TiVo was recently brought to Canada to offer competition to the DVR and PVR’s that are being sold here. One key difference though is they don’t offer an HD box and they aren’t planning to. There’s about as much forward-thinking there as George Bush’s policy’s. The reason is because no Canadian cable company offers the CableCard that is used in the HD versions of TiVo. So bringing the HD version from the U.S. is out of the question.
TiVo has many advantages over the regular DVR’s offered by Bell, Rogers, and other cable providers including the ability to play your recorded content on your other multimedia devices such as PC, laptop, PSP, iPod, etc. You’ll need the optional Wireless network adapter like what the Xbox 360 has but for half the price (TiVo’s adapter costs $59.99). It comes at a cost though with a subscription fee needed to run the service but remember it’s an add-on to your cable service as it works with the feed from your cable, not replacing it. A DVR on the other hand replaces your regular cable set top box and combines both the recording and LiveTV functions making everything very easy to use.
If you have a non-HDTV or don’t subscribe to the HDTV channels because of the limited choices then this is a perfect add-on to your cable box. Don’t even think about downgrading though and instead opt for the HD DVR’s offered by your cable provider. If you are still skeptical about needing to record TV then take it from my grandparents. They are both around 80 years old and refused to buy it until we forced it upon them. Now they can’t thank us enough as it had made life easier on them because they don’t have to schedule time to watch their two favourite shows. The shows now work around them and that’s the whole beauty of these recording devices. It transforms your TV viewing experience and habits. You won’t believe how much control you now have over how you watch TV and if you don’t have something then you are truly missing out on something.
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