There are two types of people in the world: people who take their TV watching seriously, and people who don’t. If you know me at all, you know I’m in the first group. TV is serious business, and it requires serious gear. I don’t fool around. That’s why I swear by TiVo.

I’ve had TiVos since early 2000, and I can’t live without them now. I would literally keel over and die if I didn’t have a TiVo in my life. I told you this is serious. Didn’t you believe me? Anyway, last year, we finally decided to join the revolution and upgrade to HDTV. We went to Costco and got an awesome new TV (likely subject of a future blog). Great idea, right? It sure seemed like it, but there was one little problem: TiVo didn’t make an HD-compatible DVR. However, Comcast has its own HD DVR, and I really wanted HDTV. So I forced myself to ignore the warning bells ringing loudly in my head and I swapped out my main TiVo for a Comcast DVR. BIG MISTAKE. Wow. What a piece of crap. It’s (marginally) better (in some ways) than using a VCR (if you ignore the splitting headache it will give you). But really, it’s a pale imitation of a real TiVo. So I was thrilled, nay, overjoyed, nay jumping up and down with excitement until I passed out when I heard that TiVo was finally releasing an HD unit, the Series3, late last year.

Getting my hands on a TiVo Series3 was not an easy feat, but I was able to track one down at a BestBuy 30 miles away. When I got it home, I hooked it up and I was immediately in heaven. I was back to the same great TiVo experience, with the same polished interface, but all in HD with more storage space than any TiVo I’d ever had. Add in digital cable, full Dolby 5.1 audio, THX certification (I’m not sure what that means other than a cool startup sound, but what more do you need?) and a nifty new front panel display, and you have the best TiVo ever made. I kicked the Comcast DVR directly to the curb, and I haven’t looked back.

Yes, the TiVo Series3 is expensive. Much more expensive than a cable company DVR. But the experience is just that much better. I think it’s worth every penny. Besides, didn’t we already agree that TV watching is serious business, worthy of serious equipment? Yes, we did. So you know what you have to do. Go. Now. You can thank me later.