The Clicker: Which DVR should I buy?

By Peter Rojas

posted April 7th 2005 4:05PM

Every Thursday Stephen Speicher contributes The Clicker, a weekly column on television and technology:

It was the Spring of 1999. I was a mere 9 months away from partying like it was, in fact, 1999. Silicon Valley was booming. The Internet bubble was years away from bursting. Life was good. There wasn't a care in the world. Wait! I take that back. There was something that was driving me nuts.

You see — I had recently been placed on two very important waiting lists. No, I wasn't waiting to hear from Stanford and Harvard. Nor did the fates of my kidneys and liver await their destinies. I'm talking about two REALLY important waiting lists: I was waiting to receive both a ReplayTV and a TiVo.

After reading about Anthony Wood (CEO and Founder of ReplayTV) and his upcoming DVR, the ReplayTV, I knew that this was a product for me. I was a TV addict who worked late and, at times, suffered from bouts of insomnia. The idea that I could have a personal television server stocked with only my shows was just about the best idea in the world.

I immediately ordered a Replay and began dreaming of a day without VCR tapes. I dreamt of freedom. A week later I heard about yet another company that was doing the same thing. My Replay was still over a month away from delivery. Perhaps this other company, TiVo, could get me one quicker. So, I order one of those too. It was now a race.

I checked the status of both orders on a daily basis. Over a month passed and I was beginning to twitch. In the end both the TiVo and the Replay arrived on my doorstop within weeks (if not days) of each other. Over the next couple of months I used both products. While each had its pros and cons, the two products were both remarkable in their ability to change my life. There were expected results such as having something decent to watch at three in the morning. However, more interesting to me was what I called the dinnertime effect. Before my DVR purchase I would rush through dinner. I knew that if I missed the start I would have to wait until the end until my VCR-recorded show would be ready to watch. DVRs changed that. If dinner ended at 8:15, that was just fine.

If the truth be told, I�m not 100% sure that TiVo was the technically better product. Replay seemed a bit crisper and the video signal was cleaner. However, TiVo was just fun to use. I spent a ridiculous amount of time just making my TiVo make sound effects. In the end, it looks like �bloop, bloop, BLOOP� won my heart.

So what�s the point here? Why the nostalgic recap? Well, since the start of �The Clicker� the one question that is asked of me more often than any other is �What DVR should I buy?� This, no doubt, is spurred on by Engadget�s TiVo Deathwatch.

While I�ve been hesitant to recommend any one technology/product, I will say this: whether TiVo is dying or TiVo is living, TiVo isn�t going away. I�m not Joe Namath, and I�m not guaranteeing anything. With that said � chances are a brand new TiVo will be useful for quite some time. The TiVo service will certainly live on.

So, interestingly enough, after 6 years your choices for standalone OEM DVRs are basically the same: TiVo and Replay. And, like before, each has its pros and cons (e.g. TiVo handles show conflicts better and Replay�s commercial skipping is more advanced), and, like before, TiVo is still the sexier pick.

In any case, I will say here what I have replied to those of you who have written � I can only tell you what works for me.

So, which do I use? Neither. I�m a Windows Media Center Edition user. Had you told me that I would be able to live without TiVo three years ago I would have called you a liar. But now it�s true. My TiVo has been replaced and I have Media Center Extenders to thank for that. Before Media Center Extenders it was hard to justify the additional cost of a full-blown computer to do the duties of a set-top box. However, after repurposing some long-in-the-tooth Xboxes with $65 additions, I now have a complete household system: 4 Televisions all with the same pool of content. What�s more � there are no monthly fees and there are no additional prices for the privilege of sharing content from box to box.

Now, that�s not to say that there aren�t some issues with the system. Most notably two tuners, while better than one, certainly aren�t enough for a household. I would hope that the next version of MCE has at least four tuners. I also would have a hard time recommending MCE to anyone who isn�t taking advantage of MCE�s ability to drive displays at high-resolutions (i.e. connecting via DVI) on their main display. Finally, I would be very disappointed if MCE didn�t start to incorporate some form of integrated OpenCable support.

You asked. I answered. If you have other questions or suggestions, write to theclicker@theevilempire.com.

Until next week � save my seat!

WAIT! Stop typing right now! I haven�t forgotten about SnapStream or any of the other computer-based systems. They�re just not ready for primetime. My test is simple: can I hook my mother up with the product and be done with it? If yours can handle the others, I�m darn impressed.

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(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 12:12AM

Neutral

I'm going to try to be constructive here:

In the future, when writing an article like this, it would be helpful if you didn't "bury the lead" under 450 words of irrelevant personal anecdote. It would also be helpful if, like the title suggested, the reader were actually given several options of PVR to consider, with functionality and price points and such, and then perhaps a recommendation or two from you.

Just a suggestion.

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