TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder
by TiVo
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List Price: Our Price: $39.98 You Save: $210.01 (84%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder
Customer Review: Works with Time Warner in San Fernando Valley
Summary: 5 Stars
We were DirecTV subscribers for over 9 years and had a series 2 Tivo for the last few years before we switched to cable. So we had familiarity with Tivo products (although the DirecTV version of Tivo lacked many of the TivoHD's features such as: High Definition video, playing Netflix videos, amazon.com video on demand, home networking support, etc.).
After several months reading reviews and forums related to using Tivo products with CableCARDs and the other necessary hardware required to work with switched digital cable I was convinced that the TivoHD would be compatible with our cable company - Time Warner in Encino, CA. I purchased a TivoHD and began using it with the over-the-air antenna and home network connection. I was pleased with the picture quality and the familiar Tivo interface. I also really enjoyed the new features mentioned above.
Our first two schedule installation appointments with Time Warner did not go well. The technicians did not bring either the CableCARD or tuning adapter so those installs failed and I wasted several hours waiting around the house. The third install appointment went ok. The install remembered the CableCARD but not the tuning adapter. Time Warner does not allow users to install the CableCARD themselves because there is an authorization process involved. The technician who came to do my install with the CableCARD had no clue how to install it but the directions included with the TivoHD were clear and I ended up installing the card (a multistream CableCARD) while he called the office to initiate the authorization. The card was quickly authorized and video was displayed for several channels. Even without the tuning adapter we were able to view most of the channels in my subscription with the exception of many HD channels.
Time Warner will allow customers in my area to pick up tuning adapters at their stores. The same afternoon as the CableCARD install I went to the Time Warner store in Chattsworth, CA and waited 20 minutes or so to pick up a tuning adapter. When got home with the tuning adapter I got it installed following the instruction on the [...] website. After a couple hiccups (didn't know how to power up the tuning adapter at first) I was receiving all of the channels in my subscription.
The tuning adapter has some latency. Sometimes there may be a delay of a few seconds when changing channels. This is not typical for every time I change the channel but it happens.
I had ended my Nelflix subscription a few years back so I haven't tested streaming Netflix yet. I have rented a few movies from amazon.com. With our TivoHD connected to our home network we can download HD movies in about 25% longer than the the movies play length. Standard def movies have downloaded faster than the play time.
One complaint so far is not really a fault of Tivo. The Tivo desktop software claims to have the ability to transfer shows to your computer. While technically this is true there should be a huge footnote placed on those claims. And that is that most of the shows recorded by the Tivo are copy protected and cannot be transferred to a computer. I guess with DRM I don't really own the shows that I paid for and cannot copy them under fair use to my computer for backup.
Other than the stupid DRM issue I love this device and give it 5 stars.
Customer Review: Awesome - especially w/Unbox feature
Summary: 5 Stars
Update after 6-months: Was just talking about the Tivo last night and we both commented on wondering why we waited so long to get one. This comment was during watching a show, we decided to watch a movie instead so I went to Amazon and found a movie to download, she hit the record button on the show to finish later and we started watching the movie as it downloaded.
We've also learned the unit will record two programs at once as well as start recording automatically shows that you watch so if you get halfway through the show and decide you want to record it, just hit the record button and you have it from the beginning.
Also, being able to configure shows to record from the website is great or even start downloading Unbox movies when you are away (such as at work). When someone comes into your cubiffice and says "you really need to check out this show or that move", you just goto Amazon or Tivo and set it up in a couple minutes. Great stuff.
Just picked up a TiVo HD DVR from Amazon and the Wireless G USB adapter. I have had it for a couple of days now and wonder how I have gone this long without a TiVo and why more people don't have them. TiVo simply does a lousy job marketing. I am surprised by all the features and the capability.
Setup couldn't be any easier. If you can brew coffee, you can setup the TiVo with about the same amount of effort.
The bonus? The ability to use Amazon's Unbox with it. I downloaded a few episodes of TV shows and The Transformers movie. Excellent picture and sound quality, plus you can watch whilst downloading.
The TiVo HD is a Series 3. Says so on the box, the unit and in the firmware. The difference? Smaller hard drive (160GB vs 250GB), not THX and the standard remote. Don't lose sleep over THX. It is not worth the money and very few movies use it. And, don't worry about the drive size. You can easily upgrade to a larger size if you are technically savvy OR buy one ready to simply pop in for a few more bucks. I plan to up mine to 1TB, which should be plenty. And, if that runs out, you can add a second or an external.
Note that it takes anywhere from a couple hours to 24-hours to link to your Amazon account to make Unbox work. Also, takes about this amount of time to be able to setup your TiVo to record movies via the web. Yes, that's right, you can login to your TiVo account from anywhere and tell what movies/tv shows/news to record. You can even subscribe to entire seasons. You can also login to Amazon Unbox from work, another state, wherever, purchase/rent a movie or TV show and have it download and be ready to watch when you get home.
There are a number of other unmarketed cool features. I won't bore you, just explore TiVo's site.
Bottom line, get the TiVo HD DVR and Wireless G adapter and have fun.
Did I mention Unbox? Simply awesome - a little pricey on rentals (purchases are fairly priced). Though, the rentals are comparable to satellite or cable video-on-demand and simply great when you are in the mood to watch something, but don't feel like running out.
Customer Review: TiVo changes the way you watch TV
Summary: 5 Stars
I have two TiVo boxes: a series 2 and this one. The series 2 box is analog, and I worry it might not work after the switch to digital. This one I know will work, however, because I have my TiVo connected to two antennas--and not a cable or satellite box--I'm not sure if I'll be able to record two channels at once come February.
So the great things about this TiVo box are:
1. Record all the shows you want automatically and watch them whenever you want. With just two clicks on the remote you call tell your TiVo that you like Ugly Betty, for example, and that you want it to record Ugly Betty whenever it goes on. No more will your schedule revolve around the TV schedule. You watch the shows you want to watch whenever you want to watch them.
2. It temporarily records whatever show you're watching, so you can have an instant replay whenever you want, or you can pause to answer the phone or whatever. No more scheduling breaks around commercials. You can break whenever you want, and you can zoom past those commercials.
3. You can type in keywords that interest you and set the box to just look for programs with those keywords or even automatically record them. For example, if you like Robin Williams, you can have your TiVo automatically record Robin Williams movies or just let you know when they'll be on.
4. There are a lot of extras, like music videos, music, special videos, weather forcasts, games and lots more.
5. If you have a Netflix subscription, you can watch movies in your "Watch Instantly" queue on your TV through your TiVo box. Unfortunately, I've found some movies stream better than others, with the sound coming much later than the picture. Hopefully this will be fixed in the future.
6. You can also purchase or rent Amazon Unboxed movies to watch through your TiVo on your TV.
Aside from the streaming problem mentioned above, we have run into problems with our TiVo box from time to time. There have been times when the machine just got stuck when we selected to see a Netflix movie, and there have been other times we've had to reboot. Some things can take a long time, like exiting your Season Pass Manager after making changes. And there was a time the TiVo box wasn't recording anything because there were too many things in our Season Pass Manager. (It turned out my daughter entered the same program at the same time on four different channels, which is probably what caused the problem).
Yes, it's not perfect, but one of the great things about TiVo is the company is constantly updating the software. Old problems are fixed, and new features are added. In short, TiVo just keeps getting better than better.
One small problem with this box is that the hard drive is a bit small, particularly if you record in HD. We haven't bought a Western Digital WDG1S5000VN 500GB My DVR Expander eSATA yet, but that will be our next step. If I were purchasing this box now, I would probably by the DVR expander with it.
Customer Review: Great way to save money
Summary: 5 Stars
I was tired of playing the specials/promotional period game with my cable company, and when they nearly doubled my monthly bill I canceled everything. I signed up for "naked" DSL for 1/3 of what I'd originally been paying and bought the TiVo and a set of rabbit ears. The annual TiVo charge is less than what I'd been paying each month.
The reason I bought the TiVo is, that while everyone knows it works well with cable, it is also excellent with over-the-air HDTV. I put a set of rabbit ears up in my attic and ran some cable down through the wall. I get about 10 channels in HD and it works great. The TiVo will record two shows at once and you can watch a previously recorded show while it's recording two others. I thought I'd miss cable at first, but there are lots of interesting shows that come on in the middle of the night (on PBS, especially).
If you're considering dumping cable, I'd highly recommend getting a Netflix subscription. There are thousands of on-demand movies and it is lots of stream-able TV shows.
I had a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD HD DVR from my cable company and was constantly frustrated with it because it was hard and unintuitive to use, would cut off the end of shows and record repeats of the same shows over and over. The TiVo is smart, easy to use and never records reruns.
I connected the TiVo to my home network it works pretty well. I previously had an old computer hooked up to my TV and stereo for streaming Netflix movies, streaming music from my computer and listening to internet radio stations. The TiVO can do all of that, but it chokes on large MP3 collections if you try to have it play on shuffle. If you pick a particular artist/folder it is fine.
Another thing that's cool is that, with TiVo Desktop Plus ($25) you can send DRM-free movie files from your computer to the TiVo and watch them on your TV. It works great, though for some reason it likes to squish widescreen video into a 4:3 window. But I just use my TV's zoom feature to fill it back out.
Desktop Plus also has the ability to stream shows to other computers in your house, which would be useful if you wanted to, say, record cartoons and let children watch them in another room. But I found the transfer speeds to be very slow. At first I was using 54 Mbit "G" wireless and was only averaging about 900 KBytes/second, so ran some Ethernet through the wall and connected it to the network via 100 MBit Ethernet and it is still only averaging about 1.5 MB/second. HDTV recordings can be up to 10 gigabytes or so, so transfers take a long time. It can do "auto transfers" after the recording is complete, so I assume that means it can do them in the middle of the night so you don't have to wait. I haven't really used this feature since my TV is considerably larger than my computer monitor.
If it sounds like I'm gushing, I am. I have never been so satisfied with an electronics product. I tried using a PC with Windows Vista Media Center as a DVR and it was so frustrating. The TiVo just works.
Customer Review: Liberating!
Summary: 5 Stars
I first heard of Tivo 8 or 10 years ago and always believed it was an expensive gimmick. Over the years, I have grown to despise Cablevision here in NY - for denying millions the NY Yankees for a whole season - and for constantly raising their rates while arrogantly lowering their service quality. I used their SA 8300 HD DVR for 4 years and grew to like it for mostly conceptual reasons. However, I concluded that for $10 a month plus the $6.50 receiver charge, it was woefully lacking in sensible features. It also routinely failed to record shows that were programmed and required a high degree of management by the user. I finally decided to try an HD Tivo this year. I purchased a standard HD Tivo and, like some other great products, asked myself "Why didn't I do this years ago??" After two visits from Cablevision, including one tech who was a complete incompetent, the cable card was installed and I began using the Tivo. I got the lifetime service subscription and use a wirelsss G adapter. I would advise anyone who makes this purchase to plug in and install the Tivo 2-3 days before your cable company comes to install the card. It will take a day or two for the unit to get firmware upgrades needed for the cable card to function properly. My favorite features are the ability to program your recordings online, the Season Pass feature, and Tivo suggestions. Additionally, Tivo service offers the user the ability to search for programs by keywords, actor, or director. I am completely blown away by the features that merge the DVR with the internet. For those who like cable tv's "on demand" services, fret not: As a Netflix subscriber, I can watch any movies or programs that are available as "Watch Instantly." Though the picture quality is not HD, there are thousands of documentaries and older movies that I can watch when picture quality is not a priority. To summarize, Tivo is a quantum leap over current cable company-issued DVRs. It's like comparing the Model-T Ford to the Starship Enterprise. I will purchase an additional Tivo when the tuning adapter issue is settled. I also use a Western Digital My DVR Expander, for a total capacity of about 93 hours of HD recording capacity. If you're wondering about my total HT setup, I use the Tivo HD with a Sharp Aquos 42 1080P, a Sony Blu-ray 350S, and a Bose Lifestyle V30 HT system. Bottom line, the cable card costs $2 per month, so I don't have to pay Cablevision $14.50 per month. After about 3 years, I am ahead cost wise with the $399 lifetime subscription. Liberate yourself from your arrogant cable company. There are so many better choices out there. Without a doubt, I love this product and will never, ever go back to Cablevision's crappy, expensive equipment. If you watch lots of TV and lead a busy life, the Tivo HD is a fantastic product and a great value. I highly recommend it!!!