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Nov 27
2008
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I read this review of the Tivo in the age and thought it was a great insight. It is well written and talks not about the "tech specs" rather how it was used by the writer and her family. I like reviews that tell me something new. From her install experience to how it changed her viewing habits it was great.
It got me thinking about my own experience with a Topfield device. We have had a Topfield TF5000 for over 4 years now and it is a great asset to the house. We arent dictated to by networks about viewing times and really havent seen many ads over that time. In fact quite often someone will say to my wife or I, "Did you see that ad?", and we answer no and then look out for it or if it good we may google it.
I used the inbuilt TAPS, which allow for additional functionality, these use the API to allow clever programmers (not me) to modified the capabilities of the box and I have used these to provide a 7 day EPG, automated recording (using the PC program TEDS, running automatically on my PC) and also adskipping abilities. This all in an easy to use interface that both my wife and 15y.o. daughter use without any fuss.
I can strongly reccomend a Digital Video Recorder(DVR) and will probably look at replacing mine sometime in the future as I want access to HD channels. I want at least what abilities I now have and unfortunately for me I would find some of the restrictions of the Tivo too much. I will watch that space though, but in the meantime, what little research I have done would have me leaning towards the Beyonwiz products. I will do futher checking when I want to change but in the meantime I will enjoy ad free, automatically recorded viewing delight.
