Inconvenienced Electrons

TiVo is conspiring to make me buy a new TiVo. I currently have a Toshiba TiVo Series 2 branded DVR. I am exceptionally happy with it. It came with lifetime TiVo basic service which I used for about a year before upgrading to lifetime full TiVo service. It is only so-so as a DVD player but it works very well as a DVR. I don’t watch anything live anymore. I do have a nice HD TV and a low wattage 5.1 sound system. I even get a few HD channels through my Time Warner digital cable. I could have quite a few more HD channels for a nominal fee. I liked the feature set of the TiVo Series 3 and it’s HD recording capability. Unfortunately, for the price of the TiVo Series 3 I could just buy all the programs that I would be inclined to watch on DVD/Blue-Ray.

Fortunately, TiVo is starting to key into my market segment. They now have TiVo HD coming out soon. It looks like it will ring up to $600 for the hardware and 3 years of service. It will be able to do everything my current TiVo can do but HD and the ability to expand it’s video storage using an external hard drive.