I keep hitting connect to Tivo but still haven't gotten 9.2. I wonder why? Yes I did sign up for the priority service on Monday.

Edit: I watched my first show tonight that was recorded. I got skips/pixelization quite a few times. I take it this is a common issue?

It'll come. Be patient. :)

Skips/pixellation are NOT normal. You've either got a CableCARD problem, or a signal strength problem. Take a look at the Diagnostics screen that scsiraid has pointed out and see if anything pops up.

Edit: I watched my first show tonight that was recorded. I got skips/pixelization quite a few times. I take it this is a common issue?

Stryker412 I have to ask you somethihng. Do you read all the input that we have given you? I mean no offense but you seem to either be in such a big hurry to get this straightend out then you do upon looking at the details of suggestions that have been handed too you.

First, you will get 9.2 when you get it. Don't feel comfortable with that? Then sign up again for the priority list.

Second, and I admit I'm a bit offended here, but it is a proven fact that if your signal is not properly calibrated by a technician from your cable company that can be a major source of your troubles. I have repeated this to you a number of times, yet I don't see any response like, "hey I'll call them and have them check it out."

If you want advice and help find, that's why we are all here but to not take advantage of this and just continually complain - That's not going to get your problem solved.

So again I ask you to set up an appointment with your Cable Company to send a tech out and check your signal. Not only at your Tivo but all the way out to the box on the street

The TiVo S3 and TiVo HD are marvelous DVR's. Ain't no one out there who can even come close. However cable companies, and I really don't think it's a conspiracy do not have their staff well trained on these issues.

So after you receive 9.2 and you've had a tech out to check your signal, I really don't want to hear about it. You've been given the best advice. Use it. And when you do, tell us how it is working at that point.

When the tech was here to install the cards he did check the signal. I was not present when he was here but I trust my father in law was not lying. I can't check the internal signal meter right now because I'm recording something. Right now I'm comparing the Tivo signal to what I got on my SA8300HD.

I'll check the signal meter tomorrow, and try it again on Universal HD. It's breaking up somewhat frequently right now watching Atlantis.

Stryker412 I have to ask you somethihng. Do you read all the input that we have given you? I mean no offense but you seem to either be in such a big hurry to get this straightend out then you do upon looking at the details of suggestions that have been handed too you.

First, you will get 9.2 when you get it. Don't feel comfortable with that? Then sign up again for the priority list.

Second, and I admit I'm a bit offended here, but it is a proven fact that if your signal is not properly calibrated by a technician from your cable company that can be a major source of your troubles. I have repeated this to you a number of times, yet I don't see any response like, "hey I'll call them and have them check it out."

If you want advice and help find, that's why we are all here but to not take advantage of this and just continually complain - That's not going to get your problem solved.

So again I ask you to set up an appointment with your Cable Company to send a tech out and check your signal. Not only at your Tivo but all the way out to the box on the street

The TiVo S3 and TiVo HD are marvelous DVR's. Ain't no one out there who can even come close. However cable companies, and I really don't think it's a conspiracy do not have their staff well trained on these issues.

So after you receive 9.2 and you've had a tech out to check your signal, I really don't want to hear about it. You've been given the best advice. Use it. And when you do, tell us how it is working at that point.

When the tech was here to install the cards he did check the signal. I was not present when he was here but I trust my father in law was not lying. I can't check the internal signal meter right now because I'm recording something. Right now I'm comparing the Tivo signal to what I got on my SA8300HD.

I'll check the signal meter tomorrow, and try it again on Universal HD. It's breaking up somewhat frequently right now watching Atlantis.Just the fact that he was there and "checked the signal" doesn't mean it's fine. You need to check back with that technician that actually "checked the signal" and determine what he found out. I just recently installed a Channel Master 3044 amplifier to boost my analog cable signals over three runs (including a long run to a second floor bedroom), and it made night and day difference. So, you see, signal strength very likely could be your problem (or, as Hook said, it could be a cable card problem). Keep pushing the cable company until you are satisfied....after all, YOU are the customer, and YOU are paying the (often times outlandish) bill.

Once you get the 9.1 or 9.2 software, you can check the signal yourself.

Open Messages & Settings -> Account & System Information -> Diagnostics

Each tuner is listed with a counter that displays RS Uncorrected and RS Corrected Errors. RS Uncorrected Errors result from an inadequate signal and are directly responsible for pixelization and dropouts.

If you have a lot of RS Uncorrected Errors, it means you need to improve your signal by eliminating splitters, adding an amplifier, and/or rewiring cable. In a few instances (namely FiOS), an attenuator may be required to reduce the strength of the signal. You can do this or you can have your cable company do it.

Ever since I got 9.2, I started getting skips and pixelation issues also. CBS Sunday morning was pixelating and PTI was skipping. I never had this problem before and I know that my signal is good because Comcrap was out about two months ago to run new lines to improve my signal strength.

Ever since I got 9.2, I started getting skips and pixelation issues also. CBS Sunday morning was pixelating and PTI was skipping. I never had this problem before and I know that my signal is good because Comcrap was out about two months ago to run new lines to improve my signal strength.What does your Diagnostics screen say?

Ok on one tuner RSU: 356 RSC: 1489 and on the other tuner RSU: 108 RSC: 3400 (rising) This was on Universal HD.

I flipped over to ESPN (which is usually better) and RSU and RSC were 0. So you think UHD is screwy?

I did a test. On one tuner ESPNHD, and on the other UHD. The the tuner with ESPN is now at 4 mins with 0 errors for RSU/RSC. On the other tuner after 2 mins it's RSU=12 RSC=~5k.

My apologies if I am annoying some here. It's just that I spent (what I consider) a lot of money on this and I want to make sure things are working correctly.

Once you get the 9.1 or 9.2 software, you can check the signal yourself.

Open Messages & Settings -> Account & System Information -> Diagnostics

Each tuner is listed with a counter that displays RS Uncorrected and RS Corrected Errors. RS Uncorrected Errors result from an inadequate signal and are directly responsible for pixelization and dropouts.

If you have a lot of RS Uncorrected Errors, it means you need to improve your signal by eliminating splitters, adding an amplifier, and/or rewiring cable. In a few instances (namely FiOS), an attenuator may be required to reduce the strength of the signal. You can do this or you can have your cable company do it.

What does your Diagnostics screen say?

I must plead ignorance. I don't know much about what the diagnostic screen tells me. What do you want to know.

Ok on one tuner RSU: 356 RSC: 1489 and on the other tuner RSU: 108 RSC: 3400 (rising) This was on Universal HD.

I flipped over to ESPN (which is usually better) and RSU and RSC were 0. So you think UHD is screwy?

Thats only part of the info needed.... What about the SNR and Signal Strength (same page in diags)? I predict its less than 33. Its sounding like a signal issue that belongs to the cableco.

I must plead ignorance. I don't know much about what the diagnostic screen tells me. What do you want to know.

Get both of your tuners on channels you are concerned about. Let it sit on those channels for 15 mins. The go into the diagnostic page and extract the RS Uncorrected, RS Corrected, SNR and Signal Strength for each tuner. This will speak volumes about your situation.

Thats only part of the info needed.... What about the SNR and Signal Strength (same page in diags)? I predict its less than 33. Its sounding like a signal issue that belongs to the cableco.

My signal meter is between 90-95. SNR 35.

My signal meter is between 90-95. SNR 35.


And the RS Uncorrected is nonzero??? Those numbers are pretty much perfect.

What channel are you tuned to? UHD??

Mine right now shows:

Channel 291
Signal Strength 95
SNR 35
RS Unc 0
RS Cor 0

and

Channel 115
Signal Strength 90
RS Unc 0
RS Corr 480

Yeah UHD was where I was having breakups last night, however we watched Californication (pre-recorded) and that also broke up. I had ESPN on for like 10 minutes tonight and didn't notice any breakups.

Yeah UHD was where I was having breakups last night, however we watched Californication (pre-recorded) and that also broke up. I had ESPN on for like 10 minutes tonight and didn't notice any breakups.

The time to check the diag page is when you see the breakups while watching live (does anybody do that anymore?)

The time to check the diag page is when you see the breakups while watching live (does anybody do that anymore?)

No.:)

Just curious. I've been getting some strange data from USA channel. It's showing scheduling old programs of L&O CI and also the 4400. I have those programs set to "First Run Only" and when I see the data on it they show first ran "1999".

Well, Comcast was out to look at my 2nd cablecard that isn't tuning my HBOs or my Encores. They checked the coding and said it was fine. They say there is something wrong with the TiVO. He called his supervisor and he said there is a firmware issue or the cablecard slot is faulty.

This is getting ridiculous.

I really don't want to exchange my S3 for a new one, but it is looking like I may have to. Comcast is no help.

Well, Comcast was out to look at my 2nd cablecard that isn't tuning my HBOs or my Encores. They checked the coding and said it was fine. They say there is something wrong with the TiVO. He called his supervisor and he said there is a firmware issue or the cablecard slot is faulty.

This is getting ridiculous.

I really don't want to exchange my S3 for a new one, but it is looking like I may have to. Comcast is no help.

Firmware issue, no. Bad slot? Could be.

Looks like you'll be doing an exchange. Have you had to exchange already in the past?

Let me add myself to the list of people with major dropouts / pixelization issues since the 9.2 update. I had very little if any before. Now on some (mainly SD) channels, it drops out several times a minute. When i watch a program that was recorded on that channel, it fasts forward through these skips - very annoying. The signal strength is 95-100 and the RS values are zero. I called TIVO and they suggested i see if the SA cards had a firmware update. Now i have Cox cable coming out to see if different cards will help. I doubt it.. this all began the day i got 9.2.

Let me add myself to the list of people with major dropouts / pixelization issues since the 9.2 update. I had very little if any before. Now on some (mainly SD) channels, it drops out several times a minute. When i watch a program that was recorded on that channel, it fasts forward through these skips - very annoying. The signal strength is 95-100 and the RS values are zero. I called TIVO and they suggested i see if the SA cards had a firmware update. Now i have Cox cable coming out to see if different cards will help. I doubt it.. this all began the day i got 9.2.

Not to make light of your situation but you do realize that the "list" you are adding yourself to is a very small group. Even though this may have occurred with 9.2 the fact that it is on SD channels makes me suspect that it's not the cable company. Have them check all connections when they come out to make sure you are getting the proper signal. Don't forget, too strong a signal will also cause problems.

Firmware issue, no. Bad slot? Could be.

Looks like you'll be doing an exchange. Have you had to exchange already in the past?

A bad slot doesn't make since to me. Why would all the other channels work but not those on a bad slot?

I have not had to exchange in the past. I am in the process of transferring my recordings to my computer right now. My appointment is next Saturday. I will try to exchange my box at Best Buy that morning (or should I do it earlier?). I hope my cablecard install goes better this time than when I first got my S3.

I am worried about the install since they will be installing my old cards and not "fresh" ones. TiVo said it shouldn't be an issue. I hope not.

FYI - I do appreciate the help.

FYI - I do appreciate the help.

Doesn't sound like I've been much help.:o You're right, if other channels are coming in then why not that one.

It so strange how some people can get good service from their cable company and others can't. Even within my own area the type of service you get for the S3 really depends on where your guys are coming from. It seems that some service supervisors run a tight ship and others could care less.

Is it a pain the rear to swap TiVo service to a new S3?

Is it a pain the rear to swap TiVo service to a new S3?No.

Just login to the web site and swap your service number.

One of the things many people who have had the cable company DVR and swithced to TiVo complain about is there is no disk space meter. Well, if you click here (http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/c/dcahoe/tivo/index.htm) you can actually get an app that will show you your disk space remaining along with a whole bunch of other nifty things.

Granted you have to look at your computer to view this, but hey....it's better then guessing.:)

You will need your Media Access Key to set this up. The name is Tivo.

Should both my Moto cablecards have the same firmware version?

Should both my Moto cablecards have the same firmware version?

Yes.

You will need your Media Access Key to set this up. The name is Tivo.

nice

when you enter the info for the password, the user name is tivo (no caps)

the media access key is your password (found in system info)

One of the things many people who have had the cable company DVR and swithced to TiVo complain about is there is no disk space meter....ou will need your Media Access Key to set this up. The name is Tivo.

Thanks for this ! :)

nice

when you enter the info for the password, the user name is tivo (no caps)

the media access key is your password (found in system info)


Mark,

I just received a TiVo Series 3 for review for UAV and really like it thus far. My only problem is that my media access key isn't "available at this time" since the box upgraded to software version 9.1. Any idea what is wrong? I plan on calling my press rep with them on Monday, but wanted to test out some of the PC based stuff today.

Thanks.

Mark,

I just received a TiVo Series 3 for review for UAV and really like it thus far. My only problem is that my media access key isn't "available at this time" since the box upgraded to software version 9.1. Any idea what is wrong? I plan on calling my press rep with them on Monday, but wanted to test out some of the PC based stuff today.

Thanks.

I think you have to go to the tivo site and register your unit (not sure): I think you can then get the key info on line

there are a bunch of experts here: anyone else?

also note you need 9.2.J1 software (next upgrade) to do all the neat new stuff

Dave: this is an excellent unit: my favorite of all the boxes

Mark,

I agree...thus far the unit is awesome and a big upgrade over the Comcast DVR. I'll check and see if the 9.2.J1 software downloaded last night...I signed up on Monday for it. Thanks!

Yeah its the 9.2 for me that enabled the PC stuff you mentioned. Force a few connects to the tivo servers. then check sysinfo see if its pending a restart, if so restart the tivo.

Thanks...I'll give it a try.

I think you have to go to the tivo site and register your unit (not sure): I think you can then get the key info on line

there are a bunch of experts here: anyone else?

also note you need 9.2.J1 software (next upgrade) to do all the neat new stuff

Dave: this is an excellent unit: my favorite of all the boxes

You need to go to TiVo Central, Access My Account, makes sure you have everything checked off for transfers. On the page where your TiVo name and number appera in the right upper corner there is a link for "media access key". That has the number.

However until your TiVo receives this info as well it still won't work. If in your settings you don't see "meda access key" then you haven't received it yet, though I think it is in 9.1. If you do see it and it says it hasn't received this info force a call. It may take a bit, 15 minutes to an hour but that should do it.

nice

when you enter the info for the password, the user name is tivo (no caps)

the media access key is your password (found in system info)

Yes, I should have been more carefull. Thanks for correcting.

Having FINALLY bitten the bullet and ordered an S3 Tivo and it being in shipment, I am wondering about the broadband connection that is required for programming it from the Internet as well as perhaps downloading content.

In that regard, I have one coax for Comcast broadband Internet usage and a separate coax for broadband TV and am wondering which one should be connected to the TIVO for its use. I know that they both connect to the cable box and that the modem should be before any two-way splitters, but since I can run coax from either of the two broadband lines, I am wondering if one is better than another.

Thanks,

MikeSp

Having FINALLY bitten the bullet and ordered an S3 Tivo and it being in shipment, I am wondering about the broadband connection that is required for programming it from the Internet as well as perhaps downloading content.

In that regard, I have one coax for Comcast broadband Internet usage and a separate coax for broadband TV and am wondering which one should be connected to the TIVO for its use. I know that they both connect to the cable box and that the modem should be before any two-way splitters, but since I can run coax from either of the two broadband lines, I am wondering if one is better than another.

Thanks,

MikeSp

The broadband connection for the Tivo is done in one of two ways. You can plug a Tivo wireless adapter into the USB jack in the back of the Tivo, and it connects to your wireless network this way. The other choice is plugging an ethernet cable directly into the back of the Tivo. Personally, I would use the "TV" coax connection if possible to feed it the cable signal.

You need to go to TiVo Central, Access My Account, makes sure you have everything checked off for transfers. On the page where your TiVo name and number appera in the right upper corner there is a link for "media access key". That has the number.

However until your TiVo receives this info as well it still won't work. If in your settings you don't see "meda access key" then you haven't received it yet, though I think it is in 9.1. If you do see it and it says it hasn't received this info force a call. It may take a bit, 15 minutes to an hour but that should do it.

Well, I have tried everything, but I can't get the Media Access Key off of the TiVo unit...it still says not available. At this point, I have to wait until tomorrow and talk to my contact at TiVo directly. I can't log onto the website because I am technically not paying for the service...they have me set up with a "free access" account for 90 days.

they have me set up with a "free access" account for 90 days.

Huh, never heard of that. You probably have something different then most of us in your "account status". Maybe they are limiting what you are able to do.

I would hope they aren't limiting me...they want a review of what the units capabilities are. I don't think it will look very good for them if I say, "I tried to test out the integration with my PC, but the company wouldn't allow me access to that feature so why don't you go ahead and buy one, try it out, then let me know!" :D

hi all,

i just had my cable installed yesterday with my new series 3 tivo unit. everything is working great except for the obnoxious restarting that happens with my tivo unit. it will restart automatically even if i'm not doing anything with the remote or unit.

has anybody had any trouble or experience with this? i searched around the net a bit but did not see anything.

appreciate the help,
greg

hi all,

i just had my cable installed yesterday with my new series 3 tivo unit. everything is working great except for the obnoxious restarting that happens with my tivo unit. it will restart automatically even if i'm not doing anything with the remote or unit.

has anybody had any trouble or experience with this? i searched around the net a bit but did not see anything.

appreciate the help,
greg

When you say you had your cable installed do you mean cable cards? Did you use the unit prior to this without cards and have any problem?

When you say you had your cable installed do you mean cable cards? Did you use the unit prior to this without cards and have any problem?

sorry, let me be a bit more specific. i had two cablecards installed on saturday. the tivo unit is brand new - i also set it up that day and signed up for service. both cablecards seem to work fine - i can't seem to find any similiarity of what is going on each time it restarts. i have it plugged into a surge protector, but it is nearby two other components (dvd player and a/v receiver).

sorry, let me be a bit more specific. i had two cablecards installed on saturday. the tivo unit is brand new - i also set it up that day and signed up for service. both cablecards seem to work fine - i can't seem to find any similiarity of what is going on each time it restarts. i have it plugged into a surge protector, but it is nearby two other components (dvd player and a/v receiver).Check the System Information screen. What software version do you have? And what is the internal temperature on your Tivo? I assume you do not have anything on top of the box or blocking the vents, as it will restart if it overheats.

You could have a defective unit. It happens.

I would sign up for the latest software @ http://www.tivo.com/priority/. If the problem continues after the software update, I would return it for another. You should not be seeing restarts, except during software updates.

I've had zero restarts on my TivoHD since July.

sorry, let me be a bit more specific. i had two cablecards installed on saturday. the tivo unit is brand new - i also set it up that day and signed up for service. both cablecards seem to work fine - i can't seem to find any similiarity of what is going on each time it restarts. i have it plugged into a surge protector, but it is nearby two other components (dvd player and a/v receiver).

The only time i've had mine restart was when I tried to download a video file to it that was out of spec from the PC Connection.. and then obviously for svc updates

Check the System Information screen. What software version do you have? And what is the internal temperature on your Tivo? I assume you do not have anything on top of the box or blocking the vents, as it will restart if it overheats.

You could have a defective unit. It happens.

I would sign up for the latest software @ http://www.tivo.com/priority/. If the problem continues after the software update, I would return it for another. You should not be seeing restarts, except during software updates.

I've had zero restarts on my TivoHD since July.

I agree with all of the above, however since you did mention you had it plugged into a UPS you might want to see how it works plugged directly into the wall. I have mine in a UPS and it's never had a problem but just try that and if reboot continues, you need an exchange. Also get the latest software, but still that shouldn't cause it to reboot constantly.

i checked the software before i left the house and it was version 8.0. i'll try plugging it directly into the wall and see if that changes things.

thanks all!

i checked the software before i left the house and it was version 8.0. i'll try plugging it directly into the wall and see if that changes things.

thanks all!

8.0 may be the problem. Didnt it have some toxic channel issues that caused reboots? Suggest you go to priority page and sign up for 9.2.j

8.0 may be the problem. Didnt it have some toxic channel issues that caused reboots? Suggest you go to priority page and sign up for 9.2.j

Man, you have some kind of memory. Yes, it did but if I remember correctly wasn't that primarily in the Southern California area?

In any case it is worth making sure the software is updated.

Just got my Series 3 hooked up tonight. Took back one of my Comcast HD DVR's and exchanged it for 2 cable cards. No joy. Neither card can pick up any channels. I've already spent 30 minutes on the phone with Comcast trying to get everything working. Any thoughts? I can't believe I would get two bad cards? Both cards are version 4.21

Went to the hunt for channels menu and it's been hunting for 45 minutes now with nothing happening at all.

Got it working. I backed out of the hunt function and completed the setup and now everything works! Yeah.

Great news Steve!

Check the System Information screen. What software version do you have? And what is the internal temperature on your Tivo? I assume you do not have anything on top of the box or blocking the vents, as it will restart if it overheats.

You could have a defective unit. It happens.
If the problem continues after the software update, I would return it for another. You should not be seeing restarts, except during software updates.

I've had zero restarts on my TivoHD since July.

awesome, thanks. i signed up for the pri. update - i have to run off to work now but will post some info from the system screen later.

thanks,
greg

ok, one more question for y'all. i want to run a digital optical cable from the tivo box to my a/v receiver.

my question is - if i want to use the a/v to play the tv audio, do i also need to link to my tv? or will it suffice to go straight from tivo to a/v receiver? i have an hdmi cable that goes from my tivo to tv - but am not getting any sound.

hope that makes sense.

ok, one more question for y'all. i want to run a digital optical cable from the tivo box to my a/v receiver.

my question is - if i want to use the a/v to play the tv audio, do i also need to link to my tv? or will it suffice to go straight from tivo to a/v receiver? i have an hdmi cable that goes from my tivo to tv - but am not getting any sound.

hope that makes sense.

Go TiVo to your a/v receiver.

ok, one more question for y'all. i want to run a digital optical cable from the tivo box to my a/v receiver.

my question is - if i want to use the a/v to play the tv audio, do i also need to link to my tv? or will it suffice to go straight from tivo to a/v receiver? i have an hdmi cable that goes from my tivo to tv - but am not getting any sound.

hope that makes sense.

Not to confuse matters too much, but you should be able to get sound from your TV speakers if you have the HDMI cable hooked to your TV. I used the S3 with my Sony LCD TV, and it had no problem using this single-cable solution between TV and Tivo.

You should be able to get audio from your AVR, though, if you connect digital optical from Tivo to AVR.

yep, ok, we're good. i now have dolby digital through my avr - sweet, now to get this all mounted and a solid component rack.

thanks folks.

If you have sp's set up on subject network you may want to take a look at your "Now Playing List."

Some bad data apparently is causing many USA shows that I have designated as "first run only" to be recorded. Also L&O, CI which airs new shows on Thursday night at either 10:00 eastern or 1:00 eastern are not coming up as new. I've had to select "record this episode also" last week and this week.

This is not the first time. USA was a problem with bad data in the Summer too.

Just a heads up. It does take up disk space.

If you have sp's set up on subject network you may want to take a look at your "Now Playing List."

Some bad data apparently is causing many USA shows that I have designated as "first run only" to be recorded. Also L&O, CI which airs new shows on Thursday night at either 10:00 eastern or 1:00 eastern are not coming up as new. I've had to select "record this episode also" last week and this week.

This is not the first time. USA was a problem with bad data in the Summer too.

Just a heads up. It does take up disk space.

Yup... Been there... done that... got tee shirt.

Its ironic that the only episode that ISNT a rerun isnt getting picked up by an SP flagged first run only.

I submitted a lineup issue. Hopefully they will fix it.

The sad part is that I set up the same recording on the SA8300 and it picked the correct episodes.

Some bad data apparently is causing many USA shows that I have designated as "first run only" to be recorded. Also L&O, CI which airs new shows on Thursday night at either 10:00 eastern or 1:00 eastern are not coming up as new. I've had to select "record this episode also" last week and this week.

This is not the first time. USA was a problem with bad data in the Summer too.

I also record Law & Order CI, and noticed the same thing; I ended up deleting the Season Pass and setting up a weekly scheduled recording instead, because I was losing the actual new episodes and couldn't figure out what was what. It won't do series detection, but it's better than being deluged by random, unnamed reruns.

Yup... Been there... done that... got tee shirt.

The sad part is that I set up the same recording on the SA8300 and it picked the correct episodes.

So who's fault is it? Tribune Media or USA. If the people who get the data for the SA 8300 are getting it right, why not us?

Hey guys, I just recently bought two TIVOs, and I am having problems with comcast, but have them coming on Saturday for setup. I never really had TIVO before, and was curious if you could please advise me on the following questions.

1) Is channel changing slow, fast, or just right? (using cablecards)
2) Do you guys like your tivo? Would you recommend it over media center pc? (cablecard?)
3) Is the guide that slow? I read reviews,and they all state the guide is too slow?

Thanks
Mo

Hey guys, I just recently bought two TIVOs, and I am having problems with comcast, but have them coming on Saturday for setup. I never really had TIVO before, and was curious if you could please advise me on the following questions.

1) Is channel changing slow, fast, or just right? (using cablecards)
2) Do you guys like your tivo? Would you recommend it over media center pc? (cablecard?)
3) Is the guide that slow? I read reviews,and they all state the guide is too slow?

Thanks
Mo

1. Depends on what you're use to. If you've used cable company dvr then you will say slow. But as a long time TiVo owner I will tell you that you don't purchase a TiVo for channel surfing so to me, that's not a significant problem.

2. Since you can record 2 HD or SD channels at one time, yes I would say it's better.

3. Refer to answer on question 1. There are many ways to look up programs with TiVo. Generally you won't use the guide for that.

Hey guys, I just recently bought two TIVOs, and I am having problems with comcast, but have them coming on Saturday for setup. I never really had TIVO before, and was curious if you could please advise me on the following questions.

1) Is channel changing slow, fast, or just right? (using cablecards)
2) Do you guys like your tivo? Would you recommend it over media center pc? (cablecard?)
3) Is the guide that slow? I read reviews,and they all state the guide is too slow?

Thanks
Mo

1) Channel changing is fine for me. Cableco box may be a bit faster but no big deal.

2) I LOVE my Tivo. It beats the cableco box hands down.

3) The guide is a bit slow but after you set up season passes it really doesnt matter. I rarely use the guide. Ive got so much stuff recorded I dont have time to surf the guide. If you just want to pop it up and see whats currently on its just fine. If you want to search for something, the search function is the thing to use... not the guide.

TiVo fixed everything for me today...I was too busy to call on Monday, but within 15 minutes of calling their PR rep, I had an email from their technical department with a fix (had to set up an account to log into the site)....now that is great customer service.

From your guys experience, is this common for TiVo?

TiVo fixed everything for me today...I was too busy to call on Monday, but within 15 minutes of calling their PR rep, I had an email from their technical department with a fix (had to set up an account to log into the site)....now that is great customer service.

From your guys experience, is this common for TiVo?Tivo support does tend to do well with non-technical issues such as account setup. I would not by any means call their support stellar, but it's certainly better than you get from many cable companies.

Some people call Tivo support and expect an answer from some sort of experienced Tivo geek. You're not going to get that, and if you call with that expectation, then you are going to be disappointed. Like any other company, Tivo's support folks rely on what they were taught during training. It is much easier to 'teach' account and management issues than it is technical issues / troubleshooting.

To Tivo's credit, they have trained a group of personnel to deal directly with cable companies on conference calls to help resolve CableCard activation and/or order issues. Whether one of those reps is available would probably depend on when you call.

I have a S3 and I just upgraded my Audio Receiver and it has HDMI... I am running into the issue of the Tivo rwesetting its HDMI output to 1080i every time I turn the Receiver off. I usually use 720p but for some reason the tivo is switching back to 1080i on its own every time i power the receiver back on.

Is this a common issue? Does Tivo know about it?

TiVo fixed everything for me today...I was too busy to call on Monday, but within 15 minutes of calling their PR rep, I had an email from their technical department with a fix (had to set up an account to log into the site)....now that is great customer service.

From your guys experience, is this common for TiVo?

we had an issue in my local area [Comcast/SA cards] where YES channel 212 could not be received:

Comcast blamed Tivo and Tivo blamed Comcast

To their credit, Tivo stepped up and developed a firmware fix (part of 9.2) that resolved it: there is a Tivo engineer TiVoJerry who regularly posts on the Tivo Community Forum that provided details

So who's fault is it? Tribune Media or USA. Since this doesn't happen with TNT or even Sci-Fi, and it happens repeatedly with USA, I bet the problem is that USA isn't providing accurate data to Tribune.

If the people who get the data for the SA 8300 are getting it right, why not us?I bet the two systems rely on different indicators for this. I think there is one indicator which is "New" and another which is "Original Air Date". One is more robust and one is more reliable, from an algorithm standpoint, so different systems use one or the other.

TiVo fixed everything for me today...I was too busy to call on Monday, but within 15 minutes of calling their PR rep, I had an email from their technical department with a fix (had to set up an account to log into the site)....now that is great customer service.

From your guys experience, is this common for TiVo?

Sounds like they had you change your settings at TiVo Central.

For the type of problems you experienced most of us probably would prefer the TiVo Forum as opposed to customer service. Usually you are on hold for quite a while then you get a first line representative that is not very knowledgeable.

Overall I think most of us are not too happy with TiVo Customer Service. You really get better help if one of the TiVo guys spots your post in the TiVo Forum (not this one.)

For me the speed of channel changing and the onscreen guide are non issues. I have found that the best way to unleash TiVo’s full power is to search for programming using the myriad choices provided in the Find Programs menu and then recording whatever I decide to watch. As I do this more and more it becomes more and more natural. I won’t say I never watch Live TV but it’s rare.

Does the hd tivo s3 have any firmware updates?

Does the hd tivo s3 have any firmware updates?
Several... current is 9.2.j

Technically, 9.2J was a software update.

Apologies in advance if these questions have already been asked--I browsed the forum and haven't been able to find anything. I'd like to take advantage of the rebate on the Series 3, but given that I'm going on an extended vacation next month, I'd prefer not to start my "official" Tivo subscription until mid- to late January. My first question is: If I bought the Series3 now, will I be able to use it as a "plain" DVR to record broadcasts manually? My second question has to do with the hook-up: I do have broadband, but wired access is inconvenient to my A-V location and I don't want a fulltime wireless connection. What do I give up by just using a phone connection to the Tivo?

Apologies in advance if these questions have already been asked--I browsed the forum and haven't been able to find anything. I'd like to take advantage of the rebate on the Series 3, but given that I'm going on an extended vacation next month, I'd prefer not to start my "official" Tivo subscription until mid- to late January. My first question is: If I bought the Series3 now, will I be able to use it as a "plain" DVR to record broadcasts manually? My second question has to do with the hook-up: I do have broadband, but wired access is inconvenient to my A-V location and I don't want a fulltime wireless connection. What do I give up by just using a phone connection to the Tivo?

You can buy your TiVo now and just don't plug into a wall until mid January. You have 7 days from the time it gets plugged into a wall.

With just a phone connection you would give up Amazon Unbox, TiVo To Go, TiVo to Come Back, you wouldn't be able to play music from your Computer. Plus you would suffer through long downloads through your phone line for upgrades. All the features that a TiVo Desktop offers.

It still would be a better DVR then the cable company offers, but man your giving up a heck of a lot of things.

What have you got against a full time wireless server?

You must purchase the Series 3 before January 26, 2008. You can't apply for the rebate until your service has been active for 30 days. You must activate the service by February 26, 2008.

Technically, 9.2J was a software update.

How do I update my tivo? Thanks for the help. For my HDTV, I download the firmware and put it on my USB flash drive and then I plug that into the tv which upgrades the fw.

Wait, they automatically update your tivo through broadband, huh. So I already have this then.
I just wanted to make sure everything was up to date and that maybe I was missing out on firmware's for better picture ;)

Wait, they automatically update your tivo through broadband, huh. So I already have this then.
I just wanted to make sure everything was up to date and that maybe I was missing out on firmware's for better picture ;)Yes.

Tivo just began the 'official' rollout of 9.2 today. Those with 9.2J1 already should get an update in the next week or two.

Several... current is 9.2.jThat's not a firmware update, it's a software update.

That's not a firmware update, it's a software update.

Semantics.... but technically correct. However, I believe it was the answer he was seeking.... I just chose to not take issue with his question.

No doubt there are ROM-resident components in any update, though much of it might be loaded from HDD. I could be wrong, but in 15+ years of OEM firmware/software development, it was true of most releases on systems that I worked on.

Has anyone tried wd 1 terabit "my book" series external with esata port with series 3 tivocommunity seems to really push building your own with mx-1 and one of many drives but only 1 1tera hd..now that offical wd expander out looks like it has same cooling capabilities as my book drives..?

Apologies in advance if these questions have already been asked--I browsed the forum and haven't been able to find anything. I'd like to take advantage of the rebate on the Series 3, but given that I'm going on an extended vacation next month, I'd prefer not to start my "official" Tivo subscription until mid- to late January. My first question is: If I bought the Series3 now, will I be able to use it as a "plain" DVR to record broadcasts manually? My second question has to do with the hook-up: I do have broadband, but wired access is inconvenient to my A-V location and I don't want a fulltime wireless connection. What do I give up by just using a phone connection to the Tivo?

I haven't yet made the leap to buy Tivo yet, but when I do I'm planning to buy a couple of Powerline AV devices. These use your electrical wiring to carry network data, and are supposed to be better bandwidth than previous incarnations of this technology. See http://us.zyxel.com/web/product_category.php?PC1indexflag=20050804090200
I'm thinking about a PLA401 plugged in to my ethernet network, and a PLA470 at the A/V rack to supply network connectivity to Tivo and XBOX. Does anybody have experience good or bad with these products?

No doubt there are ROM-resident components in any update, though much of it might be loaded from HDD. I could be wrong, but in 15+ years of OEM firmware/software development, it was true of most releases on systems that I worked on.

While everyone's getting technical....If there were ROM resident components you could never update it. The only way to update a ROM is to burn a new one and physically replace it.

:)

Please--I've been writing firmware for consumer electronics for 20 years. These days when we say "ROM" we pretty much always mean some variety of programmable ROM (aka "flash memory"). In normal everyday use it's only read, but it can be (generally slowly) written. Your mobile phone will feature a large quantity of this, "stacked" on the chip with the processor and some RAM.

I haven't yet made the leap to buy Tivo yet, but when I do I'm planning to buy a couple of Powerline AV devices. These use your electrical wiring to carry network data, and are supposed to be better bandwidth than previous incarnations of this technology. See http://us.zyxel.com/web/product_category.php?PC1indexflag=20050804090200
I'm thinking about a PLA401 plugged in to my ethernet network, and a PLA470 at the A/V rack to supply network connectivity to Tivo and XBOX. Does anybody have experience good or bad with these products?Yes.

Wireless with 802.11g is too slow to do realtime high-definition viewing with MRV between two Tivo Series3 DVRs. Powerline networking, on the other hand, is fast enough to support realtime high-definition MRV, provided you buy Powerline AV / 200Mbps products. The older 70Mbps products are not sufficient.

One high-definition stream is up to 19.4Mbps. Real-world throughput on the Powerline AV / 200Mbps products is anywhere from 25 to 60Mbps, depending on the condition of your electrical wiring. The older 70Mbps products deliver just 10-15Mbps real-world throughput, in my experience.

Did anyone else have an issue with Stargate Atlantis last night? I noticed at 10:30 nothing was recording so I flipped it on real quick and noticed the guide info had last week's episode synopsis (tivo thinking it was a repeat) so it didn't record. The 12am repeat of the new show had the correct data and I was able to record that but why did the first showing have the wrong data?

Did anyone else have an issue with Stargate Atlantis last night? I noticed at 10:30 nothing was recording so I flipped it on real quick and noticed the guide info had last week's episode synopsis (tivo thinking it was a repeat) so it didn't record. The 12am repeat of the new show had the correct data and I was able to record that but why did the first showing have the wrong data?

We're you watching on Sci-Fi or USA? USA has had some guide problems and we we're discussing that earlier. Sci-Fi and USA are one and the same I believe so it's possible bad data was received.

TiVo has nothing to do with the guide data. That comes out of Tribune Media, Inc. If you want to double check your guide data you can go to www.zap2it.com.

We're you watching on Sci-Fi or USA? USA has had some guide problems and we we're discussing that earlier. Sci-Fi and USA are one and the same I believe so it's possible bad data was received.

TiVo has nothing to do with the guide data. That comes out of Tribune Media, Inc. If you want to double check your guide data you can go to www.zap2it.com.

Could be, luckily I caught and was able to get the repeat.

Did anyone else have an issue with Stargate Atlantis last night? I noticed at 10:30 nothing was recording so I flipped it on real quick and noticed the guide info had last week's episode synopsis (tivo thinking it was a repeat) so it didn't record. The 12am repeat of the new show had the correct data and I was able to record that but why did the first showing have the wrong data?My TiVoHD recorded Stargate Atlantis from 10:01-11:01 last night.

It is possible that TiVo updated their guide information since the last time your box connected to the service. Tribune Media corrects guide data errors throughout the week (which is then passed on to TiVo), but if that particular error was fixed on Thursday night or Friday and your TiVo hadn't connected since Wednesday, then your TiVo would still have the older guide data.

A comparison between the Series3 and newer HD Tivo units by engadget (http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/10/23/tivo-hd-vs-series3/#comments) perpetuated a rumer that production of Series3 units has halted as of July 2007 and that an updated model will be released sometime next year.

Has anyone else heard this rumor, or better yet, seen anything more substantial to support it?
Side note: We believe that TiVo has discontinued production of the Series3 and is simply waiting for them to sell-out before releasing the another version of the TiVo HD with the same premium options as the Series3. Let use know if you have a Series3 with a manufacturer date later than July 2007.

I haven't read any confirmation of that rumor.

I haven't read any confirmation of that rumor.

I haven't either. Not that I don't think it's possible, but at the price you can get the S3 at now compared to the TiVo HD I still think there is a market for the S3. And from what I see on the internet people are still buying it.

In case anyone wants an update:

Comcast came out today and swapped out my "defective" cablecard #2 with one that has the same firmware as cablecard #1. When they left all was well. Everything is usually ok for about a week, then I lose HBO and Encore on cablecard #2. I have my fingers crossed.

SIDENOTE: The tech was from one of Comcast's sub-contractors. He didn't call before he came and tracked mud all through my house. :mad:

In case anyone wants an update:

Comcast came out today and swapped out my "defective" cablecard #2 with one that has the same firmware as cablecard #1. When they left all was well. Everything is usually ok for about a week, then I lose HBO and Encore on cablecard #2. I have my fingers crossed.

SIDENOTE: The tech was from one of Comcast's sub-contractors. He didn't call before he came and tracked mud all through my house. :mad:

After all the bull sh*t you've been through then send out a contractor? I'd have thrown him out on his ass.

Seriously Nickff, if this doesn't work start playing hardball.

I've seen severe r threads like this so hopefully someone here knows what's up. I have an S3 I use via Comcast. I noticed annoying audio delays (Video preceeds audio) watching Grey's Anatomy. Several had suggested it was an ABC issue but the voice/video sync is off on most all of my HD recorded shows. I removed my receiver from the link to eliminate it as a possibility. I also heard from another forum user in Seattle also with an S3 and Comcast who had no problem (even with Greys). I spoke to Tivo who suggested trying a new HDMI cable as well as using component. Nothing made any difference. They offered to replace the unit.

I do just want this thing to work but isn't there anything that could be done to just troubleshoot and fix some firmware issue or something (yes I did try a restart).

Has anyone else seen these issues and fixed them without replacing the unit (or do you know that the units truly need replacing). I could swear that this unit didn't used to do this.

Thanks,

Ben

My best understanding is that this is generally not an issue with the TiVo, but rather with the way audio and video is routed from the TiVo through a sound amplifier. Please summarize your entire home theater topology.

I've seen severe r threads like this so hopefully someone here knows what's up. I have an S3 I use via Comcast. I noticed annoying audio delays (Video preceeds audio) watching Grey's Anatomy. Several had suggested it was an ABC issue but the voice/video sync is off on most all of my HD recorded shows. I removed my receiver from the link to eliminate it as a possibility. I also heard from another forum user in Seattle also with an S3 and Comcast who had no problem (even with Greys). I spoke to Tivo who suggested trying a new HDMI cable as well as using component. Nothing made any difference. They offered to replace the unit.

I do just want this thing to work but isn't there anything that could be done to just troubleshoot and fix some firmware issue or something (yes I did try a restart).

Has anyone else seen these issues and fixed them without replacing the unit (or do you know that the units truly need replacing). I could swear that this unit didn't used to do this.

Thanks,

Ben

In regards to ABC, I've noticed a problem where it seems just a bit off as well. I thought it was my local station as they seem to have audio synch problems with their Dolby 5.1 newscast as well.

I don't think it's a TiVo issue.

After all the bull sh*t you've been through then send out a contractor? I'd have thrown him out on his ass.

Seriously Nickff, if this doesn't work start playing hardball.

Well, the thing is I am sort of on Comcast's ****list as it is. I have had problems with them for years and I used to let them know I was angry in a very verbal, less-than-polite manner. So, lately I have been patient with them (in hopes of someone stepping up and fixing the cablecard problem).

The mud-thing pissed me off. I called and politely complained and they listened, said something about a form, and then let me go.

Who knows, maybe I will get NFL network for free out of this. :D

Who knows, maybe I will get NFL network for free out of this. :D

R-I-G-H-T !!! :rolleyes:

MikeSp

So, lately I have been patient with them (in hopes of someone stepping up and fixing the cablecard problem).

Who knows, maybe I will get NFL network for free out of this. :D

Good luck. Playing nice didn't work for me. After being a humble, early-paying customer for a year, I called Comcast this past weekend to notify them I was switching cable providers unless they could offer me a good deal.

They said, in so many words, "See ya!". :p

Comcast Cable (Seattle) -> Tivo S3 ->HDMI -> Onkyo TS-NR905->HDMI -> Pioneer 5080HD. I've spoken with someone else in town who had everything I did but the receiver and used a Panasonic Plasma and had no delay, even with ABC. I've tried removing the Onky which does seem to a very slight audio delay as well. In this case, I tried HDMI as well as component cables between the S3 and the TV using the TV's speaker but had the same delay so it's either coming in delayed from Comcast and not getting better at the Tivo or the Tivo is not doing the sync it should.

I wish I knew where all the synchronization was supposed to happen. I assume the audio and video in the broadcast has some sync info which the Tivo should then use to sync them up. The fact that someone else in my town using the same cable, S3 etc has no delay would SEEM to me to point to my S3 being the issue. I think ....

Juse use the audio delay function of the receiver.

Crappy customer service is a reflection of a micro-economy where the consumers are always looking for the best financial deal rather than the best overall package of price and service.

Well, the thing is I am sort of on Comcast's ****list as it is. I have had problems with them for years and I used to let them know I was angry in a very verbal, less-than-polite manner. So, lately I have been patient with them (in hopes of someone stepping up and fixing the cablecard problem).

The mud-thing pissed me off. I called and politely complained and they listened, said something about a form, and then let me go.

Who knows, maybe I will get NFL network for free out of this. :D

Your main problem is your not through to people high enough who can do something. You've had (to my knowledge) no contact with headend. I know it's difficult but that's where you need to get in contact.

Someone in my area managed to breakthrough by getting hold of the head of TW in our area and sending him a fax. That got action quickly.

Short story: I knew a woman many years ago who was having problems with a GM dealer. She couldn't get satisfaction. She wrote the CEO of GM received a letter of apology and from that point on not only got her problem resolved, she was treated as a customer should be.

Sometimes you have to go to the top.

I need a negative audio delay, the problem is I have too much audio delay. I have it set to 0 and it's not enough.

Here's a new question...or maybe it's a suggestion for improvement...

I have both antenna and cable connected to my s3 and tivohd. I've noticed that in one of my wishlists (but not all of them) that it is selecting the cable hd local broadcast channel to record from, but I want to record from the antenna hd feed channel. I couldn't seem to do anything to get it to go (only) to the antenna feed, other than turning off the cable hd channel in the guide. Am I missing something? If not, it seems like it would be nice to be able to limit the wishlist to a channel, i.e. only find shows on that channel...

Ron,

I am far from an expert on the Series 3 yet, but I think if you do a search for the show, you can choose which channel you want it to record on. But now that you mention it, I don't seem to recall if my OTA channels were "in the mix" or not. I'll have to check tonight now for curiousity sake.

Here's a new question...or maybe it's a suggestion for improvement...

I have both antenna and cable connected to my s3 and tivohd. I've noticed that in one of my wishlists (but not all of them) that it is selecting the cable hd local broadcast channel to record from, but I want to record from the antenna hd feed channel. I couldn't seem to do anything to get it to go (only) to the antenna feed, other than turning off the cable hd channel in the guide. Am I missing something? If not, it seems like it would be nice to be able to limit the wishlist to a channel, i.e. only find shows on that channel...If you want to record a particulaar program from a specific channel, then you need to create a season pass.

You cannot limit autorecord wishlists to a single channel. IIRC, if the same program is showing on two different channels, wishlists record from the higher numbered channel.

Wishlist searches do not display duplicate results from different channels on the main screen, but you can select any program and click "View upcoming showings," and that will show you a list of all airings on all channels.

If you want to record a particulaar program from a specific channel, then you need to create a season pass.

You cannot limit autorecord wishlists to a single channel. IIRC, if the same program is showing on two different channels, wishlists record from the higher numbered channel.

Wishlist searches do not display duplicate results from different channels on the main screen, but you can select any program and click "View upcoming showings," and that will show you a list of all airings on all channels.

Actually, I specifically looked for that on my wishlist, looking at the upcoming shows, and it would NOT show the airings on the local channel until I deleted the cable channel from my guide listing of received channels.

So it's a feature suggestion - just another way to finetune searches - only record matches on a specified channel. What you say about recording from the highest channel works for say, Discovery and DiscoveryHD, but it doesn't work for local channels...

One of the things many people who have had the cable company DVR and swithced to TiVo complain about is there is no disk space meter. Well, if you click here (http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/c/dcahoe/tivo/index.htm) you can actually get an app that will show you your disk space remaining along with a whole bunch of other nifty things.

Granted you have to look at your computer to view this, but hey....it's better then guessing.:)

You will need your Media Access Key to set this up. The name is Tivo.

I just installed the My DVR Expander sata HD but the disc space meter in the program does not reflect the added HD (system info on the S3 shows the added space)

How do I update the program?

I just installed the My DVR Expander sata HD but the disc space meter in the program does not reflect the added HD (system info on the S3 shows the added space)

How do I update the program?

When you open the program it shows the disk space. You just need to change that to your new total amount of disk space. Just click on it highlight it and change to your new total.

Is there an option somewhere to get rid of the ads on the main menu? I also had one after I finished watching something and the delete option came up.

If you were watching the program from the now playing list the delete option was for the program, not the ad. If you let a now playing program run to the end, or use the left cursor to exit watching and you are within five minutes from the end of the program you will be prompted to delete the program. Unfortunatley, it has nothing to do with the ad.

No no option to remove the advertisements. TiVo derives revenue from presenting the ads, and so hopefully doing so will reduce how much money they lose each quarter.

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out how to burn an SD program from a Series 3 onto a DVD disc.

Thanks to TiVo to Go, I have the file on my PC's hard disc. It's roughly 6 GB in size with a .TiVo extender. Via the TiVo software I can convert it to an MP4 but my DVD player doesn't recognize this format.

I would like to burn it as an MPEG2 to a dual layer DVD disc. Do I need to change the extender to anything, or do I need some sort of conversion program?

Thanks,

Dawn

I had an interesting issue pop up last night, wondering if anyone else saw this...

I was watching Pushing Daisies, on delay...it started recording at 8, I started watching it around 8:45...so I'm watching it, it gets to the 40 minute or so mark, and then the signal breaks up into macroblocking for a second, then the show resumes - skipping about 10-15 minutes of the show!! When it was done, it showed that it had only recorded about 40-some minutes - the bar only went to 40-something, with the rest being blank, so it was prepared to record the full 1:02 or whatever. Argh!

Never saw anything like that before...

I've had that happen, kind-of, twice over the last three weeks, most recently with House this week. For me, it skipped 5-10 seconds here and there, for a total of 10 minutes missing; the whole last third of the episode was unwatchable.

I had an interesting issue pop up last night, wondering if anyone else saw this...

I was watching Pushing Daisies, on delay...it started recording at 8, I started watching it around 8:45...so I'm watching it, it gets to the 40 minute or so mark, and then the signal breaks up into macroblocking for a second, then the show resumes - skipping about 10-15 minutes of the show!! When it was done, it showed that it had only recorded about 40-some minutes - the bar only went to 40-something, with the rest being blank, so it was prepared to record the full 1:02 or whatever. Argh!

Never saw anything like that before...

What version of TiVo software are you running ?

OTA, or Motorola or SA CableCARDs ?

If cable, who's your provider ?

In the 8.1 and 8.3 time-frame, there were some CableCARD issues where there seemed to be a miscommunication between the TiVo and the cards, which would result in completely blank or partial recordings. TiVo really made an effort to clean those problems up then, and seem to have gotten just about all of the bugs out of the system.

Other than that, the other thing that comes to mind is you've been bitten by a channel reclamation by SDV.

The skipping wouldn't be caused by SDV.

Incidentally, I'm running 9.2J.

I've decided to purchase the TiVo series 3 with wireless G adapter. Amazon has the following deal:

TiVo TCD 652160HD $254.49
AGO 100 wireless G $39.99

Do the products look OK?
I'm not interested in spending time & adding risk in attempts to get better price.

If I get these, how do I sign up for service from TiVo?

Gary

I've decided to purchase the TiVo series 3 with wireless G adapter. Amazon has the following deal:

TiVo TCD 652160HD $254.49
AGO 100 wireless G $39.99

Do the products look OK?
I'm not interested in spending time & adding risk in attempts to get better price.

If I get these, how do I sign up for service from TiVo?

Gary


The adapter is 10.00 less then I usually see it. Price of the TiVo HD looks good.

You can sign up here (http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/Support.aspx). You will need to receive your TiVo before signing up.

Thanks Hook. I will now pull the trigger.

Goodbye SA 8300 clunky interface & program guide.

You won't look back mate. I added a TIVO HD to complement my S3 just yesterday.
Has anyone with FIOS used the MOCA (coax connection - to a Motorola NIM100 to provide the S3 or HD Tivo with a wired ethernet connection)?
I just found out about this option today --- should allow for a 100 megabit connection?

Thanks Hook. I will now pull the trigger.

Goodbye SA 8300 clunky interface & program guide.

$100 more and you can get the pimp Series 3... I picked mine up through Amazon a few weeks back and I'm in love.

Definitely be sure to purchase the TiVo-branded wireless adapter if you ever plan to do any MRV or TTG.

If you plan to do MRV or TTG, you want a wired connection if you can at all possibly manage it.

If you plan to do MRV or TTG, you want a wired connection if you can at all possibly manage it.

I'm guessing that transfers are faster?

Substantially faster. The TiVo-branded adapters have adjunct processors.

i have 2 wired S3 units and 2 Series2 (one wired using the Linksys USB200M and one using the Linksys WUSB11 [wireless B]). my questions are:

- is it worth upgrading my WUSB11 (B) to a wireless G adapter? i'm really only using that Series2 box to stream shows from my other Series2 and S3 boxes.

- what transfer speeds am i looking at to my wired and wireless Series2 boxes (for SD content obviously) from my S3 units? i know that some conversion is done.

thanks for the help.

Substantially faster. The TiVo-branded adapters have adjunct processors.For me, it's a factor of 3. Wireless G maxes out at about 5 Mbps to my laptop from the Linksys router I'm using--I get around 15 Mbps for a wired connection, which is close to realtime for most HDTV, equal for some. When I figured that out, I moved my wireless router and as many of my networked toys (TiVo, Xbox 360, PS3, laptop) as close together as possible and wired them together. I'm using a wireless adapter with my HD DVD player (out of connections on the router), but I don't transfer much to it.

YMMV, depending upon the equipment and cabling that you're using, the distances and conditions involved and the way your network is adjusted.

i have 2 wired S3 units and 2 Series2 (one wired using the Linksys USB200M and one using the Linksys WUSB11 [wireless B]). my questions are:

- is it worth upgrading my WUSB11 (B) to a wireless G adapter? i'm really only using that Series2 box to stream shows from my other Series2 and S3 boxes.

- what transfer speeds am i looking at to my wired and wireless Series2 boxes (for SD content obviously) from my S3 units? i know that some conversion is done.Check out the "TivoHD & Series3 MRV/TTG/TTCB: FAQ + Discussion (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=371710)" thread at TiVo Community Forums.

Check out the "TivoHD & Series3 MRV/TTG/TTCB: FAQ + Discussion (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=371710)" thread at TiVo Community Forums.
thanks, i did...but it doesn't explicitly talk about S3 --> Series2 transferring.

thanks, i did...but it doesn't explicitly talk about S3 --> Series2 transferring.Sure it does. At a glance, FAQ #8 in the MRV section is "Can I transfer SD recordings from the TiVoHD and Series3 to a Series2? And SD recordings from the Series2 to the TiVoHD and Series3?" I feel certain that in 100 posts, there has to be more chatter on the topic.

Being aware of that discussion, it didn't seem like a perfect place to you to ask your question? Most of the principles posters in this thread are active in TCF as well (except for hookbill, who "resigned" from the other forum).

What version of TiVo software are you running ?

OTA, or Motorola or SA CableCARDs ?

If cable, who's your provider ?

In the 8.1 and 8.3 time-frame, there were some CableCARD issues where there seemed to be a miscommunication between the TiVo and the cards, which would result in completely blank or partial recordings. TiVo really made an effort to clean those problems up then, and seem to have gotten just about all of the bugs out of the system.

Other than that, the other thing that comes to mind is you've been bitten by a channel reclamation by SDV.


The very latest software, I had 9.2j and then got another update message, so I don't know if they dropped the "j", I didn't check.

This was ota, though I do have cable cards in the unit. One reason I always record ota whenever I can. (bandwidth being another, though I haven't compared to see if there's a visible difference with the comcast channel.)

@michaeltscott

thanks for the replies...i know that it "talks" about transfers from S3 --> Series2 units, but i was looking for speed tests. yeah, it's prolly been mentioned in 1 of the previous 100 posts, but i just found this thread here today...i think my previous alliance to ReplayTV (which i have announced at TCF), may something to do with my lack of replies that i'm receiving. trust me, i've searched and searched before i posted over there, but i couldn't seem to find anything specific to my questions.

essentially, i am used to my ReplayTV's being able to stream seamlessly from one to another (skipping commercials/segments with no delay)...now that i have swapped out my ReplayTV's for 2 x S3 and 2 x Series2, i am just looking for the best setup that would get me close to my old ReplayTV streaming--ie, what's going to get me the best speed on a Series2 using a wireless adapter on one and a wired adapter on the other...unfortunately, i can't hard wire both.

Most of the principles posters in this thread are active in TCF as well (except for hookbill, who "resigned" from the other forum).

Yeah, but it's people like you that keep the legend alive.:)

@michaeltscott

thanks for the replies...i know that it "talks" about transfers from S3 --> Series2 units, but i was looking for speed tests.I noted the speeds for S3 -> S3, TivoHD -> TivoHD, and S3 -> TivoHD in that FAQ.

I did not note throughput with Series2 because it varies dramatically by model. There are at least three or four different Series2 designs. It gets more complicated because content recorded on some quality settings on some models will transfer as is, while content recorded on other quality settings requires transcoding (format conversion) on the fly, which significantly slows the transfers. So MRV throughput from a Series2 to a Series3 depends not only on the specific model Series2, but also on the recording quality setting.

With one Series2 model, I believe the recordings will transfer faster if they are of the Best quality variety because that avoids extra transcoding (format conversion).

@bfdtv

i see...didn't realize it was that complicated...is there a thread/site that details the differences in the Series2 models and what quality settings get you the best transfer rate? mine are both single tuner, 80GB ones that start with TSN 540.

btw, i will stop posting about this at TCF...also didn't realize that so many ppl were on both forums...i just figured i'd post here as well because i've received such good advice from all the great people on AVS in the past :).

My S3 is expected soon. Some questions:

1) I will be using Cox (Tucson) cable card(s) Oct. > Apr. Then will take TiVo to Michigan for the summer. Cable provider will be Comcast.
A) Will the cable cards be different?
B) If different, what are my options for the Cox card while I'm gone?

2) Cox wants $4.00/month for two cards, plus $69.95 installation. Are these the going rates?

3) How does the cable provider control the "Tier" of programs that I access via TiVo?

For those who haven't seen it, TiVo is now offering a gift package with one TiVoHD, the TiVo 802.11g wireless adapter, and a lifetime subscription to the TiVo service for $698.99. Offer good until 1/07/08.

Give a TiVoHD with lifetime service (i.e. no monthly fees) (http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-promo/show.do?pg=/buytivo/hdgift.html)

My S3 is expected soon. Some questions:

1) I will be using Cox (Tucson) cable card(s) Oct. > Apr. Then will take TiVo to Michigan for the summer. Cable provider will be Comcast.
A) Will the cable cards be different?
B) If different, what are my options for the Cox card while I'm gone?

2) Cox wants $4.00/month for two cards, plus $69.95 installation. Are these the going rates?

3) How does the cable provider control the "Tier" of programs that I access via TiVo?

1. You would have to get cards for that system and they would have to be paired. Even if the system used the same cable cards you would still have to use the other cable company cards. And unless they allow you to pick them up yourself you will probably be charged for the install.

Upon returning you would have to have your previous cards again paired. They may not charge you an install if you keep the service you had previously.

2. Card rates vary but that seems reasonable. the 70 buck install is outrageous. Mine was 30 bucks.

3. Just like it does with any other STB. You order what you want, they deliver. If you're referring to HD Tiers, that will probably be totally different from location to location.

Nothing is standardized about fees and charges for install. Sometimes this will vary even within the same service area.

how long does it take a name change (done on Tivo.com) to propagate to my DVR? i renamed my S3 (and 1 of my Series2 units) online last week and it's showing up to the other Tivo's on my network with the old name.

1. You would have to get cards for that system and they would have to be paired. Even if the system used the same cable cards you would still have to use the other cable company cards. And unless they allow you to pick them up yourself you will probably be charged for the install.

Upon returning you would have to have your previous cards again paired. They may not charge you an install if you keep the service you had previously.

2. Card rates vary but that seems reasonable. the 70 buck install is outrageous. Mine was 30 bucks.

3. Just like it does with any other STB. You order what you want, they deliver. If you're referring to HD Tiers, that will probably be totally different from location to location.

Nothing is standardized about fees and charges for install. Sometimes this will vary even within the same service area.


Thanks, Hook.

What does "paired" mean?

"You would have to get cards for that system and they would have to be paired. "

Thanks, Hook.

What does "paired" mean?

"You would have to get cards for that system and they would have to be paired. ""Pairing" CableCARDs is a process by which an operator at your provider makes an association in the headend equipment between the MAC address of the equipment in which the CableCARD is installed and the CableCARD itself, during which he or she starts the headend sending messages to activate it. In many devices, when you insert the CableCARD it automatically puts up a standard message on the screen giving you the information needed by the operator for this, like the following screen from a TiVo:

http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/TivoCollection/07e4e622-2e6a-49c7-9885-68fcba4b991a/Media_Resources/Images/3001/CableCARD_MMI.gif

I believe that screen is actually displayed by the CableCARD, using services provided by the host device (the television or STB it's installed in).

You can see instructions for installing CableCARDs in Series3 units here (http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=b03267a0-be94-4f14-8e2c-8ae7b4eb5249) and in TiVo HD units here (http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=07e4e622-2e6a-49c7-9885-68fcba4b991a).

Super. Thanks Mike.

Looks like something I, with help from neighbor, can accomplish. The challenge then becomes convincing Cox that we can install the card(s). I think a visit to their office so we can deal person-to-person is in order.

Just bought a tivo series3. I have an HDTV with the cable card installed plus I have a comcast DVR. I want to get rid of the comcast box and go to tivo. Called to get the tech out and was told $1.95 a month for the additional cards..no problem..BUT they also want to charge me an additional $6.95 a month service fee. Anyone else run into this. Any imput appreciated!

I know sometimes they try and charge an outlet fee. When I had Comcast they wanted to charge me an outlet fee for each Series 3 tiVo I had. But I convinced someone at the office that I only have one outlet and I split that to several locations myself so they only charged me for one outlet fee. Then on top of that they never charged me for any of the six cable cards I had with them for 11 months. They were supposed to charge me $1.50 for each card. I never brought it up and they never charged me. I don't know why, I guess I got lucky.

Hi
Thanks for the reply, that is what they are doing, charging an outlet fee. Guess they win and I take the tivo back and keep the comcast box.

You should not be hit with the outlet fee if is your only box.

The outlet fee is meant for additional TVs beyond the first. There is no outlet fee for one TV. Make clear to Comcast that you have only one TV and the CableCards are used for that TV, and there will be no outlet charge.

Thanks, will go into the office and talk with them face to face, maybe I can get through to them. Told them that on the phone but they really have no clue that you can have a cable card in the television and two in the tivo, they are sure you are trying to take advantage of them. Try to explain but they just do not listen, very frustrating. Appreciate your encouragement!

Thanks, will go into the office and talk with them face to face, maybe I can get through to them. Told them that on the phone but they really have no clue that you can have a cable card in the television and two in the tivo, they are sure you are trying to take advantage of them. Try to explain but they just do not listen, very frustrating. Appreciate your encouragement!

If you get the same look from the front office person ask for a supervisor. Don't let them get away with this.

TW did the same thing to me. Matter of fact they had my bill so screwed up that I had to talk to someone I knew in front end and then I had a customer specialist call who not only fixed that charge but got rid of or lowered a few other charges they had for me.

From what I hear cable companies do a good job at training their individuals but either supervisors or fellow employees screw them up when they first start working.

I called again this morning to ask for a supervisor. The guy that answered actually knew what tivo was, stopped and listened to what I was saying and fixed the problem! I will write Comcast and commend him for taking the time to listen and understand. We will see what happens after the installer comes out and the billing is done but I expect it will be fine. Thanks for all the support!

Next Tuesday, when I'll have my TiVo S3, I'll be returning my SA 8300 to Cox office in Tucson. The purpose is to come home with cable card(s) that they'll allow me to install, and to get the best deal I can. I now have Cox phone, internet, cable service including HD DVR. I plan to drop their HD because I can get all I need off air.

I'd like the input of y'all regarding:
A) Recommended approach.
B) Potential "unacceptable" positions taken by the Cox representative & how to deal with them.
C) Questions I should ask the representative

Well, it's a hard thing, really, because they're perhaps going to insist on a truck-roll, and that's unfortunately NOT an "unacceptable" position.

Yeah, bicker1 is absolutely correct. If you cable card company says truck roll that is the only way they will do it. I can't recall anyone saying they "talked" them out of an install.

However on the bright side maybe they won't insist on an install and just give you the cards. Many people have reported that. It just depends on the policy of your cable company in your area.

FIOS requires a truck roll

I just got my S3 after a 3 year hiatus with ScientificAtlanta. Boy is it good to be back to TiVo. Right now I'm downloading via the browser trick in Safari and getting download speeds of ~1.2 MB/sec. Does anyone know what the improvement would be going to a hard-wired Ethernet solution on a Mac w/ Gigabit Ethernet? I'm using a D-Link Draft N router and the TiVo USB wireless, so I'm getting 811.g speeds.

does directv still have a TiVo box?

I just got my S3 after a 3 year hiatus with ScientificAtlanta. Boy is it good to be back to TiVo. Right now I'm downloading via the browser trick in Safari and getting download speeds of ~1.2 MB/sec. Does anyone know what the improvement would be going to a hard-wired Ethernet solution on a Mac w/ Gigabit Ethernet?Throughput will vary depending on what you are doing. Throughput will be higher if both tuners are set to SD channels rather than HD channels.

Wired throughput maxes out at about 12Mbps (1.5 MB/sec) while watching two HD channels, 15Mbps (1.85 MB/sec) while watching two SD channels, or 18-20Mbps (2.2-2.5 MB/s) with both tuners set to channels you do not receive.

Hacked boxes -- on which discussion is not allowed here -- can transfer at up to 50Mbps or so.

does directv still have a TiVo box?DirecTV no longer uses the TiVo software. They now use the software from a News Corp subsidiary to eliminate the $1.00/mo they were paying TiVo.

DirecTV didn't pass that savings on to customers. In fact, when DirecTV moved to their in-house software, they increased DVR fees by $1/mo.

Do any of you know the four digit code for a Sony A2000 series HDTV that would enable it to communicate with the Tivo S3 remote -- none of the supplied ones in the setup menu seem to work?

Thanks,

MikeSp

Do you have to use the TIVO adapter to use the wireless network or can I use the Lynksy I already have? Searched the threads but did not find this. thanks!

Do you have to use the TIVO adapter to use the wireless network or can I use the Lynksy I already have? Searched the threads but did not find this. thanks!

The Tivo Wireless adapter is the only one supported.

Thanks for the help, I figured you did. To bad you can't use the wireless adapter that the computer uses. Guess they want to sell some hardware!:)

The TiVo adapter might be the only one supported by TiVo, but you can set up many wireless adapters to be used in a fashion indistiguishable by the device from being wired. (Often called "client mode").

Well thank you very much! This I can do. Appreciate the help!

To be clear: Most TiVos will support ANY wireless adapter. I've used a variety of them over time, including my five year old Pioneer TiVo and my one year old TiVo Series 3. The TiVo HD, however, I believe, only works with the TiVo wireless adapter.

To be clear: Most TiVos will support ANY wireless adapter. I've used a variety of them over time, including my five year old Pioneer TiVo and my one year old TiVo Series 3. The TiVo HD, however, I believe, only works with the TiVo wireless adapter.If the TiVo HD can has an RJ45 jack for a wired connection, it can be connected to the type of wireless adapter that I've used in the past. There is no way that it can possibly tell the difference.

If the TiVo HD can has an RJ45 jack for a wired connection, it can be connected to the type of wireless adapter that I've used in the past. There is no way that it can possibly tell the difference.

bicker1,
You might be thinking of the deal where only the supported eSata drive will work with the TiVoHD vs. other drives working with the S3...just a thought...

Randy

bicker1,
You might be thinking of the deal where only the supported eSata drive will work with the TiVoHD vs. other drives working with the S3...just a thought...

Randy

The TiVoHD does have an RJ45 wired ethernet port.

Is everyone aware on Verizon fios you can purchase a Motorola NIM that will take the coax connection for your cable and allow you to connect to your actiontec router @ 100 megabits wired. You would need a splitter one way to your tivo box and the other to the nim which has an input for coax and output of RJ45. This device allows you to utilise the Actiontec routers abilities to push data over the coax connection (MOCA)

If the TiVo HD can has an RJ45 jack for a wired connection, it can be connected to the type of wireless adapter that I've used in the past. There is no way that it can possibly tell the difference.While I agree, I was just reporting what I remember reading. You know what they say about memory....

You might be thinking of the deal where only the supported eSata drive will work with the TiVoHD vs. other drives working with the S3...just a thought...Very likely.

Thanks for the correct, guys.

bicker1,
You might be thinking of the deal where only the supported eSata drive will work with the TiVoHD vs. other drives working with the S3...just a thought...

Randy

The distinction that isnt coming out in this discussion is USB vs Wired. As Mike said, an wireless access point connected to the Tivo via RJ45 will work fine. The Tivo, in that case, is in wired 'mode' and couldnt care less about what happens beyond the RJ45. I (and likely Bicker) assumed the poster was talking about USB Wireless adapters. Tivo only supports their branded solution on S3 and THD. I dont believe others will even be recognized as their drivers would have to be included in the Tivo software. Cant swear to it though....

Is everyone aware on Verizon fios you can purchase a Motorola NIM that will take the coax connection for your cable and allow you to connect to your actiontec router @ 100 megabits wired. You would need a splitter one way to your tivo box and the other to the nim which has an input for coax and output of RJ45. This device allows you to utilise the Actiontec routers abilities to push data over the coax connection (MOCA)I do this.

If you have multiple TiVos on FiOS and can't run ethernet cable, this is definitely the way to network them for multiroom viewing. It's much faster than wireless networking.

Is everyone aware on Verizon fios you can purchase a Motorola NIM that will take the coax connection for your cable and allow you to connect to your actiontec router @ 100 megabits wired. You would need a splitter one way to your tivo box and the other to the nim which has an input for coax and output of RJ45. This device allows you to utilise the Actiontec routers abilities to push data over the coax connection (MOCA)

Sounds good. When is Veroizon coming to my area? Probably never.

With AT&T having most of the NE Ohio Area locked up and Windstream the rest I doubt I'll ever see it here. I certainly don't know if Windstream has any plans at all for TV other then what they offer now which is E*.

We will never have true competion until these companies are allowed to "cross over" into other areas.:(

If the TiVo HD can has an RJ45 jack for a wired connection, it can be connected to the type of wireless adapter that I've used in the past. There is no way that it can possibly tell the difference.

100% correct. In fact, it's precisely how I have my S3 connected to my network at home. My S3 is wired to a Linksys WRT54Gv3 running the 3rd party firmware Tomato in WET (also known as "client bridge") mode. Works like a charm. My TTG transfers approach 12Mbps.

I've also set up my brother-in-law's S2 in a similar manner, with similar success.

I prefer this method, since as you say, the TiVo doesn't need to know what it's connected to. As far as it's concerned, it's directly connected via wired ethernet to the network.

Sounds good. When is Verizon coming to my area? Probably never.

With AT&T having most of the NE Ohio Area locked up and Windstream the rest I doubt I'll ever see it here. I certainly don't know if Windstream has any plans at all for TV other then what they offer now which is E*.

We will never have true competion until these companies are allowed to "cross over" into other areas.:(

Same here. Verizon was wiring the next town over from me for fiber, and then all of a sudden decided it wanted to sell their entire wired operational base in NH, VT and ME to this tiny rural telco (FairPoint) so they could write off $1.8Billion in taxes. Fortunately, the law makers in all three states have realized that there is NO WAY this tiny telco is gonna be able to maintain the existing infrastructure, never mind make upgrades. In fact, they only way they can afford to make this whole deal work is not give their employees a raise for 7 full years.

Hopefully, the sale won't go through, and Verizon will realize that they've made a mistake.

To all the doubters out there : CableLabs and TiVo have announced that the SDV dongle will ship in Q2 2008. LINK (http://investor.tivo.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=276754). Money quote :

The adapter will work on any Unidirectional Digital Cable Ready Product (UDCP) that has a USB connector and necessary firmware. The cable industry is working with TiVo to ensure that installation of CableCARDs and the adapter will be easy and seamless for the consumer. Cable operators will make the new adapters available for TiVo customers in the second quarter of 2008. “We are gratified that the cable industry has agreed to work quickly to develop a solution that will enable existing TiVo CableCARD DVRs to directly access switched digital cable channels and ensure the adapter is part of an easy installation process for cable subscribers,” said TiVo’s Rogers.

To all the doubters out there : CableLabs and TiVo have announced that the SDV dongle will ship in Q2 2008. LINK (http://investor.tivo.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=276754). Money quote :

excellent.

Excellent news. Now just two things to worry about. When the dongles are shipped to the cable companies, how long will it take them to realize they have them? I'm talking CSR people here.

The other question is since it's distributed thru the cable operator how much are they going to make us pork up to have this puppy. Monthly service? One time charge?

Excellent news. Now just two things to worry about. When the dongles are shipped to the cable companies, how long will it take them to realize they have them? I'm talking CSR people here.

The other question is since it's distributed thru the cable operator how much are they going to make us pork up to have this puppy. Monthly service? One time charge?

That's something I'm not wild about, another box/device the cable company will charge you monthly rent on. Of course, if my area gets SDV I may not have a choice.

Excellent news. Now just two things to worry about. When the dongles are shipped to the cable companies, how long will it take them to realize they have them? I'm talking CSR people here.

The other question is since it's distributed thru the cable operator how much are they going to make us pork up to have this puppy. Monthly service? One time charge?

As long as its cheaper than the SA8300HD backup DVR rental Im currently enduring then it wont be a problem. :)

The lead time will be the real concern. When will each cableco be in support of it and have it in stock. Im gonna start lobbying with an email to our local TWC president this evening :D

That's something I'm not wild about, another box/device the cable company will charge you monthly rent on. Of course, if my area gets SDV I may not have a choice.The simple solution to cost concerns is to ignore any offering that your cable provider makes as SDV--no charge :rolleyes:.

Whatever it costs, it'll be a whole lot less than the cost of tossing your TiVo because you find that the cable company is offering some new service as SDV that you're burning to have.

Tossing the TiVo is not an option. :)

Whatever it costs, it'll be a whole lot less than the cost of tossing your TiVo because you find that the cable company is offering some new service as SDV that you're burning to have.

Amen to that. I payed full price for my S3. My biggest fear was I was going to have to face my wife some day and say, "Honey, our S3 is not going to be usable anymore." Of course I would probably do that by sending an email to her as opposed to face to face.:D

Tossing the TiVo is not an option. :)It's not an option for me either--I'd just fume and grow increasingly bitter as they added new HD services that I yearned for (inability to access Sci Fi HD alone would gnaw away at my soul). My friends and family would shun me as I lashed out at them indiscriminately in impotent frustration.

It's not an option for me either--I'd just fume and grow increasingly bitter as they added new HD services that I yearned for (inability to access Sci Fi HD alone would gnaw away at my soul). My friends and family would shun me as I lashed out at them indiscriminately in impotent frustration.

LOL too funny because its so true.

A link to the actual press release:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/11-26-2007/0004711019&EDATE=#linktopagebottom

I'd also recommend expecting this to be offered for a small monthly charge from the service provider, probably about the same price as an additional CableCard.

A link to the actual press release:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/11-26-2007/0004711019&EDATE=#linktopagebottom

I'd also recommend expecting this to be offered for a small monthly charge from the service provider, probably about the same price as an additional CableCard.

I hope you're right on the price, with the rising costs for cable-supplied equipment I can see the cablco listing this as some "advanced technology equipment" and dinging us for $7-10 a month for the thing, I hope I'm wrong. A second CC in my Comcast area is only $1.79 per mo currently.

Well whatever the charge you can bet on one thing. In some areas it will be inexpensive, others more expensive.

I'm betting 7 bucks.

Well whatever the charge you can bet on one thing. In some areas it will be inexpensive, others more expensive.

I'm betting 7 bucks.

That's my guess as well.

I don't mind paying a total of whatever they charge for their own equipment as long as I get to keep the TiVo interface and it works!

As I've been arguing over at TCF, charging arbitrarily high fees with no relationship to actual cost of stocking and maintaining these things is just going to bring the wrath of FCC regulatory efforts down on them.

Freedom of choice in equipment is a line-item that cable could use in their marketing battle with DBS and AT&T (Verizon is CableCARD compliant). Charging huge fees for equipment that will cost them a trivial amount to buy and maintain will hurt them in the long run.

I don't mind paying a total of whatever they charge for their own equipment as long as I get to keep the TiVo interface and it works!I hate to admit it, but if they were to charge the price of an STB lease to use one of these things I'd pay--I'd grumble and write copious complaints to my franchising authority and the FCC, but I'd pay.

I don't think there's any doubt we'll all end up paying pretty much whatever they ask, depending on what channels are SDV'ed in your particular area. In my case, I don't think we'll ever see local HD broadcast channels being SDV, and right now that's all I get/want from Comcast. Once they finally add a competitive HD lineup, then I'll increase my programming and SDV will probably become an issue.

I hate to admit it, but if they were to charge the price of an STB lease to use one of these things I'd pay--I'd grumble and write copious complaints to my franchising authority and the FCC, but I'd pay.

Of course you would. Face it they got us by the ba***. Nobody in their right mind is going to go back to a cable DVR after using the S3.

This is one of the reasons why I feel that cable companies were actually "eager" to try and come up with the dongle. Cha Ching Cha Ching. Let's get another piece of those TiVo people. We'll say we were doing it to assist them.

That and the fact that they may have been looking at the FCC coming down on them.

I hate to admit it, but if they were to charge the price of an STB lease to use one of these things I'd pay--I'd grumble and write copious complaints to my franchising authority and the FCC, but I'd pay.

Me too. It would basically be a wash for me as I would get rid of an SA8300 that Im keeping as my SDV trump card once I can get hold of the tuning resolver.

My feeling is that the SDV adapter should cost no more than the Cablecards on a monthly basis.

How can someone say that a cablecard is worth $1.75/month, but an SDV dongle will cost $5/month? Isn't the dongle just a glorified A/B switch (or perhaps an A/B/C/D.... switch)? It seems to me that the Cablecard has more inherent value since it actually has to do the decoding/decryption. (But I suppose one is useless without the other if SDV is implemented in your area)...

My feeling is that the SDV adapter should cost no more than the Cablecards on a monthly basis.

How can someone say that a cablecard is worth $1.75/month, but an SDV dongle will cost $5/month? Isn't the dongle just a glorified A/B switch (or perhaps an A/B/C/D.... switch)? It seems to me that the Cablecard has more inherent value since it actually has to do the decoding/decryption. (But I suppose one is useless without the other if SDV is implemented in your area)...

Its a market based economy.... what will the customer pay. The dongle is more than an A/B switch... Its basically a cable modem with software.

As to what I would pay... a digital cable box with digital service is $8.95 here. So I would be very happy to pay that much to equip an S3 with a couple S-Cards and a dongle to have access to SDV. However, cost isnt the object in my opinion. If cost was king... id be using a POS8300. Cablecards here are 1.75 each plus 1.00 each for digital service. Now what would really torque me off is another $42.95 installation charge.

Its a market based economy.... what will the customer pay. The dongle is more than an A/B switch... Its basically a cable modem with software.

As to what I would pay... a digital cable box with digital service is $8.95 here. So I would be very happy to pay that much to equip an S3 with a couple S-Cards and a dongle to have access to SDV. However, cost isnt the object in my opinion. If cost was king... id be using a POS8300. Cablecards here are 1.75 each plus 1.00 each for digital service. Now what would really torque me off is another $42.95 installation charge.

Where I live it's anyones guess what they will charge for cable cards. The last I heard it was 1.75 for the first and 5.25 for the second. At least that's what they sent to me a few months back. However what they actually bill me is 2.00 each.

Hey, what am I going to do, call and complain?

Best scenario, Dongle for a 1 time payment at install charge which would be for me 29 bucks. Worst scenario is they charge the same for the pos which was just lowered to 6 bucks. At least that's what the paper they sent me said. You know, the same one with the cable card prices.:confused:

Well whatever the charge you can bet on one thing. In some areas it will be inexpensive, others more expensive.Yes, just like CableCards.

As I've been arguing over at TCF, charging arbitrarily high fees with no relationship to actual cost of stocking and maintaining these things is just going to bring the wrath of FCC regulatory efforts down on them.I disagree. The FCC is looking for equity, not socialism. No capitalist would price products and services at "actual cost of stocking and maintaining" -- that's a loser proposition. Rather, I believe that the FCC won't be looking for anything more extreme than value-based pricing -- something in between "actual cost" and "price gouging". That's exactly what they do with regard to CableCards. Many consumers may not be happy about it, but that's where our society is right now.

Freedom of choice in equipment is a line-item that cable could use in their marketing battle with DBS and AT&TYes, but only if the American public -- not us, but J6P -- starts caring about freedom of choice in equipment. I don't see my brothers or cousins or co-workers caring about this at all, and I don't see any indications that their feelings in that regard are going to change any time soon. I give them all the best arguments for this HDTV technology over the other, this DVR technology over the other, etc. and so on.... and all they care about is, "Which option will do the bare minimum for the lowest price."

Nobody in their right mind is going to go back to a cable DVR after using the S3.I disagree. As you know, I have both. I have had a good amount of time to develop a strong preference for one over the other. I haven't. I have what is best described as a very weak preference for the TiVo. The reality, though, is, in my actual week-to-week experience, that the TiVo fails more often than the cable company DVR. It really takes the shine off the fender when you try to watch a show and it is badly pixelated, especially when the so-called "POS" cable company DVR, fed off the exact same splitter, recorded the program perfectly. TiVo has a robustness problem, and until that's resolved (assuming it can be) it won't be the slam-dunk a lot of folks are trying to convince folks that it is.

I disagree. As you know, I have both. I have had a good amount of time to develop a strong preference for one over the other. I haven't. I have what is best described as a very weak preference for the TiVo. The reality, though, is, in my actual week-to-week experience, that the TiVo fails more often than the cable company DVR. It really takes the shine off the fender when you try to watch a show and it is badly pixelated, especially when the so-called "POS" cable company DVR, fed off the exact same splitter, recorded the program perfectly. TiVo has a robustness problem, and until that's resolved (assuming it can be) it won't be the slam-dunk a lot of folks are trying to convince folks that it is.

You see I had the exact opposite experience upon purchase of the S3.

However as usual you are entitled to your opinion.

If I had to rephrase that I would say the vast majority of S3 owners would prefer the S3 over that pos SA 8300.

Is that better?:D

I disagree. The FCC is looking for equity, not socialism. No capitalist would price products and services at "actual cost of stocking and maintaining" -- that's a loser proposition. Rather, I believe that the FCC won't be looking for anything more extreme than value-based pricing -- something in between "actual cost" and "price gouging". That's exactly what they do with regard to CableCards. Many consumers may not be happy about it, but that's where our society is right now.Who said anything about "actual cost"? I'm talking about pricing with no relationship to costs, which the FCC would forbid. For those providers who haven't wiggled out of rate regulation, FCC regs give a forumula for equipment lease; I'm sure that the forumula allows them to profit, if not dramatically so. (I'm not entirely sure if it's applicable, since it only applies to equipment used to receive the basic tier, even if it's also used to receive other services, so STBs and CableCARDs are included, but these might not be). If they get ridiculous with pricing these things, the FCC could rescind that "effective competition" rate regulation escape clause.

Another reason why I don't think that they'd charge ugly prices for this thing is that the whole reason that they created it was to keep the FCC from siding with the CEA and forcing them to support their DCR+ scheme. Providing a solution but charging a profiteering price for it is disingenuous.

I'm sure Cablevision will charge the $47 truck roll fee, heck they just raised cable cards from $1.25 to $2 plus the $5 for permium channels on 2nd outlet but if my total cost for four cable cards, two dongles is less then the $16 x 2 for two DVR boxs ($6 for box plus $10 for DVR service x 2) then I'm happy.

You see I had the exact opposite experience upon purchase of the S3.And I don't deny your experience. Like I've said elsewhere, there will be people falling on both side of my admittedly middle-of-the-road perspective. I fear, though that we'll really only see consequent changes in offerings when there are more cable subscribers reading AVS Forums than cable subscribers not reading AVS Forums. :)

Who said anything about "actual cost"? I'm talking about pricing with no relationship to costs, which the FCC would forbid.That's not correct. The FCC explicitly requires lifeline cable be affordable, a metric that has no relation to either cost or value. As a result, the FCC allows other offerings to vary from proportionality to cost.

If they get ridiculous with pricing these things, the FCC could rescind that "effective competition" rate regulation escape clause.Michael: Ask yourself why none of these things have happened. I believe your understanding of the reality is off-target. Cable pricing has been as it is for years, and the FCC hasn't taken action. This is how it is.

Another reason why I don't think that they'd charge ugly prices for this thing is that the whole reason that they created it was to keep the FCC from siding with the CEA and forcing them to support their DCR+ scheme. I agree completely.

I think people have too much faith in the FCC. Without getting political can anyone remember the last time the government made a decision that helped consumers?

Oh, and where are the people on the other side of bicker's "middle of the road" assessment of the S3? :D

I think people have too much faith in the FCC. Without getting political can anyone remember the last time the government made a decision that helped consumers?Approximately 28 years ago. :)

Oh, and where are the people on the other side of bicker's "middle of the road" assessment of the S3? :DSurely not spending time on the AVS Forum. Try the Disney forums, or the Cross-stitching forums, or budget-conscious forums like FatWallet.

I guess I am pretty much in the middle-of-the-road, myself. I like my S3 a lot, but I'm not using the things that differentiate it from the Moto box that I still have all that much. I did recently upgrade to the TiVo Desktop Plus (I think that is the name) so I can download shows to the computer then transcode them for transferring to my iPhone, but I haven't done too much of that, as yet. And coming from the ReplayTV world this is nothing too new to me. I was already a Rhapsody subscriber, so that's a cool feature, but I don't really use it that much (with the TiVo, that is) as the bulk of my music listening is done in another part of the house. I believe (hope) I will use more and more of the functionality as time goes on, so my view will probably shift. But for pure recording/time-shifting, my Moto box holds its own. And as far as interfaces go, the Moto box is better in some respects, and lacking in others. Obviously, YMMV!

Randy

I think people have too much faith in the FCC.

I dunno, when I submitted a complaint about my cableco not coughing up CableCARDs, it took about a month, but once they got the letter from the FCC, they straightened things out real quick. Personally I think a big part of the problem is there are too few people willing to complain publicly like that - they grumble and whine on message boards, but won't direct their complaints to the people who can actually *do* something. I wish more people would complain, then maybe the FCC would see it's not such a small minority having problems. Then perhaps they'd do something drastic - as it is, it seems like they do what the industry says because there's not a loud, unified voice saying how much what the industry wants sucks.

I dunno, when I submitted a complaint about my cableco not coughing up CableCARDs, it took about a month, but once they got the letter from the FCC, they straightened things out real quick. Personally I think a big part of the problem is there are too few people willing to complain publicly like that - they grumble and whine on message boards, but won't direct their complaints to the people who can actually *do* something. I wish more people would complain, then maybe the FCC would see it's not such a small minority having problems. Then perhaps they'd do something drastic - as it is, it seems like they do what the industry says because there's not a loud, unified voice saying how much what the industry wants sucks.

Yes but TiVo could have got them to do it as well (if were talking TiVo here). Maybe even faster.

Point is lobbyist have the money and special interest always wins. Remember when deregulation of cable companies was going to benefit the consumer? It hasn't benefit me at all.

I don't think you can know that, hook. How many HD channels would we have if cable companies were still regulated? How many hours of On Demand would there be? Regulation depresses the offering of innovative services.

Yes but TiVo could have got them to do it as well (if were talking TiVo here). Maybe even faster.Only because they're obligated to provide them by FCC regs.
Point is lobbyist have the money and special interest always wins. Remember when deregulation of cable companies was going to benefit the consumer? It hasn't benefit me at all.And it probably never will. Cable hasn't been stifled by regulation--it's been stifled by brilliant mismangement. Regulation is an easy target to blame.

Regulation protects people from being taken advantage of by a semi-monopoly. In the past 20 years I've lived several major US cities and a variety of apartments and condos. I have never in that time lived anywhere where I had a choice of multichannel television programming other than cable. Huge percentages of the cable providers' subscribers have no choice between them and settling for whatever they can receive over-the-air (right now, I live in a valley shadowing most of the OTA signals; antennaweb.org thinks that I should be able to receive some of them with a large directional amplified antenna--I can't get any with the unamplified Silver Sensor that I own). Without FCC advocacy in rates, I'm at the mercy of the cable company.

I have high hopes that Verizon will spread FiOS widely (AT&T's U-verse is worse than useless); when that happens there will be true competition. But they're not nearly there yet.

Regulation depresses the offering of innovative services.

How?

I don't think you can know that, hook. How many HD channels would we have if cable companies were still regulated? How many hours of On Demand would there be? Regulation depresses the offering of innovative services.

The point of deregulation was to encourage competition amongst cable companys. Don't like this company, try this one. This was the information we were told when deregulation occurred.

But cable companies set up deals with local areas so there is usually only one choice. So competition never truly existed.

In Ohio they just passed a law where now cable companies can set up a deal with the state, not local municipalities. This is suppose to again spur competition. Will it work? I wonder.

The law was heavily backed by AT&T.:rolleyes:

BTW--I'll agree with bicker's "middle-of-the-road" assessment of S3. As a DVR, it is definitely not in any large way superior to the SA8300HD running Activ Digital's Passport Echo. It has a ton of non-DVR-related features piled onto it, but it's less flexible in many ways in performing DVR tasks. For instance, I can make a "Season Pass" in Passport that says "record this program when it's scheduled on any channel on a Mondays, Wednesday or Sunday at 8 PM"--the only thing that it couldn't specify that I wanted was a time range ("scheduled to begin between times XX:XX and YY:YY"). With TiVo, you can't say "on any channel" (Passport lets you says "only channel xxx" if you want) and you sure as hell can't restrict the days. Also, TiVo lacks the very simple feature of displaying an indicator on the guide to show that an program is scheduled to be recorded. I've used several other systems for automating recording with a grid-guide and all of them had this (VideoGuide, WebTV, Passport Echo, Windows Media Center and even the horrible SARA, to name a few). I frequently browse the guide and see something that I'm interested in recording and waste my time navigating to it only to find that I've already set it up to record.

So, whereas it is an acceptably decent GUI, it's not a great GUI. It's a billion times better than SARA, but if I'd continue to live in that neighborhood where I had Passport Echo, I'd never have spent the $900 for an S3+3-years-service.

With TiVo, you can't say "on any channel" (Passport lets you says "only channel xxx" if you want) and you sure as hell can't restrict the days.TiVo refers the "record from any channel" functionality as wishlists. I have several wishlists set to record programs, regardless of channel. But you are correct, you cannot restrict the days.

I haven't used Passport in awhile, but last I did, it would not automatically record programs meeting the results of a boolean-type search, i.e. record this or that, but only if it doesn't have a certain actor, director, word in the title, or words in the description, etc. That's one of TiVo's key features. For example, a wishlist to record all presidential debates and forums from all channels:

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/tivo/wishlist3a_large.jpg
Wishlist to automatically record all presidential forums and debates

You can also create a wishlist to record all HD movies from 2007. Or a wishlist to record all games from a specific college (i.e. where simply specifying the college name isn't enough)...Or a wishlist to record just home games or just HD games of your favorite team, regardless of date, time, and channel:

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/tivo/wishlist6a_large.jpg
Wishlist to record all Wizards home games and ignore away games

Also, TiVo lacks the very simple feature of displaying an indicator on the guide to show that an program is scheduled to be recorded. I've used several other systems for automating recording with a grid-guide and all of them had this (VideoGuide, WebTV, Passport Echo and even the horrible SARA, to name a few). I frequently browse the guide and see something that I'm interested in recording and waste my time navigating to it only to find that I've already set it up to record.The Tivo does allow you to access the To Do List with one press on your universal remote. Can't do that with the default TiVo remote, though.

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/tivo/todolist.jpg

Yes, bfdtv, I realized that there are other ways of doing things within TiVo's capabilities, but a great UI is great because it lets you do things your way. Good human factors engineering studies all of the ways that people want to use a product of the class being worked on and implements as many of them as reasonably possible, even if they overlap in function. I don't need to check the To Do List if you'd simply mark entries in the guide that are currently scheduled to be recorded with a red dot or a change of background or text color. How hard is this? Is it so much to ask for when every previous guide-based recording system that I've ever encountered has done it? To me its so basic that it feels like they left the turn signals off of a car--after all, you can always stick your arm out the window.

No big--as I said, I consider TiVo to be a good GUI, just not a great one. It's overwhelmingly superior to what's available on the HD DVR offering from my cable provider right now, so it was worth the cash. If TiVo hadn't existed I suspect that I probably would have stopped recording television, or settled for however well I could do it with external tuner gadgets for my laptop.

It's the inconsistancy factor, Michael that you yourself point out. What works great for you in your old area may not work so great for someone else.

I've heard arguments both ways for Passport vs SARA.

Also another large part of it has to do with what you are use to. Being a D-TiVo user before I moved to Ohio I thought the SA 8300 (SARA) to be absolutely horrible. Search functions, reliability. TiVo was just so much better.

But then again since I never used Passport I can't really give you a good argument. You are the one with experience with both softwares.

I think people have too much faith in the FCC. Without getting political can anyone remember the last time the government made a decision that helped consumers?

Oh, and where are the people on the other side of bicker's "middle of the road" assessment of the S3? :D
When they allowed people to speak on CB radios without getting a license.

-Crackers

It's the inconsistancy factor, Michael that you yourself point out. What works great for you in your old area may not work so great for someone else.

I've heard arguments both ways for Passport vs SARA.

Also another large part of it has to do with what you are use to. Being a D-TiVo user before I moved to Ohio I thought the SA 8300 (SARA) to be absolutely horrible. Search functions, reliability. TiVo was just so much better.

But then again since I never used Passport I can't really give you a good argument. You are the one with experience with both softwares.I really quite liked Passport Echo, mostly because of my prior years of experience with TiVo Series1. It's extremely TiVo-like, with a "Saved Shows", "Scheduled Recordings" and "Series Manager" menus which directly correspond to TiVo's "Now Playing List", "To Do List" and "Season Pass" features. It even has incremental title and keyword searches. It's visually extremely slick with beautiful commercial-quality fonts, line-art and background graphics.

SARA, on the other hand is a crude POS that was obviously designed entirely by a group of programmers. Even the fonts are crude hand-made bitmaps created by someone with no art training. The whole thing has all the style and class of a high-school sophomore programming class project, done from scratch by a group of poorly motivated and untalented students. As a professional sofware engineer with long experience in UI design for production systems it offends my sensibilities. It amounts to consumer abuse--like serving up unappetizing slop in a restaurant, for which you charge premium prices.

In its defense, I suspect that SARA was never originally intended for end-user distribution--quality-wise, it reminds me of numerous "reference software platforms" that I've seen. For instance, Qualcomm distributes a complete cellphone application to people who buy its chipset products, as a set of working illustrations of how to use the RTOS and middleware packages that they also sell. It's crude, rude and ugly and nobody would ever ship it on a product, but that's not its intended purpose.

SARA, on the other hand is a crude POS that was obviously designed entirely by a group of programmers. Even the fonts are crude hand-made bitmaps created by someone with no art training. The whole thing has all the style and class of a high-school sophomore programming class project, done from scratch by a group of poorly motivated and untalented students. As a professional sofware engineer with long experience in UI design for production systems it offends my sensibilities. It amounts to consumer abuse--like serving up unappetizing slop in a restaurant, for which you charge premium prices.


This paragraph is so beautiful it almost brought tears to my eyes.:)

I don't need to check the To Do List if you'd simply mark entries in the guide that are currently scheduled to be recorded with a red dot or a change of background or text color. How hard is this? Is it so much to ask for when every previous guide-based recording system that I've ever encountered has done it? To me its so basic that it feels like they left the turn signals off of a car--after all, you can always stick your arm out the window.



This is something that has annoyed me for the last 5 years since I've been using TiVos, especially when every other DVR UI I've used has this ability. What is it about TiVo that they don't/cannot implement this feature? More of a rhetorical question, as I've never seen a reasonable answer, it's as if TiVo is just ignoring the whole possibility of implementing it. I'm convinced that there is something about their guide program, maybe hard-coded in the early days, that simply prevents it from being implemented, nothing else makes sense.

Cable hasn't been stifled by regulation--it's been stifled by brilliant mismangement. Regulation is an easy target to blame.Actually, mismanagement is an easy target to blame. The reality, though, is that actual experts rate Comcast's management very highly. Jonathan Chaplin, Jessica Reif-Cohen, Douglas Mitchelson, Richard Greenfield, F Drake Johnstone, Laura Martin, Hamilton Faber -- all rate Comcast highly. I believe them.

I have high hopes that Verizon will spread FiOS widely (AT&T's U-verse is worse than useless); when that happens there will be true competition.Don't count on it. FIOS has been offering service here for over a year and a half, and it hasn't had any impact. It's probably because FIOS is cherry-picking which homes they want to offer service to. Competition at work. :rolleyes:

How?By decreasing the incentive for companies to invest in new offerings.

Actually, mismanagement is an easy target to blame. The reality, though, is that actual experts rate Comcast's management very highly. Jonathan Chaplin, Jessica Reif-Cohen, Douglas Mitchelson, Richard Greenfield, F Drake Johnstone, Laura Martin, Hamilton Faber -- all rate Comcast highly. I believe them.I'm willing to believe it too; Comcast is the largest MSO in the nation, with nearly twice the basic subs of their nearest competitor (Time Warner--Cox and Charter are about tied, at less than half the size of TWC each). You don't get to that position with poor management. Not all of the system are nearly so well managed, though.

By decreasing the incentive for companies to invest in new offerings.

And how does regulation do that? Regulation or not company's want to bring in more subs and make more from those subs. If anything regulation would make upselling even more important.

I know interface feature requests are a frequent topic, and in addition to this, I'd like to see:

Picture in Picture with relation to the Guide. Let me search programs while still watching a live show

or

at least let the audio from a live show play while I search.

I also noticed the S3 doesn't let you scroll up and down within the to do list when you're in a program specific page. S1 (not sure about S2, though)
has this feature.




This is something that has annoyed me for the last 5 years since I've been using TiVos, especially when every other DVR UI I've used has this ability. What is it about TiVo that they don't/cannot implement this feature? More of a rhetorical question, as I've never seen a reasonable answer, it's as if TiVo is just ignoring the whole possibility of implementing it. I'm convinced that there is something about their guide program, maybe hard-coded in the early days, that simply prevents it from being implemented, nothing else makes sense.

I know interface feature requests are a frequent topic, and in addition to this, I'd like to see:

Picture in Picture with relation to the Guide. Let me search programs while still watching a live show

or

at least let the audio from a live show play while I search.



Simple solution. Press pause. Do your search, program. Press play and ff through commercial to get caught up.

TiVo's search features don't require a pip.

I also noticed the S3 doesn't let you scroll up and down within the to do list when you're in a program specific page. S1 (not sure about S2, though)
has this feature.I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean. What's a "program specific page" and how are you getting to the To Do List from it?

If you're in the Now Playing List or the To Do List and you hit either the right-arrow or SEL button to look at the information for a specific entry, hitting channel-up and channel-down will show you the information page for the previous or next entry in that list (Now Playing or To Do); if you're in Now Playing and within a folder, it will only scroll through the entries in that folder. This works fine in the To Do List in S3, if that's what you're talking about.

BTW, SCSIRAID just entered the following at TCF:
Tivo agrees to OCAP!! With a few changes.....

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6519815501TiVo is working with CableLabs on modifications to OCAP to allow them to make a model which can be switched between their GUI with DVR functionality and the provider's OCAP GUI without DVR function. It would have full access to the SDV channels using OCAP while in "TiVo mode", but you'd be able to switch to "cable mode" to use the cable provider's VOD and IPPV offerings. Sounds cool to me.

And how does regulation do that?It isn't really a matter of how, but the fact that it does, that matters in this thread.

Regulation or not company's want to bring in more subs and make more from those subs.When regulation increases the cost of doing business, it decreases ROI for every dollar invested, and that reduces the motivation for a company with regulated and non-regulated businesses to invest its available resources specifically in the regulated side of the business, and reduces the motivation of investors to invest in a company that is heavily regulated versus investing in companies that are not.

Remember that operations must compete for every dollar of available capital with every other possible profit-making use for that dollar.

TiVo is working with CableLabs on modifications to OCAP to allow them to make a model which can be switched between their GUI with DVR functionality and the provider's OCAP GUI without DVR function. It would have full access to the SDV channels using OCAP while in "TiVo mode", but you'd be able to switch to "cable mode" to use the cable provider's VOD and IPPV offerings. Sounds cool to me.

I saw that - I'm certainly glad to see that TiVo has managed to convince CableLabs that being able to control their own destiny through their interface is essential. However, given my lack of interest in impulse PPV and VOD content, long as I can get that tuning resolver before my cable operator starts deploying SDV, I think I'll be hanging onto my S3 for awhile... :)

It isn't really a matter of how, but the fact that it does, that matters in this thread.

When regulation increases the cost of doing business, it decreases ROI for every dollar invested, and that reduces the motivation for a company with regulated and non-regulated businesses to invest its available resources specifically in the regulated side of the business, and reduces the motivation of investors to invest in a company that is heavily regulated versus investing in companies that are not.

Remember that operations must compete for every dollar of available capital with every other possible profit-making use for that dollar.

That all depends on the regulation. If a company is already compliant then adding regulation doesn't add any cost. It's only if the company is abusing non-regulation that they would be affected. If that's the case I have no sympathy for them. Lack of competition is much more detrimental then any regulation.

Sounds good no matter what.

It may not require a PIP,
but it would be a nice feature option.

Just being able to hear what's going on would be helpful, say listening to the news while searching. This accomplished 2 things at once, which I think many people would benefit from.

Simple solution. Press pause. Do your search, program. Press play and ff through commercial to get caught up.

TiVo's search features don't require a pip.

That all depends on the regulation. If a company is already compliant then adding regulation doesn't add any cost.If companies are already compliant, then there isn't any point in talking about the regulation.

It's only if the company is abusing non-regulation that they would be affected. If that's the case I have no sympathy for them. Lack of competition is much more detrimental then any regulation.Sympathy is irrelevant. As I said before: regulation decreases competition. If you value competition, and want to foster it, then reduce regulation.

Gentlemen:

While I do admit the conversation in which I also posted on myself about deregulation is fascinating, it has gone quite a bit off topic in regards to the S3 and TiVo HD.

Can we get back to talking about TiVo again and perhaps you two can take this up via pm or in another thread?

Sounds good to me.

We need a Tivo Coffee House on AVS.:)

We need a Tivo Coffee House on AVS.:)What's wrong with the TiVo Coffee House at TCF? Until just recently, those forums were owned by AVS, weren't they?

Nothing's wrong with the Coffee House at TCF. Be nice if you guys used it!

From the SDV FAQ thread at TFC (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5749367#post5749367):
Light Reading has posted a list of SDV deployments in the US. No details on the number of channels that have been switched in each market, but this list gives an indication of the rapid movement to SDV. It's time for a dongle to appear. You might also notice that almost all of the listed projects are using the Scientific Atlanta platform, making that the priority for a dongle.
http://www.lightreading.com/blog.asp?blog_sectionid=419&doc_id=139512So far, TWC is the main offender, with 15 out of 23 of the SDV deployments. Of course, we've only heard about the Motorola tuning resolver prototype, when only 2 deployed SDV systems are on Moto networks :rolleyes:.

That's actually a very small amount, much less then they had predicted by end of this year. I have to question the accuracy a bit of that list. They have "Time Warner Ohio" listed. Now I'm in TW Northeast Ohio (NEO) so I know they are not talking about my area but in our local thread there is a guy in Cincinnati who checks in frequently. He has made no mention of SDV in that area.

Ohio isn't a small state so it could be Toledo or perhaps Columbus but again if there was any SDV in this state I think I would know about it.

That's actually a very small amount, much less then they had predicted by end of this year. I have to question the accuracy a bit of that list. They have "Time Warner Ohio" listed. Now I'm in TW Northeast Ohio (NEO) so I know they are not talking about my area but in our local thread there is a guy in Cincinnati who checks in frequently. He has made no mention of SDV in that area.

Ohio isn't a small state so it could be Toledo or perhaps Columbus but again if there was any SDV in this state I think I would know about it.The same site did an earlier SDV deployment snapshot 3 months ago (http://www.lightreading.com/blog.asp?blog_sectionid=419&doc_id=132254&site=cdn) and "TWC Ohio Systems" was added since then. Maybe it's only been deployed very recently and only a few channels have been added as SDV on whatever systems were effected, without fanfare.

That's actually a very small amount, much less then they had predicted by end of this year. I have to question the accuracy a bit of that list. They have "Time Warner Ohio" listed. Now I'm in TW Northeast Ohio (NEO) so I know they are not talking about my area but in our local thread there is a guy in Cincinnati who checks in frequently. He has made no mention of SDV in that area.

Ohio isn't a small state so it could be Toledo or perhaps Columbus but again if there was any SDV in this state I think I would know about it.

Brighthouse in Indianapolis has added a couple of SDV channels for some new additions to their HD lineup. It's not on that list either.

Jeff

Hey guys, I am still interested in getting tivo. Can you guys tell me what kind of shows or channels you are able to get to work with tivotogo? What about scifi and comedy?
Thanks
Mo

Hey guys, I am still interested in getting tivo. Can you guys tell me what kind of shows or channels you are able to get to work with tivotogo? What about scifi and comedy?The copy protection mode that they mark the channels with depends upon the system that you're in. They're allowed to mark anything except for core basic cable with "Copy One Generation" protection; TiVo will not transfer anything marked that way off of the DVR using TTG or MRV. (What I call "core basic cable" is the 20 or so channels that they give you for the lowest subscription price, which must include all local channel rebroadcasts, including the local DTV channels--it's often called "limited basic" or "lifeline cable service").

My local cable provider (Cox San Diego) marks the Sci Fi channel with Copy One Gen protection but there are some seemingly higher value services that are marked Copy Freely. So I can't use TTG to copy off the crappy standard definition version of Stargate: Atlantis that I record on Friday nights, but I can make copies of the crisp high-definition SG:A repeats that I record from Universal HD.