Can I use my Tivo as an Audio Receiver?

Can an elderly woman be taught to use TIVO? And does it zap all commercials easily?

• The 78 year old I'm thinking of can operate basic things, like a few setting on the microwave, the main buttons on the remote control, she can still drive (barely), she is not senile, she is college educated and is smart...but has a mind block with most electronics. She refuses to use a computer even though she used one during the later years of her career as a pharmacist. She finds voice mail challenging and frustrating, doesn't like to use cell phones herself because the buttons and receiver are too small. But she watches TV all day and the one thing she truly hates is so many commercials. Commercials, commercials, everywhere you look. She'll watch marginal programs just to avoid commercials. I've told her about TIVO but I've never used one myself. I'm good with electronics and THINK I will be able to instruct her on how to use one. But is TIVO's commercial zapping capability easy to use? Does it really change how you watch TV? Is it as great as I'm hearing some people say?

• Answer:

  Hi John, My 84 year old mother-in-law operates a TiVo and I have never been able to teach her to work a microwave except "stop" and "go". She can't learn anything else. The commercial zapping is easy and I hacked my remote to give her a 30 second skip at a time you push fast forward. Programming and watching is duck soup because you find the show you want by name. You don't have to worry about dates & times. If there is a series she likes you can have it record every episode with a single click. You can learn a lot about TiVo hacks & enhancements on the TiVo community forum here - http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/index.php?s=4991dda17837c7fefd21443d75d5b968 Norm