Reviews about DVRs

vova says "cool is cool" about DISH Network - ViP722 HD-DVR

vova — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:52:05 GMT

Menu system, EPG and recording features
The internal menu system is the single most important design element in a DVR you use every day, and the Dish Network ViP622's interface is superb. It starts with an EPG containing program listings and information on individual shows. We appreciated the choice between three text sizes with or without an inset window that shows what's currently playing. Our favorite was "Extended with Video," which showed seven channels at a time along with the window.

You can create up to four custom favorite-channel listings to complement the three default lists: all channels, all subscribed-to channels, and all HDTV channels. That's a hearty selection when compared to most cable DVRs, which shackle you to one list that often includes innumerable channels you don't even subscribe to. The EPG goes out 10 days and is completely searchable. The search function includes any combination of genres (for example, sports), subgenres (baseball), and keywords (up to 17 characters:...

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igottohaveit says "Where have you been all my life?" about DISH Network - DVR-625 DTV Receiver / 100-Hours Video Recorder

igottohaveit — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:47:58 GMT

I do not work for or have any investment in either Dish or Direct TV stock. This is just my opinion from experience with installation and use of the aforementioned company's equipment.

It is my understanding that in order to actually record and view substance with the Direct TV DVRs' you need to facilitate an additional coax cable. Additionally you will require a separate box for every TV you wish to have as an independent source of viewing.

The only advantage I see from an installers point of view is that Direct TV has the Value of total sports networks where Dish Networks programming additions are global TV from foreign markets.

Dish networks DVRs' require only 1 coax at a DVR location for multiple TV's. Only two would be independent and any others tied two the first two would ghost whatever is on TV 1 or 2. The Ability to watch, record, pause, FF, Rewind or slow motion and ultimately even move recordings to an external hard drive to me fill any need one could have with the exception...

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observing says "Love using my Dish Network-DVR-625 DTV Receiver" about DISH Network - DVR-625 DTV Receiver / 100-Hours Video Recorder

observing — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:37:46 GMT

I love using my Dish Network-DVR -625 DTV Receiver. I've had my Dish Network-DVR-625 DTV Receiver for three years now, and love using it. It is so great to be able to pause live tv. I also like recording my favorite shows and movies. You can set the timer weeks in advance to record a show or special event you want to watch. My grandchildren love recording their favorite shows also. I'm thinking about upgrading to the Dish Network HD DVR. My mother and sister have the Dish Network HD DVR. It enhances their HD channels. They love using their Dish Network HD DVR. They have had theirs since the summer. I'm so use to being about to pause live tv shows. When I'm visiting some of my family and friends that don't have one I make the mistake of thinking they can stop or rewind what we are watching. It is really hard for me to watch a television without a DVR. I babysit with four of my grandchild daily so I find myself having to rewinds shows when I get the chance to watch them. But mostly I record...

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nellslilzer says "Seriously a Godsend!!!" about TiVo - Digital Video Recorder

nellslilzer — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:09:19 GMT

This is the best purchase I have probably ever made in my life! First of all I got it half price from my satellite company for being a member for so long so I suggest to anyone to call their provider so they can see if they too can get a discount! I got this but I got the HD verrsion and I absolutely fell in love from the first moment on and I think this is the best! You can pause, record and fastforward TV shows ...you can pause live TV and rewind- you can store up to 200 hours (on mine, check with yours) and just save it as long as you want until you need to delete for more space, I always have 85 percent or more remaining so I am absolutely stoked with this purchase! I paid about 50 for it myself but I know the HD one usually costs 100 and is only 5 per month more then you were paying before so if you are considering this AWESOME machine, take the plunge it will literally change your entire life!

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housefull7 says "Let your DVR be your video library." about DISH Network - DVR-625 DTV Receiver / 100-Hours Video Recorder

housefull7 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:04:07 GMT

Plain and simple, if you like to tape a lot of programs and don't want the hassles of tapes or dvd's then this DVR is for you. We upgraded our satellite programming to include this particular DVR with Dish Network. I wasn't quite sure if this was going to work out or not since we had previously used a DVD recorder but boy was I wrong. Just the simple fact of not having to fool with DVD's in itself was a huge plus. If you see a program on the guide that you want to record, it only takes a simple push of a button. You can set it up to record the current program once or you can even set it up to record every time that particular program comes on. One of the best things is you can "lock" a recording so that it cannot be erased without a password. The only downside I could say would be the record time. You can go through 100 hours very quickly if taping any type of sports event or movies. Overall this is a great piece of equipment to upgrade to to lighten your load of electronic...

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acgirl88 says "My husband and I have gotten a lot of use out of this." about TiVo - Wireless G USB Adapter

acgirl88 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:57:42 GMT

My husband and I solely use our cell phones and therefore don't have a home phone. This particular is a great option to keep your Tivo updated while not having a home phone line. It doesn't take up any room and can be easily hidden in the back of the TV. We have had problems with our wireless internet connection but that was never due to the adapter. The downside to this product would be it is expensive and it only works with the Tivo system. No other adapter will work with the Tivo system except for this matching Tivo adapter. You have the options of setting it up to update automatically or you can manually update it whenever you are running out of memory. The memory lasts about 2 weeks and can even be unplugged when it isn't updating every 2 weeks. Overall, we have enjoyed all products by Tivo that we own but this has been especially helpful to us due to our lack of home phone line.

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kcooney says "Love it" about - TiVo HD 180-Hours Video Recorder

kcooney — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:08:29 GMT

We love our HD TIVO so far. We actually had their series 2 box and recently upgraded so we could get rid of cable. Some may ask, what does getting TIVO have to do with getting rid of cable. Since this TIVO is capable of pulling over the air channels (serves as a converter box), we were able to drop cable and now get a picture quality that is 100 times better than we were ever getting through cable. We've had it for 2 months so far and are actually impressed with the quantity of shows it can hold. It advertises 180 hours but when recording HD that drops to 20 hours. A misconception we had was that if a show was in HD, we could downgrade the recording quality and save some space on the hard drive. That's not the case. If its presented in HD, it can only record it in HD.

We got the lifetime service and are very excited about it. When we had our series 2 box, we would unhook it and bring it to our vacation home with us. In the process, it fried the hard drive and we were out of luck and had...

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TheBard says "A Stellar DVR Device, So Far " about AT&T U-Verse - AT&T U-Verse Cisco IPN 4320

TheBard — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:20:16 GMT

Bottom-Line: If you are thinking about going with AT&T U-Verse you'll want to request the Cisco IPN-4320 DVR Receiver, you'll be glad you did.

No longer willing to put up with the Dish, we recently had AT&T U-Verse installed (we opted for the HD digital cable service and broadband Internet) and so far the results are spectacular using the AT&T U-Verse Cisco IPN-4320 DVR Receiver!

The 411

The small, silver, Cisco IPN-4320 DVR Receiver provided Total Home DVR offers up to 233 hours of SD, or 65 hours of HD programming on 350GB of storage medium in a surprisingly small package. Oh the marvels of micro-electronics.

The front of the unit is fitted with the usual controls; e.g. power button, menu controls, link (yellow), HD (blue), and Record (red) LED's etc. The back of the unit is rather busy; there you will find an RJ-45 port (for connection to the residential gateway), another USB port, HDMI port, various video and audio ports including S-Video, and power. The USB ports have...

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brlooke says "The TiVo was some of our best money spent!" about TiVo - 80 gig Dual tuner

brlooke — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:32:12 GMT

Many of my friends have recommended that I get a TiVo for the past couple of years. I knew that I would like it but didn't think it would change my life. Boy was I wrong! This purchase was easily one of the best uses of my money EVER. My husband and I recently had a baby and I don't know how we would survive without our TiVo. I am not a casual TV watcher. I have certain shows that I MUST see every single week. The TiVo allows us to play, pause, fast forward, and rewind shows as necessary. It is able to record two shows at one time which is especially useful since most of the shows we watch are on during "primetime" in the evenings so they often overlap with one another.

The TiVo allows you to search for shows to record by title, keywords, time, or channel. My favorite feature of the TiVo is the "season pass". You can pick a show and it will be recorded anytime it comes on TV (even if it is a time you weren't expecting the show to air). Additionally, the TiVo comes with games, video on...

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magnum17x says "First DVR and love it" about DISH Network - DVR-625 DTV Receiver / 100-Hours Video Recorder

magnum17x — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:44:50 GMT

After the digital conversion my vcrs stopped working and I couldn't record anymore. So, I just downloaded all shows I missed, but my harddrive became fun fast, as I watch a lot. So, I decied to get a dvr.

The DVr allows me to record 2 channels and watch one live at the same time. So, I can watch shows but still have to download if a shoiw is on if three others at the same time.

It does save time ands resources as I don't need to use 3 vcrs anymore. The menus are easy to use, and programing is strighforward.

Only complaint is I can't record 4 channels at once, but minor gripe

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rosieposie64 says "cant live without it" about TiVo - Series2 TCD649080 Video Recorder

rosieposie64 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:28:26 GMT

I cannot live without my tive. Working second shift, I usually miss all of my shows at night. i used to depend on a vcr to record all the shows and would have to watch everything that next day so i could record over it and tape more things. Before you knew it, i had multiple tapes I would record on and the image quality would get worse and worse. Tivo stores everything digitally so there is no tape to worry about. The image and sound quality are no different than if you were watching it live. Tivo series 2 is an upgrade from the original in that you can record one show while watching another, You can watch it at your own convenience and you can store alot of hours worth of footage on it. One of the best purchases i ever made. Would recommend it to everyone, so convenient and easy to use

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jsdc2008 says "TiVo...Best Device Ever" about TiVo - Digital Video Recorder

jsdc2008 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:39:11 GMT

Tivo is the best device for recording your favorite shows while you are unable to be at home to watch them or you are just too busy when they come on at the time. It's easy to use. You don't have to be advanced in technology devices in order to understand how to use it. The instructions are easy to understand. I like the way with a simple few clicks of the remote, you can get it to record your favorite shows no matter what time and what day and what channel it comes on. It is well worth the investment to own and use TiVo's services. It's the best out there in my opinion.

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danieldshap says "changed the way i watch tv" about TiVo - Digital Video Recorder

danieldshap — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:13:05 GMT

I discovered this when my life was at its bussiest. i was going to school and working a fultime job and had a girlfriend introduce me to tivo. I was missing all of my favorite shows until tivo entered the picture.Now there are all kinds of copies but i still swear by my tivo. The tivo has so much more to offer than just your cable providers dvr especially if you hook it up to your computer network. I have a tivo in every room and have networked them all together plus can order pizza on my tivo as well as play games, and videos on demand either rent them or own them, the there is the music channel on demand with your tivo. I also have the saying for tivo its my little bloop bloop machine that noise it makes when you do anything is quite addicting and just screams tivo to me. i watch alot of tv on my computer and have also made my tivo useful with this i can pull things off my computer including pictures i have saved and watch them on my tv.

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terryg40 says "TWC DVR - works great! I use it everyday." about TWC DVR - Time Warner Cable DVR

terryg40 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:09:29 GMT

I've been a Time Warner Cable client for a couple of years now but only recently got the DVR. Now I couldn't live without it. I rarely watch tv as it is aired. Instead, I watch my DVR recordings. You can watch and record at the same time - great for those times when you can't decide on one show. Setting up recordings is easy. Just click on the show you want to record, decide whether you want a one-time recording or a series recording, and you are good to go. TWC DVR is definitely worth checking out.

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steinva19 says "Never watch commercials again!" about DISH Network - DVR-625 DTV Receiver / 100-Hours Video Recorder

steinva19 — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:04:02 GMT

I'm reviewing Dish Network - DVR-625 DTV Receiver. I have to say that before I started using a DVR I thought it was neat but not a necessity. Now that i have one I use it all the time! Sometimes I use it to record things that I'm not home for but other times I use it to record shows when I'm watching something else. The best part about it is that I can fast-forward through commercials. i also love that even if I'm not using the DVR to record I can pause, rewind, and fast-forward live television. With DvR you don't have to miss one moment of your favorite TV Shows or movies. I have Two DVRS so I can record 2 shows at once. If I"m doing that, it means that you have to watch what is being recorded on those televisions. What it took me a few months to learn is that if your DVR is recording something and you can't watch a different channel, you can still watch something else that you recorded which is hellpful especially if you're coming home in the middle of a show. You can also watch the...

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judston2 says "The best thing to happen to TV since cable networks" about DISH Network - DVR-625 DTV Receiver / 100-Hours Video Recorder

judston2 — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:12:14 GMT

We got our Dish DVR back in October of 08 and we can't imagine life without it now. I work 3rd shift at a local plant and my shift runs from 8pm to 6am. As you can imagine there is not a lot of time to catch up on my favorite series with a schedule like that. When we got the DVR it was offered as a free upgrade with the dishmover service we used to move our service from our old house to the new. I particually like the fact that I can record one show while watching another. Also being the father of three kids I can tell you that the pause function works great:). So I guess I would have to say that if you are looking for an alternative to the old standby vcr and you don't want to deal with the headaches and different format problems you can run into with dvd recorders then this is the system for you. The ease of use is such that my 4 yo daughter knows exactly how to use it to pause her shows while she runs around the house in a million different directions.

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patsymia says "I don't know how I could do without it - now I don't miss shows!" about TiVo - Series2 TCD649080 Video Recorder

patsymia — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:12:08 GMT

Oh boy. Well first, when you turn it on, Tivo leads you through the set up process in a logical easy fashion. I am fairly tech savvy, and added the wireless option so that Tivo could connect with my wireless router to save a lot of wiring. So, I hooked my cable to Tivo, my Tivo to my TV and also added a Dvd recorder/player with no issues.

I think one of my favorite things about Tivo is how intuitive the controls, remote and even the menus are. I have not had any problems figuring out how to set up recordings, recording quality or making DVDs of shows to watch (much) later. I can easily check to see the recording history or the to do list. Huge plus is season pass - it will find your show to record when the station decides to move the day or time it's shown. Yay! Another big plus, you can individually choose recording quality for programs, so if you are going to DVD it, you can use the high quality versus medium or basic (to save memory). I got mine when I went back to school to...

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khn says "a must have to any tivo user" about TiVo - Wireless G USB Adapter

khn — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:08:38 GMT

What you will need if you want to use this:
1) Wireless Internet Access (Wireless Router and Connection to Internet) within range of your DVR
2) Series 2 DVR (with USB plug)
3) A computer for some of the advanced features

Once you have these two things then using this product is amazingly simple to set up for about 80% of "Lucky People."
1) Plug it In
2) Follow the Instructions
3) Enter your WEP key (alphanumeric or hexadecimal --- alphanumeric is much easier)
4) I had to restart my DVR
5) If you're connecting a computer and using TivoToGo, you have to install the software on your computer...which also has to be connected to the network for your TIVO to see it and for your computer to see your TIVO and you'll need your Media Access Key.

Benefits I received from this product:
1) I don't have to use a phone line to get updates (no dialing)
2) TIVO updates come much faster over Broadband (Faster updates)
3) I bought TIVO to Go Plus --extra $$ from TIVO for the license key that you use with...

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khn says "tivo HD XL is the perfect companion for a tv junkie" about - TiVo HD 180-Hours Video Recorder

khn — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:07:02 GMT

By now the benefits of a DVR are well known, and most people reading this review know about the award-winning Tivo experience - I'll not spend time describing how it all works (but trust me, it's great! - you'll come to hate it when forced to watch 'live' TV without Tivo). If my guess about your knowledge is wrong I'd advise going to the Tivo website and reading all about it.

Instead I'll mention why I paid the extra for the XL Tivo when there are other, cheaper options.

First off this is the fourth DVR I've used (fifth if you count the Tivo Series 2 I bought my parents years ago). My first was a 160-hour ReplayTV (no longer available), and I loved it. As you'd guess when you have 160 hours to play with you have a lot of options. I was first afraid I'd become a TV addict, recording and watching far more TV than I ever did before - and in the first month or so that was basically true. Over time, however, you find your habits change - I eventually grew tired of recording every show ever broadcast,...

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MisterBoffo says "Good but could be better" about DIRECTV Group - HR20-700S DVR

MisterBoffo — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:43:35 GMT

The DirecTV HR20-700S is a good product. It allows you to record 2 channels at once in both regular and HD format. Because it is customized for DirecTV it stays current as more features are added to the service. It is easy to program.

You can only rent the unit. Over the years that adds up to a lot more money you will have to fork out.

The hard drive is big enough for most purposes, but should have been big enough that capacity is never a thought. There's no provision to record or play DVDs in either regular or Blu-Ray format. That would make the unit much more convenient and would help when the hard drive gets full.

Two tuners seem like a lot, but when 3 or 4 good shows are put up against each other in an otherwise crappy week I wish more could be recorded at once.

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