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Philips HDR312 TiVo 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder

Philips HDR312 TiVo 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder

List Price: $299.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It Rocks!
Review: Much better than the Replay.

I've heard about reliability issues with the Replay, and I like the low noise factor of the Tivo. Plus, with all the partnerships Tivo is pulling (Phillips, Direct TV and Sony), they will likely be the dominant player.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great unit . . Lousy Tech Support/Service
Review: I have had a philips hdr312 TIVO unit for about 18 months. I LOVE TIVO. It is amazing and my family are all TIVO lovers. Even my wife, who hates all my electronics, loves tivo. The pause, rewind and Fast forward are awesome. We never start to watch our show until 20 minutes into it so we can zoom through comercials and still end at normal time.

Now the negative . . my units modem went bad, I sent it to Philips, cost $99 + 25 for shipping. Recieved it back 2 weeks later saying "no repair made, no problem found". Unit was still broken, called service and they agreed I should ship it back (another $25). Again, 2 weeks later returned "no repair made, no problem found". Agian I called philips, they agreed and said they would swap unit with a refurbished unit. I asked that they pay for shipping, they agreed and told me I would recieve a UPS call tag via email with 3-5 days. 3 weeks later and a dozen phone calls, still no call tag and each time I called I was promised by a supervisor I would get it the next day. One Tech support guy told me he's seen this take up to 30 days to get a UPS call tag and suggested I just pay for shipping myself if I do not want to wait. I asked them how is it that if I wanted to return something to L.L. BEAM, UPS would be at my house the next day, yet philips can't seem to get one to me for 3 weeks now. His response "were not L.L.BEAM"

At that point, I finally researched the company and contacted the President of the US division. He was wonderful. He was appauled at my story and within 1 hour of talking to him, (still amazed I got him on the phone)I had someone call me to inform me they were shipping overnight a brand new HDR612(The next model up). The unit arrived Friday, but I was not home, so I am waiting for redelivery tommorow.

I was happy to see management was very upset with the service I recieved and how quickly they reacted to my situation. Hopefully, this might shake up the service department and no one else will go through what I went through.

To the President of Philips . . Thank You!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great unit . . Lousy Tech Support/Service
Review: I see quite a few comments on this page about modems and hard drives dying on Series 1 or Series 2 Philips DVR's (aka, Tivos). Between my family and friends, I know of 12 Tivos that have had NO hard drive or modem problems whatsoever! The first one was purchased almost 4 years ago, too!
The two Tivos that we have had problems with are both Philips Series 1 models. Both have had modem failures. Both have been connected to phone lines that have experienced surges -- my brother's during a thunderstorm and mine due to a 40+ year old wall jack that corroded. I think the folks with multiple Tivo failures need to look at their phone systems!
I do agree, though, that having to pay $80 just to talk to a techie about my dead modem was a bit excessive. I will not do that again. $25 or $60 modem replacement kits are available.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: TIVO HDR 312
Review: The product performed flawlessly for 9 months. This product, combined with TIVO service works as advertised. I initially experienced reduced video quality upon initial hookup, but then added a monster video cable and video quality was restored. No loss of quality when I used the medium quality setting. Unfortunately, the modem shorted after 9 months. Sears refused to fix it, even though I took their extended warranty. They refunded my full purchase price. But-Warning, take the monthly TIVO service, and an extended warranty. I paid for the lifetime product subscription, and the product only lasted 9 months.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: TiVo? Great! Philips? Not so.
Review: I have experience with the previous-generation Philips DSR6000, which has proven to be extraordinarily unreliable. I have two units in my home and am now waiting for my THIRD replacement unit in a year. The units seem to have been designed to burn out like a light bulb.

In addition to all the fun troubleshooting and the weeks waiting for replacements, each problem generally takes several calls into TiVo and Philips to get a replacement authorized. Each call means, on average, a 20-30 minute wait on hold. Why not just go buy a new replacement at Circuit City for ... you ask? Because the "Lifetime" TiVo service that I bought applies only if I keep returning the broken ones to Philips for the ... replacement fee - not if I buy a new unit! It's the lifetime of the Philips unit, not YOUR lifetime, fool!

I love the TiVo experience - my willingness to continue to put up with the neverending Philips hassle is testament to that - but if had to do it all over again and Philips was my only choice....I think I'd pass.


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