My brother gave my parents a Tivo about 4 months ago. It's a Toshiba with DVD player built in.When i was there for thanksgiving I started using it and now I want one. I don't have a DVD player so i was thinking of getting one with DVD and that way you get free basic Tivo.
What I want to know is were can i pick one up cheap? I don't want to pay for all the new stuff such as HDTV and 100s of hours of record time. I do remember you could get a lower hour tivo and install a new hard drive in it to increase record time. I have started looking and have see some refurbished 80 hour units on ebay going for $200 with $100 rebate.
Thanks for any help.
Tivo purchase help.
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LordMortis
- Posts: 70308
- Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:26 pm
I never got my $100 rebate. So that's just a warning.
You can pull the HD, but it voids your warranty for the whole unit. If you do replace drives, I would do research on line. You need make sure you can clone the whole thing properly, meaning File System, boot sector, OS, etc... There are tools out there, but I have dinked with any of them to try it.
You can pull the HD, but it voids your warranty for the whole unit. If you do replace drives, I would do research on line. You need make sure you can clone the whole thing properly, meaning File System, boot sector, OS, etc... There are tools out there, but I have dinked with any of them to try it.
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Repentant
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:04 pm
I'm not familiar with the Tivo/DVD combo boxes, but I'd be very surprised if any "free" Tivo were offered with the unit. Tivo charges a monthly fee of $15(?) for standalone units.
I have a DirecTV Tivo unit. There's a charge of $5/month/tivo above basic DirecTV service for Tivo features. The DirecTV unit has a few disadvantages, mainly being that the version of the OS is a few months behind the standalones (Home media option is not supported, no folders, usb ports disabled), but it makes up for this with a few big advantages: two receivers, direct recording of digital video, and surround sound support.
I've done the Hinsdale How-To guide for adding a 2nd drive to Tivos twice now. It's fairly straightforward if you're in the know on PC stuff. I'm not even that much of a Linux person and things went okay. There are also 3rd party companies that will install the drive for you.
I have a DirecTV Tivo unit. There's a charge of $5/month/tivo above basic DirecTV service for Tivo features. The DirecTV unit has a few disadvantages, mainly being that the version of the OS is a few months behind the standalones (Home media option is not supported, no folders, usb ports disabled), but it makes up for this with a few big advantages: two receivers, direct recording of digital video, and surround sound support.
I've done the Hinsdale How-To guide for adding a 2nd drive to Tivos twice now. It's fairly straightforward if you're in the know on PC stuff. I'm not even that much of a Linux person and things went okay. There are also 3rd party companies that will install the drive for you.
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shaggydoug
- Posts: 1323
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Be surprised....there is a "basic tivo" that comes on some devices. You don't have to pay monthly fees but you can upgrade to real tivo if you like. I believe it is just pausing and recording of TV shows by time.....a hard drive VCR if you like. None of the integrated with a tv guide stuff like season passes.Repentant wrote:I'm not familiar with the Tivo/DVD combo boxes, but I'd be very surprised if any "free" Tivo were offered with the unit. Tivo charges a monthly fee of $15(?) for standalone units.
Also, there is a new directivo coming out early next year (model R10). Go to the tivocommunity forums and you can find out information. This is not to be confused with the NDS tivo-like thing that directv is coming out with as well. I'm in need of another tivo and I'm thinking about waiting for it. Only $99 but better hardward and smaller form factor. It's actually supposed to have folders as well.
- shaggy