We’ve created a page of information about CableCARDs, since these unlock the real potential of the Series3 HD TiVo. To recap, the FCC has mandated that all cable providers MUST provide CableCARDs to customers on request. Every cable company is doing it, but since it’s a new product for most of them, people sometimes need help navigating through the world of their cable provider to get what they need.
We have some links and other information about this here:
For those who have already purchased (or filled up?) your Series3 TiVo, we’ve got upgrade kits available. They are quite easy to install and we’ll be putting up installation instructions on the website soon. The kits are available in 500GB (60 HD hours) or 750B (100 HD hours), and replace the 250GB in the S3 from the factory. For better or worse, the S3 is so jammed with stuff that there is no physical room for a second drive. Also, for now, the eSATA ports on the unit are disabled, so if you want more space, an upgrade kit is the only way to go.
Also available, COMPLETE Series3 units with up to 100 hours of HD recording capacity….AND you can transfer your existing lifetime TiVo service to a weaKnees unit for $199.
Finally, we have said it many times before, but if you’re not on our mailing list, you are missing discount coupons and other tidbits that could save you money on this cutting edge technology.
Just in is our new 4 head IR blaster. Based on the 2 head IR blaster we’ve had for years (like the one included with standalone TiVos) we now have a model with 4 blasters.
Why would you need 4 ways to send our IR signals from one cable? Most likely, for the RF Remote Converter that adapts IR remotes to work via RF, and therefore go through walls. It’s a pretty neat product. And until now, you could only get it to control two components (via extra RF transmitters, lower on that same page). But now you can have four remotes with one base unit.
You might also find other uses for it – it’s a standard IR blaster with a standard 1/8 mono plug on one end.
Rarely do we get a new, non-TiVo product that we consider to be worthy of a litany of superlatives. The new HomePlug adapters we just received are definitely amazing, fantastic and all of that.
What is this thing? Basically, these adapters enable you to network two rooms in your house without wires and without a wireless adapter. These adapters use your existing electrical lines to connect the two rooms, and get this: They are plug-and-play. They work as though you have strung a long cable from one room to another, but instead of using a long cable, you are using the same wires that carry your electricity.
To be honest, the HomePlug technology has been around for a bit, but these adapters are incredibly fast compared to the earlier products. The new adapters are a turbo-fast 85Mbps, while the older generation is a mere 14Mbps. This may not mean much, but when you’re streaming audio and video from TiVo to TiVo, or if you are trying to move content from your TiVo to a PC (or back), speed is everything.
For more info about these amazing adapters, see here.
There have been a lot of changes to the structure and pricing of TiVo service over the years. Here we’ll explain where it all lays out today, with some of the history where it affects the current situation.
DirecTV charges a DVR fee of $5.99/month to customers with one or more DVRs on their DirecTV account. You also pay a receiver/lease fee of $4.99/month per DirecTV receiver, after the first receiver on the account. If you are running an HD TiVo and want the HD channels, that’s another $10.99/month.
If you have a DirecTV Premiere package, the DVR fee is included in the umbrella that you’re paying for, so you won’t also have the $5.99 monthly charge. So if you have this package, all you pay to add a DVR is the hardware cost, once.
Once upon a time, DirecTV and TiVo offered lifetime TiVo service for DirecTV units. This is long gone, but if you had it, it’s now part of your DirecTV account, and, unlike lifetime on standalone units, it covers all of the DVRs on your account, and you can remove/replace old DVRs from your account without affecting the status of this lifetime coverage. If you close your DirecTV account, however, you’ll never get this back.
Standalone TiVo DVRs without DVD burners
Monthly service on TiVo units is $12.95/month for the first unit on the account, and $6.95/month for each additional. TiVo has some bundles on their site where they basically raise your monthly fee, commit you to a longer time period, and then give you the unit free.
Until recently, these units were eligible for lifetime service. TiVo has stopped selling lifetime service for these units. There are ways to get this (eBay, WeaKnees, gift cards) but by and large, if you want a unit with no monthly fee, you should consider a Humax combo unit, below.
The monthly service for these units is the same as that for the standalones: $12.95/month for the first unit on the account, and $6.95/month for additional units on the same account. But these units are still eligible to get lifetime service.
At $299, lifetime service is a pretty good deal, at least for the first unit on your account. This covers the monthly fee for just over 23 months – after that, your service is essentially free, and, since service travels with the box for these, your unit is worth more for potential resale.
To purchase lifetime service for a Humax unit, you need to call TiVo. Lifetime can’t be purchased online at this point.