S3 Questions before Buying ...

[Exile]

[Sorry for the long message, this ended up way longer then I expected.]


Hey Guys,


I have a few questions before jumping back into buying another Tivo which I used to own a SVR 2000 a few years ago and had it all upgraded with all the toys back then. I haven't had a Tivo in years so before I buy one I wanted to make sure I could do what I wanted with it as well as I have a few ideas I'm hoping I can implement it if possible. I called Tivo and I knew they weren't going to answer any of my upgrade questions because it voids the warranty but I tried and had no success of course. Thus why I'm on here.

I'm going to pick up a new three (3 new LG HD Plasma TV's for the house as well as a Tivo S3 for each one.


Storage Questions ...


1) Is the new S3 running SATA or IDE? Is it possible to add more then one drive and if so what is the max amount of storage I can add into each one?

2) Do the S3 have any open PCI slots for example to add a additional SATA card into it? I'm thinking of some cool ideas of making it fast with maybe RAID as well.

3) Does it have any external ports on the back like USB? If so, is it USB 2.0 or ? Any other type of ports that are useable?

4) Any ideas on adding a DVD Recorder to the unit since they don't make them anymore? What about a Blu Ray burner so burning HD would be easy. They are cheap enough in my opinion to think about adding a internal or possibly external one to it.


File Questions ...


5) I'm pretty Tivo now allows you to send one show or file to another Tivo in your house, so with that in mind, here are a few questions related to that ...

a) How long does it take to send say 1 hour of HD to another Tivo in the same house? How does it transfer it from one Tivo to another?

b) Can I transfer shows or files to my computer? If so, how? What software and or hardware (if any) is needed? Also, I thought I read something that states you can't do it on S3 yet, but maybe I'm wrong. I just want to make sure it's currently working on S3 as well.

c) If I transfer moving on to my computer and it already available, can I burn them on to DVD or Blu Ray without lots of problems or ??? If so, what kind of software will I need for my computer.


Misc Questions ...

6) Sometimes I wish I could just build my own Tivo from scratch and I know you can (kinda) using Windows XP and their software, I just like Tivo's software and since it's runs Linux that's a plus too. However, any ideas on building your own by possibly buy burning a image and buying the right hardware possibly?

7) Any great ideas or anything I haven't mentioned on upgrading my unit or anything that's cool or fun to do with them? I'm investing so much into these damn things I wish they just did a little more for the $$$.


Dual Tuner Question ...


8) Is there any way to record two (2) shows using Directv with one Tivo? I know it's possible but I mean both being on the premium stations like HBO or something? Any workarounds that I'm not aware of?

If I were to order an additional Directv receiver would it then be possible to record to digital shows or two premium shows at once?


Thanks for the all answers in advance!


[Sorry for the long message, this ended up way longer then I expected.]

[classicsat]

1-2. The Series 3 uses SATA. It only has an eSata port for external drive expansio, which is disabled for the time being. Yuo can upgrade the internal drive though. I don't know if one of those SATA expanders will work, I have the understanding they won't though. There is no expansion bus.

3:It has two USB2.0 ports, which only support certain wireless network adapters. It also has an ethernet port. Not there are serial, IR blaster ports, and A/V inputs (it only records off of the built in tuners).
It has the usual SD and HD video outputs. No RF output or passthrough either.

4: They may not be allowed to, becasue of Cablecard, or general copyright law. That said, they'd have to write drivers and software for the burner, and get that approved by Cablelabs, whom will most likely say "No".
Your only hope for a DVD recorder is a plain SD DVD-recorder on the SD output.

5: MRV and T2G transfers on the S3 are disabled at this time, pending Cablelabs approval.
5a Cannot be answered becasue trasnferes are disabled.
5b For Series 2, apart from networking hardware, the only software that is needed is TiVo Desktop. For Series 3, if it were to get approved, trasnfers you could make would probably just need TiVoDesktop for the decryption filter, if it remains the same.
5c I don't know how easy burning an HD HD-BD-DVD will be. You could make a basic HD-DVD on plain DVD-R media though.

6. One can build their own DVR from scratch (as scratch as an individual can build something as sophisticated as a DVR), but it won't be a TiVo. The TiVo app is closed source (it running on a Open source Linux is irrelavent), and the binary will only work on the TiVo hardware. There are plenty of resources out there for building your own PC based DVR. There is no need to get into that here.

7: There isn't really much fun for a Series 1.

8: Yes. The TiVo will have to be a DirecTV TiVo DVR though.

There is no way to have DirecTV and dual tuner on any Standalone Tivo. And in case you don't know, the Series 3 is only for cable and OTA.