Comments on: The High-Def Holy Grail

By: Bramus!

Bramus! — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Saw the previous TiVo in action whilst visiting the states and I must that I was quite impressed by it! In Belgium here we’re still struggling with analog cable and the services that offer Digital TV (but still no Hi-Def!) are way too expensive (they even charge extra for timeshifting, although timeshifting is part of the technology itself!).

Anywho, read some stuff on the TiVo3 and it sure looks even more impressive! The holy Grail of Hi-Def indeed!

By: M. Jackson Wilkinson

M. Jackson Wilkinson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Agreed. As a long-time owner of a Series1 which I’d kept going by modding its ass off, I couldn’t be happier that I waited until now to upgrade. Effortlessly switch between tuners, each with its own pause buffer; much better suggestions; and I honestly couldn’t imagine it being much quieter than it is.

Now, if only I could finally get the CableCards from Comcast, and if only CableLabs would stop flexing their muscles and approve multi-room viewing and TivoToGo, it would be absolutely perfect.

By: Jemaleddin

Jemaleddin — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve never really had a reason to get Hi-Def, but with the Series3 and PS3 coming out so close together, I think that $800 is going to run me closer to $4000. Dammit.

By: James Adams

James Adams — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Hopefully the good word about Tivo Series 3 gets out to a ton of people as quick as possible so that price will hopefully drop drastically. I wish I could join you in your glorious celebration but instead I opted for the house payment this month. Obviously TiVo is the best, I have 2 Series 2′s myself and will definately add the 3rd series to my boring HD monitor but come on TiVo, 800 bucks? No way. So again, I thank you Mike for helping me come that much closer to adding this box to my home theatre setup.

By: Vincent J. Murphy

Vincent J. Murphy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’m so close to pulling the trigger on this. It seems to be perfect (well, except that it doesn’t work with satellite). The price is a little high, though, but I like the fact that I could transfer a lifetime subscription to it.

By: Grayson De Ritis

Grayson De Ritis — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been hearing conflicting stories of folks being able to/not being able to transfer their lifetime from S2 to S3, free of charge. Mike, or anyone else, can you confirm this?

TiVO’s been on my “to-get” list for a while, now seems like it may be the right time to upgrade from standard cable.

By: Davis Freeberg

Davis Freeberg — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The S3 is definetely amazing. I wish it supported TiVo to Go, but having the ability to time shift HDTV without all the bugs associated with the cable DVRs is amazing. My recommendation is to spring for the 750GB upgrade drive on Weaknees, it’s definetely worth it.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

According to David Pogue's writeup, you can transfer "lifetime" service from older TiVos to the Series 3 for $200, and TiVo to go will be added to the Series 3.

By: Grayson De Ritis

Grayson De Ritis — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Right on, 200′s not too bad, but still 200 smackers :-\ I’d be interested to see how these folks who claim they transferred it for free did it (assuming they’re telling the truth).

By: Bulbboy

Bulbboy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Impressive, but afraid I’m at the “Why even have a TV” stage.

Although YouTube, Google video, and 3 series of the Sopranos will keep me going until I get (if ever) another TV.

By: haubner

haubner — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I gotta say it: my DVR experience has improved drastically since I rid myself of my Tivo and changed to the flawed but eminently more reliable Comcast/Microsoft DVR.

The crux of my problem was that I have digital cable, not Directv, and I could never for the life of me get the 4th-grade art project of taping the wires around the sensor on the cable box to work. So my Tivo could never change channels, making it maddening – I had to set the TV to the channel I wanted to record.

Then Tivo started turning itself on and off randomly. Customer service told me I needed to make an exchange, and I was summarily sent to a web site which informed that it would cost me $150 to get a new box.

At this point, I decided to cancel my service. Though you can apparently do all sorts of wonderful things through their web site, you cannot cancel your service there.

So I called to cancel. Do you remember this story about the AOL guy basically not allowing the guy to cancel? Well, my experience was a more poltie version of that. I had to request cancellation probably 12 times before it took.

I went with Comcast/Microsoft DVR and have basically been very happy with the change. Yes, it’s had a few small problems, and the UI is not as good, and it doesn’t have bells and whistles like allowing me to program from the web, but you know what, I’m fine setting it from my TV. I can figure it out. I’m just happy that the basic functionality now works for me, and it’s $3/mo. less to boot!

Once Tivo service folds in under Comcast, I’ll certainly accept it, but you could never in a million years get me to switch back on my own.

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

haubner: Oh my god, I can’t believe you are tolerating the Comcastorolasoft DVR! I’ve never used a Series 1 cable Tivo but yeah, the IR blaster channel changer thing seems like a bit of a hack. I definitely recommend the Series 3 though… no such problems at all. It’s 1000 times the machine the Motorola pile is.

By: Courtney Nielsen

Courtney Nielsen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I still have an old-school Tivo and never bought a series 2 after reading this boingboing post about ‘anti-features’ being installed:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/13/tivo_wont_save_certa.html

How does the series 3 fare with this?

By: haubner

haubner — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, I want to apologize slightly in that I got so worked up with red-faced Clintonesque anger at reliving my experience as I wrote it that I ended up sounding like Grandpa Simpson by the end.

Let me state the following:
- I love love LOVE having DVR in my life. My entertaiment experience is immeasurably better. I can’t imagine going back to programming my VCR and shuffling tapes around.

- Ideally, I wish that Comcastosoftorola had the many extra features and seamless UI that Tivo has.

I just get tired of hearing Tivo celebrated as a type of progressive company leading us into a brand new utopia of entertainment, when I believe they fail to deliver basic levels of product reliability and customer service.

I just can’t explain how thrilled I was, a week after making the switch, to realize that all of my shows were recording as I wanted them to, and I no longer had to worry about whether the damn thing had shut off or if I had forgotten to set the TV to the correct channel.

/rant>

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Congrats on your purchase.

I personally am in love with my Windows Media Center PC which incidently I built on my own. I think the UI is far superior to what the Tivo has to offer.