OT: Tivo/Replay TV woes

I have spent the last several hours researching Tivo, ReplayTV, and a couple other hard disk video recorder systems. The newer ones are combo HD recorders and satellite units, so I have no use for them at the time since I really only watch well under 10 channels.

Anyway, I doubt I will be getting one of these things anytime soon. Both Tivo and ReplayTV have shortcomings. The technology is new, so I think it would be wise to wait a bit. Just ask anyone who bought a DVD player when they first came out. Most of those people cannot play the latest fancy discs because of "firmware" problems and other glitches. Tivo owners are running into numerous glitches of their own.

And I doubt either unit will function like I want them to -- hard disk versions of the VCRs I already own. I just read an article about how both Tivo and ReplayTV don't think of themselves as hardware-oriented but rather service companies. They have little if no interest in promoting a hard disk recorder that functions very well without a subscription to their grids, suggested programming guides, and advertising.

Sure, Sony can make a Tivo recorder, but I doubt that Tivo would license the technology to them if Sony made the recorder perfectly useable without the subscription. Of course, Sony could make a "pure" (no subscription) hard disk recorder, but I haven't heard anything about this.

Further clouding the issue is that it is possible to beam ads to users that *cannot* be skipped! I imagine this would become a PR nightmare if it ever happened, but who knows? Advertisers have pressured manufacturers to remove skip and FF functions, though that's not going to happen! Companies dependent on advertising revenue are also buying large stakes in Tivo to ensure control over this technology that, frankly, scares the shit out of them.

It's a good time for me to sit back and watch what happens in the next few months.

For those who just love to sit in front of the TV and watch whatever they can find that interests them, Tivo and ReplayTV are just what you need. Me, I know what I want to watch, when it's on, and that's that. I need a hard disk recorder, not a "service." Aren't there others like me? Why doesn't some hardware manufacturer make this product?!

[email] (Bao H. Lammy) wrote in :

Isn't that backwards? I like my TiVo for its time-shifting of things I plan in advance. I could use my many VCR's for that, but the TiVo service also handles schedule changes, eliminating the need for me to hunt down my programs every time the network shuffles them around, which seems to be occurring more and more frequently.

I can certainly appreciate that! Had my TiVo not been a gift, I'd probably still be mulling the decision to buy, and would be inclined to wait awhile to see how the market settles.

plan

I'm not sure what you are referring to that is "backwards," but I do realize the benefit of a device automatically finding a program even if its timeslot changes. It's just not worth $200 or $10/mo. to me.

Thanks Ken, for your numerous recent replies to my questions. They have definitely answered my questions well. I feel confident now about buying a subscriptionless bare-bones Tivo to use as an editing device to dub TV shows I like to keep onto tape. Yes, I fully realize that many people love Tivo and all its "features," but they're just not for me right now. And thanks to you, I no longer feel that I must buy a $1750-$8000 recorder as was suggested earlier to get what I want. $200 sounds pretty good to me! (That's what a 14HR Tivo costs now, right?)