“It’s basically a stripped down computer, or a VCR on steroids,
take your pick. It’s a hard drive, modem, computer chip, TV-Tuner,
and an MPEG processor, all in a nifty box running a stripped down
version of Linux. All of that is completely transparent to the end
user, however. My grandparents could use this thing, it’s easier to
use than your VCR, and it sets the time all by itself….”
“TiVo has literally changed the way I watch TV forever. When you
have a TiVo, there is no incentive to watch TV live. If it’s
recorded, you can simply fast-forward through all of the
commercials, saving yourself a lot of time. The fast-forward
function rewinds a bit when you hit play, so if you’re scanning
through the commercials, you see your program, hit play, and it
backs up a bit before it starts playing, so you don’t miss the
start of your program. This is such a useful feature, especially if
you’re weren’t God of the Nintendo, and your reflexes are a bit
lagging. I can’t believe I haven’t seen this feature on a VCR
before, it just makes so much sense….”
“In conclusion, the TiVo is a great device! You’ll have to pry
mine from my cold, dead hands. It’s opened up a lot more of TV to
me, now I watch what I want to watch, not what happens to be on at
the moment. I get to see shows like Politically Incorrect, which
are on after my bedtime. I can watch Star Trek again! I get to
watch more TV, in less time, and see more of what I want. I don’t
have to worry about missing a show, as I’ve programmed TiVo to grab
everything that I generally watch. If you’ve even thought to
yourself that a TiVo might be nice, don’t fight the impulse any
longer, buy one, you will not be disappointed.”