FYI -- TiVo HD (Series3-Lite) is out

[Raiden256]

Official TiVo Page

TiVo Community FAQ

TiVo Lovers Blog Review

Looks to be the same as the Series3 unit, except the folllowing:
No THX Certification
160GB Drive (vs. 250GB on S3)
No Front Panel Display/Buttons (Except added the "Format" button for aspect control)
No Back-Lit Remote
Less Fancy Case
Adds M-Card functionality.

TiVo confirms full eSata and MRV/TTG support by EOY2007.


Been waiting for this price point... gotta jump on this.

 

[RollWave]

nice

 

[RossMAN]

Now I just need a super hot deal like TiVo HD with 3 year for $499 AR.

Something like that.

/me waits.

 

[Darkstar757]

Yea the service fee keeps me from buying a TIVO.

 

[Kaido]

Don't forget to boost the capacity!

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-hd-tcd652160.php

Up to 145 hours (1-Terabyte). Alternatively you can wait for an Instantcake CD to come out and buy the drive yourself cheaper.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Raiden256
Looks to be the same as the Series3 unit, except the folllowing:

So basically it's exactly the same as the Series 3, minus the frills and some capacity? Might need to upgrade soon

 

[Raiden256]

Hells yeah... this is what people were hoping for.

 

[Delta6Echo]

That's still too expensive.

Option A: $300 upfront and $17 per month
Option B: $10 per month to rent my HD DVR box and another $10 for the service (plus I get HBO/STARZ On Demand)

That's a tough one!

 

[arcas]

Assuming one buys the 3-year pre-paid service agreement for $299 and taking into account renting 2 cable cards at $2/each, this amortizes out to around $5/month more than the craptacular Motorola DVR I'm currently renting from my cable company. That's pretty damned tempting.

300 + 300 = 600 amortized over 36 months = $16.66/month + $4/month for cable cards ---> $20.66/month for the Tivo HD over 3 years versus $15/month for the Motorola 6416 DVR I'm currently renting.

edit:

I'm waiting until some field reviews filter in. If the internal hard drive is upgradeable and assuming video can be extracted in one form or another, I'll probably bite. Kind of ironic since I finally figured out how to extract video from my current DVR last weekend.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

awesome....now I'll finally be able to get HD programming!

 

[torpid]

What's an M card?

I've got an S3 and it's been stable for a little while now. There were some early bugs but they are worked out. It does not currently support any sort of extraction, though people did figure out a way to enable e-SATA recently.

 

[Kaido]

So if CableCard downloads the guide listing, why do you need to pay for the Tivo service?

 

[Raiden256]

Originally posted by: Kaido
So if CableCard downloads the guide listing, why do you need to pay for the Tivo service?

Um, you really just need to go sit with someone who owns a TiVo. To think that TiVo is just a device that has a guide and lets you record things is like thinking... hell I can't even think of something to say that would sound the same amount of ridiculous.

 

[Raiden256]

Originally posted by: torpid
What's an M card?

I've got an S3 and it's been stable for a little while now. There were some early bugs but they are worked out. It does not currently support any sort of extraction, though people did figure out a way to enable e-SATA recently.

M-cards are very new and not available in many areas yet. M for multiple stream, which allows for simultaneous decoding of up to 6 channels. As opposed to the previous S-Cards, which only allow for one.

Basically just means that you can use a single cablecard and still get your dual-tuner functionality.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Raiden256

Originally posted by: Kaido
So if CableCard downloads the guide listing, why do you need to pay for the Tivo service?

Um, you really just need to go sit with someone who owns a TiVo. To think that TiVo is just a device that has a guide and lets you record things is like thinking... hell I can't even think of something to say that would sound the same amount of ridiculous.

I own a dual tuner Tivo You can use the Tivo as a digital VCR if you opt not to use the service, you just don't get the fancy scripts. I've also built media center computers. You can do Tivo-esqe with a few scripts if you're a little creative. I actually asked because someone I know asked me. I just figured that CableCard would have some nifty Guide features, that's all.