Upgrading??? what's that then?

[Happytiv]

Hello,

I've had a Tivo recorder for six or seven years now and never really gave it much thought - that is until I ran out of space to record stuff when I recently went on holiday!

I think it records 40 hours at the moment. Can I make it record more.

If you wouldn't mind replying in lay person's terms... I'm learning but am not yet fluent in techno speak.


Thanks a lot.

[blindlemon]

The TiVo stores its recordings on a hard drive, like a PC hard drive.

The standard size fitted to most UK TiVos was a 40gb drive (40 hours at "basic" quality), although some early ones had 2 drives (30gb + 15gb) which were cheaper than a single 40gb drive at the time.

An "upgrade" generally involves replacing the hard drive with a bigger one - up to 500gb (613 hours at "basic") - or, if you want even more capacity, two drives up to 400gb each for a total of 800gb (990 hours at "basic")! You can also add a network card to enable you to control the TiVo from your PC and archive recordings to DVD (allegedly, as we're not allowed to discuss "video extraction on this forum;))

If you want to DIY then the cost is just the cost of a bare hard drive of the required capacity, and you will need access to a PC to configure it for use in the TiVo using one of the many online guides; if you prefer to have the work done for you then preconfigured drives are readily available, although I'm not allowed to say where from :)

[Happytiv]

Thank you so much for that Blindlemon, it's really helpful.

[Pete77]

Thank you so much for that Blindlemon, it's really helpful.
Just upgrading the hard drive to say 250 hours would only cost about £50 if you bought your own drive and had some techie friend who could follow the very clear instructions on this stuff at www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/index.html To have someone do it all for you would be a little over the £100 mark. Although you would still probably have to open the Tivo box and remove a few screws and unplug a lead and plug it back to install one of these pre configured larger drives (not at all difficult unless you are a complete DIY phobe) unless that is you live close to Malmesbury or don't mind the extra cost and hassle involved in packaging up your box to send it there.

There are a couple of places that crop up regularly on this forum that a lot of people who are not techies seem to use for having these upgrades done for them - www.tivoheaven.co.uk and www.tivoland.com

I have heard that some on here who have used Tivoheaven are even inclined to regard Blindlemon as being a sort of heavenly body when it comes to Tivos. ;)

[ColinYounger]

a lot of people who are not techies seem to use Hey - some of us who are techies use them too as it saves many hours and grumbling 'other halves'.

[Pete77]

Hey - some of us who are techies use them too as it saves many hours and grumbling 'other halves'..

An other halve prone to throw a wobbly if she has no Tivo viewing for three days might provide a valid excuse but no excuse for a single techie not to do his own upgrade I reckon. ;)

[PhilG]

AND, if you have recordings on your existing "small" drive, then it is also possible to copy those AND all your season passes, wishlists etc to the new drive. This was another reason I paid someone to do (most of) the work for me.

I now have a 200Gb drive (200-ish hours basic) AND a "spare" 40Gb drive which I can use as a fallback in case the 200Gb drive fails (unlikely, but of course it did just that the other week) so I can still have a 40 hour Tivo instead of no Tivo at all

The cachecard is handy to have as you increase the capacity of your Tivo as it speeds up menus and program searches. Also, it comes with a "free" network interface which I didn't ever expect to use, but then I discovered all the great software additions you can make to Tivo - now I wouldn't be without such delights as ENDPAD (intelligent soft padding at the end of programs) DAILYMAIL (a daily status eMail to me from my Tivo) etc

If you DO pay someone else to do the biz for you, then all YOU need to do is wield a Torx screwdriver (they will even give/sell you one of those!) to get into the Tivo and to remove the old drive and install the new one

And there's LOTS of help on here for the timid

GO FOR IT - You won't regret it

PS See my signature to see who MY current hero is!