My TiVo

I bought a 40-hour TiVo in February of 2004 and it's great, I can't imagine TV-life without it. When I first got TiVo I only had regular-premium cable since then my cable company has gone digital and the at least 250 more channels have been added. TiVo dealt with this change easily. I canceled my TV Guide subscription because the guide that comes with Tivo is more accurate and simpler to use, recently I started getting TV Guide for free.
The set-up was simple I used a dial-up connection it took about thirty minutes with no problems. I have taken it off the phone line and now use a router to connect to high-speed cable.
At first TiVo starts recording "TiVo recommendations" according to your zip code at least that what I believe since it kept recording Spanish children's programs that I never even knew existed.
That stopped after I started picking my own programs to record.
Now the Pro and Con list, these are my own experiences and may not be typical.

Pros:

1. Never miss an episode: I just put the name of the show and it will record it on any time and channel, I can pick to reord new or repeats, add extra time for longer recordings.
2. Pause live TV: Also rewind I don't ever have to recap a show for anyone who comes in late, I can get a phone call and actually tell them to call back later instead of just leaving a message on the machine.
3. Save to VCR: If I decide I want to keep a show forever I can wait to buy a tape and then save it even months later.
4. Remote Control: It works great and look good.
5. The Future: There plenty of Java apps for new TiVo that actually work and it seems the want to expand beyond just a passive Guide.
6. Not home, no problem: I've set recordings from a computer miles away and got to see the show when I came home.
   

Cons:

1. TiVoToGO: The first two version were highly unstable and still to this day communications between my computer and TiVo goes out on a weekly basis.
2. Four-digits: because my cable box takes four digits and the TiVo only takes three-digits there is a lag time which is annoying.
3. Networks: By this I mean ABC & NBC they now start and end shows at just one minute difference so that two shows can not be recorded at the same time on different channels, TiVo will adjust for the time and record one but cannot then record the other.

Nitpiks:

• In a quiet home you can hear TiVo's fan humming away.
• If you are an insomniac, like me, and just are cruising the stations you occasionally are shut out while TiVo downloads data usually at 2-3am.
• It's too small I now want a 140-hour TiVo with DVD recorder and HDTV tuner.
• Subscription fees are just $12.95 but it should be less.
• Hacking the TiVo still seems a bit scary.
  

I bought this TiVo at three times the price it goes for now but I'm still happy. What I'm not happy with is that I had a $150 rebate that I lost due to the incompetence of the Dell staff. If you have a rebate which is TiVo still offers go purchase your item in person or go to online store that has an actual physical store in your area.
I have many other gadgets I will start to review such as my Dell PC, a Canon camera and my cable company, these will all be things I have owned and used. Hopefully this weekly/monthly review will let you make a decision on your future purchases. they may not all be TV related but I'll try to make some sort of connection even if I have stretch and make six-degrees-of-seperation connections.