dvd burner units?

[tealv8]

do they still sell NEW boxes that have the dvd burners in them? i dont see them in the tivo store. i have a humax & am preparing myself for the eventual day it dies as i use it constantly. i would like to buy a replacement now for when the time comes.

[windracer]

They're not manufacturing them anymore but you might be able to find new/unused units on eBay or weaknees.com.

[techieunite]

They do not sell them new.

However, you are in great luck. Because of the hooplah around HD TV, the DVD-RW units are on ebay constantly because they do not record in HD.

I've looked and read reviews on all of them. I would stay away from the Pioneer ones. They seem to be a little more pricey and have reports of problems with pixelation.

Anyway, the best one for your money is the Toshiba RS-TX20. It has a DVD-RW drive and I can personally attest to the fact that it's a great box. I've even purchased 2 others from ebay as gifts.

They come with 3 day basic guide. I pay for the plus service, but asked my parents and my brother how they record shows that come on every week.

They said simple, you simply set the show once from the included 3 day guide. The go into the to-do-list and choose "set a repeat recording".

They never knew that their boxes were crippled in any way. All this time, I thought that I had given people a gift with limited capabilities. They can't transfer to a pc, they can't stream music, and they can't download shows or content to their tivo.

If they want a show off the tivo, they record it to a DVD-R disc and can watch it on any Tv with a DVD player.

In fact, I'll be purchasing a couple more of these off of ebay to give away as Christmas gifts this year.

You'll occasionally see these go for as low as $150. Usually they go for $180 to $300, depending on if they have Lifetime Plus service included.

Many of them include what is called the basic service.It only goes 3 days in advance and no season pass or suggestions. Sometimes you'll see ones on Ebay with Plus Service. You can always subscribe to the plus service which includes season pass and suggestions, but do not have to. If you do subscribe, then cancel, the box reverts back to the 3 days basic service.

Be wary of purchasing this stuff on Ebay. Some of them are non-functional(read the description carefully) or have other issues like missing remote, cables or manual.

This is not a huge problem, but definitely something to think about before bidding.

Any questions, ask the seller before placing the bid. Many of the ones on ebay are from good homes where people either upgraded to a HD Tivo or their cable company DVR. Most of them are still in good working condition. Because this model has not been made for a couple of years, there is a chance the hard drive in some of them may be on it's way out. You may need to spend some money replacing this drive, even if you receive the unit and it works. Any Tivo can have a hard drive failure down the road which will require repair.

[TiVoEvan74]

Doesn't weaknees sell refurbished ones? With large hard drives in them, too? They really are sweet and we probably should come up with a backup plan, too, just in case.

I suppose the alternative would be a non-burning DVD player with a gigantic HD so that we'd never have to mess with handling disks.

[Alessan]

Doesn't weaknees sell refurbished ones? With large hard drives in them, too? They really are sweet and we probably should come up with a backup plan, too, just in case.

I suppose the alternative would be a non-burning DVD player with a gigantic HD so that we'd never have to mess with handling disks.

Of note, the DRT800 which is the Humax ones, run very slow vs the Series 2 tivos. The software is real bad, sometimes when I hit the tivo guy or delete a show it can take 10 to 20 seconds to reponse. It is just something wen you add in the bigger hard drives that the Humax series runs slow. Other than that, the DRT800 is great. I put in a 500 gig in mine.

[windracer]

It is just something wen you add in the bigger hard drives that the Humax series runs slow.
My Toshiba TX20 has this problem as well since I upgraded it to a larger drive. Oh well.

[TiVoEvan74]

Much appreciate the info on the large HD replacement slow down. I'll stick to burning DVDs then!

[sledhed]

My Toshiba TX20 has this problem as well since I upgraded it to a larger drive. Oh well.

My RS-TX20 is really slow responding to the remote even though it has the original 120GB? drive in it. I was hoping if I buy a DB35 250GB or 320GB PATA drive that it will not slow it down more, since the drive itself is faster than the OEM drive in it now... maybe that is wishful thinking...

I wish we could expand the RAM or something in these DVRs to speed them up!

[windracer]

From my understanding, it's not the drive that is the bottleneck, it's the processor. The DVD combo boxes use the slower CPUs so they're underpowered to begin with. Then you add a huge drive which means a larger database, more recorded shows, etc. and it starts to bog down.

[TiVoEvan74]

Resurrecting this thread from a while ago...

What are your conclusions about this? Our Toshiba DVD Tivo is beginning to act up (often balking at DVD recording), so we may be in the market for a replacement.

One of the prospects still is the weaknees Human DVD unit with large hard drive... but not if it's unusually slow.

I suppose we should be considering the Tivo Premier and a separate DVD player, but I'm not even sure how to set that up. There's also something good about burning DVDs for a series that we're going to watch several months later.

[SNJpage1]

TivoEvan, I have my TivoHD connected to my TV thru HDMI and my DVD burner thru the componet jacks. The DVD burner doesnt record the HD but downgrades to SD. You could also use the compsite jacks if the unit doesnt have componet.

[windracer]

What are your conclusions about this?
I ended up giving my TX20 to my parents, with TiVo Basic. The box was just too slow for me, but works great for them. :) It's generally understood still that the DVD boxes are the slowest (and get slower with the larger drives).

I have my S3 connected to my Samsung DVD burner via S-Video so I can burn to DVD when I want to, but I really don't do that much anymore.

[dylanemcgregor]

I have a Humax DRT800 upgraded with a 250GB drive and haven't noticed any slow down in performance, and for an SD device 250GB seems plenty big enough, especially since you can archive to DVD if you want/need extra space.

Your other option though maybe to just replace the DVD drive in the Toshiba. I did this about a year ago when my Humax started to have problems playing discs regularly. Cost me about $30 for a new drive that was plug and play simple to install.

[New Pioneer]

I have upgraded both the Toshiba and the Pioneer Tivos with DVD recorders with hard drives as large as 750 gb and have seen no degradation in performance. I always use the latest Tivo software updates. I've sold over 25 of these upgraded units on ebay with 100% feedback. As for the pixelation problem on the Pioneer units...does not exist. Pioneer upgraded the units in 2005 to improve picture quality as a result of a law suit and the quality of the picture is as good or better than the Toshiba units, especially if you are able to use the component output and S video input. Biggest problem with the Pioneer units is the failure of the DVD units to write to DVDs and the cost and availability of replacement units with the correct firmware.