20 hours of HD! What have I done?

[tlc]

Just got a HD last week from amazon. The HD Cable DVR (with 160G + 250G) will be replaced by cablecards this week. I told myself & my wife that we could wait until the eSATA port was enabled to add storage. I upgraded our S1 years ago but really don't want to bother again. It'd be nice to keep the warranty intact and I spend too much time maintaining too many computers as it is.

Now I'm spending too much time planning subscriptions for the Fall season. Should we relegate sitcoms to SD? Would that even give us a week of storage? Should we put some things on the S1 (only)? Or double some things on the S1 in case they fall off the HD? Wait!! We didn't buy this in order to watch less HD than before!! Aaagh!!

I guess it's time to buy a disk and open the box. If anyone's reading this who hasn't pulled the trigger yet, research how much extra the S3 with it's active eSATA port costs when you buy it at retail and get the rebate. I wish I had.

If TiVo's play is to sell external drives, they need to announce a time frame now. HDs are selling fast (I assume) and I don't see anyone putting up with 20 hours of HD for very long.

tlc

[Dr_Diablo]

I purchased the HD Tivo as you have... Finally returned it for the reasons you state...
Now it appears that the HD's drive can be swapped out... I prefer going the esata port way...

Opted to trade in the HD for the Series 3, with an external WD My Book Pro...

Soon as the 1 Terrabybe WD's drop below $300, will expand the storage at that time...

90 hours of HD is reasonable for now, but the drive is filling up fast...

Haven't seen the dreaded, you need to remove programs, in order to record your program warning after 10 days now...

[mrdazzo7]

This is the main reason I opted to go for the S3 instead of the THD too. Granted 32 hours isn't a crazy amount, but it beats the hell out of 20. I watch about 10 shows a week, and most of those I watch the night they air (Lost, Heroes, PB, etc), so there's no need to save them. There a few shows (ER, some new ones) that I'll let build up for a couple of weeks. 32 hours should be fine for now.

[Lenonn]

I am in a similar boat. All I can really do is pray to the TiVo gods that the eSATA port in enabled sooner rather than later, and encourage people to watch HD stuff as soon as they can.

[TexasGrillChef]

I bought my S3 back when it first came out. I needed the eSATA port back then.

I have told most people. If 20hrs isn't good enough, then consider the S3 because eSATA is now enabled, & you can add extra space WITHOUT voiding your warranty by replacing the internal drive.

The EXTRA bucks you spend, could save you down the road with a GOOD warranty!

Although once MRV/TTG and eSATA are enabled for the TiVo HD... then it will be a moot point.

I will be getting a TiVo HD for my bedroom once MRV/TTG have been enabled. I will even consider an eSATA drive for it once it has been enabled, & depending on what shows that I watch use "copy protection"

It all just comes down to what you Value most in a DVR.

TGC

[lessd]

Originally Posted by Dr_Diablo

I purchased the HD Tivo as you have... Finally returned it for the reasons you state...

Soon as the 1 Terrabybe WD's drop below $300, will expand the storage at that time...

.

It just did at Best Buy for this week, the new WD 1Tb drive $259.99 go for it.

[Kev639]

Does anyone know what the latest info is on when Tivo will have eSATA expansion available for the TivoHD? - I think they stated that it is coming but what is the schedule??

Kevin

[bkdtv]

Originally Posted by Kev639

Does anyone know what the latest info is on when Tivo will have eSATA expansion available for the TivoHD? - I think they stated that it is coming but what is the schedule??

Tivo has not formerly announced if or when they will officially support eSATA expansion.

Tivo did tell some TivoHD reviewers that they expected to support eSATA expansion before year's end. In another interview, a Tivo VP said eSATA expansion was something they were exploring / working on. That's all the information we have at the moment.

Some on this forum have speculated that Tivo will support eSATA with the software update for TivoToGo and MRV, but none of that is confirmed. We'll just have to wait and see.