# Buying preconfigured Tivo hardrives



## Ovit-UK (Dec 26, 2002)

Real newb question here, can you buy a simple plug in and go (preconfigured) drive that is larger than 120gb or is that the max?

I have a 5yr old 40gb which has never been modded in any way and have had a look at the guides but dont want to risk tampering with it myself unless its nearly foolproof.


I took a look at pacelink but see they only do 120gb upgrades, are there other sites out there? 

At the same time is it worth upgrading or adding on anything else bearing in mind I'm very happy with the basic machine and the whole family much prefer Tivo to the Sky+ with have in the other room.


Thanks for any pointers.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Yes - you can buy preconfigured drives up to a maximum of 2x400gb, although forum rules prevent me from telling you where from 

While you're at it you can also add a network card - eg. cachecard - and network your TiVo. This will give you TiVoWeb to control your TiVo from your PC (or over the internet!) and allow you install other hacks to archive recordings to your PC or DVD, or enable Mode 0 etc. etc. 

All these things can be pre-configured so (if you get your drive from the right place) your upgrade will be effectively plug-n-play


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## Hunty (Nov 6, 2001)

I would have a look at www.Tivoheaven.com where all your questions will be answered.


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## Ovit-UK (Dec 26, 2002)

Thanks for the really quick replies guys. :up: 


I'm off work today so will have a look into it.



Ovit


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## verses (Nov 6, 2002)

Just so you know; if you're happy with fiddling inside PCs it can be done yourself;

http://www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/index.html

It's not as scary as it might seem at first, but obviously if you're not comfortable with it, then Blindmelon/TivoHeaven seems to be the man/place to see 

Cheers,

Ian


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

And Tivoheaven does have a well known competitor called www.tivoland.com but beware of the fact that they don't tell you what make of hard drive they will be using, whereas you want to insist on Samsung hard drives because they are currently far quieter than all their competitors and have a 3 year warranty rather than only 1 year as Maxtor, Hitachi or Western Digital drives do. Also Seagate drives are not a good idea either as their power consumption requirements means you cannot add a second hard drive later on.

Also Tivoland make their prices look cheaper by adding on charges for delivery and so on while Tivoheaven tends to include all these matters within their item pricing.

Pacelink are no longer really serious about Tivo upgrading any more (although they haven't yet deleted the section from their website) which is why the upgrade capacities offered are so small and the prices are so high.


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## PhilG (Jan 15, 2002)

Also, unless your old drive is completely empty, you will lose what is on it (of course) - season passes, wishlists, recorded progs etc

When you buy a preconfigured drive you can also ask (and pay a little extra) to have all of this copied to your new drive (the downside is you'll be without a functioning Tivo for a few days). 

Then KEEP THE OLD DRIVE AS A BACKUP

Whilst you have Tivo in pieces (and the hardest part really IS getting the case open  ) I'd also consider going for a cachecard. The immediate benefit will be the speeding up of navigating the Tivo menus (which you WILL need with a bigger drive soon er of later) AND it will give you network connectivity to your Tivo - that's where the fun REALLY starts  

PS My signature line tells you where I spend MY Tivo money :up:


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

Just thought I should point out that www.ultratec.co.uk now claims to have 63 of the Samsung HA250JC hard drives in stock but at the usual exorbitant price of £82.24 Inc VAT but + delivery.

This could be blindlemon's big opportunity to stock up.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Thanks Pete for being fair and including a reference to tivoland 



Pete77 said:


> And Tivoheaven does have a well known competitor called www.tivoland.com but beware of the fact that they don't tell you what make of hard drive they will be using, whereas you want to insist on Samsung hard drives because they are currently far quieter than all their competitors


We have only used Samsung drives for around the last 18 months to 2 years at least.



Pete77 said:


> Also Tivoland make their prices look cheaper by adding on charges for delivery and so on while Tivoheaven tends to include all these matters within their item pricing.


All Internet stores show the shipping seperately in the main-stream, we are not trying to make the prices look cheaper, its just standard practice and more transparent as far as I'm concerned.

Kind Regards
Dave.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

healeydave said:


> We have only used Samsung drives for around the last 18 months to 2 years at least.


Thanks Dave for clarifying that. It was his Blindlemonship who claimed that buyers from Tivoland couldn't be sure what make of hard drive they might be getting. I also don't know whether he is or is not correct to suggest (as he does) that you chaps don't do any equivalent of his Hooch CD or of supplying drives with Tivoweb and Cachecard drivers pre-installed.

I like to try to be fair to everyone in the marketplace, including a gentleman in Northern Ireland who has mainly been supplying a network card component for the Tivo at very low prices, but who lately seems to have expanded to encompass buying and selling whole Tivos on Ebay. Unfortunately whenever I try to be fair to the opposition I am inclined to receive communications from TivoHeaven customers and from TivoHeaven itself saying I have not been fair to them.



> All Internet stores show the shipping seperately in the main-stream, we are not trying to make the prices look cheaper, its just standard practice and more transparent as far as I'm concerned.


I think you are right there. I do find it odd that TivoHeaven charge a larger mark up on formatting some makes of large hard drive than others.

Dave if you want to see the balance between TivoHeaven and TivoLand redressed then I suggest you need to post a bit more in the forum to give the impression you are always there for help and advice as that TivoHeaven fellow so relentlessly does.

I think the more competition the better for the customer and I am bit concerned that whenever I mention any competitors of TivoHeaven I am then always subject to a large amount of vitriolic posting suggesting that TivoHeaven is the only Tivo upgrade service anyone in this forum should be allowed to mention.  :down:


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## chrisd (Oct 24, 2003)

Pete77 said:


> I think the more competition the better for the customer and I am bit concerned that whenever I mention any competitors of TivoHeaven I am then always subject to a large amount of vitriolic posting suggesting that TivoHeaven is the only Tivo upgrade service anyone in this forum should be allowed to mention.  :down:


Maybe it's the _way you go about _ making your comments (about anything, not just Tivo Heaven) that makes certain people on here so aggressive towards you.

It seems to be happening more and more lately, but only ever seems to be directed at you.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

chrisd said:


> It seems to be happening more and more lately, but only ever seems to be directed at you.


Less and less lately actually.

The time you are referring to is 1 or 2 months ago when I was posting more often in the forum than is pehaps healthy for anyone.


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## chrisd (Oct 24, 2003)

well I meant lately in quite a broad sense 

It was fun to read, can you do it more please


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Well there have been some what I would call some unscrupulous competition in the past but thankfully they have come and gone. 

Myself and blindlemon have always got on fine and I think people get good service from the both of us, so its just a case of which ever site the customer finds / prefers to use.

I must admit my posting on this forum has dropped significantly in the last year+ and probably means a significant portion of tivocommunity related business goes to Steves site as its in the limelight a lot more. 

Its easy to see because you see new forum names crop up requiring help and later on these same people offer a recommendation to future folk and probably don't even know about tivoland unless they trawl through the threads 

However, both Steve and I cannot make a living from Tivo related stuff alone so the trade we do do is probably a comfortable amount as it stands. I think the majority of customers we get are so happy or I'd go so far to say relieved that the parts are available fast and relatively cheaply too.

Finally, just to clarify, we do not sell CD's to help people do hard disk upgrades themselves, the tools and advice is out there for Free and I am more than happy for people to carry on doing it this way and help where I can. We do (always have) provided Network driver and associated software installation in addition to the pre-loaded drives if the customer requires it to help those that prefer not to dabble in these merky waters themselves


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

chrisd said:


> It was fun to read, can you do it more please


I thought you wanted it to be all sweetness and light round here?


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

healeydave said:


> Myself and blindlemon have always got on fine and I think people get good service from the both of us, so its just a case of which ever site the customer finds / prefers to use.
> 
> However, both Steve and I cannot make a living from Tivo related stuff alone so the trade we do do is probably a comfortable amount as it stands. I think the majority of customers we get are so happy or I'd go so far to say relieved that the parts are available fast and relatively cheaply too.


Careful though Dave as I think Steve is more of a Rupert or James Murdoch in the making at heart than you might realise and would perhaps ideally like all Tivo upgrade customers to use him.  

For instance he seems to have taken it as a personal slight that my mentioning of cheaper Cachecards being sold on Ebay by another seller allegedly led to a fall off in his own tally of Cachecard sales. This is even though I have tried to point out to him that it is a free market out there and that if competitors come in with cheaper products it is not a matter within my control. caveat emptor and all that kind of stuff.

Well I think the UK Tivo upgrade and repair marketplace is pretty well served generally and the only key question is how much longer it will continue to thrive or expand once the BBC/ITV's no subscription HDTV satellite service (which must surely also include at least Sky+ like PVR functionality and a hard drive) is launched and as and when Freeview Playback boxes with Series Link finally make it into the shops.


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## chrisd (Oct 24, 2003)

Pete77 said:


> I thought you wanted it to be all sweetness and light round here?


Hell no, what gave you that idea?


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

chrisd said:


> Hell no, what gave you that idea?


It seems I should have recognised your own post as a blatant attempt to stir the pot then and not as a request to me for a more conciliatory posting style?


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## chrisd (Oct 24, 2003)

I was merely pointing out that the reason people get aggressive towards you is because of the tone of your posts, as you were concerned that it kept happening. If you take that as stirring the pot then you are simply adding to my point.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Pete77 said:


> Well I think the UK Tivo upgrade and repair marketplace is pretty well served generally and the only key question is how much longer it will continue to thrive or expand once the BBC/ITV's no subscription HDTV satellite service (which must surely also include at least Sky+ like PVR functionality and a hard drive) is launched and as and when Freeview Playback boxes with Series Link finally make it into the shops.


Well who knows.

I'm personally not a fan of HD, or perhaps I should say at this moment in time I'm not a fan. I think its come along at an unfortunate time.

With the advent of the switch over from Analog to Digital TV, most people are enjoying a decent quality as it is, HD just seems to be a spanner in the works that adds and extra option at the moment that everyone thinks they should be considering because they hear HD this and HD that all the time in the media. The bandwidth hungry / storage hungry format that HD is just seems unnecessary at the moment for that bit of extra quality.

I know I will get flamed by the connoisseurs who have to have the highest quality of everything going who will probably say the quality is far superior blah blah but these are often the same people that prefer the Vinyl record sound to CD 

The point I'm trying to make is we are just getting to an age where the quality of Digital television is pretty good as long as its not too heavily compressed as some channels seem to do. We have come a long way since snowy & grainy pictures and in retrospect to HD, the bandwidth required is perfectly manageable. We have the ability to store decent amounts of material on our 250GB - 400GB devices, we can get plenty of channles (certainly enough of the quality ones) over terrestrial (still plenty of scope for the future if all the trashy shopping channels were sacrificed  and with many people now having 2-8Gb ADSL lines in their homes, its not a burden for streaming content to our homes too via video on demand etc.

HD puts the mockers on all that with its ridiculous space hungry format. It puts us one step back again waiting for our bandwidth to catch up to cope. I secretly hope it falls flat on its ass (I doubt it will) because without HD we still have decent quality with digital TV and plenty of scope for cool stuff to happen like video on demand etc through our broadband without the need to suck it dry.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

Personally I'm with your thoughts on this Dave, especially as one still stubbornly viewing on a 29" 4:3 set (Formula 1 Grand Prix are still broadcast in 4:3 for instance so I would be worse off if I changed for viewing some of my favourite programs). To me it is content and being able to access the content I'm interested in that is most important and not ultimate visual quality.

But as we know the TCM's and other of this forum are sure to tell us the error of our ways.......  

Whilst channel choice has multiplied hugely in the last few years I am far from convinced that our choice of quality viewing material has multiplied to the same extent and/or at all. One reason why having a Tivo is therefore so essential...........


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Pete77 said:


> Whilst channel choice has multiplied hugely in the last few years I am far from convinced that our choice of quality viewing material has multiplied to the same extent and/or at all. One reason why having a Tivo is therefore so essential...........


Exactly...

Sky boasts 100's of channels yet I challenge the most avid Sky fan to document the channels watched over a 6 month period and then list the number of unique channels watched. I bet it doesn't get into double figures, hence there would be more than enough bandwidth on terrestrial digital to replicate the worthy channels in even in HD for such a person!!


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

I took up your challenge, Dave and here's the result:

ABC1 - 1
BBC1NTH - 7
BBC2 -3
BBC24 - 1
BBC3 - 7
BBC4 - 1 
C4 - 1
E4 - 2
FIVE - 8
ITV1YOR - 1
ITV3 - 1 
LIVING - 3
MORE4 - 1
SCIEU - 3
UKDRMA - 1

So, mine does reach double-figures, but not all are currently recording SP, etc. and you'll also note that only a couple of the channels listed are cable/sky-only. Think what I could save if I could bring myself to not watch certain shows


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Guess what Carl, I knew you'd be the one to reach double figures 

Spooky, but you name did actually spring to mind as I was writing that last post 

I'm kinda expecting something from Automan too but we'll see ;-)


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

healeydave said:


> I'm kinda expecting something from Automan too but we'll see ;-)


And iankb too surely ,since as we know ian has recently quit pay tv on the basis that he was scarcely watching any of it.

I forecast that TCM2007 (or sanderton as you may have once known him) will naturally prove to watch the most diverse range of channels being, as he is, a died in the wool exponent of the worth of all pay tv, Sky HD and any other latest creative fashion devices that the pay tv merchants manage to dream up to extract more funds from the better off punters.


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## chrisd (Oct 24, 2003)

Pete77 said:


> I forecast that TCM2007 (or sanderton as you may have once known him)


ssshhhhhh, don't blow his cover


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

healeydave said:


> Guess what Carl, I knew you'd be the one to reach double figures  Spooky, but you name did actually spring to mind as I was writing that last post


I'm just so predictable and boring 

You have to remember though, that not all of those SPs will be active at any given time, so I don't really watch _that_ much TV!



> I'm kinda expecting something from Automan too but we'll see ;-)


Anyone with more than one Tivo _must_ have load of SPs 

To get back on-topic, I have to say that I also have absolutely no interest in HD _at all_.


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## PaulWilkinsUK (Mar 20, 2006)

Chuckles ...


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

Pete77 said:


> And iankb too surely ,since as we know ian has recently quit pay tv on the basis that he was scarcely watching any of it.


Checking my non-Freeview channels, I was only really recording six series from Sky One, Hallmark, and Sci-Fi, and recording the occasional Sky Movie.

I haven't actually cancelled my subscription yet, since they were kind enough to replace my failing digibox for free, and I thought I'd leave it a couple of months so I didn't upset them too much, and would be able to keep my card active.


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

I'm not considering HD, or buying a super-sized screen to display it, until I find an alternate source of HD that will fit in with a multi-tuner Vista MCE setup, and HD transmission is the norm.

It seems to me that a lot of people get HD because they 'upgrade' their TV from CRT to LCD, and then are disappointed by the apparent lack of quality that LCD shows up. CRT TV's are better at handling low quality pictures because they naturally blend neighbouring 'pixels' together. Plasmas are better, but still not as good as CRT's at that. I am also disappointed by the lack of blackness in LCD pictures, caused by their backlight; although some Sony Bravia screens seem to handle that better than most.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

If my current Philips 29" 4:3 100 hz tv goes fut (or rather breaks down in any way at all since at this point even a £100 repair isn't going to be worth it) then I will seriously look at a widescreen replacement but it will have to be a Plasma because they seem to have less issues with retro capability with SD material, without going to the extortionate expense of buying a Scaler.

Alternatively I may just buy a 36" CRT widescreen off Ebay. I have considered this anyway, even without the Philips turning up its toes, but most decent brands of 36" CRT still seem to be selling for £300 or more on Ebay. This seems an awful lot when you can get a respectable make of 37" or 42" Plasma for around £800 these days.

Either way I will continue using my Tivo for the time being. However when the BBC and ITV launch their new Freesat HD box and when this also almost certainly turns out to be a PVR of some kind too, then I can see that the case for running one of these at least in addition to the Tivo will be made out. Of course my current communal satellite feed is only from one LNB, which may create issues in supporting multiple tuner recording for clashing programs.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Watch out for 36" CRT TVs - they can be less than perfect if you're picky about the picture. 

36" is really pushing the limits of CRT technology, and everything has to be just so to get a near-perfect picture without problems of colour casts in the corners or blurring off-axis. 

Much safer to go for 32" in CRTs IMHO.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

blindlemon said:


> Watch out for 36" CRT TVs - they can be less than perfect if you're picky about the picture.
> 
> 36" is really pushing the limits of CRT technology, and everything has to be just so to get a near-perfect picture without problems of colour casts in the corners or blurring off-axis.
> 
> Much safer to go for 32" in CRTs IMHO.


Are there any 36" CRT sets where you feel they have got it right? Sony or Panasonic for instance?

Of course the other issue is that a 32" set is a great deal easier to move given that you nearly always have to collect the ones being sold on Ebay yourself.

Would you also warn people off 42" CRT or Plasma sets for precisely the same kind of reasons?


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