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[Table of Contents]
Introduction
What you get out-of-the-box
About your PTV
What it costs
Live TV buffering
Television listings
Recording and scheduling
Space management
The quality/space tradeoff
Input sources
Navigation
Miscellaneous features
Service and updates
Hey, this is a lot of money
History

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How do you pick what to record? How do you know what's on? Browse the listings, use the electronic program guide, enter search criteria or even ask for a hint; PTV gives you many ways to find the shows you're looking for. Both units download program schedules, but there's only so much memory to store this data, so it stores a week or two (listings coverage). The importance of this feature depends on how much in advance you like to plan your recordings. Setting up repeat recordings is one way to get around this limit. Units that offer "past listings" help you to find out what you missed, presumably so you could go kick yourself. Are the channels in ascending or descending order? Is the order user-selectable? Can I hide channels I never watch? What if I only like science fiction? Behold the chart...

Feature ReplayTV TiVo
Browse by time/channel grid Yes, electronic program guide (EPG) is a traditional time/channel grid; familiar feel. Opaque layout, but underlying channel visible at borders. Units with 4.0 software or earlier have a unique two-panel EPG. Left panel lists channels/shows for one timeslot, right panel lists (usually upcoming) show airings for selected channel. Units running 4.01 have the option to use a more traditional time/channel grid. Transparent layout, underlying channel visible through EPG.
Browse all channels by time Only by scrolling around the EPG (see Browse by time/channel grid). Yes, with "Browse by Time." List may be filtered by your "favorite channels." Also may scroll left/right in the left panel of the EPG.
Browse one channel by time Only by scrolling left/right in the EPG (see Browse by time/channel grid). Yes, with "Browse by Channel." List may be filtered by a particular genre or your "favorite channels." Also, may scroll up/down in the right panel of the EPG.
Browse all shows No, but you can get a chronological listing of the airings of all shows that belong in a particular zone or match your search criteria. Yes, alphabetically, by searching for "0" (see Search).
Browse shows in one genre Replay Zones will list all upcoming airings matching the zone (genre/category). Can set up repeat recordings that monitor new shows for a zone (see Recording and scheduling). A genre-filtered "Search by title" for "0" returns an alphabetic list of genre shows. A genre-filtered "Browse by time" returns a chronological list of genre shows, by airing.
Genre filtering Yes, when listing the contents of Replay Zones, or in a zone-based Replay Channel. Yes, when searching, browsing by time, or viewing the EPG.
Browse suggested content "Replay Zones" provides many categories to examine. Categories contain an exhaustive list of shows which may be used to create a zone-based Replay Channel (see Recording and scheduling) or find an individual show to record. "TiVo's Suggestions" provides a list of suggested shows based on your show thumbs-up/thumbs-down preferences. These shows may also be recorded automatically (see Recording and scheduling). "TiVolution Magazine" provides several categories of a handful of staff-picked shows to peruse. "Network Showcases" provides lists of show offerings (usually in subcategories) for a limited set of networks.
Search interactively Search actor, title, director, and/or description keywords with "Find Shows." Returns list of all shows that match your criteria. List is ordered chronologically, by the airing time of each show. Shows with multiple airings appear multiple times. The search criteria may be saved as a theme-based Replay Channel (see Recording and scheduling) which will continually record anything that matches the criteria. Look at a list of all show titles, in alphabetical order, with "Search by title." May be filtered by a genre. As you enter more of the show title, the list centers on the first show that matches your criteria. Entering "0" brings you to the top of the list. Shows appearing on multiple channels are listed multiple times.

Search by actor, director, title, category (genre), or description keywords with "Create Wishlist." May be filtered by a genre. May use wildcards (asterisk *) in keywords. Returns list of all shows that match your criteria in chronological order, by the airing time of each show. Wishlists are saved automatically and may be deleted or set to "auto-record," which will continually record anything that matches the criteria. (See Recording and scheduling.)
Find show airings Yes. Replay Zones and "Find shows" both return airings of shows that match your critera. See Search. Yes, with "View upcoming episodes," everwhere but in "Now Playing" (which lists all saved recordings).
Listing coverage (days) 11-13 (4000 series and newer)
7+ (Others) 		12-14
Past listings (days) 1 3, although the left panel of the EPG cannot access them.
Channel order Ascending only, from top down; EPG wraps around Ascending only, from top down; EPG wraps around
Ability to "hide" channels Yes, new channels are visible by default. Yes, new channels are hidden by default.
Menu layout Many are partial screen; underlying show is audible at most menus. All are full-screen; underlying show is muted (if live) or paused (if recorded).