In my first post here about building a DVR I went over the reasons why I’m building my own DVR instead of just getting a Tivo. I’ll wait here while you read that one.
But, I have to say, the new Tivo? Pretty sweet-looking. SATA connection so you can add in extra storage. Will play back MPEG-4 video. CableCard and HDTV “ready” (does “ready” mean that it’s there and it works, or that the hardware is ready for the software to support it?). Record two things at once from a pair of the six different tuners in there… More details on the link, although there are still some unanswered questions.
I don’t think I’d switch from my custom-built DVR for several reasons, but this is a nice improvement over the old boxes. Some details still aren’t out there, but this gets rid of at least a few reasons for building your own. Would I do things differently if I hadn’t built mine yet? No, I like the openness and flexibility too much to give that up.
It’s a nice-looking case, though. The big thing about building my own is that I needed a taller case to fit in a regular motherboard to fit everything inside (2 capture cards, 1 wireless card, graphics card, etc.). The Tivo case (especially that new one) is nice and slim and pretty-looking.