yeah, you need to figure out what you want to be able to do with it...
if burning it to dvd is important, get a DVD recorder with a hard drive,
if transfering it to a portable player or pc is important, then you will need to look at other brands, i know there are others but the TIVO is the only one i have personally used to do that....
or if you are just wanting the thing to record your shows so you can come home and watch them, i'd go with the Dish DVR... as mentioned above, less confusing, and easier to use.
case in point, i have a TIVO hooked up to my 625 and occasionally when i have something setup to record... i get home and just have a recording of the floating dish network logo, that wouldnt happen on the 625...
just some thoughts