If you watch TV and don't have TiVo, why? (1 Viewer)

[StephenT]

I just read a column linked in a thread in the TV forum about how producers feel they need to change the format of the show 24 because it asks too much of viewers to have to see every episode. Research apparently shows most folks watch around 8 episodes a year of their favorite shows. Yes, that's their favorite shows. TiVo makes all this a moot point. I've watched every episode of 24 this year thanks to TiVo. I'm out every Tuesday night, but I don't miss the show.

My question is why don't more people, especially the HTF types like us, have TiVo (or an equivalent)? It is quite simply the greatest electronics product I've ever purchased. Words cannot describe the usefulness, and just shear coolness of TiVo. I can only guess more folks don't have it because they just don't understand what they're missing. Believe me once you have it for a week, you'll wonder what the hell you ever did without it.

I liken watching TV without TiVo to watching a movie in Pan & Scan. Dear God, why?

Don't answer that you don't watch TV because obviously then TiVo is useless to you. The question is for frequent TV viewers.

 

[Michael*K]

Don't feel like running a phone jack to my TV.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

I don't have TIVO, Nor do I have to miss any shows, Because I have 2 VCRs and I know how to program them. Plus I don't have to pay a monthly fee

 

[MarcVH]

I'm a fairly recent convert (a Replay 4000 series) but, among friends I talk to, the most common objection the service model. They're used to a VCR, and don't like the idea of having to pay service fees (either monthly or up-front), worrying about what will happen if the manufacturer goes away and the service is no longer offered, etc. They'd rather see a low-end model that works like a VCR, where you set it to record a given channel at a given time and it doesn't try to be smarter than that (and it's priced accordingly.)

 

[Scott DeToffol]

Monthly service fees and very few programs that are worth recording.

 

[StephenT]

Other than the few programs worth recording complaint, I think the others would melt away if you used any type of PVR for a week. Since I own a TiVo I can only talk about their service, but I think the service fee complaints (very common) are from people who think, "I'll be paying to use a VCR." I really think they don't understand how great the service features are. I believe you can buy a unit and not get the service and record things using the time/channel feature. That's cool and all since you get all the storage space of the hard drive and the quick access to all your recordings, but the service is what makes TiVo so amazing. The Season Pass feature is really the key item. When shows move time slots you don't care. When shows are repeats you don't have to record them. You can tell it to record all movies by this director or staring this actor. You can tell it to record all shows with "Lord of the Rings" in the description as I did before the movie came out so I saw all the preview specials. I didn't know what channel or time they were on, and I didn't care!
Could those of you responding about not having one say if you've actually seen one in action or had one and returned it. The latter I can't imagine happening. I wonder what the figures are on that. I'm asking this because I think people who haven't actually seen or especially used it just can't understand. You can explain all the features all you want, but the magic doesn't sink in until you use it for some reason. I say this because I frequent a TiVo forum, and I'm amazed at the truly rabid fan base, as it were. Some people have 6+ units. How can you watch that much TV? Also I find funny how many stories I read of the wife being skeptical of another electronics purchase and then loving the TiVo more than the husband and even requesting one for the bedroom. It must have the highest wife acceptance factor of any electronic gizmo ever.
After I ramble like this you may think I'm crazy, but everyone who gets one becomes a zealot like this. Maybe they're actually a cult.

 

[Michael*K]

After I ramble like this you may think I'm crazy

Not really. We all know you own Tivo stock.

 

[StephenT]

Not really. We all know you own Tivo stock.

Ha! No, I'm a conservative mutual fund guy. Are they even public? I'm more concerned about their going out of business because I would be lost without my TiVo now. Other than HD, I don't watch live TV anymore. I don't think I could go back. That's another thing that puts it above VCRs. You record EVERYTHING you watch, not just what you'll miss because you're out. I mean who wants to sit through commercials when you don't have to. And you can start watching a recording while it's still recording! Do that with a VCR! I watch all sporting events (non HD, which are most sadly) starting an hour late.
Anyway I guess the genesis of this is I think TiVo is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and from my experience EVERYONE (ok not possible, but I'd bet on 98%) who owns one agrees. That's why I'm so curious about this. It just seems logical to me PVR's should be the best selling home entertainment electronics device ever, and they've started off slow. Why? All I can figure, and it sounds silly, is that people just don't really understand how cool it is. I know I didn't even after seeing it at a friend's. It made me want one, but I still didn't "get it" until I had one and used it for a while. If a PVR was put in every home for a month of people who watch a lot of TV, you wouldn't be able to get them back out of those homes with an army, fees be damned. That's something else I'd bet on.
OK, so maybe it's not a cult, and the units send out some kind of hypnotizing rays. I'm serious about the rabid fan base though. I'm just one example of many.

 

[rhett]

I've got two VCR's and I always know what shows I want to watch, what channel they are on, and what time. So I really don't see the need to incur the extra cost for something a VCR can generally do. I don't have an HDTV, so the VHS quality is a non-issue for me. If you have the money, it definitely looks like a cool gizmo, but when you are working to pay tuition for University, you just can't afford such luxuries.

I have not actually owned one or seen one, but I have read about them.

 

[Scott_G]

Monthly service fees and very few programs that are worth recording.

ditto.

If it would record HDTV I'd do it in a minute.

 

[StephenT]

I can't argue with the TV's not worth watching statements.

However, if you watch a lot of TV and don't have a PVR I think you're missing out. I guess I'm just a TiVo evangelist.

If a PVR recorded HD I would be there probably before anyone. Recently purchasing a set top box and viewing HD, I'm in love with it, has forced me to watch live TV again. It's painful I tell you (the no pausing, rewinding, or fast forwarding I mean, certainly not the picture).

 

[Bill J]

That's cool and all since you get all the storage space of the hard drive and the quick access to all your recordings

How large is the hard drive and what happens when it is full?

 

[Chad R]

Because the next gadget I buy will be a High Def TV (emergency car repairs have set that back a good many months). After that, a TIVO would do no good because I'll want to watch things in High Def.

 

[MarcVH]

After that, a TIVO would do no good because I'll want to watch things in High Def.

Alternately, lots of people would say HDTV would do no good because they want their PVR.

 

[StephenT]

Chad, considering the very limited programming in HD, I wouldn't let that put you off to a PVR. You can have it record your shows in SD just in case you miss them, and if you're home then watch it in HD. That way you never miss anything. When HD actually becomes more widespread I pray that PVR's that can record HD signals become available. Not if the MPAA has its way though.

Bill, the hard drives vary in size, and there are ways to put in bigger ones if you are technically inclined. The methods can be found on the Internet. I have a DirecTiVo that is a DirecTV receiver and TiVo in one. It has two tuners, so I can record one feed and watch the other or record two things at once. Very cool! Stand alone TiVo's can only have one tuner, so that they can record the different possible sources (sat., OTA, cable). Mine can hold up to 35 hours (approximately).

It's true that a PVR eliminates channel surfing. I'd never considered that. I think that's certainly a factor in the wife acceptance, but I also think they truly find a PVR useful as well. Women have favorite shows too.

 

[StephenT]

Forgot to answer what happens when the hard drive is full. Well, you can mark shows you record as keep until I delete or keep them until space is needed. If the drive is full of keep until I delete shows, it won't record anything new. If there are keep until space needed programs recorded it will delete the oldest stuff in order to record something new.

 

[Al Fischer]

I agree TiVo is the best thing since sliced bread.

I purchased one in October. With a rebate it was $49.00, for the DirecTiVo. What a great purchase. Everyone who has come over wants to get on. Nothing like pausing "live" tv when you have a phone call or something.

The $250 lifetime fee was half paid when I got the rebate. No more commercials.

So much better than programming a VCR. Never miss a show, if they play a bonus episode, you will see it. Leave town for a week, still have all your shows to watch. A VCR cannot do that!

It Records in Digital Dolby.

Oh yeah, the wife said the other day: "How did we every watch tv before?"

 

[Richard Travale]

three words I AM CANADIAN.

 

[StephenT]

Richard, now that's a legitimate excuse.

 

[Patrick McCart]

DVD.
The only TV I watch regularly are the channels, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies. I'll sometimes record off of TCM and CN if there's something really special (like TCM's one-time-only airing of the LBX Around the World in Eighty Days or CN's Lost WB cartoons Special )
Despite a lot of TCM movies not being on DVD yet (or even on VHS for a few!) I'd rather wait for the DVD's rather than clog up a TiVo or VHS shelf with SLP tapes of laserdisc transfers.