Ben over at EngadgetHD has documented the 2 hour procedure to upgrade a stock TiVo Series3 250GB hard drive to something a bit more roomy. If you’d prefer a little more handholding, Weaknees and PTVUpgrade sell both upgraded Series3 units and larger Series3 replacement drives. (As does the TiVo Community Store via PTVUpgrade, with a 15% discount through Sunday.)

EngadgetHD writes: The new challenge in upgrading the drive on the Series3 is the fact that it uses a SATA drive instead of IDE. The next problem that SATA presents is the lack of support by the MFSTool bootable CD or PVTUpgrade CD, some SATA controllers support IDE emulation mode, but otherwise we will have to use a different boot disc. We ordered a Western Digital 500GB replacement drive because we didn’t want to have to solder the power cable to fit a normal SATA drive, plus 500GB drives can be found for around $200 which is much less than the $400 that Weakness charges.

While debating the future of my Series3 review unit, I went ahead and beefed up the storage on my Humax DVD-burning TiVo. I’ve previously upgraded on my own (S1 Philips) using the Hinsdale instructions, but opted for the efficiency of a Weaknees upgrade this time. The Weaknees drive came completely formatted and ready for use — I removed about a dozen screws in order to swap the drives and instantly bumped my max recording capacity from ~80 hours to over 300 hours (though who’s using Basic quality?). The whole process, including TiVo startup must have taken less than 20 minutes. If you don’t mind spending a few bucks and aren’t terribly concerned about giving up your current recordings, a Weaknees upgrade is quick and easy. If you’d prefer to do the tinkering, they also host an interactive guide for DIYers.

As for my Series3? Yes, I bought it — though 67% of you suggested I should hold it hostage or just send it back. Speaking of the S3 and Weaknees, they’ve just announced a few discounts and store credits.

30 hours of HD recording got you down? Weaknees is taking pre-orders for S3 units with expanded internal storage. I assume they’ll also offer hard drive upgrades to folks that have already made a purchase or want to get in on the Lifetime Service VIP dealio. Michael tells me he’ll have pricing info up later today, so expect an update from me then.

UPDATE: Weaknees is selling stock S3 (250GB drive) for $799, double storage S3 (500GB) for $1299, and triple storage S3 (750GB) for $1599. Upgrade kits for $399 (500GB) and $599 (750GB) are also available. So the question is, how bad do you want it?

Based on how quick they’ve turned this around, I assume traditional upgrade methods work if you’re comfortable moving drives around and operating from the command line… though there may be some question regarding Western Digital’s unique drive connector.

I trust several savvy readers cashed in on those recent Harmony 880 remote deals… So here’s a nifty feature you may not have picked up on — the on-remote television listings feature has been replaced by icons of channels you frequently access. For some this might not be such a big deal, but I find it more much convenient than remembering 103-11 is ABC (or is it CBS?) and keying it into my LG HD tuner.

Download a large set of logo image files from Squareworld and customize your remote using Logitech’s web configuration tool (use IE, Firefox isn’t working lately): User Options page, Favorite Channels button. If you’re creative (or bored), you also have the ability to create a custom slideshow or change your theme.

By default, clicking the 880’s Media button will bring your favorites up.

Todd Perlmutter responded to my request for a custom GUI and has delivered the TiVo Converter Wrapper. TCW allows you to choose an encoding profile and queue up .tivo shows for conversion. Unlike TiVo Desktop, you can transcode multiple shows on demand and irrespective of folder location (and without mucking around in XML and the command prompt). Also unlike the TiVo Desktop, you can efficiently choose and run different profiles as needed — useful if you have multiple devices.

Great work, Todd! Now get started on adding settings for custom resolutions.