Sony SVR-2000 Digital Video Recorder
See it at Amazon.com for $55.00Average Customer Rating
(3.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(5 out of 5)I love my TiVo!
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.
(3 out of 5)A noisy unit
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.
(3 out of 5)Love TiVo, Sony not so much....
My husband bought me the Sony TiVo unit for Christmas after we had been wanting this for a long time. Set up was a bit tricky, especially since the access card that came with the unit was somehow flawed, as was the phone line connector they included. Then we had to wait for Directv to send us another card. Also, since we wanted the "Dual Tuner" capability ( TiVo is not really that useful unless you HAVE that ability... lets you watch LIVE tv while recording something else, otherwise you can only watch something you have already recorded while recording live tv....) we had to have an installer come out to set up the lines from our satellite dish to the new unit. Sony never responded to my husband's complaint about the flawed access card and phone connector in the unit we bought. I have read other complaints about Sony here so this seems par for the course. The unit is very nice looking, and TiVo itself is VERY cool. My biggest complaint though is the remote for this unit. It is HORRIBLE! There is no possible way that anybody at Sony even considered having a real person try out this remote design. It is VERY difficult to manage. The battery end is bulky and heavy, but the front end is thin and light making this thing unbalanced in your hand and more difficult to maneuver. They also made it wide across the middle instead of narrow, so it's even harder to hold. You have to hold it at the bottom end because of the weight, but the buttons you use most are at the top, and are TINY. I just find the whole remote hard to manage.
Bottom line, love TiVo service, but think Sony and their design folks need some help.
(1 out of 5)Avoid the Sony SVR-2000!
First let me say, the TiVo service is great! Best thing since color TV.
The Sony SVR-2000 is a piece of junk, and I'm not alone in that opinion. My SVR-2000 died after about 9 months - it would hang up then refuse to reboot. I called Sony tech support and (after waiting for hours on hold) they had me (repeatedly) cycle the power and reset the system, which did not help. Duh! They finally told me to send it back to Sony for repairs. It was still under warranty, but Sony charged me $92 for labor and shipping! When I got it back I discovered that Sony had replaced the hard drive and the motherboard. Mind you, the SVR-2000 only contains three components: the hard drive, the motherboard and the power supply. Sony did refund my $92 service charge, which seemed nice at the time. The warranty expired a month after Sony sent it back. Three months after they sent it back, it died again. I am NOT paying Sony to fix what is obviously a defective product. My SVR-2000 is now sitting in my office gathering dust. I paid for the lifetime TiVo subscription, so now I'm out around $400. I will never buy another Sony product!
I've read a lot of other reviews of the SVR-2000 (on other web sites) and a lot of them tell exactly the same story.
(1 out of 5)Tivo Great! .....Sony is the pits
I have owned this unit for over 2 years. I am addicted to Tivo. The problem is Sony. You must understand that these units rely heavely on a working modem. If you modem dies, you can no longer use the unit and you cannot just open the unit and put in a new modem. You MUST send it back to the manufacturer. After one year of ownership, my Sony modem failed. I had to send the unit back to Sony for [$$$] repair. Now, last week, my modem failed again. Sony is no help whatsoever. I am guessing that this is the reason that Tivo has started to manufacture the hardware themselves. As luck would have it. I just decided that I would never do without my Tivo so before the subscription rates went up a few months ago, I switched to the lifetime service for [$$$]. (now about [$$$]). Now I am faced with paying [$$$] again to repair the modem or buy a new unit. Sony has offered no explanation as to the cause of the modem problems and has basically said tough luck. Tivo has agreed to transfer my new membership to the new recorder if purchased from them but that is another [$$$]. I have already layed out [$$$] for the past two years of Tivo, I don't know that I am smart to sink anymore money into this investment.
Look really hard at the manufacturer and warranties before buying a recorder. Maybe one procuct worth the extended warranties. I liked Tivo so much that I bought one for my parents 2 Christmas's ago. I bought them the lesser Phillips, due to cost, and they have never had a problem.
I would buy the Tivo product if starting now. At least you have leverage with getting them to fix the unit so you can continue with their service.
Bottom line: Tivo is Great! But pass on the Sony recorders...