October 6, 2000

2:36 PM

Feel like a zombie? - Suck.com's take on Tivo giveawayOkay, so the link's not all that recent, and Dack already made mention of it, but this is just for those who didn't see it before (Plus it's slow today.)

I was a winner, I got my Tivo last week, and love it. It was a 30-hour model, not the 14-hour one advertised. How do all you other winners feel about yours (now that you no longer have to kiss up to Tivo to get them)?
posted by kokogiak (9 comments total)

I love it. It's worked flawlessly for me, and drastically improved my TV experience in the three days I've owned it. I haven't channel surfed once since I got it... It feels less like watching TV and more like renting movies, in its immediacy and convenience.

Sheesh, listen to me! I sound like one of the zombie horde that Suck tried to warn us about.
posted by waxpancake at 3:16 PM on October 6, 2000

My only negative feeling about it - the lag during channel-changing. I've got mine hooked to a DirecTV box and the combined lag (Tivo and DirecTV) can mean as much as 5-6 seconds between pressing a button and an actual channel change. I know, I know, I'm a wuss to complain about minutae like that, but hey, everything else rocks.
posted by kokogiak at 3:25 PM on October 6, 2000

I wrote an essay and I didn't win one! Boy do I fel like a loser. And I feel like more of a schmuck because I keep hearing about the raging crap that people turned in for essays and how they still won.
posted by donkeymon at 4:33 PM on October 6, 2000

I won over a week ago and have yet to receive my unit. When I called TiVo, they stated it can take 2-4 weeks for delivery and that I was welcome to call back if the unit doesnt' show up by then.
posted by gluechunk at 4:51 PM on October 6, 2000

i got mine in less than a week after i put in my receiver code -- it was a 30 hour one as well. i like mine a lot, but i still have to figure out how to watch one thing while recording something else.

and i recorded doctor strangelove! i was so excited.
posted by sugarfish at 6:30 PM on October 6, 2000

"How do all you other winners feel about yours"

Funny you should ask, mine just arrived today.

I found it pretty easy to set up once I figured out that no, I *don't* need to keep the cable box with it. And the "estimated 2-3 hour" and "estimated 50-60 minutes" steps took about an hour and a half combined, which was cool.

I haven't really used it much -- it's on the family TV, not mine -- but I played with it for a short while after setting it up, and it seems pretty damn cool. Especially the built-in TV listings.

I agree with kokogiac about the channel changing lag (though it's only about 1/2 second for me)...it's a minor annoyance, but I'm sure we'll get used to it.

What I really like about it, though, is that when you change channels, it pops up information about what's playing. No more sitting there wondering what this neat show is that you've stumbled upon -- it's right there on the screen!

Since I don't have cable in my room, I'll probably set it up to record any specials that I hear about that I want to see (I'm a sucker for magic shows and the like). But they don't happen often.
posted by CrayDrygu at 7:41 PM on October 6, 2000

I got mine and I'm hooked. I like coming home from work to see what it thought I would like. Last night it taped Facts of Life. Pretty funny. Anyway, I think it's great. I've found I don't wander through the channels as much. I only notice the lag when it's recording something. I'll probably get one for the folks.
posted by iscavenger at 10:50 PM on October 6, 2000

Good advertising strategy, get the consumer to do all of their PR work for them! They're laughing all the way to the bank.Suck got it right for a change! Let's hear it for more useless consumer gizmos!!!
posted by Mr. skullhead at 10:46 AM on October 8, 2000

I received mine and it also is a 30 hour model and it is pretty cool -- almost scarily so. How did it know I wanted to have the whole "Blue" "White" and "Red" trilogy taped off the Independent Film Channel?

Now if only it could enter the number "6" it would be perfect.
posted by norm at 7:46 AM on October 9, 2000