Tivo questions?

[Jumper Bones]

I don't know if this belongs in Tech Talk, or Movies, Books, & Music...but...I'm thinking strongly of getting a Tivo. Best Buy has a deal going right now of a 100 dollar rebate - so the 40GB (40 hour) model, which costs 199, becomes 99; and the 80 GB (80 hour) model goes from 299 to 199. I was even able to talk them 15 more bucks from the price of the 80GB model, due to CostCo running a deal on the same model (269 but no rebate).

So...which should I get? I think the rebate's a better value on the 40GB model, although the 15 off of the 80GB puts it pretty cheap (by comparison) too. Since it's just going to be me using this (my roommate says he won't use it), would the 40 gig model be enough for me? Or does that hard drive go fast?

[Snow Dog]

Don't you have to buy a monthly subscription to use Tivo?

[Benny Profane]

Definitely get as much hard drive space as you can. I have a DVR through my cable service ( their version of a TIVO ), and 50 gig fills up real fast. Wish I had about 200 gig, but then, the problem would be trying to actually watch all that crap.

But it's a great thing. I didn't miss one minute of the Tour de France.

I'm thinking of getting a DVD recorder to permanently record some stuff.

[davey]

Originally posted by Jumper Bones
I don't know if this belongs in Tech Talk, or Movies, Books, & Music...but...I'm thinking strongly of getting a Tivo. Best Buy has a deal going right now of a 100 dollar rebate - so the 40GB (40 hour) model, which costs 199, becomes 99; and the 80 GB (80 hour) model goes from 299 to 199. I was even able to talk them 15 more bucks from the price of the 80GB model, due to CostCo running a deal on the same model (269 but no rebate).

So...which should I get? I think the rebate's a better value on the 40GB model, although the 15 off of the 80GB puts it pretty cheap (by comparison) too. Since it's just going to be me using this (my roommate says he won't use it), would the 40 gig model be enough for me? Or does that hard drive go fast?

Who do you have cable/satellite through? Many cable companies now have DVR cable boxes, which means you just need the cable box, and don't have to have an extra box. Also, you can have problems hooking up tivo's to digital cable and being able to record the digital channels. Direct tv has the directivo, and its only 5 bucks a month extra, which is better than the tivo fee, and sometimes you can get the box through directtv really cheap. Many cable companies have similar boxes as well..

[JaneRider]

Get Tivo. Get the 80 GB. You'll be glad you did. It can be life changing.

[nopainnojane]

We have the Directv/tivo, and have a 35 hour hard drive. We only had space issues one time when we were going away for a week and were recording the tour de france. We had to delete some movies we were not going to watch for a while to make it all fit on.

Most of the time I never get a chance to watch things and I lose interest in wanting to and delete them. If you can , I would just go for more space on the TIVO. When we first go it, my wife was not sure that it would be worth it, after 6 months with it, i doubt she can live with out it now.

[optics]

I'd wait 'til the ones with the integrated DVD burner get cheaper, but that's just me. The on-demand stuff w/digi cable should get you by in the meantime.

They're much less than they were a year ago, and still seem to be dropping.

[Buzzworthy]

I have Dish, DRV 90 hours drive.

Cost me nothing on a move deal, do have $5 month service charge.

Going to be great to tape Disney and cartoon movies for my child to later watch.

[frerad]

I just bought the Toshiba DVD player/Tivo (80 hour) two weeks ago. It rocks!!

Best Buy had them for 299 with a 50 dollar instant rebate then 2- 100 dollar mail in rebates. I found an open box return there that was priced down to 163 dollars.

The Toshiba DVD/Tivo player can be used without the pay service but it is fairly limited in that mode. Without the service you can only record at the best quality (which drops your recording time to 23 hours) and you can only set it to record a show 3 days in advance. This doesn't matter to me because I will be using the 12.95 monthly payment plan.