I used to be the VCR king. Filled all 8(!) slots in my VCR menu. Taped everything I wanted to watch. Had a system for everything. Spent endless amounts of time babysitting the darn thing. Then I got TiVo.
Here are some concrete examples why TiVo is worth its weight in gold:
VCR ERA
If my VCR ran out of tape, it would rewind to the beginning (missing the end of the current show) and erase recent shows to record new ones. Result: missed/incomplete shows; 8-hour effective storage capacity unless I kept checking the tape every day.
Even with index search, finding what was on a tape took forever (physical rewind/FF, ugh). Constantly-revised Post-its on tape box to list contents. When I found a show I wanted to see right now, watching it would fragment my tape. Result: tapes like swiss cheese, with unwatched shows interspersed among free segments. More accidental overwriting.
Only failsafe mathod: to always watch the last show on a tape, then rewind, avoiding fragmentation. Result: forced to watch what the tape told me to watch, not what I wanted.
Could only program 8 series in total. Who is only interested in 8 shows?
Kept an eagle eye on the TV listings, to ensure my shows hadn't moved to another timeslot, etc. Much paranoia and effort.
TiVo ERA
Unlimited number of program slots; we currently have 76 Season Passes, including:
Shows we watch.
Shows we like, but were cancelled. If a network later "burns off" the remaining episodes without promotion at some weird time, these last few episodes will magically appear on their own.
Shows that may come to Canada some day. Read about the latest craze in the US or UK (e.g. "Showbiz moms and dads"), set a Wishlist, forget about it. If the show is picked up months later, it will be recorded and magically appear on the Now Showing list.
Keyword-based wishlists, too. If a show description contains "PSP" or "Playstation portable", the show magically appears. See a pattern emerging?
Controlling live TV means bathroom breaks/kitchen raids when you want, not the networks; reclaim control of your bladder! Instant replays are not only for sports fans: I constantly do instant replays of missed dialogue (husband talks over Family Guy; press one button; hear that line again; feel blood pressure go down). Does wonders for domestic harmony. And no more ducking my mother's phone calls: Michael will simply switch to some prerecorded reality show he likes, while I hang on the phone for a half-hour.
With channels from multiple timezones (cable company's "timeshifting" package) and specialty channels' repeated airings, even a one-tuner TiVo catches most of what we want to watch. Prioritized Season Pass list ensures any unresolved conflicts affect the least interesting shows.
If TiVo runs out of room, deletes the oldest unwatched show, by definition something we don't care about that much. You can protect recordings from erasure individually, a trivial effort.
Channel-flipping is a thing of the past: there's always something "on" that we enjoy.
SUMMARY
Watching all the shows we love, whenever we feel like it, without having to decide whether [going out / answering the phone / going to the bathroom] is more important than whatever we'd otherwise miss, is worth WAY more than the price of admission. I hope you now understand all the ways in which TiVo is better than a VCR.
Slashdot Mirror
I used to be the VCR king. Filled all 8(!) slots in my VCR menu. Taped everything I wanted to watch. Had a system for everything. Spent endless amounts of time babysitting the darn thing. Then I got TiVo.
Here are some concrete examples why TiVo is worth its weight in gold:
VCR ERA
TiVo ERA
SUMMARY
Watching all the shows we love, whenever we feel like it, without having to decide whether [going out / answering the phone / going to the bathroom] is more important than whatever we'd otherwise miss, is worth WAY more than the price of admission. I hope you now understand all the ways in which TiVo is better than a VCR.