Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony SVR-2000 Digital Video Recorder

I own a Sony Sat-T60, which is the version of Sony's Tivo unit that has the built-in DirecTV receiver. I agree completely with all the great things other people have said about Tivo, however, I have one big warning about the Sony Tivo box: the cooling fan is annoyingly noisy. It cycles on and off to keep the machine cool, and when it's on, it's noticeably louder than my computer. This could be a big problem for you if you're one of those rare intellectual types who occasionally sits in a room with the TV off, perhaps to read a book purchased on Amazon.com. I called Sony to ask about the noisy fan, and they said, essentially, "Yup, it's loud alright. Tough luck, dude." Naturally, the sound would be muffled if you keep the box in an enclosed entertainment center, but if you don't have such a cabinet, beware. I have also owned a Phillips Tivo w/ DirecTV and it was perfectly silent, and worked just as well as the Sony, if not better. It's also cheaper. Get the Phillips.

My wife and I became addicted to TiVo within 1 month after installing it. We have gone from watching 90% live TV/10% recorded (VCR) to 90% Tivo/10% live TV! We hardly watch anything anymore at its regular time. We simply pull up the "Now Playing" menu, which lists all the shows I have previously recorded, and watch whatever we're in the mood for - drama (Law and Order or Once and Again), comedy (Friends, South Park), reality TV (Survivor, Fear Factor), or sports (Illinois basketball, cliff diving).
There are so many cool things about TiVo, but these are my THREE FAVORITE things:
1) Season Pass, which once you set it up, allows you to record a particular show EVERY time it's on or all shows with a particular actor or subject,
2) Easy to record (simply choose the show, not the time and channel) and easy to find and play (scroll through "Now Playing" list of prerecorded shows and choose "Select" to play),
3) Record two shows at once (like Survivor and Friends, which both start at 8:00 on Thursday) with a DirecTV/TiVo combination receiver, which we have.
We started with the monthly subscription and moved to the lifetime after just a month (it's good for the life of the box, not you). We have a Sony model, and I've found Sony to always be reliable (two TVs, one VCR). I bought a 4-year warranty as a safety precaution (new technology and insurance against the lifetime subscription). DirecTV customer service is decent, but not great (they handle the TiVo side as well). The BEST resource for TiVo is the TiVo AVS forum, which you can link to from the Buzz section of the TiVo Web site. It's a "must read" prior to buying this unit. But I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the coolest, most liberating invention to come out since the World Wide Web. No joke! You will fall in love with your TiVo too.

There's no other way to put it - I LOVE my Tivo! (Sony SVR-2000)
It has completely changed the way I watch TV and it means I can watch what I want to watch WHEN I want to watch it (and skip commercials)!

While not recommended for everyone, I hacked my Tivo to be a total of 160 hours (two 80GB drives). I now have tens of shows available for watching whenever I feel like it. There's always something on!

My non-technophile wife even said that she was getting addicted to Tivo (a tremendous two-thumbs up from her!).

All in all, this ranks up there on my list of all-time coolest products ever.

Strengths:
- Features of the service - time shifting of programs, pause/rewind/fast-forwarding of recorded and live programs
- Hard drive access is instant - no waiting for tapes to rewind
- Ability to create a video-on-demand system
- Strong support of user community - search for "Tivo Community" on the web for more information
- Hackable!

Weaknesses:
- Can be slow to load some screens
- Best if you can split your TV signal to watch something else while Tivo is recording
- Basic recording level is coarse - I recommend Medium (about 20hrs of time on the SVR-2000)

I bought a SONY SVR-2000 as a Father's Day present for my husband in June 2001 and set up yearly Tivo service. At first, we were very disappointed. We experienced recurring modem problems that rendered our recorder useless after two weeks (because the recorder was unable to update the program data) and had to have the recorder serviced twice within the first two months. In addition, we had paid for a year of service, and we did not think that Tivo would give us credit for any of our 'down time,' since it was due to SONY's recorder.

But SONY and Tivo came through for us. In August, SONY offered to replace our SVR2000, and we accepted. We have had absolutely no problems with the new unit. Also, Tivo refunded the money we paid for the amount of time our recorder was out of commission. (I did not have to fight either company; both were great about setting things right.) So, after a rough start, we are very happy SONY/Tivo customers.

I bought Tivo thinking that I was purchasing an electronic 'toy' that my husband would love and that I would have no interest in. Once I experienced Tivo, however, I loved it too. Just as I would never go to back to changing the channel manually (remember having to get up and turn those knobs?), I would never go back to pre-Tivo TV.

I purchased this exact box but one with DirectTV receiver built in...and it is truly amazing! Had heard from lots of folks talk about Tivo and that you had to have it, etc....but given the high price, didnt think it was worth it. I WAS WRONG. Tivo combined with DirectTV or another satellite offering is the way to go ... you can record any program or any payperview you order and watch it when you want. Recording (and then, importantly, quickly deleting or saving or, from time to time, removing certain saved stuff) is a snap. If you ever didnt record programs because operating the VCR was too complex, Tivo is a good solution for that alone...but the real power of this comes from your ability to record and keep a library of all programs or movies that ever were avail on your TV. One last thing, I love the 'Seasons Pass' feature -- you can tell Tivo to record the same program for you every week or every day or whenever it shows. For example, my family records '24' every tuesday night and then just watch it whenever we have time...and we also keep the entire series on Tivo so if we want to go back and watch some of the old episodes to patch it all together -- its a click away. Had no problems with this from a technical or operating perspective - its a great product and worth every dollar.