Humax - DRT800 DVR Review

Is there anyone left who is unfamiliar with Tivo.  In just a few short years Tivo has become so ubiquitous (thank you dictionary.com) that it has taken on verb form.  I'd conjugate it for you, but conjugations in English are just so deathly boring.  No wonder we Americans have such a difficult time with foreign languages, but that will be the subject of a yet to be written Rudi Xeno essay.  Where were we? Oh yeah, Tivo.

 About three years ago, following about two years of serious research on DVR services (Tivo/ReplayTV, ReplayTV/Tivo), I decided not to repeat my earlier Betamax experience (remember?) and decided Tivo looked like the way to go.  So, did I jump right in?  Of course not.  Now that I had studied the subject to death, I was preparing to agonize over what equipment to buy!  It's the Xeno way.

Tivo - the service

Don't worry, I'm not going to make your eyes glaze over with detailed specs and features.  Suffice it to say that Tivo is everything you ever wanted out of your VCR without the blinking clock that always read 12:00.

Tivo is a hardware/software combination that allows you total control over your TV watching.

Watching your favorite weeknight show when the phone rings?  No sweat.  You can freeze live TV for up to 30 minutes while you extricate yourself from that call from your in-laws or that telemarketer from New Dehli.  Or, you can choose to record the rest of the show if you think this might be one of those really long calls.

Is there something on tonight that you just don't want to miss?  A click while looking at the TV listings for that day (like the TV Guide grid) and you're covered.  In fact, with the newest versions you can program your Tivo from anywhere via the internet.  But then I did promise not to make your eyes glaze over.

For series you just have to watch, Tivo gives you the ability to put them on a Season Pass.  If the show is on, Tivo will record it.  Want only first run?  Tell Tivo.  It listens.  No re-runs will clutter your 40, 80, 120,....hour machine.  You'll be able to watch what you want, when you want.

A spooky yet neat feature

Tivo learns.  That's right.  Tivo notices what you watch and when it sees something it thinks you might enjoy on the schedule it will record it and place it in a folder called Tivo Suggestions.  You can find some really interesting shows that you just never or rarely ever watched before.  We were exposed to some of what are now our favorite shows through this feature.  To help Tivo along its learning curve you can vote shows Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down.  But be careful with this feature.  If the Tivo Suggestions folder is crammed with "Girls Gone Wild " infommercials you could have a little explaining to do.

Oh dear, how am I gonna learn this?

Relax, now I can bore the crap out of you right now or reassure you.  Your choice.  I'll make it for you.

If the "technology phobic" Veronica Xeno can do this, anyone OUCH! can!  She has this nasty little habit of silently reading over my shoulder and slapping me on the back of the head.  I hate that!

Really, it comes with great set up instructions. The service is very intuitive and really easy to use.  Everything's right there on the remote. If only VCRs had been this user friendly.

My choice of hardware

I chose the Humax DRT800 DVR/DVD Recorder.  Why?  Because in addition to the 80 hour capacity hard drive, it can also burn DVDs of the programs on the hard drive, so that you can squirrel away these little gems.  Really, if you can get by the commercials, who needs to buy the box set of the season anymore?

You can also make DVDs directly from your camcorder or VCR.  Now that's nice.

So, how much?

The Tivo service costs $12.95/month for your first machine.  If you have more than one, discounts apply to the additional machines.  The hardware?  Deals and rebates abound and change virtually weekly.  I'm reasonably sure that Tivo is almost giving away their boxes these days to get you to sign up for the service.  If not, the cost of hardware can be trivial.  My Humax DRT800, while having a nominal price of $350 2 years ago, cost me about $100 after rebates.  So, for few of us will the cost of the hardware stand in the way.

My Viewpoint

Go ahead.  If you haven't already, you know you want this!  To quote my sister-in-law, "It will change your life!"

Well I'm going to go get caught  up on the "Deadliest Catch" right now.  See you around.

Regards,

Rudi