You knew they had to be out there in some warehouse somewhere. Well, we found them (or they found us). We now have stock of new DirecTV TiVos!
They’re all HDVR2 models, and we’ve upgraded them to various capacities. They weren’t cheap, so we can’t sell them cheap, but if you want new merchandise, we’ve got it, while it lasts.
See our DirecTV TiVo page for information about all of our standard definition DirecTiVos.
Here’s one that seems to be a bit out of left field: Earthlink will bundle TiVo services with its DSL lines. If you opt for the package, you’ll get access to Amazon Unbox. I assume the monthly pricing for the two services will be discounted from the cost of purchasing each independently.
I’m a little surprised. Certainly partnerships are generally a good thing, but TiVo is partnering with a company that largely sells DSL and dial-up internet access. The biggest competitors to Earthlink are other DSL providers, and cable companies selling broadband access via cable lines. I would personally think that TiVo has much more to gain by working the other side of the ISP market: the cable companies. Their partnership with Comcast should bear fruit soon and we’re all hoping they’ll re-ignite talks with DirecTV now that Liberty is in charge over there.
The press release is here.
After one extension TiVo has set the deadline for transferring lifetime service to a Series3 unit for March 2, 2007 – Friday.
Technically, you were to have purchased the unit by 1/31/07, but TiVo is pretty helpfully not asking for proof of purchase date, and they’re just doing the transfer. So if you have lifetime on any TiVo, this really may be your last chance to transfer it over to a Series3. We have more info on a risk-free way to try this in our earlier blog post.
And one more thing: if you use Google Checkout for your upgraded Series 3 unit (65 or 100 HD hours) then you can save $50 by using the code “50offs3” on the Google Checkout site. That code doesn’t work on our site – you have to do it once you click the button that takes you to their site. In addition, they are offering $10 off for all first-time users of Google Checkout (and that would work on the stock, 30 hour, unit, or the upgraded units).
So if you want a lifetime transfer – do it by Friday!
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.
TiVo recently reduced both the rates they charge for monthly service (yay!) and the rebates on new boxes (boo!). But all in all, we like the changes. People generally really hate their monthly fees, and would rather pay a bit more upfront. So this is a good thing.
Another upside here is that service for Series3 units goes down, and they don’t have a rebate, so for Series3 purchasers, it’s only good.
So the new rebate is $170 for 540 units (very hard to find, single tuner) and $150 for the Dual Tuner and DVD units (the rebate on the DVD TiVos works with either monthly service, or the lifetime service that is still available for those units).
The new service pricing is laid out in full here. The service goes to down to as low as $8.31/month if you prepay for three years ($299).