First-ever TiVo with DVD burner saves you from ever having to part with a recorded show again.

Pioneer DVR-810H-S DVD Recorder/Player With TiVoTiVo fanatic that I am, nothing irks me more than having to dump a perfectly good show off of my TiVo's hard drive just to make room for some other show. But now a new TiVo box has finally added a feature that should have been included all along: a way to burn shows to DVD.

Pioneer's brand-new DVR-810H-S integrates a DVD burner into a 102-hour TiVo Series2 that's easy to use and feature-laden. But, like most firsts, it's pricey enough (at around $900) to keep it out of the hands of most consumers.

Along with regular TiVo functions, such as pausing live TV, reversing, and recording up to 102 hours of television, the DVR-810H-S lets you burn from one to six hours of variable-quality video content onto each DVD-R or -RW disc. Just throw in a blank disc, grab the remote, select the shows you want to burn, and hit record.

Take a look at DVR-810H-S's main features.

  • 18X hard-drive-to-DVD burning speed straight from the remote
  • Component output and Faroudja DCDi de-interlacing
  • DVD movie playback along with support for CD and MP3 audio
  • TiVo's new free Basic Service with a three-day programming guide (but not Season Pass or WishList features)
  • TiVo Home Media Option that includes streaming music and pictures from PCs and Macs along with Multi-Room Viewing


Make it burn so good

In our testing, burning a disc couldn't have been simpler. But content control is limited. Disc creation screens feel just like any other easy-to-use TiVo menu. An animated DVD disc tracks the percentage of disc space remaining in the top right corner of the screen as you select more content. Once you're ready, burning a one-hour disc at good quality takes around 10 minutes.

At highest quality, video looks excellent for compressed TiVo content. However, if you're interested in leaving out commercials or sneaky network promos in a show's cold open, forget it. The DVR-810H-S won't let you edit anything. What you select is what you get.

DVD burning is only one of many cool features in the Pioneer DVR-810H-S. This box also includes support for TiVo's $99 (one-time cost) Home Media Option that lets you stream MP3 audio and digital pictures from systems on your home network. Home Media Option also lets you send recorded shows to other TiVo boxes with Multi-Room Viewing.

The DRV-810H-S is also a formidable DVD player, with good features such as Faroudja DCDi de-interlacing, progressive-scan component video output, and support for Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound.

TiVo Basic blows

In order to fend off new PVR competition, particularly from cable and satellite companies, TiVo also includes a new TiVo light option. Called TiVo Basic, the service lets you avoid the monthly $12.95 or lifetime $299 subscription fees, but there's a significant catch.

Instead of two weeks of programming guide information, you only get three days. This limitation wouldn't be so bad if you still had access to TiVo's very cool SeasonPass, WishList, and title searching functions. But you don't.

TiVo Basic guts the usefulness and uniqueness of the TiVo service. You can still pause, rewind, and record content, but intelligent management of your TV experience is what matters.

Summary: With a mix of great features and common-sense functionality, the DVR-810H-S is a must-have on my holiday buying list. But at $900, Pioneer should have included the lifetime subscription fee for the full TiVo service.

Pros: Burn content to integrated DVD-R/RW drive; support for CD and MP3 audio; progressive component video output; support for Home Media Option

Cons: No FireWire inputs; no video editing options; free TiVo Basic not very useful

Company: Pioneer (hardware); TiVo (service)
Price: $899 street (not including full service)
Available: Now