My TiVo Adventure

So, I was at my buddy's house on Sunday watching football on TiVo when I was reminded of the wonders of technology. I remember when I moved into my apartment, I was extremely interested in getting TiVo , but the phone line requirement completely threw me. We didn't set up a landline because everyone had a cell phone and used it as their primary line. There was no need to incur the monthly expense of a phone line that nobody would use. After all, there were VCRs to tape whatever shows that we may have been missing. So the TiVo became one of those impossible endeavors that I simply wrote off.

But on Sunday as I watched the game, the ability to easily tape shows, pause live TV, fastfoward through commercials, and replay memorable moments renewed the TiVo passion in my heart. Now, since I live somewhere where we actually do have a phone line, the TiVo option reemerged.

Since I am an extremely sensible person and never rush into things, I waited 24 hours and bought my own TiVo on Monday evening. They have a great rebate deal going on where you get $150 of the $200 purchase price back. Not bad.

So now came the fun part... the initial setup. The whole process was rather simple, with the only messup occurring when somebody accidentally picked up a phone receiver in the middle of the initial TiVo download through the phone line.

As I read about TiVo, I learned that I can hook it up to our wireless network so that the phone line wouldn't have to be utilized for future updates. So yesterday, I found the cheapest adapter that was TiVo-compatible and bought it from CircuitCity.com. I selected the in-store pickup so I didn't have to wait any longer for my TiVo setup to be complete. The hours of the workday seemed to drag by as I eagerly awaited for 5 o'clock to roll around to I could make a quick stop at Circuit City to pick up the adapter.

Finally, after a typical rush hour commute, I picked up the adapter and headed for home. Eager to finally have the entire system setup, the moment I arrived home, I hooked up the adapter to the TiVo and waited for it light up in recognition of the bonding of my two new favorite gadgets in life. But nothing.

I quickly did some research on the internet to discover that it didn't work because my TiVo software was version 5 and I needed version 7. A quick TiVo phone line connection would resolve that. However, the download took an extremely long time so I was unable to finish the setup last night.

This morning when I turned on the news I quickly checked to see if the TiVo software had downloaded. And it had. I was thrilled.

So, I once again attached the USB wireless adapter to my TiVo.

But once again, nothing happened.

Puzzled, I did some further research only to find out that the software on the adapter was not the TiVo compatible type. The make and model were correct, but the SERIAL NUMBER was one that did not work with TiVo.

So now I need to find a new USB adapter. I found one at Best Buy which should theoretically work, however, I cannot be sure. I will stop by there after work today to make sure it is compatible, but who knows.

This evening will be extremely similar to yesterday evening. I will eagerly rush to an electronics store hoping that what I buy from them will work with what I have at home. But hopefully tonight, there will be a happy ending.