By Susan Caba
To TiVo or not to TiVo, that is the question.
Well, it’s not really a question, just a matter of time. Sooner or later, we’re all going to have digital video recorders (DVRs) to record our favorite television programs. TiVo is the best-known brand—its copyrighted name has mutated into a verb: “Honey, did you TiVo Desperate Housewives?”
“It is so worth it! You’re completely freed from the TV,” says Susan S. Williams, a TiVo evangelist and owner of The Screening Room on Clayton at Lindbergh.
Paradoxically, Williams watches more TV now, not less—more good television and a lot less drivel. DVRs let you zip through commercials (on recorded programs only), record one program while watching another, replay a bungled pass (or wardrobe malfunction) over and over and even pause a broadcast if the phone rings. Programs are recorded on an internal hard drive; there are no tapes to worry about. Most importantly, DVRs are so easy to program, even an adult can do it.
When it comes to buying electronics, I don’t. The faster technology moves, the more I hesitate. Digital cameras, for example, keep getting better and cheaper. I don’t have one. I am paralyzed by too much choice. That’s why I switched to an Apple laptop—fewer models from which to choose.
TiVo introduced the first DVR in 1999. Already, 6.5 million American households have them. My teenage son insists we get with the program in his lifetime.
My first inclination was to go with TiVo. The name is synonymous with the concept, so I figured it must be the best. I browsed at Circuit City in Brentwood, where the very helpful folks explained that before I bought the TiVo, I should subscribe to cable or satellite TV. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have programming to record. Oh.
So I called John Douglas of Douglas Digital (www.douglasdigital.com) to hold my hand. Douglas, whose company provides technical service to individuals, laid out my options:
- A TiVo stand-alone. You buy the DVR—$100 to $300 after rebate, depending on recording capacity (40, 80 or 140 hours)—and pay $12.95 a month (or $299 for product lifetime) for the TiVo service, which tracks down your shows and records them. If you want TiVo on more than one TV, you buy separate boxes and pay an additional monthly fee.
- Cable service with DVR. Charter charges $10 a month per box on top of your cable service fee and, like TiVo, you need a box for every television you plan to use for recording. There’s no charge for the boxes themselves, which you return when you cancel service.
- Satellite television with DVR. DirecTV offers TiVo, while other satellite companies have their own technology. When I checked DirecTV, there was a $99 charge per TiVo receiver (before a $50 rebate), with free satellite installation after a $20 delivery fee. You then pay the monthly fee for the satellite service plus a monthly fee for each DVR, which you own. But I have too many trees around my house to get a good satellite signal, so that’s out.
- A media PC: Douglas said I could buy a computer that would handle the DVR functions as well as manage music and photo programs. Scratch that, I’m going for simplicity.
Wow, that turned out to be easier than I expected. Since I don’t want the upfront costs of buying the TiVo DVR, I’m left with the cable option. I love simple decisions.
If I’d wanted to consider the complexities, Douglas told me about some developments that could have influenced my decision.
Last year, TiVo came out with a DVR that burns DVDs (others will follow, if they haven’t already). The boxes cost $400 after rebate. “That’s cool,” I thought—until I remembered that, in all the years I’ve had VCRs, I’ve taped maybe one program. Besides, isn’t the whole point that you don’t have to use tapes or discs?
Networking is inevitable. With TiVo, you can already record a program on one DVR and watch it in another room—so long as the second TV also has TiVo. Other manufacturers are working on DVRs that will handle music, photos and Internet downloads.
One last thing. There’s an issue of compatibility between TiVo and high-definition broadcasts. I don’t really want to understand it; I have a 10-year-old TV and not that many high-definition programs are broadcast yet. But soon all programs will be high definition and I’ll need to know.
Eventually, I’ll have to think about upgrading the television. But I’ve come up with a system for making that decision—flipping a coin.
