I use a Harmony remote to automate the switching of my HT, and use it for DVD's and music. But when watching Tivo I use the Tivo Glo Remote.

The only issue I've had with the Glo Remote is the battery usage when using the backlight. Since turning the backlight off it is much better.

If my Glo remote dies I wouldn't replace it with another Glo-remote, I'd just get the original Peanut remote.

I've had the S3 and Glo-Remote since last March.

I use a Harmony remote to automate the switching of my HT, and use it for DVD's and music. But when watching Tivo I use the Tivo Glo Remote.

The only issue I've had with the Glo Remote is the battery usage when using the backlight. Since turning the backlight off it is much better.

If my Glo remote dies I wouldn't replace it with another Glo-remote, I'd just get the original Peanut remote.

I've had the S3 and Glo-Remote since last March.

I'm sure there is some type of logic behind using the TiVo and Harmony Remote for you but I sure can't figure out what it is. The point of a Harmony remote is to make it simple so you can use one remote for all of your components.

The only time I can remember using the TiVo remote was when I used it for kickstart 62 when that was around for adding eSATA. Other then that, there is nothing that I can think of that I can't do with the Harmony. Matter of fact I may have been able to use the Harmony for kickstart 62 but I didn't want to take any chances on having to manuever around the menu.

I like the feel of the Peanut better than my Harmony. The Harmony is the only way my wife can watch a DVD or listen to music, but she too likes the Peanut better than the Harmony for Tivo. I am looking at a newer Harmony, I have two 676's and I really don't like the way the metal ring responds when using it for the up/down and left/right functions.

I use the peanut pretty much exclusively and have had no problems other than its appetite for batteries with the backlight on. I did order a second one for my THD downstairs and it had a bad key (volume up I believe) out of the box. TiVo replaced it and told me to just throw the bad one away. I put it on my desk so I could at least have partial function if I was sitting there and low an behold the key started working and has been working ever since.

I like the feel of the Peanut better than my Harmony. The Harmony is the only way my wife can watch a DVD or listen to music, but she too likes the Peanut better than the Harmony for Tivo. I am looking at a newer Harmony, I have two 676's and I really don't like the way the metal ring responds when using it for the up/down and left/right functions.I upgraded from my Harmony 720 to the Harmony One, otherwise known as the Harmony "peanut."

Below are some side-by-side shots comparing the Harmony One and Harmony 720. Click for larger.

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/harmony/One_vs_720/3.jpg (http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/harmony/One_vs_720/3_large.jpg)

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/harmony/One_vs_720/1.jpg (http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/harmony/One_vs_720/1_large.jpg) http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/harmony/One_vs_720/2.jpg (http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/harmony/One_vs_720/2_large.jpg)

Note the (1) white backlighting on hard buttons, (2) much larger transport controls, (3) larger menu and guide buttons; (4) color TiVo +/- buttons on LCD, (5) contoured buttons.

I use a Harmony remote to automate the switching of my HT, and use it for DVD's and music. But when watching Tivo I use the Tivo Glo Remote.
Me, too. I have had my Harmony remote for nearly four years and love it. Nevertheless, when I got my S3 about 13 months ago, I shifted to the TiVo Peanut to control my S3. I had come to love the original Peanut that came with my S1, which I bought in 2000, so it seemed to me that using its latest version to control my S3 was well worth the penalty of having to use two remotes instead of only one. I have been very pleased with this solution.

My Harmony still takes care of turning the system on and off and shifting between activities but I really prefer the Peanut to control my S3. The reason it makes such good sense in my application is that TiVo is the activity I use at least 90% of the time. The Peanut can change inputs on my TV and, of course, adjust the volume on my receiver, so it’s really all I need most of the time when I’m watching TV.

The only remote that I regularly use other than my Harmony ("for Xbox 360" model) is a Sony Playstation 3 remote. The only reason that I use the PS3 remote is that Sony, in their infinite wisdom, chose to make the PS3 controllable via Bluetooth only (the Xbox 360 wireless controllers are RF, but the multimedia remote is, sensibly, IR). If Logitech ever makes a Harmony model with PS3 Bluetooth codes, I will certainly consider it. (Recently, I've been eyeing the new Harmony One and might grab one after the price drops; they really ought to make a model with a Bluetooth-based IR repeater--similar to the 890's--that can do the PS3 remote codes).

Never particularly cared for the feel of the TiVo "peanut", but I can understand why some do. To each his own.

I split duty between my S3's Glow-Peanut and my trusty Philips Pronto TSU-1000 (still kicking after 10 years!).

The Pronto controls all of my system functions (audio/video switching, component control, lighting control, etc). It's perfect for simplifying the system, so that anyone (wife, babysitter,etc) can use it.

The peanut is for when I'm really working the remote : like watching a football game (30-sec skip, commercial skip, etc) or when I need to quickly traverse the TiVo menus. Being able to work the remote without having to look at it really speeds things up.

I saw your post last night but I didn't have any time to answer until today. I also was hoping someone else might answer this question.

I'm not sure what you want us to tell you. Didn't you get a warranty card with your TiVo? That should tell you what to do right away.

Anyway because I was curious myself I did a search on "TiVo HD" on Amazon.com and I found that apparently TiVo is not sold directly by Amazon but through Vendors. The one vendor I looked at had a 30 day money back policy, but I think TiVo itself warrantys the machine for 90 days.

If you click here (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/returns-and-refunds.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=901888&type=&token=#csTop)you should be able to go to a place where Amazon will call you. Click on the phone tab. And they do indeed call, I've used it before.

Otherwise I suppose you will contact TiVo CS and they will tell you how to exchange for another unit.

The channel-loss problem continued, but has been corrected.

My neighbor got a S3 for Christmas. It was purchased at Costco, mine from Amazon. Three times we both experienced identical channel-loss problem at the same time.

A Cox Tech supervisor spent more than 2 hours with us. He tried 3 M cards, none restored the channels. He installed S cards and the problem was immediately corrected ... for both of us.

I previously experienced about 2 failures/week. I've gone for more than 3 trouble-free weeks with the S cards.:)

Looks like the combination of TiVo, Cox, and Scientific Atlanta M card is a bad mix.

Another item of interest is that my unit responds to the remote hack to achieve the 30-second skip. My neighbor's doesn't. His hacked remote does the skip on my TiVo, but not his. Same for my remote.:confused:

I split duty between my S3's Glow-Peanut and my trusty Philips Pronto TSU-1000 (still kicking after 10 years!).

The Pronto controls all of my system functions (audio/video switching, component control, lighting control, etc). It's perfect for simplifying the system, so that anyone (wife, babysitter,etc) can use it.

The peanut is for when I'm really working the remote : like watching a football game (30-sec skip, commercial skip, etc) or when I need to quickly traverse the TiVo menus. Being able to work the remote without having to look at it really speeds things up.Thanks for the feedback everyone! I used a Harmony years ago when I was with D* and had an HR10-250. I wasn't that happy with its ease of use. I have never looked at the Harmony One and may have to investigate that one further. I am now very happy with FiOS service and the TiVo remote. Only the volume button wear out issue concerns me. I guess I will just have to see how things go.

My harmony is shaped like a peanut.:) Never even thought of that.

Another item of interest is that my unit responds to the remote hack to achieve the 30-second skip. My neighbor's doesn't. His hacked remote does the skip on my TiVo, but not his. Same for my remote.:confused:

Assuming that both remotes are set for unit 1, make sure that his unit is configured for unit 1 and not unit 2.

A Cox Tech supervisor spent more than 2 hours with us. He tried 3 M cards, none restored the channels. He installed S cards and the problem was immediately corrected ... for both of us.

I previously experienced about 2 failures/week. I've gone for more than 3 trouble-free weeks with the S cards.:)

Looks like the combination of TiVo, Cox, and Scientific Atlanta M card is a bad mix.
That’s what it sounds like to me, too. Cox OKC used S CableCARDs in both S3s I have had – the first S3 failed early but TiVo replaced it with a brand new one under warranty. Installation of the cards was something of a trial both times but I had have no serious CableCARD trouble, other than installation difficulties.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I used a Harmony years ago when I was with D* and had an HR10-250. I wasn't that happy with its ease of use. I have never looked at the Harmony One and may have to investigate that one further. I am now very happy with FiOS service and the TiVo remote. Only the volume button wear out issue concerns me. I guess I will just have to see how things go.Update: I went to Best Buy yesterday and looked at all their Harmony and MX remotes and asked a lot of questions. I went in there thinking that the Harmony 1000 was what I wanted, but when I left I decided that the Harmony ONE was what I should get. I just ordered a ONE from Amazon. Like I said, I have had Harmony before so the setup should be no problem. Looking forward to using it. It should make life much simpler. Also, it is a new toy to play with. Thanks again for all your thoughts and recommendations. AVS is great! :D

Update: I went to Best Buy yesterday and looked at all their Harmony and MX remotes and asked a lot of questions. I went in there thinking that the Harmony 1000 was what I wanted, but when I left I decided that the Harmony ONE was what I should get. I just ordered a ONE from Amazon. Like I said, I have had Harmony before so the setup should be no problem. Looking forward to using it. It should make life much simpler. Also, it is a new toy to play with. Thanks again for all your thoughts and recommendations. AVS is great! :D
My son has had a Harmony 1000 for about six months and loves it. Nevertheless, the Harmony One is cheaper than the 1000 and shows a lot of promise. I have been using my ancient 768 for four years and it has done what I have needed and done it well. So far, at least, I’m not tempted to change. Nevertheless, the beauty of the Harmony system is that once you get the hang of it with one of them, a new one shouldn’t create many problems.

My son has had a Harmony 1000 for about six months and loves it. Nevertheless, the Harmony One is cheaper than the 1000 and shows a lot of promise. I have been using my ancient 768 for four years and it has done what I have needed and done it well. So far, at least, I’m not tempted to change. Nevertheless, the beauty of the Harmony system is that once you get the hang of it with one of them, a new one shouldn’t create many problems.

Mines a 660 and I just love it. It even has a reasonable time on battery life usage, mine usually goes about 3 months before I need to change them.

Until the day comes when my cockatoo actually "nails it" and kills it....and yes I'm talking exactly what your thinking....I won't buy another.

FYI....The bird has a playground right by my recliner and sometimes he has a bit of excess discharge....yeah I know, yech. But so far he has only knicked the harmony remote and I try to keep it away from the playground when he is out. Sometimes I forget.

Mines a 660 and I just love it. It even has a reasonable time on battery life usage, mine usually goes about 3 months before I need to change them...
1. No battery problem. This model has a rechargeable battery and recharging station.
2. I just hope it will be able to EASILY mimic ALL of the TiVo functions. My old Harmony could not ... even with the learning function. The best thing about TiVo is the ease of use and its logic. I can't lose that.

1. No battery problem. This model has a rechargeable battery and recharging station.
2. I just hope it will be able to EASILY mimic ALL of the TiVo functions. My old Harmony could not ... even with the learning function. The best thing about TiVo is the ease of use and its logic. I can't lose that.

You should be able to set it up exactly like the TiVo remote. Now that may mean you have to substitute some of the buttons, but it can be done.

I myself prefer not to do that. When I want to use some specific feature that is not on the "standard input" that harmony uses I use the device key for my digital set top box. That has everything else in it but I really can't recall the last time I needed to use that.

I never had to train my harmony to mimic any feature. But perhaps there are some things that you use that I don't so I will say YMMV.:)

I've had a Harmony 880 since they launched it. It really works flawlessly for me. I just heard about the Harmony One, and it looks like a better remote than the 880. The only complaint I have is the button layout of the 880. I use it on my Tivo S3 (and previously on an S2) and my Sony DVR, and the button layout for the Play, Pause, FF, REW, buttons isn't great. I like way they set up the buttons on the "One" better - with the central Play and Pause buttons, and the FF and REW on either side of those central buttons. This is just a more intuitive layout.

I might have to "upgrade" or maybe get the "One" for my upstairs TV setup!

I've had a Harmony 880 since they launched it. It really works flawlessly for me. I just heard about the Harmony One, and it looks like a better remote than the 880. The only complaint I have is the button layout of the 880. I use it on my Tivo S3 (and previously on an S2) and my Sony DVR, and the button layout for the Play, Pause, FF, REW, buttons isn't great. I like way they set up the buttons on the "One" better - with the central Play and Pause buttons, and the FF and REW on either side of those central buttons. This is just a more intuitive layout.

I might have to "upgrade" or maybe get the "One" for my upstairs TV setup!Yeah, it was the button layout that made the difference for me. So much easier than the touchscreen or the old, traditional Harmony. I can work anything, but some of the people who use my main set cannot, so having it work easily with my TiVo is mandatory.

The TiVO remote only controls the volume and not the on/off of the A/V RCVR. I once asked a TiVo CSR why it does not control the on/off of the RCVR and he couldn't tell me. Does anyone know the answer?

The TiVO remote only controls the volume and not the on/off of the A/V RCVR. I once asked a TiVo CSR why it does not control the on/off of the RCVR and he couldn't tell me. Does anyone know the answer?

Usually when you have this happen it means that you don't quite have your remote set correctly. In other words you've got the code set to a model similar to your receiver but not the correct exact model.

Solution 1: Go back and try other codes until you find the one that turns your tv on and off, not simply turns the volume up and down.

Solution 2: You're getting a Harmony! Quit worrying about it.:)

The TiVO remote only controls the volume and not the on/off of the A/V RCVR. I once asked a TiVo CSR why it does not control the on/off of the RCVR and he couldn't tell me. Does anyone know the answer?
My TiVo remote controls the power and volume of my AV receiver. I quit using my Harmony for regular TV watching in my media room because the TiVo remote turns on the TV and Receiver and controls the volume of the receiver.

My TiVo remote controls the power and volume of my AV receiver. I quit using my Harmony for regular TV watching in my media room because the TiVo remote turns on the TV and Receiver and controls the volume of the receiver.

Although I get the drift of your post I don't understand why you quoted HilltopSailor's post. He was asking a question about the TiVo remote and you responed by talking about why you don't use your Harmony.

OK, I'm picky today.:)

Anyway in response to what you did post that may be fine for your purposes. I on the other hand have a DVD, Receiver, TiVo, XM radio, and my HDTV. The Harmony is perfect for me. One remote, easy to program, handles everything.

A couple of years ago when I was looking into the Harmony one person said there was a bit of a "learning curve" to it and I tend to agree. For some it's so simple that they pick it up with no problem. It did take me about 3 days to get use to how to use it. And when they do firmware updates that can throw a curve at you to because sometimes things get moved around a bit. I noticed that a couple of items that were on the main TiVo screen were removed the last time I updated. I can still get to them by going to the device button and hitting STB but after using it as is I found I wasn't using those buttons anyway, so in reality Harmony did me a favor.

Usually when you have this happen it means that you don't quite have your remote set correctly. In other words you've got the code set to a model similar to your receiver but not the correct exact model.

Solution 1: Go back and try other codes until you find the one that turns your tv on and off, not simply turns the volume up and down.

Solution 2: You're getting a Harmony! Quit worrying about it.:)I will restate my problem:
- I do not have a problem with the TV control so your solution will not fix my problem. It goes on/off OK.
- The problem is with the A/V RCVR which is not part of the TV. The TiVo remote does not turn the RCVR on/off. It only moves the RCVR volume.

If you haven't seen the following guide at tivo.com here is a link. If you are able to control the volume you should be able to control the power. Look at step 2 in the link where it says to repeat step 1 but now use the receiver code.

http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=08962758-a6ac-4a42-917b-8d6c4301b969

If you haven't seen the following guide at tivo.com here is a link. If you are able to control the volume you should be able to control the power. Look at step 2 in the link where it says to repeat step 1 but now use the receiver code.

http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=08962758-a6ac-4a42-917b-8d6c4301b969

:) Your link fixed the problem!!! Thank you! :)

I do not have that information in my paper Owners Guide. I also do not know why the CSR didn't know that either. Oh, well, the problem is now solved and that is the important thing.

:) Your link fixed the problem!!! Thank you! :)

I do not have that information in my paper Owners Guide. I also do not know why the CSR didn't know that either. Oh, well, the problem is now solved and that is the important thing.

Glad you got your problem solved. Sorry if I got it mixed up.

Most of the time you won't get help form a CSR on the first level. Next time ask for a level 3 tech, they probably could have helped you.

Although I get the drift of your post I don't understand why you quoted HilltopSailor's post. He was asking a question about the TiVo remote and you responed by talking about why you don't use your Harmony.

OK, I'm picky today.:)

Anyway in response to what you did post that may be fine for your purposes. I on the other hand have a DVD, Receiver, TiVo, XM radio, and my HDTV. The Harmony is perfect for me. One remote, easy to program, handles everything.

1) I quoted Hilltop Sailor because he said he couldn't control the power on his receiver. So I posted that I had done it so it was certainly possible.

2) You're off base if you don't think I love Harmony. If you read my post carefully, I said that I quit using my Harmony remote "for regular TV watching". I still use my Harmony remote for the complicated tasks like watching a BluRay on the projector. But for everyday turning on the plasma and receiver and operating the TiVo functions, IMHO, the TiVo remote is better than the Harmony because the TiVo remote does everything I need for TV watching. YMMV.

Repost..

TiVoPony (a TiVo representative) posted this update (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5974459#post5974459) earlier today:

From what I recall, TivoPony said TiVo had a "bug fix release" (paraphrase) in the works. I would expect that update this spring.Yes, I did say that. And it is still correct.

I'll apologize again to those who find that the bugs they're currently experiencing are severe. That has not been the case for the majority of customers, even those experiencing the same issue. Two people can have different views of the same situation. Everyone has their own definition of what is a showstopper, we have to go with our own and acknowledge that it may not match your personal definition.

The people who comment that there are always bugs in code are not 'making excuses' for anyone. There will always be bugs despite anyone's best efforts. And sometimes there are known bugs, bugs that beta has uncovered, and yet we have to ship with them and address them in the next release. We try to focus on the big bugs first, as you would expect.

So I'll give you some background, which will hopefully direct the discussion in a more positive direction.

The Fall release shipped when it did for a number of reasons. For one, we try not to release a major update between Thanksgiving and the Superbowl. That's the busiest time of the year by far for our support agents, throwing a new set of features out to customers on Christmas morning only exacerbates the number of calls we receive. Surprisingly, this is true even for bug fixes. People notice the software update and call. In this case we bent that rule and shipped an update to the Series3 platforms just after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas. There were bugs with identified fixes that we felt were too important to wait.

A second item forced our hand in timing this release, and that was the guide data used by all TiVo DVR's. The data format used by our provider changed at the end of October, they switched to a new method of identifying unique programs and episodes. Some of the effect could be mitigated within the service, which is why Series1 systems can continue to record reliably today without a software update. Some of the new functionality on our S2 and S3 platforms relies on handling these new program identifiers within the box...they had to have a software update in October in order to avoid a disruption in service. That was part of the .6 update.

There were other capabilities we'd committed to within the Fall release, such as Rhapsody and S3/S2 MRV. They drove the timing of the release to a lesser extent.

So, we did release software with known bugs. In fact, I haven't worked on a release in ten years at TiVo where we haven't. We subsequently got a release out to S3's that addressed some critical bugs that we considered showstoppers.

There is a new release, almost ready for delivery. No new features in this one, it's all about addressing bugs and notching performance up. We hoped to have it ready to roll the day following the Superbowl, but it's not quite done yet.

As always, I'll post a note to let everyone know when it is ready to go, and we do plan to put up a priority list at that time for those that want to move towards the front of the release schedule.

Again, thanks for your patience and your assistance as we've moved forward.

Cheers,
Pony

1) I quoted Hilltop Sailor because he said he couldn't control the power on his receiver. So I posted that I had done it so it was certainly possible.

2) You're off base if you don't think I love Harmony. If you read my post carefully, I said that I quit using my Harmony remote "for regular TV watching". I still use my Harmony remote for the complicated tasks like watching a BluRay on the projector. But for everyday turning on the plasma and receiver and operating the TiVo functions, IMHO, the TiVo remote is better than the Harmony because the TiVo remote does everything I need for TV watching. YMMV. Update: Thanks to recent postings here which really helped me, I have been able to rethink my decision to buy a Harmony One. I have canceled that order as I no longer need one. 90% of my entertainment needs are TV with the rest being music and DVD. I can now do all the TV using only the TiVo remote and I so infrequently need the other equipment that using those individual remotes does not justify the $250 cost of the Harmony. I am a Happy Camper (and a little richer ;) ).

Repost..

TiVoPony (a TiVo representative) posted this update (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5974459#post5974459) earlier today:
Thanks for the repost!

Update: Thanks to recent postings here which really helped me, I have been able to rethink my decision to buy a Harmony One. I have canceled that order as I no longer need one. 90% of my entertainment needs are TV with the rest being music and DVD. I can now do all the TV using only the TiVo remote and I so infrequently need the other equipment that using those individual remotes does not justify the $250 cost of the Harmony. I am a Happy Camper (and a little richer ;) ).

To each his own. $250.00 is a lot of money to pay for a universal remote.

Now I'm not trying to change your mind but you're still using multiple remotes even though you may only use them "occasionally." You can always get a different model Harmony for less money. But if your're happy with what you got, that's fine.:cool:

Repost..

TiVoPony (a TiVo representative) posted this update (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5974459#post5974459) earlier today:


And I'll bet they are just showering him with love over there for that.:rolleyes: I'm glad I can't get over there, it would just raise my blood pressure.

To each his own. $250.00 is a lot of money to pay for a universal remote.

Now I'm not trying to change your mind but you're still using multiple remotes even though you may only use them "occasionally." You can always get a different model Harmony for less money. But if your're happy with what you got, that's fine.:cool:

I used to have one of the older Harmony's years ago so I know what they can do. They are very good and I do recommend them for those who are thinking about buying one. I just don't need one.

And I'll bet they are just showering him with love over there for that.:rolleyes: I'm glad I can't get over there, it would just raise my blood pressure.
Hook – You are not missing anything by avoiding TCF these days. The paranoia over there has grown to toxic levels. I started to respond to the Cox OKC subscriber’s post reporting that he was having the “black screen” problem with his HD and Scientific Atlanta M CableCARDs. I decided not to respond, though, because, although I too am a Cox OKC subscriber, I have an S3, not an HD, and, obviously don’t use M cards. For whatever reason, I have had little to no problems with the black screen. The biggest reason I didn’t post there, though, is the level of nastiness at TCF, which seems to have become even worse since the last time I checked in.

Hook – You are not missing anything by avoiding TCF these days. The paranoia over there has grown to toxic levels. I started to respond to the Cox OKC subscriber’s post reporting that he was having the “black screen” problem with his HD and Scientific Atlanta M CableCARDs. I decided not to respond, though, because, although I too am a Cox OKC subscriber, I have an S3, not an HD, and, obviously don’t use M cards. For whatever reason, I have had little to no problems with the black screen. The biggest reason I didn’t post there, though, is the level of nastiness at TCF, which seems to have become even worse since the last time I checked in.


Whew... you said it!!! The '9.3' thread is bringing it all back... The 'sides' are forming... fanbois and haters all shooting at one another.

And I'll bet they are just showering him with love over there for that.:rolleyes: I'm glad I can't get over there, it would just raise my blood pressure.

I'm sure you could get back on that forum if you wanted to. I understand that around Sept. 2007, the moderators changed, but as others have pointed out, they do get kind of nasty there. This is a much more amicable forum.

2) You're off base if you don't think I love Harmony. If you read my post carefully, I said that I quit using my Harmony remote "for regular TV watching". I still use my Harmony remote for the complicated tasks like watching a BluRay on the projector. But for everyday turning on the plasma and receiver and operating the TiVo functions, IMHO, the TiVo remote is better than the Harmony because the TiVo remote does everything I need for TV watching. YMMV.The Harmony One is basically a Tivo peanut with Harmony functionality built-in, plus a color LCD.

At $250, I do agree it is pricy. I paid ~$200 for mine.

The Harmony One is basically a Tivo peanut with Harmony functionality built-in, plus a color LCD.

At $250, I do agree it is pricy. I paid ~$200 for mine.

Where'd you get yours?

if you have AV Receiver , Tivo , Tv , 360 , ipod dock etc... like i do if set up properly Harmonys are life saving granted 250 might be alot for a remote but theres alot more expensive out there hence the B&O uni remote check the price on that puppy its not just that its compatible with amlost everything its also that it keeps all the original remotes core funtions and my fav Activities one button turns on/off everthing and switches inputs for you whats not to love wether the 250 price tag is justifiable or not is really in the eyes beholder!



Just got my tivo series 3 installed about time! and i have to say i shouldve thrown my SA8300hdc out the window years ago.
Spoke to a TIVO rep about S3 and cable cards besides the fact that your still going to need 2 Mcards anyway it down converts Mcards to a single stream anyway so your better off getting 2 Scards dont really know how true that is


when will tivo ever get HDVOD at least through amazon!?

... when will tivo ever get HDVOD at least through amazon!?
I asked an Amazon Unbox or TiVo CSR ( I can't remember which) this exact question a few weeks ago and was told that HDVOD for HD movies takes too long to download so don't look for it in the foreseeable future.

HD VOD? too long to download?

I play Apple trailers right now straight from the web, Verizon FIOS 20/20.
They stream fine.

HD VOD? too long to download?

I play Apple trailers right now straight from the web, Verizon FIOS 20/20.
They stream fine.


Thats because you a Fios 20/20 connection others arent to fortunate still a 5 down TWC connect or even regular dsl ( im workin on a 10down still waiting fios hurry up!)

but then again it could just be a studio asking for crazy requirments and money to stream there new "HD" films :p

it looks like im going to have to go with a VUDU box after all even with the lackluster HD quaility hey at least its instant HD even on a 5 down connections thats a probable cuase for its less then steller HD quality instant Hd usally equates to crazy compression hense a lil loss of quailtiy in the mix

HD VOD? too long to download?

I play Apple trailers right now straight from the web, Verizon FIOS 20/20.
They stream fine.

Sorry, I don't get it. Apple trailers? In HD I suppose, correct?

That's not a whole movie though, right?

Where'd you get yours?Circuit City had them on sale for $149.99 last week. Unfortunately, they've since increased the price to $249.99.

Circuit City had them on sale for $149.99 last week. Unfortunately, they've since increased the price to $249.99.Since I decided not to get one it didn't affect me, but, yes, there seemed to be a Harmony price war between the big box stores and the internet for a short time. I saw the big sale on the internet one night and went out the next day to check things out in person at the local stores before making a decision. After the store visits, I returned to the internet to discover I had missed the sale. "He who hesitates is lost." :(

Circuit City had them on sale for $149.99 last week. Unfortunately, they've since increased the price to $249.99.

WOW. I wish I had seen that sale.

Thanks

WOW. I wish I had seen that sale.

ThanksI don't think that it was so much a sale as an error. The price was put in their computer wrong and some people managed to capitalize on it for they changed it.

I don't think that it was so much a sale as an error. The price was put in their computer wrong and some people managed to capitalize on it for they changed it.

Sale/error - it's all the same if they honor the price. :D

Getting back to the much awaited 9.3 update...

My Tivo started acting really weird tonight. It didn't record Big Brother for my wife - it recorded the wrong channel. The same thing happened with Wife Swap tonight - the wrong channel recorded. Both of these were set to record on the digital channels.

When you try changing channels to my FOX affiliate, it says "searching for cable signal", and then it switches to a home shopping channel. The analog channels do change correctly, but there is a delay while it shows the "searching for cable signal" message.

Is this the "black channel" issue? Or is this something else? I will try rebooting the Tivo at 10:00 between shows.

Any ideas??

Thanks

Getting back to the much awaited 9.3 update...

My Tivo started acting really weird tonight. It didn't record Big Brother for my wife - it recorded the wrong channel. The same thing happened with Wife Swap tonight - the wrong channel recorded. Both of these were set to record on the digital channels.

When you try changing channels to my FOX affiliate, it says "searching for cable signal", and then it switches to a home shopping channel. The analog channels do change correctly, but there is a delay while it shows the "searching for cable signal" message.

Is this the "black channel" issue? Or is this something else? I will try rebooting the Tivo at 10:00 between shows.

Any ideas??
Thanks

My first question to you is did you go to TiVo Central, Find Recordings and then to the To Do List. At the very top of the To Do List there should be a recording history and that will tell you why your shows were not recorded. Perhaps they were to far down the priority and another show was recorded.

Also I notice the name of the show is Big Brother: 'Til Death Do We Part. If you had it in there differently that would have caused it not to record. So if you set up a wishlist and just had Big Brother, it probably wouldn't record it.

I've never seen any of these other things you mention like "searching for signals." I've seen that on satellite tv but never with cable. And that makes me think that something is wrong with your cable card install.

Check your recording history first. See what that tells you.

Getting back to the much awaited 9.3 update...

My Tivo started acting really weird tonight. It didn't record Big Brother for my wife - it recorded the wrong channel. The same thing happened with Wife Swap tonight - the wrong channel recorded. Both of these were set to record on the digital channels.

When you try changing channels to my FOX affiliate, it says "searching for cable signal", and then it switches to a home shopping channel. The analog channels do change correctly, but there is a delay while it shows the "searching for cable signal" message.This can occur when your cable company does maintenance to modify their CableCard channel maps. I suspect your cable company switched some QAM channels around yesterday afternoon / evening -- which is often what they do when working to add new channels. Cable companies don't generally update the channel maps for CableCard devices (to tell which channel is on what QAM) until they are done with whatever changes they are making. Furthermore, even after they are done, there may be a brief period where the TiVo still has the old mapping information in memory.

Thanks hook and bfdtv...

It wasn't a priority list issue as hook was suggesting. The recordings showed up in the recording list as "Big Brother: Til death do us part" and "Wife Swap", but when you go to watch them, Big Brother actually recorded an hours worth of Mama's Family reruns on a network I never heard of "ion Television", I think. Wife Swap was actually a recording on "My Network TV". At least I heard of this channel.

The same behavior was happening when I just tried changing the channel to these digital channels.

I rebooted the Tivo at 10pm, and this seemed to fix it.

There was a message that there were some adds/deletes to my channel lineup today - not sure if this is related.

Thanks

Thanks hook and bfdtv...

It wasn't a priority list issue as hook was suggesting. The recordings showed up in the recording list as "Big Brother: Til death do us part" and "Wife Swap", but when you go to watch them, Big Brother actually recorded an hours worth of Mama's Family reruns on a network I never heard of "ion Television", I think. Wife Swap was actually a recording on "My Network TV". At least I heard of this channel.

The same behavior was happening when I just tried changing the channel to these digital channels.

I rebooted the Tivo at 10pm, and this seemed to fix it.

There was a message that there were some adds/deletes to my channel lineup today - not sure if this is related.

Thanks

Thanks for getting back to us. I have to be honest, this is very strange and doesn't sound like something a reboot would fix. "When in doubt reboot" is a rule I live by and maybe that worked. I would think more likely that something is going on at your cable company, maybe it was an accident or a test or something. I just can't think of a logical reason that TiVo would record on a wrong channel unless the cable company remapped the channel.

Can I ask what cable company are you with? Is it Time Warner or Comcast and was there a merge within the last year or two? And if it happens again, report it to TiVo and get a fix ticket.

Thanks for getting back to us. I have to be honest, this is very strange and doesn't sound like something a reboot would fix. "When in doubt reboot" is a rule I live by and maybe that worked. I would think more likely that something is going on at your cable company, maybe it was an accident or a test or something. I just can't think of a logical reason that TiVo would record on a wrong channel unless the cable company remapped the channel.

Can I ask what cable company are you with? Is it Time Warner or Comcast and was there a merge within the last year or two? And if it happens again, report it to TiVo and get a fix ticket.

I suspect that bfdtv might have been right about the cablecards. Is it possible that rebooting forced the cablecard to reinitialize too (and perhaps refresh its channel mappings)?

I have Charter Cable here.

What I just realized is that the "ion" channel and "my network TV" are analog channels 14 and 15 here, respectively.

I suspect that bfdtv might have been right about the cablecards. Is it possible that rebooting forced the cablecard to reinitialize too (and perhaps refresh its channel mappings)?

I have Charter Cable here.

What I just realized is that the "ion" channel and "my network TV" are analog channels 14 and 15 here, respectively.

Possibly it may have reinitialized the cable cards. Channel remapping however would require, well, channel remapping.

Anyway point is just keep an eye on it. bfdtv may be right on the money, I'm not a cable card expert. I've just never heard of that problem before.

I took delivery of a Series 3 Tivo yesterday to replace my HR10-250 Directv unit. I opted for this unit over the Comcast DVR to have the off-air feed for local channels. In my opinion the of-air feed has always produced a cleaner signal without compression artifacts.

The install was simple using all the HR10-250 cables HDMI, optical etc. minus the telco and adding the network cable. The cable people are coming Monday to add the cable cards.

I recorded Lost off-air last night and I was less than happy with the playback image. It looked softer than the HR10 and I noticed a lot of motion distortion in the jungle background.I had the unit set to 1080i that meant the unit up-converted the ABC 720p for output. This is the same setup used for the HR10.

Am I alone here, or have others experienced the same?

I recorded Lost off-air last night and I was less than happy with the playback image. It looked softer than the HR10 and I noticed a lot of motion distortion in the jungle background.I had the unit set to 1080i that meant the unit up-converted the ABC 720p for output. This is the same setup used for the HR10.All Broadcom DVRs -- including the HR10, TivoHD, Motorola, Dish and DirecTV DVRs -- downconvert 1280x720p content to ~1280x540 when set to output everything at 1080i. The differences are most obvious during motion.

The TiVo does have "native" and "hybrid" modes that will output the original 720p signal as is to your TV. Of course, when you use these modes, you've got to deal with display resync when switching between different channels with different resolutions.

The TiVo does have "native" and "hybrid" modes that will output the original 720p signal as is to your TV. Of course, when you use these modes, you've got to deal with display resync when switching between different channels with different resolutions.

Thanks! I used the native setting and it did drive my Anthem D2/G90 setup nuts during changes. I actually lost the output a couple of times and had to switch inputs to recover.I went back to 1080i.

I've had the HR10 for a long time and never noticed what I saw last night. I'll revisit all my settings on the Tivo and D2 to see if I can improve things. But, I have this sickened feeling that Tivo cheapened-out on the unit.

Thanks! I used the native setting and it did drive my Anthem D2/G90 setup nuts during changes. I actually lost the output a couple of times and had to switch inputs to recover.I went back to 1080i.

I've had the HR10 for a long time and never noticed what I saw last night. I'll revisit all my settings on the Tivo and D2 to see if I can improve things. But, I have this sickened feeling that Tivo cheapened-out on the unit.I know you 2 guys are way ahead of me in tech knowledge, but here is input from my experience: Great PQ without resetting anything after initial installation. I just turn it ON/OFF.
- TiVo Series 3 HD
- FiOS and OTA
- Native setting
- Pioneer plasma
- Yamaha A/V Rcvr

I've had the HR10 for a long time and never noticed what I saw last night. I'll revisit all my settings on the Tivo and D2 to see if I can improve things. But, I have this sickened feeling that Tivo cheapened-out on the unit.The DirecTV HR10-250 was based on the older Broadcom BCM7035. The Tivo Series3 is based on the successor to that chip -- the Broadcom BCM7038. Under Linux, the HR10's CPU is rated at "161 BogoMIPS" while the TiVo Series3 (BCM7308) is rated at "300 BogoMIPS." The BCM7038 is the same chip used in the DirecTV HR20 and Dish Network ViP622/ViP722.

The other differences between the TiVo Series3 and DirecTivo HR10-250 include: (1) much newer version of the TiVo software; (2) secondary BCM7411 MPEG-4 decoder, (3) cable tuners instead of satellite tuners, (4) CableCard receiver, (5) 256MB DDR400 memory instead of 128MB DDR266, (6) SATA interface instead of EIDE, (7) eSATA external drive support, and (8) functional 100Mbps ethernet. Said a different way, the TiVo Series3 is superior to the HR10-250 in every respect.

Much more time was spent on optimizing performance for the HR10-250's slower CPU, which is probably why we haven't seen quite the "speed" improvement that the improved specs would suggest. My understanding is that the next software update for the TivoHD and Series3 -- coming real soon now -- will address a variety of issues and significantly improve responsiveness. TiVo apparently put more emphasis on "speed" with this upcoming release (9.3?).

[QUOTE=netroamer;13191003]Thanks! I used the native setting and it did drive my Anthem D2/G90 setup nuts during changes. I actually lost the output a couple of times and had to switch inputs to recover.I went back to 1080i.

When having these issues were you using HDMI between the Tivo and the D2.

Just use the native setting. Tivo did no go "cheap" on the OTA tuner.

Thanks! I used the native setting and it did drive my Anthem D2/G90 setup nuts during changes. I actually lost the output a couple of times and had to switch inputs to recover.I went back to 1080i.

I've had the HR10 for a long time and never noticed what I saw last night. I'll revisit all my settings on the Tivo and D2 to see if I can improve things. But, I have this sickened feeling that Tivo cheapened-out on the unit.

TiVo most certainly did not "cheap out" on this unit.

I have my Series3 set to native, which feeds my Lumagen scaler, which in turn feeds my Optoma HD70 720p projector throwing an 84" image. All HDMI. Never lose a signal, never blurry, never smears.

Granted, the projector is no G90, but it throws a respectable image.

I'd take a look at what the D2 is doing to the image. Sounds like that's the culprit, IMHO.

And while we're at it it's still debatable as to whether cable "compresses signals." It would depend up on your cable company and the area where you live in.

I've heard people say they see no difference. I've heard people say they do. I don't know since I just use cable.

I'll throw my .02 cents in as well, I have my Series 3 outputting native to a DVDO VP50 scaler/processor and it's by far the best image I've ever had from my Comcast cable feed. Puts the Motorola cable STB to shame.

While I personally don't put a lot of stock in THX certification, the Series 3 is THX certified which typically doesn't equate to a "cheap out" unit.

And while we're at it it's still debatable as to whether cable "compresses signals." It would depend up on your cable company and the area where you live in.

I've heard people say they see no difference. I've heard people say they do. I don't know since I just use cable.

It's obvious to me that Comcast has cranked up the compression in certain circumstances. In my area, there are instances where Comcast has decided to cram 3 1080i HD channels into a single 6MHz slot. Ignoring any stat-muxing that's going on, they're having to cram a 19Mbps bitstream into a 12Mbps bitstream. You can clearly see the macroblocking and color depth artifacts.

Obviously, it's not the same in all areas, but I'd wager it's a fairly frequent occurrence.

When having these issues were you using HDMI between the Tivo and the D2.

Yes

This is why i finally decided to bite the bullet & jump on the Tivo bandwagon. I have Verizon Fios which doesnt use any compression, but i cannot enjoy that great uncompressed picture until i get rid of the garbage output coming from the Motorola STB. So just waiting for my Tivo HD to arrive.

Carmine.

This is why i finally decided to bite the bullet & jump on the Tivo bandwagon. I have Verizon Fios which doesnt use any compression, but i cannot enjoy that great uncompressed picture until i get rid of the garbage output coming from the Motorola STB. So just waiting for my Tivo HD to arrive.

Carmine.

So with FIOS it's the STB that compresses the signal? That doesn't make sense but I admit that I know nothing about FIOS so I will take your word for it.

I do know this: last I heard and I tried to find a thread to support this but was unable to TiVo did not support FIOS because FIOS had not gone through cable card certification. Now I usually would provide a thread to support my statement but I can't get into the TiVo Forum and further, this may no longer be true.

I also know that I've seen alot of people with FIOS complain about pixelation issues, however I wouldn't give that a great deal of weight as there are plenty of people on the TiVo forum with cable who say the same thing. I personally have never had any "major" problems with pixelation, once and a while I might see something but compared to the SA 8300 I had, it's not even worth mentioning. But I just did, didn't I?

If I had FIOS I wouldn't hesitate to get either the S3 or TiVo HD.

So with FIOS it's the STB that compresses the signal? That doesn't make sense but I admit that I know nothing about FIOS so I will take your word for it.He may be referring to the fact that Motorola STBs do not offer native output.

Or he may be referring to the fact that the latest firmware update on the FiOS Motorola degrades picture quality. With the latest software, Verizon improved the 'speed' and responsiveness of their Motorola STB/DVR, but apparently did so at the expense of picture quality.

I do know this: last I heard and I tried to find a thread to support this but was unable to TiVo did not support FIOS because FIOS had not gone through cable card certification. Now I usually would provide a thread to support my statement but I can't get into the TiVo Forum and further, this may no longer be true.Verizon FiOS is on the TiVo's list of supported providers (http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=6350AEC3-C9CE-4AB7-94C1-2A34F807919C). As a telephone company, Verizon is not a member of Cable Labs' and thus will never have that certification. Verizon uses the same Motorola CableCard equipment used by Comcast, with the recommended settings.

So with FIOS it's the STB that compresses the signal? That doesn't make sense but I admit that I know nothing about FIOS so I will take your word for it.

I do know this: last I heard and I tried to find a thread to support this but was unable to TiVo did not support FIOS because FIOS had not gone through cable card certification. Now I usually would provide a thread to support my statement but I can't get into the TiVo Forum and further, this may no longer be true.

I also know that I've seen alot of people with FIOS complain about pixelation issues, however I wouldn't give that a great deal of weight as there are plenty of people on the TiVo forum with cable who say the same thing. I personally have never had any "major" problems with pixelation, once and a while I might see something but compared to the SA 8300 I had, it's not even worth mentioning. But I just did, didn't I?

If I had FIOS I wouldn't hesitate to get either the S3 or TiVo HD.
As one of the first regular FiOS subs in SE Virginia, I have lots of history with it. The system is great and everything they say about the unbelievable PQ and reliability is true. What is not good is the HD DVR and IMG problems which are many and not soon to be fixed. I switched to TiVo and it works perfectly with FiOS. Please see my earlier post above (# 3811). As a former COX and D* sub, I can truthfully say that there is no comparison in my overall customer preference for my current FiOS/TiVO Series 3 HD combination.

I switched to TiVo and it works perfectly with FiOS. Please see my earlier post above (# 3811). As a former COX and D* sub, I can truthfully say that there is no comparison in my overall customer preference for my current FiOS/TiVO Series 3 HD combination.

I believe that I said that "If I had FIOS I wouldn't hesitate to get an S3 or a TiVo HD." I have no doubt it works well, I've seen many testimonials to it. And as I said in my post I wouldn't put to much weight into the pixelation complaints.

And I've seen every post you have wrote.

I could be wrong but I get the feeling that you are inferring by highlighting my post that perhaps FIOS and TiVo was not a good idea. If so, that is not what I was saying at all.

Just out of curiosity and I'm almost hesitant to ask, but did you ever use your S3 with Cox cable? If so, how'd that work for you?

...............
I recorded Lost off-air last night and I was less than happy with the playback image. It looked softer than the HR10 and I noticed a lot of motion distortion in the jungle background.I had the unit set to 1080i that meant the unit up-converted the ABC 720p for output. This is the same setup used for the HR10.

Am I alone here, or have others experienced the same?

I just watched the Lost episode, Eggtown, recorded OTA from ABC7 Chicago. I don't know what scenes you were talking about but I only remember two shots where the trees were in focus and there were no motion artifacts, even with the leaves blowing in the wind. All the other shots had a very shallow depth of field and the jungle vegatation was not in focus. I looked close because I saw your post before watching the episode and observed no artifacts at all in this episode. ABC even got the sound right.

It's obvious to me that Comcast has cranked up the compression in certain circumstances. In my area, there are instances where Comcast has decided to cram 3 1080i HD channels into a single 6MHz slot. Ignoring any stat-muxing that's going on, they're having to cram a 19Mbps bitstream into a 12Mbps bitstream. You can clearly see the macroblocking and color depth artifacts.

Obviously, it's not the same in all areas, but I'd wager it's a fairly frequent occurrence.
Paul, I've taken a lot of rough measurements of cable bit rates based on DVR recording sizes, and since I've had the TiVo Series3 I've been able to make some direct comparisons of cable to over-the-air. At least here in San Diego, I've found no significant difference in the bit rates of programming as broadcast over-the-air and as rebroadcast over either Cox (the provider where I lived for the past year) or Time Warner (provider for the area where I lived before Cox and in the area that I moved into this past week).

I don't think that most broadcasters use every scintilla of the potential 19.39 Mbps bandwidth for their main signal. Many dedicate 3 or 4 Mbps to subchannels, like NBC's Weather Plus or things like the defunct "The Tube". Locally, KPBS broadcasts a main channel contaning only HD content and a subchannel containing SD stuff, some of it overlapping. For whatever reason, there's a lot of variance in the average bit rates of each channel though each channel is internally consistent. Locally, the ABC affilliate used to lead the pack with average bit rates of around 17.5 Mbps; lately, the CBS affiliate, which used to average about 13 Mbps, has increased to match ABC, since they installed new equipment to support DD5.1 about a year ago. Fox, which pre-encodes to broadcast bit rates at the network level, used to average 10-11 Mbps, but has recently risen to average about 15 Mbps for primetime stuff (most of the others send a transponder stream at about 45 Mbps, which the affiliates re-encode to broadcast bit rates of their choice). The CW, NBC and KPBS all come in around 15 Mbps; all three do (or have in the past) carried SD subchannels.

When the cable companies group 3 channels together, they know that the aggregate bandwidth demand will only occasionally exceed the 39 Mbps bounds of a 6 MHz 256 QAM modulated carrier. I'm guessing that this only happens for a fraction of a second here and there; the equipment that they use is designed to rate shape only at these points when it becomes necessary.

If you ask me, excessive recompression of over-the-air signals (all broadcast and pre-recorded digital video is delivered in compressed form) constitutes editing of content by the cable provider, which regulations forbid them to do without express permission of the content provider. If your provider is doing it, you may have a valid complaint to the FCC (of course, maybe they do have express permission to f*** the PQ of the local broadcasts, but it seems doubtful).

Paul, I've taken a lot of rough measurements of cable bit rates based on DVR recording sizes, and since I've had the TiVo Series3 I've been able to make some direct comparisons of cable to over-the-air. At least here in San Diego, I've found no significant difference in the bit rates of programming as broadcast over-the-air and as rebroadcast over either Cox (the provider where I lived for the past year) or Time Warner (provider for the area where I lived before Cox and in the area that I moved into this past week).

I don't think that most broadcasters use every scintilla of the potential 19.39 Mbps bandwidth for their main signal. Many dedicate 3 or 4 Mbps to subchannels, like NBC's Weather Plus or things like the defunct "The Tube". Locally, KPBS broadcasts a main channel contaning only HD content and a subchannel containing SD stuff, some of it overlapping. For whatever reason, there's a lot of variance in the average bit rates of each channel though each channel is internally consistent. Locally, the ABC affilliate used to lead the pack with average bit rates of around 17.5 Mbps; lately, the CBS affiliate, which used to average about 13 Mbps, has increased to match ABC, since they installed new equipment to support DD5.1 about a year ago. Fox, which pre-encodes to broadcast bit rates at the network level, used to average 10-11 Mbps, but has recently risen to average about 15 Mbps for primetime stuff (most of the others send a transponder stream at about 45 Mbps, which the affiliates re-encode to broadcast bit rates of their choice). The CW, NBC and KPBS all come in around 15 Mbps; all three do (or have in the past) carried SD subchannels.

When the cable companies group 3 channels together, they know that the aggregate bandwidth demand will only occasionally exceed the 39 Mbps bounds of a 6 MHz 256 QAM modulated carrier. I'm guessing that this only happens for a fraction of a second here and there; the equipment that they use is designed to rate shape only at these points when it becomes necessary.

If you ask me, excessive recompression of over-the-air signals (all broadcast and pre-recorded digital video is delivered in compressed form) constitutes editing of content by the cable provider, which regulations forbid them to do without express permission of the content provider. If your provider is doing it, you may have a valid complaint to the FCC (of course, maybe they do have express permission to f*** the PQ of the local broadcasts, but it seems doubtful).

I think I'm going to bookmark this post. Seriously. This is the most difinitive evidence I have ever seen that cable does not compress HD channels.

Thanks michealscott for first taking the time to do the measurements and second putting this explanation into such a context that even I understood everything you said.

Sometimes you and Paul can get way over my head in your discussions.:o

I think I'm going to bookmark this post. Seriously. This is the most difinitive evidence I have ever seen that cable does not compress HD channels.Well, it's not proof that no one is doing it anywhere, just that it doesn't seem to be being done by either cable service provider in my area.

Well, it's not proof that no one is doing it anywhere, just that it doesn't seem to be being done by either cable service provider in my area.

True, however you also said this:

If you ask me, excessive recompression of over-the-air signals (all broadcast and pre-recorded digital video is delivered in compressed form) constitutes editing of content by the cable provider, which regulations forbid them to do without express permission of the content provider. If your provider is doing it, you may have a valid complaint to the FCC (of course, maybe they do have express permission to f*** the PQ of the local broadcasts, but it seems doubtful).

Now I know that's basically an opinion but I see the point of complaint to the FCC as something that a cable company would want to avoid. Although the majority of customers are probably less knowledgeable about these things then myself there is always a couple of guys like you out there. Certainly they would be wise to avoid compression as someone may make a case out of it.

I just watched the Lost episode, Eggtown, recorded OTA from ABC7 Chicago. I don't know what scenes you were talking about but I only remember two shots where the trees were in focus and there were no motion artifacts, even with the leaves blowing in the wind. All the other shots had a very shallow depth of field and the jungle vegatation was not in focus. I looked close because I saw your post before watching the episode and observed no artifacts at all in this episode. ABC even got the sound right.

That was the same segment/station I recorded. I already erased it. I made some minor tweaks to my D2 video processing menu. I'll check out some new recordings in the next few days.

I noticed that TIVO downloaded a bunch of instructional packages, do they have a test pattern package you can request. On DirecTV, the HD network broadcast a test pattern package lasting about 5 minutes every week or so. It did help me tweak the the image in my D2.

I noticed that TIVO downloaded a bunch of instructional packages, do they have a test pattern package you can request. On DirecTV, the HD network broadcast a test pattern package lasting about 5 minutes every week or so. It did help me tweak the the image in my D2.


No, but you can get one on HDnet. Set your TiVo to record March 1, 6:30 am eastern. I recorded it once and just keep it, it's about 10 minutes long.

No, but you can get one on HDnet. Set your TiVo to record March 1, 6:30 am eastern. I recorded it once and just keep it, it's about 10 minutes long.

Thanks, but I checked my Comcast HDTV channel lineup and HD net is not one that is listed. Does your cable provider carry it?

I believe that I said that "If I had FIOS I wouldn't hesitate to get an S3 or a TiVo HD." I have no doubt it works well, I've seen many testimonials to it. And as I said in my post I wouldn't put to much weight into the pixelation complaints.

And I've seen every post you have wrote.

I could be wrong but I get the feeling that you are inferring by highlighting my post that perhaps FIOS and TiVo was not a good idea. If so, that is not what I was saying at all.

Just out of curiosity and I'm almost hesitant to ask, but did you ever use your S3 with Cox cable? If so, how'd that work for you?No harm, no foul. I was confused about your post. To be truthful, I really couldn't understand which position you were taking. One end of the entry seemed to be positive and the other negative so I wrote mine just to restate my position for all to see. No hard feelings I hope. :)

I gave up on Cox a long time ago. Most of my friends still have Cox with various setups and none are up to D* or FiOS standards. D* was good (I used an HR10-250), but not as good as FiOS with the S3.

Paul, I've taken a lot of rough measurements of cable bit rates based on DVR recording sizes, and since I've had the TiVo Series3 I've been able to make some direct comparisons of cable to over-the-air. At least here in San Diego, I've found no significant difference in the bit rates of programming as broadcast over-the-air and as rebroadcast over either Cox (the provider where I lived for the past year) or Time Warner (provider for the area where I lived before Cox and in the area that I moved into this past week).

I don't think that most broadcasters use every scintilla of the potential 19.39 Mbps bandwidth for their main signal. Many dedicate 3 or 4 Mbps to subchannels, like NBC's Weather Plus or things like the defunct "The Tube". Locally, KPBS broadcasts a main channel contaning only HD content and a subchannel containing SD stuff, some of it overlapping. For whatever reason, there's a lot of variance in the average bit rates of each channel though each channel is internally consistent. Locally, the ABC affilliate used to lead the pack with average bit rates of around 17.5 Mbps; lately, the CBS affiliate, which used to average about 13 Mbps, has increased to match ABC, since they installed new equipment to support DD5.1 about a year ago. Fox, which pre-encodes to broadcast bit rates at the network level, used to average 10-11 Mbps, but has recently risen to average about 15 Mbps for primetime stuff (most of the others send a transponder stream at about 45 Mbps, which the affiliates re-encode to broadcast bit rates of their choice). The CW, NBC and KPBS all come in around 15 Mbps; all three do (or have in the past) carried SD subchannels.

When the cable companies group 3 channels together, they know that the aggregate bandwidth demand will only occasionally exceed the 39 Mbps bounds of a 6 MHz 256 QAM modulated carrier. I'm guessing that this only happens for a fraction of a second here and there; the equipment that they use is designed to rate shape only at these points when it becomes necessary.

If you ask me, excessive recompression of over-the-air signals (all broadcast and pre-recorded digital video is delivered in compressed form) constitutes editing of content by the cable provider, which regulations forbid them to do without express permission of the content provider. If your provider is doing it, you may have a valid complaint to the FCC (of course, maybe they do have express permission to f*** the PQ of the local broadcasts, but it seems doubtful).

The following links and thread speak directly to what cable companies are looking at and specifically what Comcast is working on.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13199249#post13199249

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=993962

No harm, no foul. I was confused about your post. To be truthful, I really couldn't understand which position you were taking. One end of the entry seemed to be positive and the other negative so I wrote mine just to restate my position for all to see. No hard feelings I hope. :)

I gave up on Cox a long time ago. Most of my friends still have Cox with various setups and none are up to D* or FiOS standards. D* was good (I used an HR10-250), but not as good as FiOS with the S3.


No hard feelings at all. Again I think FIOS and the S3 are a good combo, I agree.

To bad you never had the chance to compare FIOS with cable and the S3. I'm sure there are people who have and switched from cable to FIOS.

The following links and thread speak directly to what cable companies are looking at and specifically what Comcast is working on.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13199249#post13199249

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=993962Ugh. My theory that you might be able to complain to the FCC about gross over-compression on the grounds that it constitutes unauthorized editing of the content only applies to rebroadcasts of over-the-air transmissions. They can legally mung up everything else that they buy to their heart's content, subject only to subscriber tolerance, which is likely to be generally high. HDTV is impressing and attracting more and more consumers these days, but "HD Lite" is likely to be equally impressive to most.

Cable is facing increasing competition from the telcos and IPTV, etc. Hopefully this will eventually lead to the availability of some source of serial television of a quality that will please the type of A/V-ophile who reads and posts on AVS Forum, though we may have to pay a premium for it.

A thought just occurred to me and I don't mean this to be taken as an insult or anything like that so let me start by saying that.

I'm sure you've heard the term "tivo fanboy" which I admit to being. I pretty much defend TiVo all the time, and it's easy for me to do because most negative comments are either from people who are too fussy or complaining about some little bug or what not.

As I've said I've read every post Hilltop Sailor has made in this forum anyway, and I would now say that he is officially the first "FIOS fanboy". Nothing wrong with that, you have a product you love and you're proud of how good it is.

I doubt it will stick but you never know.;) Anyway you love you're S3 so you're OK in my book.

He may be referring to the fact that Motorola STBs do not offer native output.

That's exactly what i was referring to. The STB doesn't compress the signal, it just does not output a pure unscaled image to my TV. The latest IMG definately messed with the processing of the signal, which in-turn looks like garbage when output on my TV.

Thanks, but I checked my Comcast HDTV channel lineup and HD net is not one that is listed. Does your cable provider carry it?

In my post I said I recorded it once and kept it so I think that would be a pretty good indicator that it's in my line up. However it's on the "higher tier" HD channels.;)

That's exactly what i was referring to. The STB doesn't compress the signal, it just does not output a pure unscaled image to my TV. The latest IMG definately messed with the processing of the signal, which in-turn looks like garbage when output on my TV.

So FIOS is a great product so long as you don't use their DVR.

And when exactly are they going to get past the "one HD signal" at a time issue?

Hilltop Sailor will be responding shortly.:D

Ugh. My theory that you might be able to complain to the FCC about gross over-compression on the grounds that it constitutes unauthorized editing of the content only applies to rebroadcasts of over-the-air transmissions. They can legally mung up everything else that they buy to their heart's content, subject only to subscriber tolerance, which is likely to be generally high. HDTV is impressing and attracting more and more consumers these days, but "HD Lite" is likely to be equally impressive to most.

Cable is facing increasing competition from the telcos and IPTV, etc. Hopefully this will eventually lead to the availability of some source of serial television of a quality that will please the type of A/V-ophile who reads and posts on AVS Forum, though we may have to pay a premium for it.

Yes, while it appears the above linked methods can increase channel count without detriment to the image quality, too much anyways, it still isn't the same as an untouched pass-through to the end user. Close, with the stat-muxing techniques being used, but still, some compromises are being made I'm sure.

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that the gap between optical sourced HD(Blu-Ray) and HD-TV image quality is getting larger, and as far as HD providers it's just a matter of who does it the best(or least damage), none of them being perfect, or as good as optical disc.

I can remember not watching analog TV because DVDs were so much better, then, not watching DVDs as much because HDTV was better, now I find the pendulum is swinging again, to optical HD disc, and I doubt it will ever swing back. For much content, there simply isn't any other source, especially sports, but I haven't watched a popular film on HDTV for a few years now, preferring the HD optical format instead.

So FIOS is a great product so long as you don't use their DVR.

And when exactly are they going to get past the "one HD signal" at a time issue?

Hilltop Sailor will be responding shortly.:D

The 'one HD at a time' issue is AT&T's UVerse.... not FIOS.

Quick question for all of you (not sure if it's been answered as I only quickly glanced through the thread).

I just purchased a TIVO HD from Amazon and had Comcast install a Cable Card M Series this morning. Everything seemed fine until I noticed that there a strong buzzing sound from the right side of my TV speaker (I have a 46" XBR4) whenever I change the channel.

At first I thought it was a poor HDMI cable that the installer gave us but switching between the two I use for my HD DVD and Blu-Ray players gave the same error.

Any idea on this? Thanks!

The TiVo might be improperly detecting your TV as Dolby Digital capable. By default, the TiVo looks for Dolby Digital, and most displays do not support that.

Go to Settings and change the audio output to PCM. See if that eliminates the issue.

So FIOS is a great product so long as you don't use their DVR.

And when exactly are they going to get past the "one HD signal" at a time issue?

Hilltop Sailor will be responding shortly.:DFiOS TV is great until it leaves the wall outlet. I'm not impressed with their STB's. The FiOS DVR software reminds me of BMW I-Drive.

The TiVo might be improperly detecting your TV as Dolby Digital capable. By default, the TiVo looks for Dolby Digital, and most displays do not support that.

Go to Settings and change the audio output to PCM. See if that eliminates the issue.

Thanks man! That fixed the problem fine! :)

Just a note for those who haven't talked with a TiVo CSR recently: One can now transfer 'lifetime' contracts from an old TiVo and/or purchase new ones. I did. It is against company policy to cancel a 'lifetime' contract. Even if you have thrown the old 'lifetime contract' TiVo in the trash it will still appear as 'active' on their records and the CSR will ask you "Which TiVo are we talking about?" when you call. Please don't ask me to elaborate or explain as it is complicated/confusing (for me at least). If interested, call TiVo.

Paul, I've taken a lot of rough measurements of cable bit rates based on DVR recording sizes, and since I've had the TiVo Series3 I've been able to make some direct comparisons of cable to over-the-air. At least here in San Diego, I've found no significant difference in the bit rates of programming as broadcast over-the-air and as rebroadcast over either Cox (the provider where I lived for the past year) or Time Warner (provider for the area where I lived before Cox and in the area that I moved into this past week).

No doubt. This is the frustrating thing about trying to characterize what cableco's do across the country, is that there isn't one template that works across the board. Every region has their own variances, which only complicates things. Each area can potentially have their own available bandwith, based upon the plant hardware, which could allow anywhere from 750MHz to 1.0GHz of bandwidth, and therefore dictates exactly any number of scenarios involving channel availability, compression, stat-muxing, and so on. There's no one answer for all problems, and makes it difficult to compare results between regions. There's just too many deltas...


When the cable companies group 3 channels together, they know that the aggregate bandwidth demand will only occasionally exceed the 39 Mbps bounds of a 6 MHz 256 QAM modulated carrier. I'm guessing that this only happens for a fraction of a second here and there; the equipment that they use is designed to rate shape only at these points when it becomes necessary.

Somewhat agreed, depending upon what channels they've decided to triple-up. 720p stuff tends to have lower average bitrates than 1080i stuff, so you'd think they'd choose those types of channels to aggregate. But guess what, you'd be wrong (at least in my area). In my area, they're bundling sets of three 1080i channels. In one instance, it's HBO-HD, Starz-HD, and another one. You can clearly tell the signal's messed up in high bitrate situations (motion, scene changes, etc).

Any time you mess with a signal, whether to rate shape, transcode, or what have you, you're gonna get signal degradation. Perhaps I'm more sensitive to it now that I've upgraded to a much larger front-projection set up. Now, it's clear when they're messing with the signal.


If you ask me, excessive recompression of over-the-air signals (all broadcast and pre-recorded digital video is delivered in compressed form) constitutes editing of content by the cable provider, which regulations forbid them to do without express permission of the content provider. If your provider is doing it, you may have a valid complaint to the FCC (of course, maybe they do have express permission to f*** the PQ of the local broadcasts, but it seems doubtful).

I know I'm late on this part of the conversation, but as you've found out, your argument only hold water with broadcasters, since they've been granted free use of spectrum by the government. The cable and satellite guys play by different rules than the broadcasters since they're not really utilizing a public resource.

I know I'm late on this part of the conversation, but as you've found out, your argument only hold water with broadcasters, since they've been granted free use of spectrum by the government. The cable and satellite guys play by different rules than the broadcasters since they're not really utilizing a public resource.No--I speak specifically of rules for cable companies. They aren't allowed to edit the content of a broadcast without permission. Unfortunately, those rules only pertain to rebroadcast of over-the-air content.

HDTV is impressing and attracting more and more consumers these days, but "HD Lite" is likely to be equally impressive to most.This is a very critical fact (one that many folks seem to overlook too often).

Cable is facing increasing competition from the telcos and IPTV, etc.This is one of the reasons that DirecTV's recent "100 HD channels" push was so destructive: It turned the focus of the customer-base even further away from quality, towards quantity.

This is a very critical fact (one that many folks seem to overlook too often).

This is one of the reasons that DirecTV's recent "100 HD channels" push was so destructive: It turned the focus of the customer-base even further away from quality, towards quantity.


This is no surprise.
I have FIOS and so far they have been reluctant to over compress their signals. But I don't know how long that will last as most other providers increase their HD offerings.

This is no surprise.
I have FIOS and so far they have been reluctant to over compress their signals. But I don't know how long that will last as most other providers increase their HD offerings.

Again I don't know much about FIOS but I think trying to make a comparison of FIOS with Cable is apples and oranges. FIOS as I understand it is able to carry much more in the way of digital signal then cable.

This is one of the reasons that DirecTV's recent "100 HD channels" push was so destructive: It turned the focus of the customer-base even further away from quality, towards quantity.

Oh God, hell is going to freeze over.

I find myself agreeing with bicker more and more often.:D You're absolutely right, no matter how many HD channels you put out there if there is no true HD programming, or for that matter programming worth watching then how many HD channels you have really isn't that important. But even I have to admit that I get caught up in all of the HD channels that D* offers.

Thanks for the reminder.

Any time you mess with a signal, whether to rate shape, transcode, or what have you, you're gonna get signal degradation. Perhaps I'm more sensitive to it now that I've upgraded to a much larger front-projection set up. Now, it's clear when they're messing with the signal.I just thought of something. Do you live in an area where you can get any of the channels that you think that your cable provider is severely re-compressing over the air? If so, and if you have an antenna that you can tune them with, you can confirm your fears. Just set up your Series3 or HD to record the same program from two different channels, one being over-the-air and the other being the cable rebroadcast of it. You can both compare the recording sizes to detect really gross compression (if, say, the cable version is 10% smaller) and you can find points of bad artfacting in the cable version and visually compare them to what you see in the OTA one.

The 'one HD at a time' issue is AT&T's UVerse.... not FIOS.

Add to that that U-Verse is IPTV and cannot be used with the S3. That's a deal breaker for me.

In my area we don't have Verizon (only Verizon mobile). Therefore no Fios. U-Verse is now becoming available, but it's IPTV.

I'm stuck with Comcrap Cable or if I'm willing to give up my TiVos, U-Verse may be an option when thay are capable of carrying more than one HD Channel at a time.

I just thought of something. Do you live in an area where you can get any of the channels that you think that your cable provider is severely re-compressing over the air? If so, and if you have an antenna that you can tune them with, you can confirm your fears. Just set up your Series3 or HD to record the same program from two different channels, one being over-the-air and the other being the cable rebroadcast of it. You can both compare the recording sizes to detect really gross compression (if, say, the cable version is 10% smaller) and you can find points of bad artifacting in the cable version and visually compare them to what you see in the OTA one.

Yes, it certainly would be possible to do that. Although, I'm about 40-45 miles way from all of the Boston towers. They're all transmitted from two towers that are essentially co-located, so pointing an antenna would be especially easy.

However, the distance and topology between me and the towers makes things problematic enough to not make it worth my while. Additionally, I don't have sufficient enough antenna gear on hand to be able to slap something together and run the test. I'd have to go out an buy a rig, and while not terribly expensive, would be enough to make the wife get a bit pissed.

Another thing getting in the way of your perfectly reasonable test scenario is that Comcast has chosen to NOT triple-bundle the locals channels in a probably signal degrading fashion.

So, yeah, I could it, and the test would likely resolve a lot of questions about my particular scenario, but not the greater Comcast-wide ones.

I recently upgraded to a Tivo Series 3 HD using Comcast as my provider from my old DirecTV HR10-250 HD which was damaged from nearby lightning strike.

I like this new unit and was wondering if anyone has had sucess using another eSATA unit then the 500GB My DVR Expander that is officially supported by Tivo? I want to increase my Tivo's capacity but why be limited to just 500GB.

I'm also wondering about the quality settings. The higher the setting the less hours available. There is a note that the settings don't apply to digital channels... does this mean that all digital and HD material defaults to just one quality setting? I'm curious how it works.

Well I have 125+ pages of this thread to process. I'm glad I have this unit I much prefer it to the SA Explorer 8300HD that I'm using in my bedroom.

I'm also wondering about the quality settings. The higher the setting the less hours available. There is a note that the settings don't apply to digital channels... does this mean that all digital and HD material defaults to just one quality setting? I'm curious how it works.


On digital channels, it simply records the bitstream...there is no processing, so no real chance to change the quality. On analog channels, it has to convert the signal to digital, so it gives you some control on what kind of tradeoff you want to make with regard to quality/file size...

Hope that helps...

Randy

I like this new unit and was wondering if anyone has had sucess using another eSATA unit then the 500GB My DVR Expander that is officially supported by Tivo? I want to increase my Tivo's capacity but why be limited to just 500GB.



The only plug and play solution for the Tivo HD is the MyDVR Expander. If you are willing to remove the drive from your Tivo there are tools to add a larger internal drive or external drive(or both) to the Tivo HD. The 1st post in this thread at TivoCommunity has the info you need to do this.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784

I just found out recently that my cable company, Time Warner and probably others takes the analog signal from the cable company on local stations and upgrades it to digital. I often wondered why the digital channels looked inferior to the other analog channels.

Apparently the analog signal is sent directly to a hub at the cable company which then coverts it to digital. This will continue to happen even after the digital conversion law goes in to effect. That is how people with cable will still get analog signals without having a STB.

I would rather have my S3 do the conversion and I'm thinking about using the analog channels now as opposed to the cable company upgraded didgital. The analog channels are available, they are just located in a different area on the channel guide.

Just a note for those who haven't talked with a TiVo CSR recently: One can now transfer 'lifetime' contracts from an old TiVo and/or purchase new ones. I did. It is against company policy to cancel a 'lifetime' contract. Even if you have thrown the old 'lifetime contract' TiVo in the trash it will still appear as 'active' on their records and the CSR will ask you "Which TiVo are we talking about?" when you call. Please don't ask me to elaborate or explain as it is complicated/confusing (for me at least). If interested, call TiVo.

Does anyone know if TiVo will transfer a D* TiVo Lifetime Subscription to a Series 3 TiVo to be used with a CableCo?

They will not do such a transfer.

I just found out recently that my cable company, Time Warner and probably others takes the analog signal from the cable company on local stations and upgrades it to digital. I often wondered why the digital channels looked inferior to the other analog channels.

Apparently the analog signal is sent directly to a hub at the cable company which then coverts it to digital. This will continue to happen even after the digital conversion law goes in to effect. That is how people with cable will still get analog signals without having a STB.

I would rather have my S3 do the conversion and I'm thinking about using the analog channels now as opposed to the cable company upgraded didgital. The analog channels are available, they are just located in a different area on the channel guide.

This is a double=edged sword, if they send the analog signal all the way to the S3, then bandwidth gets used up that could be used for more HD channels and other services.

Not all cable companies are going to eliminate analog all together, some will continue to provide a basic 30 or so channels until maybe 2010-2012 or so.

Comcast is already working on getting a digital terminal adapter created and approved by the FCC as a way to provide an analog signal to non-digital TVs from a full digital cable feed. I also believe it will provide an "out" for Comcast regarding the "all-digital or continue to provide analog" ruling from the FCC.

There's a thread in the HDTV forum discussing this.

This is a double=edged sword, if they send the analog signal all the way to the S3, then bandwidth gets used up that could be used for more HD channels and other services.

Not all cable companies are going to eliminate analog all together, some will continue to provide a basic 30 or so channels until maybe 2010-2012 or so.

Comcast is already working on getting a digital terminal adapter created and approved by the FCC as a way to provide an analog signal to non-digital TVs from a full digital cable feed. I also believe it will provide an "out" for Comcast regarding the "all-digital or continue to provide analog" ruling from the FCC.

There's a thread in the HDTV forum discussing this.


Actually Comcast has the right idea. It seems to me like this is not only a waste of bandwith but it deprives those of us who do have digital/hd channels of getting a true digital picture. Now I want to be clear, I'm talking just about the digital channel not the HD channel.

But my cable company has decided to go this route of analog hub and converted digital for locals. That way people without boxes can still just plug in from the wall to get their programming.

I don't know where you get the 2010-2012 idea for elimination of analog from cable. Did you see this somewhere and if so, do you have a link? Also is that strictly a Comcast idea?

I think it's a great idea for them to do something like that. I just don't see that happening in my area.

Edited to add: The reason it won't happen over here is that it's cheaper for TW to change the signal at the hub then to give out some type of converter device. Still, what a waste of bandwith.

Actually Comcast has the right idea. It seems to me like this is not only a waste of bandwith but it deprives those of us who do have digital/hd channels of getting a true digital picture. Now I want to be clear, I'm talking just about the digital channel not the HD channel.

But my cable company has decided to go this route of analog hub and converted digital for locals. That way people without boxes can still just plug in from the wall to get their programming.

I don't know where you get the 2010-2012 idea for elimination of analog from cable. Did you see this somewhere and if so, do you have a link? Also is that strictly a Comcast idea?

I think it's a great idea for them to do something like that. I just don't see that happening in my area.

Edited to add: The reason it won't happen over here is that it's cheaper for TW to change the signal at the hub then to give out some type of converter device. Still, what a waste of bandwith.

I'll have to find the specific FCC info, but basically it says, if you aren't full digital by a specific date then you'll be required to provide analog until a specified date, 2010-2012 is just a guess, it's somewhere around that time period though.

Comcast's plan, I think, is to show the FCC that they can go full digital anytime with the the use of a DTA, this will allow them to waiver-out of the analog requirement, even though in reality they are still providing analog signals to subs from the headend.

Personally, I'd like to see Comcast go full digital, but being the largest cableco in the country, with maybe about 35-45% of their subs still analog only, even the DTA, at an estimated $35 cost, will run the company about $500 million.

An important consideration is the fact that a lot of analog subs are that way for a specific reason, they don't want any boxes/adapters/etc to deal with. Once you introduce a provider piece of equipment into the premises, then all the other providers, with their STBs and maybe better programming deals, become a viable option for those folks. If they're going to have to have equipment in the home, they'll want the best deal they can get from whoever can give it to them, cable will no longer have that "captive" customer pool.

Some may even opt to just go OTA with a free couple of converters from the government and save the cost of a monthly subscription cost. I would guess that a lot of those analog only subs are that way because they're primarily interested in the local channels and the plug-in-the-wall-and-it-works option was easy with cable.

I never heard about the "all-digital" thing. What I'd read was that the FCC was requiring that the cable systems continue to carry over-the-air stuff in analog form (even though it's being transmitted in digital) for 4 or 5 years post-DTV-transition, in order to avoid rendering the legacy equipment owned by cable subscribers immediately obsolete. I didn't think that there was any "out" from doing that, other than perhaps a low-bandwidth-capacity escape clause (i.e., it only affects cable systems with a total capacity of 750 MHz or better).

In most areas, this is only some 6 or 7 channels; many places only 3 to 5. A significant chunk of bandwidth, but not crippling.

Does anyone know if TiVo will transfer a D* TiVo Lifetime Subscription to a Series 3 TiVo to be used with a CableCo?TiVo did it for me with FiOS (+ one time surcharge): Used an old HR10-250 contract under D* to a new S3HD under FiOS. Now, like I said, it was confusing and this may have been a limited time offer. The first TiVo people I talked to didn't mention the transfer option and didn't know about it. It was one of the later guys that asked me if I wanted to do it. It also took the old TiVo (that I threw away a long time ago when I moved to FiOS) completely off their records so now they know I only have one of them.

I never heard about the "all-digital" thing. What I'd read was that the FCC was requiring that the cable systems continue to carry over-the-air stuff in analog form (even though it's being transmitted in digital) for 4 or 5 years post-DTV-transition, in order to avoid rendering the legacy equipment owned by cable subscribers immediately obsolete. I didn't think that there was any "out" from doing that, other than perhaps a low-bandwidth-capacity escape clause (i.e., it only affects cable systems with a total capacity of 750 MHz or better).

In most areas, this is only some 6 or 7 channels; many places only 3 to 5. A significant chunk of bandwidth, but not crippling.
Try this link, pretty sure it covers it. There's a 20% figure that comes into play somewhere, but I don't recall how/where it applies.

http://www.telecomlawblog.com/cable-fcc-adopts-postdigital-transition-mustcarry-rules-extends-ban-on-exclusive-programming-contracts-and-opens-inquiry-into-tying-agreements.html

The underlined portion of the 2nd paragraph is where I believe Comcast is hoping to get a waiver by having the DTA(digital terminal adapter) device.

With the ongoing transition to digital broadcasting, in order to ensure that cable subscribers without digital televisions or set-top boxes would not lose their ability to view local television signals, many cable operators whose systems were not all-digital already had begun carrying both the analog and digital signals of the most popular broadcast stations. These operators had been planning to continue such carriage after the 2009 digital transition.

However, cable operators opposed the FCC’s proposed dual-carriage mandate, preferring instead to carry both analog and digital signals voluntarily according to marketplace demand; the cable industry already had reached a dual-carriage agreement with non-commercial broadcasters. In contrast, commercial broadcasters argued that a federal mandate was necessary to ensure that their signals would remain viewable to all cable subscribers after the digital transition.

Digital Terminal Adapter
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=146733&page_number=2

I like this new unit and was wondering if anyone has had sucess using another eSATA unit then the 500GB My DVR Expander that is officially supported by Tivo? I want to increase my Tivo's capacity but why be limited to just 500GB.

With the Series3, you can use any eSATA gear you'd like. Plenty of folks (me, included) have had luck with the Antec MX-1 eSATA enclosure and a drive of their choice. That particular enclosure has a fan to keep the drive cooler.

With the TiVoHD, you MUST use a TiVo approved expansion drive. Right now, there is exactly one approved solution : The Western Digital 500 GB My DVR Expander. Read all about it HERE (http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/domore/storage/index.html).

Why the approved list ? TiVo's just trying to cover their bases. They'd rather not have people hooking up all sorts of random stuff, and have some of them suffer data loss, and start calling and complaining. This way, they can ensure that they've got their customers using a quality product.


I'm also wondering about the quality settings. The higher the setting the less hours available. There is a note that the settings don't apply to digital channels... does this mean that all digital and HD material defaults to just one quality setting? I'm curious how it works.

As the others have noted, the quality settings only pertain to analog channels. You're actually telling the MPEG-2 encoder in the TiVo how much bandwidth to allocate to those recordings. More bandwidth results in a better quality recording, but those recordings consume more disk space.

Since digital channels do not need to be MPEG-2 encoded (they're already digital), the TiVo simply records the bitstream directly to the disk. The recording will be exactly what was received on the channel.

I believe there are some cable systems out there that are already full digital. If that is the case then they would have to either offer some sort of converter or change the way they send out their signals.

In my area I wold be willing to be that the vast majority of cable subscribers do not have either an STB or DVR. The reason I think this is because Cleveland is a very poor city and unlikey to sell digital transmission to it's customers.

I thought the plan would be to give free STB's to current analog only people so they could watch their regular channels. I figured this would go on for a couple of years and TW would start charging for the boxes. However after I learned that in fact an analog signal is sent directly to the hub it makes it clear that sending analog straight to the customers from the hub makes the most sense.

Unfortunately those of us who have digital DVR's will not see anything other then an upgraded analog channel.

In the next couple of days TW is gong to make some huge changes in our line up. I notice that the ability to get locals for those of us who have digital boxes in analog are gone. I also noticed that they are offering several of their other channels like FX, USA, now in analog and digital. I'll have to look at it first but I'll bet the S3 does a better job of converting the signal then their hub does.

The next few days should be interesting.

I thought the plan would be to give free STB's to current analog only people so they could watch their regular channels.That's my guess and that of others I've read messages from, but it should be noted that the regulations don't require that the STBs provided be "free".

I figured this would go on for a couple of years and TW would start charging for the boxes.My guess at this point is that the fee for one STB will be permanently included in the basic fee (the regulated lifeline cable fee). Including the STB puts upward pressure on this fee, which franchising authorities often try to deliberately place below cost-of-service. By including the STB (even for those few customers who won't have some sort of digital device rental from the cable company), it may help make up for this unfairness on the part of franchising authorities. At least that's my thinking.

I do believe most MSOs will charge for a second digital device right out of the gate.

However after I learned that in fact an analog signal is sent directly to the hub it makes it clear that sending analog straight to the customers from the hub makes the most sense.That's not true. The cost of increasing bandwidth to hubs is substantially less than increasing bandwidth from hubs to homes. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to pass the analog straight to customers. It makes most sense to pack 10 analog channels converted to digital on one QAM channel.

That's not true. The cost of increasing bandwidth to hubs is substantially less than increasing bandwidth from hubs to homes. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to pass the analog straight to customers. It makes most sense to pack 10 analog channels converted to digital on one QAM channel.

Here's how it works in my area. The cable company sends the analog signal directly to the hub through a line. At that point the signal is upgraded to digital for people with digital receivers and sent out analog to people who don't have digital receivers.

Does it make sense? No, not to me. And I really can't speak on the cost because I don't know. But I do know that's the way it's done in my area as of today. And I also know that they will not be handing out any type of converter, they've already said so.

We expect a big line up (http://www.twclineup.com/lineups0208/TWNEO5935SuburbanCleveland3MigrationLU022008.pdf) change to happen in the next couple of days. Notice that many of the "expanded basic" channels now are available as "digital channels" as well. I expect that they will be upgraded analog vesions as that is what they have done with STO (Sports Time Ohio) in the past. I also think that further down the line this "expanded basic" will be eliminated or "moved" to the digital tier. At that time it will become true digital.

The underlined portion of the 2nd paragraph is where I believe Comcast is hoping to get a waiver by having the DTA(digital terminal adapter) device.



Digital Terminal Adapter
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=146733&page_number=2I was having a discussion at TiVo Community Forums in one of the SDV-related threads and stated that I'd been thinking that one thing that cable needs to help them through this transition is a device that can simultaneously decode all of the channels in the core basic tier (or even core+expanded basic), modulate them into analog TV signals and mux them together onto a coax output. (After all, a few years back, Toshiba demonstrated (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20050425/104149/?ST=english) that the IBM/Sony/Toshiba Cell Processor could handle decode 48 standard definition MPEG-2 streams at once). I was just musing, but someone posted a link (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5823134#post5823134) to a chipset designed to do just that (that link he posted has changed to this (http://www.broadlogic.com/products/terapix.php)). Interesting that Pace has started marketing such a device, and more interesting still that the price has gotten so low; apparently BroadLogic was talking $300/chipset when they first announced their product.

Most of the cable systems have over 400 MHz tied up in analog--over half their bandwidth and enough to carry 140 HD services at uncompromised bit rates.

I left the house for a while and since I was not sure how long I would be gone I decided to put some Rolling Stones on for my birds and to distract theives, you know that kind of thing.

So I come home and the music is playing away. Then right in the middle of the song "Happy" which Keith Richards sings lead the TiVo reboots.

Is there a message somewhere in that?:D

Not sure where my post went....but I have had 3 dead Tivos so far - the dreaded all eaights an dot on two and the third was just continuously rebooting. I took #3 to the local office and swapped it for a new box. I told them I had Tivo and ask if I needed an install visit to have it installed again. They said it was on the obx already...Sure it is. Anyway, I get home, plug it in, no tivo software. Next day the box will only go up and down the channels - no guide no DVR no ondemand. the tech I talked to said it may be trying to DL the software. A second tech (Tivo specialist) told me it is messed up because it thinks is a tivo (based on my account) but does nto have the software. Next day I have a tech visit - all the guy did was call in to say 'flip it' and tell me he'll come back in two hours to check it. Twenty minutes later the Tivo saftware was up and running (note - my other two DL's took 2 hours).
Could I have just told the tech to 'slip it' and safe a whole lot of time and trouble?
FREAK!

Not sure where my post went....but I have had 3 dead Tivos so far - the dreaded all eaights an dot on two and the third was just continuously rebooting. I took #3 to the local office and swapped it for a new box. I told them I had Tivo and ask if I needed an install visit to have it installed again. They said it was on the obx already...Sure it is. Anyway, I get home, plug it in, no tivo software. Next day the box will only go up and down the channels - no guide no DVR no ondemand. the tech I talked to said it may be trying to DL the software. A second tech (Tivo specialist) told me it is messed up because it thinks is a tivo (based on my account) but does nto have the software. Next day I have a tech visit - all the guy did was call in to say 'flip it' and tell me he'll come back in two hours to check it. Twenty minutes later the Tivo saftware was up and running (note - my other two DL's took 2 hours).
Could I have just told the tech to 'slip it' and safe a whole lot of time and trouble?
FREAK!

I'm guessing your other post was in the Comcast Tivo thread instead of the Tivo S3 thread.... :D

Randy

Not sure where my post went....but I have had 3 dead Tivos so far - the dreaded all eaights an dot on two and the third was just continuously rebooting. I took #3 to the local office and swapped it for a new box. I told them I had Tivo and ask if I needed an install visit to have it installed again. They said it was on the obx already...Sure it is. Anyway, I get home, plug it in, no tivo software. Next day the box will only go up and down the channels - no guide no DVR no ondemand. the tech I talked to said it may be trying to DL the software. A second tech (Tivo specialist) told me it is messed up because it thinks is a tivo (based on my account) but does nto have the software. Next day I have a tech visit - all the guy did was call in to say 'flip it' and tell me he'll come back in two hours to check it. Twenty minutes later the Tivo saftware was up and running (note - my other two DL's took 2 hours).
Could I have just told the tech to 'slip it' and safe a whole lot of time and trouble?
FREAK!

I don't quite understand your post. It sounds to me that you are talking about a regular HD DVR, not a TiVo. What kind of Tivo is this, an S3 or TiVo HD?

I'm guessing your other post was in the Comcast Tivo thread instead of the Tivo S3 thread.... :D

Randy

Yeah, because it sure don't sound like one of our boxes. Your in the wrong thread here. Unless you have a TiVo S3 or TiVo HD then you probably have Comcast TiVo.

Not sure where my post went....but I have had 3 dead Tivos so far - the dreaded all eaights an dot on two and the third was just continuously rebooting. I took #3 to the local office and swapped it for a new box. I told them I had Tivo and ask if I needed an install visit to have it installed again. They said it was on the obx already...Sure it is. Anyway, I get home, plug it in, no tivo software. Next day the box will only go up and down the channels - no guide no DVR no ondemand. the tech I talked to said it may be trying to DL the software. A second tech (Tivo specialist) told me it is messed up because it thinks is a tivo (based on my account) but does nto have the software. Next day I have a tech visit - all the guy did was call in to say 'flip it' and tell me he'll come back in two hours to check it. Twenty minutes later the Tivo saftware was up and running (note - my other two DL's took 2 hours).
Could I have just told the tech to 'slip it' and safe a whole lot of time and trouble?
FREAK!

It sounds like you have posted this in the wrong thread.

This forum is for the Tivo Series 3 DVR. It sounds to me that you have a Comcast DVR with Tivo software?

I'm Sorry everybody...I did put this in the wrong post...too many hours studying and not paying attention to what I posted. Please ignore.
FREAK!

Sounds like that TiVo-softwared Motorola DVR is a fine DVR indeed. :p:D

My S3 looks better and better every day. :)

I have developed a new problem with my S3 that had never happened until I had a CableCARD failure 10 days ago. The exercise involved in getting the new cards to work was agonizing but they finally started working and everything seemed all right. I don’t know whether it makes a difference, but I guess I should report that the replacement cards were Scientific Atlanta M cards. The old cards were SA S cards.

Last Saturday morning, I realized that I had lost the authorization for all upper tier cable channels, although my cards were continuing to decode all of the basic cable channels and the local HD channels, too, which are in the upper tier. Go figure. Fortunately, a cold reboot brought back everything that had been lost and I hoped that would be that. It wasn’t. This morning I discovered that I had once again lost all of the upper tier channels but not the basic cable stuff nor the local HD channels. Once again, a cold reboot brought them back.

Has anybody seen anything like this before? I hope my box isn’t failing but the possibility is a little scary. Also, could the M cards have something to do with my problem?

I have developed a new problem with my S3 that had never happened until I had a CableCARD failure 10 days ago. The exercise involved in getting the new cards to work was agonizing but they finally started working and everything seemed all right. I don’t know whether it makes a difference, but I guess I should report that the replacement cards were Scientific Atlanta M cards. The old cards were SA S cards.

Last Saturday morning, I realized that I had lost the authorization for all upper tier cable channels, although my cards were continuing to decode all of the basic cable channels and the local HD channels, too, which are in the upper tier. Go figure. Fortunately, a cold reboot brought back everything that had been lost and I hoped that would be that. It wasn’t. This morning I discovered that I had once again lost all of the upper tier channels but not the basic cable stuff nor the local HD channels. Once again, a cold reboot brought them back.

Has anybody seen anything like this before? I hope my box isn’t failing but the possibility is a little scary. Also, could the M cards have something to do with my problem?

There has got to be a problem with the way the information on the cards is reported to at headend. It may be that they have slot 1 info in slot 2 and vice versa.

Try taking the cards out and putting them in reverse order. If that doesn't work then the cards info has got to be wrong. You'll need a tech to contact headend to fix that.

I have developed a new problem with my S3 that had never happened until I had a CableCARD failure 10 days ago. The exercise involved in getting the new cards to work was agonizing but they finally started working and everything seemed all right. I don’t know whether it makes a difference, but I guess I should report that the replacement cards were Scientific Atlanta M cards. The old cards were SA S cards.

Weren't there problems with SA M-Cards a while ago ? I seem to remember reading something along those lines, but I'm having a hard time recalling exactly what the problem was.

Perhaps a call to a TiVo CableCARD specialist is in order.

I have developed a new problem with my S3 that had never happened until I had a CableCARD failure 10 days ago. The exercise involved in getting the new cards to work was agonizing but they finally started working and everything seemed all right. I don’t know whether it makes a difference, but I guess I should report that the replacement cards were Scientific Atlanta M cards. The old cards were SA S cards.

Last Saturday morning, I realized that I had lost the authorization for all upper tier cable channels, although my cards were continuing to decode all of the basic cable channels and the local HD channels, too, which are in the upper tier. Go figure. Fortunately, a cold reboot brought back everything that had been lost and I hoped that would be that. It wasn’t. This morning I discovered that I had once again lost all of the upper tier channels but not the basic cable stuff nor the local HD channels. Once again, a cold reboot brought them back.

Has anybody seen anything like this before? I hope my box isn’t failing but the possibility is a little scary. Also, could the M cards have something to do with my problem?

First, go to the screen titled Conditional Access for each card and make sure it reads Connected:yes EnabledByCP:yes Auth: Subscribed.

Before my cards were authorized, I recieved SD locals and HD locals. These are not encripted. It doesn't matter where in the band they are.

When I had only my first card authorized, I found that over time, both tuners would become corrupt until reboot. When I reconfigured the box for 1 tuner only, it worked fine.

I don't have any experience with "M" cards, but I thought that the idea was you only need one "M" card to enable both tuners. Anyone have experience with "M"?

Try taking the cards out and putting them in reverse order. If that doesn't work then the cards info has got to be wrong. You'll need a tech to contact headend to fix that.

I was told that putting a card into a slot other that that which it was paired when initialized would cause it to be non-functional, even it its correct slot, until re- initialized and re-authorized.

I don't have any experience with "M" cards, but I thought that the idea was you only need one "M" card to enable both tuners. Anyone have experience with "M"?

The TiVo HD can use one M card to control both tuners.

The TiVo S3 does not have this capability. It must have two cards. They can be S cards or M cards. M cards are used in S card mode in an S3. I don't know if they can be mixed in the same box. I have an S3 with two S cards and a second S3 with two M cards.

I was told that putting a card into a slot other that that which it was paired when initialized would cause it to be non-functional, even it its correct slot, until re- initialized and re-authorized.

I had a tech over once and he put the cards in the wrong slot. He wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. I suggested he got it wrong, he put the cards in the right slots and it worked fine. Didn't fix my problem at the time but it worked like it was working before.

I had to have headend take care of the problem I was having at the time he came over and he didn't know sh*t from shinola.

Not only that one time I had some problems with digital channels and after talking to my contact at headend we found out that the numbers for the cards were incorrect and it worked for a full 6 months.

Cable cards are very strange animals. I hope I don't get stuck with M cards in my S3. So long as I got a contact at headend the cards that are in my S3 will stay there.

I have two M-Cards in my S3 and they've been working perfectly. I started with two S-Cards and one of them failed. They came out the first time and re-initialized it and came out a second time and replaced both cards with new M-Cards.

TiVo S3 was supposedly designed with the use of one M-Card in mind, but they didn't have the final spec for M-Card to work with while they did it. That spec became available before they finished TiVo HD, so they got to test using final-spec cards before they shipped it. They thought that they might be able to fix the problems with using M-Cards in multi-stream mode on the S3 with a field upgrade to the firmware, but the last I heard, they'd given up the effort.

maybe one of you old time TiVo'heads can answer a question;

I know the TiVo HD DVR can receive over the air HDTV.

is there an older model that received just regular DTV instead?

you see, I have an analog setup, so instead of buying a
cheap ATSC reception box, I thought it would be cool to
get one with TiVo recording abilities as well. I know such
boxes exist with a DVD-RW, but I'd prefer a TiVo'like box.

so what old model works with over the air DTV reception
that I might also be able to find used cheap on ebaY?

Tivo DVR DTV Directv Hughes SD-DVR120 maybe?
I noticed that model has regular antenna ports.

http://i22.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/e1/67/612d_1.JPG

maybe one of you old time TiVo'heads can answer a question;

I know the TiVo HD DVR can receive over the air HDTV.

is there an older model that received just regular DTV instead?

you see, I have an analog setup, so instead of buying a
cheap ATSC reception box, I thought it would be cool to
get one with TiVo recording abilities as well. I know such
boxes exist with a DVD-RW, but I'd prefer a TiVo'like box.

so what old model works with over the air DTV reception
that I might also be able to find used cheap on ebaY?

Tivo DVR DTV Directv Hughes SD-DVR120 maybe?
I noticed that model has regular antenna ports.

http://i22.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/e1/67/612d_1.JPG

The older Direct TV boxes did have TiVo software and I think they are still in use. I'm not sure that you can activate these boxes anymore. I know that you can still activate the HR10-250 HD TiVos but I'm not sure about the older ones.

I understand why you would prefer TiVo but from what I understand the new Direct TiVo DVR is not a bad box and has many of the features TiVo offers. So if you're not ready for HD and you want to just use a Direct TV non hd service I'd take their DVR. For one, it's free. And as I said it may not be quite as good as a TiVo but it isn't too bad. I don't think they offer any type of HMO but you can program from the internet.

Why spend your money on a really outdated DVR? There won't be anymore upgrades to their software (non hd). And like I said I don't even know if they will activate those boxes.

And if your looking for just OTA without the paying for Direct TV having one of those boxes will not give you TiVo service. It would have to be activated by Direct TV.

And if your looking for just OTA without the paying for Direct TV having one of those boxes will not give you TiVo service. It would have to be activated by Direct TV.

uhg, I was afraid of that. I just want an Over The Air DTV recorder,
and I'd rather have TiVo than a DVDRW. when I call TiVo they say
my only choice is their $300 monster, and I'm really not able to buy
something expensive, when all I really need until my old TV blows
up is something that will receive OTA DTV now and after Feb'09.

so I guess nobody is retiring an OTA DTV TiVo to buy an HDTV one?

wait for the echostar tr50.

I understand why you would prefer TiVo.

Thought I'd check in after a long layoff and ask... Does Rumor Control have any word on when TiVo will again provide their product for DirecTv users (in HD)? We moved the old two-tuner SD TiVo into the bedroom when the 1080p plasma went up, but this HR-20 sure doesn't have me in a swoon!

Thought I'd check in after a long layoff and ask... Does Rumor Control have any word on when TiVo will again provide their product for DirecTv users (in HD)?That's up to DirecTV.

DirecTV is responsible for all of their boxes.

wait for the echostar tr50.

great idea, thanx!
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=972197
shame it won't have a SmartAntenna port :(

I'm still amazed with OTA DTV around all these years
that TiVo didn't have some old product to support it.

great idea, thanx!
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=972197
shame it won't have a SmartAntenna port :(

I'm still amazed with OTA DTV around all these years
that TiVo didn't have some old product to support it.I'm sure that they consider themselves to have that market covered with TiVo HD. The first TiVo to support it was the HD DirecTiVo, but you can't manufacture boxes which receive DirecTV without licensing it through D* and D* has decided to go in another direction. The market for a TiVo that receives DTV over-the-air only is almost non-existent.

Before my cards were authorized, I recieved SD locals and HD locals. These are not encripted. It doesn't matter where in the band they are.
Cox OKC has its HD locals setup as channels 704, 705, etc. The 700 series channels are available via Cox only if one subscribes to Cox’s HD service and has a decoder box. Cox makes local HD channels available to basic cable subscribers only via QAM. When I try to tune to channels 704, 705, etc. via basic cable using my HDTV’s QAM tuner, I receive a message that I am getting an “unusable signal.” But if I tune to channel 84-1, 84-2, etc., I get them in all their HD glory via basic cable.

The phenomenon of being able to receive the lower tier and 700 series local HD channels via my TiVo but not the other upper tier channels was something I had not seen before. Always before, all channels were there via TiVo if the cards were properly configured but none were viewable if something was amiss.

I don't have any experience with "M" cards, but I thought that the idea was you only need one "M" card to enable both tuners. Anyone have experience with "M"?
As others have reported, only the TiVo HD can use a single M card to support both tuners. The S3 still requires two cards but, apparently, doesn’t care if they are M, S, or some combination of the two.

Back to my original problem, it’s been more than 24 hours since I had to do a cold reboot to reawaken my CableCARDs and all of my channels are still authorized. I hope this fix lasts for more than 6 days this time.

I'm still amazed with OTA DTV around all these years
that TiVo didn't have some old product to support it.

Not to step on michaelscotts toes but as an additional comment why are you "amazed?" Rupert Murdock was the one who decided to ax TiVo software from the D* boxes. Why would TiVo provide support for something that doesn't give them any profit?

That's also kind of like saying "I'm amazed that Microsoft doesn't offer support for Windows 95." I mean you can only offer support so long for certain platforms.

Edit: I changed it to Windows 95, I think the next one was Windows 98. There wasn't a Windows 97 and I figured one of you guys would spot it.;)

I've owned an S3 with two S-Cards for over a year and I must say, it's been virtually issue free.

I just received a THD. Comcast came out last Thursday to install an M-Card. The THD spontaneously re-booted while the cablecard was downloading data. Later, I realized that while channel surfing, the THD spontaneously, randomly re-boots.

I called TiVo and the CSR said to remove the cablecard and do a cold re-boot. That didn't fix the spontaneous random re-boot issue. The CSR had told me if that didn't work to remove the cable card, re-do the guided setup and see if it re-boots without the cable card. They said if it still re-boots, they will replace the THD with a new unit and cover the round trip shipping. That's pretty good customer service!

Well, the THD does NOT randomly reboot while connected to Basic cable with no cable card inserted.

I'm going to call Comcast back to replace the M-Card.

Can anyone share any insight or similar experiences? Any help is appreciated.

That's up to DirecTV.

DirecTV is responsible for all of their boxes.

I thought it had something to do with Comcast having some measure of control of the situation and are blocking DirecTv users from TiVo use? I really have no idea, but seem to recall hearing that some time back. Perhaps it's just a consipiracy theory?

I just bought my TiVo HD. On my way to hook it up now.:)

I already think I know the answer to this but I'm going to put it out there just in case I'm wrong.

I have a Phillips DVD recorder. This thing has no cable hook up. It's strctly composite, component and HDMI out (no HDMI in).:confused:

So if I take My HD TiVo, run component cable through this and HDMI out to DVI on the HDTV, the best I can hope for is 480p on the picture. Right?

If that's the case it's totally useless other then it gives the TV some height and makes it easier to see. The HD TiVo does have composite, component, and HDMI but for sound it only hs two jacks, not counting the optical digital. Since the TV does not have and digital jacks and my DVD has only a regular digital jack it's pretty much useless.

Unless I'm wrong and somehow it will keep that HDTV signal going to my TV.

I already think I know the answer to this but I'm going to put it out there just in case I'm wrong.

I have a Phillips DVD recorder. This thing has no cable hook up. It's strctly composite, component and HDMI out (no HDMI in).:confused:

So if I take My HD TiVo, run component cable through this and HDMI out to DVI on the HDTV, the best I can hope for is 480p on the picture. Right?

If that's the case it's totally useless other then it gives the TV some height and makes it easier to see. The HD TiVo does have composite, component, and HDMI but for sound it only hs two jacks, not counting the optical digital. Since the TV does not have and digital jacks and my DVD has only a regular digital jack it's pretty much useless.

Unless I'm wrong and somehow it will keep that HDTV signal going to my TV.
DVD players are not designed to do anything but play DVDs. Thus, they have only output connections, at least I have never seen any that did.

I assume that your problem is that your TiVo is connected to your HDTV via HDMI and your HDTV has no additional HDMI inputs. Why not connect your DVD player to your HDTV via component. My TiVo is connected to my TV via component and the PQ it produces is spectacular. Component won’t handle your DVD’s audio output, of course, but a separate audio connection should be easy to do via either optical or L-R RCA cables. Good luck!

It's a DVD recorder, which is not HD. It cannot record HD.

I have an SD DirecTv TiVo (two tuner-type) in my master bedroom. How expensive would it be to upgrade it component outputs?

I'm thinking of putting all of my sources in one rack and making them all available to all three TVs in the house. But, video switchers are primarily component only (to the best of my knowledge, which is what I'd be using to distribute the HD stuff from a BD player and the HD DVR). I'd prefer to hang on to the TiVo unit as our second DVR, if I can find a reasonable way.

II have a Phillips DVD recorder. This thing has no cable hook up. It's strctly composite, component and HDMI out (no HDMI in).:confused:As aaronwt has already pointed out, it's a DVD recorder and won't record an HD signal, and unless it has an upconversion feature, you're not going to get any better than 480p out of it in any case. There are very few things out there capable of recording an HD-format HDMI signal; even when Blu-ray recorders get here, they aren't likely to record either HDMI or HD component video. They'll probably have <tru2way> CableCARD tuners in them and 1394/DTCP connections for recording digital signals from other sources. Of course, TiVo S3 and TiVo HD do not have 1394/DTCP connections, so they won't be able to record HD onto them (unless I'm wrong and Blu-ray recorders do come with HD component video inputs :)).

The only way to save HD programs that you recorded on TiVo today is to use TiVo Desktop to transfer them to a PC. What you do to archive them from there is a further problem.

It's a DVD recorder, which is not HD. It cannot record HD.

I never asked anything about recording. I asked if what I thought was correct which it is, once it hits the DVD player there is no way I can get a HD player even with the HDMI connection. I didn't see how it was possible. I was just hoping I was wrong.:o

Here was my statement:

I already think I know the answer to this but I'm going to put it out there just in case I'm wrong.

I have a Phillips DVD recorder. This thing has no cable hook up. It's strctly composite, component and HDMI out (no HDMI in).

So if I take My HD TiVo, run component cable through this and HDMI out to DVI on the HDTV, the best I can hope for is 480p on the picture. Right?

So a simple answer would have been, "yeah hook. At least you can use it for a TV stand.":)

I assume that your problem is that your TiVo is connected to your HDTV via HDMI and your HDTV has no additional HDMI inputs. Why not connect your DVD player to your HDTV via component. My TiVo is connected to my TV via component and the PQ it produces is spectacular. Component won’t handle your DVD’s audio output, of course, but a separate audio connection should be easy to do via either optical or L-R RCA cables. Good luck!

You win the award for close but no cigar.:) Digital audio hook up is not possible because the speakers are on the TV and there is no digital hook up for the speakers. Also TiVo has Optical digital and the DVD is a regular digital cord. Yeah, I think there is an adapter for that but I don't want to go that far. I really won't be using the DVD player anyways.

I'm not purchasing amp and speakers for this one. When I first bought this TV the cable box had a DVI as does the TV so I figured that would be fine. And it was, it was just I had to record to a disk. Now I'll just use the HD TiVo and if I want use my S3 for any 5.1 sound.

hookbill,

What's the underlying purpose to your wiring concept? What is your goal?

-Upconverting signal from the DVD thru tivo?
-Passing programs from DVD to Tivo for archiving on tivo or computer?
-Do you have limited # of connectors on tv and do not want to purchase a switcher?

???

BG



I never asked anything about recording. I asked if what I thought was correct which it is, once it hits the DVD player there is no way I can get a HD player even with the HDMI connection. I didn't see how it was possible. I was just hoping I was wrong.:o

Here was my statement:

I already think I know the answer to this but I'm going to put it out there just in case I'm wrong.

I have a Phillips DVD recorder. This thing has no cable hook up. It's strctly composite, component and HDMI out (no HDMI in).

So if I take My HD TiVo, run component cable through this and HDMI out to DVI on the HDTV, the best I can hope for is 480p on the picture. Right?

So a simple answer would have been, "yeah hook. At least you can use it for a TV stand.":)

hookbill,

What's the underlying purpose to your wiring concept? What is your goal?

-Upconverting signal from the DVD thru tivo?
-Passing programs from DVD to Tivo for archiving on tivo or computer?
-Do you have limited # of connectors on tv and do not want to purchase a switcher?

???

BG

Really there was no "purpose." I really shouldn't have made the post because I knew the answer but I was hoping I might be missing something.

Thanks for trying to be helpful guys. I do appreciate it. I'm OK with the way it is now.

Tivo Desktop 2.6 was released today. The registered version (Plus) now officially support HD video transfers -- it transfers Quicktime, DIVX, and other videos in high-definition resolution rather than downconverting them to SD.

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/domore/tivotogo/windows.html

ALVISO, Calif. – March 18, 2008 -- TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced TiVo® subscribers can now watch video content from the Web directly on their television sets. Through an updated version of TiVo's Desktop Plus PC software, users can now discover and enjoy a broad range of Web entertainment available directly from their TV. The simple application, which uses the popular Season Pass™ functionality, continues to deliver on TiVo's pledge to offer consumers an easy way to search, discover and enjoy the broad range of entertainment no matter what the source.

Starting today, TiVo users can subscribe to and watch a broad range of video content available through Real Simple Syndication ("RSS") feeds, including everything from network nightly newscasts and The Sesame Street Podcast to Daily Headlines from MTV News and College Humor from CHTV. The application also gives consumers access to niche interest and hobbyist videos covering areas far more specialized than cable and satellite channels.

The availability of the Web video comes on the heels of last week's announcement that TiVo subscribers will be able to access YouTube™ videos directly on the TV via a TiVo DVR later this year. Upon launch of the TiVo-YouTube service, TiVo users will be able to search, browse and watch these videos directly on their television sets.

"TiVo users will have the best video from the Web easily available on their television sets from user generated as well as brand named sites," said Tara Maitra, Vice President and General Manager of Content Services at TiVo.

The new Web video capability requires TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6, an update to the Windows application which also converts TV shows recorded on a TiVo DVR for viewing on portable devices including iPod and Sony PlayStation™ Portable. TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6 is available for a one-time fee of $24.95, and is a free upgrade to earlier versions. "TiVo continues to work with Roxio on delivering equivalent functionality on the Mac platform."

With this new feature, users can choose web videos downloaded on the home PC using web browsers, RSS video clients such as iTunes podcasts, or other video download software to automatically copy to their TiVo DVR's Now Playing List alongside recorded broadcast and cable TV shows. TiVo is also providing an on-screen guide of select Web video sources for users to browse and select as individual episodes or get a Season Pass™. Subscribers can even use the TiVo service's Season Pass functionality to get their own personal video folders on their PC, where they save their home movies and other video downloads. High Definition television enthusiasts will appreciate that TiVo preserves the original quality of high-resolution web videos, up to 720p, when delivered to TiVo Series3 or TiVo HD DVRs.

Maitra added, "Through the addition of new applications such as web video, we continue to build towards our goal of making TiVo the one stop shop for content, through one box and one integrated user interface. With our combination of premium content available through Amazon Unbox, millions of songs via Rhapsody and music videos, and soon YouTube videos, we feel like we're connecting consumers to entertainment in a way no one else can."

For more information on TiVo or to download TiVo Desktop Plus visit www.tivo.com/desktop.

Screenshots:

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/tivo/tivodesktop26_video.png

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/tivo/tivodesktop26_video2.png

That gives you this:

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/tivo/nowplaying10_large.jpg

Cool, guess I'll have to reload it on my computer, I stopped using as it didn't do what I needed it to do.

Actually, do you know if it works with standard ts and/or program stream HD files, such as those created by a HDTV tuner card/network device?

Cool, guess I'll have to reload it on my computer, I stopped using as it didn't do what I needed it to do.

Actually, do you know if it works with standard ts and/or program stream HD files, such as those created by a HDTV tuner card/network device?I haven't tried that yet.

Thus far, I've transferred 1080p Quicktime trailers, a few 720p DIVX files, and a 480p MP4.

Works well.. pretty sweet to just have a folder that is 'monitored' by tivo for video files.

I'm trying a DIVX file now, going to grab some HD files from Vuze to try.

Well, the first try with a DIVX file plays back window-boxed, if I recall, this was an issue originally when TD was activated for PC>DVR transfers.

I haven't tried that yet.

Thus far, I've transferred 1080p Quicktime trailers, a few 720p DIVX files, and a 480p MP4.

What sort of transfer rates are you seeing?

tivoserver.exe is swamping the resources at 95+%, I remember that from before as well.

I think TIVOSERVER is converting the files on the fly, so 95% is about accurate. My MCPC 2.6ghz Dual Core was 100% during transfers.

I just got an HD TiVo to accompany my S3. After reading some recent horror stories in my area about cable card installs I fired off a letter (email) to the President of TW, NEO (Northeast Ohio) about my concerns and wanted to know since they install cable cards in their own boxes how come this was such an issue. They were using sub contractors in some areas and in my area my service recently got switched from one office to another and I saw a decline int the quality of techs that came out.

As a result I got a call on Monday from the supervisor of the office that services my area. He pushed my install date up to the next day, after I got home from work. He said he would send experienced techs with "M" cards, new ones.

Well when they showed up they had several new cards but they were all S cards. They apologized for that, said they just couldn't get any. I said I didn't care just so long as they did the install correctly.

The first problem is a well known one. The tech, with both of them looking at the screen and myself still read off the card ID number incorrectly off the screen. He wrote it down correctly but kind of lost his place when he paused to take a breath and repeated a zero. I caught it and at first he said know but I repeated exactly what I heard him say and he re-thought it and told the person on the phone, "lets start this one over."

The second and probably most time consuming problem they have is their inability to navigate on the TiVo. They wern't sure what screens had what information or how to get there. Now since my wife let them in she never gave them the install sheet but I'm not sure even that would help because we just know where the screens are at. At least previous TiVo owners are.

They did know to install one card at a time. They wern't sure if the cards were suppose to be married but I explained they were. Apparently on their boxes that doesn't happen.

So I operated the remote and when they asked for something I went to the screens for them. They said that was a big help.

Another problem they are running across is what they say is "different software in different TiVo's." Probably true if you have them install on the same day you get a TiVo. I don't think most people do that but I showed them that the software for my HD TiVo was exactly the same as the S3, in fact it states on the system and information screen: Platform: S3. Ny install time was 1:15.

Another problems was making sure that the person they talked to on the phone didn't confuse what was on the S3 and the HD TiVo. They caught that right away.

So watch them carefully and help if you can with the navigation. They will appreciate it. If you're new to TiVo they will want to know the emm count. That is located on the Card screen under cable card 1 or 2, then CP screen.

And if you do have a bad install find out what office they are from and get their supervisors number. If that doesn't work do what I did, go to the top. This guy must have got his butt chewed because he said anytime I had a problem call him first and gave me his cell number.

Yeh they basically have no idea about the Cable Card install, my friend recently went through the same bs with his new tivo HD's

Yeh they basically have no idea about the Cable Card install, my friend recently went through the same bs with his new tivo HD's

Now that I have an S3 up and running on FIOS (and love it) I need a second unit for the bedroom. I'm seriously considering a TiVo HD because of the lower cost, but have a few questions:

1) Is the remote the same basic layout as previous TiVo units and is it compatable (I have a few left over from my D* TiVos)?

2) What is the HD program transfer rate (i.e. 1x, 2x, 2.5x, etc) between units over home network using a)Wireless G b)Hard wired?

3) Any compelling reason to go S3 rather than TiVo HD?

I'm not looking forward to going through the Cable Card process with Verizon again, but with what I now know I think I can survive it. I'll put the Bedroom unit initially in the living room so I can keep thier muddy shoes downstairs and away from my carpets.

Done this. A few things, the Tivo HD uses a cheaper version of the S3 remote (no big deal) Verizon take there shoes off in my house (LOL) The Hard drive eminates a low hum, ok if you use a ceiling fan or have some other background noise (for a bedroom environement)

Transfer rate on HD shows is about 1:1 if your using a wired ethernet connection on both boxes (either via MOCA(nim100) or CAT5)) Its probably 3:1 on SD shows between the boxes. >> Also depends on what each box is doing (if you set both to Channel 900 for example on verizon (blank) on both tuners) it will be quicker.

Both boxes can be expanded with External drives, however the HD officially only supports the WD Expander by tivo (there is also a work around for this)

Thanks HTH

Done this. A few things, the Tivo HD uses a cheaper version of the S3 remote (no big deal) Verizon take there shoes off in my house (LOL) The Hard drive eminates a low hum, ok if you use a ceiling fan or have some other background noise (for a bedroom environement)

Transfer rate on HD shows is about 1:1 if your using a wired ethernet connection on both boxes (either via MOCA(nim100) or CAT5)) Its probably 3:1 on SD shows between the boxes. >> Also depends on what each box is doing (if you set both to Channel 900 for example on verizon (blank) on both tuners) it will be quicker.

Both boxes can be expanded with External drives, however the HD officially only supports the WD Expander by tivo (there is also a work around for this)

Thanks HTH

1) Is the remote compatable with the other TiVo remotes so I can use one of my leftover D* TiVo remotes? The S3 and D* remotes are compatable.
The D* remote has a button called list that takes you directly to the list of recorded programs which the S3 remote does not have, so I use it with my S3 instead of the S3 remote.
2) Is the Hum any worse than the others? I currently have a D* HD TiVo up there and I'm ok with that.

1) Is the remote compatable with the other TiVo remotes so I can use one of my leftover D* TiVo remotes? The S3 and D* remotes are compatable.
The D* remote has a button called list that takes you directly to the list of recorded programs which the S3 remote does not have, so I use it with my S3 instead of the S3 remote.
2) Is the Hum any worse than the others? I currently have a D* HD TiVo up there and I'm ok with that.

I wouldn't have any idea if a D-TiVo remote would work with the S3. But all you have to do to get to the list is hit TiVo twice and you go right to the list.

As far as the "hum" goes, I have an eSata downstairs that makes some noise but the actual hard drive is quiet on the S3 and HD TiVo. I'm getting a e-SATA for my HD TiVo today, the one the TiVo store sells. I hope that's quiet, it's going in my bedroom.

Will an S3 remote work with an HD? When my first S3 failed, TiVo sent me a brand new replacement in warranty but gave express instructions NOT to return anything but the old box itself. Thus, I have a brand new S3 remote in addition to my original, which I still use, and am wondering whether my backup would work with an HD.

Will an S3 remote work with an HD? When my first S3 failed, TiVo sent me a brand new replacement in warranty but gave express instructions NOT to return anything but the old box itself. Thus, I have a brand new S3 remote in addition to my original, which I still use, and am wondering whether my backup would work with an HD.

Yes. I had a problem with my TiVo HD remote and took it back to circuit city. Since I use Harmony for the downstairs I brought the S3 remote upstairs and it worked fine. The HD remote also will work on the S3.

bfdtv, Regarding the Tivo Desktop, if you delete a program from the Tivo Now Playing List, does it remove it from the PC folder as well?

Thanks, Bill

Tivo Desktop 2.6 was released today. The registered version (Plus) now officially support HD video transfers -- it transfers Quicktime, DIVX, and other videos in high-definition resolution rather than downconverting them to SD.

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/domore/tivotogo/windows.html


That gives you this:

http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/tivo/nowplaying10_large.jpg

bfdtv, Regarding the Tivo Desktop, if you delete a program from the Tivo Now Playing List, does it remove it from the PC folder as well?

Thanks, Bill


Not bfdtv here, but the answer is no. You have to delete it from your PC, or transfer it back. Even if you do that it will still be in your PC until you delete it.

Not bfdtv here, but the answer is no. You have to delete it from your PC, or transfer it back. Even if you do that it will still be in your PC until you delete it.

Thanks Hook,

I'm sorry to sound dense, but are you saying that you can not delete it from the Tivo NPL, that it has to be transferred back to the PC to get it off the Tivo?

I was hoping that you could kill it in both places by deleting it from the Tivo.

Thank you for responding, Bill

Thanks Hook,

I'm sorry to sound dense, but are you saying that you can not delete it from the Tivo NPL, that it has to be transferred back to the PC to get it off the Tivo?

I was hoping that you could kill it in both places by deleting it from the Tivo.

Thank you for responding, Bill

What happens is when you "transfer" a recording you really are sending a duplicate of what was recorded. That's why it is still on your Now Playing List after the transfer. Genereally most people delete it from the NPL after the transfer. I would imagine you would want to move it to the TiVo Desktop to save it for viewing at another time and perhaps to free up disk space on your hard drive.

So in order to remove it from your PC you will need to open your TiVo Desktop. There you will see a little the show and you can click on it and right cleck and delete. It will then disappear completely.

It's just like any other computer file transfer. Let's say you send a copy of a file on an email to someone. That file is still on your computer and when the other person opens and deletes the file, your file doesn't delete. Get my point?

Get my point?

Yep. Thanks. I was thinking it was a matter of transferring the show from the PC to the Tivo. That's where I got messed up.

Appreciate it.

And don't call him Bill. :)

John,

I also have fios and tivo HD (hacked with a 1TB drive) and I love the combo.

At this point, there is no real reason to go S3 anymore. My understanding is that they have stopped production of these anyway. Personally I use a harmony remote so the S3 snazzy one if useless.

I have one simple question - ARE YOU MARRIED???

Sure it may seem strange for 1 dude to ask another about his marital status, but here is where I am going with this.

Unless you place this item in a soundproof chamber (like the old insulated boxes they used for high-volume dot matrix printers) its going to emit some level of noise. This is ok for a theater when you have other stuff running... but when you are trying to get to sleep there is no way to silence the tivo without unplugging.

If you are married... your wife will smack the living "Shi*" out of you and the
tivo.

You would do better to max out the hard drive on your existing unit... add an expansion drive and wait for the slingcatcher/slingbox.

Just my 2 cents.

Brian




Now that I have an S3 up and running on FIOS (and love it) I need a second unit for the bedroom. I'm seriously considering a TiVo HD because of the lower cost, but have a few questions:

1) Is the remote the same basic layout as previous TiVo units and is it compatable (I have a few left over from my D* TiVos)?

2) What is the HD program transfer rate (i.e. 1x, 2x, 2.5x, etc) between units over home network using a)Wireless G b)Hard wired?

3) Any compelling reason to go S3 rather than TiVo HD?

I'm not looking forward to going through the Cable Card process with Verizon again, but with what I now know I think I can survive it. I'll put the Bedroom unit initially in the living room so I can keep thier muddy shoes downstairs and away from my carpets.

John,

I also have fios and tivo HD (hacked with a 1TB drive) and I love the combo.

At this point, there is no real reason to go S3 anymore. My understanding is that they have stopped production of these anyway. Personally I use a harmony remote so the S3 snazzy one if useless.

I have one simple question - ARE YOU MARRIED???

Sure it may seem strange for 1 dude to ask another about his marital status, but here is where I am going with this.

Unless you place this item in a soundproof chamber (like the old insulated boxes they used for high-volume dot matrix printers) its going to emit some level of noise. This is ok for a theater when you have other stuff running... but when you are trying to get to sleep there is no way to silence the tivo without unplugging.

If you are married... your wife will smack the living "Shi*" out of you and the
tivo.

You would do better to max out the hard drive on your existing unit... add an expansion drive and wait for the slingcatcher/slingbox.

Just my 2 cents.

Brian

Yes married.

I've had a TiVo whirring away in the bedroom since the original D* SD DSR 6000, so that's not an issue. I was just inquiring as to whether the TiVo HD was any louder than the others.

My wife tends to be "technically challanged" but picked up the TiVo instantly. Going TiVo with my switch to FIOS made it seamless. Everything is exactly the same on the S3 as the D* version except for the channel numbers and a bunch of add'l features.

At this point, there is no real reason to go S3 anymore. My understanding is that they have stopped production of these anyway. Personally I use a harmony remote so the S3 snazzy one if [sic] useless.
Although I have an S3, I agree that this model seems to be on the way out, in favor of the HD. The HD apparently provides equivalent functionality at a dramatically reduced price.

I have used my Harmony 768 remote for more than 4 years and I like it a lot but it’s not in the same world with the TiVo Peanut remote for controlling my S3. The Harmony works but not with the ease of the Peanut, thanks to the Peanut’s ergonomic design and large, well marked buttons. I do use my Harmony to control my DVD player, Apple TV, and Scientific Atlanta DVR but none of those devices’ remotes are much to write home about.

Although I have an S3, I agree that this model seems to be on the way out, in favor of the HD. The HD apparently provides equivalent functionality at a dramatically reduced price.The only substantial inequality is that its out-of-the-box disk space is 90GB less, but you can buy an eSATA expansion drive for a fraction less than the difference in price.

The other differences are the front panel display and the deluxe, back-lit remote. Both nice, but unnecessary. The one big advantage of the HD is that it can use a single M-Card for both tuners, which will save you $24/year or more (I had one cable company--Cox--try to charge me two $10/month digital access fees in addition to the two $2/month S-Card lease fees).

I'm sure that TiVo will replace the Series3 with something new and high-end by year's end.

Although I have an S3, I agree that this model seems to be on the way out, in favor of the HD. The HD apparently provides equivalent functionality at a dramatically reduced price.

I have used my Harmony 768 remote for more than 4 years and I like it a lot but it’s not in the same world with the TiVo Peanut remote for controlling my S3. The Harmony works but not with the ease of the Peanut, thanks to the Peanut’s ergonomic design and large, well marked buttons. I do use my Harmony to control my DVD player, Apple TV, and Scientific Atlanta DVR but none of those devices’ remotes are much to write home about.

As you and I have discussed in the past, at the time the S3 was the only thing out there that was dependable. My SA 8300 simply did not work the way it was suppose to. So I was willing to pay the 900.00 for it.

However having said that I still like the display of the recordings, the general appearance and the 50 GB extra disk space of the S3. Is it worth 599.00? Probably not, but it's still better the the TiVo HD, it is THX Certified. But they are running the same platforms.

Also you can put a larger e-Sata on the S3. At least you could at one time. I think you still can.

Well I recently purchased my first HDTV (panny 50PZ85U) and upgraded my Series2 to a SA 8300 from TWC. Wow, are the interface and remote horrid. I understand you get what you pay for an all but come on.

So my TivoHD got here yesterday and it took all of 10 minutes to upgrade to a 500GB configured drive I also got. I was told I can go pick up my cablecard myself when I turn in my SA 8300 so I'll do that today. I understand I will probably lose a few channels, PPV, & OD but I can live with that. It sort of frustrates me the BS cable companies are willing to put legitimate consumers through though all to protect their content.

As you and I have discussed in the past, at the time the S3 was the only thing out there that was dependable. My SA 8300 simply did not work the way it was suppose to. So I was willing to pay the 900.00 for it.

However having said that I still like the display of the recordings, the general appearance and the 50 GB extra disk space of the S3. Is it worth 599.00? Probably not, but it's still better the the TiVo HD, it is THX Certified. But they are running the same platforms.

Also you can put a larger e-Sata on the S3. At least you could at one time. I think you still can.It's actually 90GB extra space, 160GB on the HD versus 250GB on the S3, a 56% increase. And yes, you can put an eSATA expansion drive on the S3, which will accept any arbitrary drive without hacking (though I think that it will warn your that your arbitrary drive is not on the supported list); the HD will only accept the 500GB My DVR Expander and hacking it to put anything else on is breaking your warranty.

I understand I will probably lose a few channels, PPV, & OD but I can live with that. It sort of frustrates me the BS cable companies are willing to put legitimate consumers through though all to protect their content.Due to the gradually increasing use of Switched Digital Video to present new content, you might lose access to more than a few channels by using TiVo; Time Warner San Antonio has over 20 HD channels presented that way which TiVo users cannot access (TWC is the provider most aggressively deploying SDV right now). There's a proposed SDV adapter called the "Tuning Resolver" which TiVo and the cable industry claims should start being distributed by cable providers sometime in the 2nd calendar quarter. This will be a separate STB that you connect into the cable between TiVo and the wall, with a USB connection between it and TiVo. (Tuning SDV channels requires the ability to talk back to the cable system over the coax, which TiVo physically lacks--TiVo will use the Tuning Resolver to do this, controlling it through a USB connection).

You should familiarize yourself with the issue by reading the SDV FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5294772#post5294772) at TiVo Community Forums (you can ignore the thread, just read the FAQ in the top post).

And don't call him Bill. :)

Bill is my name... :confused:

Bill is my name... :confused:
He may have been referring to Hookbill. Check Hookbill's sig.

He may have been referring to Hookbill. Check Hookbill's sig.

Yeah, but I don't think Bill ever actually called Hook Bill....he just signed *his* name...

Confused yet?

:D

Randy

Due to the gradually increasing use of Switched Digital Video to present new content, you might lose access to more than a few channels by using TiVo; Time Warner San Antonio has over 20 HD channels presented that way which TiVo users cannot access (TWC is the provider most aggressively deploying SDV right now). There's a proposed SDV adapter called the "Tuning Resolver" which TiVo and the cable industry claims should start being distributed by cable providers sometime in the 2nd calendar quarter. This will be a separate STB that you connect into the cable between TiVo and the wall, with a USB connection between it and TiVo. (Tuning SDV channels requires the ability to talk back to the cable system over the coax, which TiVo physically lacks--TiVo will use the Tuning Resolver to do this, controlling it through a USB connection).

You should familiarize yourself with the issue by reading the SDV FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5294772#post5294772) at TiVo Community Forums (you can ignore the thread, just read the FAQ in the top post).

Thanks for the quick synopsis. I have looked up that information and at least from my searches here it looks like the Milwaukee area still doesn't have much on SDV. I'm just hoping TiVo makes good and actually gets that adapter out this quarter.

Thanks Hook,

I'm sorry to sound dense, but are you saying that you can not delete it from the Tivo NPL, that it has to be transferred back to the PC to get it off the Tivo?

I was hoping that you could kill it in both places by deleting it from the Tivo.

Thank you for responding, Bill

I guess it could be taken either way. :)

Just went back to Tivo - bought a Series 3 - because I couldnt live with the SA 8300 from CoxCable any longer.

So far my problem was Error # 51 AFTER the cable company installed my cable cards. So i had to do a Clear and Delete which cleared up the problem. However, I am going through a receiver (Yamaha rx-v663) and the picture and sound keep cutting out, along with a problem going from the HD Channels to SD Channels. The problem is once I flip back to the SD channels I get a grey screen for a while then black, nothing. Anyone else experienced this? Does this sound like a defective box?

Also, besides the THX and Storage capacity what are the major differnces between Series 3 and Tivo HD, I just dropped 800 bucks and hope Im getting something for the 500 $ difference in price. Especially since I've noticed the Series 3 gives a worst SD picture than the SA 8300 did, I tested both going straight to the TV (Pioneer PDP 5060) in Native and the 8300 looked more acccurate / sharper.

Just went back to Tivo - bought a Series 3 - because I couldnt live with the SA 8300 from CoxCable any longer.

So far my problem was Error # 51 AFTER the cable company installed my cable cards. So i had to do a Clear and Delete which cleared up the problem. However, I am going through a receiver (Yamaha rx-v663) and the picture and sound keep cutting out, along with a problem going from the HD Channels to SD Channels. The problem is once I flip back to the SD channels I get a grey screen for a while then black, nothing. Anyone else experienced this? Does this sound like a defective box?

Also, besides the THX and Storage capacity what are the major differnces between Series 3 and Tivo HD, I just dropped 800 bucks and hope Im getting something for the 500 $ difference in price. Especially since I've noticed the Series 3 gives a worst SD picture than the SA 8300 did, I tested both going straight to the TV (Pioneer PDP 5060) in Native and the 8300 looked more acccurate / sharper.
1. Have you tried an inline attenuator? The '3' does not like a strong signal.
2. There are many posts about folks getting vastly different results when using different types of cables (HDMI, component).
3. My Pioneer 50" plasma and '3' in Native, with a Yamaha RCVR, are giving me a great picture and audio (both SD and HD).
4. It will be interesting to see what happens on 14 April when my FiOS area goes totally digital.

If you are married... your wife will smack the living "Shi*" out of you and the tivo.I never realized that there was an advantage to being married to a hearing impaired woman. :)

I guess it could be taken either way. :)Yup, I took Bill's sign-off to be part of the sentence before it: Thank you for responding, BillThank you for pointing that out, wilsonsoohoo.

HookBill,

In the olden days when purchasing a "DVD" (That's Digital Video Disk for the new people) some came with THX Certified audio tracks and even had THX calibration tools on the disks. I recall some of our Disney titled were THX.

Since we know that the streams coming from the cable/satellite and related companies are all tinkered and battered around, is a THX certified Tivo relevant? It's not as though the Tivo is enhancing or altering the audio and bringing it up to some higher standard (like video based upconversion)...

Net:Net - if the source audio is not "THX" - does the relavancy of THX enabled gear (tivos in particular) really matter.

Just curious ?

BG


As you and I have discussed in the past, at the time the S3 was the only thing out there that was dependable. My SA 8300 simply did not work the way it was suppose to. So I was willing to pay the 900.00 for it.

However having said that I still like the display of the recordings, the general appearance and the 50 GB extra disk space of the S3. Is it worth 599.00? Probably not, but it's still better the the TiVo HD, it is THX Certified. But they are running the same platforms.

Also you can put a larger e-Sata on the S3. At least you could at one time. I think you still can.

Racer,

I posted a very detailed summary about the trials and tribulations of getting my tivo up and running with Fios about 2 months ago.

While its worth investing a reasonable amount of time with the unit you have, do not underestimate the potential of your unit being defective.

After a few days with verizon guys on site trying to get the POS working... they begged me to swap the Tivo HD I purchased from a major retailer.

Surprise: The install went perfectly with the replacement on the first attempt.

Never know...

BG

P.S. - I realize we are using different services... but here is my original post on the topic: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13108591&highlight=verizon#post13108591




Just went back to Tivo - bought a Series 3 - because I couldnt live with the SA 8300 from CoxCable any longer.

So far my problem was Error # 51 AFTER the cable company installed my cable cards. So i had to do a Clear and Delete which cleared up the problem. However, I am going through a receiver (Yamaha rx-v663) and the picture and sound keep cutting out, along with a problem going from the HD Channels to SD Channels. The problem is once I flip back to the SD channels I get a grey screen for a while then black, nothing. Anyone else experienced this? Does this sound like a defective box?

Also, besides the THX and Storage capacity what are the major differnces between Series 3 and Tivo HD, I just dropped 800 bucks and hope Im getting something for the 500 $ difference in price. Especially since I've noticed the Series 3 gives a worst SD picture than the SA 8300 did, I tested both going straight to the TV (Pioneer PDP 5060) in Native and the 8300 looked more acccurate / sharper.

HookBill,

In the olden days when purchasing a "DVD" (That's Digital Video Disk for the new people) some came with THX Certified audio tracks and even had THX calibration tools on the disks. I recall some of our Disney titled were THX.

Since we know that the streams coming from the cable/satellite and related companies are all tinkered and battered around, is a THX certified Tivo relevant? It's not as though the Tivo is enhancing or altering the audio and bringing it up to some higher standard (like video based upconversion)...

Net:Net - if the source audio is not "THX" - does the relavancy of THX enabled gear (tivos in particular) really matter.

Just curious ?

BG

It could matter for downloaded movie services and things of that nature, but I agree, for standard TV watching it doesn't much matter.

Over on the TiVo forum I believe it's in the area where they have different applications that people have made is a link to a sound application that will allow TiVo to play unprotected AAC files.

My hard drive crashed on me yesterday so I can't get over there at all right now, and as most of you know I'm not suppose to even look over there. They put a ban on my IP. So could one of you guys get that link and post it over here for me? I think it's in the development area. It's not hard to find, it's actually on one of the FAQ if I remember correctly.

Thanks in advance.

Over on the TiVo forum I believe it's in the area where they have different applications that people have made is a link to a sound application that will allow TiVo to play unprotected AAC files.

My hard drive crashed on me yesterday so I can't get over there at all right now, and as most of you know I'm not suppose to even look over there. They put a ban on my IP. So could one of you guys get that link and post it over here for me? I think it's in the development area. It's not hard to find, it's actually on one of the FAQ if I remember correctly.

Thanks in advance.

http://www.3wdesigns.net/TDUAP/Setup.exe

http://www.3wdesigns.net/TDUAP/Setup.exe

Thanks. Much appreciated!

Thanks for the advice, Im returning this box - will probably just go with a Tivo HD instead of the S3

HookBill,

In the olden days when purchasing a "DVD" (That's Digital Video Disk for the new people) some came with THX Certified audio tracks and even had THX calibration tools on the disks. I recall some of our Disney titled were THX.

Since we know that the streams coming from the cable/satellite and related companies are all tinkered and battered around, is a THX certified Tivo relevant? It's not as though the Tivo is enhancing or altering the audio and bringing it up to some higher standard (like video based upconversion)...

Net:Net - if the source audio is not "THX" - does the relavancy of THX enabled gear (tivos in particular) really matter.

Just curious ?

BG


I'll be perfectly honest. As I understand it THX Certifies means that the S3 has to meet certain specific requirements. Now TiVo probably had to pay for that, but never the less it does have to meet those specs.

Now does that mean that TiVo HD wouldn't qualify? I don't know, but my hunch is it would.

As far as THX just referring to sound, no, although it's easy to understand why you would think that. Many people have said that being THX Certified really doesn't help anything unless all your equipment is THX.

Yeah, I paid way too much money for it but I really do like the overall looks of it and the front panel display of shows recorded is cool. If both were available at the time and I hadn't purchased one, lets say the S3 was 599.00 I probably would buy that for my entertainment center as opposed to the TiVo HD. I think the lights on the panel alone look a little strange and yes, I know I can turn them off but that's even stranger looking. And it just doesn't have as nice of a look.

But performance wise they are both great. And I much prefer the quiet eSATA 500 that I got for my TiVo HD as opposed to the clickity clackity eSata that I got for my S3, also 500gb and around the same price.

I just bought a new TivoHD at Costco for 1/2 the retail price. I don't know why the price was so low but I have a feeling there's a whole new something-or-other coming.

This was less than the Woot refurbs from last month. Maybe I should get a second one before they change their minds?

Anyone else seen this?

Ok... I just read Hookbill's signature. I think I understand now :p

-Bill

I just bought a new TivoHD at Costco for 1/2 the retail price. I don't know why the price was so low but I have a feeling there's a whole new something-or-other coming.

This was less than the Woot refurbs from last month. Maybe I should get a second one before they change their minds?

Anyone else seen this?

Keep in mind that right now you can get the lifetime service agreement. Good until April 2.

Wblynch...were they $150 at Costco?

Wblynch...were they $150 at Costco?

YES!

I didn't know if I was allowed to post the actual price on here but that is the price. They had two whole stacks of them.

I know about the lifetime sub.

Thanks everyone.

YES!

I didn't know if I was allowed to post the actual price on here but that is the price. They had two whole stacks of them.

I know about the lifetime sub.

Thanks everyone.

Not only that but they have the "always can return" policy.

Not only that but they have the "always can return" policy.

What happens to your lifetime sub if you return the box to Costco?

What happens to your lifetime sub if you return the box to Costco?

Wow that's a good question. I know the lifetime stays with the box. Let's suppose you bought it from TiVo with the lifetime sub. It's defective and you return it. I would think the right thing to do is to move the lifetime subscription to your new box.

But Costco? I don't know. In theory you could do as some people have done and wait for the Series 4, take the box back to Costco and since they don't have Series 3 anymore they would give you a Series 4. Now in that scenario I doubt you would be able to get your lifetime transferred, unless of course TiVo was offering a deal.

But what if a year from now you have a problem? What will they do then?

Edit: I think found the answer :

You can use Manage My Account to transfer Product Lifetime Service to another DVR only if:

~ You activated the DVR with Product Lifetime Service less than 30 days ago.

~ The DVR was exchanged under warranty, either through the retailer or the manufacturer.

~ The DVR was activated under an incorrect service number.

If the above applies, follow the steps to transfer your service from the article and login to Manage My Account.

http://tivosupport2.instancy.com/TivoCollection/5be89763-9af4-4c17-853c-5dd1b7e36952/65fe808519b24bbc10f731ef54c3548c6619fa59.html

So I would think you'd be OK since Costco warranties it for life, until you got a new model.

I might be wrong here (and probably am - I don't have a membership yet), but didn't Costco discontinue or limit their very liberal return policy because it was being abused by people who would simply return their big screen TV's 2 years after they get them and then "upgrade" to a better model?

I thought they restricted the return window to be 6 months (or maybe 90 days)? Unless this was only on the big ticket items like TV's?

90 days for returns and 2 year warranties is their new policy.

90 days for returns and 2 year warranties is their new policy.

Still for free, what a deal!

I was having trouble tuning one of my local HD channels via Charter cable, and thought I would try a restart of the Tivo box.

I noticed that it said it was installing a service update, so I checked my software version afterward (the reboot fixed the problem with my channel not tuning). The new version is 9.3.Y3-01-2-648.

Is this new? And is it just a minor bugfix update?

Just wondering.

I was having trouble tuning one of my local HD channels via Charter cable, and thought I would try a restart of the Tivo box.

I noticed that it said it was installing a service update, so I checked my software version afterward (the reboot fixed the problem with my channel not tuning). The new version is 9.3.Y3-01-2-648.

Is this new? And is it just a minor bugfix update?

Just wondering.

Yes, we are expecting this. It's suppose to take care of several "issues" that IMHO arn't major but still needed to be taken care of. Hopefully it will fix the 30 sec skip and tick issue (if you noitice when you do it quickly it stays on the first immage). That "Y" that you have there may indicate that you are an early receiver. You may get an additional update later, it won't be anything new but usually they release these things a bit slowly and then give it to everyone. The first receivers get a slightly different number in the software.

I was an early receiver on the last two updates and while it's nice to get it first having to reboot again can be a bit annoying.

I'll take a look at my tivos and see if anything new has come down the pipe. My updates usually happen around 1:00 am and the reboot comes around 3:00 so I may have it and not know it.

I was having trouble tuning one of my local HD channels via Charter cable, and thought I would try a restart of the Tivo box.

I noticed that it said it was installing a service update, so I checked my software version afterward (the reboot fixed the problem with my channel not tuning). The new version is 9.3.Y3-01-2-648.

Is this new? And is it just a minor bugfix update?

Just wondering.

A few folks had their S2's get the update about a week ago, and then a few S3 owners got the update beginning yesterday. This follows TiVo's usual MO regarding releases : a few random folks get it as a sanity check for a few days, then a wave of priority/early-adopters get it for a bit, and then the rest of us get it. I'd say we were a week or two from having the "big switch" thrown and everyone getting it.

This release is supposed to be centered on bug fixes. The folks that do have it already haven't noticed anything new (outside of progressive Unbox downloads for the S2 folks).

Racer,

I posted a very detailed summary about the trials and tribulations of getting my tivo up and running with Fios about 2 months ago.

While its worth investing a reasonable amount of time with the unit you have, do not underestimate the potential of your unit being defective.

After a few days with verizon guys on site trying to get the POS working... they begged me to swap the Tivo HD I purchased from a major retailer.

Surprise: The install went perfectly with the replacement on the first attempt.

Never know...

BG

P.S. - I realize we are using different services... but here is my original post on the topic: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13108591&highlight=verizon#post13108591

BG - Thanks for the heads up on this. I returned the Series 3 for a Tivo HD (saved) about 400 bucks...went home and followed your instructions. Took me a few forced updates to get the latest firmwire. Once that was done I hooked up the coax and then called Cox to finish up the cable card install. Everything worked perfectly.

Im still not TOTALLY happy. (Delay when changing channels / grey screen, Picture Quality not so good for SD channels and box has problems with staying on Native.) So to have the best of both worlds I ordered a SA HD box from Cox. This will go on my spare HDMI input for channel surfing and On Demand / PPV.

Also returned the Yamaha 663 for a Marantz SR4002 - Yamaha SQ pales in comparison.

Im still not TOTALLY happy. (Delay when changing channels / grey screen, Picture Quality not so good for SD channels and box has problems with staying on Native.) So to have the best of both worlds I ordered a SA HD box from Cox. This will go on my spare HDMI input for channel surfing and On Demand / PPV.




If you leave it on native you will have these type of issues. It's just a matter of well your television handles it's communication to the box, i.e. on my LCD HDTV if I put it on Native or even just Hybrid it's very slow changing channels. However on my Sony CRT it has very little delay on Native.

And since I added the HDMI to DVI converter I simply can't get 480i on the LCD HDTV. So I've gone with 720p Hybrid.

Have you experimented with all your different settiings to see what works best for you?

And as far as pq on non HD channels goes, do you have your box set to best quality? I can't speak for your STB but the pq on my tv after using the SA 8300 STB was so far superior on 480i that it was absolutely amazing.

Now as far as PPV and On Demand, my understanding is you can order Pay Per View with most cable companies by phone. On Demand? What a waste. Tell me how long are the delays while it just gets to one menu to another. Anyway the point of having a DVR is to record what you want to watch when you want to watch it so IMHO On Demand is not necessary.

New software upgrade on S3 and TiVo HD boxes

I noticed tonight that my HD box has been upgraded to 9.3.Y3-01020652 version software.
Noticable differences include Find Program and Downloads option in the main menu, also seems much snappier/quicker to respond.

Thought I'd give you guys a heads up to look for an update. So far on Tivo community it seems like only the Series 2 boxes were getting this upgrade.

Cheers

New software upgrade on S3 and TiVo HD boxes

I noticed tonight that my HD box has been upgraded to 9.3.Y3-01020652 version software.
Noticable differences include Find Program and Downloads option in the main menu, also seems much snappier/quicker to respond.

Thought I'd give you guys a heads up to look for an update. So far on Tivo community it seems like only the Series 2 boxes were getting this upgrade.

Cheers

isk, do you have a subscription to this forum? You may want to set one up. Appreciate the info and it never really hurts to repeat it but someone beat you to the punch.:)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=13532831&postcount=3969

New software upgrade on S3 and TiVo HD boxes

I noticed tonight that my HD box has been upgraded to 9.3.Y3-01020652 version software.
Noticable differences include Find Program and Downloads option in the main menu, also seems much snappier/quicker to respond.

Thought I'd give you guys a heads up to look for an update. So far on Tivo community it seems like only the Series 2 boxes were getting this upgrade.

Cheers

Nothing on my boxes yet.

Nothing on my boxes yet.

Most of us won't see it for another 1 to 2 weeks. And when the majority get it we won't have that "y" in the number.

isk, do you have a subscription to this forum? You may want to set one up. Appreciate the info and it never really hurts to repeat it but someone beat you to the punch.:)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=13532831&postcount=3969

Hey - yeh I subscribe.. oops didn't see that post. What does the 'y' indicate?
Cheers.

Anyway the point of having a DVR is to record what you want to watch when you want to watch it so IMHO On Demand is not necessary.

I used to feel the same way about On Demand, until I wanted to catch up with "Curb Your Enthusiasm" during the writers strike. On Demand puts them up in order one season at a time every few weeks. Why not record them on DVR and watch them when I want?
Because HBO isn't currently broadcasting that show and if they do, they seldom broadcast all of them from the first show to the current season.
Hopefully the tuning resolver will eventually makes this a moot point anyway.

Hopefully the tuning resolver will eventually makes this a moot point anyway.Realize that the tuning resolver isn't going to give you access to VOD, just to programming presented as switched video. It's something that such a device could possibly do, but it would require a specification about 10 times as thick as the current one.

Realize that the tuning resolver isn't going to give you access to VOD, just to programming presented as switched video. It's something that such a device could possibly do, but it would require a specification about 10 times as thick as the current one.


No I didn't, that's a bummer. Thanks for correcting my misconception.

I used to feel the same way about On Demand, until I wanted to catch up with "Curb Your Enthusiasm" during the writers strike. On Demand puts them up in order one season at a time every few weeks. Why not record them on DVR and watch them when I want?
Because HBO isn't currently broadcasting that show and if they do, they seldom broadcast all of them from the first show to the current season.
Hopefully the tuning resolver will eventually makes this a moot point anyway.

But they change the on demand schedule as well. I'm really getting into the Amazon Unbox service with the S3. The NCAA coverage blew up my recording of Dexter last week and I was able to download it on the spot. If I want to spend the extra few bucks I can get the whole season. Now if they can only partner with iTunes that would be beautiful! Of course Apple would rather we buy iTV, but that's not happening anytime soon.

If you leave it on native you will have these type of issues. It's just a matter of well your television handles it's communication to the box, i.e. on my LCD HDTV if I put it on Native or even just Hybrid it's very slow changing channels. However on my Sony CRT it has very little delay on Native.

And since I added the HDMI to DVI converter I simply can't get 480i on the LCD HDTV. So I've gone with 720p Hybrid.

Have you experimented with all your different settiings to see what works best for you?

And as far as pq on non HD channels goes, do you have your box set to best quality? I can't speak for your STB but the pq on my tv after using the SA 8300 STB was so far superior on 480i that it was absolutely amazing.

Now as far as PPV and On Demand, my understanding is you can order Pay Per View with most cable companies by phone. On Demand? What a waste. Tell me how long are the delays while it just gets to one menu to another. Anyway the point of having a DVR is to record what you want to watch when you want to watch it so IMHO On Demand is not necessary.

1. Even if I wanted to I couldnt leave it on native, this causes my box to freeze, and if It finally lets me switch , it will just switch itself back to 1080i, all three of the boxes I went through did this.

2. Ive used a Yamaha 663 and a Marantz 4002 via HDMI and the PQ is still better with Cox's SA box for all resolutions.

3. I asked the cable installer, he called in to his CAll Center and I also called Customer Service and I was told by all three that Cox San Diego no longer accomadates call in order service for PPV. At the end of the day I needed a box, I was just going to switch the one in the theater to the family room every time I needed to order boxing. Now I dont have to.

3. My OnDemand menu is almost as fast as navigating through the TIVO menus/ We used to have slowness when it first came out in like 2001, now its super fast.

4. OnDemand = IFC in Theaters - for example Paranoid Park - was not out in San Diego until March 28. I was able to watch this On Demand on March 7th due to the New York theatrical release (even though they MASSIVELY butchered the correct 1:33 aspect ratio for 1:85) I really needed to see this ASAP. Many times they have films that are only available in New York and LA, such as Day Night, Day Night.

5. With OnDemand you can watch shows ahead of schedule, for example HBO will have Sundays episode of the xxx Series available the previous Monday.

6. As much as I love Tivo - It cant do anything close to #4 and 5.

Additional information on the 9.3 update.. now running on my TiVo HD but not S3 box


TiVo 9.3 software update to speed up the DVR's interface
By Nate Mook, BetaNews
April 2, 2008, 7:33 PM

TiVo will roll out a new software update to all subscribers in the next few weeks, which promises to remedy a common complaint among TiVo users since the service launched over eight years ago: speed.

TiVo software version 9.3 will significantly speed up nearly all of the common tasks that customers do with a TiVo. No longer will the DVR pause for nearly a minute while it reorders Season Pass priorities or stall for half a minute when a Season Pass is created. Users will see between 10 and 30 second speed improvements in these areas.

In addition, the interface will feel crisper, with TiVo Central (the default dashboard that pops up after you press the TiVo button on the remote) loading 1 second faster. Scrolling through the Now Playing list of recordings and changing the channel will also now be around 1 second faster.

Confirming a recording will be between 3 and 5 seconds faster in version 9.3 compared to 9.2.

It appears TiVo will not be introducing any new features into 9.3, such as the XMPP (Jabber) protocol that will eventually allow the company to push scheduled recordings and video downloads directly to customers' DVRs. However, some unspecified fixes have been made with regards to CableCARD support.

Like it does with all of its software updates, TiVo has posted a priority page on its Web site (Series2 only) for subscribers to sign up for 9.3 ahead of its standard rollout. An exact date for the release has not been specified, but it should arrive before the end of the month.


http://www.betanews.com/article/TiVo_93_software_update_to_speed_up_the_DVRs_interface/1207179183


Cheers

YES!

I didn't know if I was allowed to post the actual price on here but that is the price. They had two whole stacks of them.

I know about the lifetime sub.

Thanks everyone.

My local Costco isn't selling them for that. I would buy one for that price for our second TV just of the kids!

My local Costco isn't selling them for that. I would buy one for that price for our second TV just of the kids!

Might have been a fluke or only for a couple of days. I'll go back and see if they still have it.

I might be wrong here (and probably am - I don't have a membership yet), but didn't Costco discontinue or limit their very liberal return policy because it was being abused by people who would simply return their big screen TV's 2 years after they get them and then "upgrade" to a better model?

I thought they restricted the return window to be 6 months (or maybe 90 days)? Unless this was only on the big ticket items like TV's?

90 days for returns and 2 year warranties is their new policy.Their 90-day return policy (enacted in Feb 2007) does not apply to the Tivo - it only applies to TVs, computers, cameras, cell phones, camcorders, and ipods. You can return your Tivo any time in the future. My 15-month-old S3 has recently developed some serious problems. I've been reading lots of threads and posts at TCF looking for answers as to why my Tivo suddenly went from nearly perfect to almost unusable and i still don't know if it's software or hard drive related (i suspect the hard drive is failing). KS57 didn't fix it. I might just return it to Costco and get my $700+ back and either pick up a TivoHD and install a bigger hard drive, or just ditch Tivo altogether and try to get some of my 3-year-plan refunded and continue to use my two SA8300HDs which have performed flawlessly for over the past two years.

My local Costco isn't selling them for that. I would buy one for that price for our second TV just of the kids!

I went to the Costco in Los Angeles (Hawthorne) off Rosecrans and they have no more Tivos or DirecTV DVRs. I don't know if all the stores have quit carrying them.

Looks like I got lucky with a closeout price?

I have a new job and the calls I take are kind of slow. So they stick this guy next to me for 20 minutes to "help". We had 2 calls.

Anyway we start talking and he just got a HDTV and he's got TW's SA 8300. I start explaining the differences between the two and pulled up the "Blue Moon Special". Once I told him he could play his music on his computer through his wireless he said "sold.":)

I forwarded the email to him.

I have a new job and the calls I take are kind of slow. So they stick this guy next to me for 20 minutes to "help". We had 2 calls.

Anyway we start talking and he just got a HDTV and he's got TW's SA 8300. I start explaining the differences between the two and pulled up the "Blue Moon Special". Once I told him he could play his music on his computer through his wireless he said "sold.":)

I forwarded the email to him.


Nice.
Granted the music interface could certainly do with some work, a search facility would be nice..

I went to the Costco in Los Angeles (Hawthorne) off Rosecrans and they have no more Tivos or DirecTV DVRs. I don't know if all the stores have quit carrying them.

Looks like I got lucky with a closeout price?


I don't think it was a "close out." More like a "sold out."

I had always accepted as an article of faith that the S3 didn’t care about the difference between the older CableCARDs and the newer M cards. That has turned out not to be right, at least where my S3 and Cox OKC are concerned.

My first CableCARDs for this S3, the first one had died, were in place and performed flawlessly for the better part of a year. Then, several weeks ago, one of them choked while downloading a firmware update from Cox. The Cox tech who came to replace the old CableCARDs used 7 different CableCARDs, all of them M cards, and then only got one of them to work. To cut to the chase, both new cards did start working the next day but would fail and require a reboot every several days until yesterday when even several reboots failed to bring back my HD reception.

I then called Cox to replace the current cards. The guy who came today couldn’t get M cards to work and a guy in the dispatcher’s office told him that M cards wouldn’t work in S3s. He then installed two of the older cards and, Voila!, everything came back. So far, at least, it’s still back. Anyway, heads up!

I had always accepted as an article of faith that the S3 didn’t care about the difference between the older CableCARDs and the newer M cards. That has turned out not to be right, at least where my S3 and Cox OKC are concerned.

My first CableCARDs for this S3, the first one had died, were in place and performed flawlessly for the better part of a year. Then, several weeks ago, one of them choked while downloading a firmware update from Cox. The Cox tech who came to replace the old CableCARDs used 7 different CableCARDs, all of them M cards, and then only got one of them to work. To cut to the chase, both new cards did start working the next day but would fail and require a reboot every several days until yesterday when even several reboots failed to bring back my HD reception.

I then called Cox to replace the current cards. The guy who came today couldn’t get M cards to work and a guy in the dispatcher’s office told him that M cards wouldn’t work in S3s. He then installed two of the older cards and, Voila!, everything came back. So far, at least, it’s still back. Anyway, heads up!

Hmmmm... Works fine in mine... What brand? Mine are SA.

Yeah--I have two SA M-Cards in mine, as well. When they first did the install, they put in two S-Cards. One of them was flakey and when they came back the 3rd time they replaced them both with M-Cards. I haven't had a problem with either of them.

Judging from this (http://www.cox.com/support/oklahoma/digitalcable/dvr/default.asp) page at the Cox Oklahoma site, OKC is using an SA network while Cox Tulsa's using Motorola, so I'd expect that the cards that they've been installing in your TiVo were SA as well.

I had always accepted as an article of faith that the S3 didn’t care about the difference between the older CableCARDs and the newer M cards. That has turned out not to be right, at least where my S3 and Cox OKC are concerned.

My first CableCARDs for this S3, the first one had died, were in place and performed flawlessly for the better part of a year. Then, several weeks ago, one of them choked while downloading a firmware update from Cox. The Cox tech who came to replace the old CableCARDs used 7 different CableCARDs, all of them M cards, and then only got one of them to work. To cut to the chase, both new cards did start working the next day but would fail and require a reboot every several days until yesterday when even several reboots failed to bring back my HD reception.

I then called Cox to replace the current cards. The guy who came today couldn’t get M cards to work and a guy in the dispatcher’s office told him that M cards wouldn’t work in S3s. He then installed two of the older cards and, Voila!, everything came back. So far, at least, it’s still back. Anyway, heads up!


Are you watching these guys install? Are you using the remote to navigate around the screen?

The two problems that I see techs make when installing - even the so called "experienced" ones are the fact that they don't know how to navigate through the menu or they don't realize the cards need to be paired. I had to tell the guys who put two S cards in my TiVo HD that they needed to be paired.

You see on their boxes they don't marry the cards so that's why even though they all install cable cards they don't quite get TiVo.

Oh, and many people will say S cards don't work in TiVo HD. That's a bunch of bull pucky too.

And then there is the old favorite - making a mistake reading the card numbers to the headend person. I had two guys out for the install and one read the numbers while the other watched. I was watching too and I could see the numbers on the screen. I stopped him right away and said no, you just repeated that number. He said he didn't. I said start over. He did and everything worked fine.

And there is no reason in the world why M cards won't work with TiVo S3. Complete nonsense and just bad installs.

I limited my post to what I had experienced with my S3 and Cox OKC because I had no idea what my experience might mean in a broader context. I won’t feel confident that the difference in card types is, indeed, the reason my S3 started working again until I have been using them for a couple of weeks and haven’t had to reboot. Until then: ????????? More if that happens – or, God forbid, the new cards start losing their authorization like the old M cards did.

My CableCARDs are, indeed SA products.

I limited my post to what I had experienced with my S3 and Cox OKC because I had no idea what my experience might mean in a broader context. I won’t feel confident that the difference in card types is, indeed, the reason my S3 started working again until I have been using them for a couple of weeks and haven’t had to reboot. Until then: ????????? More if that happens – or, God forbid, the new cards start losing their authorization like the old M cards did.

My CableCARDs are, indeed SA products.

But losing the authorization has no bearing on whether or not it is an M card or S card. The only difference between the two cards are the fact that the M card can handle two streams at one time. It doesn't mean it HAS to have two streams at one time.

Again just bad installers who have no idea what they are doing.

I limited my post to what I had experienced with my S3 and Cox OKC because I had no idea what my experience might mean in a broader context. I won’t feel confident that the difference in card types is, indeed, the reason my S3 started working again until I have been using them for a couple of weeks and haven’t had to reboot. Until then: ????????? More if that happens – or, God forbid, the new cards start losing their authorization like the old M cards did.

My CableCARDs are, indeed SA products.My S-cards work fine (and always have) in my S3 with FiOS service. FiOS doesn't have M-cards here yet. Wish they did since it would save me $5/month. I have had several TiVo CSR's tell me that the S3 will not work with the M-card and FiOS, but they are working on it for the future. ;)

The only difference between the two cards are the fact that the M card can handle two streams at one time.Small, irrelevant nit--M-Cards can handle up to 6 streams at one time.

Small, irrelevant nit--M-Cards can handle up to 6 streams at one time.

Hey, thanks for letting me know. I wasn't aware of that.