Stargazer said:
What do you get with Tivo Basic that you do not get with the Tivo Subscription? Can you use Tivo without a phoneline connection?
I have the unit and I really like it. I do not have a "full" Tivo unit to compare, but I have a Dishnetwork DVR to compare.
It is my understanding the main difference between basic Tivo and the full is:
-Only a three day guide. You can still program the unit to record more then three days out, you just have to set the channel and time manually like you would a VCR.
-Does not do "favorites" or whatever Tivo calls it. With basic you cannot set it to record for the season of a show or every episode of a show.
With basic you can still pause, rewind "live TV". With this unit if you want you can upgrade to "full" Tivo and just pay the monthy charge.
Per the manual you need a phone line to do the initial set up. You can then switch to a Wifi. But you need one of the two, Wifi or phone line as it does regular updates, upgrades, etc. However, if you absolutely don't have a phone plug, got over to the Tivo Community and you can find instructions on how to do the initial set up with WIRED broadband. I had received the unit as a gift and did not open it for a while. Turned out I could not get the initial set up through a phone line, so I did the wired broadband it and it worked fine (I think the unit has a bad modem, but I wanted to do WiFi anyway).
