By June 1, I may be saying good-bye to TiVo. Hell, I may be saying good-bye to cable. The prices for my local cable provider, Cox, have gone up (not by a lot, but by enough) to make me ponder whether or not it's wiser to change to satellite. I've had TiVo for nearly 5 years, and for various reasons, I think it may be time to cut the cord. This is a case where TiVo hasn't done anything wrong, so much as my needs have changed based on the marketplace.
I see TiVo in the same way that I see Netflix and HBO: if the service is something you will use frequently enough per month to justify the cost, go for it. Regarding the latter examples, I have never felt that my Netflix subscription was a waste, even when the very idea of instantly watching movies on my computer or via my Blu-ray player was a glimmer in someone's eye. Since I've had HBO, as I've discussed in past posts, I've been watching more than enough content to justify the price. What's more, since it'll be a cold day in hell before HBO lets Netflix put its shows up via Netflix Instant, having both makes sense. For me. Not for everyone.
The real issue with TiVo is something you've probably figured out by this point in the post. Netflix is a unique service. Yes, there is competition, in the form of Redbox and Blockbuster Video (also, DirecTV Cinema, but...no). But Netflix is still the king of what it does, at the moment. It has to continue adapting to the ever-changing world of technology, but the company has done well enough in the short-term over the past 6 years (since I've been a subscriber) to work. HBO is...well, we can all make fun of the old tagline, but it's not just normal TV. While TiVo is a recognizable name, the service it provides is not as unique as it could be. For a while, I thought I loved TiVo, but now I realize that what I love is a DVR service. I just didn't realize, for a long, long time, what the difference between those two things is.
I'm waiting to make this change--presuming I do, which is still not a guarantee, but I'm fairly confident--until June because I want to make sure that whatever hiccups may happen do so after the normal network season is over. If problems crop up, I'd rather they happen when I have nothing to watch. But I'm hoping nothing bad happens, and the transition is smooth. I'm still not completely sold on DirecTV's DVR layout (while the one I've seen in person isn't their newest model, based on a YouTube tutorial showing off how the new DirecTV DVR is very fast, the layout hasn't changed), I'm sold on a lot of the services they offer that Cox does not. I've been looking for a satellite provider that would give me at least what I have now in terms of channels, plus a monthly DVR fee that would be demonstrably less than what I pay for with Cox and TiVo. Over a 24-month period, I'll be saving about 500 bucks. Hard to argue with that.
I've never had satellite before, so I'm still a bit wary, but I'm also fairly intrigued to see what the difference would be; I've already heard from some people who say they'd never go back to cable providers now that they've got satellite, so maybe I'll become an acolyte soon enough. It feels a little weird to be even thinking of saying good-bye to my TiVo (especially since I've upgraded the equipment, meaning it's not the same one), but until the vaunted day with DirecTV and TiVo finally release a new DVR (from what I read, that day will come roughly when Netflix and HBO team up), I think it's about time to cut that cord.
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