Western Digital WDG1S5000VN 500GB My DVR Expander eSATA

• TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder
• TiVo AG0100 Wireless G USB Network Adapter for TiVo Series 2 and Series 3 DVRs
• TiVo TCD648250B Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder
• Iron Man (Single-Disc Edition)
• Cables To Go - 40315 - 2M (6.5ft) Velocity HDMI Digital Video Cable (Blue)

In my opinion it is much more economical to buy the standard 20hour HD Tivo and just get this expander to go with it. Then setting up the Tivo to work with it was quite simple as well. I have always been a fan of Tivo, and when the right deal came my way I got the new Dual tuner HD Tivo that only recorded 20 hrs in HD. 86 full HD hours is huge and in just standard digital I think it's in the 500+ hour range. Now I can record 86 hours in HD which for us is way more than enough.

We went on a 2 week vacation and still had room to spare when we got back. 20 Hours is definitely not enough in my house, and if you are considering this, it's probably not enough in your house either.At the moment they are selling a beast with 150 hrs in HD recording for $600.Bottom line is that this expander worked perfectly right away. My plan was to eventually get this expander all along. Setup to the device is as easy as plugging it in. But if you are like me, if it's not in HD now, I don't watch it.Definitely worth buying.

Tivo at the time was selling a larger Tivo with I believe 40 hrs recording in HD for $400-$500.

Then I started noticing tiling in some channels (on live TV, not recorded DVR programs). It got progressively worse. Three techs came out and gave me two new SA cable boxes. Bought my 500GB expander in October 2007. Worked great with Cox Cable's Scientific Atlanta 8300HD box for about a year. Turns out the problem was not the Scientific Atlanta box but rather the Western Digital expander, which was corrupting the live TV signal, even when it wasn't recording anything and I wasn't using the DVR.

The TiVo had a couple of issues connecting to this initially, but since then it's worked without a hitch. It provides SIGNIFICANTLY more storage and as a result, I haven't missed any of my favorite shows for quite a while.

A better price than direct from TiVo. It was very easy to install and works seamlessly.If you have the TiVo HD this is a must have to give you needed storage space.

After going through the TiVo menu to activate it, TiVo rebooted itself again and everything is working exactly as expected. I simply unplugged my TiVo HD, connected this thing, then plugged the TiVo back in. I just wish TiVo didn't take so long to reboot.waiting through two reboots was the only thing that was less than ideal.