I hereby proclaim the greatest invention ever is TiVo.

[x-g.o.p.er]

The wheel? No, it lead to wagons which moved too slow.

Internal combustion engine? Offshoot to make the wheel more efficient, and our environment now sucks.

Television? No, and that falls into the "chicken and egg' realm of logic that I will not tolerate on this thread.

Radio? No, lead to talk radio.

Football? Maybe, a close second.

Feel free to discuss

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Got TiVo a month ago, we really like it too, xgoper. But I'm a bit

worried about it achieving consciousness and taking over the world, or at least our house, a la SKYNET.

[x-g.o.p.er]

7. Worry not, Mayberry

As long as you control the on/off switch to it, and not vice-versa, you have the power!!!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. As long as it's picking shows like "Friends" to tape for me, I'm not too

worried about its brainpower.

[Bridget Burke]

9. The great Fritz Leiber wrote "The Creature From Cleveland Depths"

in 1962. An inventor devised "The Tickler" to remind him when something good would be on TV--since that was such a rare occasion. A Tickler nestled on the user's shoulder & gave a mild shock as a reminder.

Of course, people began adding other important dates/times. Earphones were added. Inspirational messages could be repeated. (All without the benefit of today's miniaturization.)

Eventually, the Ticklers began telling people what to do. They had become sentient. So the original inventor came up with mini-rockets & the Ticklers departed to explore the universe.

[Shine]

2. I have mixed feelings about it, truthfully....and we don't have one

my concern about getting it is that it would create the obvious result of watching too much tv....something I'm not too hip on, philisophically speaking.

that said, I just started a thread complaining about how I completely forgot to watch "24" last night....the ONLY show I do watch. Tivo would've come in handy for that.

Do I buy it for just one damn show? that seems silly to me....

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. I watched very little TV before, I think I'm starting to watch more.. not

good. I think for people who watch moderate to a lot of TV it may decrease their viewing time because of zapping commercials, watching shows when they want to etc.

[x-g.o.p.er]

11. In all seriousness, you watch less TV

It's easy to program, and I never realized how much I was managing my schedule so I could watch a few certain shows. I can fast forward through the commercials, and get on to do other things on my schedule.

[Shine]

23. I'm happy to hear your perspective. Thanks!

:hi:

[DS1]

13. There's more to it than that

It allows you to record shows automatically, you set it to record 24 and it'll grab every episode.

It also allows you to start recording a show, come in the room 20 minutes late, start watching the show and skip through all the commercials real quick and you're done at the regular time ;-)

And it allows you to try new shows they you either wouldn't normally stay up for, bother recording or whatnot. Good for things on Discovery Channel in things of that nature. It'll save it all, and the newer models will even let you burn the shows on to DVD from the same box.

[Shine]

24. I totally get the convenience factor....and esp b/c I hate commercials.

we'll probably end up getting it eventually...just haven't been that motivated, yet! ;)


:hi:
thanks for your perspective!

[LSK]

3. you are wrong, torrent is the greatest invention

:P

[x-g.o.p.er]

5. I know not of what you speak....

Therefore it can't be... :)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. torrent is the way people, er, share "content" via the internet.

[dolo amber]

6. I'm inclined to agree

Shortens the time you have to sit there drooling on yourself in front of the idiot box, plus no annoying commercials. I can see no bad here. :thumbsup:

[x-g.o.p.er]

8. Welcome to the Land of Enlightened!! n/t

[jane_pippin]

14. Here's one thing I dislike about it--though I like the idea of Tivo:

No commercials on Tivo means they're going to make product placement even MORE of a feature in programs so that you folks who have tivo won't be able to avoid advertising all together.

So that means those of us without tivo have the joy of commercials as well as more of those stupid take up half the screen pop-up ads during the show, (You are watching America's Next Top Model--yeah I KNOW! Quit covering up the outfits, dammit!), and more product placement within the shows.

Also, while I'd like having Tivo, I still enjoy a good hunt through the channels to find something ridiculous. I like finding goofy shows and channels, (the real estate channel--comedy goldmine!), and I'm afraid that with tivo I'd loose my awesome skills. ;)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

15. Commercials are still there, you just FF through them. I heard the early

versions had an option to not record commercials, not now though.

[jane_pippin]

17. Right, but advertisers aren't stupid. They know you're not going to

sit through them when you could just fast forward them. I'm tellin' ya--product placement a-go-go is coming soon.

Plus, why would marketers even waste the opportunity to slap some logos in a tv show? If tivo gives them even the justification to do it, they'll do it because they can. I remember reading in some article or another--maybe it was in school--that one of the "best" kinds of marketing is to have a famous personality be seen using your product--hence the leap to product placement. (Which I know is nothing new, but I still think it will become even more widespread as entertainment technology becomes more attuned to what consumers want from it. Advertisers will find their ways around it. It's their job.)

[NYCGirl]

20. No, the early versions did not "not record" commercials. That was the

DVRs from Replay TV. Unfortunately, they were sued out of existence because of it. They were finally saved from complete extinction by another company, but have not been the same since (and I think the function is no longer).

[Puglover]

16. I agree...

I have the Humax Tivo with DVD burner. It's yummie. But what I can't figure out is how to program TIVO to NOT delete a program while I'm on vacation. When I can't physically tell it to keep a program until I delete it.

[NYCGirl]

19. I think the only thing you can do is specify KUID (keep until I delete)

on the programs you want to keep on your Season Passes.

BTW, did you know that there will be an "Undelete" function on the next software update?

http://www.pvrwire.com/2006/01/25/undelete-feature-due-in-tivo-series-2-software-update/



I just got a Humax 80 hour with the DVD burner. It's my second TiVo.

Edited to add: The Now Playing List in the pic that goes with the "undelete" article above is the lamest ever!

[Strong Atheist]

18. Agriculture (long ago), printing press (more recent). nt.

[x-g.o.p.er]

21. You are mistaken

How can you preposterously think such trivial things like food and knowledge are better than TiVo?

Are you even serious? :)

[Strong Atheist]

22. Tivo would not be around with the predecessors I

mentioned....