<< If you think Tivo is just a "prettied up VCR" then you don't need to be using it anyway. In fact, if you just want to use it as a VCR you don't have to pay for the subscription at all. Just hook it up and record manually just like yer not-so-perty vcr. >>
I can schedule a recording of any show in the near future with my VCR. Can I do that without paying a monthly fee on a TiVo? Isn't that one of the primary reasons to use a TiVo? Yes, the the quality is "perty"-er, but we aren't talking about a feature that I am paying for now, so I don't believe that I'm being unreasonable when I say that when I pay more than what I payed for my high end VCR, I should expect to not have to pay an additional fee or lose functionality.
...Sorry - I'm ashamed to have responded to this guy.
Thanks, Ameesh - I'll look up ReplayTV.