I love my Tivo. I would rather have Tivo than cable or satellite. Yes, I would give up my zillion programming options, most of my CDs, and quite a few movies in our selection, if I could only have my Tivo. Most people tell me that Tivo doesnt seem like a big help. Im afraid Ill watch more TV, they whine. I must confess, the first month I had Tivo, I watched more TV than ever before. I would sit down and thumb through the movie list, starting with A, and pick movies to Tivo until the box was full. I have now been on Tivo for over two years. Once the thrill subsided, my TV watching slimmed down to about where it was before. However, I no longer watch crap TV. You know, the programs you turn on when the kids are in bed because there is nothing else to watch? Perhaps you thumb back and forth between two or even three shows because neither one of them makes a difference to you. Well, Tivo makes the quality of television change. Yes, the networks put out a lot of crap, but now you dont have to live with it. You can watch only the shows you want to. You no longer have to worry about videotapes or cutting outings short because you can watch your favorite episodes when you get home. With the Season Pass option, it doesnt matter if the show gets bumped to a different day and you dont get the memo. Your beautiful, intelligent Tivo will make the adjustment accordingly. Take that, VCR! The biggest selling-point-thats-not-a-selling-point-cuz-Tivo-would-get-sued, however, is the option to fast forward through the commercials. I am one of those channel flippers; I flip just to avoid the mindless drivel that took even less thought than the shows I watch. If it makes the commercial producers happy, I must confess I do the same thing with my radio. I hate commercials because, frankly, I hate wasting time. Tivo, of course, will never market this because all of the advertisers would die if the consumers knew we didnt have to be subjected to their insanity, but its true. Now, in the defense of the companies, the Tivo fast-forwards clearly enough that you can view snippets of various commercials. Occasionally, my husband and I will stop fast forwarding and actually rewind to catch a glimpse of a commercial or a movie preview. But we get to make the decision. Now, if I have a one-hour show that I want to see ASAP (like a season finale or the shooting of JR), I wait fifteen minutes after the program has started and finish at the same time as the rest of America. But I got to do something else (or watch something else) during that quarter hour. Speaking of efficiency, I am so glad Tivo finally put out a dual-tuner model. Now consumers can record two shows at once, while watching a third show that has already been recorded. I love this! The buffer is also a great must-have tool. The previous 30 minutes of whatever channel you are watching, even if you are not recording it, are saved in digital memory. Thus if you sit down and turn the television on, and your favorite movie in the whole world started twenty minutes prior, you can watch it from the beginning, or even opt to record it. If it started an hour ago, you can follow the cute little prompts to record it the next time it comes on. No Tivo discussion would be complete without a mention of wishlists. You can program your Tivo to automatically record anything on the Tivo that has a keyword, a specific title, contains a specific actor or actress, or was written or directed by a particular person. You want to record every Mel Gibson movie you can find? Great! You can also opt NOT to autorecord these programs and instead scan through the wishlist every two weeks or so to see what is coming up. Should you be one of five people in America who actually uses the television for educational purposes, you can set it to record any show about airplanes, tanks, or the Civil War that you want, just by using the keyword. You dont even have to search the TV guide! The biggest, most important reason for having Tivo, however, is because I have kids. Small ones. Ones that dont go to bed when they are supposed to, that want water and stories and hear scary monsters and sneak down to snack on candy when they think we are busy. Before, my frustration with their actions would grow because (I admit this with shame) they were causing me to miss my favorite show. Now, however, I can pause the show and deal with the lot of them before returning to exactly where I left off even if the show is on right now. As an added bonus, I always have something from PBS on my Tivo so my kids have a selection of entertaining, educational programming to pick from. I dont even have to fast-forward through commercials for those. Like any new toy, Tivo initially begs to be played with. Once you get used to it, however, you can reclaim your time in front of the television as your own. No more settling for late night infomercials. You can watch whatever quality (or lacking in quality) shows your heart desires. Heck, you can record the infomercials if you want! Television programs today have increased in stupidity, but thanks to Tivo, you can watch only the stupidity you want. |
