TiVo Premier

[Emma's Dad]

I'm tired of giving all my money to the cable company for using their DVR. $15 per month for renting the box and service. So I started looking into my options for HD recording equipment. But then a thought hit me.... we still have an old Series 2 TiVo box that sits in my DD's play room that NEVER gets used. We're paying another $12.95 a month for that thing. So I called TiVo customer service to cancel the monthly service. Well... they talked me into staying with them... at a lower monthly rate. He then talks about their newest box... TiVo Premier. He explains hat there are 2 boxes... one that records up to 45 hours of HD, and another (XL) records up to 150 hours HD. I could buy one of those boxes on eBay or something and start using it for $9.95 a month. Cool!

So my question is this... is the TiVo Premier XL DVR worth it? Anyone else have this dilemma of which DVR to use?

 

[theduck619]

I'm tired of giving all my money to the cable company for using their DVR. $15 per month for renting the box and service. So I started looking into my options for HD recording equipment. But then a thought hit me.... we still have an old Series 2 TiVo box that sits in my DD's play room that NEVER gets used. We're paying another $12.95 a month for that thing. So I called TiVo customer service to cancel the monthly service. Well... they talked me into staying with them... at a lower monthly rate. He then talks about their newest box... TiVo Premier. He explains hat there are 2 boxes... one that records up to 45 hours of HD, and another (XL) records up to 150 hours HD. I could buy one of those boxes on eBay or something and start using it for $9.95 a month. Cool!

So my question is this... is the TiVo Premier XL DVR worth it? Anyone else have this dilemma of which DVR to use?

I never cared for TiVo when we had it. We have AT&T U-Verse now and do not have to pay for the DVR.

We were having issues with watching shows on the TiVo and it would lock up. Customer service was not very helpful.

 

[AJRitz]

Unlike the duck, I love, love, love my TiVos. I used first used TiVo when they were integrated with DirecTV receiver boxes. When DirecTV dumped TiVo, I dumped DirecTV. I now have two TiVoHD units (with expanded hard drives, so they've got XL capacity).

The Premiere units have been known to have issues with the HD menus (they're java based, so they're slower than the regular menus, and subject to lockups). Most of my friends using Premiers just stick with the non-HD menus, and they work fine.

If you are reasonably technologically savvy, I highly recommend going the TiVoHD and upgrade it yourself method. The Premieres can be upgraded, but they're more challenging. TiVoHD upgrade is ridiculously easy. I upgraded my boxes from base-level drives to 1 TB drives in an evening, and the software to do it was all free. I think I might have bought a new drive enclosure to use temporarily, but I needed that anyway.

 

[Emma's Dad]

Unlike the duck, I love, love, love my TiVos. I used first used TiVo when they were integrated with DirecTV receiver boxes. When DirecTV dumped TiVo, I dumped DirecTV. I now have two TiVoHD units (with expanded hard drives, so they've got XL capacity).

The Premiere units have been known to have issues with the HD menus (they're java based, so they're slower than the regular menus, and subject to lockups). Most of my friends using Premiers just stick with the non-HD menus, and they work fine.

If you are reasonably technologically savvy, I highly recommend going the TiVoHD and upgrade it yourself method. The Premieres can be upgraded, but they're more challenging. TiVoHD upgrade is ridiculously easy. I upgraded my boxes from base-level drives to 1 TB drives in an evening, and the software to do it was all free. I think I might have bought a new drive enclosure to use temporarily, but I needed that anyway.

Thanks for the review, Aaron. I decided to go ahead and give the Premiere XL a try since I was able to get one on eBay for under $100 (score! ). I figure if it doesn't work out, I could at least recoup my money through Craigslist or back on eBay.

I've done a little research on these things and it seems that as long as I used the SD menus we should be fine until TiVo finally starts using the second processor. This seems to be the reason why the HD menus are so slow. Word on the forums is that a new update should be coming in May to resolve this issue. Guess we'll see!

Now my only other concern is getting Cox Cable out to my house with a cablecard. Haven't used one of those things yet. Plus, they charge $30 just to deliver the thing! Frustrating when I can't do something myself.

I'll let you know how it goes when it's all put together

 

[AJRitz]

Thanks for the review, Aaron. I decided to go ahead and give the Premiere XL a try since I was able to get one on eBay for under $100 (score! ). I figure if it doesn't work out, I could at least recoup my money through Craigslist or back on eBay.

I've done a little research on these things and it seems that as long as I used the SD menus we should be fine until TiVo finally starts using the second processor. This seems to be the reason why the HD menus are so slow. Word on the forums is that a new update should be coming in May to resolve this issue. Guess we'll see!

Now my only other concern is getting Cox Cable out to my house with a cablecard. Haven't used one of those things yet. Plus, they charge $30 just to deliver the thing! Frustrating when I can't do something myself.

I'll let you know how it goes when it's all put together

Yeah. The cable card and SDV issues are always the frustrating part. Cable companies seem to try to intentionally make it a negative experience, so that you'll just give up and pay them for their inferior DVR service.

One important thing to remember - when Cox brings your Cable Card, make sure they also bring a Tuning Adapter ("TA"). The TA is necessary for your TiVo to be able to record channels transmitted as Switched Digital Video ("SDV"), which is a fancy name for cramming more channels into less bandwidth to maximum frustration level for everyone. SDV channels tend to include digital cable channels like Disney and DisneyXD.

 

[Emma's Dad]

Yeah. The cable card and SDV issues are always the frustrating part. Cable companies seem to try to intentionally make it a negative experience, so that you'll just give up and pay them for their inferior DVR service.

One important thing to remember - when Cox brings your Cable Card, make sure they also bring a Tuning Adapter ("TA"). The TA is necessary for your TiVo to be able to record channels transmitted as Switched Digital Video ("SDV"), which is a fancy name for cramming more channels into less bandwidth to maximum frustration level for everyone. SDV channels tend to include digital cable channels like Disney and DisneyXD.

Ahhhh... didn't know that. Thanks again for the advice