HD Upgrade or Not?

[Nero2]

Have had my Tivo for four years now (bought for £100 from Comet when they didn't know what to do with them). Still have the original 40G hard drive in place, as yet no signs of it failing but I'm sure it will someday soon.

Been thinking of upgrading the HD, with a preconfigured one, but whats holding me back is "is it worth it"? I have to admit that I'm seldom, if ever, challenged for disk space, and by adding more I'll just end up keeping more stuff that I don't get round to watching.

So, the question is, are there any other reasons to upgrade?

Thanks in advance.

[TCM2007]

No, it's just extra recording space. It would let you record at a higher quality though (if disk space on a 40Gb machine never an issue for you i'm guessing you are not recording in Best).

[Nero2]

No, it's just extra recording space. It would let you record at a higher quality though (if disk space on a 40Gb machine never an issue for you i'm guessing you are not recording in Best).

Recording in basic mode, I have a fairly old (6 years) Sharp telly.

[mikerr]

Endpad - so you never miss the end of a programme again.
Its often installed on preconfigured drives.

They are many other hacks, but most need, or run best with a network connection.

[PhilG]

"Upgrade" means different things to different people

When I am forced to switch back to my old 40Gb drive, the lack of space is the least of what I miss

There's the network connection so I can manage myTivo when I am away, the Daily Mail so I can avoid surprises, Endpad, Tivoweb and Autospace - I coud go on

SO where to start

If you want to "get at" your Tivo across the web, you'll need a cachecard (and a broadband connection at home). The cachecard needs drivers, and the simplest way to get these is via a pre-configured drive - tivoheaven is a good place to start looking. You don't have to go mega, but I would certainly suggest the biggest you can justify is a good idea. You WILL be looking at a new TV soon (digital switchover etc) I imagine, so best be prepared for better quality recordings

[Pete77]

Being able to control your machine on your PC or remotely from work via Tivoweb is one of the best reasons to upgrade. Its much easier to review and maintain and find programs to record in Tivoweb and also a module for TivoWeb called Highlights lets you set recordings directly on your Tivo from a TivoWeb listings of the BBC Radio Times suggested best programs and new series.

To be honest in not having upgrade your Tivo you are missing masses and think how cheap it is to do compared to Sky+ (at least £444 + £99 for box in Year 1 and £444 thereafter) or Sky HD (at least £564 + £299 for box in Year 1 and £564 thereafter).

This little list of websites might give you some more idea of all the other things you can do using TivoWeb.

www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo

http://tivo.lightn.org/

www.ljay.org.uk/tivoweb/

www.planetbuilders.org/tivo/tivo_upgrade_diary.html

www.garysargent.co.uk/tivo/hacking.htm

www.beaconhill.plus.com/TiVo/tivohacks.htm

http://www.arielbusiness.pwp.blueyo.../TiVo/HowTo.htm

http://alt.org/wiki/index.php/TiVoWeb%20Modules

http://thomson.tivo.googlepages.com

http://tivo.stevejenkins.com/network_cd.html

http://hywel.underground-history.co.uk/tivo/logos/

http://thomson.tivo.googlepages.com/tivowebplus

http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/?search=oztivo&x=0&y=0

www.tivohackman.com

I assume you are aware of the two main firms for pre-prepared Tivo upgrade drives - www.tivoheaven.com and www.tivoland.com - but it is considerably cheaper to do the upgrade yourself if you can manage to follow the steve conrad guide.

[TCM2007]

Recording in basic mode, I have a fairly old (6 years) Sharp telly.

How big is the TV? If larger than 28-inches you will see a significant picture quality improvement if you upgrade the disk and switch to Best mode fo all recordings.

28-inch or smaller, the effect will be more marginal, although you will find that sport in particular will suffer much less from pixellation during fast moving bits, and in general fades will be smoother.

[Nero2]

Thankyou for all the suggestions. A precongigured drive with Tivo web seems to be beckoning.

[PhilG]

If you can bear to be without your Tivo for a week or two, blindlemon (at tivoheaven) will also copy the contents of your existing drive (recordings, SPs, wishlists etc) to your new drive (for a small additional fee)

Also, KEEP the old drive as an emergency backup for your Tivo

[blindlemon]

a week or twoIt doesn't always take that long, I hasten to point out.

In Phil's case his 200gb source drive was in a poor way and the only way to recover the data was to use dd-rescue - which ended up taking a fortnight :eek:

A 40gb drive in good shape can be copied in 3-4 hours :)

[PhilG]

Sorry, yes

I was thinking and not typing what I was thinking

What I was implying (badly) was

"If you can bear to be without your Tivo for a week or two, allowing for the postal service in two directions (which ought to be overnight if you pay for it, bit who knows!)"

If all is OK, you should be able to post your drive on a Monday, arrives on Tuesday, gets copied and put back in the mail and you get it back on Wednesday

Of course, blindlemon also has a real job (as do we all) and it's much better if the PO does NOT leave your Tivo drive on his doorstep :eek:

What I didn't want to do was set unreasonable expectations for fast service, but what I seem to have done is imply that the service is slow

Sorry :o

[blindlemon]

If all is OK, you should be able to post your drive on a Monday, arrives on Tuesday, gets copied and put back in the mail and you get it back on WednesdayThanks Phil :)

However, that may be being a little optimistic (I would generally suggest Thursday in that scenario), but I try my best :) :up: