What's up w TIVO?

[Jerry Olexa]

As the holidays approach, I'm thinking of springing for A TIVO for LOML (Of course, I would get some "limited"benefits of recording D. Mark's Shows). What is the deal? I'm no techno whiz but I'm hearing about cable alternatives (We have Comcast). What are advantages and disadvantages of each? Thanks for your input and advice? Jerry (confused buyer)

[Mark Singer]

Good question...I would like to get a system and don't know much about the advantages of each.

[Dan Mages]

The major disadvantages for TIVO are that you have to pay a subscription fee for the service and they use your view and recording habits for marketing research. Comcast does offer it with no subscription fee (if you don't include the box lease cost), but I think they do monitor what is recorded. An advantage with Comcast is that you do not own the equipment, so if something goes wrong, it is their problem. It also eliminates yet another device from your living room.

There is another option that I have been using for the past year. I have an ATI All-In-Wonder TV tuner/video card for my computer. It has a TIVO like service with no fees. There are a few ads in the TV Guide plus software for the TV listings, but it is not much of a hassle. You can also burn your TV shows to a CD or DVD for future watching on your regular TV through the DVD player. You can also connect the computer directly to the TV for watching what you record and using the computer from the couch.

Dan

[Michael Ballent]

All the various boxes out there that are like the Tivo record programs for you to a hard drive. What you need to look for is the amount of programming that can be stored onto the drive. Tivo will let you record things a lower resolution so that you can store more at the expense of the picture. The Dish Network PVR (which I have) does not allow for changing the resolution of the picture so what ever amount they say can be recorded is what you can record. Tivo boxes list the total amount of programming that can be stored at the lowest resolution. I do own or have ever run a Tivo box so I cannot comment on the picure quality at lowest resolution.

From the basics there are all sorts of options available. Recording multiple programs at the same time (requires multiple tuners) dumping the programs to a DVD-R disk, ablility to record HD programming (drastically reduces the amount of programming you can store on your machine).

Before you settle on any machine try to test drive each of the options out there, including the bells and whistles for each machine. Find out how to skip ahead to skip the commercials, Dish Network has a 30 second skip ahead where as Tivo has you fast forward through the commercials. Not sure about the Motorola unit that Comcast has available. Also be aware that they all have a monthly subscription cost associated with them as well. For Dish Network it's $5/month and I assume it's the same for Tivo and the others.

Also make sure that what ever box you end up with, that it is compatible with what ever cable/satellite system you have.

HTH
-Michael

[Alan Tolchinsky]

As the holidays approach, I'm thinking of springing for A TIVO for LOML (Of course, I would get some "limited"benefits of recording D. Mark's Shows). What is the deal? I'm no techno whiz but I'm hearing about cable alternatives (We have Comcast). What are advantages and disadvantages of each? Thanks for your input and advice? Jerry (confused buyer)

Hi Jerry, I've had TIVO with Direct TV for two years now and I don't know how I did with out it. It's the best invention since... well air conditioning. :)

But seriously it can record 40 to 80 hrs. of shows and it's VERY easy to use and record with. It has a list of all the shows you recorded and they are very simple to access. I can go on and on; I just love this thing. And that's the way all the people I talk to about it feel. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have on My set up. I'm no expert; just a very well satisfied owner. Alan in Md.

[Scott Coffelt]

I've briefly looked at TIVO, but not pulled the plug yet. I know Jack Diemer has had his for about 4-5 years. They have different size (hard drive) units, but I believe they are all upgradeable if you need more. I know TIVO at one time offered a lifetime charge, which paid for itself within a couple of years. Not sure if they still have it.

I will probably go with a system from the cable provider when I build my new house. I know TIVO financiallythas been experiencing losses since the providers began offering their own, not sure how that will play out in the long run. With cable I imagine I can cancel the serice if not satisfied, whereas if you buy a TIVO unit you still have to plunk out the $$$'s for the unit.

[Karl Laustrup]

I too, have been looking at TIVO. Never figured out how to record to VCR from new type cable box. From what I gather TIVO is pretty simple. Just pick a program and tell it to record it. I do know that you can get a 40G or 80G recorder and most places have a rebate on the machine of around $100. You can pay monthly [I think it is $12.95] or you can pay one time $199 service fee, at least I think that's the right figure. Obviously one time works out better in the long run, but............
TIVO now has a combo box that will also burn DVD's of what you have recorded. As I recall that would be about 5 bills for the box and the lifetime service, not counting rebate.
They also have DVD recorders that operate much like VCR. I was thinking about that, but decided if I couldn't figure out how to record to VCR I probably wasn't going to figure out how to record to DVD.:o Besides even if I did, I don't think LOML could ever figure it out.
Still trying to figure out what to do........:confused:
Karl

[Perry Schmidt]

I have TiVo and love it! If you have kids, it's a MUST...you actually get to watch a whole TV show :)

Basically I agree w/ most of what has been said so far. If you have Tivo with DirectTv it's $5/month. But if you get the DirectTV box/DVR combo box, you have an 'old' version of TiVo. TiVo is hurting a bit financially, and they get a lot of revenue from DirectTV customers. But the two companies are fighting, DirectTV is coming out w/ their own DVR and the combo DTV/TiVo boxes aren't the latest-greatest Tivo software. So all the features you see w/ 'series 2' tivo DirectTV/TiVo doesn't support. Just be aware that Tivo and DirectTV are having a good old fight and how it turns out in the end - who knows...

Can't speak for other DVR/PVR, but tivo has two boxes - series 1 and series 2. If you get new one it will be series 2. And if you get a 'plain Tivo box' (not a DirectTV/TiVo box) you will have access to the new features of series 2 - ability to network the tivo box, future ability to download the shows to computer, download pictures and music to Tivo box from computer, and they say more is coming. Series 1 boxes doesn't have these features, and are a bit slower (when you select a show to record as an example) but you might be able to pick up a used series 1 box real cheap or almost free.

My favorite things:
- Ability to 'season pass' a show - you tell it to record all 'Wood Works' shows and it will. So I come home and check what was recorded and watch those shows. I hardly ever watch shows now that weren't recorded ahead of time.
- Easily select shows to record. You get a 'grid' of the TV schedule and you literelly just hit a button. That easy. And it will 99% of the time 'adjust' if the show times change. Occationally it will get it wrong if the show doesn't broadcast at the scheduled time, but very rarely. Tivo does a pretty good job of keeping this info up-to-date.
- Fast forward through commercials! Although the rumor is this feature will be getting some changes - Popup ad windows will show up when you fast forward starting March - I heard. Still, it's cut my 'TV time' down by 20%. (e.g. a Wood Works show is exactly 20 minutes long, after you cut out all the commercials. NYW on PBS - 25 minutes. On HGTV - 21 Minutes... :)
- Pause live TV. I initially didn't think this was a big deal. But now I love it. I'm watching a show that's very interesting and I can pause it when the phone rings, or the kids come up and 'ask a question'.
- Rewind live TV. I find myself using this a lot too. Especially during News. I'll hear a story, but miss something about it...no problems, just rewind!

These are the things I really like about it. The thing is with a dedicated computer and a ATI (or other brand) video capture card, you can make a DVR out of a computer. It will be more $$$ for the initial setup, but no monthly fee, and I'm sure there is other flexibility in getting what you want. I'm sure the computer setup works very well with cable, but don't know how well it works with satellite dishes.

As far as cable alternatives - don't know a whole lot about them. From 'rumors from friends' I don't think they have as many features and the menus aren't quite as user friendly. But they seem to be more flexible in the 'multi-room watching' ability - i.e. ability to watch a recorded show in a different room. Can't swear to this. TiVo has this feature in the Series 2 boxes, but I think they charge extra for it.

So yes - they are very nice! A very satified customer.

Perry

[Greg Griswold]

I have Dish Network's PVR - works fine about 30 hours of recording. The new version has 100 hours of recording. They have one version that is dual tuner - you can watch one program and record another - which is available ONLY to new subscribers. They also have a receiver that is dual tuner/100 hour recording time/HDTV receiver. As I don't have a HDTV I'm not going to spring for the new receiver now.

Dish Network owns the equipment, and I just pay a monthly service fee. I'll upgrade my receivers when the dual tuner non HDTV unit becomes available.

Get something with a dual tuner if you can, or set it up as a seperate end point, with the TV on another input. You want to be able to record one and watch another.

Greg

[Curt Harms]

www.replaytv.com. A few years ago SWMBO snagged a Panasonic ShowStopper for $99 including a lifetime subscription to the program guide. I've heard the Replay unit doesn't have as many bells & whistles as TiVo, but it has more features than I use and works well with directTV.

The PC based PVR is interesting from a DVD burning/editing standpoint. One provider is SnapSteam (www.snapsteam.com) I've heard the video quality of the video card systems isn't as good as dedicated units, but I have no personal experience.

Curt

[Jim Becker]

One thing about Tivo...it's been reported recently that they may start to insert ads on the screen while you're fast-forwarding by the ads, as it were...

[Perry Schmidt]

Couple other notes:

ReplayTV: Lots of good features, lots of 'networking' type features. But their 'commercial skip' feature that they really made a big name for isn't offered anymore. Now it's a 30 second skip, which means you have to hit it multiple times. A word of caution though - I looked at a sight that had lots of negative feedback from ReplayTV owners that the HW was very bad. Something to look into more...

DirectTV/Tivo: The big difference between 'regular TiVo' and DirectTV/Tivo is the DTV/TiVo has a dual tuner - so you can watch a show while it's recording another. (Or record two shows at once while watching a third show already recorded.) We actually use this feature a lot. It's VERY nice. A lot of the DVRs don't have this feature - yet. I think some (like Dish) are coming out w/ these units. So something to watch for - dual tuner capability.

Ads: Yes, the 'rumor' is starting in March, because of pressure from networks, TiVo will be doing pop-up ads when you fast forward. If they're doing it, I bet it's just a matter of time before others are doing the same thing.

Perry

[Dan McLaughlin]

We have TIVO (for about 3 or 4 years) - one of the original versions. The newer ones have larger hard drives. We love it and rarerly watch "live" TV - it is easier to fast forward thru the commercials (an hour show can be watched in 45-50 minutes :D ). The two disadvantages - our model cannot burn a DVD so everything I want to save (Norm, David Marks etc) must go to tape. Second, you cannot TIVO one program while watching another one "live" (you can however watch something that you previously TIVOed while TIVOing another program). The current TIVOs also do not do HDTV although I hear that a "future enhancement".

My son has built a PC DVR that he loves. He is still working out some of the bugs but he rarely uses his TIVO now.

[Rich Konopka]

I have had Tivo for 2 years with a life time subscription for the Life of the unit and it is not transferable to a new unit. There is a cost associated with the unit and the monthly fee or life time unit subscription which pays for it self in two years.

I honestly cannot watch TV any other way. It also allows for me to watch TV when I want.

I would look at the cable option only in that they provide the unit for a small fee along with programming. The only thing I can't tell you is how good their menus and program guides are.

[Peter Stahl]

As the holidays approach, I'm thinking of springing for A TIVO for LOML (Of course, I would get some "limited"benefits of recording D. Mark's Shows). What is the deal? I'm no techno whiz but I'm hearing about cable alternatives (We have Comcast). What are advantages and disadvantages of each? Thanks for your input and advice? Jerry (confused buyer)


Jerry,

Comcast now has a DVR Cable Box, I just got mine Friday. I use the HD Cable box and was expecting the Motorola DCT6208 which is a single tuner HD box. When the installer showed up I asked about the Dual tuner box, the DCT6412 and He said that's what He was carrying. You can record 2 programs at a time or watch one and record on the other. Don't know if they have a regular Digital Cable box but you could check the Comcast site. So far I really like the DVR, I used to tape everything on VCR in the bedroom then watch it on the TV in the family room. Much easier with the DVR. The amount of what you can record depends on if it analog, digital or a HD show. Not sure how you can save what's on the DVR, haven't tried that yet.

Pete

[Jerry Olexa]

Good info already! Thanks guys but I want to insert a question before we go too far. My understanding a few years ago when TIVO units 1st became available, you bought your own unit and used it idependently of any cable system, dish, etc. It was like an advanced VCR that You owned w many great features, no commercials, recording options, ease of use, repeatability, etc. Now I am hearing mostly about cable/dish tie-ins w fees and contracts, Can you still go independent and if so,what do you lose? Thanks...

[Scott Coffelt]

Yes, TIVO is independent, but still requires you pay them a fee. It's just really who the fee goes to... cable, dish or Tivo.

[Peter Stahl]

Good info already! Thanks guys but I want to insert a question before we go too far. My understanding a few years ago when TIVO units 1st became available, you bought your own unit and used it idependently of any cable system, dish, etc. It was like an advanced VCR that You owned w many great features, no commercials, recording options, ease of use, repeatability, etc. Now I am hearing mostly about cable/dish tie-ins w fees and contracts, Can you still go independent and if so,what do you lose? Thanks...


Jerry,

With cable I don't think you can use TiVO with the digital channels (>100). Never had a dish so I couldn't say. Just like a VCR, the Tuner in it won't do digital channels. TiVO is just a menu system to make setting up recording easier as far as I know. The Cable Box DVR uses the TV-Guide system that comcast uses. You can record anything to the DVR that you are paying for.

Pete

[Perry Schmidt]

Jerry - the answer to your independent TiVo unit question is...yes and no :)

Sounds like cable is putting the tuner and DVR into the same box. With DirecTV you basically have both options. Here's the differences as I understand them:

DirecTV/Tivo box combined into one: You have two tuners so you can watch a show, record another, or record two and watch an already recorded show. It's $5/month fee, the TiVo actually records the satellite signal, and not a captured MPEG file, so picture quality is a lot better and you get better compression. The cons are that software updates and service is via DirecTV, which aren't supporting any of the series 2 updates (mostly networked TiVo and Home Media Options). DirecTV service and support is very good...their TiVo support isn't nearly as good. Also if you're into TiVo hacking the newer units have an RID (??) chip for security which makes it a bit harder to hack.

OR you can get a DirecTV box and a stand alone TiVo: Pros: Supported by TiVo, has the latest features and as TiVo comes out with more - which they have a lot planned - you'll get them. One that is real interesting coming out 'soon' - TiVo ToGo: the ability to copy a show from the TiVo to your computer across a network as an MPEG file. Service from TiVo is also better. And if you are into hacking your Tivo, these can be hacked a lot easier. Cons: Two physical boxes, cost is the 'standard' $13/month - $8 more than DirecTv/Tivo combo, you only have one tuner so you can only record or watch one show at a time. And the signal is captured as an MPEG, so the picture quality isn't as good.

What's the best option?? Who knows. I have DirecTV/TiVo and really like it. I pipe one of the outputs through a coax to the rest of the house, and one of the 'TVs' is a capture card for my computer. Is does quite a good job of capturing shows and is no worse than dubbing stuff to a VHS Tape time-wise. Picture is a lot better than VHS. And quality isn't quite as good, but plenty good for what I'm dubbing. That could be improved if I put a computer right next to the TiVo and captured the S-Video output. I would love to have the Home Media Options and have the TiVo on the network. But given the cost and losing a tuner - not worth it. Some day I might try to hack it and see if I can get best of both worlds. But it's real low on the to-do list.

As far as I know DirecTV/TiVo is the only Tivo-Combo box. There are other DVR boxes that are combining w/ tuners, but TiVo as far as I know is only combined with DTV. I bet that will change since TiVo and DirecTV are having a spat and starting to part ways.

Hope that helps.

Perry

[Perry Schmidt]

Additional note on last post re: combo boxes.

Rumor has it that TiVo is making a cable/TiVo combo box for HDTV. I guess TiVo approached a number of cable companies to make deals like they have with DirecTv but were turned down by all of them. Well, HDTV Cable is using an open standard for the cable box, so with that TiVo will be able to sell a combo box to HDTV Cable users.

I can't verify these facts nor do I know how accurate they are - it was from a TiVo community website. But the experts on the sites really seem know what's going on, so I'd bet these are more or less accurate.

FYI -

Perry

[Jack Diemer]

I have had tivo since Tivo existed. I too consider it the best invention since air conditioning. I would look hard at the new Tivo Box that has the DVD burner in it. There are many advanced features within the box, but the biggest advantage is that once you become an avid user, you are going to want to keep various programs. Examples being New Yankee Workshop episodes, Good Movies, Best of "Saturday Night Live" episodes, in my case favorite kid movies, christmas classics "Grinch", "Frosty", etc. All these programs can quickly fill up your hard drive. The nice thing about the DVD writer is you can create your own Themed DVDs. ie favorite woodworking shows, comedies, christmas, and save you harddrive for the day to day recording of the shows you want to watch. If you have a laptop or a DVD player, you can now take your Tivo with you on trips by burning stuff on DVD. :D


I recently saw this setup for $199 after rebate which is very reasonable for a component that does so much.

[Rich Konopka]

Jerry,

With cable I don't think you can use TiVO with the digital channels (>100). Never had a dish so I couldn't say. Just like a VCR, the Tuner in it won't do digital channels. TiVO is just a menu system to make setting up recording easier as far as I know. The Cable Box DVR uses the TV-Guide system that comcast uses. You can record anything to the DVR that you are paying for.

Pete
Pete,

That is incorrect. I had digital cable and TIVO supports it. However, it used am infrared transmitter to switch the channels. This was quirky because it would occasionally miss fire and go to the wrong channels. I have Cox and their Digital box is slow when changing channels. Unlike Analog which is very quick I have never had an issue. I ended up bagging Digital cable and stuck with Basic. We do not have DIY on our Digital lineup.





I would look hard at the new Tivo Box that has the DVD burner in it. There are many advanced features within the box, but the biggest advantage is that once you become an avid user, you are going to want to keep various programs. Examples being New Yankee Workshop episodes, Good Movies, Best of "Saturday Night Live" episodes, in my case favorite kid movies, christmas classics "Grinch", "Frosty", etc. All these programs can quickly fill up your hard drive. The nice thing about the DVD writer is you can create your own Themed DVDs. ie favorite woodworking shows, comedies, christmas, and save you harddrive for the day to day recording of the shows you want to watch. If you have a laptop or a DVD player, you can now take your Tivo with you on trips by burning stuff on DVD. :D Jack:

Do you know if it can record more than 1 show to a single DVD?

[Peter Stahl]

[QUOTE=Rich Konopka]Pete,

That is incorrect. I had digital cable and TIVO supports it. However, it used am infrared transmitter to switch the channels. This was quirky because it would occasionally miss fire and go to the wrong channels. I have Cox and their Digital box is slow when changing channels. Unlike Analog which is very quick I have never had an issue. I ended up bagging Digital cable and stuck with Basic. We do not have DIY on our Digital lineup.

Rick,

If it could do digital channels then you wouldn't have to point a infrared transmitter at your cable box so it changes the channels. I can do essentially the same with my VCR, put the VCR on channel 4 then change the channel on the cable box to what I want to record. TiVO just does all this for you making it almost idot proof. TiVO with DVR is just like a VCR or a DVD Recorder. If it could do digital channels then you wouldn't need to hook your cable box to it unless you did want any scrambled channels. Your cable box also has a ethernet card in it so it only works on you cable companies network. You can still get the analog channels (<100) but that will change in a few years when everything goes HD. Not look to start a feud here just want you to know what I was trying to say in my last reply. I was looking into the Panasonic DVD recorder with the hard drive in it and you set it up with the IR transmitter like you said with the TiVO.

Pete

[Jack Diemer]

You can absolutely put more than one show on a DVD. My next door neighbor Mike just put the entire DIY Woodturning basics series (5 shows) on one DVD for me and I don't even think its close to being full.

[Perry Schmidt]

RE: Shows on DVD (Since I just got into this w/ capture card...)

It depends. If you use the best DVD standard resolution on DVDs that can be written to by most DVD drives, you can get about 55 minutes on a DVD. As you notch down the quality of the picture and/or use double layer DVDs, you can get a lot more.

When I capture I try to keep the quality reasonably good, and with that I can get just under 3 hours of video on a single layer DVD. So with that I can get 8 edited Wood Works shows (20 minutes each) on a DVD. This will be better quality than a VHS tape. But of course you can push the quality down so far you can get 20+ hours on a DVD. :) Practially speaking though when you start going beyond 4 hours/single layer DVD I think you really start to get bad quality - worse than a good VHS tape, and noticable IMHO.

So it really depends on what quality you want, and how much you want to pay for blank DVDs. Single layer DVDs today are less than a dollar. Double layer are $10/DVD.

Most (all?) of the DVDs you buy with movies on them are double layer DVDs, so they'll take a lot of high quality picture.

This topic could get WAY to long - check out http://www.digitalfaq.com/ for a good site on DVD resolution and how it translates to analog (VHS, TV, etc...)

I should note this is not using the TiVo/DVD burner boxes. I don't know what resolution they record DVDs at. This is capturing to a computer at whatever resolution I want. TiVo records/stores it's shows at a resolution (352x480) about 1/2 that of the highest quality DVD resolution (720x480). So anything better than what Tivo records at (or about 110 minutes/DVD) is just wasted bits. But there are a LOT of other factors involved...check out the site above if you're really interested.

Perry

[Rich Konopka]

You can absolutely put more than one show on a DVD. My next door neighbor Mike just put the entire DIY Woodturning basics series (5 shows) on one DVD for me and I don't even think its close to being full.
Thanks !!!

[Jerry Olexa]

Thanks Guys. I'm learning much from your in depth and informative input. Please forgive me for one last try at a specific concern in one area: I would like to buy my own Tivo or similar device (you used to be able to do that 2-3 yrs ago) and use it on my own w my TV and schedule and record segments both in the contained hard drive and permanently onto a DVD or another medium without contracting through the cable company. I'm gathering now you more or less have to go through either the cable co (in my case COMCAST) or Tivo or? Guess I'm naiive enough to think I could use it like an old VCR? By the way, Ad blocking to me is a MAJOR feature and I'm hearing its slowly going away. Thanks very much for your comments and patience. Eventually, this "Dumbo" will figure it out! :D :confused:

[Rich Konopka]

Thanks Guys. I'm learning much from your in depth and informative input. Please forgive me for one last try at a specific concern in one area: I would like to buy my own Tivo or similar device (you used to be able to do that 2-3 yrs ago) and use it on my own w my TV and schedule and record segments both in the contained hard drive and permanently onto a DVD or another medium without contracting through the cable company. I'm gathering now you more or less have to go through either the cable co (in my case COMCAST) or Tivo or? Guess I'm naiive enough to think I could use it like an old VCR? By the way, Ad blocking to me is a MAJOR feature and I'm hearing its slowly going away. Thanks very much for your comments and patience. Eventually, this "Dumbo" will figure it out! :D :confused:
There is no such thing as ad blocking. The DVR's still record the commercials but they provide you with the ability to skip over them or scan through them very quickly.

There are machines from Sony and Pioneer that allow you to record without a contract. The big gotcha with these machines is that there the program guide is not good and no easy mechanism for recording shows compared with Tivo, creating favorites, wishlists,searching or browsing a week or more ofthe upcoming shows.

Tivo provides the machine which you purchase upfront and there is a programming fee of $12.95 a month or $299 for lifetime of the machine. The user interface and the programming guide make it worthwhile IMHO.

All I can tell you is that once you have Tivo there is no going back. Try to find someone who has one and spend an hour or two going through it.

Cheers

[Keith Christopher]

I have a TIVO hooked up to my comcast box. The biggest disadvantage is you can only watch the channel you're recording. The directv TIVO is the best way to go perfect integration. I love my TIVO hooked up to my cable box but I miss the directv hookup i used to have soemtimes.

[Peter Stahl]

I have a TIVO hooked up to my comcast box. The biggest disadvantage is you can only watch the channel you're recording. The directv TIVO is the best way to go perfect integration. I love my TIVO hooked up to my cable box but I miss the directv hookup i used to have soemtimes.

Keith,

Did directv charge extra fee for having TiVo? You should be able to use your TiVo with the lower/analog channels with a splitter. But the you have to switch it back later if you want to do digital channels. If your area cable system has them the Motorola DVR cable box with the dual tuner is great. I can record a show and watch another or record 2 shows and watch one that is/was recorded. TiVo w/ DVR attached to a cable box would work like some DVD recorders in that you have to watch what you're recording. TiVo's program guide is supposed to be very good but you have to subscribe like Rick said. Some of the Panasonic DVD recorders are supposed to be able to use the TV Guide system but I hear it does work that well.

Pete

[Randy Meijer]

From a short article in the Dallas morning news of 20 Nov 04.

"TiVo just got a little less attractive for people who hate commercials..... Starting in March, viewers who fast-forward through the commercials will see little billboards pop up on the screen.....the ads will target viewer's tastes and interests....."

The article was only a paragraph long so this is all I know.

[Rich Konopka]

From a short article in the Dallas morning news of 20 Nov 04.

"TiVo just got a little less attractive for people who hate commercials..... Starting in March, viewers who fast-forward through the commercials will see little billboards pop up on the screen.....the ads will target viewer's tastes and interests....."

The article was only a paragraph long so this is all I know.
Thats is what Jim Becker was referring to in earlier in this thread. This concerns me to the point that they are now going to start cluttering up my machine with ads and take up more space????

[John Shuk]

I have TIVO. I love TIVO. There are all kinds of good shows on television...but not when it is convenient to watch for me. When the phone rings I hit pause. When my 3 year old wants to see the same show over and over again. He can. (That is a whole different topic) I switched from Dish Network to get Direct TV because they installed additional receivers for free and Dish would have charged me as an existing customer. I have to say that I preffered DISH Network. The interface was nicer but I never used the TIVO with it. Either way I love TIVO.

[Jerry Olexa]

Sincere THANKS to ALL of you!!! I have learned a lot from your posts! Understand better the tie in w both TIVO and the cable companies. I'll be calling Comcast next week to explore my installation options! Thanks again for your wealth of experience and recos!!