What unit would you suggest, and where to buy from

[halestrm]

Hi, we are moving to a new house. I have been with DTV forever, and they finally made me so made I am dropping them. (Plus I hate the dvr that I am using to replace my Hughes DTV Tivo.)

We live in Phoenix, AZ and will be moving to Cox cable. My hubby wants to take advantage of HD, which we haven't been able to get before now. This Tivo will go in the living room, and we will keep the old sony in the master bedroom.

We need to record 2 channels at the same time, otherwise the only shows being Tivo'd are on the Disney channel thanks to a 9 yr old.

Anywho, what unit do you love that can record 2 shows at once and get HD. Did you do any upgrades to it? Where can I get the best price? Tivo has an upgrade offer, but they want my Sony.

THX in advance.

[jbernardis]

If you're thinking Tivo, then there are only two possibilities - the standard TivoHD and the TivoHD XL. The later has a bigger hard drive (not sure how much bigger) a better remote control (in some people's opinion) and THX certification. Otherthan that, I believe the units are identical, including dual tuner HD.

[magnus]

Yep, the standard Tivo HD is 160 GB and the Tivo HD XL is 1 TB. It really depends on how much you watch and record. And if you like to leave it on there for a while before watching it.

You'll definitely enjoy the Netflix, if you give that a try.

[Jesusio]

Get a Tivo HD XL from Frys Electronics for $498, cheaper than most places.

[Zoinks1]

I just bought my second HD XL from amazon.com yesterday for $469. Free shipping, too.

[dlfl]

If you're really cost-conscious and don't mind a half hour of simple tinkering following very detailed instructions, you can buy a factory-refurbished TiVo HD (https://www3.tivo.com/store/boxes.do?type=renewed)($200) and upgrade it with a replacement 1 TB internal disk drive ($100 or less). The result is equivalent to the TiVo HD XL in all significant respects. And you can keep your original 160GB internal drive as a backup, or reuse it elsewhere.

If you want to pursue this take a look at this sticky thread:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784

Opening the TiVo box to do this technically invalidates your warranty so some people wait until the 90-day full-replacement warranty is over before doing it. However there is some opinion that if you do have a problem even before the 90 day period and just sub your original drive back in, the warranty will be honored, but YMMV.

[ljkrauss]

I hate to barge in but it seems relevant here...

Me - Long time Tivo customer - Humax Series II with life long service and a second unit.

TIVO just sent me, a 'Reward' for being such a valuable customer! A $100 rebate for being so loyal! $499 for a new HD box!

Isnt this the price I can get anywhere? And its a 'rebate' with all of that BS...

Question:
As much as I LOVE my TIVOs, why would I pay $450-$500 and $300 (3 years) service for something I can get from cable (TimeWarner) or phone (Verizon Fios)? When I bought my Humax, there was nothing comparable. Seems like a ridiculous amount of money when you have so many options available now? Seriously - As much as I love my TIVO, I dont get it?

The only thing I know right now is I would get the Netflix Service. How is that any better than a pay per view channel?

Please help. I really want to love my Tivo again, but Im not seeing it...
Thanks. LK

[orangeboy]

I hate to barge in but it seems relevant here...

Me - Long time Tivo customer - Humax Series II with life long service and a second unit.

TIVO just sent me, a 'Reward' for being such a valuable customer! A $100 rebate for being so loyal! $499 for a new HD box!

Isnt this the price I can get anywhere? And its a 'rebate' with all of that BS...

Question:
As much as I LOVE my TIVOs, why would I pay $450-$500 and $300 (3 years) service for something I can get from cable (TimeWarner) or phone (Verizon Fios)? When I bought my Humax, there was nothing comparable. Seems like a ridiculous amount of money when you have so many options available now? Seriously - As much as I love my TIVO, I dont get it?

The only thing I know right now is I would get the Netflix Service. How is that any better than a pay per view channel?

Please help. I really want to love my Tivo again, but Im not seeing it...
Thanks. LK

Will the same programming be on PPV next month if you happen to miss it this month? How much does a program on PPV cost? I spend $8.99+tax for Netflix and watch hours of programming. That same amount would only afford me 2-3 VOD/PPV programs, if that.

I also just recently discovered kmttg, and now only watch commercial-free programming. It's an automated application that downloads to my PC the programming I want (I use my Season Passes and To Do lists to get the titles I want), and uses other included* tools to cut out the commercials. I'm still working on "custom commands" to automagically push these edited files back to my Tivo, so in the meantime I manually transfer them back.

I also use pyTivo and Stream Baby, Stream! to view downloaded content. I recently dropped Cable Television and went OTA with an antenna. But yet I still watch great shows in HD like Curb Your Enthusiasm, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia with the help from those apps. There's also this site that has a few toys as well: http://apps.tv/

I expect to save $800+/year by dropping cable TV. I was paying for 370+ channels of which I watched maybe a dozen. I can drop cable because my Tivo (that I own) gives me options to supplement the programming I would otherwise miss out on. Will the TWC or FIOS DVR do that?

*It's an option to use VideoReDo in place of the commercial cutter that comes with kmttg. It works VERY well!

[ljkrauss]

I hope this isnt TIVOs marketing team talking. Do you really think anything you have said is worth the effort or the expense/savings? The beauty of TIVO was that it gave great value for the price and just worked. You are asking way too much of the average user for way too much.

The TV/PC merger has a long way to go and will take a long time to break habits.... especially WITHOUT the TIVO like, 'killer app'.

Looks like we're done here. So is TIVO...

[orangeboy]

I hope this isnt TIVOs marketing team talking. Do you really think anything you have said is worth the effort or the expense/savings? The beauty of TIVO was that it gave great value for the price and just worked. You are asking way too much of the average user for way too much.

The TV/PC merger has a long way to go and will take a long time to break habits.... especially WITHOUT the TIVO like, 'killer app'.

Looks like we're done here. So is TIVO...

I don't think Tivo's marketing team talks too much about direct competition to their Tivo Desktop application in a public forum. But no, I am not related to the Tivo company in any manner.

Everything I said is worth it to me, that's why I said it. Saving $800 a year IS worth it to me. I showed you savings using Netflix over PPV. I'm not asking you or anybody to install the 3rd party apps I mentioned. Those apps are only options that you won't have with TWC or FIOS. If you don't like the answers you get, don't ask the question. I could care less if you decide to upgrade to an HD Tivo or go with something else. It's your decision.

Good day to you, sir.

[Grey Griffin]

Question:
As much as I LOVE my TIVOs, why would I pay $450-$500 and $300 (3 years) service for something I can get from cable (TimeWarner) or phone (Verizon Fios)? When I bought my Humax, there was nothing comparable. Seems like a ridiculous amount of money when you have so many options available now? Seriously - As much as I love my TIVO, I dont get it?

The only thing I know right now is I would get the Netflix Service. How is that any better than a pay per view channel?

I can only compare with the cable DVR that is available locally, there may be others that offer some of the following features.

1. Search by Title. The cable DVR only allows searches from the grid guide

2. 2 weeks of guide data. Cable DVR only has 1 week

3. Wishlists

4. Suggestions

5. Access to Amazon VOD, Netflix, Youtube, etc.

6. Ability to switch to OTA

7. Ability to expand storage with external or internal HD upgrade

8. MRV and TTG (as long as this hasn't been hamstrung by your cable company's use of CCI)

9. Better user interface (subjective)

10. Reliability. Our local cable DVRs are notorious for missing recordings and recording incorrect programs. The only time my Tivo has missed a recording has been from last minute schedule changes or user error.

A lot of it is subjective. If you are just using a DVR to record progarms then there probably isn't a reason to pay extra for a Tivo. Personally, I dropped my cable to lifeline only and watch my cable shows through Netflix and Amazon. I'm saving money and if I move to another area I'll have the same features I have now.

So, based on what's available to me, my perspective is that there still isn't anything offered by the service providers that is comparable to Tivo.

[halestrm]

Love the idea of buying smaller and upgrading. Thanks! I want the Tivo because the DTV DVR is driving me nuts, esp. when it comes to the wish list. This way I save getting a load of the Disney programs overriding my programs. I 3 thumbs up and they record when nothing else is on. Plus the wish list is how I discovered True Blood and House.

Some of what was written I do not understand. I will reread when I get back and try to figure it out. Wanted to say Thank you for all the replies.

[ZeoTiVo]

Question:
As much as I LOVE my TIVOs, why would I pay $450-$500 and $300 (3 years) service for something I can get from cable (TimeWarner) or phone (Verizon Fios)?

umm the deals have been 500$ Total and no other fee ever for a TiVo HD - and it looks like you were talking about 499 for a TiVo HD XL (iTB hard drive) and if you would rather pay 300$ for 3 years versus the lifetime sub you, as an existing TiVo owner, can get for 300$ then me thinks you just want to put as bad a spin on price as possible and that makes me suspect you do not want to have a rational debate but just want to sling some mud around. Have fun with that.

[ZeoTiVo]

Love the idea of buying smaller and upgrading. Thanks! I want the Tivo because the DTV DVR is driving me nuts, esp. when it comes to the wish list. This way I save getting a load of the Disney programs overriding my programs. I 3 thumbs up and they record when nothing else is on. Plus the wish list is how I discovered True Blood and House.

Some of what was written I do not understand. I will reread when I get back and try to figure it out. Wanted to say Thank you for all the replies.
just tell us the parts you have questions on and we can try and explain further.

[lrhorer]

The beauty of TIVO was that it gave great value for the price and just worked.
No, the best feature of the Tivo is it can be upgraded and hacked by the consumer. This is not the case for a leased unit. The fact is a deal-breaker for me, but even discounting that, the number of terrific features on the Tivo either totally lacking or poorly implemented on the leased units leaves them in the dust, even if I could legally open them up.

You are asking way too much of the average user for way too much.
I don't think he's asking anything of anyone.

The TV/PC merger has a long way to go and will take a long time to break habits.... especially WITHOUT the TIVO like, 'killer app'.

Looks like we're done here. So is TIVO...
I have no idea what you are tryng to say, here.

[lrhorer]

Love the idea of buying smaller and upgrading.
Well, the simplest upgrade is adding an external drive. Although there are some differences and minor limitations (probably the worst for most consumers being the extra box) for an externally upgraded THD compared to a THD XL, the easiest upgrade for a THD is to purchase an external drive. One merely shuts off the TiVo, plugs the external drive into the wall and the Tivo, and plugs in the Tivo. Follow the menu when the TiVo boots, and viola!, you have up to 1.16T of storage, or about 160 hours of HD content, which is a bit more than the XL.

If you or someone you know are at all comfortable with opening up computers, then replacing the internal drive is also very easy and even less expensive. I also recommend it, because it is a simpler, more robust expansion solution, and it allows the owner to keep the original drive on the shelf in case the upgrade drive fails. Open the case, swap the drives back, and you will be back up and running (having lost the programs on the upgrade drive, of course) in a matter of minutes.

[lrhorer]

1. Search by Title. The cable DVR only allows searches from the grid guide
Actually, the TiVo has no fewer than 9 distinct search engines, and most of them beat the leased DVR's search capabilities flat out on a 1 to 1 basis.

3. Wishlists
That's another of the 9 search engines, of course, and a very powerful and highly configurable one. AFAIK, it is the only one which allows the user to specify a program which isn't even available, yet. For example, when Iron Man came out, I immediately created a wishlist entry for it. It isn't available, yet, but the moment it comes out, it will be recorded. I don't have to watch for it. I've had a wishlist for Scavenger Hunt ever since they first came out with wishlists, about 7 years ago. Sooner or later, someone is bound to show it, again. I have a couple of dozen of such anticipatory wishlists.

4. Suggestions
While not quite the very most important feature of the TiVo, it is by far the most amazing and unique, if you ask me. (It's the 3rd of 9 search engines.)


So, based on what's available to me, my perspective is that there still isn't anything offered by the service providers that is comparable to Tivo.
You forgot:

11. Can be sold on e-bay for a good fraction of the purchase price.

[TiVoEvan74]

Great summary list of advantages. Thanks, Grey!

For newcomers. MRV-- multi-room viewing. You can transfer shows between Tivos that are connected (wired or wirelessly). It's incredibly useful to move shows from, say, family room to bedroom or vice-versa and watch them where you'd prefer to. (The AV-Cast system is another way of doing this with only 1 Tivo. Sends signals via the cable set up.)

With two Tivos, you have more tuners available to record shows at a given time--and MRV means you can later get them where you want to show them!