TIVO and Ultimate TV. Any recommendations?

Both Tivo and ReplayTV have had dismal financial performance, but I don't know that either is in danger of going under. They both have technology that is in demand and I would guess they will survive, at least with respect to the service side of retrieving the guides, etc. As for owning one, absolutely! I own a couple of the Panasonic ReplayTV units and can't imagine life without them again. Both ReplayTV and Tivo units have been extremely well reviewed and, while I haven't done a feature comparison myself, I believe the feature comparison comes down more to preference than anything - I wouldn't want to give up the 30 second skip forward feature of ReplayTV (which Tivo doesn't), but there are features of Tivo that ReplayTV doesn't have. The initial reviews of UltimateTV have been along the lines of "heart's in the right place, but it's a generation behind the others" which makes sense given that it's the newest. -Kirk

I got the Philips DSSreceiver/TiVo combination unit a couple months ago, and it truly changes the way you watch TV. I wish I'd done it much sooner. I don't have experience with Ultimate or Replay, but I am happy with the features and functionality of TiVo, and wholeheartedly endorse SOME kind of PVR. The more video-based forums have areas dedicated to PVR's and even the individual brands/services. Email me if you want some suggested links.
Tim

I would highly recommend a replay unit where there is no subscription fee. I have the panasonic show stopper version and the only area where the sony tivo is slightly better is in the remote control design. This is the ONLY way to deal with t.v.

I have been debatinbg one of these also but I dont understand why they have a monthly fee? What do you get for your 10 bucks a month.

With TiVo, what you get for your $10 is their program guide downloaded to your TiVo box. That's how you preselect programs to record (other than by date and time), including Season Pass and other programming features. The system has an uncanny ability to start recording a show at just the right moment (most of the time).