When my VCR died recently, I got myself a Multi-region DVD player (about £50 from somewhere or other) and a Freeview box with built-in 80Gb hard disk (£100 from Dabs).
No monthly subscriptions, but still more TV than I have time to watch. With the HD, the Freeview box does that cool thing where recording is instant so you can pause live TV. And, unlike TiVo, it doesn't try to guess if you're a Nazi
After Mike Binder recorded a movie about a man whose wife becomes bisexual, his TiVo started recording large amounts of gay programming. Binder tried to set the TiVo straight, and recorded the Playboy Channel and MTV's spring break bikini coverage. It worked, but his wife was disturbed... Basil Iwanyk ... ran into a similar problem. He tried to persuade his TiVo that he was not gay by recording a large number of manly World War II documentaries and films. Now, apparently, the TiVo thinks he is a Nazi.
Although the coolest thing about TiVo is that it runs Linux and you can hack it....
