Tivo? Worth it?

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: hpkeeper
like $13 a month of TV goodness? is it worth that much?

I pay $4.99/month through Directv. Tivo rocks!!! I've had it for about 3 years now and I love it!

 

[mchammer]

Tivo :thumbsup:

 

[LordSnailz]

Totally worth it! I have a spare one, my old Series 1 tivo, buy mine, comes with lifetime and hacked to 200 some hrs!

 

[Nightfall]

I have Directv and have a Tivo right through them....and man is it nice. My parents have a standalone unit and they love it as well. IMO, it is the best gadget I own. I never watch live TV anymore or commercials for that matter. I just hit the 30 second skip a few times and that takes care of the commercial problem. It records everything that I tell it to.

I think it is well worth it.

 

[Falloutboy]

Had Tivo since it was released. ended up selling in favor of my xbox/newgroups combo

 

[chimmytime]

Well i piggy backed onto my sister's account because she said that if you have multiple tivo accounts it costs less?

I had my computer as a DVR for a while but the interface was still not up to par with tivo. Tivo is great because say for instance you want to record the Simpsons, it'll record them ALL. the 6:00, the 7:30, the 11:30, the random one they place during primetime weekdays, and the sunday ones.

I don't really care about the replay value, but the fast forward ability is the best.

 

[nageov3t]

the only real beef I have with tivo that makes me give preference to my own pvr is that tivo only has the one tuner. I love having 3 times in my rig, and a $20 dvd burner means I can watch shows at work

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

We have 2 Tivos, network wirelessly so the bedroom can record a different show. We can record 2 shows and watch a recording all at the same time. We often watch a recording and let whatever show is on TV at the moment record so we can skip the commercials.

 

[Kelemvor]

No reason to pay a monthly fee for something that is completely self contained. All you are paying for is to download the TV Guide schedule. Go with something like SageTV on a HTPC. Free after you buy it, no monthly fee at all.

 

[Yreka]

I have an HD Tivo in the living room and Regular one in the bedroom. It costs me $4.95 per month for both, well worth it IMO. I use the Season Pass and Wishlist quite a bit.

 

[Hammerhead]

Does your cable company offer DVR's? If so go with that.
F*** Tivo.

Unlike suck-ass Tivo, my DVR can record in Hi-def

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
No reason to pay a monthly fee for something that is completely self contained. All you are paying for is to download the TV Guide schedule. Go with something like SageTV on a HTPC. Free after you buy it, no monthly fee at all.

Again, can you build a HTPC for $350? That's what a Tivo costs with lifetime service right now. Just looking at SageTV's site, the software is $80. You still need an OS too. Assuming you're going the legal route and buying the software, you're looking at ~$160 at best for the OS and PVR software alone. You could run MythTV I suppose and not have to buy software.

Tivo is plug and play. Sure, HTPC's have their own advantages, but especially when you factor in your time spent building them, I don't think they're cheaper really.

 

[jcuadrado]

just dropped Dtv for Comcast cable with HD DVR for 34.99 for 12 months...I've heard once you go tivo or dvr you never go back to watching live tv...

cant wait to try it out next week.

 

[Fiat1]

TIVO Humax DVD rocks.......

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Xylitol
I dont think that being able to rewind/watch your shows again is worth it...

No, the value comes from being able to watch what you want, when you want, and in less time because you can skip through commericals and filler.

I don't have to worry about being home at 10:00 on a Friday to watch Battlestar Galactica - it will be there when I get around to watching it.

Did you ever turn on the TV and flip aimlessly through the channels and guide unable to find anything you really want to watch? Never again...

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
No reason to pay a monthly fee for something that is completely self contained. All you are paying for is to download the TV Guide schedule. Go with something like SageTV on a HTPC. Free after you buy it, no monthly fee at all.

Again, can you build a HTPC for $350? That's what a Tivo costs with lifetime service right now. Just looking at SageTV's site, the software is $80. You still need an OS too. Assuming you're going the legal route and buying the software, you're looking at ~$160 at best for the OS and PVR software alone. You could run MythTV I suppose and not have to buy software.

Tivo is plug and play. Sure, HTPC's have their own advantages, but especially when you factor in your time spent building them, I don't think they're cheaper really.

I built a mutifunction HTPC using the following components

AMD 64 3500+ Venice CPU

2 Gig Corsair value RAM

Asus 8NE Deluxe

(4) 300 Gig Maxtors SATA

(2) Hauppauge 500

Soundblaster Audigy2

XFX 7800GTX (Incase I feel the need to game on it)

Sage TV

Win XP SP2

This is actually my storage server so I had alot of these parts already to tinker with an HTPC


Ausm