TVSquad

One of the biggest problems with HDTV personal video recorders is that HDTV programs take up a lot more hard drive space than their standard definition programs. So if you've gotten used to storing dozens or even hundreds of programs, you can kiss your huge video library goodbye when you upgrade to a TiVo HD or Series3 TiVo.

Unless you're willing to upgrade your box or pay someone else to do the dirty work for you, that is. A stock TiVo Series3 TiVo has a 250GB hard drive which is large enough to store about 30 hours of HDTV or 300 hours of standard definition programs. TiVo reseller WeaKnees has long been offering upgraded TiVos that let you store an obscene number of shows for a slightly less than obscene price.

Now WeaKnees may have topped itself by offering a 2TB TiVo capable of storing 292 hours of programming. If that doesn't sound like much, think about it this way. It would take you 12 days to watch 292 hours worth of television. Sure, you'll zap past the commercials, but that's still 9 days worth of TV.

Things get even crazier when you realize that not every show you record will be in high definition. The 2TB TiVo will store a whopping 2777 hours of standard definition television. You'd have to plop down in front of your TV for 115 days without sleep or bathroom breaks to watch that much TV. The price for all this glory? Just a modest $1599 (after a $200 rebate).

It seems like adding an eSATA port to personal video recorders is the thing to do. Enabling that port so that you can actually slap an external hard drive onto your PVR is another story.

TiVo recently issued an update that enables the eSATA port on TiVo HD boxes. But you can't just plug in an external hard drive and expect it to work. Rather, you'll need to install TiVo software on that drive before your TiVo will recognize it. Dave Zatz speculates that this means TiVo will begin selling hard drives under its own brand name soon. Makes sense to us.

At the same time, it seems that a growing number of Scientific Atlanta set top boxes have working eSATA ports. If you got your PVR from your regional cable company, odds are you have either a Motorola or Scientific Atlanta box. WeaKnees has a list of SA boxes that may work with external eSATA hard drives.

Those newfangled TiVo HD and Series3 boxes not doing it for you? Don't have any intention of buying an HDTV or HD DVD/Blu-ray player for another few years? Then have we got the not quite obsolete all-in-one box for you.

TiVo reseller WeaKnees has picked up a number of refurbished Humax TiVo units with built-in DVD recorders. They don't make them like this anymore because, well, they just don't. So this is a limited time deal.

WeaKnees is selling the units for $199, but there's a $150 rebate from TiVo, which brings the price down to $49. You can also pay $299 ($149 after rebate) to get an upgraded hard drive that will store 350 hours of television. The deal also comes in $249/600 hour and $449/900 hour varieties.

Of course, if you've got 950 hours of storage, we're not sure how often you'll feel the need to burn DVDs, but that's beside the point.

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.

As you're probably aware by now, the new TiVo HD offers most of the same functionality as the $800 TiVo Series3, for about $500 less. TiVo upgrader and reseller WeaKnees has put together a handy chart showing some of the differences between the two boxes.

In many areas, the two boxes are functionally identical. Wherever there's an obvious difference, WeaKnees has highlighted the changes in bold. If you're still left scratching your head after reading through the descriptions, you're not alone. It's really not clear where TiVo's saving all the money on the new boxes, but we're not complaining.

In fact, in some cases, the cheaper TiVo HD has the edge. For example, the unit is a little smaller and it has two CableCard slots in the front of the box, for easier installation.

[via TiVo Blog]

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]

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.