Best Buy Ratings and Reviews

Best Buy Ratings and Reviews

Customer Reviews for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Model: TCD746320
SKU: 9744971
UPC: 851342000865
Record up to 45 hours of high-definition programming with this digital video recorder that allows you to access a large selection of on-demand movies, TV shows, music videos, Web videos and more. Control live TV with pause, rewind, slow-motion and instant replay functions. Learn more about the TiVo app for iPad®. Learn more about Hulu Plus on TiVo. Smart Set-Top Box Get a world of instant entertainment with this smart set-top box. Connect to the Internet and stream movies, listen to music and access a wide variety of other content on your HDTV. Learn more about smart products. Netflix YouTube Pandora
Average Customer Rating:
4.161 out of 5
4.2
 out of 
5
(149 Reviews) 149
Open Ratings Snapshot
Rating Snapshot 149 reviews
5 stars
89
4 stars
29
3 stars
11
2 stars
6
1 star
14
81% of customers would recommend this product to a friend 
(
120 out of 149
)
Customer Reviews for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder
Review 1 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

LOve my TIVO

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: Buffalogirl
from Woodstock, GA
on 05/10/2012
What's great about it: easy to use
What's not so great: nothing
I love my Tivo. I brought this box to replace the DVR from my cable company. Tivo is much more superior. User friendly. I like the Tivo suggestions feature. I am very happy with this purchase.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 2 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

great for what it does

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: kiwismom
from los angeles
on 04/26/2012
Value for Price
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Features
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Ease of Use
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Set Up
4.0 out of 5
4.0
What's great about it: it's a dvr
What's not so great: does not work directly with satelite systems
it's a dvr and works great for that purpose. i got it because i got rid of my cable, which had a dvr, but still wanted something to record local shows.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 3 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Glorified recorder

Customer Rating
2.0 out of 5
2.0
Posted by: sweetiebug2
from Shoreline, WA
on 04/24/2012
Value for Price
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Features
2.0 out of 5
2.0
Ease of Use
2.0 out of 5
2.0
Ease of Set Up
3.0 out of 5
3.0
What's great about it: nothing
What's not so great: You have to pay for other services plus the monthly on it, just not worth it.
I was not really happy with the tivo, I was hoping for more. We don't have cable anymore so we were hoping this would be better, not the case. We were not happy with all the added expense that you would need to pay just to watch other stuff. We can get some of the other things thru our Wii and not have to pay so much.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
-5points
0out of 5found this review helpful.
Review 4 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

I am loving TiVo

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: sgreen2
from Atlanta, GA
on 04/23/2012
What's great about it: Super easy and fun to use!
What's not so great: First time setup was a little cumbersome
This is my first experience with using TiVo, and so far I am loving it. Once I got everything set up correctly, I am able to use the guide, record single shows or entire seasons, use Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube with just a few remote clicks. Hulu Plus is on the menu too, but I don't have an account at this time. Setting the recording quality to good allows for 103 hours of HD recording which is more than enough!
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
Review 5 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

TiVO blows away the cable company DVR

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: GINGERMAN2
from CT
on 04/20/2012
Value for Price
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: User interface, Pandora and other streaming.
What's not so great: Needs the expander hard drive for enough HD recording space.
This is my 3rd TiVO, all with cable cards installed. You can usully transfer recordings from TiVO to TiVO (unless they are copy protected), transfer them to your PC, iOS device, I could go on and on. Get one if your cable company supports cable cards.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 6 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Great Alterntive to DVR

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: CutCable
from Ohio
on 04/12/2012
Value for Price
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Features
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Ease of Use
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Set Up
3.0 out of 5
3.0
What's great about it: User Inteface
What's not so great: Long setup
Cut the cable cord and bought this for a DVR replacement using OTA Antenna channels. Great menu and guide. Easier to use then cable DVR and user interface is way better then typical cable box. Also using Hulu and Pandora as part of Tivo. Saving around $100 a month. Tivo picks up 33 channels over the air. 7 PBS channels that are as good as Discovery Channel. This Old House shows are as good as DIY Channel. HD is great, better then cable and free.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+6points
6out of 6found this review helpful.
Review 7 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Dude... this thing rocks

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: CaliTVer
from Bay Area, CA
on 04/11/2012
What's great about it: Easy to use, iPad app is rad, tons of space to store shows
What's not so great: Cable companies seem to make set up hard
One box, one remote, all my cable channels and web stuff in one place, PLUS a sweet DVR?? Yup, love this baby.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 8 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Great option to cable boxes

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: angelacpa
from Louisville, KY
on 04/05/2012
Value for Price
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: Easy to use, nice display, great price
I had to dump my cable DVR due to rising costs, but my tv, which is really a video monitor, had no cable antenna hook up on it, so bought this rather than a new tv. The only real complaint, which isn't a big deal, is that the box will record shows automatically that I don't want and will change the channel to what it wants to record. I'm sure there's a setting for this I haven't found yet, but other than that, it's a great option with lots of storage and nice on-screen displays.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 9 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

just wanted it for the dvr

Customer Rating
1.0 out of 5
1.0
Posted by: mcbrayer3rd
from conway sc
on 04/04/2012
Value for Price
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Features
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Ease of Use
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Ease of Set Up
3.0 out of 5
3.0
cant use with out a subscription.........................................
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
-13points
5out of 23found this review helpful.
Review 10 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Best Value period!

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: OreallyO
from Shrewsbury, PA
on 04/04/2012
Value for Price
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: Value, features.
Don't miss DirectTV at all. Paid $200 for their dvr and it was never mine! Not to mention rental fees and then had to return it. This Tivo unit only 99.99 and after a year it's mine period. Best value, features and service for the price.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 11 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

This is an excellent alternative to sattlelite

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: srjamz
from Fort Worth
on 04/04/2012
Value for Price
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Use
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Ease of Set Up
4.0 out of 5
4.0
What's great about it: Its too good to pass up
This is it the best alternative to sattlelite or cable, and it is free w/ a purchase of an antena add Net Flicks and you got what you had when you had sattlelite or cable for $20 or less per month and no contracts.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 12 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Great product, pricing is misleading.

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: 95sj
from Baltimore, MD
on 04/02/2012
Value for Price
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: Ease of use, speed
What's not so great: Total cost of ownership is pretty high
This is a great product. I would recommend TiVo products. This specific item is much faster than the previous models (Series 2 and 3/HD models). If you use your TiVo mainly to watch TV, then I wouldn't recommend getting rid of your current TiVo box if you already have one. But if you're looking for a new DVR and don't already have a TiVo, then this one is great.
The one thing that frustrates me is the price. The purchase price is great, but the cost to buy the service is very high. You can either pay around $10-20 per month for the service, or you can pay around $400-500 for lifetime service (depending on whether or not you already have a TiVo box). When you're comparing prices, take into account that you'll be spending around $500+ total on this box. That being said, it's a great interface, and I love my TiVo.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-1point
1out of 3found this review helpful.
Review 13 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Good deal for the money

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: Toshiba4me
from Wetumpka, Alabama
on 03/23/2012
Value for Price
2.0 out of 5
2.0
Features
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Ease of Use
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: Ease of use and setup
What's not so great: nothing I can think of
I am happy with my new Tivo box so far. There are a couple of issues I'm having to get use to since I've switched from satellite tv, but nothing I can't live with. I am happy with my purchase.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 14 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Great product!

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: Dozz
from Plano Tx
on 03/21/2012
Value for Price
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: Features
What's not so great: N/A
former twc box user, turned those boxes in and replaced them with Tivo boxes, picture quality and feature are excellent. Shouldve switched years ago.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+3points
3out of 3found this review helpful.
Review 15 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Decent product with better features and perf.

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: diagpope
from Bronx, NY
on 03/18/2012
What's great about it: Takes stress ouf of recording shows, setup with clear directions, works almost as intuitively as an Apple product
What's not so great: Tivo subscription fee
The premiere (Series 4) is much better than the HD (Series 3). HD menu, remote display via kmttg or a wireless device on the home WLAN, remote delete after download, faster download speed are nice but some basic functionality of a Linux Operating system are still missing: Updating season passes in the background, faster boot time, possibly having new Season passes not appear at the bottom of the list One major glitch: Sudden reboots when using a specific SW level while using tivo.com's season pass manager. Overall a good product but as most commercial products it requires extensive testing and bugs are a part of dealing with technology.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+2points
2out of 2found this review helpful.
Review 16 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Tivo Premiere

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: Clash
from Rochester Hills, MI
on 03/16/2012
What's great about it: Graphic User Interface, On Demand Choices
What's not so great: Only 2 Tuners
The main advantages of this DVR are the broad spectrum of on demand choices that it provides and the intuitive and elaborate software and graphic user interface that is used to control it. When comparing it to my former comcast DVR it is hands down a better choice. The comcast dvr software is so archaic that nothing comes to mind when describing it other than ancient. It is so outdated that I cannot even guess in what year it was programmed but it has to have been long ago and if not then shame on comcast and motorla. To me the 45 hours of HD recording time on the premiere is adequate. The elite offers 300 hours but if you think about it how would anyone be able to keep up with watching that much content. What I do is only record 45 hours of all new episodes for what I like and if I want to watch reruns I use netflix. I really love what Tivo is doing but I have to say that I think their engineers totally dropped the ball when they decided to use only 2 tuners in the premiere and premiere XL. The premiere Elite has 4 tuners and 300 hours of recording time but costs $400.00 more than a premeire. That is a steep increase just to have a bigger hard drive and 2 more tuners. Again the 300 hours is a huge overkill and unnecessary and adding a couple of tuners should not cost 5 times more than the premiere. I believe that the Premiere could have been designed and manufactured to have 3 or 4 tuners at the same cost of $99.99.
While Tivo has accomplished this in terms of software, GUI, and on demand choices, including 3 or 4 tuners would have been a big help to Tivo in broadening their customer base as it would have set them apart from other providers in a distinct and innovative way.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+3points
4out of 5found this review helpful.
Review 17 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Other boxes can do it better and cheaper

Customer Rating
2.0 out of 5
2.0
Posted by: Nateeeeee
from Northern Pennsylvania
on 03/15/2012
Value for Price
2.0 out of 5
2.0
Features
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Ease of Use
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Ease of Set Up
4.0 out of 5
4.0
What's great about it: DVR capabilities
What's not so great: Menus are awkward and useless if you do not have cable
The Tivo Premiere is great for DVR recording capabilities, and that is why I purchased it. Unfortunately (and I admit this is my mistake), due to the fact that I live in the mountains and far away from any antenna towers, I was not able to pick up any local channels, which I had planned to record on this box.
Since I do not have cable or satellite (and refuse to pay the outrageous costs for it), my Tivo is basically a Hulu and Netflix box. Yes, I do use the transferring feature to transfer videos from my computer to the Tivo, but other boxes have all of these other features for less. Tivo is $20 per month (with a one-year subscription required out of the box), whereas many other products can do the same stuff with no monthly cost.
So I think this is great if you use it for DVR (that is, you already are a customer with a Tivo-friendly cable or satellite company) because of its huge storage capacity, but it's useless otherwise.
Even if you already are a cable or satellite customer, I am not sure that $20 per month is worth the cost for this box. You can supplement a cable-company-provided DVR (which is usually less than $10 per month) with another media player for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, or whatever other services you already use to stream movies. Most of those media players (think Roku or Sony) have no monthly subscription. They pay for themselves in a few months.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
-1point
1out of 3found this review helpful.
Review 18 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

New menus, but ease of use remains

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: Smatters
from Minnesota
on 03/15/2012
Value for Price
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Features
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Use
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Ease of Set Up
5.0 out of 5
5.0
What's great about it: Ease of use
What's not so great: Monthly fees
The Tivo gives the modern video experience to non-geeks. My wife can find - and even record - shows all by herself without expert intervention. We've had VCRs and such since the '80s. She could play videos - most of the time - but the Tivo lets her choose things to record as well.
So Tivo's strong point is ease of use. They've used the same remote control design for at least a decade. Almost everything is on menus. Once you learn how to navigate the menus and you see what's possible, you can do typical things without added coaching.
Now, the Premiere has changed their traditional menus, especially at the top level. She's managed to deal with the change. I think it's mostly a change for the better, though now it's harder to scroll through several episodes of a show.
Another nice thing about the latest Tivos, including the Premiere, is that they use CableCards. These are little devices from the cable company that replace the bulky and less reliable cable boxes.
The downside of Tivo is monthly cost. You combine that with the cost of cable service, and things can get expensive.
It could also be more reliable, or easier to restart when it crashes. I've seen the Premiere act oddly in a couple of cases - either changing background colors and eventually hanging itself, or getting unusually "slow." There have been maybe 3 or 4 such incidents in the past 2 months. I've had to unplug it maybe twice to restart it, and I've gone to the "restart" menu entry twice.
However, it is tenacious about recording things. If you unplug it and restart it, you'll lose whatever was recording during the actual restart, but it will try to record the remainder of the show. On the other hand, it may make you cancel a recording if you're trying to use the "restart" menu entry.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 19 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

Great product

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: Diesel123456789
from Ridgefield, Wa
on 02/16/2012
We had the second generation TiVo and wanted to upgrade. This was such a wonderful idea! It has plenty of memory (as we watch our five, one hour shows, about once a week) and this handles that without any issues, with plenty of room. Plus, we figured out that if we purchased the lifetime TiVo service with this box, it will pay for itself within four years. So I am super pleased with this product and Tivo's service.
I would recommend this to a friend!
-2points
1out of 4found this review helpful.
Review 20 for TiVo® Premiere High-Definition Digital Video Recorder

TiVo Premium works great with antenna TV

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: twopits
from Long Beach,CA
on 02/16/2012
What's great about it: Records with antenna setup!! season passes for recordings
What's not so great: no commercial skips, programs are not able to be alphabetized
I wanted to quit cable and go with an antenna, but wanted to record programs when not home or two programs at same time. TiVo does it well. I was able to set it up by following easy to understand directions after activating the service online. I went with "lifetime" service. If I want more memory I can get a Western Digital Terabyte!!
I would recommend this to a friend!
+5points
5out of 5found this review helpful.
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