As of Saturday evening the TiVo was up and running, but not before the requisite setup struggles. The biggest issue is that TiVo boxes, unless shipped with OS 7.2, require some alone time with a telephone line to get going (most importantly, to initiate the software update to 7.2 so they can function on a network). Our TiVo was one of the unlucky ones, so that night we took it over to Abe’s parents’ house for a slumber party.
We picked it up Saturday morning, took it home, and lo and behold, it hadn’t updated the software (it was still running 5.4). So back to their house we went, to try to get lil’ TiVo up to date. Second time’s a charm, I guess, because the software downloaded and installed as necessary. Setup after that was really, really painless. The wireless adapter worked as advertised and within a couple minutes of getting the now up-to-date TiVo back home we were up and running.
Beyond that, I have to say that it’s totally worth it. It’s ridiculously easy to use, and we spent the rest of Saturday setting up some season passes which give you different options for catching every episode of a particular show. It also tries (emphasis on tries) to pick up shows that it thinks we might enjoy, which has been a largely unsuccessful effort so far. Fortunately you can give shows a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to help TiVo determine what your tastes are.
The only issue that I’ve run into so far is that some of the scheduling didn’t quite match up with what was actually on. For example, I scheduled two of our favorite shows (Home Movies and The Brak Show) that are now only playing late at night. Unfortunately, and I don’t know if this is a Cartoon Network issue or a TiVo issue, we got shows labeled as such but instead turned out to be 12 oz. Mouse and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Regardless, the benefits far, far outweigh the drawbacks, especially when one of the benefits is coming home to 3,000 episodes of saved SNL.
Be the first to say something. Anything.