a TIVO question

I live in Europe and have my own Hard-Disk recorder. I gather that in the USA some/most/all hard disk recorders are "TIVO". I have a friend with one and he states that he cannot record a program giving Station-number/Date/start-time/ and stop time. Is that true with all TIVO? My friend likes tennia and many times the TIVO stops because the program is running longer than planned.

    From what I have heard, when one buys a TIVO, one must pay so much a month to use it - which sounds like a rip-off!

First of all, although many DVRs in the U.S. are TiVo-based, a great many are not. Most cable services provide their own DVR boxes, as do many satellite services. In addition, people who know their way around the right computer technology can create their own DVRs using desktop computers.

Second, if your friend does have a TiVo, then he needs to learn it better. You most certainly can record a program by station number, date, start and stop times. (It's called "Manual recording"). That feature has been in the TiVo software since I started using TiVo almost nine years ago. In addition, when you select a program to record from the program listings, you have the option to add additional recording time to the end for such things as live sporting events, where the program may run longer than scheduled.

TiVo is a sevice, and yes there is a fee. Before calling it a "rip-off", you ought to try using it, because you get a lot for your money. Also, a lot of us, especially early adopters, were able to purchase lifetime service, where, for a single payment, we obtained service for the life of our equipment.

I've had three TiVo boxes, and I have never once regretted owning any of them.

One more thing: This thread belongs in Audio/Video Sources, not HT Hardware - High Definition. I'll be moving it shortly.

I thank you for your reply. I have suspected my friend does NOT know his TIVO, I have tried to find Audio/Video Sources  using the "more forums" (which I don't like - the drop down menus were better and quicker) but did not find it!

It's part of "Home Theater Hardware". One can always click on the "Forums" tab at the top of the page for a master list of forums. That has been there from the beginning and hasn't changed.