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I keep hearing references to this Tivo thing, I was wondering, what in the name of Zeus is it?

It's basically a hard drive system for your TV. You have this large and fairly fugly box under your TV which can "pause" live broadcasts in case you really need to make that grilled cheese sandwich and not miss all of Bush's latest apologetic speech.

It can also actively and annoyingly seek out programmes you'd like since it monitors what you like watching, even if you're just channel hopping. Then it gives you a nice list of all the possible crap you could fit in one TV viewing.

Did I mention the gov't uses it to keep track of you and your family?

You're basically much better off juts getting a plain hard drive for your TV, or a DVD recorder.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:It can also actively and annoyingly seek out programmes you'd like since it monitors what you like watching, even if you're just channel hopping. Then it gives you a nice list of all the possible crap you could fit in one TV viewing.

Did I mention the gov't uses it to keep track of you and your family?

I've heard this aspect of it described as a "stupid kid who tries very hard to please you".

What I don't like about them is how they're advertsided as being a replacement for VCRs.

The problem with that is that they're only advertising the "record your shows so you don't miss them" aspects, and not the "record your shows so you can keep them" aspect that most use their VCRs for.

Am I correct in assuming that their hard drives are not removable?

It will be the death of us all. As soon as everyone gets Tivo (and trust me, as commercial breaks get longer and TV shows get shorter, you will) there won't be any way for corperations to plug their stuff on TV, so they'll pull the plug on our shows and civilization will decend into chaos because of it. With Tivo, TV is doomed! And without TV, mankind is doomed! DOOOOOMED!

Gil Hamilton wrote:

Admiral Valdemar wrote:It can also actively and annoyingly seek out programmes you'd like since it monitors what you like watching, even if you're just channel hopping. Then it gives you a nice list of all the possible crap you could fit in one TV viewing.

Did I mention the gov't uses it to keep track of you and your family?

I've heard this aspect of it described as a "stupid kid who tries very hard to please you".

Bonzai Buddy is the best analogy.

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:It will be the death of us all. As soon as everyone gets Tivo (and trust me, as commercial breaks get longer and TV shows get shorter, you will) there won't be any way for corperations to plug their stuff on TV, so they'll pull the plug on our shows and civilization will decend into chaos because of it. With Tivo, TV is doomed! And without TV, mankind is doomed! DOOOOOMED!

Is`nt this what all Gnomes want doomed mankind

There are other types of TV recorders that aren't as annoying.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:What I don't like about them is how they're advertsided as being a replacement for VCRs.

The problem with that is that they're only advertising the "record your shows so you don't miss them" aspects, and not the "record your shows so you can keep them" aspect that most use their VCRs for.

Am I correct in assuming that their hard drives are not removable?

The HDs are removable. They're bog-standard ATA drives.

I think it's that thing that records porn for you. Hasn't there been a case where that happened or something?

StormTrooperTR889 wrote:

There are other types of TV recorders that aren't as annoying

Just get Replay.. its just a hard drive. no bells and whistles.. so you can record without the little helpers.. and in upgraded models you can share over the net to another Replay

The upcoming Sony PSX will likely be a good competitor in this field. PSX as in the new entertainment system, not the original PSX (PSOne).

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:I think it's that thing that records porn for you. Hasn't there been a case where that happened or something?

Only if you tell it to.

Gandalf wrote:I keep hearing references to this Tivo thing, I was wondering, what in the name of Zeus is it?

It's a device that records movies (like a VCR) but then analyses your tastes and automatically programs itself to record gay porn.

phongn wrote: The HDs are removable. They're bog-standard ATA drives.

A better question would be how convieniant is it to swap drives.

It takes some work, you need a working computer and a customized Linux boot CD (which can be downloaded) to setup the drives.

Thanks everyone, now I can watch American TV and know what the hell it means when they say Tivo.

*sigh*just get a DVD recorder. You get all the advantages of the hard drive - the biggest of which is beign able to record and play at the same time (so you don't need to wait for the prgram to finish befroe you watch it), and the adavntages of being able to make a permanent copy on DVD (with ads edited out and divided into titles and 5 minute chapters)

This is a thread asking what is a Tivo, not asking whether to buy or not a Tivo.

Yup, I do have a TIVO. I've had it for over four years. Love it. My machine is one of the original 14-hour Tivo's, meaning it could record 14 hours of basic quality video or a little more than 4 hours of highest quality. I spent some bucks and got a 2nd larger capacity hard drive for it. Now it records 84 hours/24hours. The newer Tivos can record just as much or more than my machine for considerably less cost than I put into mine. A DVD recorder sounds like it would be a great investment, but right now I don't really need one. I think I'll wait for the DVD rec's price to come way down, just like VCR's did. Have a better one.