↑↑ Tivo
After suffering through the Explorer 8000 rented through two different cable providers it is a great relief to be using a Tivo again.
When I last used a Tivo (series 1) my biggest complaints were the single tuner and the difficulties changing channels with an IR blaster. Both of those issues are now gone with dual cable card Tivos and the product is that much better because of it.
Besides the far superior user interface there are just nice touches everywhere. What I particularly notice is the rebound effect after fast forwarding where you are sent back a few seconds (the amount depends on the speed of the fast forward) because they know you will overshoot the desired resume point. On the Explorer you always had to do a shuffle of fast forward then back then forward to narrow down to the right spot.
I also greatly appreciate the multiple bookmarks on playback so that I can stop and resume several programs at the same time. The Explorer has one bookmark that is lost after turning it off/on.
The Tivo isn’t perfect though. I still don’t have program guide information on many of my channels after 5 days of being connected. I think there’s a glitch in my box because the documentation says it should only take a day or two.
Nonetheless, all I can say is “Thank you Tivo” for rescuing me from the DVRs of cable companies.
