I bought the first Tivo when it came out, and bought most of them over the years - currently I use an OTA box to record local TV over the air and stream everything else.

The original Tivo was miles ahead of any other alternative, and it pioneered the ability to skip commercials, which was HUGE at the time. The notion of time-shifting was somewhat new as well, it changed how people watch TV before streaming existed by allowing you to watch it whenever you want.

Other recorders existed at the time, but programming them and setting them up was an enormous pain in the butt, while Tivo had a friendly UI.

Over time, the competition has caught up, and Tivo doesn't have that much value over anyone else. CableTV is on the decline, so there's not too much reason to innovate into a shrinking market.