Everything Worked So Well
We just finished cleaning up after dinner, went out for a cigarette. The season premiere of 24 was recording, so we could build up some Tivo-time. When we came back in, the Tivo was rebooting, for the 3rd time this weekend. This time, it wouldn't even finish starting up. Awwwww, damn!
Most likely, one or both of the drives are going bad. This accounts for all the crappy pixelation I've seen for the past few years. It progressively got worse, until the end.
I disconnected the Tivo and we kinda watched 24, knowing that I'm going to have to download it to see the whole thing. But one thing that I noticed is how bad the Tivo tuner is. Regular cable (not digital) is much clearer than when it's run through the Tivo. So now, my choices are buying a new HD Tivo, replacing the drives in the old Tivo and knowing that I'm watching substandard TV, looking into Comcast's digital cable w/DVR, or looking into DirecTV. (No Mikey, going off the grid is not an option ;)
- I get basic cable service with my association fees, so I never looked into Comcast's digital cable. Looking at it, though, service with HBO is almost $96/month, plus DVR @ $16/month for a whopping $112/month!
- A new Tivo HD (43-70 hrs of HD recording time) costs around $400 - $450. I'd pay more than that in less than four months if I got the digital cable package. But I don't need an HD Tivo if I'm not gonna upgrade to digital cable.
- A regular new Tivo costs around $250, plus monthly fees, unless I spend $300 for a lifetime subscription, which I already have with my old Tivo. A new Tivo might have a better tuner, though, and it would have dual-tuners, so I can record two channels at once.
- DirecTV would cost me around ~$55/month for one TV, and they're offering a free HD receiver. I'd have to add two more connections, but I already have at least two standard receivers. I'd have to upgrade my dish, but I could probably get that for free with this promotion.
- Repairing my old one would cost around $55-$75 for a new 320 GB drive, or I could buy one already set up for Tivo for $149. I'd keep the lifetime subscription, but I'd be stuck with the so-so tuner. But the tuner isn't that big of a deal.
I'm gonna call DirecTV and see exactly how much it would cost. Adam had Comcast, but he ditched it and went with DirecTV after having lots of problems with Comcast.
Knowing myself as I do, I'll probably go the cheap route and fix the old Tivo.