Great Deal To Upgrade Your TIVO

I had been using the older TIVO 240004A model which was a single tuner 40-hour DVR and came across a great deal on Buy.com which was for the newer double tuner TCD649080, 80-hour DVR for $214. with shipping and a $15. instant discount and $150. rebate from TIVO. That translated into a final price of $49. to upgrade to this newer TIVO. I am also going to list the old TIVO, which doesn't have too many hours of use, on eBay and hopefully I will capture some of that $49., which will make the purchase of this DVR a spectacular buy.

The new double tuner TIVO has twice the amount of recording time and because of the two tuners you can record 2 channels at the same time, or watch one while recording the other. However, because of the hard drive setup, you cannot record 2 premium channels at the same time. You can record 1 basic channel (1-99) and 1 premium channel (HBO, etc.) or 2 basic channels at the same time.
I believe the next version of TIVO will be capable of recording 2 channels of any kind at the same time. For my use, I felt that the setup with this DVR was fine. Since my cost will ultimately be $49. (or less depending on my eBay sale), I was able to get a 2-tuner model with twice the recording time.

The new TIVO is much more attractive than the old one. It has a silver front with a black face and looks like an expensive home theater unit. After setting up my new unit, I noticed that not only were my channels changing faster, but the picture quality was greatly improved. My older unit was probably degrading my TV picture gradually over time and I never realized it. Getting this newer unit was worth it just for that.

Setup and activation was fairly smooth. When setting up this unit you have to use a splitter on your cable wire. The one that is provided is a rather cheap one and I would recommend that you purchase a good splitter at Radio Shack (about $20.) to maintain a good signal strength. If you are already a TIVO customer and want to replace an older unit, you have to cancel your present service and activate new service in order to qualify for the rebate. When registering for the new service you are committed to one year or there is a $150. penalty. So as you can see, that's how TIVO can be so generous with their rebates. This was no problem for me because I am a die-hard TIVO fan and can't foresee any reason why I would want to cancel within the next year.

The programming and interface is the same with the new unit as it was with the old one. The instruction guides and Viewer's Guide are a bit more concise and clear. The new unit also comes with the capability to hook up to your computer with the enclosed serial cable. There is an ethernet hookup inside that would allow you to download through a cable connection instead of the phone line, which would be much faster.

The bottom line is that if you are interested in upgrading an older TIVO or are considering a TIVO subscription for the first time, now is the time to do it. The rebate offer is good for units purchased between 5/1/06 and 7/29/06 and activation must be done by 8/31/06. If you already own an older TIVO and don't wish to sell or give it away, you can always use it on a second TV without a subscription, which would give you limited use of its features, but you could still pause, reverse, slo-mo, etc.

If you buy the unit from a retailer other than TIVO, the subscription for service is $12.95 a month. You can also get the unit at no cost through TIVO.com, but the monthly subscription would be $16.95. I think getting it through a retailer like Buy.com and using the $150. rebate is the better way to go.