Feel the TiVo burn
A TiVo recorder that also burns DVDs? I so want. We’re talking serious gadget-lust over here. I used to think the “save to VCR” feature on current models would be convenient, but in practice, it’s not much fun transferring your TiVo programming to tape, since you have to do it in real time. However, burning a show to DVD, of course, takes a fraction of the actual running time. I guess the analogy would be making a mix tape (yes, audiocassettes, remember those?) versus burning a CD.
Since I got my TiVo earlier this year, with my constant wealth of stored programming I occasionally tell my non-TiVo friends, “Oh, I’ll put [this or that show] on to tape for you.” And it takes me forever to get around to it, if at all. But how cool to be all, “What? You missed the last Alias? I’ll put it onto DVD.”
Suggested retail price for the Pioneer 80-hour model (DVR-810H) is $1,199. Yikes. But I’m finding it online at a few places for considerably less. The other thing is I have a lifetime subscription for my current TiVo recorder, so if I get a new one, I’d probably get rid of the old one (hello, eBay) and have to re-subscribe. Decisions, decisions. I don’t already have a dedicated DVD player—I just use my laptop which I hook up via S-video to my TV—so that’s value added right there, right? (Last night, trying to talk myself out of getting yet another gadget, I asked Thom, “So tell me, I don’t need an iPod, right?” He replied, “You’re asking the wrong person.” He’s lusting too.)