We decided to dump our Charter Moxi HD DVR and go back to the familiar, user-friendly world of TiVo (which we grew to know and love by way of our previous DirecTV TiVo DVR.)

Read all about it after the jump...

The Moxi was OK, but it was a little slow and unresponsive and the user interface is goofy, requiring too many steps to find and watch a show. The HD and HD DVR functions worked pretty well, but the small hard drive only holds about 10 hours of HD, so stuff was constantly scrolling off.

The main complaint about the Moxi DVR is that you can't record by date/time/channel. Therefore, when setting up a "season pass" (TiVo terminology) for a show that doesn't properly tag reruns v. first runs, you end up with, for example, three Daily Shows and Colbert Reports every day, further filling up the small hard drive and causing stuff to scroll off. Plus it doesn't tell you the time of the recording, so you can't figure out which one is the first-run "prime time" version.

The relatively new TiVo Series 3 supports HD and encrypted digital cable by way of CableCard technology, meaning it can replace your digital/HD cable set top box and provide the best, time-tested DVR capability on the market.

The TiVo S3 has two has two tuners (so it requires two CableCards), meaning you can watch one show while recording another, record two shows at once, or watch a recorded show while recording two other shows.

It has a 250GB hard drive which can hold up to 32 hours of HD or 300 hours of standard TV. (There are aftermarket kits that let you install a larger hard drive and there are companies that sell modified boxes with up to 1TB of storage. But you give up the factory warranty for the most part, and I just don't see why you need 120+ hours of HD or 1200+ hours of regular recorded TV. Who would have time to watch it? But if you need it it's available.) There is also an eSATA drive connection and an undocumented feature that lets you add an external hard drive.

One nice change since our last TiVo is the addition of "folders" for recorded shows. So, instead of a flat list several pages long, you have a folder containing all the "Sopranos" episodes, another folder with all the "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" showings, etc. There's also a "recently deleted" folder that works sort of like your PC recycle bin.

The TiVo Series 3 has some other cool features, including a network media player capability that lets you play MP3s or show HD photo slideshows (with the latest TiVo box software update) from your PC using TiVo Desktop software, a free download. For the Series 2 (non-HD) TiVo, the software also lets you transfer recorded programs from your TiVo to your PC and other devices ("TiVo To Go") and provides multi-room playback over your home network, but these feature are currently disabled in the Series 3 because of digital copyright management issues and the CableCard license.

Other cool features include the ability to schedule recordings on your DVR from anywhere via the TiVo website and the ability to download movie rentals from the Amazon UnBox service. I haven't tried UnBox, and it gets mixed reviews relating to picture (no HD, lots of pan and scan titles) and sound quality (stereo only at the present), title selections, and the strict digital rights management restrictions (can't burn purchases to a DVD, must watch rentals within 24 hours of first access). But this looks to be the way of the future for video rentals once all this gets sorted out.

TiVo also includes internet-based content such as outstanding Nikon pro photographer HD galleries, podcasts, movie trailers, and more. There are some games and stuff, too, but I'm not a gamer so I haven't played with them. I'm not sure why they haven't built in a rudimentary web browser, but I'm sure that's coming someday.

About the only thing you give up is one-button ordering of pay-per-views and video on demand, because the TiVo/CableCard combo is one-way communication only for now. But, you can still order pay-per-views by phone (although I haven't tried this to verify if it works). We only used video on demand once or twice (the picture quality was awful), and rarely watched pay-per-views, so this is an acceptable trade-off for us considering all the other great features you gain.

Installation and setup of the TiVo was a snap. But getting the CableCards ordered and installed was a major hassle. You can read all about that in the comments here (and also see Andy Axel's comments re. the TiVo S3). Cable companies are required by law to provide CableCards for third-party TVs and other devices, but they do so reluctantly. On the plus side, they are relatively inexpensive. Charter charges $1.50 per month per card.

All this cool technology to watch TV is a little expensive. You have to buy the box ($799 list, $607 at Amazon) and a monthly subscription fee ranging from $16.95 per month down to $8.31 if you pre-pay for three years.

But, TiVo is running a Father's Day Special with a $200 rebate for the Series 3 if you purchase it and activate the service by June 16th. This is a pretty great deal if you were looking to get a TiVo series 3 but waiting for the price to come down.

Bottom line: Everything seems to be working great and we are thrilled to have TiVo again. If you have used it, you know what I mean. If you haven't you should consider checking it out. There's probably no comparison to whatever DVR your cable company provides, so don't try it unless you are prepared to never be satisfied with anything less.