All PVR posted a great little article about the top six ways you can customize that new TiVo DVR you got for Christmas.

1. If you own a Tivo Series 2, you can enable 30-second skip to zip by commercials using the following commands on your Tivo remote while watching a stored show: Select Play Select 3 0 Select.

2. If you’re having set up problems, check out some diagrams of typical Tivo connections. Or go right to Tivo.com and see examples of typical setups for your box(series 1, 2 or 3). Of course you could always come to DVR Playground and ask a question in the First Timers forum!

3. You might want to turn off those Tivo sound effects or at least turn down the volume. Go to the Tivo main menu, then select Messages & Setup; then My Preferences; then Audio Options; and then Sound Effects Volume. Select either Off, Low, Medium, or High.

4. Find your favorite TV shows to record. You can use Tivo to type in names of your favorite shows. But it’s much easier if you register on the Tivo.com website and do it from there. You can search much easier since you can type rather than use your remote as a keyboard.

5. Don’t use the telephone line connection, if at all possible. If you use a router on your broadband connection, connect your Tivo via an Ethernet cable instead.

6. If you have a Series 2 Tivo, download the TivoToGo software for your Windows computer, so you can download shows from Tivo to your computer.

Of course we would add expand your storage space and hack in networking!

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