Posts Tagged ‘Cost’
Having previously named Tivo as the greatest invention of the 20th century, personally, I’d say yes.
Many people think that Tivo’s just a way to digitally record TV shows, like a new-age VCR. While that’s true, that’s only part of what Tivo does for you.
Tivo 
changes the way you watch television, and you’ll never be able to survive without it. My wife and I have two Tivo s, and have been faithful subscribers for around four or five years now.
People may claim to have a “Tivo “, when in reality they’re referring to a DVR from either DirecTV or Comcast. This is not a Tivo, by any means. When my wife and I got our first HD television, we made the mistake of getting a Comcast HD DVR. After having Tivo for three years, the Comcast DVR just wasn’t the same. It wasn’t nearly as good, or featureful. I disconnected the Comcast HD DVR after four days, and returned it to Comcast that weekend. When asked why I was returning it, I cited “It’s not a Tivo .”
A few months later, we purchased the Tivo HD Series 3, and haven’t looked back yet. Not only is the Series 3 Tivo the only THX certified DVR on the planet, but in conjunction with the wireless adapter you can transfer HD shows to your computer, and never run out of space (assuming you’ve got space on your computer, of course.) Can you do that with a Comcast DVR? No.
Not only will Tivo let you record shows when you tell it to, but it’ll also automatically record shows for you if you’ve set a season pass, and the time/day has changed. I don’t know about you, but I very rarely go and check TV Guide to see if my favorite show’s been moved. With Tivo , you don’t have to. It just knows.
Hate commercials? Who doesn’t. Got a Tivo ? Problem solved. If you’re watching a live show, simply pause the Tivo for 15 minutes at the start of your one hour program (or 6 and a half minutes for your half hour show.) Then you’ll be able to zip through commercials throughout the entire program, and it’ll end “on time”, so you can move onto the next show. Once you’ve had a Tivo for a while, you’ll be able to perfect this commercial skipping. That alone is worth the monthly fee.
I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first. I had gotten an old Sony Tivo (the original series) years and years ago, as a promotion from a company that I worked for. I wasn’t sold on the idea, so I sold the Tivo on eBay.
Years later, when visiting some of my wife’s family down in New York City, I experienced Tivo first hand, as they had one in their home. Upon returning home, I ordered one that night. Once you’ve tried it, you need to have it. It’s a life changing experience.
I’ve been asked if Tivo is “worth it”, and I answer a resounding “yes.” While people may not like that they’ve got to pay a fee to use the service, and argue that they can get the box from the “cable company” for less, what they don’t realize is, that it’s not that much less on a monthly basis.
Let’s assume you get the standard Tivo , single tuner, non HD. Tivo generally gives these away with a service subscription of one or two years. A two year contract will cost you roughly $12.95 a month. If you were to get the box from Comcast, for example, your costs would be $50 to have them come out and install it for you, and then roughly $7.95 per month, plus taxes.
That’s $145.40 for the first year of service, compared to Tivo ’s $155.40. Is Tivo worth $10 more per year? Yes. The service is far superior to any DVR on the market, despite what you hear on the DirecTV commercial.
Seeing really is believing though, if you have an inkling to get a Tivo, but aren’t 100% sure, go try one. Surely someone you know owns one. If not, most Best Buy stores have a working demo of the HD version in their stores.
If you’re considering going with the one from Comcast or DirecTV, just because it’s “easier”, think twice. If you look up reviews of those boxes from people who own them, you’ll find that the majority of them are negative reviews. While Tivo, on the other hand, are glowingly positive in most cases.
If you’re in the Boston area, I’ll gladly demo my HD (and non-HD) Tivo setup for you. As long as you promise not to rob me.
Great question. I often ask myself the same thing when walking through the DVD aisle at Best Buy.
The answer, actually, is quite simple.
Blu-ray is still a relatively new technology, which was in development for many years at Sony. As you can imagine, years of research and development is costly.
Back in the ’90s when the first DVD player came out, not only were the discs extremely expensive, but the players were.
I remember paying around $1200 for my first DVD player back in 1996. A friend of mine still has it, I believe. Those first six DVDs that I bought (there were only six available when I got my first DVD player), were about $25 each, compared to today, when you can get a DVD for $10.
In time, the prices will come down on both the players, and the Blu-ray discs.
Once the companies that developed the technology have made back all the money they’ve spent on making Blu-ray, the price will drop. That’s generally the way prices work with technology.
If you’re asking yourself if it’s worth it or not, it is. Spend the money. Anyone who likes movies deserves to watch them in Blu-ray, with perfect picture, and perfect surround sound.
According to this website with a really long, interesting domain name, it was Amit Bhatia, and Vanisha Mittal in June of 2004.
Estimated cost of their wedding was $60 million (US Dollars), and it lasted for 6 full days.
Side note: Mittal’s father, also holds the record for owning the most expensive house in the world, which cost roughly $130 million (US Dollars) back in 2004.
Looks like ‘04 was a pretty good financial year for the Mittal family.
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