My Life With TiVo - A Feeble Attempt to Explain Why You Might Want One

Monday, October 21, 2002

My friend DaveO (a TiVo owner) told me an interesting story the last time I visited him. The first TiVo he had developed a problem. He called TiVo support, and they determined it was a hard drive controller problem and the unit would have to go back to TiVo for repair. This would take a couple of weeks. DaveO put the phone down and told his wife "Get in the car, we're going to buy a new one."

The TiVo is an interesting thing. Those who don't have one do not understand why they might want it. Those who have one, can't imagine life without it. My friend DaveO is not the only TiVo owner I know of that will go so far as to spend $400 to get a new TiVo rather than do without one for a couple of weeks for repairs.

Conversion to the TiVo faithful is quick. I had of course heard of TiVo, and Replay TV, and the others, and thought they were a cool idea, but I couldn't see myself actually benefiting from one, because I don't watch TV. Then I stayed with DaveO for a week in December last year, and again for Super Bowl weekend this year. I was hooked, and I didn't even own one yet.

I can't imagine not having one. I couldn't imagine not having one only 1 day after it arrived.

Why can't I live without this thing? Let me give you an example: Last night when "ER" came on, I realized that I was pretty hungry, so I went into the kitchen and made myself something to eat. When I came back to the living room and the TV 20 minutes later, I'd missed the first part of ER. So I hit the "RW" button on the TiVo remote, and went back to the beginning of ER. The TiVo was still recording "ER" as it happened, 20 minutes ahead of what I was watching. Because I was effectively 20 minutes behind, I could fast forward through the commercials.

So, exactly what is a TiVo?

"The Industry" refers to it as a "DVR", for "Digital Video Recorder". TiVo calls it a "PVR", for "Personal Video Recorder". A DVR lives in the same spot your VCR does in the grand scheme of watching things on your television. They are basically a VCR-sized box with a computer and TV receiver built in. It records TV shows to a hard drive, and can play them back later. Just like a VCR. Only the recording doesn't go on a tape cassette, but instead onto a computer hard drive. The remote control is just like a VCR remote, with pretty much the same buttons. The TiVo box itself looks kind of like a VCR, it just doesn't have a slot for a tape on the front.

Why you might want one has to do with the extra features the flexibility of the computer/hard drive gives that you don't get with a VHS tape. The TiVo can record one TV show at a time, just like a VCR. It can play one recorded show off the hard drive at a time. It can do both of those things at the same time, but the show it is playing doesn't have to be the same show it is recording. That isn't possible with a VCR using a tape. Tonight, my TiVo was recording an episode of "South Park" while I was watching a "Law & Order" I'd told it to record earlier. You'd need two VCR's to do this without a TiVo.

It is also always recording whatever station you happen to be watching. It records everything from the last time the channel was changed, though it will only keep the last half hour. You can tell it to record a show you are watching if you need more than a half hour. If you are watching a show, and 15 minutes into it, you decide you really want it recorded for later. You push the record button, and just like a VCR, it will start recording. But unlike a VCR, because is has been recording the last half-hour, it will include that in the recording, and you will get the whole show.

You can also tell TiVo that you want to record shows in advance of them being on, just like a VCR. You can record a single show, or a show at a specific time every day/week/whatever, or you can set it up to record every instance of a show on a single station no matter when, or how often, it might be on. Pretty much like a VCR.

The other advantage of TiVo is the Guide. Those who have satellite TV or digital cable will understand why this is good, and basically how it works. Rather than just a scrolling list of what is on each channel for the next 90 minutes, it is an interactive guide, that you can move around in at will. TiVo has roughly 2 weeks of guide in advance, so you can check out what will be on to record. The Guide is updated once a night, when the TiVo dials a local number to download updates.

The real advantage of a DVR is just how easy it is to deal with. No more worrying about having room on a tape, or that a show you haven't watched yet will get recorded over. The TiVo handles this, and can record far more on its disk drive than a single tape ever will, depending on what the capacity of your TiVo actually is. Also, on a VCR, a new recording can not be made when you are watching a previously recorded show. The TiVo can record while it is playing something previously recorded, so this isn't a problem.

I've owned a VCR since I moved to New York, and never once did I record anything to watch later. The hassle was never worth it to me. Rob did while we lived together, but he is much more serious about TV, in the guise of keeping up on popular culture, than I ever will be. For people like Rob who record things to keep forever, the TiVo has a "record to tape" option that plays a show back with all the "pop-up stuff" disabled so that you won't see the guide or something right in the middle of your tape.

I've actually started watching more TV since I got the TiVo. But I do not watch "live" TV any more. I wait for the Tivo to record it, and watch it when I want to. Most of what I like to watch isn't really on when I want to watch it. But now, with TiVo, it is on exactly when I want to watch it.

TV is not a bad thing, if and of itself. What is bad about it is that amount of time that is wasted watching things you don't care to, because nothing you want to watch is playing. Some people just give up on it, and that is fine. But I enjoy the cheap entertainment, and some of what is out there is of exceptional quality.

It is a waste to not use any tool to your advantage. And for TV, a DVR, in the form of my Tivo, is the perfect tool for the job.