Every so often a device comes along that claims it will change your life or your general habits. For once, the TiVo is a device that can make an accurate statement in that claim. It is distributed in the UK by Thomson and retails for £299.99.

I've been using this unit for almost two months as I type this review and have fallen in love with it in respect of its functionality, its usefulness and the fact that it knows I love The Simpsons and tapes every episode whenever it's on which I can then watch at a time to suit me, occasionally when Sky are showing an evening episode at its regular time but it's one I've seen too many times and have gone off, but this one shown earlier in the day is a far better episode.

There are some who would say this machine is a glorified video recorder with a 40Gb hard disk instead of a video tape but that's because they don't understand its potential, which I will try to get across here. I will detail the good points, the points I'd like to see improved upon and some questions which I put to TiVo and what they plan to do in respect of future software updates.

Firstly, its main function is to record programmes from analogue TV or whichever source you feed into it via the AUX SCART input on the back, such as SkyDigital, ITV Digital or a cable alternative. Every 24 hours or so the TiVo box will phone home via a freephone number so as to update the listings available so that you can select programmes to record up to around two weeks in advance.

Whereas a VCR can record six or eight different programmes or "events" at once, the TiVo takes as many regular recordings as I throw at it and the "Season Pass" function will record all the episodes in a series, which is perfect for all the lunchtime episodes of Neighbours, for example.

Personally, since I've got both SkyDigital and ITV Digital and you can only tell the box to look out for one set of listings, I get mine to think it's connected to Sky only, but have a SCART switcher box so I can switch the input to ITV Digital in an instant and just tell the TiVo to tape for the same length of time from a bogus Sky channel. I use this for recording Cold Feet from ITV Digital, for example, because the ITV regions on Sky are not yet transmitting anamorphic widescreen. As long as you know which channel you've told the TiVo to think it's taping from it's not a major proble, so I tell it that I'm recording from TalkSport a lot of the time.

By the way, as I type this is due for close to Xmas 2001, even though they were using it as part of the tests prior to launch, the only thing missing being widescreen auto-switching, but since I use a widescreen TV anyway, I'm not bothered about switching and I hate the 14:9-centre-cropped alternative. I'd watch analogue if I wanted that!

Like the way I used have several programmes recorded on various tapes lying about the place, each at different stages of being watched, so you can have the same recorded on TiVo - sorted by date order - and you can watch part of them and pick up from each one where you left off.

Another bonus is that you can watch the start of a programme while the rest is still recording, so if I get in late from work and Hollyoaks has already begun I can start at the beginning and fast-forward through the adverts with the top speed being at the rate of one second per minute of recorded video. Also, with either a recorded programme, or when watching live TV which has a buffer of up to 30 minutes for the current channel you're on, you can either pause the TiVo (indefinitely for a recorded programme) - and it won't revert back to loud live TV like a videotape would after five minutes of pause - or you can rewind to a previous part of it. This is very handy to look again at some parts if you nip to the toilet, or was distracted and need to replay something, or you just want to see that nasty crash in Casualty again :)

The other highlight of the TiVo is in its suggestions. For the first two weeks it won't really know what you like and will tape random programmes from a selection of channels. If you like what it finds press the green "thumbs up" button and if you don't go for the red "thumbs down" one. Similarly, if you search for programmes you already watch regularly, such as soap operas or classics like The Simpsons and give them the thumbs up, they will take priority. You can give each programme up to three thumbs up or down depending on which would take priority over another.

After recording one episode of Fingerbobs though, from BBC Choice during the 13 hours of kids guff that they broadcast between 6am and 7pm, the TiVo then recorded several suggestions of other children's programmes. I soon gave all of them the thumbs down. As it turned out, the programme I tried to record in the first place was a later episode hosted by the ginger bloke who used to front Play School and not the classic ones in which "Yoffi lifts a finger.."

There are four grades of recording quality with the TiVo, the Best one holding 12 hours of material and at a quality that to these eyes is the same as what your box is given to play with. The others are listed as High (19 hrs, 14 mins), Medium (25 hrs, 20 mins) and, finally, Basic (40 hrs, 53 mins). Most of the time you will use 'best', while 'basic' quality is fine for taping the radio stations from SkyDigital because the audio quality is unaffected.

It's worth noting that for those with the know-how it is possible to "hack" the TiVo box so that the hard drives inside are replaced with larger ones which can give you up to 50 hours recording at 'best' quality.

The black "TiVo" button at the top of the remote control will always take you back to TiVo Central from wherever you are or whichever sub-menu you're buried in, which saves plenty of time back-tracking out of sub-menus. They are as follows:

Now Playing

This is where all your recordings are held and made available for viewing. An example is shown below.

Each programme is shown in reverse date order so that the most recent recording is atop the screen. You can see the name of it (prefixed by "Manual:" if you haven't just selected the programme from the TV guide. See the later mention of 'padding' in the Q&A section for why this is required) and the day/date (not including the year of recording). From within each programme you can find further info about the recording including length, channel and options to save the recording for longer or delete it. An option is available to "save to VCR" but given that every recording will contain trailers or adverts before it I find it easier to just "play" and cue it up for the VCR myself.

Programmes you have requested take priority over the TiVo's own suggestions, so yours go at the top of the list while unplanned ones are at the bottom. Looking at the picture above, you won't find any circles next to the programmes that have just been recorded at first, unless it's still being recorded (see Holby City above). If you want to save a programme forever until you delete it, that gives a green circle. The empty yellow one is for those programmes that are about to be deleted in the next 24 hours or so, since the default "keep time" for recordings is 48 hours, while the yellow one containing an exclamation mark is for programmes that the TiVo will delete if extra space is required but otherwise will be kept unless you delete it sooner. Finally, black circles with "TiVo" inside, as shown at the bottom of the screen above, are recorded suggestions by the TiVo unit. If you need space for programmes you have set up, these will be the first to be deleted automatically.

Watch Live TV

Does exactly what it says on the tin. You can then type in the channel numbers on the remote to change the channel, or use the channel up/down buttons. Note that there may appear to be a slight delay when doing this because the TiVo unit enforces a half-a-second buffer between what it gets and what it outputs so you can pause TV and do all the other functions.

Inside TiVo

Not sure what's on the horizon for your TV viewing pleasure? The following categories will help you: Radio Times Choices (general selections for the coming week), Armchair Cinema (films only), Sports Stadium (rather obvious), New to View, Soapbox, Kids' Club, The Arena (Music TV), Far Out (horror, sci-fi, anime) and Vintage TV (golden oldies)

Channel Highlights

The suggestions picked out here are only done so when the channel in question has provided the information so you get a choice of Sky One, BBC comedy, BBC wildlife, Sky Movies, Channel 4, E4, Sky Sports, BBC sports events, Sky factual, CBBC Children's programmes and FilmFour.

Pick Programmes to Record

Select programmes searching by channel, time or name (the latter being a rather labourious process of typing in the name letter by letter, although it does help to suggest the programmes you're after), set up a manual recording, see what the TiVo has in line for you suggestions-wise and view the "To Do" list, with options to cancel programmes or extend them with the "season pass" option.

Messages & Setup

Many of these functions are only required initially, but I regularly check the "Messages" when it tells me that new ones have arrived, although this is used mainly for channel additions and deletions when they sadly go under due to lack of funding ([.tv], R.I.P.)
I occasionally have to check the "Phone Connection" screen because my PC is usually taking up the phone line when the TiVo wants to call out, hence my wish that I could tell the TiVo to phone at a fixed time during the night and not every 26 hours or so, so it would be guaranteed to connect.

The remote control contains 32 buttons, the main ones that I've not already mentioned including: Live TV Guide (for setting up programmes while you're watching something else. This onscreen menu is overlaid on top of the screen so you don't have to return to the main menu), Record to start from where you are now and record until the end of the scheduled time and of the transport controls for moving through the recording of a programme there are also buttons to skip back a few seconds when you miss sometimes and one which first skips to the end of said recording and again to get back to the start, without you having to "rewind" it, should you so desire.

The cursor buttons usually are used to navigate the menus, but when watching something the right-arrow toggles the programme name/time/channel banner, the same with a programme description, or just a smaller banner with the time and channel on it.

Given that the TiVo sits between your source of entertainment and your VCR and that when correctly linked up via SCART the TiVo will override the signal to the TV from the VCR, alternatively you can view what the VCR is doing or playing by pressing the "VCR" button, or pressing "AUX" to see exactly what is coming out of your Sky box, in my case.

Apart from the fact that there's a SCART input on the back and two outputs (one to the VCR and TV respectively), outputs for stereo audio leads, a phone connection, power lead and the back of the unit's fan, at this point I would mention the buttons available on the front fascia but, surprisingly, there's absolutely nothing. Not even a power button. Just a green light to show it's receiving a signal and a red light when recording (which sometimes turns amber).

The following is a series of questions I posed to TiVo's technical team and below each one is the answers given. The questions sprang to mind while I was initially used the service, although I have since decided to drop the apparent problem that occurred when the onscreen menu from my Panasonic NVFJ710 VCR not only confused the TiVo into thinking it had lost the signal but this whole image fed back into the recording. Once I'd exited the VCR menu the recording carried on as normal on the correct channel. The sound also either disappeared or it repeated the last second of sound and took what's on screen and shifted it upwards a bit at a time while the sound faded out slowly.

Also, if I recorded something on the TiVo and played back a tape at the same time, the tape picture fed back into the TiVo and was recorded instead. The answer? My own cock-up in setting up the SCART leads. D'oh!

For the questions I could not answer:

1. There is no analogue teletext passthrough so no subtitles on anything. Will this be rectified? My Panasonic NVFJ710 VCR can record these subtitles and it's annoying to have to rely on those permanent subtitles generated by the Sky digibox.

Subtitles are currently passed through via AUX bypass. We anticipate correcting this in the next software update so that TiVo can record subtitles.

2. Description text occasionally overlaps for long programme descriptions.

This is a known issue which occurs with long decriptions and is resolved in the next software update.

3. When cancelling a recording it tries to change the SkyDigital box back to the same channel, which is pointless if you're already on it and annoying if you've since changed to another one. Also, this doesn't always work anyway so it might send out "1-0-0-4" for Channel 4 which won't change anything, as there's no channel 100 and then "4" on its own will do nothing.

In addition, it once did this when changing the channel to record something, didn't select the correct channel as a result and so I missed the programme.

The issue of TiVo changing to the same channel is corrected in the next software update. The problems with sending channel numbers is usually related to the IR control speed, which can be selected under the set-top box control menu.

4. Will the box functions be speeded up at a later date? Going through the menus quickly produces erratic results.

We are always working on improving performance. The next software update will incorporate a number of performance enhancements, including navigation through the menus. As a sidenote, erratic menu behavior can many times be traced to a remote which is low on batteries.

5. I'd like to see padding to be implemented to record the end of a programme. (This would enable you to select a programme from the Live TV Guide and add a few minutes on before and after the event)

Also, when recording I would like to alter recording times in minutes not in five-minute blocks and type in the programming times with the numeric pad.

The next software update will enable you to add padding to both the beginning and end of the program. It will give flexibility on how many minutes you add. The idea of programming times with the numeric pad is a good suggestion. We can investigate this for the future.

6. The TiVo doesn't switch Sky box on/off unlike my Panasonic VCR so if I'd set a tape up to record something from Sky directly and it switches the SkyDigi box off, anything set up later on the TiVo will find the Sky box is off and thus unable to record. Will this be changed to switch the box on? (ie. the "Sky" button)

TiVo is investigating potential solutions to this. This is a difficult area to correct as set-top boxes across platforms behave differently (i.e., satellite vs. cable boxes). We hope to have a solution available with the next software upgrade.

7. When taping Band of Brothers episode 1, it correctly told me how far through the prog I was while watching it about 15 minutes behind live TV, but after it had finished recording the timeline changed to "9.30 to 10.30" showing me a time of 10.29 which was what the time actually was and the "10.29" was not where I was in the programme as it had finished at 10.20pm.

If that is the current time. is the indicator pointing to the time it expects the programme to finish when playing it back?

The recording duration is calculated based on the listings schedule. When a recording ends you see the live buffer display which will indicate current time and where you are in the buffer.

8. The old software (v.1.51) showed a slight stuttering of the picture when having rewound part of a programme as the picture catches up with sound. Now with v.1.52, it plays picture without sound for a second while the picture catches up, on some occasions, but still behaves as it used to with the previous software.

I know that on occasion TiVo may encounter "glitching"; however, I have not heard widespread reports of this behavior. Audio-video quality is a high priority with TiVo and we are continually looking to improve performance in this area.

There's a few niggles I have about the TiVo unit which wouldn't put me off using it or recommending it, but are a few further observations I have noted along the way.

If you have too much stuff recorded, it wants to get rid of future recordings earlier than the usual 48hr period. Perhaps it would be better to offer the option to downgrade the quality on these as well.

I was left wishing you could rename programmes. As mentioned earlier, if I record from ITV Digital while the unit is set up for Sky this obviously leaves the name of the Sky broadcast present, so I'd like to change it.

The "channel up/down" buttons don't work like a Sky remote. Hence, if you change from BBC1 to BBC2, it'll send out "1-0-2" rather than a "channel up" command, this wastes time and slows you down if wanting to skip through several channels. You can use the regular Sky remote, but the TiVo won't know you're watching a different channel which can cause confusion.

There are no radio station listings. If these are available for the TV listings guides then the broadcasters must be suppyling them, so why can't I select one of these programmes to record?

More importantly in addition to the above though, twice now while the TiVo has been in use, it has crashed and the screen gone blank as if I'm powering it up from standby (which takes ages to recover from).

Overall, the TiVo is a remarkable unit and following a recent signing in a deal with Sony its future looks assured. The retail price used to be £399 but was recently dropped by £100. Some shops an online retailers sell the unit anywhere between £200 and £240, while the subscription to make the box do all the necessary functions is £10/month or a one-off payment of £200 for the lifetime of the box (which sounds an ominous phrase and if my box lasted no longer than 20 months I'd be very concerned).

What I'd like to see these do in the future is not to just output the programmes to tape but to some form of high-density miniature cassettes so you can store one of those to every few large video tapes that you currently stack up. Hopefully that'll be possible one day.

The only UK competition at the moment is Murdoch's Sky+ system, but while that has provision for Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (for the one channel that broadcasts it - Sky Premier Widescreen - as of December 2001) and two tuners so you can record to channels at once, you can only watch one channel at once and not distribute the second one to another TV.

Also, Sky+ doesn't have the software to make suggestions or do any actual thinking, it doesn't have the facility to record anything but a Sky signal (so no terrestrial or ITV Digital recording possible if you have a box for the latter) and if I want to watch films in Dolby Digital 5.1 I'll stick with DVDs.

For further info on the TiVo, you can visit the Official UK TiVo website and there is plenty of discussion daily at the TiVo UK AVS Forum.

	Overall
	10

Written by Dominic Robinson
Copyright 2001 Dominic Robinson, all rights reserved