If you’re interested in hoarding TV shows on your TiVo—but not interested in hoarding actual TiVos—consider the TiVo Mega. It costs $5,000, it has 24TB of storage in a RAID 5 array, it comes with free TiVo service forever, and it eats CHiPsfor lunch. The entire six-season run of CHiPs.
It may not fit on your Ikea Smöbbo TV stand, because it will weigh 40 to 50 pounds and is designed for rack-mounting. Its ten hot-swappable drives and “anodized precision-machined” enclosure will look more at home on a server farm than in a TV room, but the on-screen interface will be your typical TiVo experience. You get the TiVo channel guide, the ability to stream and schedule recordings on mobile devices, the ability to transfer shows to other TiVos on the same home network, and universal searches across live, recorded, and streaming shows.
For its $5,000 price of entry, you automatically get free TiVo service until the end of time, which normally costs $500 or $15 per month. Another perk for the high price: It comes with TiVo’s higher-end Slide Pro Remote, which has a built-in keyboard and normally costs $50 extra. Savings!
Just like the TiVo Roamio Pro, which has a mere 3TB of storage for a practically free $600 (plus service), the TiVo Mega has six tuners, so you can only record a half-dozen shows at a time. According to TiVo, the Mega stores up to 4,000 hours of HD programming, which is about 167 days (or 6 months) of hoarded TV. If you’re willing to settle for standard-definition shows, you can eke out 26,000 hours of programming. That’s 1,083 days, or about three years of Small Wonder reruns.
Until early 2015, you’ll have to make do with your measly existing DVR. The TiVo Mega is slated to go on sale in the first few months of next year.
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