Ok—we’re hugely biased. We live, breathe and pay for the kids’ educations with TiVo. But honestly, if you love TiVo and have multiple TVs in your house, it really is cost-effective to purchase a second box.
If you have DIRECTV, you might already know that DIRECTV does NOT charge an additional TiVo service fee for two (or more) units. You do pay $5/mo for the “mirroring charge” (adding an additional access card), but unlike with standalone units, you don’t pay an additional TiVo service fee.
If you have cable, DISH network or a run-of-the-mill antenna, TiVo charges only $6.95/month for additional units in your home, as compared with $12.95/mo or $299/lifetime for the first unit.
There are currently some big rebates in effect (up to $200 for DIRECTV, expiring 2/28/06 and $150 for standalone TiVos, expiring 2/28/06), which make it particularly reasonable to purchase a second unit. Also, if you have DIRECTV and love your DIRECTV DVR with TiVo, the TiVo/DIRECTV receivers are quite scarce and are moving very fast…so if you wait, you may not see one again.
Finally, if you have DIRECTV, until 2/28/06 DIRECTV will install the new unit, AND relocate an existing receiver (including a DIRECTV DVR) for only $99, including the hardware that you need to make it happen! Hard to beat that.