Tivo Series 3 $699 no tax Free Shipping

[Fasil]

I got in on this deal when it was posted at Fatwallet Here

Without having to read a ton I have simplified the deal all you need to do is go Here and either click on the google checkout button if you want just one or if you need more than one you can add it to your cart and go through their checkout. The tivocommunity thread is Here if you want to read and see all the satisfied customers. The latest update is that they just got another 100 in stock.

For those of you who are not familiar with Tivo Series 3 here's a little about what is has. It has 2 cablecard slots to allow you to record 2 HDTV programs at once. It's THX certified and has SP/dif out as well as HDMI. It also has a built in OTA tuner so you can choose to record off either your cable or OTA of 2 programs at once, even 2 OTA in HDTV. The picture quality is amazing as it gets a better HDTV picture on my 50" panasonic plasma than my cable HD dvr and it never messes up recording. You can upgrade the tivo with up to a 750gb drive without much expertise. Lastly it has TIVO! These are sold out at most best buy and CC at retail. I bought one from Eric last week and it arrived in 3 days via UPS ground. I had to sign for it but it was fully insured and well packed. I'm just so excited I can now give back my crappy cable dvr.

 

[Ike0069]

$700 for a TiVo. :Q How is that a hot deal?

 

[A5]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
$700 for a TiVo. :Q How is that a hot deal?

Because it's normally $800

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
$700 for a TiVo. :Q How is that a hot deal?

Maybe because it is the new Series 3 and normally they are over $800?

 

[Kaido]

If you can afford that, be a real geek and get the hard drive upgrade:

http://www.weaknees.com/series-3-hd-tivo.php

TiVo 300 Hour SD / 32 Hour HD Series 3 DVR - $799.00
TiVo 600 Hour SD / 60 Hour HD Series 3 DVR - $1299.00
TiVo 925 Hour SD / 100 Hour HD Series 3 DVR - $1599.00

 

[Fasil]

Yeah Weeknees has some good upgrade drives. There is also PVRupgrade.com and ebay have some drives with the tivo software on them so all you need to do is swap the drive.

 

[Ike0069]

For these prices, wouldn't it be alot better to just build a HTPC?

 

[Fasil]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
For these prices, wouldn't it be alot better to just build a HTPC?

Actually no because to build a pc that can record two HDTV programs at once would require nice video cards not to mention a dedicated box as well as nice dual processors and a large hard drive. Even a rig like that would cost over $699 and wouldn't be capable of watching a program while it's recording 2 shows unless you have a monster of a pc. Most importantly you don't have the ease of use of a tivo (the tivo service is unparrelled) It's well worth the money. It's hard to explain to someone who's never seen it or used it. It's like going from analog cable to HDTV or dialup to broadband. Until you experience it you won't understand. Tivo frees you up to do everything and anything you want without having to worry about missing any show you would like to watch. Pausing your show when your son calls from college and resuming it whenever you go back to it exactly where you left off is priceless. Never planning around your shows.

Most powerful HDTV video capture cards will skip some frames and have trouble coming close to the quality of a tivo series 3. Also the OTA reception is far superior to most stand alone OTA HDTV tuners not to mention the ability to remove channels from your lineup that you don't watch and never want to flip to.

 

[FuzzyWuzzy]

For that Price I'll just stick to my old Replay TV with commercial advance with 250 hours of recording.

I have more shows to watch then i do time to watch them as it is now, picture if I could record 2 shows at once.

 

[JBT]

I LOVE my Tivo, but 699 is still too high IMO... Maybe if I wasn't forking over $13 bucks a month for the service as wel. I'll get one but not for awhile at that price.

 

[Fasil]

Anyone here, besides me, have a tivo series 3 that can explain why you bought it and what you like about it?

 

[CheapFlyer]

Originally posted by: Fasil
Anyone here, besides me, have a tivo series 3 that can explain why you bought it and what you like about it?

Just head over to www.tivocommunity.com to find all the information you could ever want.

-CF

 

[AStar617]

Originally posted by: Fasil

Originally posted by: Ike0069
For these prices, wouldn't it be alot better to just build a HTPC?

Actually no because to build a pc that can record two HDTV programs at once would require nice video cards not to mention a dedicated box as well as nice dual processors and a large hard drive. Even a rig like that would cost over $699 and wouldn't be capable of watching a program while it's recording 2 shows unless you have a monster of a pc. Most importantly you don't have the ease of use of a tivo (the tivo service is unparrelled) It's well worth the money. It's hard to explain to someone who's never seen it or used it. It's like going from analog cable to HDTV or dialup to broadband. Until you experience it you won't understand. Tivo frees you up to do everything and anything you want without having to worry about missing any show you would like to watch. Pausing your show when your son calls from college and resuming it whenever you go back to it exactly where you left off is priceless. Never planning around your shows.

Most powerful HDTV video capture cards will skip some frames and have trouble coming close to the quality of a tivo series 3. Also the OTA reception is far superior to most stand alone OTA HDTV tuners not to mention the ability to remove channels from your lineup that you don't watch and never want to flip to.

I would have agreed with you a year or so ago when there was still a Lifetime Subscription, but to shell out $700 AND have to pay monthly, is just ridiculous. Comcast OnDemand blows, but I just don't need HD content that bad I guess.

Very happy Series2 w/lifetime sub owner here.

 

[phenderson]

I am trying to figure out whether to buy one of these, or just plop $500.00 down and buy the SOny HD recorder with Guide +... although I know the Guide Plus will be a lot cheaper, I also know that I would have to pay an additional $400.00 for lifetime TV service... so $699 + $400.00 seems a little scary to me...

But on the flip side, I am paying $13.00 a month and have been for the past 3 years for the Cable DVR.

I guess I want to hold out a little longer for a Tivo with a Blu Ray recorder built in so that I can offload the stuff that builds up on the harddrive...

 

[aimanzym]

not bad. thx OP

 

[Fasil]

Originally posted by: AStar617

Originally posted by: Fasil

Originally posted by: Ike0069
For these prices, wouldn't it be alot better to just build a HTPC?

Actually no because to build a pc that can record two HDTV programs at once would require nice video cards not to mention a dedicated box as well as nice dual processors and a large hard drive. Even a rig like that would cost over $699 and wouldn't be capable of watching a program while it's recording 2 shows unless you have a monster of a pc. Most importantly you don't have the ease of use of a tivo (the tivo service is unparrelled) It's well worth the money. It's hard to explain to someone who's never seen it or used it. It's like going from analog cable to HDTV or dialup to broadband. Until you experience it you won't understand. Tivo frees you up to do everything and anything you want without having to worry about missing any show you would like to watch. Pausing your show when your son calls from college and resuming it whenever you go back to it exactly where you left off is priceless. Never planning around your shows.

Most powerful HDTV video capture cards will skip some frames and have trouble coming close to the quality of a tivo series 3. Also the OTA reception is far superior to most stand alone OTA HDTV tuners not to mention the ability to remove channels from your lineup that you don't watch and never want to flip to.

I would have agreed with you a year or so ago when there was still a Lifetime Subscription, but to shell out $700 AND have to pay monthly, is just ridiculous. Comcast OnDemand blows, but I just don't need HD content that bad I guess.

Very happy Series2 w/lifetime sub owner here.

You can transfer your lifetime subscription to a new series 3 unit if you buy before the end of the year and when you transfer it your old box will have a year prepaid. Then every month after that year you will only need to pay 6.95/mo for the second tivo you have.

Therefore if you love tivo and want to move up to HD get a series 3 before the end of the year so you can transfer your lifetime subscription.

 

[allisolm]

You can transfer your lifetime subscription to a new series 3 unit if you buy before the end of the year and when you transfer it your old box will have a year prepaid.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I remember reading it costs $199 to transfer the lifetime sub to a series 3.

 

[gbuskirk]

Consider yourself corrected. I received an email with that offer from Tivo.

 

[allisolm]

Originally posted by: gbuskirk
Consider yourself corrected. I received an email with that offer from Tivo.

Hmm... must be very new. Tivocommunity.com hasn't heard of it and the TiVo site says it's $199. Here.

 

[jjmIII]

Just curious.....how is this different than the HDTV DVR box I have with my Digital Cable from Time Warner?? They only charge $5 a month for the box.

 

[cmv]

Originally posted by: Fasil

Originally posted by: Ike0069
For these prices, wouldn't it be alot better to just build a HTPC?

Actually no because to build a pc that can record two HDTV programs at once would require nice video cards not to mention a dedicated box as well as nice dual processors and a large hard drive. Even a rig like that would cost over $699 and wouldn't be capable of watching a program while it's recording 2 shows unless you have a monster of a pc. Most importantly you don't have the ease of use of a tivo (the tivo service is unparrelled) It's well worth the money. It's hard to explain to someone who's never seen it or used it. It's like going from analog cable to HDTV or dialup to broadband. Until you experience it you won't understand. Tivo frees you up to do everything and anything you want without having to worry about missing any show you would like to watch. Pausing your show when your son calls from college and resuming it whenever you go back to it exactly where you left off is priceless. Never planning around your shows.

Most powerful HDTV video capture cards will skip some frames and have trouble coming close to the quality of a tivo series 3. Also the OTA reception is far superior to most stand alone OTA HDTV tuners not to mention the ability to remove channels from your lineup that you don't watch and never want to flip to.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttt.... What is HDTV? HDTV is *broadcasted digitally*. Your PC doesn't need to encode anything. It simply needs to write the stream to disk. I've got a MythTV with 3 ATSC (over the air) HDTV tuners and it works great. I can record and watch at the same time. No big deal. I don't plan around my shows -- I tell MythTV what I want recorded and it gets done. Pause, commercial skip, etc. No problem.

Minimum you'd need for HDTV is ~ 2.8 Ghz and accelerated playback via XvMC on nVidia is helpful. So a Celeron D 340, a couple of hard drives, a couple of $40 ATSC tuners (see eBay for Air2PC), a nVidia MX4000/FX5200/6200 card with whatever output you want, and MythTV and you're golden.

Of course it takes time to setup. MythTV is version 0.20. Not as polished as Tivo but can do much more. All trade offs. But it is certainly possible.

http://www.mythtv.org/

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: cmv

Originally posted by: Fasil

Originally posted by: Ike0069
For these prices, wouldn't it be alot better to just build a HTPC?

Actually no because to build a pc that can record two HDTV programs at once would require nice video cards not to mention a dedicated box as well as nice dual processors and a large hard drive. Even a rig like that would cost over $699 and wouldn't be capable of watching a program while it's recording 2 shows unless you have a monster of a pc. Most importantly you don't have the ease of use of a tivo (the tivo service is unparrelled) It's well worth the money. It's hard to explain to someone who's never seen it or used it. It's like going from analog cable to HDTV or dialup to broadband. Until you experience it you won't understand. Tivo frees you up to do everything and anything you want without having to worry about missing any show you would like to watch. Pausing your show when your son calls from college and resuming it whenever you go back to it exactly where you left off is priceless. Never planning around your shows.

Most powerful HDTV video capture cards will skip some frames and have trouble coming close to the quality of a tivo series 3. Also the OTA reception is far superior to most stand alone OTA HDTV tuners not to mention the ability to remove channels from your lineup that you don't watch and never want to flip to.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttt.... What is HDTV? HDTV is *broadcasted digitally*. Your PC doesn't need to encode anything. It simply needs to write the stream to disk. I've got a MythTV with 3 ATSC (over the air) HDTV tuners and it works great. I can record and watch at the same time. No big deal. I don't plan around my shows -- I tell MythTV what I want recorded and it gets done. Pause, commercial skip, etc. No problem.

Minimum you'd need for HDTV is ~ 2.8 Ghz and accelerated playback via XvMC on nVidia is helpful. So a Celeron D 340, a couple of hard drives, a couple of $40 ATSC tuners (see eBay for Air2PC), a nVidia MX4000/FX5200/6200 card with whatever output you want, and MythTV and you're golden.

Of course it takes time to setup. MythTV is version 0.20. Not as polished as Tivo but can do much more. All trade offs. But it is certainly possible.

http://www.mythtv.org/

That's what I was thinking. The pricing of this unit plus the monthly fee makes me wonder how much longer TiVo is going to be around. I know some will pay this, but I'm not sure there will anywhere enough people buying this to keep TiVo in business.

Whatever happened to giving the HW away for free and making your money off the monthly service? Seems to work awfully well for alot of companies, sattelite and cell phone companies in particular.

 

[Fasil]

Time is money and who wants to waste a bunch of time and a big hunkin computerhooked up in thier living room to thier tv? or in thier bedroom? It's louder and yes you can tinker with it more but it's like saying why buy a dvd player when my computer has a dvd player and can play divx, or why buy a reciever because my computer has a nice sound card, or why buy nice speakers because my computer speakers are really nice. The Tivo Series is much much better and that is why it's well worth the money and the monthly fee. can you mow the lawn your self? sure but it's much nicer to have it done for you so you don't have to think about it and an expert can do it better. If you want to waste your time building a pc just to act as a DVR and then edit the shows yourslef and put them on dvd's or whatever to watch them...you can do it but why spend all that time?

 

[Staples]

Do these things have an ATSC tuner in them?

 

[Staples]

Originally posted by: jjmIII
Just curious.....how is this different than the HDTV DVR box I have with my Digital Cable from Time Warner?? They only charge $5 a month for the box.

Where do you live? I have heard this $5 renal charge more than once and I still don't believe it exists. Time Warner in San Antonio charges $19 for a HD DVR.