# TiVo Mega



## spinhar1 (Jul 3, 2012)

What ever happened to the Mega?


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Vaporware. Always seemed silly to me. Who needs 24TB of storage with only 6 tuners?


----------



## godsey1 (Jan 23, 2014)

I would love to havet hat much storage. There are a lot of tv series that I would love to record and store on one of these. My main tv and movie storage so to speak is Vudu.

Tony


----------



## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

godsey1 said:


> I would love to havet hat much storage. There are a lot of tv series that I would love to record and store on one of these. My main tv and movie storage so to speak is Vudu.
> 
> Tony


Couldn't you use a relatively inexpensive NAS and a couple 6TB drives to use as storage for a Tivo.


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

godsey1 said:


> I would love to havet hat much storage. There are a lot of tv series that I would love to record and store on one of these. My main tv and movie storage so to speak is Vudu.
> 
> Tony


There in lies the dilemma. The fair use ruling was only ever intended to cover "time shifting" of content and specifically said it was not intended to cover "archiving". The only reason to have that much space is archiving. A 24TB TiVo would hold nearly 4,000 hours of HD content. There is no way you could reasonably argue that such a unit was strictly used for "time shifting".


----------



## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

Dan203 said:


> There in lies the dilemma. The fair use ruling was only ever intended to cover "time shifting" of content and specifically said it was not intended to cover "archiving". The only reason to have that much space is archiving. A 24TB TiVo would hold nearly 4,000 hours of HD content. There is no way you could reasonably argue that such a unit was strictly used for "time shifting".


Hi,
Unless the terms "time shifting" and "archiving" were given specific definitions by the statute, I bet you could probably find at least a million "reasonable" lawyers who would be willing to argue that exact point.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> There in lies the dilemma. The fair use ruling was only ever intended to cover "time shifting" of content and specifically said it was not intended to cover "archiving". The only reason to have that much space is archiving. A 24TB TiVo would hold nearly 4,000 hours of HD content. There is no way you could reasonably argue that such a unit was strictly used for "time shifting".


Well if you had a place with 4 people and used a Mega with 3 minis, one for each person, that'd be 6TB each of storage, the same as a Pro, which is already being sold without backlash.


----------



## telemark (Nov 12, 2013)

SnapStream - the non-vapor competitor:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013...storage-snapstream-make-tivos-look-like-toys/
http://www.thewrap.com/the-secret-to-daily-show-colbert-report-and-the-soup-snapstream/


----------



## series5orpremier (Jul 6, 2013)

Between 3 Tivos I have less than 4.5 TB of programs in 6 TB of storage and it already feels like I'll never get around to watching everything.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

telemark said:


> SnapStream - the non-vapor competitor: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/with-30-tuners-and-30-tb-of-storage-snapstream-make-tivos-look-like-toys/ http://www.thewrap.com/the-secret-to-daily-show-colbert-report-and-the-soup-snapstream/


I want one.......NOW!!!


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

More tuners would make the Mega more practical. Even if it required two CableCARDs like the old S3 units. Although 24TB still seems like overkill to me.

Also something like that really, really, needs a user profile system for it to be effective as a family sharing device.


----------



## mstrumpf (Jul 29, 2010)

What I would find nice about a Mega like tivo is raid redundancy and the ability to hot swap drives. 

We all know that the hard drive is the most likely thing to fail in a Tivo, and having an easy ability to swap out a bad drive or add a drive to increase storage without losing what you have would be great. I would be okay if it shipped with out drives, with a lower cost. Not that I can afford any upgrades any time soon.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Dan203 said:


> Also something like that really, really, needs a user profile system for it to be effective as a family sharing device.


The threshold for needing user profiles is far lower than a Mega.


----------



## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

HarperVision said:


> I want one.......NOW!!!


I want to work for them.


----------



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

krkaufman said:


> The threshold for needing user profiles is far lower than a Mega.


Oh I've been asking for them for years. With profiles me and my wife could probably share a TiVo rather then having his/hers Roamio Pros.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Dan203 said:


> Oh I've been asking for them for years. With profiles me and my wife could probably share a TiVo rather then having his/hers Roamio Pros.


Yeah, that might be one reason I'd opt for a second TiVo, rather than a Mini; but with 5+ viewers in the household, it's just not feasible.

edit: p.s. Of course, this is probably why TiVo doesn't want to add user profiles, given they can wring more purchases out of their existing customers, just like with Apple and their ridiculously single-user tablets (and phones).


----------



## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

The TiVo Mega was never going to be sold direct to customers so I wouldn't expect to hear anything about it. It seemed to be a custom install job that will probably never even be advertised to customers. So there is no way to know if there is even one in the wild.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

rainwater said:


> The TiVo Mega was never going to be sold direct to customers so I wouldn't expect to hear anything about it. It seemed to be a custom install job that will probably never even be advertised to customers. So there is no way to know if there is even one in the wild.


TiVo spent some time on this see http://custom.tivo.com/mega_products.html?gclid=CMy_he2gvcYCFVMXHwodAo4Dyg&gclsrc=aw.ds


----------



## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

lessd said:


> TiVo spent some time on this see http://custom.tivo.com/mega_products.html?gclid=CMy_he2gvcYCFVMXHwodAo4Dyg&gclsrc=aw.ds


Sure. But that is not a consumer site. That is a website for custom installers. Again, this was never going to be sold direct to consumers. And the appeal of such device is likely so small that it was never meant to sell any a large quantity.


----------



## spinhar1 (Jul 3, 2012)

So the question is - Is TiVo selling this?


----------



## DigitalDawn (Apr 26, 2009)

Good question. I don't see it on either of my TiVo distributor sites. Could be a special order item.


----------



## ncbill (Sep 1, 2007)

I don't understand the 3TB limit - wouldn't a software update let the Roamio models automatically format even the newest 8TB drives?


----------



## SullyND (Dec 30, 2004)

ncbill said:


> I don't understand the 3TB limit - wouldn't a software update let the Roamio models automatically format even the newest 8TB drives?


TiVo doesn't advertise this as a feature. I believe it was added for MSOs, who typically use smaller drives.

If you see RCN start offering 4-8GB HDs then you might see it change.


----------



## GeoPea (Oct 7, 2014)

This Tivo webpage says the Mega is "coming soon".

http://custom.tivo.com/mega_products.html


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

I'm a little surprised they're only looking to put 6 tuners in it. Absent more tuners, it isn't much of an upgrade for anyone adept w/ home networking and the various TiVo utilites (pytivo, kmttg and even PLEX). Sure, it's a standalone solution, but at a cost... you're limited to using all that redundant storage for just the TiVo DVR.


----------



## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

spinhar1 said:


> So the question is - Is TiVo selling this?


TiVo was never selling this to consumers so you aren't going to see it on the TiVo online store.


----------



## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

For the cost of the Mega, you could pay for decades of streaming from Amazon Prime or Netflix.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Think of the Mega to TiVo as the Corvette is to GM, something to talk about but most people don't purchase.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

lessd said:


> Think of the Mega to TiVo as the Corvette is to GM, something to talk about but most people don't purchase.


Eh, Corvettes are available via GM dealers, and I doubt we'll ever see a Mega at the local Best Buy (and not even in the swankiest of Magnolia sub-stores). I'd say the Mega is more akin to a GM concept car you might stumble across at an auto show.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Eh, Corvettes are available via GM dealers, and I doubt we'll ever see a Mega at the local Best Buy (and not even in the swankiest of Magnolia sub-stores). I'd say the Mega is more akin to a GM concept car you might stumble across at an auto show.


It is hard to find TiVos at some Best Buys, I don't think many Mega would be sold at Best Buy, but they could have the Mega in the stores that have the home theater setup, at least one for demo reasons.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

lessd said:


> It is hard to find TiVos at some Best Buys, I don't think many Mega would be sold at Best Buy, but they could have the Mega in t*he stores that have the home theater setup*, at least one for demo reasons.


Yep, that's the Magnolia sub-stores I was referring to. Oddly, it's my understanding that the Roamio Plus and Pro are only kept stocked in Magnolia stores, as it is.


----------

