TiVo TCD540140 Series2 140-Hour Digital Video Recorder

I owned this Tivo for far too long. I have battled with countless inconveniences and my own denial. NO MORE! My nightmare has ended and I have ordered a DVR from my satellite provider which arrives tomorrow.





PROBLEM #1: Won't change channels or changes to the WRONG channel!!!!





The direct line from Tivo to my cable box gave out after 3 months. They provide an infared eye device that you can tape (thats right TAPE!!) over the eye on your cable box to basically trick the thing into changing to the right channel. Sometimes it wont change the channel or will change to the wrong channel. No fun when you get in your comfy chair to watch a show you THOUGHT you were going to watch, only to find your Tivo sent you to the wrong channel for 2 hours.





PROBLEM #2: Must have a landline telephone connection (THIS WAS THE DEAL BREAKER).





This is a hidden problem that pounces on you without notice. The Tivo must contact the mothership periodically to update the channel listings and times. If for some reason it doesnt update...you will get a "To Be Announced" notice on your TV guide. Which means that you might as well not even have that channel. Your favorite TV shows wont get recorded because Tivo doesnt know they are even on!!! This is a problem you have absolutely NO control over. If Tivo cant talk over the phone line for whatever reason....you're screwed. This did it for me. The dang thing couldn't communicate over the phone and I lost ALL of my channel lineups for weeks to come. That means the Tivo will just sit there and record nothing even if the show you want is playing.





PROBLEM #3: Forced commercials





So there you are...watching your show minding your own business when Tivo wants to change the channel to receive "Enhanced Content". Whoa that sounds important, I guess I should let it change the channel right? Well, welcome to a few hours of infomercials. Yep thats right, Enhanced Content is infomercials. If you are up at 2am, then you can override the Tivo to watch something else, but while you sleep, guess what your Tivo is doing? Bringing video junk mail to your fingertips.





PROBLEM #4: Failure to record.





After depending on a Tivo for a while, you begin to forget when your favorite shows come on. Thereby forgetting when its due to be recorded. Should you discover one of your favorite shows didn't record, you can do research on "Recording History" to find out what happened. A few times (not too often) the Tivo JUST DIDN'T RECORD IT!!! No reason given.





Do yourself a favor, skip this albatross and get a DVR from your cable or satellite company. It may cost a few bucks a month, but you are paying for peace of mind. It wont be long before this Tivo goes the way of the Beta-max, the 8 trach and Blockbuster Video stores.TiVo TCD540140 Series2 140-Hour Digital Video Recorder