You want a Stand Alone TiVo for use with cable service. If you want High Definition, you'll need a Series3.

Stand Alone TiVo's require a monthly service fee paid to TiVo. It's also possible to prepay for one or more years for a discount. If you drop your service on the TiVo, I believe you can no longer watch the previously recorded shows.

I'd recommend a Dual Tuner standalone TiVo if you are mostly interested in standard definition analog cable channels. I'd recommend a Series3 if you want high definition, and it is worth considering even for standard definition only if most of the channels you watch are digital.

Another option is to wait for the TiVo software on the Comcast DVR boxes. It's not clear how long you'll have to wait for this. And you'll be leasing a box from Comcast instead of owning it, so you won't be able to add a large drive for additional capacity and of course you'll have to give the box back if you ever terminate your Comcast service.

Thanks for the info. I may end up waiting but I really hate Comcast and anything that makes me more dependant on them doesn't sound too good to me. But I do have a question. You mentioned that if I no longer had the Tivo service I could no longer watch my shows. This is not the case with the DirecTivo unit I have. Right now I have no DirecTV nor Tivo service but I am able to watch anything I recorded. This to me makes sense. It's on my hard drive so why would I be restricted from watching what I've taped?

Is this not the case with the Tivo units being built now? This was one of the things I truly hated about the Comcast DVR. Not being able to watch the shows I recorded during any service interruption. I didn't have to deal with any of this with my DirecTivo.

A stand alone series2 tivo is meant to be used with a service subscription and it goes into a "boat anchor" mode when the subscription is stopped. I honestly can't remember what it can do when it is in boat anchor mode. I'm sure it can't record new programs. I'm not certain whether it lets you play back old programs or not. Perhaps someone else can address this question.

Aye this is a question I'd really like to know the answer to. Not being able to record new shows of course makes sense but I need to be able to watch my shows any time I want regardless of any service agreements.

It's been a while since I've seen one, but I don't think you can even play back older programs. You basically just get warning screens and the ability to dial-in to let the TiVo know that you've reconnected your TiVo Service . . .

Wow. Do you know the rationale for not allowing you to view the shows you recorded? Why did they change things from the way the DirecTivo worked? Is this why folks do things to export their saved movies someplace else so they could see them?

On the unit I got from you guys I got extra storage because I tend to tape things then watch them when I either have time or like during a time where I can't watch live TV ie maybe a bad storm that's interrupting service. But from what I'm hearing there would be absolutely no reason for me to get anything other than the lowest storage and just continually export the stuff I save.

Is this specific to the stand alone units perhaps? I know for a fact it's not true with the DirecTivo unit I purchased from you guys. It was always my understanding that DVR worked similarly to VCRs but that Tivo added a service that allowed you to do extra things like Season Passes and the like. But without a service my DirecTivo can still play shows that are stored on it's hard drive.

TiVo's revenue model is based on subscription fees rather than selling hardware at a profit. Here is a quote from Jim Barton's ACM Queue article from August 2003:So TiVo does not have a motivation to allow their units to be used for any purpose without a subscription.

That definitely makes sense from a business perspective. I guess my mindset was still locked into the early marketing. The whole Tivo / DVR thing was marketed to me as basically the same as a VCR but with the added service of Tivo. The DirecTivo units. They operate as a VCR and if you have the Tivo service then you get Tivo only features. If you don't have Tivo service then you basically just have a digital VCR.

But I understand that's not the case for the stand alone Tivo units. They are made to service Tivo only. So for my own needs and personal preference I'd want something like DirecTivo but that worked with Cable.

In all the years of using Tivo the main thing I used from them was the Season Pass feature. I'd turn off suggestions and such. I'd queue up a bunch of shows (Which is why I'd want large recording capacity) and then during a rainy day or maybe over the weekend I could either watch em or bring my unit over to a friend's place and watch it just like I'd have brought a VCR and tapes over in the "old" days.

I understand you have units which will save to DVD or the PC. Not sure if those would be quite suitable for the way I use it. DVDs would be too small and to get what I wanted I'd need to set up an external HD or two for it to save things off to. A bit more work than I'd really want to do.

Just a last question. DirecTivos work like VCRs + Tivo. So I can play recorded movies even without Tivo service. Stand alone Tivo Units are married to Tivo service so without the service the box is more or less useless. My question is are there any devices which would be a Digital VCR that would work with Tivo service other than DirecTivo?

You can operate in this model with a tivo. You just need to pay the monthly fee and let it connect, via phone or broadband, once a month to the tivo service to maintain the subscription status. Ideally you'd let it connect daily or at least once a week to continue to maintain guide data.

Some of the very earliest TiVo's (Series1's shipped, I think, before 2002), do fall back to a dumb-VCR mode if not subscribed. You can play back recordings and do manual recordings, but not the advanced features like season passes etc. TiVo changed this policy back in 2002, but they grandfathered the old units so they still work that way. You might be able to find one on ebay.

There are also some older units that came with "TiVoBasic". These were the DVD units from Toshiba and Pioneer. These also have a stripped down TiVo service that had no monthly fee. It pales in comparison to full tivo service, but it may be it would be satisfactory for you. There's some info on tivo basic here. Again, you'd have to buy a used tivo to get TiVoBasic, as no currently shipping TiVo has this capability. And a TiVoBasic box still needs to connect to the TiVo service periodically to maintain its subscription status and guide data.

TiVo used to offer a "lifetime" service option that let you prepay for service for the life of the unit. It doesn't eliminate the need to connect periodically, but it does avoid the monthly service charges. I believe you can still get lifetime service on the Humax DRT800 and DRT400 models. You can also find used tivos with lifetime service for sale, for example, on ebay, but as always caveat emptor. There are scammers out there who will claim they are selling you a lifetime unit that really isn't.

You can also prepay for up to three years of service with any unit, at a substantial discount over the monthly service fees.

If you haven't already found it, there is a lot of good information here.

I knew I wasn't crazy. I've been using Tivo since before that but had never heard of that policy change. Never needed to since I always maintained Tivo service and then later I bought a DirecTivo from you guys.

I'm considering one of the stand alones. I plan to maintain the Tivo service but I just want to make sure. As long as the Tivo service is active (Which would be a month at a time) I can play my recorded shows. What I'm concerned about is temporary service interruption due to weather and the like. Don't know about you but when the weather is bad and I can't get any signal is prime time for watching shows I've recorded. With the Comcast DVR I couldn't do that so I don't want that situation any more.

This is not an issue. The tivo connects to the tivo service through either a phone line or through a broadband network connection. It doesn't need to be connected all the time. Typically it connects for 5 minutes or so once a day, but it can go up to two weeks without a connection without losing capability, other than losing the ability to look forward in the guide data.

Keep in mind too that there is now a 1 year minimum on the service contract, with a penalty if you cancel early. It doesn't sound like that is an issue for you, but if you were thinking of doing 1 month on, 2 months off, 1 month on, etc, to save money, that won't work.

Good looking out. No it wouldn't be an issue but it's something I'm glad you pointed out since that is also different. I'm really torn in terms of timing. I hate Comcast so much I will probably not renew my lease. Unfortunately I signed a year lease and it won't be up until some time in August. When I move I will be going back to DirecTV and using the box I have. Not sure how that would work out. I will always have Tivo service but if I move back to DirecTV it'll be Tivo service with them rather than I guess directly from Tivo. Not sure if that makes any difference but it would be a different subscription I guess.