People used to be able to get by with a TV Guide. Now, it seems, they need a TV con-cierge to help sort through all the choices.

At least that's the thinking behind the TiVo Guru Guide, a new feature the digital video recorder service has unveiled for many of its subscribers.

TiVo enlisted critics, editors and experts to pick as many as 10 of the best programs in their interest areas for each week. TiVo users can elect to have the shows recorded and have a selection ready whenever they sit down.

Star magazine chief editorial director Bonnie Fuller, for example, will suggest shows about pop culture. Other program pickers will come from Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, H2O (Hip-Hop on Demand), CNet.com and Automobile magazine.

The Guru Guide will be available on the roughly 1.5 million TiVo units owned by direct subscribers to TiVo service. It won't be available to the 2.9 million who get TiVo via DirecTV.

TiVo says Guru creates "virtual networks" by connecting magazine sensibilities to TV. "We know a lot of magazines are trying to get into TV," says Tara Maitra, vice president of content services. "And no one has launched a network for automobile programming."

Users initially will have to go to TiVo's Web site to find the recommendations — each guru has his or her own page — and schedule recordings.

TiVo will add the Guru Guide to its TV command screen within a few months, Maitra says. By year's end, the gurus will be able to add recommendations for Internet videos available on broadband networks to TiVo users.

While there are no cash payments between TiVo and the gurus, the magazines like the opportunity to move beyond print. Billboard Group editorial director Scott McKenzie plans to highlight potentially interesting musical performances on programs such as "Good Morning America" and "Saturday Night Live," as well as musicians occasionally featured in prime-time shows such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

The initiative is part of TiVo's campaign to distinguish itself as a premium DVR service as it struggles to keep up with cable and satellite companies.