TVSquad

Less than a year and a half after introducing its first HD capable personal video recorder, TiVo is killing off its Series3 line. While the unit received excellent reviews when it launched in late 2006, the Series3 was also widely panned for its $800 price tag. Although the price has dropped significantly since then, TiVo introduced the lower cost TiVo HD in 2007 which has cheaper components, but most of hte same software features as the Series3.

Lou Jacob of TiVo reseller DVRUpgrade received a letter from TiVo letting partners know that the company would be accelerating the Series3's end of life process. Jacob then forwarded the letter to TiVo Lovers, so we're going to acknowledge that we're getting our information thirdhand and there may be some inaccuracies.

But reportedly TiVo managed to sell through quite a bit of their Series3 inventory thanks to some ongoing promotions. The problem is there's a component shortage, which means it would be difficult for the company to replace the sold units. So rather than have a temporary Series3 shortage for up to half a year, Tivo has decided instead to focus its efforts on the TiVo HD.

There are still Series3 boxes available, but there's no telling how long before the inventory is exhausted. So if you really had your heart set on getting a TiVo with an OLED front display and a backlit remote control, you might want to think about picking one up soon.

The TiVo Series3 ships with a 250GB hard drive. That provides enough storage space for 30 hours of high definition or 100 hours of standard definition recordings. If that's enough for you, DVRupgrade and WeaKnees both selling modified TiVo boxes with larger hard drives, or upgrade kits for anyone who already has a TiVo.

If you have a bit of know how, you can buy an off-the-shelf hard drive and do the upgrade yourself. But part of the appeal of DVRupgrade and WeaKnees is that they make the process easy. How easy? About as easy as taking the old hard drive out of your box and replacing it with a new one. No need to prepare a hard drive or install any software. No need to understand anything about Linux.

Of course, opening your TiVo's case does mean voiding your warranty. So we wouldn't suggest ordering an upgrade kit unless you're pretty sure you know what you're doing. Fortunately, TiVo Blog has put together a pretty good video showing exactly how much technical knowledge you'll need to install an upgrade kit. DVRupgrade shipped them a 750GB (100 hour) hard drive, screwdriver, and instructions. Check out the video after the jump.

We just saw a post on the WeaKnees blog announcing that the TiVo retailer is shipping upgrade kits for the new TiVo HD. In a few more days the company will be ready to ship pre-upgraded TiVo HD units as well.

The other day we told you that the new boxes include a slight change to the TiVo file system which means that the old software tools for preparing hard drives weren't working. But the hacker community doesn't take that sort of new sitting down, and sure enough, a member of the TiVo Community Forum has posted an alpha version of a new tool that works with the TiVo HD.

If you're the handy sort, you can use the WinMFS tool to replace the 160GB hard drive that comes with the TiVo HD with a larger disk on your own or order an upgrade kit from WeaKnees or DVRUpgrade. Or if you can hold out a few days longer, both companies should receive shipments of TiVo HD units which they will be upgrading and selling.

Shortly after TiVo announced the TiVoHD, 3rd party TiVo upgraders like DVRUpgrade and WeaKnees began taking preorders for upgraded units with larger hard drives. The stock unit has a 160GB hard drive, which is just large enough to store 20 hours of HD content.

There's just one problem. It turns out the MFS Tools software that has been allowing users to upgrade TiVo drives for years doesn't work with the new box. That's because TiVo made a slight change to the file system, which apparently could enable hard drives larger than 2TB. It's not clear whether that means you could slap a 3TB drive into a TiVoHD right now (assuming one existed), but support may be enabled in the future.

Anyway, it looks like a member of the TiVo hacking community has been hard at work developing a new tool called WinMFS that allows you to prep an upgraded hard drive using Windows. Previous tools required a Linux box. Anyway, he's managed to throw a 500GB hard drive into a TiVoHD, and plans to publicly release WinMFS soon, which means you may be able to upgrade your box by the time it arrives. Or order one from a 3rd party retailer.

[via TiVo Lovers]

If you're the type to take pity on your dad for his efforts to record HD World War II specials on The History Channel using his old school VCR, you might be thinking of picking him up a Series3 TiVo for father's day. TiVo wants to help, and is offering up a $200 rebate good from May 27th through June 16th.

The offer's not available at TiVo.com yet, but you can find all the info, as well as the rebate form (pdf) at DVRupgrade.

Since this is a rebate, not a discount, you should be able to apply it to any Series3 TiVo you pick up from a TiVo reseller. For example, if you pick up a $600 unit from Amazon, you would be able to get a Series3 for about $400. That's assuming Amazon doesn't raise its price this week.

[via TiVo Lovers]

That piddly 250GB hard drive on a TiVo Series3 not doing it for you? The thing about buying a high definition PVR is that high definition TV takes up a lot of space, so you can only store about 32 hours of HDTV programs.

Well, DVR Upgrade and WeaKnees have been giving you the option of buying modified TiVos with hard drives up to 750GB. That should be enough for 100 hours of HDTV or 1000 hours of standard definition programming. But that's not good enough for you either, now is it?

Well, WeaKnees has announced that they're preparing a 1TB Series3 TiVo, capable of storing 144 hours of high definition recordings. Of course, WeaKnees charges $1250 to $1600 for a Series3 box with a 750GB hard drive, so don't expect the 1TB model to come cheap.