Tivo Series One Recommendations?

[danstyk]

I am in the market for a used tivo series one for a spare bedroom unit, so I can get one with a lifetime sub. Would appreciate any recommendations from veterans on which units are best -- philips, sony, etc. -- or which to avoid.

Also, would love some clarity on whether ALL the series one units have tivo basic capability, or just some of them. :o

[dylanemcgregor]

A couple of things to pay attention to as far as terminology.

1) You can buy used TiVo Series 1 and Series 2 units with a lifetime subscription. A Lifetime subscription allows the full TiVo features without having to pay any monthly fee. For the Series 2 full functionality includes all the networking features, things like downloading movies direct to your TiVo from Amazon or transfering movies to your computer.
2) Most Tivo Series 1 units will work as a "dumb" VCR recorder without any subscription
3) Some DVD models (Toshiba and Pioneer) came with a Tivo "Basic" subscription that was a bit more advanced than the TiVo 1 without any subscription. This allowed you to use it like a VCR, but recordings would have the name and show description. Maybe a couple of other features as well.

For a Series 1 to work without a subscription it needed to originally ship with software version 1.3 or earlier, which is true of almost all Series 1 units except supposedly for a few of the units manufactured by Sony.

[danstyk]

Thanks - that helps. :D So the "dumb" recording is not the tivo-basic. I'll stick with a series one with full lifetime if I can find a good deal.

Meanwhile any other recommendations are far as good / bad brands for S1's would be appreciated. :up:

[shady]

I'll stick with a series one with full lifetime if I can find a good deal.


Why are you limiting your search to just a series 1 and not a series 2? Is it just price?

[megory]

Dan, I LOVED the Sony Series 1. It lasted for a coupla years. And I love the remote. If I had my druthers, Ida never bought a humax or a TiVo brand. Just the Sony.

[classicsat]

The Series 2 Sony SVR3000 uses the same remote as the SVR2000, so if you can find one of those Lifetime. And don't be afraid of just subbing, or a Peanut controlled TiVo.

As for Series 1 hardware, the Sony and the Philips (the only brand of Series 1 TiVo Standalones in the US, Thomson in the UK), are completely identical.

[megory]

The Series 2 Sony SVR3000 uses the same remote as the SVR2000, so if you can find one of those Lifetime. And don't be afraid of just subbing, or a Peanut controlled TiVo.

As for Series 1 hardware, the Sony and the Philips (the only brand of Series 1 TiVo Standalones in the US, Thomson in the UK), are completely identical. Now, I just have to work on getting the remotes (I have 3 of them <g>) to run the regular TiVos! I did get a recommendation on a thread to work on it, but I'm not sure I'm that sophisticated!

[ZeoTiVo]

Now, I just have to work on getting the remotes (I have 3 of them <g>) to run the regular TiVos! I did get a recommendation on a thread to work on it, but I'm not sure I'm that sophisticated!
any peanut remote will run any TiVo for the most part. Certain buttons will be missing of course and the older peanuts will not have the latest TVs in them

[mattack]

3) Some DVD models (Toshiba and Pioneer) came with a Tivo "Basic" subscription that was a bit more advanced than the TiVo 1 without any subscription. This allowed you to use it like a VCR, but recordings would have the name and show description. Maybe a couple of other features as well.

Tivo Basic can't do season passes nor wishlists. I'm not sure if this search link will work for others.

http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=EFB60828-EE03-4971-958B-E8EA9FDFC592

[danstyk]

Why are you limiting your search to just a series 1 and not a series 2? Is it just price?

Yes, in this case it was price only. For this specific room, I don't need all the media features. If it were for more general use an S2 would be in order.

[danstyk]

Dan, I LOVED the Sony Series 1. It lasted for a coupla years. And I love the remote. If I had my druthers, Ida never bought a humax or a TiVo brand. Just the Sony.
That's great to hear megory, as I just bought one on ebay. :D Got it with a lifetime sub for $140. Thanks to all for the feedback.

[megazone]

any peanut remote will run any TiVo for the most part. Certain buttons will be missing of course and the older peanuts will not have the latest TVs in themThe exceptions being the Sony units and the Toshiba SD-H400, which had special remotes. But all the other Toshiba units, and all the TiVo, Philips, Humax, and Pioneer units use compatible peanuts with buttons simply added or removed - and the non-Sony DirecTiVo units have compatible peanuts as well.