Hughes DIRECTV Satellite Receiver w/ TiVo Series2

This unit is the best thing ever to happen to tele ...

Strengths: Season pass finds and records your programs automatically once set up. Very intuitive and easy to learn.

Weaknesses: Sometimes a little slow when setting up recording. Could use a bigger hard drive.(Bigger hard drive unit is available but costs disproportionately more.)

Summary: This unit is the best thing ever to happen to television. No more channel surfing. No more watching commercials. I set up the programs I like in the Season Pass Manager and it finds and records them. If I see a program I like I punch the record button and it starts recording.

Now I turn on my TV and go to Now Playing List and pick something already recorded that is a program I want to watch.

Great product and great execution.

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I previously had a DVR (digital video recorder) fr ...

Strengths: Beautiful menus and overall is very easy to use. TiVo features make it better than a plain (i.e. w/ manual recording only) DVR.

Weaknesses: Even once program guide is "fully downloaded" after 1-2 days of initial setup, it is much slower when "drawing" itself on the screen when pushing the Guide button, compared to Dish Network's receivers

Summary: I previously had a DVR (digital video recorder) from Dish Network with their service, then I moved to a new house and ordered DirecTV this time to compare.

TiVo specific features such as Season Pass; Wishlist Recording by Keyword or Actor Name; and automatic recording of TiVo suggestions (based on each user's "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" rating of shows made via the remote control) make this unit superior to a regular Dish Network DVR.

These features make it more fun to watch TV when there's "nothing on", because there are often programs of interest ready to watch that TiVo automatically recorded, based on similarity to shows you rated earlier with a "Thumbs Up".

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Excellant unit fora low price. Standalone Tivo pri ...

Strengths: Clear precise program recording.

Weaknesses: Doesn't tell you how long it takes to download progtram guide and why. Couldn't immeadiately record the local channel because download of program guide was not complete.

Summary: Excellant unit fora low price. Standalone Tivo price isn't as cheap as this. Easy to use remote control.. I didn't event have to use the owners manual. Easy installation.

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TiVo claims that it revolutionizes your television ...

Strengths: Two tuners and extremely easy to set up program recording for either "Season Pass" or a one time program

Weaknesses: Does not include the networking or web programming options available with non-DirecTV TiVo.

Summary: 2004-11-08 16:41:53 TiVo claims that it revolutionizes your television viewing and that is definitely true. This DVR lets you record 2 programs at once *and* watch a third pre-recorded program at the same time if you like. The programming options are awesome and every one is easy to use. "Now Playing" presents all your recordings in an easy to manage list and lets you skip though commercials, stop, resume, or save to VCR.

I used the instructions in the manual to switch to the faster TiVo guide layout. I also found some other useful tips --such as the 30-second skip to jump over commercials-- at the online TiVo Community forum.

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This tivo is ridiculous. i now watch all my progra ...

Strengths: revolutionizes how you watch T.V.

Weaknesses: guide is too slow, remote responds slower than standard sattellite recveivers. to get FULL functionality, you MUST add another coaxial cable to the receiver to record TWO programs at a time.

Summary: This tivo is ridiculous. i now watch all my programs on MY time. I never miss a show because of the season pass feature. The tivo suggestions option that records programs suggested by tivo is also a good addition. the only negatives are the slow responding remote and guide but all the positives out weigh the negatives by a wide margin. don't miss out on this product, you'll be kicking yourself in the head wondering why you didn't have it in the past!

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If the menu wasn't painfully slow I would probably ...

Strengths: Two tuner support, being able to record two programs at the same time is a very nice feature.

Weaknesses: VERY VERY slow when going through the menu, No network interface(like the replay has)

Summary: If the menu wasn't painfully slow I would probably be fine with the Tivo, but the menu is just painfully slow and ruins the whole experience. Had i never used a replaytv, I would probably consider this the best thing since sliced bread. This system just can't compare to a Replaytv, their technology is better all around. The only reason to get one of these boxes is either for the ability to record two programs at once or to have one box instead of two, Replay doesn't come with an integrated directv reciever.

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