Odds-n-Ends questions

Series 2 dual-tuner purchased a few weeks ago, connected to CATV
without a cable box.

- I'm watching a recorded program, and want to delete it with as few
remote clicks as possible, what's the fastest way? The little clear
button doesn't do it...right now I click TiVo, then Select, then
clear.

- So no analog broadcasts 2 years from now, and I have a 3 year
contract, so any guesses as to what TiVo will provide to replace the
current analog tuner box in 2 years? Or does the box I have also
handle digital signals?

- Not that I'm running out of space, but just idly wondering about
adding another disk drive for more recording hours. There's weeKnees
which sells everything needed, but they're a bit pricey:

HD weeKnees newegg.com
80GB $119 $40
160GB $139 $55
250GB $169 $70
500GB $349 $140

weeKnees provides the mounting bracket and PowerTrip which prevents
simulaneous startup of two disk drives, staggering the inrush starting
current jolt to the TiVo PSU. And the weeKnees drives are
formatted. Are those needed and worth the much greater cost?
--
Have you ever seen a child, on his way to school, have a car
drive past and splash him, and then he just stands there and
thinks if he should just go to school or go home and change and
be late... And then I drove past and splashed him again!
- Jack Handey

- So no analog broadcasts 2 years from now, and I have a 3 year
contract, so any guesses as to what TiVo will provide to replace the
current analog tuner box in 2 years? Or does the box I have also
handle digital signals?

No. Just like anything else using NTSC signals you'd have to get a tuner
that converted from ATSC to a format your equipment would handle. If it's a
Series 3 Tivo then it can already handle ATSC or digital cable via a
CableCard. Otherwise you'd have to replace the unit entirely or use an
external tuner.

While OTA signals are going to change there's nothing that requires cable to
do the same. Cable can (and probably will) continue to provide NTSC signals
over their wiring. For HD they don't use ATSC, but a different format
referred to as QAM.

- Not that I'm running out of space, but just idly wondering about
adding another disk drive for more recording hours. There's weeKnees
which sells everything needed, but they're a bit pricey:
weeKnees provides the mounting bracket and PowerTrip which prevents
simulaneous startup of two disk drives, staggering the inrush starting
current jolt to the TiVo PSU. And the weeKnees drives are
formatted. Are those needed and worth the much greater cost?

They do make a nice bracket. I've got three of them in various Tivo units.
I run all my Tivos off a UPS so I'm not really worried about startup current
draw.

If you're handy enough to be swapping drives then you're probably also handy
enough to use a boot CD to buy a blank drive and format it yourself. A word
of advice, however, if you've got a spouse that expects this gear to be
"reliable" then get a drive with a decent warranty and/or be prepared to
pickup a spare. If you've got your own boot CD you can simple reload a new
one. Otherwise you'd have to do the RMA repair dance swapping the dead one
out. Some drive vendors have a 'spare in the air' policy where you can use
your credit card as security and they'll overnight you a fresh drive. Don't
know if weaknees does this or not. But if they do and if you're not handy
with formatting tools then it might be worth the added price to get it all
from weaknees.

-Bill Kearney

WeeKnees and dvrupgrade.com must be the same. The prices are the same.

How about this a 320GB hard drive that you have to put a TiVo image on your
self but it only cost $89.80 and that's with shipping too!

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=101251

I have this drive in my TiVo, a Series 1 and it works super lots of space. I
use a 80GB drive just like this in a Series 1 TiVo but with a 1.3 version of
TiVo. If I don't have nothing on the top of the TiVo but it's case. The fan
in the back of the TiVo stays off! So no dust will get in the TiVo. I guess
in the 3.0 version they have it so the fan goes all the time. But I do have
lots of stuff on top of that TiVo.

They say this drive is "Cool-running, quiet" It is! That it don't use a lot
of power like other drives do and that's one reson why it's "Cool-running,
quiet" I guess it makes the power supply in the TiVo not get as hot too so
the fan don't go on.

You would have to back up your TiVo drive using MFS_TOOL's you burn it to a
CD that can boot. Have a small FAT32 format hard drive to back up your TiVo
drive to. Then put the new 320GB drive on and restore the back up and run a
LBA48 kernel "copykern" so it works with all the 320GB's.

It's easy when you have the drives hooked up to your computer and MFS_TOOL
running. You can download all the stuff for free.

It's easy commands to back it up something like this:

mkdir /mnt/dos
mount -t vfat /dev/hdx1 /mnt/dos
mfstool backup -6so /mnt/dos/tivobak.mfs /dev/hdx

The x is were your hard drives are. hdb or hdc or hdb. As MFS_TOOL's boots
up look at what drives it finds and wight down hdx tivo drive and hdx fat32
drive. You don't want to mix them up. But the mount would not work on the
wrong drive.

It's about the same thing to restore it. After you remove your TiVo drive
and put on a 320GB drive.

mfsrestore -s 300 -r4 -xzpi /mnt/dos/tivobak.mfs /dev/hdx

the -s is the swap size. It's like RAM on the hard drive. If TiVo use's all
it's ram it has to use slower hard drive as ram and with a hard drive that
can store more it needs more swap space, or hard drive slow ram space.

Or just get it from dvrupgrade.com they have the drive all ready loaded up
and it's like new so you have to run the setup all over again.

It's nice to make a backup of the dvrupgrade hard drive before you even boot
it. On a 160GB it all ready has the LBA48 Kernel.

It's nice to just have one hard drive in your TiVo and with hard drives so
big now you only need one.

So for just $89.80 and a little work you can have like a new large size
TiVo.

-Raymond Day

Bob Fry wrote:
Series 2 dual-tuner purchased a few weeks ago, connected to CATV
without a cable box.

- I'm watching a recorded program, and want to delete it with as few
remote clicks as possible, what's the fastest way? The little clear
button doesn't do it...right now I click TiVo, then Select, then
clear.

- So no analog broadcasts 2 years from now, and I have a 3 year
contract, so any guesses as to what TiVo will provide to replace the
current analog tuner box in 2 years? Or does the box I have also
handle digital signals?

- Not that I'm running out of space, but just idly wondering about
adding another disk drive for more recording hours. There's weeKnees
which sells everything needed, but they're a bit pricey:

HD weeKnees newegg.com
80GB $119 $40
160GB $139 $55
250GB $169 $70
500GB $349 $140

weeKnees provides the mounting bracket and PowerTrip which prevents
simulaneous startup of two disk drives, staggering the inrush starting
current jolt to the TiVo PSU. And the weeKnees drives are
formatted. Are those needed and worth the much greater cost?


I've been very satisfied with the the weaknees offerings. The extra cost
is worth it to me to have an immediate upgrade. I'm geeky enough to take
on the self-formatting, but just don't feel like spending the time doing
so...

"Raymond Day" shaped the electrons to say:
WeeKnees and dvrupgrade.com must be the same. The prices are the same.

Actually they're competitors, very much not the same company.

-MZ
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-852-2171
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

Bob Fry shaped the electrons to say:
- I'm watching a recorded program, and want to delete it with as few
remote clicks as possible, what's the fastest way? The little clear

If you're within the last five minutes, hit 'left'. It'll prompt you
to delete or not.

Anywhere else in the program, hit 'left' and you go back to the
program screen (or Now Playing if you just hit 'Play' there). Then
hit 'Clear' and it should delete.

- So no analog broadcasts 2 years from now, and I have a 3 year
contract, so any guesses as to what TiVo will provide to replace the
current analog tuner box in 2 years? Or does the box I have also
handle digital signals?

The analog switch over is for broadcast TV ONLY - in other words,
antenna. Since you're using cable, it means absolutely nothing to
you. The box you have doesn't even support antennas.

The S2DT can tune analog cable channels natively. And it can use an
external cable box for digital cable (but only one channel at a time),
or an external satellite receiver for satellite channels.

What you receive on cable, analog vs. digital, is determined solely by
your cable provider. If they ever decided to drop analog, you'd have
to get a cable box and tune one channel at a time. (You can do that
now and record two analog, or one analog and one digital, channel at a
time.)

- Not that I'm running out of space, but just idly wondering about
adding another disk drive for more recording hours. There's weeKnees
which sells everything needed, but they're a bit pricey:

Do not add a second disk. In this day and agem, with drives the sizes
and prices they are, you really just want to *replace* the existing
disk. A second drive just draws more power, reduces cooling airflow,
and is a general pain in the ass because you need brackets, etc.

Hardly anyone bothers anymore - why deal with keeping an 80GB drive in
the box when you can drop in 250GB or more?

weeKnees provides the mounting bracket and PowerTrip which prevents
simulaneous startup of two disk drives, staggering the inrush starting
current jolt to the TiVo PSU. And the weeKnees drives are
formatted. Are those needed and worth the much greater cost?

If you add a second drive you MUST get a bracket, there is no place to
mount it otherwise. You really want to get the kit from WeaKnees.com
or DVRupgrade.com.

But, personally, I think their formatted drives are WAY, WAY
overpriced. I guess it is OK for people uncomfortable with PC
hardware and doing their own work, but if you're comfortable with it
then you can save a lot of money and do more yourself.

Either way the drive will need to be formatted to work in the TiVo,
and you need special tools for that. You can download your own tools
and make a CD - but I'd recommend just picking up an Instant Cake CD
from DVRupgrade.com. They're only $20, and they have all the tools
and the drive image you need to image a new drive. To me it is worth
it - $20 isn't much, and the time I'd spend pulling it together is
worth more than that to me.


So, in short - forget adding a drive. Buy a new drive - 5400rpm is
fine, 7200rpm is OK. Anything more is not only a waste, but probably
generates more heat than you want. You want something quiet, with
fluid bearings.

Buy Instant Cake fom DVRUpgrade, and image the drive in a PC. Then
swap it for the drive in your unit - note you loose the current
settings and recordings, since they live on the drive, but that's
life. There are ways to copy all of that to the new drive with the
tools, but frankly I don't think it is worth the pain.

-MZ
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-852-2171
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

MZ, thanks for the great advice, especially about not adding a drive,
but replacing. Sometimes I forget that the obvious route isn't always
the best. That way I don't worry about the mounting brackets or
special gee-wiz startup cable gizmotron.
--
"The box said 'Required Windows 95 or better'. So, I installed LINUX."

Buy Instant Cake fom DVRUpgrade, and image the drive in a PC. Then
swap it for the drive in your unit - note you loose the current
settings and recordings, since they live on the drive, but that's
life.

Lose? Adding ooooo's doesn't make it a long o. Just a pet peeve...

There are ways to copy all of that to the new drive with the
tools, but frankly I don't think it is worth the pain.

If you've got lots of season passes it may be worth the effort to zipper the
old drive and use TivoWebPlus to backup the old settings. You can then
reload them onto the new zippered drive and avoid a whole lot of effort.
That said, it's often a good idea to restart your wishlists, passes and such
from scratch. If just to clear out the cruft of programs no longer being
aired or really not of interest any longer.

"Bill Kearney" [email protected] shaped the electrons to say:
Lose? Adding ooooo's doesn't make it a long o. Just a pet peeve...

Yeah, I know lose vs. loose. I just screwed up, I do it sometimes
with their/there/they're and to/too (but not two). But what I almost
always screw up is its/it's. I have some kind of mental block with
that one - no matter how many times I correct myself and look up the
rules to remind myself, I always forget a few weeks later.

I also have a really odd mental glitch where I will sometimes type a
word *near* the word I mean and that I'm thinking of. It is hard to
explain, but sometimes I'll type a word that word basically be close
to the word I mean in the dictionary - but not related. Like my
mental pattern match between the word I'm thinking and the word I need
to type locks onto the wrong word. Not just a simple typo, but
completely different words. Sometimes I catch it, sometimes I don't.
It happens more when I'm typing fast and my hands are trying to keep
up with my brain. (I've made small errors while typing this - I typed
'complete' instead of 'completely', for example, but I noticed that.)

That's kind of frustrating, especially since I have a degree in
Technical Writing and know better. It feels like something is
miswired in my brain when that happens.

If you've got lots of season passes it may be worth the effort to zipper the
old drive and use TivoWebPlus to backup the old settings. You can then

I didn't think Zipper worked on standablone S2DTs, does it? At the
very least, the S2DT requires hardware hacking to load software hacks
- PROM mods.

-MZ
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-852-2171
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

Yeah, I know lose vs. loose. I just screwed up, I do it sometimes

Heh, I before E still trips me up now and then...

If you've got lots of season passes it may be worth the effort to zipper
the
old drive and use TivoWebPlus to backup the old settings. You can then

I didn't think Zipper worked on standablone S2DTs, does it? At the
very least, the S2DT requires hardware hacking to load software hacks
- PROM mods.

Ah, once again I overlooked the units requiring the PROM mod, dang.