Help me find an upgrade path...

[RTPGiants]

I have a Series 1 Tivo that we love. It's been great, but it's aging. The new DST bug does not help (yes I know it'll resolve once April rolls around, but to my wife it's a huge bug and inconvenience and it's causing her to dislike Tivo).

We'd like to upgrade to a Series 2 DT - 180 hour.

However, currently we pay the $12.95/month fee with no commitment as to term. The only way to get a Series 2-DT/180 seems to be direct from Tivo's website since BB and CC and the likes don't stock the 180 hour. But if I try to buy it there, in order to get the $12.95/month plan, I have to commit to three years. In 3 years I'd hope to move to a Series 3 or something else, so I don't see this as being viable.

There's no way I can convince my wife that spending $200 on the unit and $19.95/month is a viable alternative to just ditching Tivo and going with what Time Warner provides for $4.95/month and no initial cost. Especially because those DVRs are HD DVRs and at this point I can't consider the cost of a Series 3.

Calling Tivo, they told me I could transfer my subscription to the DT/180, but only if I buy it outright (ie. no rebates, no package deals), but this seems to not be possible on their website nor in stores.

So, can anyone here give me an upgrade path advice? I'd love to stay with Tivo, but it's looking more and more like DVR to me.

[LifeIsABeach]

Amazon.com (and probably other online retailers) has the Series 2 DT. Over $200 for both the 80 and 180 hour versions since the rebate is not applicable.

[CrispyCritter]

You can get a 80 hour dual tuner refurb from TiVo direct for $50, no shipping charges, and $12.95 a month with a 1 year commitment . You can then increase the size of the disk yourself if you need to ($60 should take you up to 180 hours), or pay to have it done (more expensive).

[RTPGiants]

Is upgrading still easy? I did that with the Series 1 box (twice), but I thought they had made it more difficult in Series 2 for some reason?

[CrispyCritter]

Is upgrading still easy? I did that with the Series 1 box (twice), but I thought they had made it more difficult in Series 2 for some reason?Hacking is harder, upgrading size is just as easy (well, a two disk upgrade is harder since there isn't as much room in the cases any more to add an extra disk, but given the size of a single disk you can put in, that's no longer a problem).

[classicsat]

The Series 2 Standalones are just as easy to upgrade, except they really like only one drive (not an issue with the really large drives out there). And spend a few bucks more and get a 200 or 250 GB drive. It is system hacking that is a little more difficult with a Series 2, moreso on the 5xx/6xx units which need a PROM hardware mod to system hack, plus the software gets updated a few times a year, so you'd have to redo hacks every time, although the Series 2 is great unhacked (the way I use mine since 7.x)