If you watch TV, get a Tivo. Period. It will change your relationship to television forever more. Seriously. I'd put Tivo right about up there about with the invention of the computer or the automobile. I don't know how we would survive without a DVR. Actually, yes I do, we'd either not watch any TV or we'd buy it from iTunes. But we'd never go back to the linear-TV-viewing model. Ever.
Damn. Now I can't get the Tivo click-pop sound out of my head.
Heh. Like some languages that have clicks and whistles, our family language now includes the Tivo 'bee-boop' as part of our everyday vocabulary. If the remote holder forgets to fast forward when a commercial comes on? Someone will say.. 'hey! Bee-boop'. We're at someone else's home who doesn't have Tivo and commercials are on? My wife and I will look at eachother, make a 'bee-boop' noise and chuckle.
It's pretty sad.
Worse still, we don't even own a Tivo any more. We had one for several years before going to Dish Network due to problems with our cable company. Yes, Tivo technically works with satellite, but it's kind of a PITA to setup. So we use DN's DVR (vip 722). It's good, but not great. It's just sometimes a pain to use and set up. Nor is it as intuitive about recording things. It just isn't as smart nor as easy to use as Tivo. And that's after owning and using DN DVR's for 3+ years now.
Cable company DVR boxes are the same way. At least, the 2 or 3 that I've seen are. They function, but they lack the intuitiveness and glorious user interface that is the hallmark of a Tivo.
