Unless there's a lot of local-only programming that you watch, like sports broadcasts and things, a good Internet connection with a sizable quota is the best content-getting device available. You just need a way to play stuff on your TV. If you don't have an HDTV, a pre-owned Xbox can be turned into a media player using XBMC with a minimum of fuss, and will serve you excellently. If you do have an HDTV, you'll want something like an AppleTV that can be made to run Boxee or XMBC, again with a minimum of fuss, because it can output 720p, unlike the Xbox. If you have an Xbox 360 already, or you're interested in one, it can play lots (but far from all) formats, and installing TVersity on one of your computers will allow you to stream more (though TVersity transcodes on-the-fly for formats the 360 won't play natively, so quality won't be great on those). The Xbox will run you about $50-60, and the AppleTV about $330. An Xbox 360 can be had for under $400 these days too, and that's not even the HDD-less Arcade model either.
If you do really want something that will record Australian broadcast TV, TiVo costs $700 + $60 for the wireless adapter. For that price you could get a decent media PC, that'll do everything TiVo does and lots more. Asus are putting out new models of their Eee Box micro desktop computers with decent video hardware and HDMI-out, that ought to cost about $400-500, and a USB TV tuner can be had for $70 or less. Because you mentioned some device that costs $300 more, I should tell you that I've priced a really kick-ass media PC at about $1100 that would have dual HD tuners (record two shows at once, while watching a third on your TV), and 1.5Tb of hard drive space.
TiVo is probably alright if you want something really simple, don't mind paying a chunk of change for it, and don't care that it won't do things that even a basic, basic media PC will do, like playing your downloaded content, running a BitTorrent client, using external storage or even being able to move stuff around to other computers or devices. And don't expect anything like ad-skipping like the US ones do. But you'll pay for that simplicity with lots and lots of cash money.
TiVo, especially in Australia, is absurdly over-hyped. To quote this article: "If we were reviewing the TiVo when it was launched 10 years ago in the US, we might agree with Seven’s PR hype that “it’s the biggest revolution since the invention of television” but eight years after the launch of digital television the TiVo is hardly cutting edge technology let alone revolutionary." That article and this one are a good no-bullshit assessment of TiVo in Australia, and they pretty much take the "only buy if you prize simplicity above all, and don't want anything other than TV recording" line.
If you do really want something that will record Australian broadcast TV, TiVo costs $700 + $60 for the wireless adapter. For that price you could get a decent media PC, that'll do everything TiVo does and lots more. Asus are putting out new models of their Eee Box micro desktop computers with decent video hardware and HDMI-out, that ought to cost about $400-500, and a USB TV tuner can be had for $70 or less. Because you mentioned some device that costs $300 more, I should tell you that I've priced a really kick-ass media PC at about $1100 that would have dual HD tuners (record two shows at once, while watching a third on your TV), and 1.5Tb of hard drive space.
TiVo is probably alright if you want something really simple, don't mind paying a chunk of change for it, and don't care that it won't do things that even a basic, basic media PC will do, like playing your downloaded content, running a BitTorrent client, using external storage or even being able to move stuff around to other computers or devices. And don't expect anything like ad-skipping like the US ones do. But you'll pay for that simplicity with lots and lots of cash money.
TiVo, especially in Australia, is absurdly over-hyped. To quote this article: "If we were reviewing the TiVo when it was launched 10 years ago in the US, we might agree with Seven’s PR hype that “it’s the biggest revolution since the invention of television” but eight years after the launch of digital television the TiVo is hardly cutting edge technology let alone revolutionary." That article and this one are a good no-bullshit assessment of TiVo in Australia, and they pretty much take the "only buy if you prize simplicity above all, and don't want anything other than TV recording" line.
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