I hate television commercials.  Even while I’m watching a favorite show, when the commercial appears I grab the TV’s remote control, switch to picture-in-picture, swap images, and start surfing.   Drives my wife nuts.  Recording our choices on a Super-VHS videocassette provides a good picture in the SP mode and retains the Dolby Surround audio, but unless I want to compromise on picture and audio quality, I’m limited to a recording time of 160 minutes.  And I can fast-scan through commercials only after the recording is done.  And expensive tape heads wear out.  Enter the hard disc recorder. 

A Little About The TiVo

The system is based on a real-time MPEG compression technique.  During recording, program material is processed by a one-pass compression algorithm and stored as a digital bit stream; the digital data is decompressed upon playback.  Hours of recording time are available depending on the degree of compression and impact on quality you’re willing to accept.  Rather than a tape cassette, a hard disk is used to store the program material.  Both Philips and Sony offer TiVo models.  The optional TiVo onscreen programming guide makes selecting a program to record a snap.  Since the hard disk’s heads never make physical contact with the platters, you can record and playback without wearing out the recording medium.  But best of all, you can record and playback simultaneously, even the same program.  Try that with your VCR.

The TiVo is very easy to set up.  A CATV or an over-the-air antenna connection is first.  There is no internal splitter, so unlike the typical VCR, you won’t be able to daisy chain for RF pass-through.  Alternatively, you can leave your CATV cable connected to an existing set top box and connect to the TiVo through stereo audio and either composite or S-Video inputs.  The TiVo is capable of controlling the channel of many set top boxes via either an IR emitter or a serial data output.  Connection to your display may be made in one of two ways.  There’s an RF output that may be set to channel 3 or 4; if you choose this route, all your viewing will be through the TiVo and channel selection will have to be made with the TiVo remote.  More desirable is a direct connection, again using stereo audio and either composite or, preferably, S-Video outputs.  Lastly, if you wish to subscribe to TiVo’s program guide, you must connect the TiVo to a convenient telephone line.  The unit will routinely call out in the middle of the night to download programming information, messages, and software updates (the system automatically upgraded the operating system from version 1.2 to version 1.3 during my evaluation).  The TiVo will surrender the line if you attempt to make an outgoing call while it’s on-line.  Cables for all of the connections you could possibly need are supplied.

Operating controls on the TiVo system unit are non-existent; everything is controlled by the remote.  There’s a very good reason for this.  The TiVo is essentially a personal computer running the Linux operating system.  The remote acts as a wireless keyboard and mouse, sending equivalent of mouse and keyboard commands via IR.  There is no power switch; the very quiet TiVo is always running, so the hard disk is constantly spooling program material (it remains to be seen how this will affect long-term reliability).

I should mention that the program guide is optional and it is purchased after you bring your TiVo home.  Since the system is capable of conventional date and time recording, the guide is not a necessity, but I can recommend it wholeheartedly.  Being able to surf program listings and to select them in a point-and-shoot fashion is simply too convenient to pass up.  The service is available in a number of plans that range from $10 per month to $200 for the lifetime of your TiVo ownership. 

After powering the unit for the first time, it’s necessary to go through a guided setup.  Assuming that you’ve subscribed to the program guide, you’ll be asked to enter information about your location and the nature of the signals you’ll be receiving.  TiVo will then provide the appropriate channel listings.  This is not a perfect process.  For my location in the greater New York reception area and with an antenna connection, TiVo missed channel 25 (which is crystal clear) and included channel 62 (which is unwatchable).  You have the option of removing unwanted channels, but you’re not given the opportunity to add the channels TiVo assumes you cannot receive.  Being able to add channels would be a welcome addition to a future software upgrade.

Once your information is entered, TiVo calls an 800-number and begins the initial download.  Then, after a bit more user interaction, there’s a second call for data followed by a lengthy indexing.  (You’ll be prompted sometime later to select a local telephone number.)  I suggest that you find something else to do; the programming data call and processing will take quite a while.  After TiVo completes its work, the unit is ready for use.  The operating system’s user interface is in the form of nested menus.  Selecting any item causes the text display to scoot off the screen to the right; the next menu then zips into the screen from right to left.  These actions are accompanied by cute little popping sound that (thankfully) can be muted as a user option.  I won’t describe each menu - there are far too many - but I will describe the main menu and a few of the more important submenu options.

On the main menu, “Now Showing” brings you to a list of programs that had been recorded (highlighted with a green bullet) or the program currently being recorded (highlighted with a red bullet).  Regardless of whether you may be recording or not, you may choose any program on that list to view.  It will then start to play immediately.  I might watch an unwatched program from the previous evening first, skipping commercial as I go, as the TiVo records this evening’s selections.  Or I might simply delay my viewing that evening.  Since there are from ten to twelve minutes of commercials per hour, one hour of delay or watching a one-hour recording will usually allow me to skip commercials for the rest of the evening.  The TiVo has three fast scan speeds helpful for avoiding ads.  I found that the second fastest speed is about right; the images move quickly, but I can easily tell the difference between commercials and the program.  When I see the show resume and press, the TiVo cleverly backs up between seven and eight seconds before starting to play.  This captures anything you might have missed during your overshoot.  Nicely done.  If you pause a program or return to the main menu during play, TiVo remembers where you stopped watching and resumes play at that time when you again select that show from the “Now Showing” list.  Another thoughtful design feature.

“Watch Live TV” uses the TiVo as a buffer; there’s about a three-quarter second latency.  Why, you may ask, should you use this mode?  It permits you to press Pause when your mother-in-law or that pesky telemarketer calls.  You’ve interrupted the program, but the TiVo continues to buffer.  When you’re ready to return to the show, press Play, perhaps scanning back a minute or two to remind yourself where you were, and resume viewing.  Now keep in mind that the TiVo only provides a half-hour buffer; so if it’s a long phone call, press the Record button and that show will be recorded in its entirety based on the times in the program guide.  Using all the available space as a buffer would have made more sense; perhaps allowing the user to select the size of the buffer would have been even better.  Either option would be another welcome addition to a future version of the operating system.

“TiVolution Magazine” offers a series of articles that are downloaded as you sleep.  “Network Showcases” highlights specific network offerings.  Think of these screens as the glossy pages at the front of your issue of TV Guide.  “Messages & Setup” is where you’ll find user-specific messages (like a notice of upgrading the operating system) and the area to change user-selected options.

“Pick a Program to Record” brings you to the screen that offers the many ways TiVo can record programs for you.  Here you will have the option of selecting programs by name, by channel, and by time, all from the TiVo program listings.  Think of the program listings as an indexed database supported by a number of queries.  This feature can lull you into a false sense of security.  For example, football games that invariably run beyond their scheduled time slots or news bulletins that extend program start and stop times will not be recorded properly.  TiVo has no way of knowing that program times have changed, so some care is still required.  A more conventional date-time-channel mode, similar to a VCR and independent of the program guide, is also available. 

“TiVo’s Suggestions” is an interesting feature.  Based on your viewing habits and manually entered preferences (there are thumbs up and thumbs down buttons on the remote), TiVo will find similar programs and record them automatically.  This feature requires some tender loving care (and may be turned off as a user option).  My first two recordings were of Andromeda and X-Files.  TiVo then recorded Jerry Springer and Oprah.  But after a while, the TiVo figured out what I like to watch and found some Sci-Fi shows in the middle of the night that I didn’t even know existed (of course, being scheduled for 2:00 in the morning is not a good sign of program quality).  Finally, the “To Do List” contains all the programs scheduled to be recorded but not yet captured.

Selecting a program to record will give you the option of specifying the compression level and how long to keep the recording.  Unfortunately, if you find that your ambitious recording schedule won’t fit on the disk, you cannot go back and edit the recording parameters, like the compression level, to free up disk space.  It would be nice to be able to change the save duration or the scheduled recording quality from Best to High or lower without having to go through the cumbersome process of canceling the recording and scheduling it all over again.  Another improvement for future software releases?

Video Quality: How Does The Unit Look?

Data published elsewhere indicate that TiVo units have the highest available video bandwidths of the hard disk recorders on the market.  I was certainly pleased with my subjective impressions.  Since the TiVo is essentially an NTSC video device intended to time-shift off-the-air or cable broadcasts, I did not evaluate this unit on my home theater’s eight-foot screen.  Instead I connected the unit to a 50-inch 4:3 Toshiba rear projector complete with a Dolby Surround decoder and appropriate power amps and speakers.  At the Best quality level, the picture is indistinguishable from the original and provides 9 hours of recording time on the 30-hour unit.  At the High quality level, the picture is as good as my JVC Super-VHS VCR and provides 14 hours of recording time.  At the Medium quality level, the picture is about as good as my Panasonic VHS VCR and provides 18 hours of recording time.  At the Basic quality level, the picture is noticeably softer than VHS and provides 30 hours of recording time.  But compared to tape, chroma noise is greatly reduced and edge stability is greatly improved.

I noticed only two flaws.  On very rare occasions, perhaps triggered by a noise transient in the transmission, there would be a frame or two of blocking.  And here’s a very odd one.  The yellow skin color found on The Simpsons is marred by visibly subtle vertical stripes.  Switching back and forth between the live broadcast and the TiVo confirmed that this must be an MPEG artifact or a beat frequency between TiVo’s video sample rate and the chroma content.  As I said, very odd.  Other than that, the video was great.

The Audio: How Does The Unit Sound?

Whatever is broadcast gets recorded.  Stereo information with matrixed surround remains intact and is properly decoded upon playback.  Audio bandwidth at the two highest quality levels were indistinguishable on the Toshiba’s admittedly limited speakers.  Since the surround channels are bandlimited to 7 KHz by design, the sound from my two Cambridge SoundWorks surround speakers was consistently fine at any recording quality level.

Moore’s Law

Since the TiVo is a computer and Moore’s Law suggests that computer power will double every eighteen months, we can expect more and more features and capabilities.  Besides the possible improvements I suggested in this review, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if future TiVo models have two tuners, offer picture-in-picture, and record two programs at the same time.  Expect storage capacity to continue to rise; a 60-hour unit has already been announced.

Recall that conventional resolution digital television (DTV) and high definition digital television (HDTV) are each transmitted as an MPEG bit stream, so I’d expect a future TiVo model to have a DTV tuner and record and playback capability in addition to NTSC capability.  HDTV satellite and HDTV cable box recording would also be great.  The TiVo could then act as a universal DTV set top box.  I hope that if TiVo markets such a product, that it would provide both component and RGB-HV video outputs to appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers.  Since the hard disk recorder cannot be used practically for permanent storage, film studios shouldn’t object to time-shifting HDTV motion pictures offered via satellite.  I think this would be a dynamite product.

Underground TiVo

Linux is synonymous with user enhancement, and the TiVo has spawned a fascinating subculture of hackers.  This approach to TiVo ownership should not be taken lightly.  Apply any change to the hardware or the software and kiss your warranty goodbye.  And the risks are high; make a mistake and kiss your TiVo goodbye.  But I admire the ingenuity of this group of tinkerers who regularly share their discoveries on open forums on the Web.

They’ve added enhancements to the operating system, adding features not included in the factory release.  For example, since the TiVo is connected to a phone line, one clever fellow was trying to decode Caller-ID to display onscreen.  That way he could decide whether or not to interrupt his viewing.  (This was not successful, by the way, a hardware/software layer in the modem prevented access to the requisite information.)

The most popular hack is to increase storage capacity.  Most TiVos are delivered with one hard drive, but the system board has two hard drive ports.  The process of increasing capacity is very involved; I’ll summarize.  Hackers open the unpowered TiVo unit, remove the hard drive, connect it to a free drive port within a PC in which the main drive has been disabled, install in the PC a backup hard drive that’s as large or larger than the original TiVo drive, boot the PC with a freeware utility, back up the contents of the TiVo drive to the dedicated spare hard drive, return the original hard drive to the TiVo, remove the backup drive from the PC, re-enable the PC’s main drive, install a large capacity second drive in the TiVo to be held in place with homemade brackets, and (many hours after the process began) power the TiVo.  Once this is done, you cannot easily go back.  Should the new drive fail, you have to restore the original TiVo drive from the backup drive within your PC.  This roll-your-own upgrade takes a great deal of time to complete, but capacities exceeding 100 hours are common. 

To date, TiVo has been remarkably tolerant of these shenanigans.  I can’t help but wonder if these hackers are inspiring future commercial product features.  Of course, any time TiVo wants to put a stop to these unauthorized hacks, they can issue a software update to negate them.  Such is the power and the risk.

Parting Thoughts

I’ve fallen in love with the convenience of the hard disk recorder.  Gone is any hint of time-consuming time-shifting.  Choices are swiftly made, quality is high, and I feel truly in control of my viewing.  If you watch commercial broadcasts, this product is very highly recommended.