$120 GB HDD for $99

[funkedup]

At Circuit City.  
Western Digital, 5400 RPM, 2MB Cache.
It's listed variously as $199, $169, and $129.
It rings up as $129 and they give you a $30 rebate form.
Just boosted my DirecTivo up to 107 hours.  

[AKDejaVu]

How does the directTivo work?  Is it an add on box or just a computer you "adapted"?

AKDejaVu

[iceydee]

5400RPM though...

[Chairboy]

Icydee,

A 5400 rpm 120GB drive is faster then a 7200RPM 80 gig drive.

It's about data density.  On a bigger drive, more data travels under the read heads per revolution.  

Geez....  this is starting to remind me of the megahertz wars, another example where well meaning people who don't know better spread disinformation.

[bloom25]

Chairboy, I don't think that's a 100% accurate statement, but you do bring up an interesting point that is rarely discussed.  

Here's some examples:

You could be right if you are comparing a drive using 80 GB/platter disks (current state of the art) spinning at 5400 rpm versus a drive using 15 GB/platter disks spinning at 7200 rpm.

Now what happens if your 80 GB 7200 rpm drive uses 2 40 GB platters and your 120 GB 5400 rpm drive uses 3 40 GB platters.  In that case the 7200 rpm drive will be faster.

Given a situation where you are comparing drives with the same density platters the 7200 rpm drive will be faster.  A 5400 rpm drive could be faster in the case where it uses higher density platters than an older 7200 rpm drive.  When comparing drives of the same vintage the 7200 rpm drives are going to be faster.

[funkedup]

DJV it's a Tivo with two DirecTV tuners built in.  Mine is a Sony and a couple of other companies build them.  I paid $150 plus shipping, and it had free installation, from http://www.orbitsat.com.  The two-tuner feature is great because you can watch live while you record, or you can record two programs at once while watching recorded content.  They are hard to find right now because they are switching to a new system.  

The new system is still Tivo but rebranded as DirecTV DVR.  It has the same technology as the Series 2 Tivo units.  Faster processor and some new features like USB comms.

[AKDejaVu]

Kinda figured that.  I have a DirectTV tuner built into my widescreen... so things get a tad bit more complex prior to the TV.

AKDejaVu

[funkedup]

DJV:

I don't think you could make a standalone Tivo work with your built-in DirecTV tuner.  They are designed to work with cable boxes or DirecTV boxes.  The thorny issue is the mounting of the IR blaster which controls the remote.  Also you would have to output you DirecTV signal to the Tivo box, then bring it back to one of your inputs on the TV.

Two ways you can do it, in order of uberness.
1.  Buy "DirecTV with Tivo" unit, plug it into your TV as S-video input.  You could tape two channels while watching live TV on your TV's built-in DirecTV reciever.
2.  Buy Tivo standalone ($300+$13/month) and get an additional DirecTV reciever.  Connect these two and run them as an input into the TV.  Then you can watch one live channel on the TV's tuner while recording another channel on the Tivo.  

I'm not sure how the pricing would work out if you are an existing DirecTV user.  For a new user like me, the DirecTV with Tivo box was a no brainer.  Free install, and it was cheaper ($150 vs $300) than a standalone Tivo.  Plus the monthly fee is only $5 (in addition to DirecTV programming fees.)  But they might charge you more than $150 because you are already a customer, so it could tip the scales the other way.

PS If you decide to go with the combo DirecTivo unit, hold off and buy one of the Series 2 units, which should be hitting the stores next week.

[Hap]

How does hard drive speed affect AH?

Hap

[bloom25]

A faster hard drive would load AH a little faster, but it shouldn't have any significant effect on framerate.