Looking to buy 2 new Series 2 DT Standalone Tivos but want to get some advice first.

[clevdale]

Hello All:
As the title of this thread says I am looking to buy 2 new tivos with dual tuners to replace the 2 I have but I would like some people that have done a lot with their tivos to give me some advice. First I have two series 2 tivos and they have changed the way we watch television we love them but one has gone belly up I believe it is a hard drive. Now to want I would like to ask.

1. Should I buy the small drive dual tuner tivo and expanded the drives as big as possible or?
2. Wait for the High Def tivos to go down in price some and get those or. ?
3. Finally does anyone think I would better served building a media center PC instead?

Finally: If I do buy the tivos now what features would you all recommend I add in after I get them and put in big drives?

[goony]

To make your decisions, you first need to know what it is that you want...

Decide if "standard def" television is where you want to be, or you want to go with "high def". Keep in mind that after watching HD TV on an HD TV set the SD programs look darn crappy by comparison.

If one of my boxes had a hard drive die I would just get a new hard drive and use the $20 Instantcake (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake_nomodel.cfm) to create the Tivo operating system... my dead box lives again with whatever size commodity drive(s) that I chose.

Dual tuners are very, very nice (I have 4 dual-tuner boxes), so that is certainly an incentive to migrate away from the old single-tuner box.

Why not get one dual-tuner SD box and use it for a while... you can then decide whether you want to make the other dual tuner as well, or make the leap to HD.

[Hichhiker]

To make your decisions, you first need to know what it is that you want...

Decide if "standard def" television is where you want to be, or you want to go with "high def". Keep in mind that after watching HD TV on an HD TV set the SD programs look darn crappy by comparison.

If one of my boxes had a hard drive die I would just get a new hard drive and use the $20 Instantcake (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake_nomodel.cfm) to create the Tivo operating system... my dead box lives again with whatever size commodity drive(s) that I chose.

Dual tuners are very, very nice (I have 4 dual-tuner boxes), so that is certainly an incentive to migrate away from the old single-tuner box.

Why not get one dual-tuner SD box and use it for a while... you can then decide whether you want to make the other dual tuner as well, or make the leap to HD.


Is you are willing to stick with SD, I would highly recommend looking into S2 DirecTivo boxes (careful not to confuse with DirecTV DVR's). They are dual tuner, record the higher quality DTV encoded mpeg2 instead of compressing them on the fly - result of which is MUCH better picture quality compared to SA, and they are MUCH MUCH cheaper than the SA boxes (in upfront cost and monthlies). The down side is that since DTV is no longer selling them, you have to get them used (they usually run about $50) , you are married to DirecTV with them, and they do not have HME/TivoToGo (However with a few hacks you can get the HMO and MRV features working, and there are alternatives to TTG)

Just food for thought.

-HH

[goony]

Hichhiker, that was what I was going to post for advice but then I re-read his post and saw nowhere that he is a DirecTV subscriber. Moving from cable to DirecTV is, of course, no big deal but some people may want to stick with their cableco or may not have the ability to install a DirecTV dish.

So, I kept my advice 'generic'.

Yea, I too love paying $5.99/mo. DVR fee for all of my boxes too... it's like paying $1.50 ea. per month!

[clevdale]

Goony and Hitcherhiker:
Thanks for the good thoughts on what I can try, Hitchhiker if I lived where I could put up a dish I might take your ideal. Alas I have a landlord that frowns on it, so I think I may try the buy one dual tuner and check it out because I have really been contemplating HD. Goony have you tried the instacake and does it work because I would really like to fix that tivo I have and give it to my mother in law. Because she loves tv but forgets about her shows and misses them all the time.

[classicsat]

Instantcake is stable and works.