Tivo......
 

We got a Tivo box for xmas

we are deciding weather or not we want to use it

What are the pros and cons of Tivo?

What can be hacked on it that can be useful?

DVR's are the best consumer electronic this decade!

Of course you should use it!

You can hack it and change the software and also add more hard drives.

tivo's are awesome i hear.. though i don't have one.. have dish pvr..

and i wouldn't really think too hard about making a PC do the job of TIVO, it's more expensive that way. they really are cost effective solutions for the job they do. too bad they don't have high-speed network connectivity so you can dump the stuff to your PC for compression and backup. (though you can always keep a few 120ish gig HD's around and swap them out and do the same thing, tho that definitely complicates things and kills uptime, unless you think ide is hotswappable (i know you've tried ;P)).

pros cons?