Great question!
Well, one thing you can do with a TiVo - or many, I should say - is use Yahoo services!
That is right, and since you obviously have a Yahoo ID already - you might really like this.
TiVo and Yahoo just announced that feature a couple of weeks ago and then started rolling out the capability to TiVo Series 2 (current model for past 2 years) users that use a broadband connection last week. Mine got turned on a couple of days ago and I love it.
The Yahoo services I like using the most right now from my TiVo are: live365.com streaming music, traffic reports, weather reports, and listening to podcasts.
It is very neat to be able to catch the local weather/traffic report before your feet hit the floor in the morning.
It is very fun to listen to your favorite theme of music on the weekend while you putter aroud the house.
You can do slideshows of your Yahoo photos too. Not that exciting to me personally, at least not more than once watching the same show. But, if I have a party or a close friend over, I can show them my latest vacation photos, for instance - on my TV set! That is pretty cool, eh?
TiVo systems can also have more features written for them by Java developers. They have a feature called HME now which is a developer's kit. It seems to work on Windows and the Mac. It might work on Linux but I cannot recall at the moment. So if you are a Java developer, know a Java developer, or keep one as a house pet - you are in luck! Even if you do not have one handy, you can find some prewritten ones on the web. Some of them sound pretty spiffy.
Yeah, TiVo was pretty wise when they "opened up" their system via Java. Of course, you do not have to take advantage of that. If you do not want any of those 3rd party things to show up, you can easily get to a setting that makes your TiVo not even notice/see/list/use them. If you were in a huge dorm and everyone was on the same LAN segment, I could see how maybe you might feel like using that setting. At least until someone put up a service on your LAN that was worthwhile. Then you would be like, "yeah baby, turn those service listings back on"!
TiVo also lets you listen to streaming audio of your choice(s) of Best Buy's latest music. They have a lot - I think maybe a hundred - different tracks. It is a good mix. I have bought several albums and individual songs at retail stores and at iTMS because I heard them on my TiVo and liked them a lot!
TiVo is good about figuring what shows you want to watch, based on shows you explicitly give thumb(s) up - or down - to while watching, or in the schedule, or in your history list of recently recorded shows. Also, shows you watch a lot can have a positive influence on its learning too.
When you tell it to show you "suggestions" (shortcut: TiVo button+"8") then, bam! it instantly shows you its list of suggestions.
TiVo also lets you create Wishlists of shows you really want to see based on: actor, director, title, genre, keyword, etc. LOL, no you don't have to specify all of them! Each wishlist generally has one of those things. You can go in and look at what shows match a particular one - or any of them - at any time. I have dozens created. Every now and then I go in there and see if anything good is coming up and tell TiVo to record something if I spot it.
TODO list: great feature. (Shortcut: TiVo button+"2") Instantly shows you what shows it plans to record based on: manually scheduled shows, season passes (when you subscribe to a whole series), wishlists (if you have any you have set to auto-record), and even will auto record shows it infers you will like (if you tell it to auto-record its Suggestions).
What's Playing: your list of all the shows TiVo currently has recorded and ready for you to view, including any shows that it is in the process of recording - you can start watching before they are done, no problem. (shortcut: TiVo button pressed twice).
TiVo frequently has sales on. Also, if you have a friend with a TiVo - tell him/her you are thinking of getting one. They will be delighted! TiVo often has special offers available for friends who get other people to buy a TiVo and subscribe. They should be able to send you an "offer" code, and then they get credit for you when you buy/subscribe. They might get a little money or once they get 5 subscribers they might get a special deal on some TiVo product, service, or accessory. Details change from time to time so you would need to check with them or the TiVo web site to see what the current offers are.
If you have a friend with a TiVo, you should check theirs out. Invite yourself over to their house - tell them you are bringing over a pizza or some chinese food, and you want to check out your TiVo while you are there. Who could refuse??! Then you will know what TiVo looks like and probably get to share a few laughs with your friend as you watch a show you both like.
Indespensible feature - skip back. There is a 30 minute show buffer for the current show on the current channel. You can scan forward and backwards through that at will. If you are a programmer, it's a "sliding window" or "drum buffer", in our lexicon. There is a "skip back" button that goes back 3 seconds from where you are, each time you hit it.
I use the skip back feature all the time with my TiVo. "He said what???", "She did what???", "The product in this commercial is called what???", "That phone number I can call is what???". Very handy. I find myself wishing for this feature all the time when I am listening to the radio. Maybe XM or Serius digital satellite radio receivers have this but no radio I own does. I gave my brother a Radio Shark for Christmas last year so he could listen to radio on his Mac or PC, and he likes it. I think he can do a skip-back with that. Anyway, the "skip back" feature for any kind of a thing you watch/listen to is indespensible, and TiVo has it!
You can put your TiVo to sleep just like you sleep a computer if you are concerned about maximizing the lifetime of the moving parts, minimizing the amount of energy it consumes, giving it a positive indication you are really not watching any TV shows right now, etc. This is a cool feature, and I use it all the time if I think I will not be watching any more TV for the next 12 hours or so. If you are going to be watching your TiVo again a couple hours later, then just hit the "TV off/on" button on your TiVo and your set willl go off. That is good enough.
You can get to your TiVo season pass list easily (shortcut: TiVo button+"1"). Once you are in you can see what TV series you want to record each time they are on. You can view the list of upcoming episodes, cancel the pass, or modify it. TiVo lets you specify whether you want to see every single episode of the show or to skip the repeats. The order of the shows in your Season Pass list denotes their priority for them. So, first on the list gets highest priority, etc. You can easily change the order of the shows in this list - so you have total control. If two shows air at the same time, whichever one occurs first gets recorded.
If you want to watch 2 shows that are on at the same time, buy a second TiVo is one approach. The monthly subscription fee for your 2nd, 3rd, etc. TiVo is about half or less the price of your first one's. Note that you should do a break-even analysis of the monthly vs. lifetime subscription fee cost. When I did the math on mine, the break-even point was at about 18 months. I knew I was going to use it longer than that, so I bought the lifetime and I saved some serious coin.
If you use a Comcast DVR, you are renting it. Renting makes sense for a few months. But, does renting make any sense for 2 or 3 years? I think not. With TiVo, you own it.
If you go to TiVo's site right now, I think you will find a Flash demo of a TiVo - like a little simulation. Try that out for size. It was up on the site last week and this is Christmas month so I doubt they will be taking it down now, of all times.
TiVo's manuals are on the web site in PDF form. You can probably download one and read it (or look at the pictures) even if you do not own one right now. You can do that and just skip the boring setup instructions at the beginning.
Setting up a TiVo takes less than an hour. If you are doing broadband internet connection plus have WiFi and have not set them up before on a computer or anything, you might want to allow a couple more hours to figure this out. Most people probably just use their modem when they are setting it up the first time. If you do that it will take less than an hour to get through all the setup screens and it will not take any thinking, just answering questions that you already know the answers too.
After you have set up your TiVo, it needs to "feed its head" for several hours or so while it downloads the entire programming schedule for all the stations available form your cable provider or your TV broadcast area - whichever you are using. Note you can tell it you do not receive certain stations at all, and that will save some to a lot of time. Obviously, downloading over broadband goes very fast and over modem goes very slow. So when I say "several hours" that is plus or minus a couple of hours. Overnight is generally what it means, for me, but sometimes I will set one up or during day time.
I have used mine when travelling on business, in montly business traveller hotels/apartments. It works fine. I usually set it up the first evening I am there and by the next morning, it is all ready to go. Again, try doing that with a Comcast DVR. You probably can't. If you don't have Comcast TV at the temporary apartment, you are stuck. With TiVo, you are not stuck. Just reconfigure. You can reconfigure again when you shift it back to your real home. You could probably take it with you on a week long trip for vacation or to visit relatives, if you were really hardcore.
TiVo will let subscribers schedule TV shows over the Internet too. They have pages to do that with on their web site. Also, you can do it now from your tv.yahoo.com site - since obviously you have a TV set and assuming you get a TiVo and set up subscription on it. This feature does not cost anything extra. It used to, a long time ago. Then they just made it free for everyone.
TiVo will work with broadcast TV stations. I seriously doubt Comcast DVR will!!!
I use my TiVo to receive broadcast right now. I don't even have cable TV at the moment. Last time I did was a year and a half ago. It works fine either way. If you have really poor reception on a station it will not do a good job on that one, obviously. On channels you have good or excellent reception on, it is indistinguishable from cable TV reception.
Last time I checked, TiVo did not receive/process HDTV signals, unless you had DirectTV model and subscribed to DirectTV but I think they are working on that. Might be a future product or maybe it is already out. Consult their web site and their community web site for details.