If you have (or are interested in) DirecTV, by all means, get a DirecTV unit with built-in Tivo for these reasons:

1) They are cheaper because they don't have a built-in MPEG encoder and DirecTV actually pays part of the hardware fee to get you as a subscibor. They are going for $99 before rebate for a 35hour model.

2) The reason they don't have a built-in encoder is becuase they record the digital stream straight off of the dish. This means that each and every recording on a "DirecTivo" or "DTivo" is "perfect" in that it is the same quality as if you were recording it live. There is no quality setting with a DirecTivo, just perfect. Looks just as good on my 53" as live TV because it IS the same.

3) DirecTivos have 2 tuners so you can record two seperate shows on 2 channels while watching a 3rd pre-recorded show. This is SUCH a powerful feature and I wish they advertised it more.

4) The Tivo subscription fee is cheaper ($4.99 instead of $13) and applies to all the Tivos in your home (instead 1 for 1). With DirecTivo's going for so cheap now, both of my DirecTV receivers are now Tivos.

About recording time, I found it better to buy a 2nd DirecTivo for $50 (had a rebate) so it is cheaper to just buy a new Tivo and in effect double the recording time AND tuners in your house! With 2 tuners on each Tivo, I can have 2 shows recording on each. This sounds silly, but then you can tell each show to record 2 minutes longer and/or start a few minutes earlier so you don't miss any scenes that may have shifted at the last minute by the local affiliate. With the new feature (forget its name, but it's offered on "non" DirecTV Tivos now) comes out that allows you to send shows from one Tivo to another, it will be even more useful...

OT: Has anyone here (upon first getting a Tivo) picked up the phone to call a friend because you're SO excited about cool show you are watching to only realize that it was aired a week ago! ?