Last week, my cable company performed a massive channel realignment in my area.  Of course, we'd been receiving literature about it for months.  The only problem was that there was no specific date mentioned.  We had a technician tell us in early March that it would be done "by the end of the month".  Whe the change finally did come, it came in true cable company style - with absolutely no warning.  In my case, it managed to take down my cable modem which left me without internet for the better part of a week.

Given the complete lack of warning, coupled with the dead internet connection, it was no surprise that my TiVo had no idea that all of my channel numbers had changed.  Once the internet was back up, I forced the TiVo to phone home, expecting to get the lineup change.  No Dice.  As of yesterday afternoon, the TiVo was still showing and recording from the incorrect channels.

If you've read this far, you're probably guessing that this is a rant about TiVo's poor customer service.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I opened up a support ticket online yesterday afternoon.  I didn't expect to hear anything, especially since it was a national holiday.  The auto responder email said that a linup specialist would get back to me in 5 to 7 business days.  To my great suprise, I got a response within an hour.  The response was helpful, courteous, most of all - solved the problem completely on the first try.  It turns out, TiVo was completely ahead of the game - my TiVo had downloaded the new linup weeks ago and was just waiting for TiVo to hear from the cable company so that they could activate it.  TiVo never got the notification - which frankly didn't suprise me.  Better yet, TiVo anticipated these situations and provides an "advanced options" function on the linup selection to allow you to activate the linup on demand.  It's great when the system works transparently - but when it doesn't, it nice to know that you have a company that has the support and technology to get you up and running with the minimum of downtime.  Thanks TiVo.

This evening, I was talking to Nate on Twitter about TiVos.  I thought it would be a good excuse to document some of my thoughts and experiences.

First of all - I have tried the Cable Company DVRs - last summer I was on a waiting list for 3 months for a unit to become available and once it arrived, I ran it for approximately 3 days before unplugging it.  I've tried software DVRs - Media Center as well as Beyond TV.  Simply said, nothing touches TiVo.  Not even close.  I've missed a total of two shows over the past 5 years due to glitches - another couple before I got the hang of adding an hour to recordings on Sunday evenings on the station that carries the NFL games.  With the volume of TV I watch, that isn't bad at all.  I get very very few duplicates, thanks to TiVos smarts of not recording an episode that has been recorded during the past 28 days.

I recently added a 2nd TiVo to the house - a nice Series 3 that I got a good deal on as a refurb unit.  I was skeptical of purchasing a refurb unit and with good reason - the first unit that they sent had a faulty OLED display and had to be sent back.  TiVos customer service was incredibly professional and helpful.  They gave me the option of cross shipping, which I chose and got a very speedy refund when they received my exchange unit.  Getting the CableCARDs working was a bit of a challenge.  The first two truck rolls to my house resulted in only 1 functioning tuner, after which the local office refused to send anyone else.  I finally had to write a letter to the designated FCC complaint contact for Time Warner, which got the problem resolved in about a weeks time.  Since then, Time Warner has made several courtesy calls to make sure that I was still happy.

Here's the facts that you need to know if you're going to consider buying a TiVo.

• It will be more expensive.  You obviously have to purchase the unit, but you also have to pay a monthly fee of $12.95.  Your cable company will charge you a couple bucks a month for each CableCARD too.
• You may not get every channel you would get if you had cable company hardware.  Specifically, you need to watch out for HD channels on Switched Digital Video (SDV). This depends on the area - I've never run into it, but supposedly it is going to be more common as cable companies roll out more HD.  There is a hardware solution in the works in the form of a dongle, but it is not reality yet.
• On demand or PPV is not an option yet.  It may be in the future with the dongle, but dont hold your breath.  If this is important, you can always get a cable box for this purpose.
• Reasonably sized cable companies are required by the federal government to help you get CableCARDs.  You will read horror stories on the internet.  Be persistent.  Know your rights.  Do your homework and don't be fooled by the FUD and you will be fine.
• Check out Tivoblog and tivocommunity for all the information you could ever want.