Yay TiVo! A friend of mine turned me onto this lil gadget a while ago and I shunned it for a long while because I figured “Got a VCR, why bother”. That comment alone could get me stoned by the nearest UberGeek, but even so, I defend the comment! At least I would have… but I don’t because I was wrong: TiVo is worth it. Not only from a “pause” live TV bit, but from an ease of recording thing too.

On to the goods – I picked up a Sony DVR-2000 from Half.com. I believe this to be the only place to get it, actually because Sony has pulled a number of the current units to make people want to get TiVo 2.0. Unfortunately, while the current TiVo’s are upgradable, networkable, and hackable, the next generation presents an unknown. So you either wait for 2.0 and take your chances, or scramble for the nearest web site that has a 1.0 unit for sale.

Hook up wise, the thing is a marvel. Yes, I used that word in a sentence seriously. It’s a nexus of cables – I had the cable box coming into the thing via SVideo and it spit out RCA Video for two different outputs. I supports digital audio as well for some other stuff. The Sony was a good choice for me because it can dump a show to a Sony VCR automatically – my entire home theatre system is Sony, so they all like to play together. I’m waiting to come home and find the DVD and Tape deck blushing as a newly born MiniDisk player is running around the room with a pacifier.

As my friend put it, while helping me plan a wiring strategy and after I unloaded the near $600 for the final set up: All of this just to tape the Simpsons.

Homer is well worth it.