I had and loved my original TiVo for several years. As the author mentions, there are a lot of good features and the online ability has come a long way since the original v1 and v2 TiVo added the networking features.
The two most annoying things to me: (1) there's no way to control or even pass-through DVD or BluRay playback through the device. If I want to watch movies, I better have 2 HDMI inputs on my TV and I'll need to dig out the TV remote again to switch it (and a third remote from the BluRay player.) (2) you can't play your own media on a TiVo... it only plays something that a TiVo records or something you've downloaded from one of their partners.
Moving to a low-profile Vista Media Center fixed both issues for me (as well as giving me the two CableCards that an upgraded TiVo HD would have given me.)