As the curtain rises on one of the country's largest consumer technology shows, Digital Life, TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO - News) will bring down the curtain on the VCR. In a ceremony that honors the passing of the venerable, but clunky VCR that never lived up to its promise for easy and convenient television recording, TiVo will give away hundreds of 40 hour TiVo Series2 units to consumers who trade in an old videotape for the ultimate VCR replacement and activate a new TiVo service subscription at the event.

The technology experts at the venerable online tech chronicler CNET have selected the TiVo® DVR as one of the 10 best technology innovations of the last decade, citing in particular the superior TiVo user interface that delivers an unprecedented user experience that makes the product so easy to use.

Continuing to distance itself from partner and DVR pioneer TiVo, satellite provider DirecTV has launched a massive ad campaign promoting its own DVR system.

Humax USA announced the beginning of this month (May, 2005) the launch of its new 40-hour DVD recorder with TiVo® service — also a pretext to lower the price-tag for Humax DVD recorders to $399.

TiVo Inc. got the Comcast customers in line for a free Tivo series 2 box at its headquarters in Alviso, Calif. on Friday, December 17.