Do you support Replay, DishNet or UltimateTV devices?  What about the new DIRECTV HR20 / HR21 devices?

I've purchased a replacement drive kit and my unit has two drives in it, which drive should I replace?

If I install an upgrade kit, will it affect my subscription with TiVo? What if I have a lifetime subscription and replace the drive in my unit?

If I install a replacement drive kit, will I lose my preferences and recordings?

A replacement drive kit replaces ALL of the drives in your unit - whether you have one or two, they must all come out. Installing a replacement drive kit will not affect your subscription with TiVo.

If you want to install a replacement drive kit and preserve your recordings and preferences, you can send your unit for a professional installation and we will do it for you.

Can I add a drive to any TiVo unit?

Most other units are single-drive units and in most cases you can add them.  One exception is the TiVo standalone "dual tuner" unit which does not have the physical space for two drives, although technically, the unit will work with two drives (there is just no place to put the second drive).

TiVo units with DVD players or burners also do not have room to add a drive.

Series3 units also do not have room for more than one drive, however with the Series3 (not the TiVo HD), you can add practically any drive in an eSATA enclosure.  If you have a TiVo HD, you can add a drive, but not one that is available from us; you'd have to use the one marketed by Western Digital and sold directly by TiVo.

With all of that said, the units out there that were once suitable for adding a drive are getting relatively old, and because once you've added a drive to a unit, the two drives are "married" (this means you cannot remove a drive without having to reinstall the software on the original), we recommend replacing your drive whenever possible.  Another thing to keep in mind is that a single drive system will always be more reliable (statistically) than a dual drive unit because a dual drive unit has twice the chance of a disk drive failure occurring than a single drive unit. 

I've already installed one large replacement-drive kit, can I now add another kit to my unit?

This information is reprinted from a page on our main site, please see here for more details. 

Professional Installation Services

DVRupgrade understands that your time is valuable and that you may not want to install a kit for yourself. We offer a full range of installation products and services and we can even ship you a box, with a return label, for your TiVo when you place your order!

You can't go wrong with a professional installation. We'll thoroughly clean your unit, inside and out, install the kit of your choice, and have your unit on its way back to you within 1-2 business days of receiving it. Simply select a kit for your specific type of TiVo using our secure shopping cart and choose the professional installation of your choice. When checking out, you can choose the shipping method for having your unit return-shipped to you. After that, all you need to do ship us is your unit; no remote or power cable is necessary. And, if you do not have your original TiVo box, we highly recommend you add a custom DVRshipper to your cart before checking out. We'll ship you an empty box, packing materials and a return label for safe and secure shipment of your TiVo to us!

Standard Professional Installation (bronze)

Full unit cleaning and checkup. We install your kit for you. If you've ordered a replacement drive kit, we'll pull your old drive(s) and return them to you separately. You will lose your existing recordings and settings. The install will not affect your subscription status, even if you have a lifetime subscription.

Silver Professional Installations

Same as above, except we copy your settings, season passes and preferences to your new drive kit prior to installing.

Gold Professional Installations

Same as above, except we copy your recorded content to your new drive kit prior to installing. This service only applies to units which have not been previously upgraded.

Please note that gold installations can only be applied to unupgraded units, and can only be performed on drives which are not defective. If you have drive problems (stuttering, lost recordings, random reboots, etc) we always recommend a bronze installation. If you would like us to attempt to recover data using advanced tools and techniques, you can order a gold installation and we will make a best-effort to preserve your content, however we cannot be held responsible, and there are no refunds on professional installation charges should we be unsuccessful.

Kit Recertifications and Network Upgrades

You can recertify your existing PTVupgrade kit, competitor's drives, or other user supplied drives! Recertification includes exchange with manufacturer for in-warranty, defective drives*. Re-installation of software during repair, or reconfiguration related to moving drives from one TiVo to another. If you've purchased standard IDE drives elsewhere and want us to install them in your TiVo, or simply configure them to be used as a kit in your unit, you can order a standard Kit Recertification and have us do the work for you! Or, if you'd like us to turn your drives into a TurboNet or CacheCard upgrade, simply order a Kit Recertifcation with TurboNet bundle or a Kit Recertification with CacheCard bundle.

Custom Shipping Containers

Can't find your original TiVo box? No worries. Select our custom DVR-shipper when ordering a professional installation. We'll send you our specially designed box and protective packing material for your TiVo. We'll even include a return-shipping label; just place your unit in the box, contact the shipping agent at the supplied phone number, and we'll take care of the rest.  When checking out, you can choose how you'd like your unit shipped back to you. All you need to ship us is your unit; no remote or power cable is necessary. If you do not have your original TiVo box, we highly recommend you request a custom DVR-shipper.

How are the number of hours calculated on a TiVo?

TiVo standalone units have four levels of recording quality. At the best recording quality, the number of hours is approximately one third of the hard drive capacity (eg.  A 160GB drive yields roughly 55 hours at the highest quality).  At the lowest recording quality (basic), the number of hours will be approximately 20% more than the drive capacity (eg.  A 160GB drive yields roughly 192 hours, at basic quality). 

DirecTV TiVo DVR units do not allow you to adjust quality.  They use a 'variable compression algorithm' which means recordings will take up more or less space, depending upon the type of broadcast.  (eg.   Sporting events and action movies take up more space on a hard drive than a newscast).  In either case, quality is 'optimal' regardless of what is recorded.  Hard drives usually yield approximately .875 hours per GB.  (eg.  A 160GB drive yields roughly 140 hours at best/variable quality).

I want to preview the instructions - are those online?

Do your TiVo Upgrade drives come with the latest software?

We try to build kits with the latest versions of the software for each unit.  Unlike many other vendors, we actually have one of every TiVo and attempt to maintain a current library of images for use and prior to using one on a kit, it undergoes extensive testing.  With that said, there are several kits which will come with slightly older versions of the TiVo software and this should not be a concern; once your TiVo is reconnected and beings making its daily call, it will download the latest version of the software for which it is authorized and things will go back to normal. 

For some Series2 standalone units, some units may ship with a software that will need you to use your phone line, instead of your network adapter to make your initial call and setup call.  Once your TiVo downloads the latest software again, your adapter should go back to working just fine.

If you need to 'repeat your guided setup' as a result of doing a 'clear and delete everything' or need to make a test call as part of configuring your satellite connections, you can configure your unit to use an Internet connection instead of requiring the use of your phone line.

There are several ways of doing this, however only one method applies for kits purchased prior to 12/20/2006, or drives prepared with our PTVnet software prior to that date.  For kits purchased (or drives prepared) after 12/20/2006, there is a different method, which we recommend. 

To force your PTVnet configured unit to make a call using a network connection:

PTVnet SWCD version 1.0 - or kits purchased prior to December 20, 2006 

Method one: 

You will need to establish a telnet session with your TiVo and edit the following file using "vi":

/etc/rc.d/StageD_PreMFS_rc.Sequence_150.CheckForDebug.sh

and change the occurrence of:

DEBUG_BOARD=false

on line 48 of the file to: 

DEBUG_BOARD=true

Method two:

This method allows you to download and replace the aforementioned file with one that is slightly modified.  Use it at your own risk and if it does not work, you will need to use method one.

Establish a telnet session with your unit  by typing (use copy and paste whenever possible):

1. telnet 192.168.1.63 (use your ip address, instead)
2. rootwrite
3. wget -O /etc/rc.d/rc.Sequence_150.CheckForDebug.sh http://www.dvrupgrade.com/software/ptvnet/rc.Sequence_150.CheckForDebug.sh 
4. rootread
5. sync
6. reboot 

Step #3 will download and replace the existing file with one that is modified in the same way the method 1 suggests.

PTVnet SWCD version 1.1 - or kits purchased AFTER to December 20, 2006

If you are not sure what version of PTVnet you used or when you purchased your kit, then you may want to use the previous methods of configuring the unit.  Or to verify whether you have the right files in place, establish a telnet session with your unit and type the following:

ls -al /init/ptv_flags

If you see a variable called:

NETWORK_CALL_OFF

then you have version 1.1

now type:

flag_swap NETWORK_CALL

If the network call was previously configured to be OFF, it will be set to ON, and vice versa.

Alternatively, you could type the following to turn things on:

rootwrite

rm -rf /init/ptv_flags/NETWORK_CALL*

touch /init/ptv_flags/NETWORK_CALL_ON

If you wanted to turn it off, then just replace ON with OFF in the previous instructions.

You will need to reboot your unit after doing this; we recommend typing the following to reboot (DO NOT PULL THE PLUG!):

sync ; reboot

OR just use the remote to restart your unit. 

Over the years, we have used number of high-quality disk drive products from several vendors such as Maxtor, Seagate, Samsung and Hitachi. Currently, all of our disk drive kits and upgraded units are based upon Seagate DB35 drives, Hitachi Deskstar, Hitachi CinemaStar, and Samsung SpinPoint hard drives, except in some TiVo units which contain Western Digital drives from the factory.

Some of our competitors claim to have "special" drives that nobody else can offer, and this is simply not true.  It is true, however that some drives, such as the Seagate DB35 and Hitachi CinemaStar drives are not easily found in retail channels.  In reality, there is nothing exceptional or different about any of the drives anyone uses, other than the fact that some drives are tuned in attempts to optimize performance in a DVR.  Contrary to popular belief, drives for DVRs do not need to be as fast, or as high-performance as for typical desktop and server applications, so many drives tuned for DVR usage are actually slowed down in order to reduce noise levels. 

In any case, ALL of the drives we sell are new (not refurbished or recertified drives) and in addition to our warranty, they are covered by a manufacturer's warranty, as well. Many of our drives are tuned for quieter acoustics and in some cases, such as with 750GB and 1TB drive capacities, the drives are tuned for optimal use in DVR systems using utilities sanctioned by the drive manufacturer. In most cases, we decide what drive to provide with your kit, however in cases of 750GB drives you can specify the drive you'd like, and if you have a choice, you'll be able to select it when choosing your kit.