Sony SVR-2000

Sony SVR-2000
Year Released                                2000
Capacity                                         30GB
Current Version                               3.0

In 2000, Sony released their first TiVo box, the Sony SVR-2000. The SVR-2000 was the exact same as the TiVo boxes Philips was making internally, but externally they feature a grey/silver color scheme with a more sleek and modern look. These units came with a 30GB hard drive (or 2 15GB hard drives) from the factory. This TiVo can only be used as a "dumb DVR" or "digital VCR" after TiVo switched guide data providers from Gracenote to Rovi in September 2016. They released an update to Series 2 - 6 TiVos, but Series 1 TiVos did not receive that update.

Hardware

The Sony SVR-2000 use the same internal parts, including the same motherboard, hard drives, power supplies, etc. as the Philips HDR series and Thomson PVR10UK. Specifications:

IBM PowerPC 403GCX running at 54 MHz

16MB of onboard RAM

Inside of a Series 1 Standalone TiVo. Note that that hard drive would usually be on the very right side

Limitations

Series 1 units compress their recordings to fit them onto the low-capacity hard drives. Despite advertising and the box itself stating that it can record ex: Up to 20 hours, that is only if you are using the "Basic Quality" setting on the TiVo, which records in 352x480i with a low bitrate, resulting in "blocky" and low quality video, that could be even worse then VHS. "Best Quality" goes up to 480x480i with a average bitrate of around 3500kbps. While this looks fine on a old CRT television, scaling this up to a more modern LCD TV or computer would look soft and blocky.

Series 1 units do not support folders, sorting, or a "Recently Deleted" folder. If you deleted a recording on the Series 1, there is no way to recover it without hacking.

Trivia

• Series 1 TiVos can record from any composite/s-video/coaxial source by tricking the unit into thinking you're using a cable box.

• You can still set the clock over the internet by using a Network card such as a TurbotNET. This is pretty important because as these units age, most of the clock batteries are at the end of their life and cannot hold any power, and there's no other way to reset the clock on the Series 1 without doing a service connection.

• These TiVos have a few second delay between when the video signal from the cable/satellite box or TV signal is coming in and when it's actually displayed on the TV screen. Try playing a video game like that!

• The firmware of the Series 1 TiVos can only recognize up to 2 160GB hard drives, making 344 hours the max possible hours on a unmodified Series 1 TiVo. There are ways around this.

• The Sony SVR-2000's remote is interchangeable with the Sony SVR-3000's, but not with the Sony SAT-60's remote.

Remote

The Sony SVR-2000 and Sony SVR-3000 use a proprietary Sony made TiVo remote that has a more Sony-esqe design. Strangely, this remote lacks a "Info" button, meaning extra info on recordings in inaccessible (Sony SVR-3000 only). This remote is not compatible with any other TiVo model, and is also not compatible with the Sony SAT-T60. (click to enlarge)

Tutorials

Series 1 hard drive replacement

Series 1 hard drive upgrade

Series 1 backup/restore

Series 1 network card installation

Back to Series 1