We come not to bury the Philips DSR708, but to praise it. This DirecTV Receiver with TiVo DVR, the hottest new tele-grabber of 2003, has clawed its way out of the retail grave to walk the world of the living again.

Just because Philips has callously sent this thing to the Great Remainder Shelf in the Sky doesn't mean you should write it off, too: it performs admirably as both a 255-channel DirecTV receiver and a TiVo digital video recorder. If you're worried that your Arena Football and Mind of Mencia collections will outgrow the ample 80GB storage capacity, you can swap in a bigger drive. And if a dog attacks you, a swift jab in the nose with the DSR708 will col the beast's combative ardor.

Of course, you'll need to have paid monthly subscriptions to both DirecTV and TiVo to get any use out of this thing. And we're foggy on what kind of "support" might be out there for such a Philips-forsaken item. But after its near-death experience, the Philips DSR708 doesn't have time for such naysayery. It's ready to live again. Are you?

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