TiVo: which recorder unit to buy?

[pritchettzoo]

With the fall tv lineup starting and us having seventeen thousand unlabeled VCR tapes with who-knows-what recorded on them leftover from last season, we're looking into TiVo.

How many hours do you really need it to record?

Best price you've seen lately?

Any reason to avoid the TiVo knock-offs?

Any other helpful advice or info?

Thanks!
Anna

[aguinn]

Anna,

we've had tivo/directv for about 4 years now, and we *love* it! the following info comes from my DH:

series II tivos record 40 to 80 hours. if you like to watch many weekly shows and also record kid shows, i'd suggest more recordable hours. otherwise you will be watching and dumping more often to keep your recordings current and not lose recordings.

if you have directv, tivo prices are under $200. otherwise, prices range from $250-$500 with monthly fee.

no reason to avoid the knock-offs. if you have directv, it doesn't matter which tivo you get. if you or your DH is tech savvy, you can buy a less expensive tivo and a harddrive and extend (read: hack) the hours yourself. my DH did this and one of our tivos has 130 recordable hours. if you are interested in doing this, let me know and i'll send you a Web site with more info where you can even buy hacked tivos for less than what other places would charge.

stay away from tivos on ebay, as you don't know what you're getting and they don't offer any warranty plan. you're safer buying it at best buy or the like.

hth!
;)amy
proud momma to DS

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030729/1/5/1/-5/.png[/img][/url]

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif Weaned @ 13 months

[ddmarsh]

We just purchased a 40 hour unit at Circuit City for $50 after rebate. To receive the rebate you simply have to subscribe to the service and maintain it for 30 days. I read and asked around and apparantly this unit has been replaced by a newer version but the changes have been merely cosmetic.

Other than the above I don't have much to offer. I really don't watch much tv but the few things that I do it seems like I usually miss so I am hoping this will come in handy.

[JLiebCamm]

We got the 40 hour unit and I regret not getting the 80. I record alot of movies on HBO and then never find time to watch them! DH also records alot of programs for the classroom (he's a Civics teacher) with the intent of burning them to DVD and lets them pile up. We're always near max capacity! If you think you won't delete programs in a timely fashion, I would go for the bigger unit. If you can stay on top of it, go for the smaller unit.

[lmariana]

Hey Anna! I just joined the Tivo family last week. I bought an 80 unit on amazon.com with free shipping and no tax. Tivo.com has a $100 mail in rebate on ALL series 2 Tivo units. :)

I love it. I love it. I love it.

The only caveat I've found is that you cannot record two shows at the same time. So if something overlaps with another recording, you have to chose between the two. This can be overcome by getting a second Tivo. :) The other cool thing, is that if you record a show on Tivo #1 and want to watch it on the TV with Tivo#2 connected, you can! They're completely networked.

You have to have a phone connection to initially set-up the Tivo, but then you can integrate it into your home network via wireless or wired broadband! I have a USB Wireless Adapter on our Tivo and it instantly recognized our wireless network. Now, it does all the updating wirelessly without tying up our phone line.

I think you'll love it!

Mariana
www.heinzandmariana.com
Mother of Gabriel, 08/14/2003

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030814/1/5/0/-5/.png[/img] ([img)

[aguinn]

you can also buy one tivo with a dual receiver which allows you to record two shows simultaneously or watch a show while recording a different one. however, i think this is only if you also have directv... i'll have to ask DH about that one.

;)amy
proud momma to DS

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030729/1/5/1/-5/.png[/img][/url]

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif Weaned @ 13 months

[hwin708]

I do believe the cheapest option currently is the 40 hr unit at Circuit City someone mentioned earlier for $50 after rebate:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/TiVo--Series2--Digital-Video-Recorder--TCD24004A-/sem/rpsm/oid/69130/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do?WT.mc_n=27548&sourceid=qIq2QVEYiRPpATGUDB5H&affiliateid=20026380&carriage=befree&WT.mc_t=U

Remember, 40 hours means 40 hours on BASIC quality. I think it's something ridiculous like 13 hours on Excellent quality. I'm also pretty certain that season passes are automatically set up to record on basic quality (at least they are at my house - so I'm pretty certain TIVO came set up this way), but if you hit record on a single program, the default option is best quality. This can definitely rack up the hours pretty quickly.

Personally, I am very slow at getting around to watching things on the TIVO. I take it as a chance to record everything I've ever considered watching, and refuse to delete it until I've gotten around to it. I still have the entire "I Love the 90s" series waiting. Therefore, I don't even consider 80 hours to be enough.

What I did was buy a 40 hr. unit cheap(there was actually a brief time when Best Buy had them free after rebate, so I've now purchaes them for all rooms). Then I sent it to weaknees.com and got a huge hard drive put in it, so now it can hold up to 130 hours, I believe. I love love love my TIVO now.
The biggest issue is warranty and support. Opening the unit voids TIVO's warranty, but weaknees offers their own warranty, so that's not a problem. The problem comes later. Should you have a problem with your TIVO after the warranty runs out, you can still pay the manufacturer to fix it. If the box has been opened (by weaknees or you or anybody), they won't help.
This didn't really bother me, because of the shoddy way TIVO support is set up. Basically, when you call them, it is pretty much impossible to talk to a person. The automated voice tells you all problems must be dealt with by your box's manufacturer, and they give you the number.
Calling the manufacturer gives you another automated voice, that informs you that talking to a person for technical assistance will cost you $20. If they cannot fix the problem over the phone, you can send the box in, and that $20 will be applied towards the cost of fixing the box, which could be anything.
If you have a lifetime subscription, you want the box fixed, because the subscription cannot be switched to another box (though I have read on the internet that you can switch a subscription to an exact same model of TIVO - one would have to find out how, though).
Therefore, even if my box breaks, I would rather not deal with the manufacturer, who has no set price on what they may charge me to fix it.
There are many computer geek type of companies around here (like Rent a Nerd) that can also fix TIVO's, and give me a set price on the repair. One friend of mine did an internet search on her problem, discovered her TVIO's modem had died (a common problem on the Series One) and simply ordered a replacement modem kit from weaknees for about $80 (she hadn't used weaknees before - just got very angry with the customer assistance at TIVO and took matters into her own hands).
Also, I'll point out just in case, if you or your DH are relatively computer savvy, it's not all that difficult to set up a bigger hard drive yourself, and very cheap, given that hard drives can be purchased for next to nothing these days after rebates. There are instructions online on how to do it. You have to connect to HD to you computer first and send it some setup codes (which sounded pretty simple). It was the opening of the TIVO box that I decided I couldn't do. Actually, weaknees has an option where they can just send you the tweaked HD with instructions on how to install for cheaper than sending them your box, but I knew I couldn't handle the stress of opening hardware. But if you can....
Anyway, just my very long winded two cents on what I feel is getting the most out of the product. And here's the site:
http://www.weaknees.com/index.php

[aguinn]

Anna,

Did you get a TiVo?

;)amy
proud momma to DS

http://lilypie.com/baby2/030729/1/5/1/-5/.png[/img][/url]

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif Weaned @ 13 months