It never fails that my phone will ring 55 minutes into an hour-long episode of "Survivor." I've sat through reward challenges, immunity battles and tribal squabbles in anticipation of learning which castaway will be voted off this week's episode of the popular reality show. Now this dilemma! Do I answer the phone and risk missing the program's decisive moment or ignore what could be an important call? Granted, the conundrum isn't one that the U.N. Security Council is likely to tackle, but for those of us who consult TV Guide before scheduling dinner with friends, it's a fairly weighty problem.
A touch of a TiVo button solves it. Hit pause! That's right, you can pause any live program for up to 30 minutes. TiVo, a digital video recorder (DVR), is continually recording whatever you're watching and saving it to its hard drive for half an hour. That's also great for bathroom breaks and to replay those close calls on the football field. TiVo lets you rewind live television and, if you choose, play it back in slow motion. You can also start watching a program a few minutes after it begins, speed through the commercials and finish up when the show would naturally end. We've all heard how much network execs love that feature!
TiVo touts several other benefits, some of which allow avid TV watchers to have a life without sacrificing time in front of the tube. If you like a particular show, request a "Season's Pass," one-time programming that tells TiVo to record every episode. Say there's an old movie you've been dying to catch again, search through TiVo's built in program guide to find when it airs and record it. If you're a John Wayne fan, let TiVo sift through the TV lineup and record each of his films. It'll all be sorted for you on your personal "Now Playing" list when you're ready to watch television.
TiVo isn't perfect. My set-up doesn't allow me record one channel and watch another. And the model only has about dozen hours of storage. (Newer versions currently on the market solve both problems.) Plus, TiVo charges a monthly subscription fee for updating the program guide. It does this by making a daily telephone call that isn't intrusive to the user. Still, it's a little creepy to think that my television is placing a call. Who knows what TiVo is sending back to the mothership about my viewing habits?
Can you live without TiVo? Sure. But if you're a TV junkie like me you wouldn't want to.
