If you’re like me, you’ve probably been having some performance issues with TiVo desktop. On my PC, TiVo desktop use to take an excessive amount of time to startup and whenever I would start it, my computer’s hard drive would go crazy with activity. After doing some research, I stumbled upon the following thread on TiVoCommunity.com where a couple of users got together and came up with a solution to this problem.

According to the thread on TC, the culprit of the slowdown can be caused by an excessive amount of cache files within TiVo desktop’s cache folder (c:\Document and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\TiVo Desktop\). In the case of my PC, TiVo desktop had written out 11,266 cache files into the cache folder!

In order to improve TiVo desktop’s performance, all you have to do is periodically delete the contents of the cache folder. Along with deleting these files, you might want to look into reducing the amount of space that TiVo desktop can use for its cache (take a look at the following screenshot).

Thanks to the following script, I’ve gone ahead and scheduled it so that my computer clears the cache on a nightly basis. Now, TiVo desktop runs like a champ on my computer!

—————————————————————————————————
As a side note, I would like to thank Scott and Jarrod for putting me down as their TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks Scott and Jarrod. It really is appreciated!

Earlier today I received an email from Dave Zatz letting me know that Capable Networks has purchased TiVoCommunity.com.

TiVoCommunity will now also become part of Capable’s Home Technology Network. This is one of the world’s largest independent consumer electronics advertising networks, currently attracting over 70 million pageviews per month and 20 million unique visitors. The Home Technology Network provides advertisers with access to these audiences by bringing together top online consumer electronics communities, including AVSForum.com, eCoustics.com, RemoteCentral.com and HomeTheaterForum.com.

David Bott, the founder of TiVoCommunity, said that he is looking forward to working closely with Capable Networks on TiVoCommunity and other related projects.

My only hope is that Capable Networks doesn’t change TiVoCommunity too much. TiVoCommunity is truly one of my most favorite websites so I hope that site pretty much stays the same and that the purchase doesn’t have an adverse effect on the community….

Anybody want to buy a blog that is dedicated to TiVo?

TiVoLovers is reporting that the newly released TiVo HD is having a number of video issues even after a recent software update. The issues seem to be linked to Scientific Atlantic CableCARDs. If you’re having any pixelation problems with the TiVo HD, you might want to check out the post over at TiVoLovers as well as a thread on TiVoCommunity.com. According to TiVoLovers, TiVo is aware of these problems and they are working on a fix.

I’m really not surprised that there are issues with the TiVo HD. Most first generation devices have problems early on. TiVo has always been good about fixing their software so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a fix soon.

Are you running out of space on your Series 3 TiVo? Well, somebody at TiVoCommunity figured out how to enable the eSATA port on a Series 3 TiVo so that additional storage can be added. The hack looks pretty easy however, since this isn’t a supported TiVo feature there’s always the chance that TiVo may disable this in the future.

In any case, if you want to do this, you can head on over to TiVoCommunity or Engadget for complete instructions.

Since I don’t have a Series 3 TiVo I was unable to try this hack myself. Let me know if you end up trying it…

The newly opened TiVoCommunity Store is offering a 15% discount on any item in the store.  This discount allows you to get a Series 3 TiVo for $680 instead of $800.  While $680 is still a lot of money, it sure is better then $800.  If you want to take advantage of this offer, you need to enter TCDEAL into the coupon code textbox when you checkout.  Apparently the offer ends on Sunday so you better hurry!

Spotted on ZatzNotFunny.

The wonderful people over at TiVoCommunity have done a great job documenting many of the bugs that are present in the latest version of TiVo’s software (7.3.1).  Version 7.3.1 was supposed to fix a number of issues with 7.3 however, it apparently didn’t fix everything.

Nice job TiVoCommunity!