What is the difference between dvr's through a cable company and Tivo?

TIVO - A way better interface, lots of features (ie. season pass, 30 sec skip, suggestions that get better over time.

TIVO CONS -- Totally addicting. It is only a matter of time that after buying your first unit you will get another (progressively less fees as well, I guess thats a plus!) Hi MsDrkWaver;

It is going to vary model by model but let me stick to the main points about Tivo.

Pros:

- The Tivo interface is widely regarded as easier to use than most DVR's offered by the cable company.

- Tivo offers Tivo to Go which allows you to transfer your recordings off of the Tivo to a PC/laptop to be watched later or burned to a DVD. For more info on Tivo to Go click here: http://www.tivo.com/1.2.14.asp

Cons:

- Tivo requires a monthly fee starting at $12.95. This is often significantly more expensive than the cable company's DVR.

For most of my customers, I usually recommend Tivo over the DVR provided by our local cable company. If the monthly fees aren't a issue for you than it should be an easy decision! Hope this helps! TiVo uses a phoneline and can be used with basic cable (or even network if you wanted too) and you just tell it what service you get from who - and where - and it looks up what channels you receive. Beyond that TiVo - being an independent company - tries to achieve more than a dvr and occasionally you get some thinks from advertisers like behind the scenes of a certain movie.

Also TiVo has a feature where you give shows up to three "thumbs up" or three "thumbs down" ratings. From this, the TiVo decides recommendations and records random shows for you in a wish list.

Obviously, cable companies vary in their services but it seems to me that overall their dvr's just record what you tell it too record, like an automatic VCR with more storage and a season pass finder.

I hope that helps you!

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