[jyl]

I bought the cheapest DVD Recorder sold at Costco - works fine, a little over-complicated but workable. I hear the Gateway DVD Recorder is good too and perhaps a bit simpler (and cheaper yet).

TIVO has been terrific for our household. The kids have been trained to watch only what's available on TIVO, so they watch only what I record, which means 75% of what they watch is science and nature documentaries and other "educational" programs. No more endless hours of crappy cartoons. I, of course, get to watch as much racing, travel, fishing, airplane, 60s classics (the Saint, original Star Trek, etc), BBC, and similar cool stuff as I have time for. No more endless channel-surfing, trying to find something tolerable. TIVO is the best money I've ever spent on TV.