Congratulations to Dave Morse for winning TiVoBlog.com’s contest. For writing a wonderful essay, Dave will receive a $25 gift cert. to BestBuy as well a TiVo t-shirt. Thanks to everybody who submitted an essay. I really enjoyed reading them!
Here’s Dave’s essay:
With apologies to David Letterman (who I TiVo every weeknight
), here is a list of the top 10 reasons of why TiVo is better than the competition:
10. The “peanut”-shaped remote: It has won design awards from the Consumer Electronics Association, and everyone I know who has a TiVo raves about it. The remote was designed based upon focus group feedback, and as such it’s very easy to use, with color-coded “Thumbs Up” and “Thumbs Down” buttons to rate show preferences, a huge yellow pause button for when you have to step away from the TV, etc. Every button is positioned in a logical place, and the remote itself is quite ergonomic and fits well in anyone’s hand.
9. Online scheduling from the Internet: If you hear about a show you don’t want to miss but you’re not in your house, simply login to the TiVo web site, browse the online TV guide, and schedule it remotely! I have used this feature many times and it works flawlessly.
8. WishLists: This is one of the most underrated (and perhaps underutilized) features of TiVo. The ability to find shows that include your favorite actor/actress, subject, genre, or keyword is extremely powerful. DVRs from the competition can’t touch this.
7. Cost: The cost of standalone TiVos (especially with recent promotions) has dropped dramatically over the past several years. At the time this was written, a 40-hour Series 2 TiVo could be had for $49.99! A build-your-own PVR or Windows MCE PC can’t touch that.
6. “Service-agnostic”: Unlike DVRs from cable or satellite companies that tie you to their service via integrated tuners, standalone TiVo boxes can handle any provider you throw at it, be it cable, and satellite, or just an over-the-air antenna. If you decide to change providers, you can take your TiVo (and all of your preferences and saved shows) with you
5. Music and Photos: The ability to stream MP3s and view slideshows of photographs from networked PCs extends what was originally a DVR into a home entertainment device.
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