Comment by perplex | Hacker News Reader

Comment by perplex | Hacker News Reader

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I’m a fairly new TiVo user and have never experienced any other DVRs. The appeal of TiVo for me is a few things:

- skip mode: while watching certain shows that were previosly recorded(mostly prime time) you can skip commercials at push of a button

- ability to stream or download shows onto mobile device. We download kid shows onto the iPad and they’ll play offline, and you can even delete the original off the TiVo

- ability to manage recordings and setup one pass from mobile device. (One pass is a feature that lets you record all episodes of a particular show)

- user interface: I never used the old interface, and have not used other DVRs, but the latest interface is really nice. I rarely use it to manage recordings but when I do it works quite well.

I’m probably an outlier in that I never had cable my entire life. I recently got cable and watch quite a few shows regularly. I never watch commercials and get to enjoy TV on own own schedule.

Long form TV, like sports, or live shows, and things like the olympics olympics are great to speed through the boring parts and watch what you want.

This is a bit late, but re-reading your post gave me some thoughts.

> skip mode: while watching certain shows that were previosly recorded(mostly prime time) you can skip commercials at push of a button

This to me it's nice, but most DVR's now a days will do the same in 1-3 button presses, which is not the ideal experience, it's an inconvenience that does have a financial value attached to it.

> ability to stream or download shows onto mobile device. We download kid shows onto the iPad and they’ll play offline, and you can even delete the original off the TiVo

This is amazing, and if my dog needed access on his iPad (he's my only roommate, ATM), I'd subscribe just for that.

> ability to manage recordings and setup one pass from mobile device. (One pass is a feature that lets you record all episodes of a particular show)

This one is tempting me in spite of the status of this article.

> I’m probably an outlier in that I never had cable my entire life.

I would say an insanely valuable outlier. You lacked biases of DVR experience, whick is crazy hard to find. Thank you for sharing your viewpoint :)

As a 3 year Tivo subscriber I'd also add to the above list:

- Whole Home DVR. Once you have the main Tivo unit, you simply can add Tivo Mini's to other TV's throughout the house that tie into the main unit. Having access to the same UI and same shows for all TV's is huge for us and guests. It also allows watching a show on one tv, pausing it and then continuing from same spot on another TV.

This feature was actually main reason I decided to switch off our cable provided DVR service for Tivo. The cable company was charging a lot more for this ability because had to rent each box, etc.

- Amazon/YouTube/Hulu apps and MLB.TV app built in. Can watch Amazon prime movies right through Tivo. YouTube. MLB has the best streaming tech of any sport and Tivo has the interface built in. Can watch all games on my TiVo and phone for $25/mo.

I will stick with our Tivo setup + Cable until something more convenient comes out for cutting the cord that has everything I need. Right now nothing does without using multiple devices and hacks.

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