Upgrade HD Tivo, good idea?

[bmwf1techie]

Hello everyone,
I am new to the forums, feels good to be among fellow Tivo fans! I am looking into one of the weaknees HD tivo hard drive upgrades but I am concerned about the D* MPEG 4 conversion. I am in Los Angeles and I get my MPEG 2 locals currently. Will my Tivo become a doorstop once the new HD DVR is rolled out? I don't want to spend money on something that may soon be useles. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Billy66]

You will be fine and will receive your locals via MPEG2 for a long while. You're golden!

[b3ar]

D* recently signed an extension with Tivo for something like three years. While that does not mean that they won't make the HD Tivos into a doorstop somewhere in the interim, an upgraded HD Tivo is a wonderful thing, especially once you "fix" some of its shortcomings (e.g., extend live buffer from 30m to 1hr).

[bmwf1techie]

Would getting a bigger hard drive increase the live buffer? Or is that a different upgrade?

[Billy66]

That's a different one. Check out the Zipper in the underground thread for that. You can do it without the zipper if you like, but you may want some of those other items too. A 1 hour buffer is way better.