Karl's Junk Pile Nothing valuable here

I have a 5 year old TiVo Series 2 that I really like. Lately, it seems that most of the recording space is taken up by kid's programming, so I decided to upgrade it to a larger disk. Normally it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new TiVo, but I have a Product Lifetime Subscription on this one, and that means I don't pay any monthly fees for it (and having it allows me to get a discount on the monthly fees for my other TiVo). So I figured it would be worthwhile to upgrade this one (not to mention that after 5 years I'm probably pushing my luck with the original disk).

There are lots of instructions on the Web about upgrading TiVo disks. I used the instructions at WeaKnees to remove the existing drive and install a new drive configured for the TiVo. Specifically, my TiVo is a TCD140060, and I was replacing the original disk with one disk, so I used these instructions. By the way, WeaKness seems to sell lots of TiVo disk upgrades for those who don't want to do the disk configuration themselves. They also sell lots of other TiVo parts, including power supplies (the second most common failure on TiVo's, after the disk).

I used MFSLive 1.3b to do the actual disk preparation and copying of the TiVo software and my existing programs. MFSLive is a boot CD that makes it pretty easy to do the upgrade, and the website has lots of useful information.

The steps I followed were:

1. Got a disk to put in the TiVo. I had a Samsung SpinPoint SP1213N (120GB) in my stock. It's supposed to be quiet (and is!), so I figured it was just the disk for me. It's only twice the size of the original disk and I might have been able to put a larger disk in for not too much money, but since I already had this one...
2. Pulled the original TiVo disk.
3. Most of the time was spent cleaning out 5 years of accumulated dust (the TiVo is on 24/7). I thought about replacing the fan while I was in there, but it's still quiet. If it ever gets noisy, it shouldn't take me more than 5 minutes to replace it.
4. Configured the two disks for IDE Cable Select, then installed the original as the master on IDE channel 1 and the new disk as the slave on IDE channel 2 of one my computers.
5. Booted from the MFSLive CD.
6. Verified that the original disk was /dev/hda and the new one was /dev/hdd.
7. Checked to be sure DMA was set for both disks:
   hdparm -d /dev/hda
hdparm -d /dev/hdd
   If DMA had not been set, I would have done: hdparm -d1 /dev/hda
8. I wanted to make a backup of the TiVo software for safekeeping, so I:
   1. Plugged in a 2GB USB memory stick formatted with VFAT.
   2. I backed up the s/w, but not my recordings:
      mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /dos
backup -f 9999 -6so /dos/tivo.bak /dev/hda
   3. The backup took 406MB. Later I burned it to a CD.
9. I copied the TiVo s/w and all my recordings over to the new disk and expanded the capacity:
   backup -qTao - /dev/hda | restore -s 128 -xzpi - /dev/hdd
10. I made sure the acoustic settings for the new disk were set to the quietest mode:
    hdparm -M 128 /dev/hdd
11. Shutdown and removed the new TiVo disk. Set the jumpers for primary master and installed it in the TiVo. Booted perfectly. My System Information showed twice the recording capacity.
12. Put the old disk on a shelf in case I ever need it.

Today I finally broke down and bought a high-definition TV. Our 15 year-old Sony 27" finally died, and it just wasn't worth fixing anymore. So I figured I should get something that we can use for the next 10 years. We only get Time Warner's "Standard" package: about 75 channels of analog programming that doesn't require a set-top box (I hate the whole concept of a set-top box). No HD programming, and I don't see any in our immediate future. But I want the option, hence a HD TV.

I settled on the Vizio VX37L, a 37" LCD TV that does 720p. It's a good entry-level HD TV and it was relatively inexpensive. My HD expert at work recommended it. I figure that if we ever get HD programming, I can move it into the bedroom, and get a bigger, better set for the living room. In the meantime, I can watch letterbox films in full wide screen mode.

The VX37L has decent specs and gets pretty good reviews. It's got HDMI inputs, and has a built-in QAM tuner, so I was able to just hook it up to my cable outlet and see all the digital channels Time Warner transmits free in this area. That includes HD for all the local channels, so I can see some HD programs. The problem now is that I'm so used to my TiVo that I can't watch TV in real time, and our model won't do HD. I thought about springing for the TiVo HD, but there are issues with it and our cable system because Time Warner is ignoring the rule that they have to support CableCard devices: in this area they use switched video network (SVN) that makes CableCards completely useless. TiVo and the cable industry just announced a dongle that will be available in 1Q2008 that will allow the TiVo HD to work with SVN, but I'll wait to see it before I jump. Maybe then I'll spring for one of the HD cable packages, and send even more of my money to Time Warner each month.