A Tivo is wonderful software.
Really easy to use.
I had Tivo when I had DirecTV.
My new house has cable and I have a Scientific Atlanta / Cisco DVR from the cable company which isn’t nearly as user friendly.
I have taken off to watch them before. :)
We’ve got the 500GB HD Viper 722 receiver (Dish Network) DVR. We love it...duel turner for two TV’s. Haven’t come close to filling it up but I got the wife a 1 TB external Hard-Drive for Christmas so she can record those “how to murder your husband and get away with it” movies she watches in her down time.
I don’t mind a delay of a few hours to watch a race but it’ll be 2 days before I get back home..too long.