Looking for a Series 1

[cooper243]

I am looking for a Series 1 tivo because I am sick of my vcr eating up tapes in my room and I do not have cable. I don't really care about the tivo service in that room as I already have 2 tivo's with subs. Where is the best place to find one that will do what I want it to? Also, does anybody know the price ranges?

[ZeoTiVo]

not very clear on what you want the series 1 to do without cable in the room.

Are you talking Over The Air antenna or hacking the unit to get content? Just curious so you can get the best answer possible. I have no series 1 units myself

[timckelley]

I got my series one off of ebay. BTW, I wonder if a DVR burner might accomplish what you want.

BTW, years ago, somebody told me that www.servicedvr.com sold series ones, but I just looked, and don't see any sign of that.

[rkester]

What exactly do you want to do with it? Manually record off the air I guess? And maybe record commonly used video tapes to it to watch later?

I know I've got an upgraded 120GB Sony S1 sitting in my living room unused (and still paying the monthly on it)... I was using it to record off my HD receiver for a while thru the S_Video and it did a nice job.

[cooper243]

I would like to record ota content. I don't mind manually programming it which would save me the price of another subscription. I have a dvd burner with a hard drive to copy my tapes to dvd. Thank you all for your help.

[rkester]

Any of the original S1's should do the trick then. I believe they all can act as a manual recording box, and are very easily upgraded if you wish for more space.

What kind of price range are you looking to spend?

[gastrof]

...I know I've got an upgraded 120GB Sony S1 sitting in my living room unused (and still paying the monthly on it)... I was using it to record off my HD receiver for a while thru the S_Video and it did a nice job.

Mind if I ask how you handled the channel changing, and what the Series 1 thought it was recording off of?

[rkester]

When I used it as a manual box for about a year, I just hit channel up/down and never used the guide since it had no data.

When you recorded, it just named things based on the channel and date/time. Kind of a pain but as long as you know what show was on when it worked.

[cooper243]

I don't want to spend more than $50 as I can get a vcr for much less than that.

[rkester]

Question... have you considered getting a cheap DVD-R instead? Most can tune OTA and record it to DVDs and can be had for $50-90 for cheaper ones. That way you can also name things and save off to DVD as needed.

FWIW, Last time I checked, the Sony S1 Tivos were going for $50-75 in good condition on ebay. A little more if upgraded. Mine has a 120GB drive in it and I was offered no more than $80. So I didn't sell it. The ones with lifetime are not much more. Could have guide data that way too. Just a thought.

[timckelley]

The ones with lifetime are not much more. Could have guide data that way too. Just a thought.

In the past, when I browsed for lifetimed TiVos, I thought that they were all at least $300 on ebay.

[rkester]

Not the S1's. Esp with the changes to HD recently...

The Phillips models are going for $75-150 and the Sony's similarly, lifetime wise. And these are usually not even upgraded, just have the Lifetime on them.

[timckelley]

Not the S1's. Esp with the changes to HD recently...

The Phillips models are going for $75-150 and the Sony's similarly, lifetime wise. And these are usually not even upgraded, just have the Lifetime on them.

Wow. I'd prefer my next TiVo to be a dual tuner model, but if I could find an S1 for $75 already lifetimed, that would be mighty tempting to jump on. Especially since lifetime is no longer offered.

Also, I've already personally upgraded two TiVos, and I still have my Weaknees boot CD (with upgrade utilities), so upgrading a new one would be easy. Plus, I even have a couple of extra HDs sitting in my house that I'm not using.

[rkester]

Big problem is going to be the drop of S1 support so lifetime will mean nothing then. And it will just be yet another S1. Unless someone comes up with a hack for 3rd party guide support.

[timckelley]

But they just gave us S1ers a DST patch. It looks like we still have support. :D

[rkester]

Even then, it will always work as a manual box if needed. I keep mine around in hopes that I can find a use for it. It served me so well, I hate to give it up for so little money.

[ZeoTiVo]

I don't want to spend more than $50 as I can get a vcr for much less than that.
Don't forget the cost of tapes and the hassle of keeping them organized and the right one in the VCR ;)


PS - there are aboslutely no plans to drop giving guide data to the S1. I doubt TiVo would ever do that unless they offered an "in kind" upgrade to a S2 or S3 for lifetimers.

[gastrof]

When I used it as a manual box for about a year, I just hit channel up/down and never used the guide since it had no data.

When you recorded, it just named things based on the channel and date/time. Kind of a pain but as long as you know what show was on when it worked.


Actually, I asked about your using it with an HD receiver.

How did you handle channel changing on the HD box, and how did you set up the Series 1? Did you tell it you were using a cable box? A satellite box? What?

[aus1ander]

Upgraded Series 1 TiVos with lifetime (100+ GB plus/minus Turbonet) run between $200-300 on eBay right now (just checked the completed listings). Low capacity S1's run around $120-150 with lifetime.

As for TiVo dropping S1 support, sure we don't get service updates anymore, but everything else about the device still works and will work for the foreseeable future. In fact, given the availability of spare parts (aside from the mobo itself), a lifetimed Series 1 could be maintained in service **indefinitely**. Didn't TiVoPony mention that a lot of the TiVo employees still run Series 1s?

[ADent]

You don't need a lifetime S1 to record stuff.

[cooper243]

Please explain ADent? I thought you needed a Series 1 unless you had a subscription and it did not have a dvd burner.

[rambler]

Most of the series 1's will record shows without a subscription. No program info is available, so you have to somehow remember what you recorded from 8 to 9 on April whatever....

[TechDreamer]

I would like more information regarding Tivo dropping lifetime support for S1 Tivos.

[ZeoTiVo]

I would like more information regarding Tivo dropping lifetime support for S1 Tivos.
that was just some poor wording in this thread - there is no indication whatsoever of any plans to drop lifetime support on the S1. there is no need to worry about it at all.

[Stanley Rohner]

that was just some poor wording in this thread - there is no indication whatsoever of any plans to drop lifetime support on the S1. there is no need to worry about it at all.

It's kinda funny to see a thread mentioning poor wording in another thread when ZeoTiVo didn't bother to capitalize the first letter of the first word in any of his sentences.

:D

[Adam1115]

Question... have you considered getting a cheap DVD-R instead? Most can tune OTA and record it to DVDs and can be had for $50-90 for cheaper ones. That way you can also name things and save off to DVD as needed.

Are there ones for $50-90 with digital tuners? I thought Digital Tuners were required now??