working I was in a groove and using the Tivo just as I would like. During initial setup I was faced with the decision to buy the monthly $13 service fee or pay a one time $300 fee to use the service for the life of this Tivo console. Not wanting to bother with a subscription and generally using products until they will just not function any more, I opted for the lifetime subscription.

The first thing you notice using the Tivo is that it is slow to change channels. This is in part to the fact that I use Comcast analog service, not digital, which also takes a bit of time to change channels. The analog service is more or less instant from one channel to the next. At first this slow speed was an issue, but as I started using the programming directly provided by Tivo, I found myself doing less channel surfing anyway. So the delay was not effecting my viewing. Programs you are watching can easily be recorded, you can also record all occurrences of that program on all channels or on specific channels. You also have the option of recording only first runs (not repeats) of shows. This feature is great for the show I have watch from their inception and not missed episodes. One other option when recording that's worth mentioning is the recording quality. You have four choices, each with a noticeable visual difference, and difference in space required on the Tivo. The lower the quality the worst it looks during playback, but the less space you use on the Tivo. I actually use different setting for different shows depending on the crispness I want during viewing.

Another interesting of the Tivo is that is automatically record programs it thinks you will like. They are all group as Tivo suggestions so you do not confuse them with programs you asked it to record. It seems to make its determination from the programs you ask it to record, but also threw a feature I have not yet described. As you are watching a program (live, or record) you can rate the program: 3, 2 or 1 thumbs up, unrated, or 1, 2 or 3 thumbs down. I guess this is also used when selecting things it decides to record for you. As you can imagine during normal operation the Tivo device is full of stuff for you to watch. As it records things you asked it to it will remove programs it suggested and recorded in the past. After I watch something I almost always delete it, just to make room. But I have never run out of room, and have not even come close. Nonetheless removing the programs after I watch them also helps me keep track of what I have watched. It you watch a program and do not remove it is not marked as read – not as far as I can easily tell anyway.

This Tivo also supports TivoToGo, which is a feature that allows you to download programs from the Tivo to your PC, of course you need them networked, which as I described above that I easily did. Once you have shows on your PC you can watch them there. To do so you need their desktop software, which you also need to download the program. When you try to view any program it asks you for your personal key, which is associated with your Tivo service account, so they can determine who put something into the hand of people that should not be viewing them. I am sure to keep the TV program providers somewhat happy.

In addition to the TivoToGo feature, this series 2 type Tivo also allows you to publish music and pictures for display on the Tivo. This feature works really well and I love it. Using the same desktop software you just drag a folder of music or pictures into the Tivo desktop application. Then all you have to do is using the Tivo menus traverse to the photos and music area and select what you want to see or listen to. Using the network connection the Tivo pulls over the images or music in real time, so it does not get stored on the Tivo and thus does not use any of its storage. One weird limitation is that you cannot play music and watch a slide show of your photos at the same time. Nonetheless, this feature has been great and is one of the reason my wife got it for me. We like to bore family and friends with our digital pictures right on the TV screen. One interesting thing is that although you can download shows to a PC and watch them there, there is no way to get the program back to the Tivo for watching on your television. Oh well. The other gotcha I came across was when trying to download to the PC a very long program (Patriots Superbowl victory with pre and post-game shows). After searching the Internet Tivo communities I discovered my problem. I was reaching the file size limit on Windows FAT32 file system. This can be resolved with XP (I am using 2000) by using a different type of file system. Unfortunately the Tivo desktop software is dumb to all of this and seems to endlessly try to copy the show with no positive results and not timing out or erroring out. After a few attempts and over one day of downloading I checked the Internet and quit trying to download that long program.

Of course the Tivo can do standard VCR things like slow motion, rewind, fast-forward, 30 seconds forward (but not without using an "unsupported" feature that everyone seems to use). The other nice thing about the Tivo is that you are actually always watching programs that it is putting into storage, so as you change channels it deletes what it had recorded of the other program you had just been watching and start recording what you are watching now. This allows you to rewind back over things to see them again. You can also start watching something in slow motion and also pause the viewing to take a phone call or listen to the wife drown on about something or other. The odd, but not problematic side effect of this is that you are actually watching the show a second after it is broadcast. I noticed this when we have one Tivo using TV on and another TV directly to the cable on the same program. The program on the Tivo TV is a second later than the straight cable TV.

As you can tell form this review I really love my Tivo. My big complaint and issue that keeps me form recommending it to people like my parents is that the recording of programs relies on the program listing downloads the Tivo console gets each night from Tivo service. When I got to watch shows very often the first few seconds are missing, not too bad, but something the last few minutes are missing, particularly of movies and sporting events. The Tivo people suggest you tell it to record an extra hour or so at the end of sporting events to ensure to get them. According to Tivo this is all the fault of the people they get the listings from. I can appreciate this, but do not think it is a valid excuse. None of those people are charging me $13 per month, so I do not expect them to be as correct as I expect Tivo to be. It is arguable exactly what the $13 per month is for, but as I see it is primarily the nightly listing updates. The rest of the functionality comes in the box with the console, but you cannot use it without the subscription. Oh well. Competition will correct this issue.

I highly recommend my Tivo, but not to technophobic people like my 60 year old parents. They would have less trouble using the easy to use Tivo over their VCR, but understanding why the shows are not recording just right, while playing a monthly fee on a fixed income is not be acceptable. The VCR would probably also not record the shows properly, but for $50 for the VCR and no monthly fee those errors are more palatable.