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PC Mag. reviews Weaknees

PC Magazine does a review of the Weaknees Tivo upgrade and comes away impressed, but not enough to keep the upgrade.

Here's something else I learned during my TiVo experience: I don't love TV enough to want TiVo or the service. If I miss an episode of Friends, I'm not crushed. If I have to watch something for a few moments to figure out what it is, I'm OK with that.

TiVo is a revolution, or at least part of one. Now there are so many PVR/DVR choices, including Media Center PCs, and we're starting to see units that fit as neatly into the home theater environment as the TiVo. Ultimately, all the minor quibbles I have will fade away. I envision a day when my TV will have TiVo capabilities, and I won't need a separate device to time-shift or pick up channel information.

I do think this reviewer has an important point. Most people will be happy enough with less-than-Tivo's-featureset if they don't have to pay the upfront and monthly fees. The cable and satellite providers who are adding PVR features to their boxes and adding a few dollars to the monthly bill will be tough to beat.

For those people who love TV, and want all of the best features and the easiest user-experience will pay for Tivo, but it's clear that that particular market is not nearly as big as Tivo had hoped.

The Real TiVo: A Supercharged Personal Video Recorder That Still Has Flaws [abcnews.go.com]

by Gen Kanai March 1, 2004 in Product Reviews

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