Customer Reviews

Sony SVR-2000 Digital Network Recorder

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

I instantly fell in love with my machine. I heard about it alot but it is helpful to actually see it work in order to get the full impact. It is essentially like a VCR on steroids and then some. Contrary to another reviewer, you CAN watch one thing while tivo records another - you just have to split the signal. That is easy and the parts at radio shack will cost you (...) and the Tivo help line will guide you if needed. I called them 10 times in the first week and they were great. The ability to pause live shows and rewind has become a great feature for me where as at first it seemed a bit if a gimmick. I cant go into all the features - there are many. Suffice it to say, it it breaks tomorrow, I would get another one. It is a bargain at twice the price. My only gripe is that the tivo remote does not have a TV/VIDEO button on it which you need to watch one show and tape another. This means I cant toss my tv remote away. Big deal I guess. Installation can be a bit tricky if you have a bunch of components like me, DVD/VCR/TV, but the customer service will be there for you. ENJOY. Hope this helped you.

My husband and I love our Sony TiVo. You don't miss anything with this. If you get a phone call or any interruption you just pause it and come back to it later. You can skip commercials, rewind, slow motion or fast forward. You can record your favorite shows or have TiVo automatically do it for you with the thumbs up button (you can turn the auto record off if you don't want TiVo to choose for you). It's much easier to record than a VCR. You bring up a list of tv shows and just click on the title and that's basically it! It takes a little time to set up but it's worth it. A couple of times the tv screen froze for a second. I'm not sure if it's the TiVo or if that how TiVo reacts to normal interferrence that happens sometimes but it's rare. You will have to suscribe to TiVo but if you choose the lifetime membership it's cheaper than paying on a month by month basis. You won't be sorry if you buy this. We love it!

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...

Before I purchased my SVR-2000 I read every single review that I could find on this model of TIVO.I actually got a little scared that the remote control would be this terribly awkward thing that I would hate. The remote is designed to be held from the bottom. Someone said that the buttons you use most often are on the top. I don't know what buttons they're using, but this remote feels perfect to me. I bought this model because I have never had any trouble with a Sony product. So far it has totally lived up to its name.

Tivo is incredible. You've probably heard this a million times by now, but I will never go back to watching TV the old way again. Pausing TV is awesome. I have used it so many times. Its also awesome to be able to just hit your now playing list and have program after sweet program to watch. One really awesome thing that people neglect to mention is that you can watch a program on your recorded list whil TIVO is recording another show or that same show. I came in about an hour late last week and I was recording the Wizards game. I started watching it from the beginning and after fast forwarding through all the commercials and half time I came within a few minutes of finishing watching the game at the same time it actually ended.

Don't listen to any of the nay sayers Sony and TIVO are totally awesome. Your life will change!!!

This is not so much a review of the Sony SVR-2000 as it is of Sony. I bought a SVR-2000 and began the setup. When the unit was powered on the first screen of the setup opened and then stopped dead. I powered it off and restarted with the same result. The manual had no real help at all for this symptom but referred me to the Sony web site and phone service number. The Web site had nothing of use to this problem so I called the service number. After working through the menu to get to the point where I needed a service technician I got elevator music. Lots of elevator music. It was about 45 minutes before a person came on line. After explaining the problem he said there was no way to fix the problem locally. I would have to mail the unit to Boston with me paying the postage on this 12 hour old unit.

I contacted the retail outlet for a replacement unit. They did not have any working units in stock. The only units they had were other failed units that had been returned. I got a full refund. I love the idea of TiVo but think I will go to someone other than Sony for my unit.