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Gift ArticlePurchase TIVO at Affordable Prices I am writing this article from the view of someone who grew up without cable TV. We had 3 major networks and PBS plus a couple local UHF stations. In the late 1970's we finally got cable added to our street, needless to say this was a pretty big deal. It allowed us to view newcomers HBO, ESPN, and CNN. The next step was being able to record and view previously recorded movies so I went and purchased a VCR in 1980. I practically needed a forklift to get it to my car because of its size and along with that it was only a 2 head model plus the remote control wasn't wireless, it was hooked up by a cable. This was RCA's top of the line recorder at that time and cost $800. I waited over 20 years for my next move up the technological scale and finally got a DVD player that would record television shows. The recording aspect of these machines never lived up to my expectations because of hardware problems, bad disc (which would stop recording in the middle of shows) or just plain difficulty of use. I was just never that pleased with the DVD recorders. It was because of the dissatisfaction with the DVD recorder that I finally went online and bought a used cheap TIVO DVR. This turned out to be my best entertainment purchase since 1980. I have been a subscriber to DirecTv for quite a few years and knew that I could hook a TIVO up with their system. Hooking the DVR up was as easy as setting up the old VCR. Satellite line in, output cable to the TV, and you're in business. Of course this is where the fun starts. You have a schedule menu that looks like the ones you have with your regular cable or dish setups listing all of the programs and their times. This feature is updated daily and run for about ten days in advance allowing you to program what you want to record that far ahead. If you have any of the movie stations you will find yourself programming movies starting at 2:20 a.m. 9 days down the road, forgetting about it and having it show up in your list guide waiting to be viewed. I use a twin lnb receiver which allows me to record two different shows at once, but that's only half of it. While those two shows are recording I'm able to watch any of the shows that I've already recorded. Talk about efficiency, there is practically no wasted time spent in front of the television . Lets say you're a CSI fan and you have to go out for an appointment the night the show airs, and lets say it starts at 10:00 p.m. You get back from your appointment and it's only 10:15. What are you going to do now, wait until 11:00 to watch the show and get to bed late? Not with the TIVO. You can start watching the show at 10:15 from the very beginning. If you skip through the commercials during the show you will be will be finishing up during the normal time of 11:00 since commercials take up about 20 minutes per show. It's a great feature to have. Another great feature is the list guide of all of the shows that you have already recorded. I don't know about you but I accumulate way too many tapes over the course of 25 years. I practically needed a storage shed to for them. With the list guide you just scroll down and pick what you want to watch. It is clean and simple. No more tapes strewn about the house, half of which were mislabeled, old, or just plain useless. If you have a favorite actor, musician, sports team, or just about anything with a name you can have TIVO remember it. Lets say your a big Harrison Ford fan and you don't want to miss any of the movies he will be showing up in the future. All you do is type his name in your favorites section and Tivo will record anything with Harrison Ford in it forever, or until you remove him from your favorites list. The number of shows you can store varies with the size of the hard drive on your TIVO DVR. I have a rather small one and am still able to store 100 hours. For me this is adequate. Some would prefer more and it's not a big deal to upgrade or you can just get a larger one with your initial purchase. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Hahn Also See: All Articles |