TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder

I'm using this with a rabbit ear OTA antenna and it works great. Right now I'm getting both analog and digital channels which is sort of a pain because I have two channels for each station with the same exact programming (not counting all the little split off channels like 7.1, 7.2, 7.4...). I'll be happy when they cut the analog broadcast off in February 2009. But, I love being able to get PBS stations from all over So Cal. I have about 60 channels now!

I finally broke down and bought a TiVo after trying some DIY solutions. Although SageTV, BeyondTV, etc. do well enough for SD TV, I found trying to record HD episodes was really difficult. TiVo's user interface is pretty slick, and if you can get your cable guy to install the cablecards right after 2 or 3 tries, it's definitely worth the money, subscription and all, EXCEPT....there are now rumors floating around on the tech blogs that the is a auto-delete flag feature. That is to say, the recorded program will auto-delete itself after a certain period of time (in this case approximately 2-3 hours after it was recorded). Assuming this is for real, I would have to say that it is a real deal-breaker. The advantage of TiVo is supposed to be time-shifting. I would think that this kind of auto-deletion defeats that whole purpose.

I was not aware of all of the associated costs to fully use this product. So I cannot evaluate it fairly. I made a mistake in ordering it. I simply wanted to record HD TV shows, Nothing more.

Great service from this vendor. All came as promised quickly. Called TiVO and they couldn't beat the price.

I bought this Tivo DVR as an alternative to using the Scientific Atlanta cable box DVR that is issued by the cable provider. I found one, and only one, major advantage to using the Tivo DVR rather than a cable company DVR--the Tivo DVR is intuitive, simple, and fun to use. If you or others in your household are inept with electronic gadgetry (could never figure out how to program a VCR) then you will particularly appreciate the Tivo DVR over the one provided by the Cable Company.

Unfortunately, I found several downsides to using the Tivo. But, I hate the cable company issued DVR so much, I tolerate them.

1) Cost. You have to buy the Tivo and if it breaks down it's your problem and expense. On the other hand, there's no up front cost for renting the cable box DVR from the cable company, only monthly rental fees. Cost of the Tivo service and the CableCARD rental combined is slightly more than the cost of renting a cable box DVR from the cable company.

2) Setup and Maintenance. As the caption says--It works great when it's working. But getting it to work and stay working has been a challenge. With a cable box DVR, the cable company installs it, makes sure it's working, and sends someone to your house to repair or replace it if stops working--all at no additional charge. This is not the case with the Tivo DVR. You have to install it yourself then contact the cable company to insert and configure the Cable CARD's. This is where the migraines start. The support provided by the Cable Company does not go beyond inserting the CableCARD's and activating them. If your Tivo is not working after they do that, as in my case, you have to contact Tivo tech support for help. It can be difficult or impossible to determine whether the problem lies with the Tivo DVR or the CableCARD's. You have different support contacts for each of them, pointing fingers at each other, and unwilling to cooperate with each other. After spending hours on the phone holding and following instructions from Tivo and Cablevision, and a lot of trial and error type troubleshooting, alas it started working! But, about 8 weeks later, as the memories of the installation ordeal were starting to fade, it stopped working and a new, similar ordeal began. It turned out that the CableCARD's were the culprit and needed to be replaced. The Cablevision technician explained "they just go bad every now and then". Alas, the Tivo started working great again, for a about 5 weeks until the next troubleshooting escapade ensued. This time it turned out that the Tivo itself had broken down and needed to be replaced--just 1 week after the warranty expired. Tivo offered to replace it at a discount, but when I threatened to cancel my account, they agreed to replace it for free. When I received the replacement, I had to contact the cable company to re-configure the CableCARD's to work with the new unit. Begin reading this paragraph again from the beginning to see how it went. Groundhog Day!!!