It is with great sadness that I report the demise of my friend of the last six years – my TiVo. Yesterday, I went to watch my Most Haunted episodes but I noticed the picture on my TV was black. Usually, this means the cable box was off, but the green light was illuminated. I then decided to cycle power to the TiVo, and that was the death knell.
When the power came back on, the lights on the front illuminated solid yellow and orange and that was that. For all the cycling, my poor TiVo would not boot.
Checking online, I discovered the most likely cause is a failed power supply. It is possible to replace the power supply for around 70 bucks in the hopes of rescuing the programs on it, but I am not sure I want to even bother. I am sad to lose the two Most Haunted’s on there as well as Charo’s appearance on the Today Show from 1994, but replacing the power supply is not a sure fix, and it will take a week or so to get the part, and of course we are in the middle of the new Fall TV season.
So despite these losses, I have to now decide how to replace the TiVo in time to keep recording my favorite shows. I am torn between getting a DVR through Time Warner or getting a new HD TiVo in anticipation of the day I get an HD TV. Perhaps Apple will come to my rescue with an Apple TV DVR?