Can you buy a DVR and use it without paying for a service?

Question

What service is a company like Tivo supplying anyway? If you have a DVR can't you just record for free like you would with a VCR?

Answer 1

The service is the guide data which makes the cable TV connnected TIVO work like the cable company DVRs which copied the TIVO like features.

The guide makes it possible for people to select a show instead remembering when it is on and setting a recording for 8:00 PM to last two hours, one hour or 1 hour and 2 minutes.

Answer 2

You can ... TiVo just makes it easy. No more "oh, man, I forgot to set the VCR to record Lost tonight" ... instead, tell TiVo you want a season pass, and it records ALL episodes of Lost for you (and you can even filter it to only record a first showing, no reruns).  Or tell it to record a show on next week but you're not sure when... it knows.  If you've bought the service that downloads your local schedule.

If you want to look everything up yourself and manually set each show you want, sure, you can do that too.  TiVo really shines though when you get the service, makes it very very convenient.

Answer 3

When you buy Tivo without the service, you can still use it to record, but you're essentially recording by time and channel, like a normal VCR.  

The thing I like best from Tivo is I can tell it I like a show, and it will record all timings of the show without me having to look it up.  It's a very smart VCR, and you'd probably like it too if you tried a couple of months.

Hope this helps!