People know WeaKnees as the “TiVo Upgrade Company” but many call with other DVRs looking for upgrades. Some can be upgraded (all by us) and some can’t.
First: the confusion. The word “TiVo” has become so widely used that people often come to us for a “TiVo upgrade” when they really have a DVR that runs non-TiVo software. But we can still help with many of those. So here’s the list:
TiVo brand DVRs: We can upgrade the capacity on any TiVo DVR. Every model from the HDR series to the Series3, we can do it. Even models with DirecTV, or with DVD burners. If it runs TiVo, we can upgrade it.
If you have a TiVo DVR, find your model in our TiVo upgrade list and you can choose from the options. For most models, we have both add and replace kits – more info on the differences is here. For either type, our drives are formatted here at WeaKnees and don’t need to be prepared in a PC in any way before installation on the customer side.
ReplayTV DVRs: We have larger drives for every model of ReplayTV DVR ever produced. We only have one type of upgrade kit for ReplayTV models. In all cases, you remove the drive that was in the system and put our new, pre-formatted drive in. Sizes vary by model – see our full list of ReplayTV upgrade kits.
Scientific Atlanta Explorer DVRs: There are several SA DVRs out there, but a popular model, the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD is, fortunately, upgradeable. This is an HD DVR for use with several cable systems including Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, Comcast, and others. The problem is, it only has a 160 GB drive inside. We sell external, plug-and-play drives for this unit that will add up to 300 GB more storage space. We use a special enclosure that Maxtor designed specifically to be compliant with this one DVR.
Please read the notes on this unit. Only models running SARA software are upgradeable; units with Passport software cannot be upgraded. Please see our Scientific Atlanta 8300HD Upgrade Kits.
UltimateTV DVRs for DirecTV: They’re getting old, but people who have them still love them. They have two tuners, and picture-in-picture and they do a great job with DirecTV. And if you want more space, or if the drive in your unit has failed, we’ve got the answer. We have UltimateTV Upgrade Kits that work in both the RCA and Sony models.
That’s the current list as of February 2007. If you have a DVR that you want to upgrade and we don’t mention it, feel free to send us an email to see what we have in the works. We do know that the DISH DVRs are not upgradeable (or even salvageable if they have a bad drive) and they likely never will be. We’ll be keeping our eyes on the Apple TV when it ships, and whatever else comes out in this arena.