Help me in choosing Tivo DT model, 80 vs 180 hrs

[Gooter]

The wife has been pestering me to get a Tivo for a long time now and with the arrival of the dual tuners, I have decided to finally get one. We only have basic cable with no cable box and are not planning on upgrading to HD anytime soon so I think I am correct in choosing the DT as it best fits our current needs.

Now the question is which DT version, 80 hrs vs 180 hrs, should I get?

I believe the maximum recordable hours Tivo mentions is recorded at the lowest quality setting so 80 hours should read more like "up to 80 hours":

(a) How bad is the quality if you record SD at the lowest setting?
(b) Is it worse than what you view on the TV (assuming your cable quality is good to begin with)?
(c) What setting do most record at and how many recordable hours would I get from the 80 and 180, 25-30% of the max if recorded at the highest setting?

Also, I found two current deals for each version:

1. 80 hr = some minor league baseball promotion ending 8/31 where you pay $30 plus $12.95 per mo.

2. 180 hr = link from the Tivo homepage where you pay $299 and get a free Tivo wireless card and free service for 1yr.

It seems like getting the 80 hr DT and upgrading to a larger hard drive in the future would be the better deal since it would cost less even with factoring in the price for the Tivo wireless adapter and larger hard drive. My main concerns with doing this are if 80hr will be enough for us until I upgrade to a larger hard drive (won't do this for at least a year) and if I can even do the upgrade.

Thanks for listening, :D
Gooter

[classicsat]

It depends upon your TV viewing. I got by with 80 hr for quite a while, for a TiVo use by one person though.

[ZeoTiVo]

I have had a TiVo for a while and we had a lot of summer shows like "So you think you can dance, American IDol etc.. and the 80 hour was just barely enough.

I had started with a 40 hour TiVo single tuner as my first and 40 was enough then as I was a lot pickier about what I recorded and only had the one tuner.

I upgraded the DT recently to a 500 gig drive and am very happy about it. no worries about space at all. It is very easy to do and you can get 3rd party already done drives you just pop in as well. so unless that wireless adapter will be used by you then I would get the 80 hour. If you plan to use wireless then the TiVo one is the best and I would get the 180 hour deal as that will very likely be enough space for you for some time.

sorry - that is about as clear as I can make how I would approach the decision you need to make.


PS - the DT is a great box and you will be most happy with it on extended basic cable. It is exactly how I use it as well. Worth every penny and then some

[mike3775]

I got by with an 80 hour when it was just me, but once the wife and kids started learning it(against my wishes of course), I started running out of room fast.

I then bought another 80 hour, and again it would fill up quick, so I got the 180 DT model, and I have loved it so much that I got another one. The main reason I never upgraded is because I didn't want to chance doing it wrong, and I hated the thought of sending it somewhere else to get upgraded and be without for a while.

It all depends on how much TV you plan on recording really. If you have alot of programs, its better to lean on the safe side and go with the bigger model, but if you can't afford it, simply get the smaller model and upgrade later on.

I agree with the last poster though, you will love the DT though. I love the fact that I can now record two shows on at the same time now and have no worries about conflicts.

[dylanursula]

I am no Linux guru or even know much about it; but if you have a PC and sometime a hard drive copy and swap out is relatively simply. A few hours from start to finish at MOST. Buy the 80DT and do the hard drive upgrade yourself and save some $$$$$$

[Gooter]

Thanks to everyone who replied so far!

so unless that wireless adapter will be used by you then I would get the 80 hour. If you plan to use wireless then the TiVo one is the best and I would get the 180 hour deal as that will very likely be enough space for you for some time.

I would prefer to use the wireless adapter so I don't have to run a phone cord to the Tivo for updates, show schedules, etc. If the Tivo starts to fill up, I can just move programs off of it and onto my PC for viewing later right? Can I then burn those programs to a DVD?

Thanks

[ZeoTiVo]

Thanks to everyone who replied so far!



I would prefer to use the wireless adapter so I don't have to run a phone cord to the Tivo for updates, show schedules, etc. If the Tivo starts to fill up, I can just move programs off of it and onto my PC for viewing later right? Can I then burn those programs to a DVD?

Thanks

that is right you can move the shows to the PC via TiVo Desktop for Windows. You can do various things to move the shows around or burn them or just leave them on the PC to transfer back when you want to watch them. I watch shows on my smartphone and made my 9 year old happy on a long car trip with grandma when I gave her a game boy adapter that had a 1 gig falsh card and 6 hours of her favorite shows on it. Check out the HME and TTG forum here for more info.


If wireless is the way you want to go then get the 180 hour deal with the adpater. The TiVo adapter has been built to work well with a TiVo and is really the best choice, I have two running upstairs that hook to a Linksys draft N wireless router and have no problems and good transfer speeds. This way you will have plenty of room on the "180 hour" TiVo as well and will most likely not feel the need to upgrade anytime soon as well.

[jfh3]

If the Tivo starts to fill up, I can just move programs off of it and onto my PC for viewing later right? Can I then burn those programs to a DVD?

Yes to both. You will need to Tivo Desktop software (free) to move them from the Tivo to the PC (and back).

[rbreding]

Keep in mind that trying to extract shows via wireless is painfull slow on the tivo. The DT has a built in ethernet port. Save the $ and upgrade it yourself.

[Arcady]

80 and 180 are both pitifully small. If you think you can upgrade the drive (or maybe buy a pre-upgraded drive), buy the small one and then upgrade it. You can get bare 300gb drives for about $80 now.

Use the leftover 80gb drive in your PC.

[supasta]

Save your $ by getting the 80 Hour model, and do your own drive upgrade.

[Gooter]

(a) How bad is the quality if you record SD at the lowest setting?
(b) Is it worse than what you view on the TV (assuming your cable quality is good to begin with)?
(c) What setting do most record at and how many recordable hours would I get from the 80 and 180, 25-30% of the max if recorded at the highest setting?


Thanks again everyone!

Just curious about the quality settings now to see if I can get away with the 80hr until I upgrade to a larger drive.


Keep in mind that trying to extract shows via wireless is painfull slow on the tivo. The DT has a built in ethernet port. Save the $ and upgrade it yourself.

I kind of need wireless as I can't/don't want to run a cat5 down to where I will be putting the Tivo. I do have a phone jack close by though. Do I only need a broadband or phone line connection for the initial setup or do I also need it for the Tivo to update show's schedules?

Thanks

[ZeoTiVo]

I kind of need wireless as I can't/don't want to run a cat5 down to where I will be putting the Tivo. I do have a phone jack close by though. Do I only need a broadband or phone line connection for the initial setup or do I also need it for the Tivo to update show's schedules?

Thanks

The TiVo wireless adpater is very different and not painfully slow. The TiVo wireless adpater was built to take on board many of the USB/wireless functions and after I replaced a USB wired adapter on an SD H400 and a 240 model TiVo I was getting the same speeds as wired on downloads and MRV. (I replaced because lightening was hitting the wires I ran) Now other wirless adapters from Linksys and the like are built to work with a PC and that means the TiVo itself has to take on extra load and that will slow things down. My advice is specific to the TiVo wireless adapter.

So if a wire is handy then yes use it, but if getting a wire to it is a hassle then get the TiVo wireless adapter with no need to worry about performance issues assuming you have a wireless access point that is G level and functions well. Also any updates from TiVo will include the TiVo adapter as needed right off the bat as well since TiVo knows and controls how that adpater works.

so if you do get the 80 hour model then go ahead and order a TiVo wireless adapter if you are going wireless.

I think the 180 will hold the typical TV viewer for a good while. If you intned to record mainly 1 hour shows from the weekly lineup and watch them soon after then 180 will do that and have room to spare. if you intend to record a lot of movies or are a documentary freak or something like that then yes - you would need a larger than 180 drive.

[stevereis]

Just curious about the quality settings now to see if I can get away with the 80hr until I upgrade to a larger drive.


It depends somewhat on quality of your input signal, your TV, and your personal preferences/pickiness. Among the options (BASIC, GOOD, HIGH, BEST), I cannot stand anything below HIGH. HIGH gave me ~50 hours on my S2 - 140 hour unit and 27 hours on my 80GB Humax unit.


BTW, I finally upgraded to 300 GB drives in these units last month ($80 each) and life if good. You can get pre-prepped drives from Weaknees ($200 for 300GB) so all you have to do is open the box and install it. IMO, it's not worth the $100 for 100GB extra in the S2DT-180 with what I know now but I bought my 140 hour unit ~3 years ago instead of a smaller model because I didn't want to mess with HDD upgrades.

[Gooter]

HIGH gave me ~50 hours on my S2 - 140 hour unit and 27 hours on my 80GB Humax unit.

Well, the wife *assures* :rolleyes: me she will be watching her shows soon after they are recorded so I think ~27 hours at HIGH will be sufficient for our viewing needs until I upgrade. We will mainly be recording 1 hour dramas and half hour sitcoms. No need to record movies as I'd rather watch them on DVD. Though in the end, I do have a feeling that both her and I will start to record many many more shows than we think we will simply due to the fact that we can and that it is so easy to do. :D

Having said that, I will be ordering the 80hr DT unit today and the Tivo wireless adapter and will upgrade to a larger HD (most likely the 320gig WD) in the future. I'm sure I'll be posting again when that time comes. ;)

Thanks again!!