The SD-H400's remote places TiVo and DVD controls within easy reach. It also operates most TVs.

A new chapter in the TiVo tale
Obviously, I was already a TiVo subscriber, but for folks who aren't, the SD-H400 offers a couple of ways to go. This is the first DVR to include built-in TiVo Basic? Service: a "lite" version of TiVo with no monthly subscription charge. With Basic, you can do unattended timer-controlled recordings, but not nearly as easily as with TiVo's subscription service, now called TiVo Plus? Service.

Basic Service limits you to setting up for timer recordings by channel and time, and the electronic program guide covers just 3 days. TiVo's Plus Service extends the program guide coverage to 14 days, and provides more flexible recording features, such as Search by Title, and Season Pass? (the ability to automatically record every episode of a program, no matter when it airs).

If you don't record many shows, Basic may be all you need. Its program guide alone places it several notches above a garden-variety VCR. And of course, in addition to the rudimentary timer-recording features, you get the life-changing ability to manipulate live TV: pause, rewind, slow-motion, etc. Having these features was a blessing during the baseball playoffs. Several times, I left the room for a couple minutes and returned to find I'd missed a key hit or play. With the touch of a button I was able to rewind and see what I'd missed!

My wife has become an even bigger TiVo fan than me. She works at home a lot, and likes to have one of her favorite shows playing in the background while she's tapping away on her laptop. She loves TiVo's goof-proof tapeless recording, and really missed it after lightning zapped the Sony. In fact, we were recently going over our monthly bills, and thinking that our phone expenses were getting out of hand, what with paying for traditional "landline" service and cellular service. My wife suggested maybe it was time to consider giving up the regular phone line. I pointed out that it would mean no more TiVo. Her expression morphed from puzzlement to comprehension ... to pure panic. The subject hasn't come up since!