TiVo

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So I’ve decided to get a TiVo.

Viral marketing really works. When Matt and I watch TV, it’s usually at his place, and Matt is basically Mr. TiVo. I’d previously decided I didn’t need something like this, because I don’t watch that much TV, but I’ve become so used to it at Matt’s place that now I need one.

The last straw happened this weekend. Matt was at my place on Saturday night, and we decided to stay in and watch some junk-food TV. I opened my copy of the weekly New York Times television schedule, which is printed on paper. We decided to watch a rerun of the Facts of Life Reunion movie, followed by another made-for-TV movie called I Want to Marry Ryan Banks, starring Jason Priestley, Emma Caulfield and Bradley Cooper. I had never seen Bradley Cooper before, but Matt turned me on to his delectableness. The movie itself, a parody of a reality TV show, was entertaining enough. But the movie ended at midnight, and “Saturday Night Live” started at 11:30, so I had to turn on the VCR and tape the last half-hour of “Ryan Banks.” If I’d had TiVo, we could have just watched the rest of the movie and then started watching SNL from the beginning.

On top of that, when I watch TV at home now, it just feels so primitive after Matt’s TiVo. TiVo’s just too damn cool not to have. I checked out a comparison chart of TiVo and ReplayTV, and I’ve still decided I want TiVo.

Unfortunately, my apartment has only one working telephone jack, which TiVo needs to use in order to download information every night. So yesterday Matt and I tried to fix one of the broken jacks. We went to Radio Shack and got a new one. Later, by myself, I tried to get it working, but I couldn’t. So my choices are:

1) Wait for Matt to come over and try to fix it.
2) Get a wireless phone jack, about fifty bucks.
3) Get a really long phone cord and run it from my bedroom to my living room, up and around walls, etc.

I’m not sure which option I’ll choose (perhaps option 3 until Matt comes over to implement option 1), but either way I’m really excited.

The viral marketing has infected me, and I’m buying a TiVo.

13 thoughts on “TiVo”

  1. Unless I misunderstand you, you would not have been able to watch both shows as you said. TiVo cannot help you watch two things that are airing at the same time.

    I love it too, but don’t start thinking it’s magic.

  5. I wonder if the next generation of TiVO will indeed be able to record two programs that air at the same time and/or allow you to watch one thing and record another. That’s what we need.

    Because if there are two things I want to be sure not to miss in a week, by God, they will be scheduled to air at the exact same time.

    It’s Jere’s Law.

  6. You can get a usb ethernet adapter and hook the tivo up to your network. That way you don’t need to mess with your phone line.

  7. i use a dvr from time-warner-cable that i rent for 7 bucks a month. now, dont get me wrong, i hate time-warner cable….haha. but, much like tivo users, i have been converted. oh, i can dvr one channel as i watch another. hmm, i can watch an already dvr’d show while i dvr 2 more, at the same time. i kid u not.

  8. I understand what you mean about regular TV seeming so primative. When I watch a non-TiVo TV I feel all weird not being able to pause the TV or fast forward through commercials. It’s totally addictive. Have fun!

    BTW: Not sure how it is with just TiVo, but I have the TiVo/DirecTV receiver, and I only have to deal with it making a phone call about once a month – but it gets most of the info from the satellite.

  9. With the DirecTV TiVo and a dual-LNB dish, you can indeed record two separate programs at the same time; record one while watching another in the “pausing live TV” mode; or even record two channels while watching a previously TiVoed program. And the integrated satellite receiver/PVR means that the signal is recorded directly in its digital form, rather than being converted to analog and back to digital. Satellite TV and TiVo alone are cool, but the combination in the integrated DirecTV/TiVo receiver/PVR is better than sex.

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