I picked up some more information from WeaKnees and DVRupgrade.

I asked WeaKnees about their TiVo HD upgrades. They seem to be getting more time per unit of storage than other expansions are showing, so I was curious about what tool they’re using. They reported that they’ve developed their own tool in-house, and it is not based on Spike2k5’s WinMFS nor on the GPL’d MFSTools. They’re not sure if they’ll make the effort to roll the technology back into the public tools, especially as Spike2k5’s WinMFS is out there and he’s now released an alpha version of the MFSLive CD with TiVo HD support. They explained that they’re in-house tools access space that the traditional MFSTools don’t use or see, providing the slightly higher capacities. I’m sure the user community would love to know their secret, but it is also a competitive advantage so I can understand not releasing the info too.

And DVRupgrade reports that they did receive a shipment of TiVo HD units today, and they got them upgraded and back out the door to people who pre-ordered them. They’re expecting more units to ship to them tomorrow, and they’ll continue to fill orders as fast as they receive units. Orders will probably remain in backorder status until early next week, when they expect to have received enough units to have cleared the order backlog.

They’re using Spike2k5’s WinMFS tool (with permission) for their current upgrades with much success. They’re also testing his new MFSTools update, and plan to incorporate it into their software products once it is officially released.

They will continue their coupon specials until they have a steady stock of units. Right now the specials are a free ‘Glo’ remote with the purchase of any upgraded TiVo S3 or TiVo HD, or $15 off a ‘Glo’ remote or a free 6′ HDMI cable with the purchase of a stock TiVo HD. They sell the ‘Glo’ remote for $49.00 normally.

Here’s a price comparison of the pre-expanded TiVo HD offerings from the two vendors.

TiVo chimed in on the TiVo HD macroblocking issue publicly last night, in the form of a TiVoCommunity.com post from TiVoPony:

Hey guys,

We are aware that some of you are still reporting macroblocking or pixelation on certain channels. The team here continues to gather information to understand possible causes - they’re making good headway.

The update we released on August 1st has proven to fix the issue for some customers, and we are working hard on a fix for the remaining cases. We will provide more concrete information as we can.

In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and the detailed feedback you’ve been providing.

Pony

It is nice to see them addressing the issue publicly, and re-affirming that they’re actively working on a fix.

To follow up on a post from two weeks ago, users of MythTV, GB-PVR, and other DVR packages received some good news today. They’ve been staring down a deadline - for several years Zap2it Labs has provided guide data free of charge for personal use. However, due to abuse of the service, Z2L announced they they would be discontinuing the service on September 1, 2007. This would leave several popular DVR packages, such as MythTV, without a reliable source of schedule data in the US and Canada. Without guide listings, the software is far less useful.

Well, the ray of hope from a couple of weeks ago has become a full break in the clouds. Schedules Direct, a community based group, made two announcements today:

While the business side is going slow, the technical side is making significant progress.

* We have a functional web app to create/manage accounts/lineups
* We have a working XMLTV grabber.
* We have a working MythTV grabber
* We have a working GB-PVR grabber

And:

Schedules Direct is pleased to announce that it has licensed US and Canadian television program information from Tribune Media Services. This data will be distributed directly to the users of Open Source and Freeware applications.

Membership dues will be billed through PayPal and will be offered to non-commercial users in the United States and Canada.

Information on pricing, terms of service, and a FAQ will be released shortly

So it looks like they’re likely to have something in place before the September 1st deadline to provide data continuity. For those who don’t know, Tribune Media Services (TMS) is the parent of Zap2it Labs, so this is the same data. (TMS also supplies the data for TiVo, ReplayTV, and many other services.)

And, even if this falls through, there is another safety net being readied. CTpvr, a commercial DVR software provider, licenses the TMS data to use with their DVR software. It looks like they’re also planning to launch a new product, CT Program Listings Software, which will provide guide date for non-commercial use. As with the Schedules Direct offering, pricing has not yet been announced.

(Hat tip to PVR Wire for the CTpvr info.)

Following up the three videos she uploaded last Friday, TiVo Shanan has uploaded three more videos. The final two new tour videos of the five new videos included on the TiVo HD, and a video introduction to Swivel Search.

The TiVo Rewards Referral points are appreciated, thank you Samuel.

TiVoPony just announced that TiVo Desktop 2.5 for Windows is about to ship - probably tomorrow (Tuesday). The main differences are:

• Support for Windows Vista
• Post-transfer video conversion by right-clicking on previously transferred videos. (Current versions of desktop only convert when the video is transferred.)
• Support for Divx/Xvid codes for auto-transcoding of video transfers to a TiVo, in Divx or AVI containers. (With the $25 Plus key.)

TiVoBlog spotted it first.

WeaKnees announced in their blog that they’re shipment of TiVo HDs has arrived and they’re now shipping expanded TiVo HD boxes.

I checked in with DVRupgrade and they tell me that, according to the tracking info, they’ll receive their TiVo HD shipment tomorrow and will immediately begin installing the upgraded drives and shipping them back out. So they should be shipping tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest.

Also, DVRupgrade is also donating an original Series3 to the upcoming TiVoCon in Orlando, FL, happening over Labor Day Weekend. A winner will be randomly selected and they’ll ship the unit directly to the winner.