TiVo this week announced the launch of it’s new DVR player that offers more recording capacity than any other TiVo model.

The TiVo HD XL comes with 1 TB of space, enough for 150 hours of HD recording in comparison to the 20 hours of recorded programming users get out of the 160 GB TiVo HD. Aside from the huge increase of space, the XL is pretty much identical to the older TiVo HD, save for a few minor differences that most people would not even notice.

The release of the monster TiVo comes at a time when DVRs are becoming increasingly popular. According to Ars Technica, a survey of over 1,000 people from the U.S., UK, Italy and Australia showed that the DVR has quietly crept up the list of essential devices in the home. DVRs ranked third (surpassed by washing machines and microwaves) on people’s list of essential devices in the home in the U.S., UK and Australia. Those surveyed ranked DVRs second only to their cell phone and above MP3 players and consoles.

Statistics and numbers aside, one of the more, er, interesting (and perhaps worrying?) discoveries was that 79 percent of the Americans surveyed said the DVR improved their relationship with their significant other. Similar results were true of the other countries with the Britons surveyed scoring the lowest at 62 percent. Apparently the married population of Britain don’t argue over television all that much.

A lot of people seem to think $600 is a pretty substantial pricetag for the TiVo HD XL (compared to $300 for TiVo HD), we’d be inclined to say that twice the price for that much extra space is good value. Really good value, and if it’s going to help your marriage, we’d say buy two.

Source : Tom's Hardware