Tivo 3 Should I go 750Gb now

[beerkensp]

Should I go and buy a DB35 750Gb now or should I wait for the 1tb drives to come out. What are you doing?

I found the DB35 750Gb at thenerds.net for 281.14. Has anyone found a better deal?

[jtown]

1tb drives are out. Best Buy has them for $400, shipping this week or next.

Also, if you buy a 750 gig drive, make sure you get the quiet one.

[beerkensp]

Is there a quiet version of the 1Tb drive I should look out for?

[CrispyCritter]

Is there a quiet version of the 1Tb drive I should look out for?Expected out the end of May.

[astrohip]

Should I go and buy a DB35 750Gb now or should I wait for the 1tb drives to come out. What are you doing?

I found the DB35 750Gb at thenerds.net for 281.14. Has anyone found a better deal?
Give some thought to how much storage capacity you need. I have the 750GB, and it is overwhelming. I have 50+ shows on Now Playing, and 107 in the Recently Deleted folder. 80%+ are HD. I can't even begin to use this much capacity.

I am even recording some series, with the expectation of watching them in the future (maybe during the summer doldrums). Unless you are either an episode packrat, or plan on HardDisk-archiving several series, 750GB is almost certainly overkill. 1TB? Mass overkill.

YMMV.

[peitsche]

Give some thought to how much storage capacity you need. I have the 750GB, and it is overwhelming. I have 50+ shows on Now Playing, and 107 in the Recently Deleted folder. 80%+ are HD. I can't even begin to use this much capacity.

I am even recording some series, with the expectation of watching them in the future (maybe during the summer doldrums). Unless you are either an episode packrat, or plan on HardDisk-archiving several series, 750GB is almost certainly overkill. 1TB? Mass overkill.

YMMV.

well, I've got 500GB (445 hours) on my SD DirecTiVo and barely room for suggestions... :D and my wife has her own (albeit small) DirecTiVo... :D

[ashu]

astrohip has a great point about avoiding turning into an episode packrat ;)

Over the years, I've accumulated unitd, and now prefer most of my viewing to be in HD, when possible - so I frequently fire up one of the S2 units, and delete entire recorded Seasons'-worth of shows. Latest victims - Desperate Housewives, Alias (I had 1.5 seasons saved!) :)

I think I need to barter/sell some of my S2 units (especially the free Basic eligible Toshiba SDH400 and the RSTX20) and buy a larger Hard drive for my S3 for consolidation! Over 1Tb total, and only 250GB for HD is just TOO lopsided ;)

[msu2k]

Should I go and buy a DB35 750Gb now or should I wait for the 1tb drives to come out. What are you doing?

I found the DB35 750Gb at thenerds.net for 281.14. Has anyone found a better deal?
Anyone know if this is the same DB35 drive that weaknees sells in their OEM bare drives section for $469? And I'm referring to their blank drives, (not their "blessed" drives):
http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-dvr-hard-drive.php

On weaknees site it refers to the drives as "Tuned for reduced noise/acoustics." Is that really all DB32 drives or do they do something special to theirs?

[Bierboy]

I agree....1TB is overkill to me. I have the 750 from WK (DB35), and I have about 85 shows in the recently deleted folder which shows me I got PLENTY of room. And I have 30 SPs, which, for some, may not seem a lot, but I already watch too much TV!

[AbMagFab]

I'd get as much space as possible. I have a 750GB, and except for the summer months, I'm usually nearly filled.

[Justin Thyme]

I have a big family with diverse tastes. I personally enjoy a wide range of content, but at any point in time I am in the mood for only a very particular thing at a particular time. So I have tons of wishlists that collect movies and documentaries on particular subjects and I always have something interesting when I have time to watch stuff.

It's not about keeping stuff that I have watched already- it is about having an immense library of stuff that I haven't watched that fits whatever mood I might be in. If that sort of viewing style fits you, then go for the maximum drive size you can, but not a loud one if you are sensitive to that sort of thing (eg. a bedroom Tivo).

[astrohip]

I have a big family with diverse tastes. I personally enjoy a wide range of content, but at any point in time I am in the mood for only a very particular thing at a particular time. So I have tons of wishlists that collect movies and documentaries on particular subjects and I always have something interesting when I have time to watch stuff.

It's not about keeping stuff that I have watched already- it is about having an immense library of stuff that I haven't watched that fits whatever mood I might be in. If that sort of viewing style fits you, then go for the maximum drive size you can, but not a loud one if you are sensitive to that sort of thing (eg. a bedroom Tivo).
I somewhat agree, for a different reason than why I said above that 750GB was overkill (wow, talk about wishy-washy :rolleyes: ) . . .

I tend to record only what I intend to watch, and do end up watching 95%+ of what I record. I have lots of SPs & WL, and my Now Playing is full of shows I will watch. So 750GB is overkill for my style of TV watching.

OTOH, if one wants to have a library of potential shows, as JT does, then the larger the better. You will amass 150-250 shows (more if they're not all HD) to choose from. So more disk space, larger library. I would agree on this basis.

So part of your decision should be based on how you watch TV, and what you use your TiVo for. How many different users are there, and their interests. And your desire to archive shows, or store series for potential future watching. And how much of a library do you want to create. Think thru all of this, and there's your answer! :confused:

[Leo_N]

The one reason why 750GB isn't overkill for me is I love being able to record movies to my S3 and save them there, even ones I already have on DVD or HD-DVD, it is very nice having them sitting right there ready to play in HD (I don't save the SD ones). At least the ones I watch somewhat frequently, Caddyshack, Animal House, Wedding Crashers, Dazed and Confused, etc. Love having them quickly available for some late-night after-bar viewing :D

[Shawn95GT]

Like peitsche, I'm used to huge hard drives in my S2s (400 Gig in my case) so the 250 Gig in the S3 feels restrictive. Right now I have two S3s in the living room. To avoid conflicts I have a tuner dedicated to each of the big nets (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC).

With the stock drives I keep about a week's worth of TV on each. Pretty much if a program is recording, last week's episode is quickly approaching the end of now playing.

I gets me by, but I'll probably pick up a pair of db35 750s when the 1TB DB35s are readily available. They should be cheap ;).

[msu2k]

Anyone know if this is the same DB35 drive that weaknees sells in their OEM bare drives section for $469? And I'm referring to their blank drives, (not their "blessed" drives):
http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-dvr-hard-drive.php

On weaknees site it refers to the drives as "Tuned for reduced noise/acoustics." Is that really all DB32 drives or do they do something special to theirs?
Anyone know if this is the same drive that weaknees sells? :confused:

[BlackBetty]

Anyone know if this is the same drive that weaknees sells? :confused:

yes

[Fofer]

The one reason why 750GB isn't overkill for me is I love being able to record movies to my S3 and save them there, even ones I already have on DVD or HD-DVD, it is very nice having them sitting right there ready to play in HD

Me too. I love having the big digital library "on demand" and easy to access. And the HD movies saved look better than my DVD's.

[mooneydriver]

Stick with the Seagate 750 GB for now and wait for the 1 TB technology to mature. An HD DVR is a "mission critical" application for a home (assuming you care to find out what happens at the end of Lost or 24), and I would not trust it to a drive that is barely out of an R&D lab.

Also, it's quite easy to fill a 750 GB drive. The entire Planet Earth run takes up nearly 15% of my storage capacity already!

[RandyDtg]

Yup, the Planet Earth series in Hi-Def took my 750g to the limit. I'd wanted to save some episodes to watch again later, but, nope.
I'd go bigger, whats going to be after the 1 Terabyte ?

We NEVER have a problem finding something we really want to watch in our Now Playing list, which is about 18 screen pages of list!!!!

[larrs]

I have 500G and that is too much to watch. I find myself stressed that there is so much to see on my Tivo. We have this one in the "Media room" which records HD almost exclusively and a 250GB Series 2 in the bedroom that we watch late at night and between them both, I can safely say we will never see all of the content we recorded (even though some is duplicated due to the evil cablelabs and no MRV), not to mention all of the Tivo suggestions that I have had to completely stop paying attention to.

[beerkensp]

Thanks for the great adice everyone. You guys rock.

I went for the 750GB DB35.3. Hopefully by the time I fill this up the esata port is enabled and I can add a few extra TBs.

I will be installing this this weekend. Any last moment tips or is it really as easy as following these instructions.

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/step1.php

[bpunc]

Good luck with the upgrade...I finished mine two days ago and I'm loving it (98 hrs HD)! Tip: Don't use a wireless keyboard since the boot CD doesn't support it.

[BlackBetty]

Thanks for the great adice everyone. You guys rock.

I went for the 750GB DB35.3. Hopefully by the time I fill this up the esata port is enabled and I can add a few extra TBs.

I will be installing this this weekend. Any last moment tips or is it really as easy as following these instructions.

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/step1.php

Where did you buy? and how much did it cost?

[bsather]

Where did you buy? and how much did it cost?

I purchased mine here;

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Seagate_DB35_7200.3_Hard_drive/ST3750840SCE/partinfo-id-574243.html

I've ordered from them for years, always great service.

[msu2k]

Should I go and buy a DB35 750Gb now or should I wait for the 1tb drives to come out. What are you doing?

I found the DB35 750Gb at thenerds.net for 281.14. Has anyone found a better deal?
An even better deal, buy the DB35 500GB drive for about $155 here:
http://www.excaliberpc.com/Seagate_DB35_7200.3_Hard_drive/ST3500830SCE/partinfo-id-574241.html

And buy an inexpensive eSATA enclosure for around $35.

Then enable the eSATA port on your S3 by following these instructions...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=350491

You'll then have roughly 100 hours of HD recording time (your original 250GB drive + the 500GB eSATA) for less than $200.

Brilliant.

[ChrisNJ]

An even better deal, buy the DB35 500GB drive for about $155 here:
http://www.excaliberpc.com/Seagate_DB35_7200.3_Hard_drive/ST3500830SCE/partinfo-id-574241.html

And buy an inexpensive eSATA enclosure for around $35.

Then enable the eSATA port on your S3 by following these instructions...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=350491

You'll then have roughly 100 hours of HD recording time (your original 250GB drive + the 500GB eSATA) for less than $200.

Brilliant.

Do you have a link for an eSATA enclosure you would recommend?

[msu2k]

Do you have a link for an eSATA enclosure you would recommend?
http://www.spartantailgate.com/forums/images/smilies/lol.gif I actually asked that same question in that other thread.

I found several of them on newegg...and most are between $30 and $40. I just did a search for "esata enclosure" and several came up. I'd link it but the forum won't allow it apparently.

[beerkensp]

What a timing. I upgraded my Tivo yesterday to 750Gb. If only I had checked the message board before I did this I probably would not have done it but installed as esata.

It is nice to not have an external box and the upgrade was surprisingly easy. I still have all my season passes, settings and my recordings but lots more space.

I would be a real shame if I have excluded myself now from using the esata port in the future.

[Bierboy]

What a timing. I upgraded my Tivo yesterday to 750Gb. If only I had checked the message board before I did this I probably would not have done it but installed as esata.

It is nice to not have an external box and the upgrade was surprisingly easy. I still have all my season passes, settings and my recordings but lots more space.

I would be a real shame if I have excluded myself now from using the esata port in the future.Unless you're a very heavy TiVo user, it'll take you a long time to fill up that 750gb drive.

[Fofer]

I would be a real shame if I have excluded myself now from using the esata port in the future.

Nah, details will come out soon on how to do it, with an already upgraded internal. It might not be as easy as the kickstart62 method being discussed now, but it will be possible. I imagine it'll have something to do with taking the upgraded HD out of the TiVo and configuring something on it...

[Fofer]

Unless you're a very heavy TiVo user, it'll take you a long time to fill up that 750gb drive.

Define "heavy." You could be a very light TiVo user and fill it up rather easily, with a few HD season passes and choice selections off the movie channels... after all, if you're a light user you're not watching/deleting much... :o

[Bierboy]

Define "heavy." You could be a very light TiVo user and fill it up rather easily, with a few HD season passes and choice selections off the movie channels... after all, if you're a light user you're not watching/deleting much... :oGood point. I've been recording all the Stanley Cup playoff games, and, in HD they chew up space quickly....in SD, not so much.

[Jiffylush]

I love my 750, it has enabled me to record the Planet Earth series off of Discovery HD and save it for when the family is back in town over the summer.

Not to mention keeping movies and multiple episodes of HD shows for when I have the free time to watch them.

[bradbissell]

Do you know if there is a way to "tune" the drives in the Tivo Series 3 to be quieter? Mine hums like crazy. Has since day one.