TiVo® - HD XL Digital Video Recorder

I had a generic DVR from my caable company for several years before I decided to make the leap to TiVo, and I'm glad I did. I am seriously in love with this machine. I'm even considering marriage, though I think such a union would only be legal in Massachusetts. Let me begin by saying that a DVR (regardless of the brand) will change the way you watch TV. And if you have one with a dual tuner, it means you never have to choose between two favorite competing shows. As a result, I pretty much stopped watching "live" TV years ago. With a DVR you can just record everything, save it for later, and then scan through the commercials. And the beautiful thing about the remote with this unit (not sure if this is true all TiVo remotes) is that you can scan through the ads at three different speeds. When you hit play, it automatically backs up the recording several seconds, This is great if you overshoot the end of the commercials. It can be annoying if you're trying to pinpoint a very specific scene you just saw, but there's a great slo-mo button for that. The pause button also provides a very stable freeze frame image. A separate button automatically backtracks the action eight seconds. And if you're watching TV in the dark, the backlit remote with this particular TiVo is great. My previous DVR from the cable company limited me to about 25 hours of HD recordings. If you follow several weekly series, and then add a couple of HBO HD movies, that 25 hours can fill up surprisingly quick. Keeping ample available recording space sometimes became a challenge. TiVo's HD XL, on the other hand, gives you over 150 hours (according to the unit's diagnostics screen, it's 157 hours) of HD storage. Looking at it another way, that's the equivalent of over six seasons of "24". And if that's STILL not enough, you can purchase a separate expansion unit that will add another 75 hours of storage. There is a Season Pass Manager that enables you to record either every single episode of a show on a particular channel, or just the first run episodes. And if the time slot changes, the TiVo (like any DVR) will make the schedule changes for you. A separate screen allows you to record specific weekly timeslots. This is great if you want to record, say, the 8 PM Sunday showing of The Simpsons regardless of whether it's a rerun WITHOUT also recording the additional 12 showings of the series during the week. Another great feature: You can use the Season Pass Manager to add an additional minute or two (or more) to your recordings. This is handy, since some networks let their shows run long. NBC often does this with Heroes, and you would otherwise end up losing the last scene. The unit has two tuners, so you're limited to recording (or recording and watching) two channels at a time. Again, the Season Pass Manager allows you to "prioritize" your recordings in case conflicts between three or more potential shows arise. You can, however, record two shows while watching a third that has already been recorded. If you have a Netflix account, TiVo allows you to access it through the Videos On Demand screen. Of the 60 or so movies in my Netflix queue, about 10 or so were available for streaming at no additional charge. You can also rent (or even purchase) downloads from Amazon (you have to watch the rentals within 30 days). Both these features require an actual broadband connection. You can either use an ethernet cable or the separately available wireless USB connector. While setting it up is a cinch, its effectiveness will also depend on the location and range of your router. TiVo--like most electronic equipment--generates a lot of heat. There is a fan on the back of the unit, but you still have to be careful about putting the machine into tight, enclosed entertainment centers. Again, there is a diagnostics screen that tells you the internal temperature and whether it's "normal." There is no actual power button; however, you can use the remote to put the unit in "standby" mode. This reduces the heat buildup somewhat if you're not actually using the TiVo. I enjoyed the HD XL so much, I ended up also buying a TCD652160 for the bedroom. Though that model only holds 20 hours of HD recordings, you can network the two machines through your broadband router and transfer most recordings back & forth between the two machines. Though I haven't run into a problem with regular broadcast network shows, the Amazon recordings will be locked down to the specific machine that first recorded them. I've also run into this with some shows on the History Channel. if you want, you can also place two machines near one another and share the same TV. There is a switch on the remote that can actually distinguish between TiVo 1 and TiVo 2. Finally, the cablecard set up can be a major pain in the neck. Though a single multi-stream card can handle both tuners, my local cable office only had the single stream cards available. That meant TWO cards for each machine. The installer went through his entire stack of 20 cards before he found four that worked properly. The big hangup was with the premium channels for some reason. It literally took him almost three hours of trying, with several calls to his tech support office. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call Massachusetts about a marriage license....

What is great about this machine is its potential to be more. Just added Netflix streaming service. I'm hoping network sites aren't far off. It is VERY easy to use once it is set up. Pairing up Cable card is difficult, but that is mostly the growing pains of the cable company. My techno challenged wife, loves it. She even programs recordings while at work, great feature. We have two and are able to network and transfer recordings, GREAT feature. If you want to get the digital channels your cable company is offering and don't want their equipment, this is the way to go. Pay for the lifetime service best value, they give discounts for multiple units

Tivo has changed my life (although that could be a bad thing). It makes it so easy to record whatever I want whenever I want. I have so many things recorded already that I don't know if I'll ever have time to watch everything. The great thing is I can have the entire season of The Office and The Shield and I won't have to buy the dvd if I don't want to. It is great for anyone who wants to have a life and watch their shows when they feel like it.

I have been a Tivo Series 2 owner for years. The box we originally bought is still alive and kicking. We decided to stick with Tivo and get a series 3 DVR (HD XL), and have had nothing but problems with it. Shortly after buying the Tivo HD XL from Bestbuy, we started to have intermittent problems with the box not responding. Apparently, the infrared sensor for the remote inside the box stops working. We called Tivo, and found out the hard way our warranty had expired 2 days prior. (90 days) We paid a $50.00 exchange fee, and the same thing has occurred again with the replacement. Unfortunately, the newer HD models are not up to a high quality standard, and are prone to problems. I love the Tivo service, but cannot recommend the HD XL, as it is not a reliable product according to our experience.

Brighthouse Networks charges $69 PER cable card for installation, and they need a "Switched Digital Video Tuner", whatever that is, to get some of the paid channels, like NHL. They don't understand that when you set it up, requiring a second installation appointment, which they will miss, requiring a third. They also try to tell you that you don't get the wonderful digital features their disorganized mess of a DVR would provide. The ability to stream Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon, etc. saves me more money than having pay per view movies. I can play music off my iTunes and photos from iPhoto on my large TV. I couldn't be happier. And my 5 year old can find his own shows and restart them. He still can't do that on the Verizon DVR at his mom's house.

I am a big fan of TIVO, so when Ii purchased a plasma tv I decided to upgrade to this TIVO HD tuner/recorder. Unfortunately it continues to lock up about every 2 weeks which requires a restart every time. This is not a cheap unit and it appears TIVO is aware of the problem and not choosing to stand behind its product. The problem did not occur until after the 4th month...too late to return the unit. And having had a previous excellent experience I purchased the lifetime TIVO service with this unit. Unfortuately lifetime service applies to the product lifetime and if this unit poops out, I am out a considerable amount of money. I am getting another plasma but I am sorry to say I will not purchase another HD TIVO due to the issues with this one, which upsets me because I love TIVO...just not this unit. Not only does this unit lock up every couple weeks, it runs very hot and is quite noisy. I would venture to say it is using considerable electricity and is not cheap to run. I would suggest caution when purchasing this HD recorder unless TIVO has come out with an upgrade and fixed the unit. Quality control and customer service are sorely lacking at TIVO. It's unfortunate in these days of degrading business that TIVO is doing themselves such harm. I suspect I will be going with the ATT or Verizon services in the future and pitching out the 2 TIVOS I now own.

The shipping was fast and product was in perfect condition. The user interface is better compared to other DVR products. Set up has been tough, mostly due to difficulties with Comcast. They had to come out and "install a chip". That was last week, not all HD channels are available yet. Another chip may be needed. Another visit is required by Comcast. I feel my chain being yanked here. A great product. Don't plan on a speedy set up.

I owned a LG PVR which had no subscription fees and I also used a Timer Warners DVR before my LG. I purchased my first TiVo two days ago cause my LG PVR crashed and LG no longer makes them . Compared to this TiVo the other two were much better units . First of all the HD TiVo unit I purchase to watch HD shows on my HD TV will not pick up my HD channels under "guide setup" unless I actually make the system search for those additional channels. And when I do that it ends up finding them but does not show any information under the Guide as to what is coming on those channels . All it shows is "To Be Announced". So I have to go all the way to the Tivo Central Screen and scroll throught 8 different options just to get to where I can set up a reoccuring recording for that HD channel at a specific time which you shouldn't have to do had they designed this correctly. See, you have the option of setting up a recording as a "Season Pass" or just individual showing when you press the record button. Which wouldn't be bad if it would let you set a Season Pass for the time you want the show recoreded. For Example. If I have two shows recording at the same time but there is a third show I want to watch that is on then and at a later time. I cant just go the the later showing and set up a "Season Pass" if I am wanting it to record every day at that time, I have to instead go to TiVo Central and again scroll what seems like for days to find the option to set up a Manuall Recording which will allow me to record that one program and by the way since my HD channel only shows "To Be Announced " I also have to set manual recordings for those stations as well. Oh ya and if you dont specify that you want to keep the program until you delet it then it is set to delete the show within like a day, even if you set it to only delete when the system needs speace it will still delete it regardless of space unless you set "Until I delete". Also, you cant just hit info to see all the info like when the original air date was like my past DVR's did, you again have to chosse the record option to view more info and then choose wether or not you want to record a specific show. Which brings me to the "Info" button which does not always bring up the info of the show you are watching. For example if you are on the "Guide" and hit the info button on a show you want to see the information about you instead of pulling up the shows info it pulls up the Options menu for the Guide instead of the information of the show. The double tuner on this unit alos cause you to sometime switch channels when you are watching something else. Let me give an example. Say you are watching something that is live and you decided to scroll through the guide to see what is on and you find something you want to record. Well if you dont want your current channel to change you have to switch to the other tuner and then select record. Otherwise you will change the current channel you are watching and hopefully you remember what channel your show was on to turn back to it on the other tuner.SIMPLE this thing is not. I am very technically inclined and it has still taken me three days to set this thing up correctly. The only reason I can see for people liking this thing is that they never experienced the ease of other units. TiVo seems to be focusing too much on adding Additional Features to their already overpriced service then consitrating more on Ease of Use . I mean lets look at the overall price of this thing. For instacne If you wanted the top of the line DVR from TiVo their going to charge about $600 after taxes and depending on the service plan you choose could run any where from a monthly fee of $12 to a one time fee of $400 for the life of the product so over all you are going to be spending around $1000 just to be able to watch t.v. without commercials. Really I rather just go back to using a VCR like back in the day. Oh ya and if you ever loose power hope you dont have a show coming on within the next 30min cause it takes that long just to turn it back on after a power failure. I could continue but, PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND BUY SOMETHING ELSE.