Why would I want to buy tivo or the like,instead of a DVD recorder with 160GB hard drive?

Question

I'm wondering what the difference between the two are? And what are the advantages of one over the other?

Answer 1

A Tivo has a lot of services that a DVD/HDD recorder doesn't have. You have to program a DVD/HDD recorder like you would a VCR.

Examples using specific shows:

It has a very detailed program listings/EPG going out about 2 weeks. For example, if an episode of Star Trek OS is airing at 2am in 10 days, the Tivo can tell you the details right down to the date it originally aired in 1967. If you tell it to record all episodes of Star Trek OS, it will automatically record every episode that comes up regardless of when it is.

You  can tell it to record every first run of a "Medium". It will then record every new episode while ignoring reruns. If the network shifts the time an episode airs at, the Tivo automatically records it at the new time.

Say there is  a big Miley Cyrus fan in the house who doesn't  want to miss any interviews she gives. Just tell your Tivo and it will record any show where her name shows up in the show's description.

If you have high speed Internet, the Tivo can download movies, podcasts, videos, home videos, etc for you to watch later. For example, you can tell it to download DL.TV every week and it will just show up on your Tivo.

It's possible to link a Tivo to your computer and share recordings with other Tivos you own.

Basically Tivo is far superior to a plain DVD/HDD recorder. The question is, is it worth the monthly fee they charge? A Tivo will not work without Tivo service.

Answer 2

its pretty much answered there, however you can infact still use a tivo without the tivo service, you just get reduced features and have to manually schedule recordings and such so a tivo with out tivo service is pretty much just like a dvd recorder with HDD but without the ability to burn to dvd.

However with a HDD/ DVD recorder you can always burn the tv shows onto a disc to free up space, Tivo only has a limited capacity unless you put in a bigger hard drive. and its more harder to burn stuff of a tivo than a dvd recorder.

Answer 3

WIth Tivo or another service, you can view the menu for upcoming shows and just push one button and you have set a recording without entering any start-stop times at all.  A DVR will change the way you view TV, because it is ALWAYS recording into a buffer that lets you pause live programming or back it up in case you missed something.  I don't think your DVD recorder will do this.