TiVo Community Forums Archives - Need advice for buying 1st SA unit

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Need advice for buying 1st SA unit
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Posted by: ericr

Hi folks,

I've been following this forum for a while, and am finally convinced that I need Tivo in my life. What I'm looking for is advice about which SA unit to get. There have been several threads offering advice recently for cable customers (DTivo is not an option for me), so I think I have a decent understanding about the differences between the available SA units. I have ATT digital (Motorola box) -- is the serial connection issue something that should pre-empt all other considerations at this point? That is, should I buy the AT&T branded box and not look back. Or are there other things I need to be thinking about?

Thanks in advance for all your advice.

Posted by: MLAKE1

Some may disagree, but I don't think you necessarily go with the AT&T unit at all costs, and forget about the others, just because you have AT&T cable.

As far as the serial control goes, remember that it's not a guaranteed use simply because you have AT&T digital cable and an AT&T TiVo ... the other part of the equation is you must have the specific model Motorola cable box (I believe the DCT-2000) and it also needs to have version 7.54 firmware on it. I guess I'm atypical, but I have *very* few problems with the IR blasters controlling my cable box, so for what that's worth, I really don't think it's the end of the world to use those.

Since you've already determined to go SA over DTiVo, then I think your main concerns at this point are what you want to spend and how many hours you want. Remember that the hour quotes (40-hour, 60-hour, 80-hour) are presuming you've recorded everything at "basic quality", the lowest of the 4 quality settings. Some say it's OK ... for me, I too have AT&T digital, and I find basic to be very poor. So I record most stuff at medium, the next level up ... that cuts the available hours down.

Posted by: phone1

I think the serial control is definitely the deciding factor. Plus the original AT&T is cheap and very easy to upgrade if you want more hours. You need a model TDC130040, which I think has the bracket for a second drive according to this thread.

Posted by: ericr

Thanks. Are the units currently available through AT&T different from the "original" ones, and if so how?

Posted by: phone1

This is what weaknees says about it. Try to find the original AT&T which can take a second drive upgrade.

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