I have a DVR. Personally, I prefer it to a TiVo (which a lot of my friends have). My biggest problem with the TiVo was that you basically had to adjust your viewing habits to the TiVo, instead of the other way around. Since it has only one tuner channel, you cannot watch a current broadcast while the unit is recording something (unless you have a splitter and another tuner/TV/VCR/whatever).
For the most part, this isn't a big deal since the TiVo has some pretty spiffy software that will automatically record stuff it thinks you'll like based on past recording habits. I just could not get into the idea of pretty must *always* watching stuff that was pre-recorded though. That's a major change in viewing habit that I didn't like.
I wanted something that would allow me to digitally record bunches of shows, but would also allow me to channel surf to my hearts content. The DVR works much better for that IMO. Since it has two tuners, you can either record two shows at once, or record one and watch tv on the other. You could even watch one previously recorded show while recording two others.
It also solves one of the major reasons that people record shows (during prime time at least), and which TiVo doesn't. What if you have two shows that you really like, but they both air at the same time? With TiVo, you can't watch them both. Sure. You could record one on the TiVo, and watch the other on another TV (or use a splitter and switch video input on your TV). But that's not really much better then the old VCR solution (I'm mucking with cables, switches, and extra lines which I hate).
Dunno. I like the DVR much hetter then TiVo. Again though, I never owned TiVo myself. I did spend a week at a friends house who had it though. Part of my dislike may have been because it was his tastes that were being recorded and not mine. I wasn't able to watch anything I enjoyed because he watched everything via TiVo so if it wasn't something he recorded, it simply wasn't available to view. It it had been my TiVo, I probably could have handled it better.
One issue with the DVRs though is to expect them to fail regularly (bout once or twice a year). The TiVo was designed by poeple who built computer components. The DVR was designed by people who build VCRs and other commercial appliances. It therefore never occured to the dorks who designed the first model DRVs that devices with hard drives in them really really should also have cooling fans. I've heard that the next model will have a cooling fan. Keeping your DVR someplace cool and with good circulation (ie: *Not* in a cabinet) will significantly increase the lifespan of the unit. Symptoms of a failing DVR are stuttering during viewing, and crashes when you try to record anything (or such bad stuttering that you have to powercycle the box to be able to watch a direct feed). The cable company should just replace the box for free when it happens (mine said to just bring the old one by and they'd swap it with no delay at all, or could schedule someone to come out).
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