Philips HDR612 TiVo 60 Hour Digital Video Recorder

• Up to 60 hours of storage capacity
• 8-second instant-replay feature
• Pause, fast-forward, and rewind
• Jump-to-live button on remote
• 4 picture-quality settings

I started out about a year or so ago with a 14 hour Tivo unit and LOVED it. The problem was they lie about capacity... sort of. 14 hours or in the case of the 30 hour unit are really more like 6 hours and 11 hours with the recorder set to record at BEST quality... anything lower and the picture looks bad. I then paid Tivo to send me a new unit that had been upgraded to 3 hours.... Then that was still not enough time with the system set at best quality.

I finally found out I could upgrade the thing myself... so my recomendation is to get the cheapest on that you can and upgrade it. This VOIDS you tivo warrenty but hey we all like to live on the edge right :)

I now have a 117 hour Tivo because the company I used to upgrade my Tivo (http://www.digitalrecorder.tv/) added an 80GB disk and now instead of having to delete my recordings early or being more picky about what I record I can go nuts and record anything and everything. I even saw on one website (http://pvrhack.sonnik.com/tivo/tivoking.htm) a guy who has a 151+ hour Tivo.

Another good website for Tivo upgrade information is http://www.9thtee.com/tivoupgrades.htm. They have parts for sale and directions on how to upgrade your Tivo (The easiest is a 14 hour unit since you just add a "blessed" drive)

happy Tivoing and hack away!

PS If you can't tell I love this thing!

Buy Philips HDR612 TiVo 60 Hour Digital Video Recorder Now

This device has completely changed the way I watch television. Now, whenever I feel like watching TV, I have dozens of my favorite shows ready and waiting, plus occasional new shows TiVo has recommended to me. I never watch live TV anymore unless I want to check the weather or news. No more channel surfing.

That being said, I have been given 3 defective units. The first unit shipped to me would not boot up. I returned this to Amazon (very nice returns process, btw) for a new unit. After 2 months, the tuner on the new unit failed. This one was returned to TiVo, who shipped me a new unit. This third unit had the incorrect software installed on it (the 30-hour-unit software). TiVo tech support helped me correct this issue by having the unit dial in and download the correct software version. So far, there haven't been any problems since then.

On the plus side of all the problems I've had, I can say that TiVo's customer support is excellent, and a pleasure to deal with. I just wish their Quality Assurance was as good.

Even with all the problems, I have still recommended TiVo to my friends and co-workers, and I will continue to do so.

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It's impossible to put into words what TiVo will do for you. To most it seems like a glorified VCR. However, only until you spend some time with TiVo you will truly begin to see how incredibly convenient the product really is. I don't watch any more TV than I used to, I am just better at it. :) Now I really do watch what I want, when I want.

I bought the 14 hour Phillips unit when it first came out and recently performed a "custom upgrade" to 60 hours. The unit has been running flawlessly for well over a year now and I have had no problems. I'm currently running TiVo with a AT&T Digital Cable and a Motorola Cablebox without any compatibility problems (I'm not sure what the other reviewer was doing wrong).

Recently the TiVo operating system was upgraded to Version 2.0.1. This new version addresses the problem of a Season Pass taping shows you don't want and adds many nice features that TiVo users have suggested (keyword search, future program notification, season pass manager, etc).

I'm a TiVo believer.. great product, incredible convenience, can't recommend it enough!

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Tivo totally changes the way one watches TV...as a matter of fact, if basically forces the change upon you. The situation is as follows: if one uses a digital satellite system, such as DirecTV or Dish, then Tivo will not let one watch a program and record a different one at the same time...even if both programs that are coming from over the air antenna signals, such as the local affiliate channels NBC, CBS, etc. This is because the stand-alone models of Tivo don't have a built in DSS decoder, and to prevent confusion, it totally forbids the ability to watch a channel and record another.

This means that if one sets up an extensive recording program i.e. a lot of time slots are reserved for recording, or if Tivo is voluntarily recording a show that it "thinks" one will like, one can't change the channel without stopping the recording. Therefore, the only alternative is to either watch what is being recorded (of course one can rewind to the beginning of the show) or watch something that has been taped before.

Therefore, if one watches a lot of TV, Tivo will constrain one's ability to watch live TV and record shows. Of course, if one has little time to watch TV, then Tivo is a godsend (or a curse? Tivo will definitely increase the time one spends in front of the TV) program the shows that one wants to see, work all day, come back at night and voila, a whole menu of shows to watch. The downside to this is that it inhibits "channel surfing" of course, this can be considered a positive.

Nevertheless, this unit has many merits. It has a very large storage capacity 60 hours at the lowest setting, about 30 hours at good image quality. The interface is easy to learn. Set up is relatively simple.

The downsides are as follows. To actually prepare the unit the first time takes a long time...I left the unit cooking overnight, and it still didn't finish set up until about 10am the next day. This leads to a second problem. The CPU of the Tivo seems to be very slow. Sometimes it will take a long time (a factor of minutes) for it to accept an action, to load a menu list, etc. Furthermore, unlike the Replay, the Tivo does not have a skip 30 seconds function (the magical length of the standard TV commercial), so one has to fast-forward through the commercials. Thankfully, there are three fast-forward speeds, and at the higher speeds, when one presses Play, the unit automatically rewinds a few seconds to take into consideration the reaction time of the average user (which must be better than mine). Finally, the Tivo interface has many static frames, which can be on screen for extended periods of time while one searches for programs, edits the playlist, etc. This can pose a problem for those using rear-projection televisions, because of the danger of burning-in images on to the screen. Of course the people most willing to dish out [lots of money] for a fancy VCR are precisely the people that own large rear projection TVs. Therefore, be extra careful not to spend too much time with static images on the screen, even paused images from "live" TV, or the screen that appears while one is setting up the Tivo for the first time (my recommendation is to turn off the TV while the Tivo is number-crunching the initial set-up, and come back from time to time to see how it is progressing).

All in all, I am pleased with this device, even taking the short-comings into consideration. Also be aware that there is a monthly charge in order to download the Tivo programming, or a flat fee of $200, which is non-refundable. This makes the Tivo as expensive as the Replay units, which offer the guides for free. Of course, Replay is no longer making the units itself (I believe some large electronics firm is currently licesing the technology and has a couple of Replay-compatible devices out). One final note one has to have a telephone jack near the Tivo (or have a free wall outlet to use one of those RCA electrice wire-to-telephone jack units).

I've owned the earlier model for a year now, and I'll never go back to using television without it. Looking forward to the 60-hour unit. TiVo is a huge time-saver! I can't say enough good things about it. Season Pass(TM) relieves you of any worry about missing your favorite shows ever again. I-Preview(TM) makes it a no-brainer to pick shows to record directly from network previews... essential for the new Fall season. TiVo Suggestions(TM) often comes up with some pretty good guesses and automatically captures shows (on unused storage space) you stand a good chance of enjoying.

When people comment that TiVo has changed their television experience for the better, they mean it! If you can only afford one piece of A/V equipment to hook to your TV, this is it!

I only experienced one small non-recurring glitch in the year I've been using it... which is a far better reliability record than I've ever got from a PC or most of my other gear! In my personal experience, TiVo's customer service is 2nd-to-none that I've ever used, and I appreciate that their privacy policy forbids use of my personally identifying information and therefore stands no chance of being misused by any unwelcome 3rd parties. This is only one of the many areas in which TiVo is leading the competition.

Don't just take anyone's word for (or against) it. Try it yourself... make your own decision... you'll be glad you did. Like any piece of electronic gear, there are bound to be a small percentage of folks who are unsatisfied for legitimate reasons. But wouldn't it be better to make the decision yourself and not miss out, than fall pray to gripesters with hidden agendas (i.e., those who advise you to wait for competitive products that don't even exist yet or might never exist)? If you look carefully, you'll even see "negative" reviews by people who have continued their ownership and subscriber experience because they just can't bear to part with it! If that's not testimony to a great product, I don't know what is!