Is this normal?

My Tivo stopped recording and I restarted and it is back to normal. It is like computer, huh?

Yes, it's Linux based and when you have a problem just like any other computer, you reboot first.:)

Thanks!

I was watching my recording of one tree hill last night at between 54minutes and 55minutes the video was completely lost for about 1second with a complete black screen. can anyone else verify if this was on your recording?

Trying to verify if the tivo series 3 is at fault or if it was from the source.

I was watching my recording of one tree hill last night at between 54minutes and 55minutes the video was completely lost for about 1second with a complete black screen. can anyone else verify if this was on your recording?

Trying to verify if the tivo series 3 is at fault or if it was from the source.

OMG. 1 second and you feel honestly that you have to make an issue of this?

Look guy, somebody has got to say this. You are way, way to picky and demanding in what your expectations are out of TiVo. Did you rewind it to see if happened again?

Things happen with HD broadcasting and every little thing doesn't need to be questioned. My God if I reported everytime I got a little macroblocking or something like you described, I'd be doing nothing but complaining. Which is all you ever do.

But I won't be bothered by you anymore. You're going on my ignore list.

OMG. 1 second and you feel honestly that you have to make an issue of this?

Look guy, somebody has got to say this. You are way, way to picky and demanding in what your expectations are out of TiVo. Did you rewind it to see if happened again?

Things happen with HD broadcasting and every little thing doesn't need to be questioned. My God if I reported everytime I got a little macroblocking or something like you described, I'd be doing nothing but complaining. Which is all you ever do.

But I won't be bothered by you anymore. You're going on my ignore list.

I have to agree with you 100% on this one. Totally flawless HD reception is just impossible. Tivo or not, your going to occasionally see problems like this. After all the complaints Proudx has made about Tivo, it boggles the mind why he would still own one!

I have to agree with you 100% on this one. Totally flawless HD reception is just impossible. Tivo or not, your going to occasionally see problems like this. After all the complaints Proudx has made about Tivo, it boggles the mind why he would still own one!
I was thinking the same thing. When you have momentary sound dropouts, black screens, or image distortion, there is no telling what caused them. The image has to be received from a satellite and then transmitted over many miles and thorough God knows how many electronic devices before the TiVo can even deal with it. Relax and enjoy what you have. It's still pretty good.

I was thinking the same thing. When you have momentary sound dropouts, black screens, or image distortion, there is no telling what caused them. The image has to be received from a satellite and then transmitted over many miles and thorough God knows how many electronic devices before the TiVo can even deal with it. Relax and enjoy what you have. It's still pretty good.

yeah I'm trying and Ive seen pixelation before, but never a complete screen black out with complete loss of video and sound. The screen just blacked out CW logo lost and everything then came back up. "yes its in the recording". I hope it was source. I just find it hard to believe it was the source, I have a 95 signal with no corrected errors or uncorrected errors on that channel.

This really isn't the thread in which to ask whether other have seen the same problems in broadcasts that you have. Find the local discussion for the area closest to you and ask there. See the United States Thread Index (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241) in the Local HDTV Info and Reception (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45) forum--there are threads for both OTA and various area cable systems (search for "Georgia" and you'll find a list of threads for areas in that state).

It's much, much more likely that you've seen a glitch in a broadcast than that you've seen a bug in TiVo.

I noticed a very short screen "blackout" or two during either or both of the two prime time shows on FOX last night; Sarah Connor Chronicles (or whatever it's called) and Prison Break.

Having had my Tivo S3 for a couple years now, I didn't get too stressed about this glitch as I might have if I were a new owner. Having had a longer history with mine, I've noticed some occasional odd audio or video dropouts from time to time, but none ever amounted to a pattern of continuing or building malfunction. Which has always lead me to conclude that those issues were assorted broadcast glitches.

Since you experienced your "blackouts" with a prime time CW show last night, perhaps it occurred at the same time as my little blackout? I deleted mine, so I can't go back through to find the exact times of occurence.. not that I'd be willing to expend the energy anyway. :p Maybe it was a sun spot thing, blotting out all reception for a split second or two, no matter what programming was being viewed. Or some other atmospheric disturbance of some sort or another. *shrugs*

There's a local forum, hdtv.forsandiego.com, where people often report glitches like this, ranging from patches of pixellated video to static in the audio stream which might go on for an entire hour or more. Usually, people who watched the broadcast on both local cable systems (Cox and TWC), over-the-air and rebroadcast by the satellite services report seeing exactly the same thing, using several different types, brands and models of equipment. Occasionally, only people viewing on a particular cable or satellite system will see a problem. I don't recall an incident where only people using one particular make and model of box saw it. If you experience a video or audio glitch, TiVo is the last place to look for the cause (not to say that it might not ultimately prove to be the cause, but it's the least likely source).

There's a local forum, hdtv.forsandiego.com, where people often report glitches like this, ranging from patches of pixellated video to static in the audio stream which might go on for an entire hour or more. Usually, people who watched the broadcast on both local cable systems (Cox and TWC), over-the-air and rebroadcast by the satellite services report seeing exactly the same thing, using several different types, brands and models of equipment. Occasionally, only people viewing on a particular cable or satellite system will see a problem. I don't recall an incident where only people using one particular make and model of box saw it. If you experience a video or audio glitch, TiVo is the last place to look for the cause (not to say that it might not ultimately prove to be the cause, but it's the least likely source).

yeah I tend to agree with you about it being the least likely source, its just this video/audio glitch did not seem like the typical OTA digital glitch. little to no pixelatoin and strong solid signal with no errors. There was a snap/click/crack as the audio died out "silence" and then a flash of black across the entire screen covering up the CW logo "on pause I can tell", and then a snap/click/crack audio back/video back. All in 1 to 2 second time period. Someone else verified that on Sat during that time did not see the problem so this points to Local CW station in Atlanta or Tivo.

Yes if I had my tivo series 3 for a few years I'd feel better about this, but I've had some other strange things it has done. I don't want to be one of these people 14 months down the road with a rebooting, constant pixelating expensive broken box.

Hopefully someone in the Atlanta area that has the show recorded can verify if it was coming from the station or not. The time it happened was around 54minutes to 55minutes into the show "so 9:54 to 9:55PM". Everything else perfect, not a single glitch in the 1hour show other than that.

Incendently I had prison break recorded on the 2nd tuner at the same time, it does not have the black out in the same time period arund 9:54pm to 9:55pm EST"

This really isn't the thread in which to ask whether other have seen the same problems in broadcasts that you have. Find the local discussion for the area closest to you and ask there. See the United States Thread Index (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241) in the Local HDTV Info and Reception (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45) forum--there are threads for both OTA and various area cable systems (search for "Georgia" and you'll find a list of threads for areas in that state).

It's much, much more likely that you've seen a glitch in a broadcast than that you've seen a bug in TiVo.

+1, I haven't read his responses simply because he's just plain annoying. Yet I can see despite the fact that several people have come out and told him that either go elsewhere or they agree with me, he continues to post.

Get a clue, dude.

+1, I haven't read his responses simply because he's just plain annoying. Yet I can see despite the fact that several people have come out and told him that either go elsewhere or they agree with me, he continues to post.

Get a clue, dude.

No you get a clue. I'm not some newbie that your going to bully around with your tivo fan boy rhetoric. I've been around these forums for several years before you and involved in the community helping others out to resolve their problems without critisim and a general poor attitude.

I have taken my post to the local atlanta hdtv thread as well. However, it has been my general experience that if you have a problem with a product or think the product owners might be able to help you you post in the official product thread. Is this likely a local broadcast issue better answered in the atlanta hdtv thread? Yes. But I gained valuable information from a tivo user that reported he gets "blackouts" from time to time as well on his S3.

For whatever reason you with your child like tivo fan boy attitude have been a bit combative against me or anyone who trys to troubleshoot any potential tivo bug, perceived bug or not. I've never experienced this before in any of the other of dozens of threads I have posted in on AVSForum in which case everyone has been a great help. I've been nothing but nice to you dispite your poor attitude and my patience is wearing out. This forum does not belong to just "hookbill" nor does it me and I really should stop ranting, I suggest if you want to continue this conversation send me a private message, otherwise keep your mouth shut if you don't have anything positive to offer.

To the other series 3 owners I apologize for taking up space in this thread with my rant, but hook bills
"dude, get a clue comment" and how annoying I am is just out of line.

No you get a clue. I'm not some newbie that your going to bully around with your tivo fan boy rhetoric. I've been around these forums for several years before you and involved in the community helping others out to resolve their problems without critisim and a general poor attitude.

I have taken my post to the local atlanta hdtv thread as well. However, it has been my general experience that if you have a problem with a product or think the product owners might be able to help you you post in the official product thread. Is this likely a local broadcast issue better answered in the atlanta hdtv thread? Yes. But I gained valuable information from a tivo user that reported he gets "blackouts" from time to time as well on his S3.

For whatever reason you with your child like tivo fan boy attitude have been a bit combative against me or anyone who trys to troubleshoot any potential tivo bug, perceived bug or not. I've never experienced this before in any of the other of dozens of threads I have posted in on AVSForum in which case everyone has been a great help. I've been nothing but nice to you dispite your poor attitude and my patience is wearing out. This forum does not belong to just "hookbill" nor does it me and I really should stop ranting, I suggest if you want to continue this conversation send me a private message, otherwise keep your mouth shut if you don't have anything positive to offer.

To the other series 3 owners I apologize for taking up space in this thread with my rant, but hook bills
"dude, get a clue comment" and how annoying I am is just out of line.
First, I think your question here was entirely appropriate. You have a TiVo and wanted to learn whether anybody could confirm that your problem was TiVo related. That was a fair question and I certainly understood why you asked it. The answer, though, is that we can't answer it. The TiVo is merely one link in a very long chain that lets you watch TV. Glitches such as sound dropouts, pixillation, and momentarily black screens can be caused by any one of those myriad links. Thus, there is simply no way to know whether your problem is or is not TiVo related. Sorry we couldn't help, but there it is.

No you get a clue. I'm not some newbie that your going to bully around with your tivo fan boy rhetoric. I've been around these forums for several years before you and involved in the community helping others out to resolve their problems without critisim and a general poor attitude.

I have taken my post to the local atlanta hdtv thread as well. However, it has been my general experience that if you have a problem with a product or think the product owners might be able to help you you post in the official product thread. Is this likely a local broadcast issue better answered in the atlanta hdtv thread? Yes. But I gained valuable information from a tivo user that reported he gets "blackouts" from time to time as well on his S3.

For whatever reason you with your child like tivo fan boy attitude have been a bit combative against me or anyone who trys to troubleshoot any potential tivo bug, perceived bug or not. I've never experienced this before in any of the other of dozens of threads I have posted in on AVSForum in which case everyone has been a great help. I've been nothing but nice to you dispite your poor attitude and my patience is wearing out. This forum does not belong to just "hookbill" nor does it me and I really should stop ranting, I suggest if you want to continue this conversation send me a private message, otherwise keep your mouth shut if you don't have anything positive to offer.

To the other series 3 owners I apologize for taking up space in this thread with my rant, but hook bills
"dude, get a clue comment" and how annoying I am is just out of line.

Don't let this person dissuade you from posting. This person has a history of being rude to others and sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. Some people it seems are just born nasty and arrogant.

Don't let this person dissuade you from posting. This person has a history of being rude to others and sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. Some people it seems are just born nasty and arrogant.
Hookbill is all right. He does tend to get a little excited from time to time but his heart is in the right place. :)

Hookbill is all right. He does tend to get a little excited from time to time but his heart is in the right place. :)Since he's called me "ignorant" and "self-serving" (when it was only his total lack of understanding that was the problem), I respectfully have to disagree with you. :) I know the moderators have had to step in and delete/clean up his posts. Name calling and "get a clue" attitude has no place on this forum, period. People will find much more civil discourse at tivocommunity.com, from which Hook is banned for life.

Hookbill is all right. He does tend to get a little excited from time to time but his heart is in the right place. :)

Your darn right, and I speak the truth. Brian Miller you're on my ignore list so I don't know what you said and don't care. Magnani, who uses the name of Sooka at the TiVo form only post when he has something negative to say about me. Search his name, almost all his post are something about me.

By the way Magnani or Sooka or whatever you call yourself, I'm sick of you you're going on the list too. I don't want to read some post which is why I have an ignore list but since you choose to keep stalking me and reposting negative comments about me I'll put you on there too, I should have a long time ago.

Magnani your entire history consist of saying negative things about me. You have no right to talk about how I treat somebody.

Just for the record I have a total of 4 people on my ignore list. 3 of them just showed up.:). I've been in this forum for over 5 years and only 4 people. You guys must be special.

Look, I call a spade a spade. I was polite with this guy for the longest time but complaining about a 1 second blackout? "Did anyone else happen to see this?"

Um, no I think I must of blinked or something.:rolleyes:

That combined with all his other complaints is why I spoke out. And for the record I got two private messages thanking me for saying it. And to those guys, your both welcome!

Since he's called me "ignorant" and "self-serving" (when it was only his total lack of understanding that was the problem), I respectfully have to disagree with you. :) I know the moderators have had to step in and delete/clean up his posts. Name calling and "get a clue" attitude has no place on this forum, period. People will find much more civil discourse at tivocommunity.com, from which Hook is banned for life.
Hook's ban from the TiVo Community Forum has always seemed odd to me. Over there they are WAY bigger TiVo fanboys than we are here. I guess they just have thinner skins. That said, although I regard Hook as a friend, even I have to concede that he might be well advised to work a little harder on his social skills. :)

Hook's ban from the TiVo Community Forum has always seemed odd to me. Over there they are WAY bigger TiVo fanboys than we are here. I guess they just have thinner skins. That said, although I regard Hook as a friend, even I have to concede that he might be well advised to work a little harder on his social skills. :)

First, I wasn't banned from the TCF. I told them to take their community and shove it, it seemed like they were out to get me anyway so why wait?

I think that what happened on that truthfully was that GoHokies! and I would sometimes gang up on someone and Magnani started bad mouthing me. I tried to ignore him but he kept up with some pretty serious insults. So I turned him in. Notice he doesn't have an account over there anymore.

I know that they read a PM I sent to GoHokies! and we both got a warning and a day kicked off. Then two days later I got the suspension again and I swear to God I don't know what I did. At that point I knew they were out to get me anyway so why wait?

And then Sooka showed up over there and he is the same as Magnani. Everytime I would go back over there he would go out of his way to compare what I said over here to what I said over there. I did get booted twice because of that, but not as many times as he says.;)

I know they booted the wrong guy the last time, Magnani would post something similar that he said that I had said over here. At that time he wasn't hostile because he didn't think I remembered him from TCF.

Anyway, he spends a great deal of time trying to figure out who I am, I see his posts and I laugh because he often picks the wrong guy.

Whoops, did I just say I see his posts? I mean, it's not like I've got an account now or anything, I ummm, I just visit that's all.:rolleyes:

In regards to my social skills, I'm outspoken and I speak the truth unless I'm just being a plain idiot and don't know what I'm talking about. That does happen often. On those occasions I truly admit it and often say so and usually follow it with one of these:o.

And I don't really hold a grudge unless it's someone who is a complete moron. Let's take Bicker1 for example. At first I thought he was an absolute idiot but over time not only did I discover that he was not an idiot at all but a pretty smart dude and I gained respect for him. I think he's toned it down a bit but maybe it's just that I see him in a different light.

In my 5 years I've only found 4 people that I couldn't tolerate. And I'll say this to those 3 who know they are on my list: Don't like what I post? Ignore me, please!

gswat, I liked you over at the TCF and here. I appreciate your kind words and honesty. And my story about wht TCF is the truth no matter what Magnani tells you.

gswat, I liked you over at the TCF and here. I appreciate your kind words and honesty. And my story about wht TCF is the truth no matter what Magnani tells you.
Hook – Thanks for the kind words. I hardly ever post at TCF anymore because too many of them are too strident and tend to flog the same issues over and over again. I may go back again if TiVo introduces a truly new DVR but the two models since the S3 are little different from the original, it seems to me. I occasionally post to a few places other than AVS when I have something I need an answer to, the VMware Fusion Forum and some of the Apple forums for example, but I like it here a lot. Folks are tolerant and courteous most of the time and very knowledgeable, to boot.

Pretty much normal behavior for Tivo. My S1 and S3 both behave this way. No work around that I know of but someone may come in with one.

This isn't normal behavior for my three Series 3 boxes and my four TiVoHD boxes. When they get to the end of a recording, it comes up with the option to keep or delete.

This question concerns the way my S3 acts at the end of a program.

I'm watching a recorded program. Once the show is over, sometimes there is a commercial, previews, or something at the end. If I FF to the end of the recording (i.e., the last minute of the recording), once it reaches the end, it just stops. The "delete" or "keep" banner never comes up. It just freezes. If I press play, it will show a few seconds of the recording then once it gets to the end, it allows me to delete or keep. In other words, if I FF to the end, it freezes. If I play it to the end, I get the normal "delete" or "keep" choice. (The unit doesn't freeze up, just the playback.)

Anyone else run into this? Is there a fix or work-around?

Your Tivo's behave differently if you FF to the end?:confused:

This isn't normal behavior for my three Series 3 boxes and my four TiVoHD boxes. When they get to the end of a recording, it comes up with the option to keep or delete.He's specifically talking about fast-forwarding to the end, not playing. If I FF to the end of a recording, my S3 does exactly what his does.

Hook – Thanks for the kind words. I hardly ever post at TCF anymore because too many of them are too strident and tend to flog the same issues over and over again. I may go back again if TiVo introduces a truly new DVR but the two models since the S3 are little different from the original, it seems to me. I occasionally post to a few places other than AVS when I have something I need an answer to, the VMware Fusion Forum and some of the Apple forums for example, but I like it here a lot. Folks are tolerant and courteous most of the time and very knowledgeable, to boot.

Paul and Michael are extremely smart. And whenever I say something absolutely stupid it's usually one of them that straightens me out.

There are others as well. Basically it's a good thread it's just that constant complaining will cause me to say something. And the reason I was blunt was because if you look back others have tried to tell that one individual there was nothing we could do to help him yet he continues to come in and complain about every little issue.

If you have a problem with your TiVo there is nothing wrong with discussing it, but when it gets to the point of constanat complaining.......

I've said this before, when I had the SA 8300 I had no idea that warped pictures and macroblocking, pixelation, sound drop offs constantly just wasn't part of HD transmitting. When I got my S3 I marveled at how much better it was and realized it was that pos SARA software. I didn't go into the SA 8300 and complain about the picture, I complained because I couldn't get complete recordings or sometimes any recordings. A screen that goes black for 1 second? Absolutely insane to think somebody in this forum would even be watching the same channel or even notice it.

And you know that when I was in the TFC my response was mild compared to what I would have said to him back then.;)

He's specifically talking about fast-forwarding to the end, not playing. If I FF to the end of a recording, my S3 does exactly what his does.

Same here.

Here as well, although I could swear it wasn't always that way.

For you guys who are using the TiVo app that let's you see available space, there is an udate available: http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/c/dcahoe/tivo/index.htm .

CruelInventions, are you paying attention?:)

I assume there's no Mac version? Not a huge deal, since I have an Intel MacBook Pro....

I assume there's no Mac version? Not a huge deal, since I have an Intel MacBook Pro....

Not that I know of.

I got an upgrade last night on my TiVo HD. It went from 9.4 to 11.0.P3 and as most of you know that letter means I'm one of the guinea pigs.:eek:

I've never liked being first receiver. What brought it to my attention was I was trying to look at remaining disk space from my computer but it wasn't showing up. I went upstairs and sure enough it was just sitting there, crashed. I unplugged the TiVo, then unplugged the eSATA. I waited, plugged in the eSATA and the "just a few more minutes screen" came up. And I waited. And waited. Then finally I got a message, "error 136 could not collect data."

I tried again and this time got through to the video. A message popped up saying I got an upgrade. I went through the menu's and there is the netflix connection, and also if I like I can now order a pizza from Dominoes! Really!

I did have to run the network test, initially it told me it could not connect but when I checked phone connection it showed it was there. Then I ran the connection test and everything worked.

The version I'm running is 11.0.P3 From 9.4 to 11.0! My S3 has not received it.

Anybody else?

I got an upgrade last night on my TiVo HD. It went from 9.4 to 11.0.P3 and as most of you know that letter means I'm one of the guinea pigs.:eek:

I've never liked being first receiver. What brought it to my attention was I was trying to look at remaining disk space from my computer but it wasn't showing up. I went upstairs and sure enough it was just sitting there, crashed. I unplugged the TiVo, then unplugged the eSATA. I waited, plugged in the eSATA and the "just a few more minutes screen" came up. And I waited. And waited. Then finally I got a message, "error 136 could not collect data."

I tried again and this time got through to the video. A message popped up saying I got an upgrade. I went through the menu's and there is the netflix connection, and also if I like I can now order a pizza from Dominoes! Really!

I did have to run the network test, initially it told me it could not connect but when I checked phone connection it showed it was there. Then I ran the connection test and everything worked.

The version I'm running is 11.0.P3 From 9.4 to 11.0! My S3 has not received it.

Anybody else?

I guess its appropriate that you are the Canary in the coal mine (being a Hookbill).... :D I didnt get the new software. I did get a function update about downloading video though.

Well, they're supposed to be rolling out the Netflix Watch Instantly player functionality in December, so we'll all have an update soon. I got the function on my Xbox on Wednesday and while that's cool, I'd much prefer to see it on my TiVo (my Xbox, a launch model, is a bit noisy in operation).

I guess its appropriate that you are the Canary in the coal mine (being a Hookbill).... :D I didnt get the new software. I did get a function update about downloading video though.

Canaries are not hookbills. Hookbills are birds of the parrot family which range from you're common budgie (parakeet) to Macaws.

Toucans, Lorries and birds of that sort are softbills. Quite honestly I don't know what category a canary fits in.;)

Sorry, get me starting on birds, I go on and on.......

Well, they're supposed to be rolling out the Netflix Watch Instantly player functionality in December, so we'll all have an update soon. I got the function on my Xbox on Wednesday and while that's cool, I'd much prefer to see it on my TiVo (my Xbox, a launch model, is a bit noisy in operation).

Mike,

It isn't just the launch models that are noisy, all XBOX's are. I reviewed the Elite (with the HDMI connection), and it was just as noisy as my version that was a year old at the time. Sometimes I'm not sure whether I have a video game system or a crop duster :D

David

Canaries are not hookbills. Hookbills are birds of the parrot family which range from you're common budgie (parakeet) to Macaws.

Toucans, Lorries and birds of that sort are softbills. Quite honestly I don't know what category a canary fits in.;)

Sorry, get me starting on birds, I go on and on.......

Yup.. understand... I was driving at the 'bird' parallel... not the species. :D

I babysat my friends Yellow Naped Amazon for a couple weeks. Birds are cool. Tarzan could 'ring' just like the telephone. Faked us out several times.

Yup.. understand... I was driving at the 'bird' parallel... not the species. :D

I babysat my friends Yellow Naped Amazon for a couple weeks. Birds are cool. Tarzan could 'ring' just like the telephone. Faked us out several times.

I think canries are softbills. Anyway none of mine have ever done the TiVo beep. However get any medical or cop show that has the heart machine on and they all start going beep....beep.

Sorry, now back to our regular topic. I've noticed that some people in the TCF are saying they had some crashes with their upgrades.

Well, I haven't received a beta firmware version, but I did get a message indicating that there's now access to rentals from Walt Disney Studios on CinemaNow and to videos at Jaman.com. Leave me alone or give me my Netflix Watch Instantly player :).

I also notice that the Amazon Unbox menus have been upgraded since the last time I looked at them (and has been renamed to "Unbox On Demand" :rolleyes:). You can now browse their entire library on TiVo. EDIT: I read a little about it and apparently the "On Demand" bit refers to the fact that they can now stream to some platforms, though not to TiVos or PCs (currently only the Sony Bravia Internet Video Link, AFAICS).

Well, I haven't received a beta firmware version, but I did get a message indicating that there's now access to rentals from Walt Disney Studios on CinemaNow and to videos at Jaman.com. Leave me alone or give me my Netflix Watch Instantly player :).

I also notice that the Amazon Unbox menus have been upgraded since the last time I looked at them (and has been renamed to "Unbox On Demand" :rolleyes:). You can now browse their entire library on TiVo. EDIT: I read a little about it and apparently the "On Demand" bit refers to the fact that they can now stream to some platforms, though not to TiVos or PCs (currently only the Sony Bravia Internet Video Link, AFAICS).

Yes, I saw that today on my S3.

...I didnt get the new software. I did get a function update about downloading video though.....I did get a message indicating that there's now access to rentals from Walt Disney Studios on CinemaNow and to videos at Jaman.com.....

Same here.

Same here as well.

well I gave up on the tivohd flicker issue but do believe tivo will fix it. I had TivoJerry doing some logging of the issue on the last tivohd I had for further investigation.

I'm spending the holiday week at my parents' home, and they have a TiVO HD. I'm seeing the same thing on some of their analog cable channels. They haven't noticed it, but it drives me crazy... :)

They also get a many multi-second drop outs of the audio and/or extreme pixilation once every 3 or 4 minutes on many of the HD channels, which they DO notice and they prefer to record shows on the analog cable channels rather than the HD equivalents. Can't say I blame them - it's beyond annoying to lose three or four seconds of audio every now and then.

I feel bad for getting the TiVO HD as a gift for them last Christmas. It seems like it has a lot more issues than I ever had with my Series 3.

Just FYI they're running with one Motorola MediaCipher M-Card, and their provider is Baja Broadband in St. George, UT.

I'm spending the holiday week at my parents' home, and they have a TiVO HD. I'm seeing the same thing on some of their analog cable channels. They haven't noticed it, but it drives me crazy... :)

They also get a many multi-second drop outs of the audio and/or extreme pixilation once every 3 or 4 minutes on many of the HD channels, which they DO notice and they prefer to record shows on the analog cable channels rather than the HD equivalents. Can't say I blame them - it's beyond annoying to lose three or four seconds of audio every now and then.

I feel bad for getting the TiVO HD as a gift for them last Christmas. It seems like it has a lot more issues than I ever had with my Series 3.

Just FYI they're running with one Motorola MediaCipher M-Card, and their provider is Baja Broadband in St. George, UT.

Could it just be a signal issue?

The signal reads 100 on the TiVO's signal strength meter for all the digital/HD channels.

The signal reads 100 on the TiVO's signal strength meter for all the digital/HD channels.Based on what you are reporting, it sounds like your signal strength is too strong. The TiVo responds to a "hot" (too strong) signal with pixelization and dropouts.

Grab them an attenuator to reduce your signal strength. A -3dB or -6dB should do the trick.

The signal reads 100 on the TiVO's signal strength meter for all the digital/HD channels.

I've said this many times, the best way to make sure you're getting a correct signal is have them come out and check your connections all the way out to the box. They will do this at no charge.

I'm not so sure they're willing to do it at no charge, everywhere, anymore. In many areas, if they don't find anything wrong with their own wiring, then you'll pay for a truck roll.

I'm not so sure they're willing to do it at no charge, everywhere, anymore. In many areas, if they don't find anything wrong with their own wiring, then you'll pay for a truck roll.

What? That's just crazy. The main selling point of cable is they will give free service except for an install.

You mean to say that if you are having picture problems and you call the cable company some would charge you for that? I wouldn't call and say "hey, come out and check my signal strength" I'd complain about the picture. When they got there I would have them check all connections.

Now a satellite company I would understand. Not cable.

What? That's just crazy. The main selling point of cable is they will give free service except for an install.The main selling point of cable is that they provide television entertainment.

You mean to say that if you are having picture problems and you call the cable company some would charge you for that?Yes, and indeed they should, if the fault for your problems is your own equipment or your own wiring.

Now a satellite company I would understand. Not cable.Then, with respect, your expectations are unreasonable.

The main selling point of cable is that they provide television entertainment.

Yes, and indeed they should, if the fault for your problems is your own equipment or your own wiring.

Then, with respect, your expectations are unreasonable.

Well with respect as well I do disagree with you. I've been able to get them to do many things in regards to problems with my TiVo and at no time did TW ever charge me. Matter of fact when I complained about them putting the block on digital channels for transfer they threw a 20.00 credit to me, but no I couldn't get them to change.

I do agree with you on the part of equipment. Wiring, I disagree since they were the one's to install it in the first place.

But it's OK we can't agree on everything.:) And I don't deny you're understanding of the way cable companies think, you've always been clear and concise on that.

In the communities where I've lived in the past decade or so, the cable companies have long since divorced themselves from interior wiring maintenance, just like the telephone companies (though I think that some may offer it for an extra monthly charge). If they can prove that the cable works as it enters your home, they're off the hook.

If they can prove that the cable works as it enters your home, they're off the hook.I was having problems getting all the HD channels that Comcast provides in our area.

Our setup had a splitter where the Comcast cable reaches the house. From that point a newer wire went to our router for the Internet, and a very old wire went to our TV. The old wire was bad, so I suggested that the tech move the splitter into the computer room where he could split the TV signal through a wall to the TV. That way he or we :eek: wouldn't have to drag a new cable under the house.

Outside the house he replace the splitter with a splice to our computer cable, inside he added a new splitter, and fabricated two patch cables to connect to the router and to the TV. Then he tested the new connections.

A $20 charge was added to our next bill. Since the problem was our interior TV cable, Comcast could have charged a lot more for that whole repair. I'm not sure why the charge was only $20, and I'm not asking. ;)

In the communities where I've lived in the past decade or so, the cable companies have long since divorced themselves from interior wiring maintenance, just like the telephone companies (though I think that some may offer it for an extra monthly charge). If they can prove that the cable works as it enters your home, they're off the hook.

When I say I disagree, that doesn't make it so.:) I know bicker1 is right about the charging for inside wiring I just don't think it's fair. Just like the phone company.

Unlike the phone company they do not offer a cheap inside wire charge. They should at least offer that.

In the communities where I've lived in the past decade or so, the cable companies have long since divorced themselves from interior wiring maintenance, just like the telephone companies (though I think that some may offer it for an extra monthly charge). If they can prove that the cable works as it enters your home, they're off the hook.
Cox OKC charges for interior wiring work unless you have its insurance plan, which costs about $5 a month. I pay for the insurance because I have an extensive coax network, which I had installed in the '80s when I got a C-Band dish. When the tuner for the dish died and I got cable, I had it connected to the old dish network. For obvious reasons, the interior wiring insurance has turned out to be money well spent.

Thanks, I will have them try the attenuator first and if that doesn't work maybe get the cable company involved. It was a real hassle (and many trips) to get the cable card working in the first place, so we want to avoid getting them involved if possible!

I've been able to get them to do many things in regards to problems with my TiVo and at no time did TW ever charge me.You must be a good whiner. :) Regardless, that gravy train is likely to be taken off the trail, if it isn't already.

I do agree with you on the part of equipment. Wiring, I disagree since they were the one's to install it in the first place.Doesn't matter. Their work comes with a limited warranty (a number of days, not weeks), and then it is your problem, unless you pay them a few dollars a month for wire coverage. I know you're having trouble believing what I'm writing, but if nothing else convinces you that should: They charge a monthly fee for providing service to your inside wiring, so clearly repairs related to problems with your inside wiring are your responsibility (unless you pay that fee).

But it's OK we can't agree on everything.:) And I don't deny you're understanding of the way cable companies think, you've always been clear and concise on that.True, but I think you are in for a rude awakening. All over the economy, consumers are driving suppliers towards unbundling of pricing -- lower base prices, and then fees for add-ons. That has happened in cable television, and it will almost surely bite you in the butt if you leave yourself unprepared for its inevitable impact on you.

You must be a good whiner. :) Regardless, that gravy train is likely to be taken off the trail, if it isn't already.

In my area if I even think there might be an issue I send an email out to the President of TW, NEO. Case and point: When I got my TiVo HD I had 3 weeks to wait for an install and a short window on a Saturday. I fired off an email about customer service and I now have the cell number of the manager of their service department direct. He called me within hours of that email and not only did they come out two days later in the evening after I got off work, they did the install at no charge.

I also have a direct number to a woman in headend who has cheerfully taken care of cable card issues for me. Excellent person, and all in all I get great customer service.

True, but I think you are in for a rude awakening. All over the economy, consumers are driving suppliers towards unbundling of pricing -- lower base prices, and then fees for add-ons. That has happened in cable television, and it will almost surely bite you in the butt if you leave yourself unprepared for its inevitable impact on you.

I don't quite understand what you mean by that. If anything wouldn't the idea be to offer better value during a bad economy? If you look around there are bargains everywhere right now and even gas is under 2.00, at least in my area.

I often talk about how smart I think I am and how stupid I can be. The following is an example.

Last night I pushed a panic button. I thought I was already running out of room on my Mac, it has a 1tb hard drive and I looked in the corner and it said I had 69gb left!

So I deleted some unnecessary programs and in my shock it seemed to make things worst! Now it said I had 29 gb! I thought, OK, I'll shoot some stuff up to my TiVo HD.

I came back down and this time actually did a right click on the Mac HD in the upper corner where I could see get info (like properties) and I found out that I actually had close to 600gb available! it read 931.19 GB.....26 free on the mac icon in the corner. Now when you look real close you can see the last dot is a little larger.

So I ran upstairs and stopped all transfers. I had 3 set at that time. One of the transfers however stayed on my to do list although I had tried several times to remove it so the blue light was stuck and nothing was being transferred.

I've had this happen once or twice before and a reboot fixes it. Not this time. Because the info was still in the two do list even after a reboot I had to do a clean up of my to do list and my SP's. The TiVo HD did warn me I would have to do a call in and it would take about an hour.

It took about an hour and a half and as soon as I pushed the TiVo button I got the message saying to place the call. I did, via wireless and then went to TiVo central.

Now at this point TiVo felt the need to show me the start up film or cartoon, whatever and I watched just because I like to watch it and then I went downstairs. Half an hour later I came back and it seems the connection was interrupted.

So I checked in again and watched it go to the download, and then install. This went at a snails pace it took over two hours before it was completed. Now that is the machine, not my wireless because the download wasn't that long it was on install mode.

After it did a successful install I pushed the TiVo button only to see the same message. No data. WTF? I push the guide button and I can see the guide. It's all there for the next several days at least. I use the guide to recreate my season passes and I double check and they seem to have no shows available. Also it seems it did not remove my Season Passes like it was suppose to when you use this reboot. So I had double Season Passes with nothing in them.

About this time I'm thinking "run the guide set up again" but TiVo is saying different and I'm going with TiVo and the fact that the SP's were not removed.

So I do the reboot and delete to do list again. This time it takes about 45 minutes. And it removes the SP's. And there is the message to phone in.

By now it is 11:00 and I started this around 4:00 in the afternoon. I ate another thanksgiving dinner and my wife decided to have one too.:) I tell it (the TiVo, not my wife) to connect to the TiVo service and about 90 minutes later it has completed the install. And there is that message again!!!! "TiVo has run out of guide information. Please do a call in to obtain .........."

Well, I'm not hungry and I don't have to work so I do a google. There it is, same problem and they ran guided setup. Which I thought about doing but did not try.

I ran guided set up and got the message I wanted, "Tivo has about a days worth of programming....."

I set up the season passes and lights out at 1:45 am.

There is two points to this long post: 1. If this happens to you, now you know what to do. 2. Why doesn't TiVo tell you that you need to run guided set up not just a call in?

It also shows that once again instead of thinking things out I reacted first. Had I clicked on the mac icon none of this would have happened.:o

One more thing: You know on your downloaded shows where you can click on "other" and it can let you see up coming episodes. Well that apparently gets wiped as well so even though your shows are there they have no idea about what is upcoming.

On the bright side I did get to watch about 5 recorded shows on my S3 while this was going on. Cleaned up a little bit of space there.

Enjoy the holiday!

My year and half old S3 has failed: slow to react, freezing-up, loss of audio, etc. It took about a week of downhill action before I called TiVo. We went through all the usual troubleshooting without any luck. The decision was made to swap it at a cost of about $150. So now I will be without any DVR for about two weeks since the current procedure is to ship mine to TiVo before they will ship my replacement out to me. Bummer.

In my area if I even think there might be an issue I send an email out to the President of TW, NEO. Case and point: When I got my TiVo HD I had 3 weeks to wait for an install and a short window on a Saturday. I fired off an email about customer service and I now have the cell number of the manager of their service department direct.Yup! You're a whiner! ;) And I'm sure they treat you as they do because they (perhaps rightfully) figure that it is less trouble keeping you quiet than not. And if they had to treat everyone like that, they'd be losing money big-time. Yes, expecting what you expect, with these price-points, is unreasonable.

I don't quite understand what you mean by that. If anything wouldn't the idea be to offer better value during a bad economy? No. Even with you, you're not choosing a supplier based on quality of service; you're choosing a supplier based on who you can most effectively brow-beat. Customers, in general, though, don't do either. They follow the path of least resistance, and therefore that manner will dictate how mass-market service providers operate.

If you look around there are bargains everywhere right now and even gas is under 2.00, at least in my area.Products and services will always differ in fundamental ways.

My year and half old S3 has failed: slow to react, freezing-up, loss of audio, etc. It took about a week of downhill action before I called TiVo. We went through all the usual troubleshooting without any luck. The decision was made to swap it at a cost of about $150. So now I will be without any DVR for about two weeks since the current procedure is to ship mine to TiVo before they will ship my replacement out to me. Bummer.

I assume there was no warranty remaining, right?

So if my S3 was to die, I could get a replacement for $150? That's not a bad deal...

They are giving you an S3, not a Tivo HD, right (but probably a refurb)?

Yup! You're a whiner! ;) And I'm sure they treat you as they do because they (perhaps rightfully) figure that it is less trouble keeping you quiet than not. And if they had to treat everyone like that, they'd be losing money big-time. Yes, expecting what you expect, with these price-points, is unreasonable.


:):):) I consider that a compliment.

I don't believe my expectations are unreasonable at all, and yes you are correct when I think I am right I will whine until I get my way.

Sometimes I don't. Obviously my expectations of them changing the way they copy protect digital channels was unreasonalble to them, but I still think it's unfair.

And as a result of their actions I do consider that I get excellent customer service. Yes, better then most but it's what I expect. And being a customer service representative if you get hold of me you will be treated as I feel I should be treated. If that means bending the rules and helping you out, so be it.

And that is the type of attitude that my company likes. Time Warner should have the same commitment. IMHO their regular reps are horrible, undertrained, probably under paid. And that is TW's fault. This is how they lose customers to satellite.

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree about the reasonable-ness of your expectations. I don't see how you can consider your expectations reasonable when you weren't promised what you expected, and that you admittedly expect a level of service you acknowledge that not everyone is granted.

Regardless, my point was that you're in for a rude awakening if they ever go to a more hands-length service scenario (which is very likely, these days) -- at that point, you'd get the, "I'm sorry there is no code in the system for that. Would you like to cancel your subscription?" reply, and that'll be it. Just remember, if it happens, I warned you. :)

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree about the reasonable-ness of your expectations. I don't see how you can consider your expectations reasonable when you weren't promised what you expected, and that you admittedly expect a level of service you acknowledge that not everyone is granted.

Regardless, my point was that you're in for a rude awakening if they ever go to a more hands-length service scenario (which is very likely, these days) -- at that point, you'd get the, "I'm sorry there is no code in the system for that. Would you like to cancel your subscription?" reply, and that'll be it. Just remember, if it happens, I warned you. :)

I agree to disagree. But let me make this point: The only reason I get the type of service I do, and everyone should, is I know how customer service works and I know how to go about getting what I want. Actually Readers Digest a couple of months ago gave several tips that I already knew and some I didn't, for example, if you're in a long waiting que and they ask in the beginning if you would like to speak to a Spanish speaking representative you can get quicker service that way.

You are still the customer and you are correct ultimately it is up to you whether or not you want to discontinue service. In my case I have no other alternative and probably won't. FIOS will never come into our area and U-Verse is only in AT&T territories and I'm not in one of them. I'm not capable of receiving a satellite signal but they don't know that.

As part of it's mission Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio has put Customer Service as a high priority. It seems to me that depending upon what area you live in around here that there are different levels of service. When I was being serviced out of the Macedonia office when I first got my S3 I sent a simple email saying I had heard horror stories about cable card install. I just voiced a concern. Somehow that email got to the manager's office and he called me to inform me that he and his lead tech were going to come out to do the install. When he came he had printed out the instructions off the web in advance and they did the install. Took about 40 minutes. He gave me his number and said call me if you have any issues.

A couple of months later I was moved out of his territory to the Concorde office. I didn't know this and I called him and he said sorry and explained. He also explained to me at that time that all the different service areas all came from small companies at what time so when it was Adelphia they were pretty much left alone to do business as usual. He warned me that I may not get the same kind of service out of the Concorde office.

He was correct. I had one bad experience with a tech who did a truck roll and I refused to sign the papers because he blamed the problem on TiVo. It wasn't TiVo's problem it was the cable company.

I thought back to what the other manager had told me about this super sharp person in headend and I remembered her first name. It took a few calls but finally I was able to get transferred to headend. I used the directory and found one woman with that name. That was how I got my contact. And I was right, the problem was with a coding in the signal that was incorrect for the cable cards and she fixed it.

So the next time I needed service was when I got my TiVo HD. Since I had a bad experience with the tech the first time and couldn't get my install for 3 weeks that's when I emailed TW NEO President.

You call it whining. I call it being assertive and taking action to receive the type of service not only I, but all TW NEO customers should get. And in my local thread the address of stevefry@twcable.com is very well known and used by others who have all had success resolving there issues.

I don't really understand why you believe customer service should be less and not more but then again I frequently don't agree with many of the things you say. I do think you present logical arguments and often you are right. Your argument here is logical to a point but I find it real hard to believe it will come down to "if you want to cancel......".

Now if you chose you may have a reply. I've said what I want to say on it and I'm done. I really wanted to just make a point that everyone is entitled to this type of service, not just me, and it's only because of the reasons I stated which is poor training, low paying, and probably a huge turnover in customer service that people cannot get this type of service right away. Every once in a while I will find a rep that has been there a long time and does understand how to do it. Not often. And every once in a while I will find a rep who will actually try to get further information and come back and say "I'm glad I talked to you I found out something I didn't know."

I never like to bicker with bicker1.:) I know I'm in for a battle when I do but at least we have learned to be respectful to each other and admit we can't always agree.

The only reason I get the type of service I do, and everyone should, is I know how customer service works and I know how to go about getting what I want.Well, others know how customer service works, and don't use what they know to extract what they want from a system within which providing what they want was not the intention. We have this discussion quite frequently on the Disney Theme Park forums, as a matter of fact, with regard to whether people are "justified" in exploiting generosity and loopholes to extract from the system more than what the system was intended to provide them. In some ways, it is a moral discussion, and perhaps inappropriate for this thread.

Actually Readers Digest a couple of months ago gave several tips ...Yup, and what many of us have noted is that whenever such (arguably underhanded) tactics become common knowledge, that is when companies have to incur more cost (and for companies riding thin margins, such costs are invariably passed along to all customers, the transgressors and those that don't transgress) to preclude such unintended exploitation. I think our list of such changes, with regard to Disney Theme Parks, at least, is up to 40, but I haven't counted recently.

You are still the customer and you are correct ultimately it is up to you whether or not you want to discontinue service.Abso-friggen-lutely, and my point is that, in the mass-market, the customer's defensible options are "accept" and "decline", not "brow-beat the CSR until you get what you want". Again, we can agree to disagree about that.

In my case I have no other alternative and probably won't. FIOS will never come into our area and U-Verse is only in AT&T territories and I'm not in one of them.It should be noted that just because an area isn't worth a service provider's time or money to offer you better service, doesn't justify folks in that area using tactics, such as those described by Readers' Digest, to get what they want, again, because that invariably means they're imposing added costs (associated with getting those "asserters" to, basically, shut up) onto all the other customers. (I often mention this with regard to NH, VT and ME, where the "good" service providers, like Verizon and Comcast, are looking for ways out of those markets, because they're such non-profitable places to offer service.)

I don't really understand why you believe customer service should be less and not moreThat's not what I believe. I believe that customer service should be what is promised by the service provider and what is accepted by the customer, not what the customer unilaterally imposes on the service provider. If the two sides cannot come to a meeting of the minds, then they shouldn't do business together. The mechanics of that, in the mass-market, is for the customer to decline the service offering.

... but at least we have learned to be respectful to each other and admit we can't always agree.Abso-friggen-lutely! :)

I'm spending the holiday week at my parents' home, and they have a TiVO HD. I'm seeing the same thing on some of their analog cable channels. They haven't noticed it, but it drives me crazy... :)

They also get a many multi-second drop outs of the audio and/or extreme pixilation once every 3 or 4 minutes on many of the HD channels, which they DO notice and they prefer to record shows on the analog cable channels rather than the HD equivalents. Can't say I blame them - it's beyond annoying to lose three or four seconds of audio every now and then.

I feel bad for getting the TiVO HD as a gift for them last Christmas. It seems like it has a lot more issues than I ever had with my Series 3.

Just FYI they're running with one Motorola MediaCipher M-Card, and their provider is Baja Broadband in St. George, UT.


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=407006&page=2

Please see that thread above for more documetation on the problem with the flicker on analog channels. While I gave up on the S3 I would suggest you send TivoJerry the information they will need to see if this is something they can fix with a firmware update.

I'm really sorry your parents are having this issue. Do they have comcast cable by chance?

I can tell you I had not only a good signal but a perfect signal and my tivohd still flickered with comcast analog cable.

But have the cable company maint come out and balance the signal anyway, the Tivohd needs not a good signal, but a perfect signal to reduce pixelation.

This will not fix the flicker on analog channels though but should reduce pixelation a bit.

i'm considering purchasing a tivo series 3 with lifetime service. there is a microsoft livesearch cashback program apparently in effect that would deduct $200 from the price the vendor is asking. i don't want to discuss prices other than MSRP on here, but could someone who has gone this route (or has tivo series three purchasing knowledge from somewhere other than tivo) please shoot me a PM to help me out? thanks.

i'm considering purchasing a tivo series 3 with lifetime service. there is a microsoft livesearch cashback program apparently in effect that would deduct $200 from the price the vendor is asking. i don't want to discuss prices other than MSRP on here, but could someone who has gone this route (or has tivo series three purchasing knowledge from somewhere other than tivo) please shoot me a PM to help me out? thanks.
TiVo sells fee-less HDTV models directly on its web site (http://www3.tivo.com/promo/customerholiday/index.html?tsn=).

The alternative is to buy the same unit from Costco for $199 and pay the $12.99/mo or $129/mo fee.

I would be hesitant to buy a used box on ebay.

My year and half old S3 has failed: slow to react, freezing-up, loss of audio, etc. It took about a week of downhill action before I called TiVo. We went through all the usual troubleshooting without any luck. The decision was made to swap it at a cost of about $150. So now I will be without any DVR for about two weeks since the current procedure is to ship mine to TiVo before they will ship my replacement out to me. Bummer.

I just had the same thing happen to my S3. By pulling the cable cards and antenna feed, the box acted "normally" and I was able to transfer all my content to my PC (TiVo Desktop). TiVo offered me an "Expedited" replacement where they charge you the full MSRP of the S3, about $1,100 and then refund all but $150 when they recieve the bad S3 back. This gives you 3-5 days delivery. I went this route yesterday and expect to get my replacement early next week.

It took almost a week to get all the content off and to try all combos to ensure that it was actually the S3 that was bad and not the Cable Cards or the TiVo expander. Lots of re-boots, guided setups, etc. Also, after re-boot, the box would generally work OK for a period of time before the corruption recurred. I eventually ended up with an antenna only non expanded box and still had the problems.

I'm hoping that Verizon will let me re-pair and authorize the Cable Cards over the phone and that I don't have to wait for a tech visit to get it done.
Anyone have experience with this?

Looks like I got the new service update (the official one, not the beta), which mostly seems to reorganize TiVo Central, adding a "Video On Demand" item to the top menu (bundling Showcases with Music & Photos and HME apps). Video On Demand has only Amazon, Disney, Jaman, YouTube, Music Videos from Music Choice, Free Videos (aka TiVoCast) and Home Movies by One True Media--no Netflix yet, though I assume that that's where it'll appear when it shows up.

If there are any other changes, I haven't noticed them.

Looks like I got the new service update (the official one, not the beta), which mostly seems to reorganize TiVo Central, adding a "Video On Demand" item to the top menu (bundling Showcases with Music & Photos and HME apps). Video On Demand has only Amazon, Disney, Jaman, YouTube, Music Videos from Music Choice, Free Videos (aka TiVoCast) and Home Movies by One True Media--no Netflix yet, though I assume that that's where it'll appear when it shows up.

If there are any other changes, I haven't noticed them.

Yes, I've never even tried using the video on demand. I just have two much recorded, but it definitely looks like a sweet feature.

I think I'll do a call in on my S3 and see if I get lucky!:)

I'm anxiously awaiting the streaming Netflix support. I've been enjoying it on my Xbox, but the Xbox is noisy, so I'd much rather enjoy it on my TiVo, if the interface is decent (the Xbox one is pretty snazzy and consistent with the console's new "3D" GUI, which they call the "New Xbox Experience").

Don't really care so much about the rest, though I occasionally buy a TV episode download or two from Amazon, when I miss making a recording. (My TiVo has frozen before primetime on the past two Tuesdays, so I recently bought two episodes of House and an episode of Fringe--I was able to watch a missed episode of NCIS on Netflix via the Xbox. Hopefully whatever problem caused the TiVo freezing has been fixed by this release). I also just downloaded a series of free short films from Jaman.

I'm anxiously awaiting the streaming Netflix support. I've been enjoying it on my Xbox, but the Xbox is noisy, so I'd much rather enjoy it on my TiVo, if the interface is decent (the Xbox one is pretty snazzy and consistent with the console's new "3D" GUI, which they call the "New Xbox Experience").

Yes, again something I hope I get a chance to use!

Right now I've got about 45 shows on my Mac, pretty close to 1/2 of my disk is filled on the TiVo HD, I've go whole series I haven't seen. I'm just at Halloween on my S3 and it's 2/3 full.

The other changes in 11.0 are apparently "behind the scenes," as necessary to support features like Netflix / Netflix HD and potentially Amazon Unbox HD.

Turns out I didn't have to do a call in. I pushed my TiVo button and there was the update message. Looks like it came at night.

Noticed of course that the version number does not have a letter in it like my TiVo HD. Also my S3 didn't crash like my TiVo HD.

I really think the reason it crashed is due to the problem with DVI to HDMI that my television and TiVo seem to have in the handshaking. Sometimes when I start the TV if it's on a non HD channel I will have to turn it off to get reception and back on.

And since I got the "advanced":rolleyes: copy I will probably have to deal with that again later.

The other changes in 11.0 are apparently "behind the scenes," as necessary to support features like Netflix / Netflix HD and potentially Amazon Unbox HD.

If I recall correctly the message also said it had some issue fixes, but it didn't specify.

I'm hoping that Verizon will let me re-pair and authorize the Cable Cards over the phone and that I don't have to wait for a tech visit to get it done.
Anyone have experience with this?
If your experience turns out to be like mine, it will take a new installation in the replacement S3. When my first S3 died and was replaced, the telephone support people could not get my CableCARDs to work in the replacement box. A tech had to come to my house and set up the cards from the get go.

Just to follow up my last statement about having them hit my TiVo HD again, when I got up this morning I saw only a green light on my TiVo HD. Turned on the television and nothing but a gray sreen.

Just like the last time when I got the "early" version I had to reboot twice myself. With the early version I got an error code message after first try. This time, very briefly it said something about cable card # 2 not being active.:confused:

I went to the cable card menu and looked at all screens. The emm: 00 and that scarred me a bit. However when I got to the activation menu it stated "card active." I took a look at cable card one just to make sure, it was exactly the same.

I went back to the TiVo button, looked to make sure my programs were there and then almost reluctantly I pushed the "live" button. I checked both cards and they are just fine.

So apparently my theory about the HDMI to DVI may be wrong and perhaps this issue is isolated to the TiVo HD. No problem what so ever with the S3 update.

The other changes in 11.0 are apparently "behind the scenes," as necessary to support features like Netflix / Netflix HD and potentially Amazon Unbox HD.
Very underwhelming update, IMO. Not sure how they justify the 'major' version # increase when almost everything they did is invisible to the user.

And why the hell are we still putting up with oldschool 4:3 menus on an HD recorder? So much wasted screen real estate.

The Netflix way of doing instant streaming is kind of dumb too, since you can't browse for stuff to watch - you have to use a PC to schedule your queue. Not very well integrated on the Xbox (and I'm assuming the Tivo as well).

The Netflix way of doing instant streaming is kind of dumb too, since you can't browse for stuff to watch - you have to use a PC to schedule your queue. Not very well integrated on the Xbox (and I'm assuming the Tivo as well).Netflix has a public API giving full access to their site, so someone will no doubt create an HME app to give you local access to your Netflix Instant queue.

..................
The Netflix way of doing instant streaming is kind of dumb too, since you can't browse for stuff to watch - you have to use a PC to schedule your queue. Not very well integrated on the Xbox (and I'm assuming the Tivo as well).

IIRC that is the way Amazon Unbox started so there is hope as michaelscott points out that we we soon be able to manipulate our queue from the Tivo.(crosses fingers)

Very underwhelming update, IMO. Not sure how they justify the 'major' version # increase when almost everything they did is invisible to the user.

And why the hell are we still putting up with oldschool 4:3 menus on an HD recorder? So much wasted screen real estate.

The Netflix way of doing instant streaming is kind of dumb too, since you can't browse for stuff to watch - you have to use a PC to schedule your queue. Not very well integrated on the Xbox (and I'm assuming the Tivo as well).

So you are saying that you care more about a menu screen then you do having the capability of streaming videos, and also being able to (eventually) stream from Amazon Unbox?

I guess I don't get it. It's just a menu, why does that have to be in HD?

And as far as the Xbox, as you say you are assuming. I'll tell you right now that it will at least be better in the fact that you won't have to use your computer. Couple that with the fact that the TiVo is desinged to view HD while I'll assume (and you know what that means;)) that a video game system wouldn't be quite the same.

I think MichaelScott has the Xbox and he thinks it will be better.

So I'll guess we will see.

And as far as the Xbox, as you say you are assuming. I'll tell you right now that it will at least be better in the fact that you won't have to use your computer.
I think MichaelScott has the Xbox and he thinks it will be better.

So I'll guess we will see.Yes, I do have an Xbox, but I don't see where I've said anything to make you think that I think TiVo's player will be any better. In fact, I was just discussing this in a thread at TCF and I expressed doubts that TiVo's interface would allow you to browse Netflix's streaming collection and manage your queue. None of the four other players from Netflix partners can browse Netflix (the little Roku standalone box, Blu-ray players from LG and Samsung, and the Xbox 360). The only queue management available (at least on the 360) is removal of an item from the queue. For all of them, you have to visit your account on Netflix' web site and add things to your Instant Queue and I'm not really expecting TiVo to be any different. Again, for the sake of those of you with computers located some distance from your televisions, I hope that I'm wrong.

As I said above, if TiVo doesn't add an app to browse Netflix's collection and manipulate your Instant Queue, some TiVo HME developer will, though it won't be integrated with TiVo's player.
Couple that with the fact that the TiVo is desinged to view HD while I'll assume (and you know what that means;)) that a video game system wouldn't be quite the same.FYI, both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 were designed to be high definition multimedia devices, with display resolutions up to 1080p. The PS3 has an integrated Blu-ray player and is one of the most capable players on the market; before HD DVD went tits-up, the Xbox had an HD DVD accessory. I've streamed and displayed 1080p WMVHD and H.264/AVC content from my PC to both my Xbox and my PS3, and both systems have online stores where you can rent and purchase high-definition movies and television episodes for download with progressive playback.

EDIT: Note this, from the "TiVo and Netflix announce partnership" page at TiVo's site:
Netflix on TiVo will be available in December! TiVo customers will be able to instantly watch over 12,000 movie & TV episodes from Netflix via any broadband connected TiVo® HD, TiVo® HD XL and TiVo® Series3™ DVRs.

Here’s how it’ll work: Visit the Netflix website and add movies & TV episodes to your individual instant Queue
Your selections will show up on your TV and will be available to watch instantly through the TiVo service
Use your TiVo remote control to browse your instant Queue, and make selections right on the TV screen. Plus, read synopses and rate movies all from the comfort of your couch
Control your viewing experience with your TiVo DVR: pause, fast-forward, rewind and restart your movies & TV episodes whenever you wantYour Netflix movies are available when you want with your TiVo DVR!

So you are saying that you care more about a menu screen then you do having the capability of streaming videos, and also being able to (eventually) stream from Amazon Unbox?

I guess I don't get it. It's just a menu, why does that have to be in HD?

The UI is old and tired, and doesn't take advantage of HD or the advances in media players made since Apple came along.

I know folks like it that way because they've had Tivo since the beginning, but this is 2008 and for what we pay, I expect more from Tivo. It's just my opinion, and YMMV.

The UI is old and tired, and doesn't take advantage of HD or the advances in media players made since Apple came along.

I know folks like it that way because they've had Tivo since the beginning, but this is 2008 and for what we pay, I expect more from Tivo. It's just my opinion, and YMMV.

That's a logical response. I understand the situation about how some or maybe even most people feel about the UI.

When I had Direct TiVo many years ago I remember when they started taking off the TiVo stuff on the UI and I didn't like that. Dumb now that I think about it, it was still the same software but it seemed less personal. Now even TiVo calls it self "the DVR" where as it use to say "TiVo is needs to change channels....etc."

I suppose having the experience of using a cable DVR with God awful SARA for sometime gave me a greater appreciation for Tivo. Simple search features that have been more developed since I got my first S3. The addition of Amazon Unbox, and all of the other features like YouTube seems like they have come a long way in two years. But like you say YMMV.

I see your point.

TiVo just launched Netflix on the Series3 and TivoHD.

Currently, ~12,000 of Netflix's titles are available for streaming, but just 300-400 of those are available in HD. Netflix is expanding their library every week. Examples of HD titles include Pan’s Labyrinth, Flawless, Heroes: Season 3, and The Office: Season 4.

As seen in the Engadget screenshot below, TiVo clearly identifies when you are watching a title in HD. On HD titles, all 13 "bars" are lit and you see a HD graphic.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/12/2008-12-07tivonetflix-15.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/08/tivo-netflix-hands-on/)
Click image to see Engadget's "hands on" comments.

Bummer, I'm right in the middle of re-routing ethernet cables, have to check it out tomorrow when they're squared away.

On HD titles, all 13 "bars" are lit and you see a HD graphic.

Has anyone so far gotten anything *less* than all 13 bars? I'm getting all 13 with my Series3, even though with my Xbox360 streaming from Netflix, it gives me only 3 out of 4 bars. Maybe that doesn't quite work right yet? Or maybe it just really thinks my connection is that good?

Has anyone so far gotten anything *less* than all 13 bars? I'm getting all 13 with my Series3, even though with my Xbox360 streaming from Netflix, it gives me only 3 out of 4 bars. Maybe that doesn't quite work right yet? Or maybe it just really thinks my connection is that good?
The Xbox360 displays quality on a 4 bar system. TiVo uses a 13 bar system. Three bars on an Xbox360 doesn't equate to three bars on a TiVo.

TiVo always displays a graphic with 13 bars. What matters is the number that are filled / highlighted in silver. Only a small minority of titles are available with 13 silver bars (i.e. HD) on the TiVo. Most Netflix SD titles seem to show up on the TiVo with 12 silver bars, i.e. one short of full.

How do you tell which titles are available in HD?

Found one, "Cashback", it was one of the example movies on the Watch Instantly page. Took a few seconds for it to "load" but ran perfect for the 15 mins I watched, also showed a 13/HD level/quality. Interesting that when backing out of the movie the Netflix menu is 16x9, but it's 4x3 when first going in from the TiVo menu.

How do you tell which titles are available in HD?

Found one, "Cashback", it was one of the example movies on the Watch Instantly page. Took a few seconds for it to "load" but ran perfect for the 15 mins I watched, also showed a 13/HD level/quality. Interesting that when backing out of the movie the Netflix menu is 16x9, but it's 4x3 when first going in from the TiVo menu.

I hope to take a look myself today. I doubt I'll download anything however.

So when you go into the Netflix menu it is 4:3 but exiting is 16:9. Could the reason for that be that you previously selected a HD movie? Or does that do it all the time?

I kind of understand why the Netflix menu to start may be in 4:3, that sounds like saving bandwith.

I hope to take a look myself today. I doubt I'll download anything however.

So when you go into the Netflix menu it is 4:3 but exiting is 16:9. Could the reason for that be that you previously selected a HD movie? Or does that do it all the time?

I kind of understand why the Netflix menu to start may be in 4:3, that sounds like saving bandwith.

That's what I meant, after viewing an HD movie it stays in a 16x9 format when you exit to the menu. Personally I'd prefer a 16x9 menu all the time, especially since I don't believe this feature is available on Series 2 machines. The other VOD stuff may be though, so that might explain the 4x3 menu, among other things.

Operates the same way when you've been viewing a 4x3 SD channel on regular TV.

The Xbox360 displays quality on a 4 bar system. TiVo uses a 13 bar system. Three bars on an Xbox360 doesn't equate to three bars on a TiVo.

TiVo always displays a graphic with 13 bars. What matters is the number that are filled / highlighted in silver. Only a small minority of titles are available with 13 silver bars (i.e. HD) on the TiVo. Most Netflix SD titles seem to show up on the TiVo with 12 silver bars, i.e. one short of full.

Mine appears to have all 13 filled. I know the two have a totally different scale, but I'd figure they'd be of a similar level - say, 10 or so out of 13 instead of 13/13. Or maybe it's just hard to differentiate on my TV, I'm not sure.

Yes, I do have an Xbox, but I don't see where I've said anything to make you think that I think TiVo's player will be any better. In fact, I was just discussing this in a thread at TCF and I expressed doubts that TiVo's interface would allow you to browse Netflix's streaming collection and manage your queue.

I don't know where I got that idea either. I guess I read something in your comments. I believe you said you were anxious to get it because it was so bad with your X-Box. At least that's what I thought you said.

As I said above, if TiVo doesn't add an app to browse Netflix's collection and manipulate your Instant Queue, some TiVo HME developer will, though it won't be integrated with TiVo's player.
FYI, both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 were designed to be high definition multimedia devices, with display resolutions up to 1080p. The PS3 has an integrated Blu-ray player and is one of the most capable players on the market; before HD DVD went tits-up, the Xbox had an HD DVD accessory. I've streamed and displayed 1080p WMVHD and H.264/AVC content from my PC to both my Xbox and my PS3, and both systems have online stores where you can rent and purchase high-definition movies and television episodes for download with progressive playback.

Yes, I know that X-Box has 1080p graphics. It's still not a HD DVR, at least not yet.

I'll admit to having limited knowledge about any game systems. I wouldn't have time to play them so I'm not into them.

Now after that once you said 1080P WMVHD I lost you.:o

I'm anxiously awaiting the streaming Netflix support. I've been enjoying it on my Xbox, but the Xbox is noisy, so I'd much rather enjoy it on my TiVo, if the interface is decent (the Xbox one is pretty snazzy and consistent with the console's new "3D" GUI, which they call the "New Xbox Experience").


That's where I got the idea, but you're correct you did follow it with a disclaimer.

Yes, I know that X-Box has 1080p graphics. It's still not a HD DVR, at least not yet.True, but it's coming, though probably not for cable or broadcast television (but who knows, it might). They've been showing their IPTV product on Xbox for a couple of years (you can see a demo on YouTube here (http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=D9msq5GE3Xw&NR=1), and a slicko Flash demo of the product here (http://www.microsoftmediaroom.com/); click the "> See the Interactive Demo" item at right of the top page). It's also probably coming to other countries first :(.
I'll admit to having limited knowledge about any game systems. I wouldn't have time to play them so I'm not into them.I actually don't do that much gaming myself--I've done almost none on the PS3, since there've been few exclusives on the platform that I've had much interest in. But these devices are for so much more than game playing. When I bought the PS3, it was one of the most inexpensive Blu-ray players on the market, and I've spent a lot of time watching rented and purchased titles from the Xbox Live Video Store
Now after that once you said 1080P WMVHD I lost you.:oYou can learn about that here (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/HDVideo.aspx) :).

How do you tell which titles are available in HD?

Found one, "Cashback", it was one of the example movies on the Watch Instantly page. Took a few seconds for it to "load" but ran perfect for the 15 mins I watched, also showed a 13/HD level/quality. Interesting that when backing out of the movie the Netflix menu is 16x9, but it's 4x3 when first going in from the TiVo menu.Cashback is one of those HDNet Movies Sneak Previews (http://www.hdnetmovies.com/movies_sneakpreviews.html) features (a series of theatrical release indie films that HDNet shows once or twice on a day just before they get released to theaters)--just about all of them are available in HD on Netflix WI. As it happens, I watched and enjoyed Cashback on Saturday :).

You can see a seemingly-incomplete list of Watch Instantly titles available in HD here (http://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=false) (I think that's only visible if you've registered a WI device). I say "seemingly-incomplete" because it's only 165 titles and they claim that there are over 300 (and no, they're not counting individual TV episodes, because it's over 500 selections if you do that).

Mine appears to have all 13 filled. I know the two have a totally different scale, but I'd figure they'd be of a similar level - say, 10 or so out of 13 instead of 13/13. Or maybe it's just hard to differentiate on my TV, I'm not sure.
To me, it looks like TiVo gives users the first 5-6 bars for "free," to make those with poor connections "feel better." I say this because someone mentioned that they got 5-6 bars with a 768 Kbps DSL connection. As far as I know, the lowest quality Netflix stream is 500 Kbps.

How do you tell which titles are available in HD?

Found one, "Cashback", it was one of the example movies on the Watch Instantly page. Took a few seconds for it to "load" but ran perfect for the 15 mins I watched, also showed a 13/HD level/quality. Interesting that when backing out of the movie the Netflix menu is 16x9, but it's 4x3 when first going in from the TiVo menu.When you activate your TiVo, you will see a new "HD" category under Genre on TiVo's web site.

Michaeltscott posted the direct link (http://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=false) in the previous post.

That's what I meant, after viewing an HD movie it stays in a 16x9 format when you exit to the menu. Personally I'd prefer a 16x9 menu all the time, especially since I don't believe this feature is available on Series 2 machines. The other VOD stuff may be though, so that might explain the 4x3 menu, among other things.

Operates the same way when you've been viewing a 4x3 SD channel on regular TV.I assume you are using a native or hybrid output on the TiVo? I don't think you'd see the same behavior with a fixed 720p or fixed 1080i setting.

When you activate your TiVo, you will see a new "HD" category under Genre on TiVo's web site.

Michaeltscott posted the direct link (http://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=false) in the previous post.

I assume you are using a native or hybrid output on the TiVo? I don't think you'd see the same behavior with a fixed 720p or fixed 1080i setting.

Yes, thanks, found everything, and you're right, I use an outboard vid/proc(VP50) so the TiVo is set to native and I tend to forget that it's going to switch to a native format for menus and such.

Cashback is one of those HDNet Movies Sneak Previews (http://www.hdnetmovies.com/movies_sneakpreviews.html) features (a series of theatrical release indie films that HDNet shows once or twice on a day just before they get released to theaters)--just about all of them are available in HD on Netflix WI. As it happens, I watched and enjoyed Cashback on Saturday :).

You can see a seemingly-incomplete list of Watch Instantly titles available in HD here (http://www.netflix.com/WiHD?ftr=false) (I think that's only visible if you've registered a WI device). I say "seemingly-incomplete" because it's only 165 titles and they claim that there are over 300 (and no, they're not counting individual TV episodes, because it's over 500 selections if you do that).

So is "Cashback" any good? I selected it because it lists Emilia Fox and I've watched her from her UK TV "Silent Witness" series. Only watched about 15 minutes to check out the service last night, notice it has Michele Ryan(Bionic Woman) in it as well.

So is "Cashback" any good? I selected it because it lists Emilia Fox and I've watched her from her UK TV "Silent Witness" series. Only watched about 15 minutes to check out the service last night, notice it has Michele Ryan(Bionic Woman) in it as well.I rated it 4 stars :). It's a quirky dark comedy in which the main character, an art student, can't sleep after breaking up with his girlfriend and takes a job in a supermarket. He starts to believe that he can stop time, a power which he uses in the market, disrobing various frozen young women so that he can sketch their bodies (hence the cover art). Not quite as dirty as it sounds :D.

I hadn't noticed Michelle Ryan, but you're right--she plays the girlfriend he broke up with.

EDIT: Check out the flash presentation which starts the movie's curiously uninformative website (http://www.cashbackthemovie.com/). It features the cover art with the text removed :).

Thanks, I'll check it out. :D

I rated it 4 stars :). It's a quirky dark comedy in which the main character, an art student, can't sleep after breaking up with his girlfriend and takes a job in supermarket. He starts to believe that he can stop time, a power which he uses in the market, disrobing various frozen young women so that he can sketch their bodies (hence the cover art). Not quite as dirty as it sounds :D.

I hadn't noticed Michele Ryan, but you're right--she plays the girlfriend he broke up with.

EDIT: Check out the flash presentation which starts of the movie's curiously uninformative website (http://www.cashbackthemovie.com/). It features the cover art with the text removed :).

Aw great michaelscott. My kid walked up to my computer and your thread was there. So he clicks on it!





JUST KIDDING:)

TiVo just launched Netflix on the Series3 and TivoHD....
Maybe I missed this, but do these Netflix movies include closed captions? That's a deal-breaker for many of us who are hearing impaired.

Maybe I missed this, but do these Netflix movies include closed captions? That's a deal-breaker for many of us who are hearing impaired.

No, about halfway down the page,

http://blog.netflix.com/2008/11/encoding-for-streaming.html

No, about halfway down the page,

http://blog.netflix.com/2008/11/encoding-for-streaming.html

Un-freakin-believable....in this day and age...un-freakin-believable...:mad:

Are there any network video source with closed captioning? (Actually, I've run across some on Hulu, but no large percentage of what I've played on Hulu has had it).

Un-freakin-believable....in this day and age...un-freakin-believable...:mad:

I can easily understand how someone who may be hearing impaired may find this a tough go.

You know nothing goes perfect from the go get on any of these things. First, no HD on Amazon Unbox, now I'm looking at the "opportunity" to streamline shows that I already have seen.:rolleyes:

And of course somewhere along the line they will make it more accessible or cheaper for PC's the MAC.

Isn't there an organization that looks out for these type of discriminatory practices? I'd launch a complaint if I was affected. While Mac and PC are one thing certainly to deny hearing impaired close captions just seems unfair.

Yous should have been watching HD back in 2001. Many more problems then and no CC.

I've had the S3 since February of this year. I am now waiting for the fourth replacement box. It works for a week or two, even a month then the problems start. Pixelization, video freezing and lock up requiring a reboot.

Hours and hours of time spent with comcast techs at my house trying multiple cable cards. Tivo always says it's the cards, Comcast always says it's the Tivo.

This really sucks! If I didn't love the ergonomics and features of the Tivo and it's service I would abandon it.

What really makes me angry is they came out with a 1tb version and I asked if I could switch to that. "We don't have a way to do that,"

Cable card shcmable card, I'm really tired of this.

I've had the S3 since February of this year. I am now waiting for the fourth replacement box. It works for a week or two, even a month then the problems start. Pixelization, video freezing and lock up requiring a reboot.
These are characteristics of a failing hard drive. It is not normal to have one failed box in two years, let alone four in one year.

It is possible you have the world's worst luck, and have received four units in that 1% (or whatever it is) that fails within the first year. However, I think it is far more likely that there is something in your home that is causing these problems.

Does your TiVo has adequate ventilation? Do you have the TiVo connected to a modern surge protector and/or power supply? I would recommend some form of battery backup to minimize the effect of electrical issues.

As far as the 1TB drive...you can upgrade your existing TiVo with the same model used in the TivoHD XL, if you want. That would cost cost you about $120. Instructions for that are in the first post of this thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784) (FAQ #30 at the bottom).

Thanks for the link. The only downside in upgrading to xl is the loss of the oled. I'm not sure I would miss it. The Tivo is plugged into the best power conditioner Furman makes. An IT Reference 20. Ventilation is great. Good questions to ask though.

One point is that I bought the unit directly from Tivo and it was under their refurbished offer. I have asked many times if this might be the problem and they swear that these units are exactly the same as a brand new unit. Most of them are returned after a short period of use and some not used at all.

I think the problem lies with cable card incompatibility. I wonder why it works for awhile then quits. I asked if errors can cause these units to fail with no good answer.

I;m going to look into the upgrade. I've offered to pay the difference between the refurbished unit and a brand new one. They say no.

I can't find the upgrade info you suggested. The link is to a chopped versiuon of the faq and even the original thread doesn't show it.

I've had the S3 since February of this year. I am now waiting for the fourth replacement box. It works for a week or two, even a month then the problems start. Pixelization, video freezing and lock up requiring a reboot.

Hours and hours of time spent with comcast techs at my house trying multiple cable cards. Tivo always says it's the cards, Comcast always says it's the Tivo.

Maybe it's my imagination but it seems to me that Comcast seems to have more problems with TiVo then just about anyone else. I'll bet it's Comcast. I've had my S3 for over 2 years and have had no problems.

This really sucks! If I didn't love the ergonomics and features of the Tivo and it's service I would abandon it.

I would be upset too, but after two years of the SA 8300 I was willing to shell out 900.00 for my S3. I had no idea what real HD was suppose to look like. I thought the constant warped pictures were broadcast issues. Couple that with the fact that the SA 8300 (SARA) was not capable of handling conflict issues and it constantly either did partial recordings or no recordings, I was more then happy to get the S3.

What really makes me angry is they came out with a 1tb version and I asked if I could switch to that. "We don't have a way to do that,"

OK, but even you are not convinced this is TiVo's fault. And they really are not obligated to replace it with something other then what you bought.

Cable card shcmable card, I'm really tired of this.

Yep, it's probably cable card.

Just curious. Are you working with M cards or S cards. It shouldn't make a difference but I'm curious.

Also when these techs come out and blame TiVo do they test your signals at every connection out to the pole or box (main source)? And do they ever talk with anyone at head end? Until I got a contact with head end I was told it was TiVo's fault but once I spoke to someone who knew anything at all about TiVo I found out it wasn't TiVo's fault. My problem wasn't the same as you are having. I was not receiving channels.

I have a little pixelation now and then but nothing worth complaining about. I'm not saying you don't have an issue but there are some people who seem very intolerant, IMHO.

The signal tests strong outside and in. I spent 26 years in the telecommunications construction industry and I'm better than most at troubleshooting. That experience leads me to think it's the Tivo because a newer box will work for awhile with the same cards the previous boxed quit with.

Again I wonder if small errors can add up after a period of time and cause the box to fail.

Another symptom the box had was even without the cards installed the video looked snowy, with the cable directly into the tv it was fine. That tells me the problem was the tuner inside the Tivo.

The box before this one would only have these problems on HD channels. That also points toward the tuner.

The signal tests strong outside and in. I spent 26 years in the telecommunications construction industry and I'm better than most at troubleshooting. That experience leads me to think it's the Tivo because a newer box will work for awhile with the same cards the previous boxed quit with.

Again I wonder if small errors can add up after a period of time and cause the box to fail.

Another symptom the box had was even without the cards installed the video looked snowy, with the cable directly into the tv it was fine. That tells me the problem was the tuner inside the Tivo.

The box before this one would only have these problems on HD channels. That also points toward the tuner.

I can't argue with your logic. I can say that the vast majority of people with TiVo S3 do not have the problems you are experiencing. I can also tell you you are not the first I've heard say they had problems.

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time. 4 boxes is 2 two many. Have you tried to email TiVoJerry over at the TiVo Forum? He may be able to help.

I can't argue with your logic. I can say that the vast majority of people with TiVo S3 do not have the problems you are experiencing. I can also tell you you are not the first I've heard say they had problems.

Sorry to hear you're having a tough time. 4 boxes is 2 two many. Have you tried to email TiVoJerry over at the TiVo Forum? He may be able to help.

Here's my TiVo experience:
(2) SD D* TiVos - Both failed about 1 1/2 years in
(2) HD D* TiVos - Both failed less than one year in
I had D* Maint program so replacement cost was $0

Since Moving to Fios a year and a half ago:
My original S3 just failed (same symptoms as above) 1 1/2 years in
My Tivo HD is still fine after 9 months.

All units are well ventilated and are on UPS.

Maybe it's my imagination but it seems to me that Comcast seems to have more problems with TiVo then just about anyone else.Comcast has more everything than "just about anyone else". Comcast is the largest cable company in the country. There has been no objective evidence released indicating that any cable company has proportionally more or less problems with CableCARDs and TiVo. More people want there to be such evidence, because there are more Comcast subscribers overall, and therefore more folks who are having trouble are Comcast subscribers, and many among this greater number of people feel a visceral need to have their own problems in this realm ratified by the assertion that Comcast is evil ... but that doesn't constitution proof of their ranting and raving.

If we're going by anecdotal information, there is more than enough showing that the TiVo S3 and TiVO HD are far far more sensitive to variances in signal quality than the cable companies' CableCARD-equipped DVRs. This cannot help but raise the very legitimate question as to why the allegedly superior electronic device fails when the allegedly inferior device performs.

Comcast has more everything than "just about anyone else". Comcast is the largest cable company in the country. There has been no objective evidence released indicating that any cable company has proportionally more or less problems with CableCARDs and TiVo. More people want there to be such evidence, because there are more Comcast subscribers overall, and therefore more folks who are having trouble are Comcast subscribers, and many among this greater number of people feel a visceral need to have their own problems in this realm ratified by the assertion that Comcast is evil ... but that doesn't constitution proof of their ranting and raving.

If we're going by anecdotal information, there is more than enough showing that the TiVo S3 and TiVO HD are far far more sensitive to variances in signal quality than the cable companies' CableCARD-equipped DVRs. This cannot help but raise the very legitimate question as to why the allegedly superior electronic device fails when the allegedly inferior device performs.

Just curious, how many cable company CableCARD equipped DVRs are actually in service? There's no question the TiVo seems to be more sensitive to signal variations than the cable DVRs, but I wasn't aware there were that many CC-equipped DVRs in service to make such a comparison.

I'm not sure the CableCARD itself would have anything to due with signal variance issues.

I have personal experience with only two, the Motorola DCH-series, and the SA 8300HDC.

I suspect that you're right about CableCARD not being the issue, but comparing the Motorola DCT-series (for example) to the TiVo S3 sometimes gets people's dander up as being what they claim is an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Just curious, how many cable company CableCARD equipped DVRs are actually in service? There's no question the TiVo seems to be more sensitive to signal variations than the cable DVRs, but I wasn't aware there were that many CC-equipped DVRs in service to make such a comparison.

I don't think anyone can answer that question, however I'm pretty certain that no more DVR's are going out without cable cards. Plenty of people still have ones that don't use them and won't need them.

I'm not sure the CableCARD itself would have anything to due with signal variance issues.

I think you're right. The signal comes from headend, and it's up to them to make the cable card capable of receiving it. I know I personally had to have them change things in the stream to make my TiVo capable of receiving the signal properly for either no sound or no sound or picture.

I don't know the details of how a CC decrypts the signal, but I'm nearly 100% certain that it doesn't affect signal strength/quality. Although it is possible that it may affect whether the CC will "trigger" the decryption of that signal.

The TiVo's tuners seem to operate in a narrower band of strength/quality than the Moto, etc boxes. Comcast signals do vary on a regular basis, checking your cable modem diagnostics randomly over a few week period will reveal different quality/strengths of signal at different times. So in that respect you could say that the lack of a stable quality signal is Comcast's problem, but OTOH, the ability of the TiVo to deal with those variances is certainly TiVo's problem. Much like a modern power supply can handle wide variances of voltages and still produce a desired voltage at the output regardless. I suspect that the TiVo was built to specific/tight parameters and the signal from the cableco, on occasion, does not adhere, or stay "within bounds" of those parameters and that's where trouble may arise.

Personally, I think it's the actual provisioning and pairing with the headend that is the source of most all CC related issues, not signal strength/quality.

I also think that the TiVo tuners are too sensitive in that they seem to react badly to signals that are too "hot", such behavior is exhibited much the same way as a signal that is too low and that this is mis-diagnosed all the time. If you have pixelation, the first thing I would try is putting a splitter in the line to see if that helps, I know I've had to that in the past with my setup, and as noted above about signal variances over time, I haven't needed to do it recently, actually removing the splitter to get a "good" signal.

Personally, I think it's the actual provisioning and pairing with the headend that is the source of most all CC related issues, not signal strength/quality.

Certainly. What could cable cards have to do with signal strength?

I also think that the TiVo tuners are too sensitive in that they seem to react badly to signals that are too "hot", such behavior is exhibited much the same way as a signal that is too low and that this is mis-diagnosed all the time. If you have pixelation, the first thing I would try is putting a splitter in the line to see if that helps, I know I've had to that in the past with my setup, and as noted above about signal variances over time, I haven't needed to do it recently, actually removing the splitter to get a "good" signal.

I have no experience with any other cable card equiped box so I really can't comment one way or another on this statement. However I will say that SA, Motorola, certainly have their problems just as TiVo does trying to create a box that works with many different cable companies and signals.

[QUOTE=hookbill;15266509]Certainly. What could cable cards have to do with signal strength?
QUOTE]

Cable cards get thier authorization via a signal called OOB (Out of Band). My OOB is at 75MHz. With an attenuator in to fix the "too strong" signal, my OOB becomes intermittant. This was a huge problem at the original installation getting the cards up and running until Verizon Tech #7 removed the attenuator that Verizon Tech #1 had installed ahead of the splitter.

I'm hoping that Verizon will let me re-pair and authorize the Cable Cards over the phone and that I don't have to wait for a tech visit to get it done.
Anyone have experience with this?

I'll answer my own question.

I recieved my replacement S3 yesterday.
I booted it up and then placed a call to Verizon to re-pair the cards.
The Tech I got (without any wait) was fully up on all things S3 and informed me that the cards can simply be moved to a new S3 and don't need re-pairing at all. I did the move with success.

Getting a Fios tech without a wait - priceless
Getting a Fios tech who knew TiVos - priceless
Not needing a Fios tech premisis visit - TRUELY priceless

[QUOTE=hookbill;15266509]Certainly. What could cable cards have to do with signal strength?
QUOTE]

Cable cards get thier authorization via a signal called OOB (Out of Band). My OOB is at 75MHz. With an attenuator in to fix the "too strong" signal, my OOB becomes intermittant. This was a huge problem at the original installation getting the cards up and running until Verizon Tech #7 removed the attenuator that Verizon Tech #1 had installed ahead of the splitter.

I'm glad you're install went well. Isn't comparing Verizon to cable like apples and oranges?

Isn't comparing Verizon to cable like apples and oranges?From what I've been reading about pixelation problems (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6911706#post6911706) with TiVo and FiOS, I'm not so sure.

Isn't comparing Verizon to cable like apples and oranges?No, the TV side of Fios (past the ONT, and minus VOD) works just like standard digital cable.

I got caught in this thing this morning and I thought my S3 was dead in the water. It's a good thing I have a contact in headend because it turned out NOT to be my S3 but that a cable card had to receive a hit and it was not paired properly.

This was after noticing that I had lost some HD channels and local digital channels. I called regular customer service and they asked for my box ID and all that! Told them it's a TiVo. The guy finally got it and figured out what box I was talking about but only after I pulled the cards.

So maybe this constant reboot thing isn't always disk failure, but cable card related.

hook -- As you and I both know, CableCARD stability has been a big problem in the past, although I think most of that has been attributable to the cable companies' tech people not being well enough trained on configuring them. I hope I am not jinxing myself here but I haven't seen even a temporary card glitch with my S3 for several months.

TWC Austin just released Tuning Adapters......

hook -- As you and I both know, CableCARD stability has been a big problem in the past, although I think most of that has been attributable to the cable companies' tech people not being well enough trained on configuring them. I hope I am not jinxing myself here but I haven't seen even a temporary card glitch with my S3 for several months.

I haven't had any CC related problems since I plugged them in myself over 2 years ago. Moto cards w/Comcast. :)

TWC Austin just released Tuning Adapters......

About time!

They've been SDV for over a year!

About time!

They've been SDV for over a year!

A little birdie told me that we will get them here in Apex in January.

hook -- As you and I both know, CableCARD stability has been a big problem in the past, although I think most of that has been attributable to the cable companies' tech people not being well enough trained on configuring them. I hope I am not jinxing myself here but I haven't seen even a temporary card glitch with my S3 for several months.

Exactly, counselor. But I've seen this problem blamed on hard drive failure a numerous occasions. It just makes me wonder how many people who have had this happen to them and chalked it up to hard drive failure because the cable company shrugs their shoulders and say's it's TiVo's fault.

I'm very lucky to have someone I can turn to in a phone call for this type of help. I felt certain it was my hard drive. She spotted right away that something wasn't looking right and sent a special hit, she described it like a harder hit to the cards to set it straight. It also had something to do with what she described as "housing."

I haven't had any CC related problems since I plugged them in myself over 2 years ago. Moto cards w/Comcast. :)
If your experience and mine since one of my cards died and had to be replaced with 2 new cards is any guide, the cable companies really do seem to be doing a better job, at last.

Exactly, counselor. But I've seen this problem blamed on hard drive failure a numerous occasions. It just makes me wonder how many people who have had this happen to them and chalked it up to hard drive failure because the cable company shrugs their shoulders and say's it's TiVo's fault.

I'm very lucky to have someone I can turn to in a phone call for this type of help. I felt certain it was my hard drive. She spotted right away that something wasn't looking right and sent a special hit, she described it like a harder hit to the cards to set it straight. It also had something to do with what she described as "housing."
Your story confirms that there really is no substitute for having access to a headend guru who really understands cards. Alas, that's hard to come by unless you know a guy who knows a guy. :)

Anyone taken a look at the feature set for the new Moxi HD DVR (http://moxi.com/moxi/experience_features.jsp)? At $800 with lifetime service and a 500GB drive, it appears to compare favorably with a new Tivo HD and the same stuff. I'm surprised they included commercial skip, but it doesn't look like it's automatic. On the other hand, it appears to be missing a lot of network features available on the Tivo, like MRV and PC transfer. Not to mention the great new Netflix feature...

But it's good to see a real HD DVR that you can buy that might push Tivo to stay on top of their game.

Anyone taken a look at the feature set for the new Moxi HD DVR (http://moxi.com/moxi/experience_features.jsp)? At $800 with lifetime service and a 500GB drive, it appears to compare favorably with a new Tivo HD and the same stuff. I'm surprised they included commercial skip, but it doesn't look like it's automatic. On the other hand, it appears to be missing a lot of network features available on the Tivo, like MRV and PC transfer. Not to mention the great new Netflix feature...

But it's good to see a real HD DVR that you can buy that might push Tivo to stay on top of their game.

I have used the Moxi box that my in-laws get from the cable company, and I thought the interface was awful. I would choose the Tivo over the Moxi any day. I don't know if this one is any different...

Anyone taken a look at the feature set for the new Moxi HD DVR (http://moxi.com/moxi/experience_features.jsp)? At $800 with lifetime service and a 500GB drive, it appears to compare favorably with a new Tivo HD and the same stuff. I'm surprised they included commercial skip, but it doesn't look like it's automatic. On the other hand, it appears to be missing a lot of network features available on the Tivo, like MRV and PC transfer. Not to mention the great new Netflix feature...

But it's good to see a real HD DVR that you can buy that might push Tivo to stay on top of their game.

The pictures of the UI look really cool -- it would be nice to see a video of the UI in action though. Sounds like this device is in very limited release right now.

The pictures of the UI look really cool -- it would be nice to see a video of the UI in action though. Sounds like this device is in very limited release right now.

I think the actual release is to be announced at CES '09.

It's available for sale on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Digeo-Interactive-LLC-MR-1500T3-Moxi/dp/B001GQ8MT8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1229379486&sr=8-2)now. Click on the 'available from these sellers' link and it says that Digeo has them in stock, fulfilled by Amazon. Kind of strange, but they must be doing some sort of soft launch.

Just looking at the feature set on Moxi's Web site, it appears to be very similar to TiVo. UI seems a bit cleaner than TiVo's.

Let's see. I have two TiVo's an S3 and a TiVo HD. The TiVo HD has lifetime service, I wouldn't be able to transfer to the Moxi. The UI looks nicer. What the heck I think I'll just dump my TiVo's and get this Moxi.;):rolleyes:

Nope, I don't think I'll be buying one. But thanks for the info, I did pass it along to some other people.

Anyone taken a look at the feature set for the new Moxi HD DVR (http://moxi.com/moxi/experience_features.jsp)? At $800 with lifetime service and a 500GB drive, it appears to compare favorably with a new Tivo HD and the same stuff. I'm surprised they included commercial skip, but it doesn't look like it's automatic. On the other hand, it appears to be missing a lot of network features available on the Tivo, like MRV and PC transfer. Not to mention the great new Netflix feature...

But it's good to see a real HD DVR that you can buy that might push Tivo to stay on top of their game.

Let's not jump the gun here...

Moxi, outside of their limited released to a select few cable companies, is in the business of manufacturing vaporware. They've announced quite a few things over the years, most of which never saw the light of day. They've recently cancelled plans for a couple of different boxes, and are the middle of some sort of product line restructuring. Until they actually make something that I can touch/use/consume, I'm not going to pay them much attention.

Let's not jump the gun here...

Moxi, outside of their limited released to a select few cable companies, is in the business of manufacturing vaporware. They've announced quite a few things over the years, most of which never saw the light of day. They've recently cancelled plans for a couple of different boxes, and are the middle of some sort of product line restructuring. Until they actually make something that I can touch/use/consume, I'm not going to pay them much attention.

But they are in volume production of datasheets!!!!

:D

Let's not jump the gun here...

Moxi, outside of their limited released to a select few cable companies, is in the business of manufacturing vaporware. They've announced quite a few things over the years, most of which never saw the light of day. They've recently cancelled plans for a couple of different boxes, and are the middle of some sort of product line restructuring. Until they actually make something that I can touch/use/consume, I'm not going to pay them much attention.

Wow. What a killjoy you are!:D;)

Wow. What a killjoy you are!:D;)

Really, Paul....why shouldn't I give up my TiVo S3 which has run flawlessly for over two years now including a WK hard drive upgrade that (with SW updated to v.11) allows me 107 HD hours of recording? :D

Really, Paul....why shouldn't I give up my TiVo S3 which has run flawlessly for over two years now including a WK hard drive upgrade that (with SW updated to v.11) allows me 107 HD hours of recording? :D

Simple answer to that question: You would be helping the economy. Sure you're gambling on something that hasn't ever been used but what the heck, if you hang out in these forums long enough you got to realize that TiVo is useless and your making a positive post is way out of line! I mean it's real important that we have a nice looking UI, don't you understand that? Disregard the fact that TiVo continues to offer more features, has worked with cable companies to come up with the tuning resolver, has delivered on everything they promised since the release of the S3, and has been in the business of making DVR's much longer.

It's the UI. I mean come on man, TiVo is ripping us off by not providing us with a really cool UI.

Some people just don't get it.;)

Let's not jump the gun here...

Moxi, outside of their limited released to a select few cable companies, is in the business of manufacturing vaporware. They've announced quite a few things over the years, most of which never saw the light of day. They've recently cancelled plans for a couple of different boxes, and are the middle of some sort of product line restructuring. Until they actually make something that I can touch/use/consume, I'm not going to pay them much attention.
Like I said, it's available for sale now if you believe Amazon and Digeo. Whether it's worth a crap against the Tivo will only be determined by those brave enough to try both. Won't be me, but as I said, I'm just happy that Tivo might finally get some real competition in this space. We'll see.

I'd like to take a quick survey of our Tivo thread gurus..

What software do you consider essential and/or best of the available options? For example, PyTivo & Tivo Desktop+[sic] are two that I have been considering, among others.

My main goals are to find the best and fewest software programs which will enable me to both transfer to & from my Tivo wirelessly. Additionally, very important.. transfer stuff to my computer where I can perform editing, such as time trimming or to correct program titles/descriptions inaccuracies. Then transfer back to the Tivo, or, to do transcoding to make the programs compatible to play back on some other device in another format.

I'd like to take a quick survey of our Tivo thread gurus..

What software do you consider essential and/or best of the available options? For example, PyTivo & Tivo Desktop+[sic] are two that I have been considering, among others.

My main goals are to find the best and fewest software programs which will enable me to both transfer to & from my Tivo wirelessly. Additionally, very important.. transfer stuff to my computer where I can perform editing, such as time trimming or to correct program titles/descriptions inaccuracies. Then transfer back to the Tivo, or, to do transcoding to make the programs compatible to play back on some other device in another format.

pyTivo, hands down. Last time I used Tivo Desktop and PC it was a memory hog.

pyTivo, hands down. Last time I used Tivo Desktop and PC it was a memory hog.

Last time I tried TiVo Desktop it did the same thing, it just runs away with the system resources, may have been just my machine, but I haven't bothered with it anymore.

I also seem to remember it imposing it's own video codecs on other programs/files.

I have no problems running TiVo Desktop. I have a PC dedicated to it and it can stay on for weeks and will have no memory problems. I'm using Vista 32 bit on it. (although I'm switching to Vista 64bit and changing to a small Shuttle PC for my TiVo server this week.)

Then for editing the content I'm using VideoReDo on that TiVo PC I use.

I have no problems running TiVo Desktop. I have a PC dedicated to it and it can stay on for weeks and will have no memory problems. I'm using Vista 32 bit on it. (although I'm switching to Vista 64bit and changing to a small Shuttle PC for my TiVo server this week.)

Then for editing the content I'm using VideoReDo on that TiVo PC I use.

What version are they using now? As of the last upgrade, before I went to a Mac I was having the memory leak issue.

I've never really understood why you would want to edit. I assume (yes I know) it's to remove commercials as I see the people do in BT land, but for personal use whats the point? Isn't it time consuming? And isn't that why God gave us the 30 second skip and tick?

The reason I ask is I use Toast and it does allow editing, but I never got into it.

So when you guys mention Tivo Desktop, do you mean the "Plus" version, which you have to pay for, or, the basic free one? Is it the "plus" or "+" version that some here experience as a resource hog?

aaronwt - thanks for the reminder about VideoReDo. As I vaguely recall, it's a generally well-regarded program. I'll just have to look up it's feature set and see how it will complement and hopefully, minimally duplicate pyTivo features.

So when you guys mention Tivo Desktop, do you mean the "Plus" version, which you have to pay for, or, the basic free one? Is it the "plus" or "+" version that some here experience as a resource hog?




It was the plus version. I don't think there is a problem with the free one.

Ok, thanks.. figured it was for the pay one but wanted to be sure.


I've never really understood why you would want to edit.

For me, I have situations where something gets recorded but listed under another program name. For example, a baseball game runs late, a program that I want recorded just so happens to follow that game. Due to the delay, it gets pushed back into another programs time slot and gets named as that other program.

Plus, there are wishlist & season pass related titling issues that I would like to correct to better reflect my organizational & naming preferences, which aren't allowable under Tivo's SOP. For example, there might be a good musical performance on Letterman that I want to keep, but for that episode, I just so happened to have a wishlist for some actor which appeared on the same program. In the future, if I want to play that musical performance again, I'll have to remember that it was categorized under the actor wishlist name, not under the musical artists name.

stuff like that, in addition to some occasional programming trimming to save on HD space and searching time.

Ok, thanks.. figured it was for the pay one but wanted to be sure.



For me, I have situations where something gets recorded but listed under another program name. For example, a baseball game runs late, a program that I want recorded just so happens to follow that game. Due to the delay, it gets pushed back into another programs time slot and gets named as that other program.

Plus, there are wishlist & season pass related titling issues that I would like to correct to better reflect my organizational & naming preferences, which aren't allowable under Tivo's SOP. For example, there might be a good musical performance on Letterman that I want to keep, but for that episode, I just so happened to have a wishlist for some actor which appeared on the same program. In the future, if I want to play that musical performance again, I'll have to remember that it was categorized under the actor wishlist name, not under the musical artists name.

stuff like that, in addition to some occasional programming trimming to save on HD space and searching time.

All good reasons. Specially during football season. I record Amazing Race for the wife, Cold Case, and The Unit. I almost always have to add an hour. As a space saver, I could see where that would come in handy.

Right now I'm doing real good on space. I've transferred about 2/3 of the 48 shows I had on my Mac to my S3, I'm showing just a little over 1/2 of my 750gb being used. I have nothing on the To do list until 12/30. And my HD TiVo has 3/4 of it's space available. Combine that with my Mac which has 800 gb available and I'm sitting pretty.

I'd like to take a quick survey of our Tivo thread gurus..

What software do you consider essential and/or best of the available options? For example, PyTivo & Tivo Desktop+[sic] are two that I have been considering, among others.

My main goals are to find the best and fewest software programs which will enable me to both transfer to & from my Tivo wirelessly. Additionally, very important.. transfer stuff to my computer where I can perform editing, such as time trimming or to correct program titles/descriptions inaccuracies. Then transfer back to the Tivo, or, to do transcoding to make the programs compatible to play back on some other device in another format.

I find pyTivo an essential app for transferring videos, pictures, songs TO the TiVo. To go along with it, I use MetaGenerator(v2) to generate and associate metadata with those transferred files.

You should check out kmttg for automated processing of TiVo files. I've used it a few times and found it quite handy. It allows you to automate the downloading, commercial skip, decrypt, trimming, and return of video to your TiVo.

What version are they using now? As of the last upgrade, before I went to a Mac I was having the memory leak issue.

I've never really understood why you would want to edit. I assume (yes I know) it's to remove commercials as I see the people do in BT land, but for personal use whats the point? Isn't it time consuming? And isn't that why God gave us the 30 second skip and tick?

The reason I ask is I use Toast and it does allow editing, but I never got into it.

Well for me I just cut it so it starts right at the beginning and I cut it so it finishes at the very end of the program. I don't mess with any commercials. Then I just create the DVD and DVD menu with VideoReDo and burn it to disc using that program.

The content I'm burning to disc is for my girlfriend, mostly movies recorded from Lifetime. Any content I permanently keep for myself is in HD. And I will keep it on my server for future use. Then I just need to transfer it to the TiVo when I'm ready to wacth it.

I have nothing on the To do list until 12/30. And my HD TiVo has 3/4 of it's space available.

yes, this is an especially good time of year to catch up, get organized, etc. My 'to do' list is pretty sparse for the next week or two.

I find pyTivo an essential .... To go along with it, I use MetaGenerator(v2) to generate and associate metadata with those transferred files.

............. check out kmttg for automated processing of TiVo files.

ah, thanks.. was hoping you would chime in here. I'll look into those programs. I wasn't at all familiar with those latter two. :)

The 2nd version of MetaGenerator (by MasterCephus and dlfl) can now source metadata from multiple locations, for TV and films. They've plugged into the new NetFlix API as well, and it appears to be back up and running (one of the previous sources of data had dried up a few months back). This app is currently under active development, with new features (and bugs/fixes) being added regularly.

kmttg is pretty slick, but takes some legwork to get up and running. It's a perl app that allows you to queue up one or more operations (download, decrypt, commercial skip, re-transfer to TiVo, etc) for a list of non-protected videos that exist on your TiVo. It's more for handling videos that already live on your TiVo, not serving videos that may exist on your PC. So, in that respect, it serves as a nice complement to pyTivo.

Here are links to those apps, for anyone interested in playing with them :

MetaGenerator V2 thread : LINK (http://pytivo.krkeegan.com/metagenerator-version-2-beta-t555.html)

kmttg thread : LINK (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=387725)

Thanks again, Paul. I'll probably start slow. Get the pyTivo working first then move on from there. eventually. I'm a slow starter. and finisher. and everything in between. :o

Thanks again, Paul. I'll probably start slow. Get the pyTivo working first then move on from there. eventually. I'm a slow starter. and finisher. and everything in between. :o

Wow. I'm the first one to say "pyTiVo hands down" and who gets the thanks?

You really are Cruel.:);)

Kudos to Paul, he's the one who made me aware too.

It seems to me that TiVo is in a great position to use this (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/31/yahoo.intel.tv/index.html) technology and introduce it to our homes. Here's a portion of the article:

Yahoo and Intel built their success upon widespread use of personal computers, but the two companies hope products to be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January will mark the beginning of their Internet-fueled expansion to the world of TV as well.
Yahoo and Intel hope next week's CES show will mark the beginning of their expansion to the world of TV.

Yahoo and Intel hope next week's CES show will mark the beginning of their expansion to the world of TV.

The two companies have attracted several significant manufacturing and content allies in the attempt to bring new smarts and interactivity to a part of the electronics world that has remained a more passive part of people's digital lives.

Intel and Yahoo showed off Net-enabled TV prototypes in August, but the companies' technology will be presented in more finished form at the electronics show within products by Samsung, Toshiba, and a number of new partners that have signed on since the debut.

What exactly are they trying to achieve? For Yahoo, it's establishment of the Widget Channel, a software foundation that can house programs for browsing photos, using the Internet's abundant socially connected services, watching YouTube videos, or digging deeper into TV shows -- and through which Yahoo will be able to show advertisements.

I just got a taste of how bad the new customer service is. As you all are aware, you can no longer report a line up change on line to TiVo, they are not offering email customer support any longer. We just got MLB Network so I called to phone it in. The guy actually yawned in my ear. I told him why I was calling and he said let me check something. Well, he went to Time Warners website and he say's "There is no channel 236." I said, yes I know, that's why I'm calling to report it. It just started today." He said, "OK, I'll get in touch with media services, it will take 5 to 7 days."

He didn't ask me the name of the channel and he did not give me a ticket number.

So I contacted Tribune Media myself, fwiw. I'm confident it will get taken care of somehow, but this guy was asleep at the wheel.

Edit: Called back and got a guy who was more awake. He gave me a ticket number and said there was no evidence I even called!

They haven't offered email support for quite a while. It's generally a losing proposition as many people just use it to dump their frustrations on. It isn't clear that the removal of the line-up change form is deliberate; but it doesn't matter much. You always were able to get faster service by filling out the line-up change form on zap2it.com. And if you still want to go through TiVo, you can do so over the telephone.

I figure anyone who's stuck working New Year's Day morning isn't the sharpest tool in the box. That part doesn't surprise me.

They haven't offered email support for quite a while. It's generally a losing proposition as many people just use it to dump their frustrations on. It isn't clear that the removal of the line-up change form is deliberate; but it doesn't matter much. You always were able to get faster service by filling out the line-up change form on zap2it.com. And if you still want to go through TiVo, you can do so over the telephone.

I figure anyone who's stuck working New Year's Day morning isn't the sharpest tool in the box. That part doesn't surprise me.

Yes, see my edit. I saw you posted as I was editing.

zap2it.com provides a feedback form which some folks are using for this sort of lineup correction : ZAP2IT LINEUP CORRECTION (http://www.zap2it.com/services/site/zap-feedback,0,6935396.story)

zap2it.com provides a feedback form which some folks are using for this sort of lineup correction : ZAP2IT LINEUP CORRECTION (http://www.zap2it.com/services/site/zap-feedback,0,6935396.story)

Yes, and you have to follow the instructions correctly, i.e. list the cable company exactly like it is in the guide. Phone number of cable company etc.

I followed through with all of that.:)

The big problem to solve now is PSIP over cable. It is inconsistent and sometimes manipulated by the MSO in odd ways. It's unfortunate that the FCC didn't mandate clearer PSIP regulations from the get-go, but last year I heard they were considering clarifying PSIP requirements over cable. Anybody heard any status on this? If PSIP over cable were made mandatory and consistent, it would be trivial for Tivo or Tribune Media Services to provide guide data for them.
Just researching PSIP a little bit, and I found this:“Finally, a couple of comments noted, in response to our inquiry in the Third DTV Periodic Review NPRM, that PSIP information may not be passed through to cable and satellite subscribers. We will address such program-related PSIP issues in our DTV Must Carry proceeding.”[Source: FCC 07-228, ¶189.]

Huh? Does an FCC Order actually prohibit passing PSIP data through to cable and satellite subscribers? Can someone fill in the details here -- not based on information that was put out before FCC 07-228, but rather, specifically, based on information that was put out after FCC 07-228? (To be clear, there are MANY references in the documentation saying that cable must pass-through PSIP data and regarding what data must be included (i.e., ATSC A/65C ¶5.2). My question is specifically regarding this statement in this FCC order, and what IT means.)

Just researching PSIP a little bit, and I found this:[Source: FCC 07-228, ¶189.]

Huh? Does an FCC Order actually prohibit passing PSIP data through to cable and satellite subscribers? Can someone fill in the details here -- not based on information that was put out before FCC 07-228, but rather, specifically, based on information that was put out after FCC 07-228? (To be clear, there are MANY references in the documentation saying that cable must pass-through PSIP data and regarding what data must be included (i.e., ATSC A/65C ¶5.2). My question is specifically regarding this statement in this FCC order, and what IT means.)

I could be totally off-base here, but the way I read it I believe it is saying that they are not required to pass the info. If they were prohibited I would have expected the language to say something more along the lines of must not rather than may not, but again, that is just my interpretation...

Randy

I posted this in another forum -- someone there pointed out a reasonable interpretation: Poor grammar. What that line perhaps means is that they would discuss "when PSIP information is not passed ..." (instead of "when PSIP information may not be passed ...") through to cable and satellite subscribers. In other words, it wasn't trying to community permission or prohibition, but rather was just trying to describe reality, and based on what we know beyond that statement, non-compliant reality.

[duplicate]

Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, §76.640 (http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=007ec94a74c5c91f0e2e06931c139a3a&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47:4.0.1.1.4.11.3.15&idno=47)(b)(1)(iv):
(iv) For each digital transport stream that includes one or more services carried in-the-clear, such transport stream shall include virtual channel data in-band in the form of ATSC A/65B: “ATSC Standard: Program and System Information Protocol for Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable (Revision B)” (incorporated by reference, see §76.602), when available from the content provider.Why would the FCC have written that if they'd also forbid the information to ever be available from the content providers? If they actually have forbidden it, the cable providers are therefore never required to carry any PSIP :).

Which begs the question of whether the content providers are required to make PSIP available to cable SOs.

Actually, bicker1, I think that the section that you highlighted should begin one word earlier: "a couple of comments noted...that PSIP information may not be passed through to cable and satellite subscribers." Some comments in reponse to their inquiry expressed a concern about what should happen in that case.

You cheated... that CFR you quoted was published BEFORE the FCC document... I asked for citations from AFTER the FCC document (seeing as the FCC document seemed to indicate a change in policy from what we all knew was the case previously). :) As it is, as I indicated above, I like the bad grammar explanation.

Good question you raised there. The regs require PSIP be available in transport streams broadcast over-the-air, and whatever the broadcaster provides to the cable company must be passed along to the subscriber, but I don't recall seeing anything indicating that what's broadcast must also be provided by the broadcaster to the cable company when the broadcaster provides cable companies a direct feed.

Please be patient with this post.

I have TWC in Columbus Ohio and 2 SA 8300HD boxes connected to 2 HD tv's. I have connected 2 LaCie external drives via eSata. One 750gb and the other 500gb. Does anyone know if I can connect the existing LaCie drives to the TiVo Series 3 box via eSata? Do I need to buy 2 TiVo 3 boxes? Forgive my ignorance. I am so busy at work that I do not have the time I want to research all the posts. Do I really need TiVo at this point if I cannot connect my existing LaCie drives to it?

Please be patient with this post.

I have TWC in Columbus Ohio and 2 SA 8300HD boxes connected to 2 HD tv's. I have connected 2 LaCie external drives via eSata. One 750gb and the other 500gb. Does anyone know if I can connect the existing LaCie drives to the TiVo Series 3 box via eSata? Do I need to buy 2 TiVo 3 boxes? Forgive my ignorance. I am so busy at work that I do not have the time I want to research all the posts. Do I really need TiVo at this point if I cannot connect my existing LaCie drives to it?The [original] TiVo Series3 will allow you to connect any eSATA drive up to 1TB.

The [original] TiVo Series3 was discontinued last summer. Now TiVo only sells the TivoHD (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11126048#post11126048) ($250), which only supports the 500GB Western Digital "My DVR Expander" eSATA drive. Other drives can be made to work, but only by opening the unit and voiding the warranty; instructions to do that can be found in Section III of this FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784). That FAQ also has the instructions to upgrade the internal drive.

Yes, and you have to follow the instructions correctly, i.e. list the cable company exactly like it is in the guide. Phone number of cable company etc.

I followed through with all of that.:)How long did it take Zap2It to update your lineup after you sent your message? It's been a week and no gravy for me. I sent the following, with subject line "Lineup Discrepancy":
Cable System Name: Time Warner Cable - Digital (San Diego)
Problem: Channels missing651 - Showtime East HD
663 - TMC East HD
719 - Biography HD
734 - USA HD
735 - ABC Family HD
740 - Bravo HD
749 - CNBC HD
752 - FX HD
757 - Sci Fi HD
781 - Hallmark Movie Channel HD
789 - MLB HD
793 - Speed HDProvider Phone Number: 858-695-3220
Provider Service: Cable
City: San Diego
State: California
Zip: 92110See anything wrong with that?

How long did it take Zap2It to update your lineup after you sent your message? It's been a week and no gravy for me. I sent the following, with subject line "Lineup Discrepancy":
See anything wrong with that?

Nope, I think you did it right. They are missing that many channels?

I have been trying to get them to add MLB Network. I submitted my request through TiVo via phone and to Tribune Media about 3 weeks ago. Nadda. Nothing. Zippo.

Tribune Media is really starting to suck at this. I think TiVo needs to find a new provider.

How long did it take Zap2It to update your lineup after you sent your message? It's been a week and no gravy for me. I sent the following, with subject line "Lineup Discrepancy":
See anything wrong with that?

These are channels you receive, but have no guide data for, or the guide data is showing on a different channel than the content?

I'm guessing you've already done it, but when the bay area recently added a bunch of new HD, re-doing the channel listing setup fixed the problem in most cases. I think most folks forget about doing that as they only do it, usually, when they first install the TiVo. I know I had forgotten all about it while waiting 2 weeks for the guide to correct itself, turned out, just re-doing the setup fixed the problem.

Hey Jim...long time no see! Great advice...I think I need to go through the setup again.

Best regards,

Can the streaming of netflix be saved to the hard drive? I only have a 2mps internet service and nothing higher in my area. Do I have to watch netflix live or can I download to the hard drive and watch it after it downloads.

Hey Jim...long time no see! Great advice...I think I need to go through the setup again.

Best regards,
Hey Dave, hope everything is good with you and family. :)

Yes, it's just a one line statement in small print at the bottom of the channel listing page, easy to miss. "Press ENTER if this is the wrong channel lineup".

Can the streaming of netflix be saved to the hard drive? I only have a 2mps internet service and nothing higher in my area. Do I have to watch netflix live or can I download to the hard drive and watch it after it downloads.Sadly, Netflix only allows streaming. This isn't a TiVo-only requirement; it applies to all Netflix-compatible devices.

Is everyone having good experiences with Netflix streaming lately? I haven't tried it after reading some of the "bricking" stories over at TiVoCom.

Nope, I think you did it right. They are missing that many channels?Yes, they are. I can't get TiVo to record any of them, so they're not very useful to have. It accepts manual recording requests, but when it comes time to record them, it give the excuse "not recorded because the channel was removed from your lineup", even when it's quite clearly there. Also, when I watch them, they sometimes disappear from the guide, spontaneously becoming "unchecked" in the list of channels I receive.

I'm actually not sure how TiVo even knows about them. It must be getting them and their "call letters" from the map in the CableCARDs.
These are channels you receive, but have no guide data for, or the guide data is showing on a different channel than the content?They are channels that I receive but have no guide data for.
I'm guessing you've already done it, but when the bay area recently added a bunch of new HD, re-doing the channel listing setup fixed the problem in most cases. I think most folks forget about doing that as they only do it, usually, when they first install the TiVo. I know I had forgotten all about it while waiting 2 weeks for the guide to correct itself, turned out, just re-doing the setup fixed the problem.You mean, go through Guided Setup again? I don't think that this will fix it, since Zap2It.com doesn't know about the existence of those channels either. I'll give it a try, though, for what it's worth. I moved a few months ago, into a deep canyon (Tecolote Canyon Park lies immediately behind the house, for those familiar with the area, with some buildings on the USD campus looming above us). In my previous location I was up on top of a bluff, and was getting several DTV channels through a settop antenna--no chance of that from inside this hole, so I should re-do Guided Setup just to specify "cable only" instead of "cable + antenna".

Michael I would try guided set up. You are missing so many channels I think you may not be on the correct selection. Just take a look.

You mean, go through Guided Setup again? I don't think that this will fix it, since Zap2It.com doesn't know about the existence of those channels either. I'll give it a try, though, for what it's worth. I moved a few months ago, into a deep canyon (Tecolote Canyon Park lies immediately behind the house, for those familiar with the area, with some buildings on the USD campus looming above us). In my previous location I was up on top of a bluff, and was getting several DTV channels through a settop antenna--no chance of that from inside this hole, so I should re-do Guided Setup just to specify "cable only" instead of "cable + antenna".

Not the whole setup, just the channel setup, where it asks do you have this or that channel and what number is it, etc. You access it at the bottom of the channel listing page via setup and messages.

Not the whole setup, just the channel setup, where it asks do you have this or that channel and what number is it, etc. You access it at the bottom of the channel listing page via setup and messages.

Disagree. Run guided set up. I had same issue.

Edit: The last two post I made were on my blackberry so now that I'm at a real computer maybe I can clarify.

When we had our channel lineup change I actually had two different line ups. I had the correct one on my TiVoHD but my S3 still had the old line up.

Upon running guided set up I found the correct channel line up. What you describe to me sounds like your TiVo never got the correct hit, and that's why I say try running guided set up. You may have a new listing, like San Diego Digital Upgrade.

Hey, it takes some time but it won't hurt anything. What have you got to lose?:)

I re-ran Guided Setup (mostly to get rid of the multitude of OTA channels from the lineup). No effect on getting guide data for those new channels in there. Again, I didn't expect it to, since Zap2It.com doesn't list them in the TWC San Diego Digital Cable lineup, and Zap2It.com is a Tribune Media site (you can even use it to program your TiVo from the grid there).

The list of missing channels has only been on the system for about a month.

I re-ran Guided Setup (mostly to get rid of the multitude of OTA channels from the lineup). No effect on getting guide data for those new channels in there. Again, I didn't expect it to, since Zap2It.com doesn't list them in the TWC San Diego Digital Cable lineup, and Zap2It.com is a Tribune Media site (you can even use it to program your TiVo from the grid there).

The list of missing channels has only been on the system for about a month.

michaelscott, what is your zip? I'd like to take a look.

michaelscott, what is your zip? I'd like to take a look.All relevant Zap2It info is in that post (back here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15633912#post15633912)) where I quoted my letter to them. But believe me--they're not in the lineup, and if I go to my Zap2It preferences, they're not in the list of Available Channels.

Again, those channels were added all at the same time, about a month back. Pretty much par for the course that they haven't been added to Tribune's guide information yet.

EDIT: I just checked TitanTV.com (they use a different guide info source) and only one of those channels has been added there (Sci Fi HD).

All relevant Zap2It info is in that post (back here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15633912#post15633912)) where I quoted my letter to them. But believe me--they're not in the lineup, and if I go to my Zap2It preferences, they're not in the list of Available Channels.

Again, those channels were added all at the same time, about a month back. Pretty much par for the course that they haven't been added to Tribune's guide information yet.

Not sure how it's been in your neck of the woods, but when Mediacom added HD channels last summer, the program info appeared within two weeks. You could tune in the channels and the channel banner was accurate and you could manually record. But program info didn't appear for up to 14 days.

The Dirty Little Secret of the Tribune Media guide used by TiVo is that it often lacks guide information for newly added channels and some local special purpose channels. For example, the TiVo guide almost never shows when a Fox Sports game is going to be shown in HD on Cox OKC's Fox Sports HD channel, although Cox's own guide for its company owned DVRs almost always has the correct information. The upside to the TiVo guide, though, is that it provides exponentially more information about the programming it lists than the Cox guide does. That's a worthwhile tradeoff, to me at least.

Not sure how it's been in your neck of the woods, but when Mediacom added HD channels last summer, the program info appeared within two weeks. You could tune in the channels and the channel banner was accurate and you could manually record. But program info didn't appear for up to 14 days.I've seen it take much longer here, and not happen at all before I complained, using TiVo's old web form (though others might have complained as well). You'd think that some peon in the cable provider's marketing department would be assigned to report these additions to the guide data providers. Hell--you'd think that Tribune would give cable providers online accounts where they could instantly update their lineups (though that might be too easily subject to hacking).

BTW, I just checked TVGuide.com and they also only know about Sci Fi HD--TitanTV must use data from Gemstar (now a division of Macrovision).

Sadly, Netflix only allows streaming. This isn't a TiVo-only requirement; it applies to all Netflix-compatible devices.I'm thinking of getting a TivoHD. Is it possible to pause a movie when streaming it from Netflix, like you can do with live TV?

michaelscott, if I were you I'd go over to the (sic) TiVo Forum and PM TiVo Jerry. This is just plain ridiculous. 1 channel I can understand but that many and HD too???

Unless they don't put on SDV channels. Is that what's going on?

I'm thinking of getting a TivoHD. Is it possible to pause a movie when streaming it from Netflix, like you can do with live TV?Yes. You can stop watching in the middle and resume at the same point on any streaming Netflix player.

Streaming Netflix on TiVo is not without problems, but I'm sure that they'll clear them up, by and by :). I've used the hell of it, watching and greatly enjoying a ton of stuff that I probably would never have rented or seen otherwise (British TV series, indie movies, documentaries, etc).

michaelscott, if I were you I'd go over to the (sic) TiVo Forum and PM TiVo Jerry. This is just plain ridiculous. 1 channel I can understand but that many and HD too???

Unless they don't put on SDV channels. Is that what's going on?I don't think so. They are all SDV, but all of the foreign language channels, the Digital Sports Pack and the HD VIP Pack are SDV are in the guide (most of which were converted to SDV), as well as Science HD, Lifetime Movies HD, Versus HD, Golf HD, HGTV HD, TLC HD, Animal Planet HD, Big 10 HD, USA HD, NatGeo HD and Disney HD (most of which were added to the lineup as SDV).

michaelstott,

I don't know if this pertains to your situation because every situation and provider is different; but I got a similar problem solved about 3:00 am this morning.

I had been having trouble getting the guide info for a lot of relatively new HD channels (Comcast, Roseville, CA). I had rerun Guided Setup a few times and that didn't work. A couple of nights ago, after about a month (and after the start of Battlestar Galactica's season) I got off my ass and called TIVO to see if they could help, since about the same time I noticed TIVO had all of the stations in question on their online guide even though I still couldn't download them. The guy at TIVO had me try a few things live which consisted mainly of attempting to reload the data. He then suggested, if the info didn't show up by the morning, to redo the channel lineup, but not through Guided Setup.

A couple of days later when I confirmed that I still wasn't getting the guide data and I had some time (that would be 2:00 am this morning :-) ) I followed his suggestion.

On the Channel Lineup screen (the one with all the checkboxes down the left) there is an option at the bottom of the screen to redo the channel lineup by hitting enter and then thumbs down three times. This took me to a setup routine very similar to Guided Setup where they asked for the provider, what channel is on what channel number, premiums, etc. I ran through all this and then let the TIVO do it's thing, which took a longer time than usual.

But when it finally completed, I had all the HD channel info I had been missing.

I have no idea why this worked when running Guided Setup didn't, but I'm a (very tired) happy camper right now. And The Boss is going to be especially happy when she returns from her work trip tonight.

michaelstott,

I don't know if this pertains to your situation because every situation and provider is different; but I got a similar problem solved about 3:00 am this morning.

I had been having trouble getting the guide info for a lot of relatively new HD channels (Comcast, Roseville, CA). I had rerun Guided Setup a few times and that didn't work. A couple of nights ago, after about a month (and after the start of Battlestar Galactica's season) I got off my ass and called TIVO to see if they could help, since about the same time I noticed TIVO had all of the stations in question on their online guide even though I still couldn't download them. The guy at TIVO had me try a few things live which consisted mainly of attempting to reload the data. He then suggested, if the info didn't show up by the morning, to redo the channel lineup, but not through Guided Setup.

A couple of days later when I confirmed that I still wasn't getting the guide data and I had some time (that would be 2:00 am this morning :-) ) I followed his suggestion.

On the Channel Lineup screen (the one with all the checkboxes down the left) there is an option at the bottom of the screen to redo the channel lineup by hitting enter and then thumbs down three times. This took me to a setup routine very similar to Guided Setup where they asked for the provider, what channel is on what channel number, premiums, etc. I ran through all this and then let the TIVO do it's thing, which took a longer time than usual.

But when it finally completed, I had all the HD channel info I had been missing.

I have no idea why this worked when running Guided Setup didn't, but I'm a (very tired) happy camper right now. And The Boss is going to be especially happy when she returns from her work trip tonight.

That's what I've been talking about, and I "re-discovered" it when talking on the phone with a TiVo rep as well. That one-line has always been there but I doubt many folks even realized it, I know I didn't until the rep pointed it out. That's how I got my channel listings squared away. I'm not sure if it even has a name, but I think some have been confusing it with "Guided Setup".

The Dirty Little Secret of the Tribune Media guide used by TiVo is that it often lacks guide information for newly added channels and some local special purpose channels. For example, the TiVo guide almost never shows when a Fox Sports game is going to be shown in HD on Cox OKC's Fox Sports HD channel, although Cox's own guide for its company owned DVRs almost always has the correct information. The upside to the TiVo guide, though, is that it provides exponentially more information about the programming it lists than the Cox guide does. That's a worthwhile tradeoff, to me at least.

Same here on the local RSN guide info, totally worthless.

Since the Series 3 was discontinued and I have two of them that I really like, I want to do all I can to prolong their lifespan. Do any of you guys have any suggestions for general maintenance of these units?
(I have popped the cover and vacuum-cleaned the fan a couple times, but that's about it.)

That's what I've been talking about, and I "re-discovered" it when talking on the phone with a TiVo rep as well. That one-line has always been there but I doubt many folks even realized it, I know I didn't until the rep pointed it out. That's how I got my channel listings squared away. I'm not sure if it even has a name, but I think some have been confusing it with "Guided Setup".

I re-read you posts on the last page and it indeed is the same way I redid the channel setup.

I wish I had read more carefully weeks ago when you posted them.

That's what I've been talking about, and I "re-discovered" it when talking on the phone with a TiVo rep as well. That one-line has always been there but I doubt many folks even realized it, I know I didn't until the rep pointed it out. That's how I got my channel listings squared away. I'm not sure if it even has a name, but I think some have been confusing it with "Guided Setup".It seems to just be last part of Guided Setup; I can't believe that it involves any different code. In any case, I tried it, to no avail. Again, if it ain't Tribune's guide at Zap2It, it ain't in TiVo's guide, period. They won't download the information into our boxes for channels in the lineup that Tribune doesn't know are there, and if Tribune knew they were there, they'd be available in Zap2It's guide.

It seems to just be last part of Guided Setup; I can't believe that it involves any different code. In any case, I tried it, to no avail. Again, if it ain't Tribune's guide at Zap2It, it ain't in TiVo's guide, period. They won't download the information into our boxes for channels in the lineup that Tribune doesn't know are there, and if Tribune knew they were there, they'd be available in Zap2It's guide.

Well, it was worth a try. When I talked to the rep months back he was specific about doing it that way, whether it's any different than the regular Guided Setup, I don't know.

It seems to just be last part of Guided Setup; I can't believe that it involves any different code. In any case, I tried it, to no avail. Again, if it ain't Tribune's guide at Zap2It, it ain't in TiVo's guide, period. They won't download the information into our boxes for channels in the lineup that Tribune doesn't know are there, and if Tribune knew they were there, they'd be available in Zap2It's guide.I believe there is a 'trick' to adding channels to the guide that aren't part of Tribune's lineup. I know you can do that for QAM channels that the TiVo doesn't find.

But if it isn't in Tribune's lineup, it won't have program information.

I believe there is a 'trick' to adding channels to the guide that aren't part of Tribune's lineup. I know you can do that for QAM channels that the TiVo doesn't find.

But if it isn't in Tribune's lineup, it won't have program information.

His problem isn't receiving. It is the guide data and what looks like to me a cable card issue.

The problem lies solely with Tribune Media. If their information is that the channel isn't in a particular lineup, TiVo will not load the guide information for that channel. The channel will appear in the guide (because its in CableCARD or TA channel maps or PSIP loops), but for program name it'll just say "To be announced" and the righthand column of the Live Guide will be blank for the channel when it's selected.

As suggested by hook, I PM'd TiVoJerry to ask whether he knew of anyone at TiVo who could expedite this change in the guide database. I doubt that he can help, but it was worth a try.

The problem lies solely with Tribune Media. If their information is that the channel isn't in a particular lineup, TiVo will not load the guide information for that channel. The channel will appear in the guide (because its in CableCARD or TA channel maps or PSIP loops), but for program name it'll just say "To be announced" and the righthand column of the Live Guide will be blank for the channel when it's selected.

The only reason I mentioned the CableCard thing was because you said some of the channels would disappear from time to time. If I didn't understand you correctly that's my error.

As suggested by hook, I PM'd TiVoJerry to ask whether he knew of anyone at TiVo who could expedite this change in the guide database. I doubt that he can help, but it was worth a try.

I don't know if he can help or not either. Once he offered to assist me in a problem I was having, however that was just about the time I got my contact at TW and made my exit from the TCF. Interestingly enough the person my contact at TW was speaking to was a guy named Jerry, but it wasn't TiVoJerry. And that was concerning a sound problem in the broadcast stream, which she did fix.

Anyway I would be outraged if I didn't have data on that many channels. Now TiVo doesn't even have the link to contact them anymore about lineup changes. If you decide to contact TiVo, please make sure you get a case number. I had one for mine but I lost it and I meant to call them today but I never got around to it.

I haven't tried it but the direct email to the old line up change was lineup@tivo.com.

Since the Series 3 was discontinued and I have two of them that I really like, I want to do all I can to prolong their lifespan. Do any of you guys have any suggestions for general maintenance of these units?
(I have popped the cover and vacuum-cleaned the fan a couple times, but that's about it.)

I'd say the biggest killer of electronics is bad power, so connect it to a battery backup.

I'd say the biggest killer of electronics is bad power, so connect it to a battery backup.

Thanks for the tip. :) I do have one on back-up, but the other's just on a power conditioner.

The Dirty Little Secret of the Tribune Media guide used by TiVo is that it often lacks guide information for newly added channels and some local special purpose channels. For example, the TiVo guide almost never shows when a Fox Sports game is going to be shown in HD on Cox OKC's Fox Sports HD channel, although Cox's own guide for its company owned DVRs almost always has the correct information. The upside to the TiVo guide, though, is that it provides exponentially more information about the programming it lists than the Cox guide does. That's a worthwhile tradeoff, to me at least.

This is hope for the FSN HD listings...we recently started getting better listings here in DFW. For quite awhile they just duped the regular FSN schedule there, but as you already know, FSN doesn't broadcast anything on the HD channel unless it is actually HD. Now it correctly shows when they are signed off instead of showing the content for regular FSN. Hope it straightens out for you soon...

Randy

Thanks for the tip. :) I do have one on back-up, but the other's just on a power conditioner.

I have mine on both....:D

I don't know if he can help or not either. Once he offered to assist me in a problem I was having, however that was just about the time I got my contact at TW and made my exit from the TCF.I got a response from TiVoJerry, telling me that he was sorry, but I'd have to phone my lineup problem in. He did assure me that they'd be fixing the can't-make-manual-recordings-of-channels-without-guide-data problem shortly.

This is a disturbing trend--more and more companies are choosing to waste our time by requiring us to wait in a phone queue to report problems verbally, instead of having a simple online form for problem reports. There are quite a number of bad encodings for Netflix's streaming service, but since the only way of reporting them is by phoning them, there's zero chance of them ever getting a report from me. This problem is annoying enough for me to make the effort, though.

I got a response from TiVoJerry, telling me that he was sorry, but I'd have to phone my lineup problem in. He did assure me that they'd be fixing the can't-make-manual-recordings-of-channels-without-guide-data problem shortly.

This is a disturbing trend--more and more companies are choosing to waste our time by requiring us to wait in a phone queue to report problems verbally, instead of having a simple online form for problem reports. There are quite a number of bad encodings for Netflix's streaming service, but since the only way of reporting them is by phoning them, there's zero chance of them ever getting a report from me. This problem is annoying enough for me to make the effort, though.

Hey, at least he got back to you. Good luck! I still have to call them about MLB Network again.

This is a disturbing trend--more and more companies are choosing to waste our time by requiring us to wait in a phone queue to report problems verbally, instead of having a simple online form for problem reports. We shouldn't be surprised, given how, more and more, people were choosing to waste the time of companies, requiring them to waste their time wading through bogus online problem reports.

We shouldn't be surprised, given how, more and more, people were choosing to waste the time of companies, requiring them to waste their time wading through bogus online problem reports.

Yeah, I gotta agree with you on this point. Let's go back to hiring more people to take calls, it will help the economy. Wait! We don't want to do that, let's just put people on eternal hold and not give any customer service whats so ever. These peons obviously don't do anything other then complain about a service they pay for so why should a high tech company provide a high tech opportunity to communicate with it's customers.

Matter of fact let's just get rid of all customer service. Let's get rid of our customer service number too. We may as well since we outsource customer service now and have reps who yawn in people's ears. Once less bill to pay.

Our customers are all morons for even signing up with us in the first place. The fools.:rolleyes:

The real shame of it is that you can patter about it all you want, but it doesn't change the reality. Consumers, in general, are self-defeating. As a group, they maniacally fixate on getting the lowest price without much regard to service. Mass-market product and service providers would be idiots to do what you want them to do, instead of what's best for their bottom-line long-term.

The real shame of it is that you can patter about it all you want, but it doesn't change the reality. Consumers, in general, are self-defeating. As a group, they maniacally fixate on getting the lowest price without much regard to service. Mass-market product and service providers would be idiots to do what you want them to do, instead of what's best for their bottom-line long-term.
Competitive markets generally provide the best products and services for the lowest prices, that's the good news. The bad news, though, is that in order to provide the lowest prices vendors frequently cut corners in areas where not many people will notice. Customer support is one of them. That wouldn’t happen in a perfect world, of course, but we’re not likely to get that any quicker than we are likely to get good customer service we don’t pay a premium for. :)

The real shame of it is that you can patter about it all you want, but it doesn't change the reality. Consumers, in general, are self-defeating. As a group, they maniacally fixate on getting the lowest price without much regard to service. Mass-market product and service providers would be idiots to do what you want them to do, instead of what's best for their bottom-line long-term.

I love it! You know you let this post sit for about 24 hours without a response (I saw it last night).

I knew you were going to spank me for it but that's OK. You've got your ideas, I got mine. And like you despite how often you write about it I won't change my mind. But unlike you (at least I think) I have done customer service and I know the demands of companies are not at all what you say. It's my personal experience that companies demand even more out of customer service then in the past. TiVo, unfortunately, does not seem to go along with this trend of thinking.

And you don't need to go there, I know you feel that's not the trend. We just have to (once again) agree to disagree.

Competitive markets generally provide the best products and services for the lowest prices, that's the good news. The bad news, though, is that in order to provide the lowest prices vendors frequently cut corners in areas where not many people will notice. Customer support is one of them. That wouldn’t happen in a perfect world, of course, but we’re not likely to get that any quicker than we are likely to get good customer service we don’t pay a premium for. :)

Geeze, counselor didn't we pay a premium when we shelled out the 900 bucks for the S3?

All I want is one channel. I can't imagine how upset I would be if I was michaelscott and didn't have all those channels! He's simply asking for what he pays for.

Geeze, counselor didn't we pay a premium when we shelled out the 900 bucks for the S3?

All I want is one channel. I can't imagine how upset I would be if I was michaelscott and didn't have all those channels! He's simply asking for what he pays for.
That was then, this is now, alas. We paid through the nose for our S3s all right but you can now get an HD from Amazon for $259 delivered. Competition caused that, of course. Early adopters seem to always get it in the neck, us included, I guess. The problem is exacerbated when it involves inaccurate guide data because you have three possible culprits, TiVo, Tribune Media, and the cable company, each of whom is pointing at the other. I agree, it’s a mess but in the immortal words of one of my favorite philosophers, Tony Soprano, “Wadda ya gonna do?” :)

I love it! You know you let this post sit for about 24 hours without a response (I saw it last night).I left my laptop at work.

I knew you were going to spank me for it but that's OK.But did you know that gwsat was going to spank you too?

But unlike you (at least I think)I used to be quality manager for Fortune 500 company's technical support division.

You seem to think I'm posting what I prefer -- that is not the case. I post what is the reality, whether I like it or not.

I have done customer service and I know the demands of companies are not at all what you say.You'd be wrong. To be fair to you, it has gotten a lot worse over the last 30 years, so perhaps you're stuck in an older memory. :)

It's my personal experience that companies demand even more out of customer service then in the past.Mass-market customers bitch more than they have in the past. They don't make purchasing decisions based on customer service -- they make purchasing decisions based on price, almost exclusively.

I left my laptop at work.

But did you know that gwsat was going to spank you too?

He gave a nod to you, he didn't spank me.;)


I used to be quality manager for Fortune 500 company's technical support division.

Yes, I believe you used to.:D

You seem to think I'm posting what I prefer -- that is not the case. I post what is the reality, whether I like it or not.

Not at all. I know when you say something it is what your perception of reality is. It's in your signature. Doesn't mean you're right.

You'd be wrong. To be fair to you, it has gotten a lot worse over the last 30 years, so perhaps you're stuck in an older memory. :)

I think that was another spanking. But no, I'm still working customer service (at least as far as I know) and all I can say is it's more demanding then ever. However I will agree with you completely about people's expectations being unrealistic. Like a call I got from a guy complaining that he didn't get a return envelope to mail his bill. Obviously I couldn't do anything for him except apologize but no, he wants a Supervisor. Hold on a second - oops.:D;)

Mass-market customers bitch more than they have in the past. They don't make purchasing decisions based on customer service -- they make purchasing decisions based on price, almost exclusively.

Many times their bitching is justified. I worked at Tru-Green Chemlawn and I'm here to tell you never, ever buy anything from them. Every call I ever took was a complaint and I could tell the lawn techs who didn't really do the job. Did the local office care? No, they just cared about how many invoices he turned in. I quit as soon as I could.

And just to get back on topic michaelscott is justified in complaining and so am I.

As hookbill points out, I'm bitching because I'm not getting the service that I paid for. Several new channels were added to my lineup more than a month ago without getting added to TiVo's guide and despite my complaining about it for the past couple of weeks, I still can't really make use of those channels. Because of maps in the CableCARD equipment, TiVo's aware of the existence of the channels, but because of a bug in TiVo's firmware, it can't even make manual recordings of them.

Although I'd want the channels in any case, it wouldn't be nearly so bad if it weren't for the fact that one of them is Sci Fi HD, more or less the only new HD channel that I've really wanted for over a year. (There've been tons of new HD channels introduced in that time, but none of the others really mattered to me). The final half-season of Battlestar Galactica is airing, and I could record it in HD, but for the lack of guide data.

I hate to complain and don't do it lightly. I think that we've become a nation of entitled whiners: we want what we want when we want it, served up the way that we want it, and all for a bargain price (if at all possible, free of charge). I hear people constantly whining in online forums about their petty little dissatisfactions as though a covenant with God had been broken and it disgusts me. However, this prolonged difficulty getting the lineup change reflected in TiVo's guide is extremely frustrating, and TiVo's not making it any easier by removing a perfectly good online mechanism for reporting these things and making me waste my time on the phone in conversation with one of their mentally challenged CSRs.

Mike,

You did call TiVo to complain, right? I don't think TiVo reads this thread on a regular basis.

Does anyone have the link for the Zap2it.com lineup change form? I don't see it on their site.

Mike,

You did call TiVo to complain, right? I don't think TiVo reads this thread on a regular basis.Yes, I did, a couple of days back. I was told that it would take 5-7 business days to see a change.

I just got a "lineup change" message on TiVo and got all excited. Unfortunately, it was about the addition of "Military History" and "Crime and Investigation" standard-def SDV channels :rolleyes:.

I just got a "lineup change" message on TiVo and got all excited. Unfortunately, it was about the addition of "Military History" and "Crime and Investigation" standard-def SDV channels :rolleyes:.

Check out the other channels too. Many times I've seen just one or two channels mentioned but others were added too.

I hate to complain and don't do it lightly. I think that we've become a nation of entitled whiners: we want what we want when we want it, served up the way that we want it, and all for a bargain price (if at all possible, free of charge). I hear people constantly whining in online forums about their petty little dissatisfactions as though a covenant with God had been broken and it disgusts me. However, this prolonged difficulty getting the lineup change reflected in TiVo's guide is extremely frustrating, and TiVo's not making it any easier by removing a perfectly good online mechanism for reporting these things and making me waste my time on the phone in conversation with one of their mentally challenged CSRs.
I agree, both that people tend to complain way too much and that TiVo's decision to eliminate its online form for requesting lineup changes was a BIG step backwards. I have no idea what the thinking (if any) was behind that one.

FWIW, I called TiVo yesterday regarding my previous request to add MLB Network. Turns out they made a typo and put in the request as 362 instead of 326. Of course it was denied. So now I have another ticket number.

Check out the other channels too. Many times I've seen just one or two channels mentioned but others were added too.Huh. As it so happens, they added three of the twelve new HD channels that I'd complained about: Sci Fi HD, Bravo HD and Speed HD. (I first checked Zap2It.com and found them added there, so I forced an immediate service connection to TiVo and when it was done the listings for those channels were in the guide).

That's encouraging, and it's very nice to have Sci Fi HD--as I said before, it's the one that I was most looking forward to having. (he only others I really care about are TMC East HD--there being no TMC West HD--USA HD and FX HD; Bravo HD doesn't hurt). Perhaps they'll add the rest sooner than the predicted 5-7 business days.

Huh. As it so happens, they added three of the twelve new HD channels that I'd complained about: Sci Fi HD, Bravo HD and Speed HD. (I first checked Zap2It.com and found them added there, so I forced an immediate service connection to TiVo and when it was done the listings for those channels were in the guide).

That's encouraging, and it's very nice to have Sci Fi HD--as I said before, it's the one that I was most looking forward to having. (he only others I really care about are TMC East HD--there being no TMC West HD--USA HD and FX HD; Bravo HD doesn't hurt). Perhaps they'll add the rest sooner than the predicted 5-7 business days.

Hey, michael great job! One phone call and bam!!! Half way done. (I resisted the urge to say half something else).;)

Way to go. You've only missed 2 episodes of BSG and they can be watched online. I myself missed the first episode before I got the program info to load on the TIVO S3; but I can watch it on video on demand on Comcast's truly crappy DVR on the other TV.

Huh. As it so happens, they added three of the twelve new HD channels that I'd complained about: Sci Fi HD, Bravo HD and Speed HD. (I first checked Zap2It.com and found them added there, so I forced an immediate service connection to TiVo and when it was done the listings for those channels were in the guide).

That's encouraging, and it's very nice to have Sci Fi HD--as I said before, it's the one that I was most looking forward to having. (he only others I really care about are TMC East HD--there being no TMC West HD--USA HD and FX HD; Bravo HD doesn't hurt). Perhaps they'll add the rest sooner than the predicted 5-7 business days.

Way to go. You've only missed 2 episodes of BSG and they can be watched online. I myself missed the first episode before I got the program info to load on the TIVO S3; but I can watch it on video on demand on Comcast's truly crappy DVR on the other TV.I actually did see the episodes--I watched the first in HD, semi-live (I let the buffer fill for 20 minutes), and the second I recorded from the SD Sci Fi Channel. I recorded the first episode in HD on the TWC leased DVR in the family room but never went down there to watch it.

He gave a nod to you, he didn't spank me.;)You say po-tay-toh...

Yes, I believe you used to.:D Traveling to 200 cities per year got a bit old.

Not at all. I know when you say something it is what your perception of reality is. It's in your signature. Doesn't mean you're right.Doesn't mean I'm wrong, either.

I think that was another spanking. But no, I'm still working customer service (at least as far as I know) and all I can say is it's more demanding then ever. However I will agree with you completely about people's expectations being unrealistic. Like a call I got from a guy complaining that he didn't get a return envelope to mail his bill. Obviously I couldn't do anything for him except apologize but no, he wants a Supervisor. Hold on a second - oops.:D;)You do realize that that has nothing to do with what we're talking about, right? You do realize that I said that bitching has increased. People sure love to make customer service agents miserable these days.

Go back and read what I wrote again.

Many times their bitching is justified.Yet it still only matters as much as I said it matter, earlier.

That's encouraging, and it's very nice to have Sci Fi HD--as I said before, it's the one that I was most looking forward to having. (he only others I really care about are TMC East HD--there being no TMC West HD--USA HD and FX HD; Bravo HD doesn't hurt). Perhaps they'll add the rest sooner than the predicted 5-7 business days.
The only HD channels added by Cox OKC in recent moths that I cared about were Sci-Fi HD and FX HD. Those were both big deals for me because of BSG and Damages. I would love to have a few more HD movie channels, though.

How's everyone making out with the Netflix service? I got some movies today and they're advertising the service in the mailer so I though I would give it another try.

After trying one film and not getting any sound, I backed out of it and the S3 promptly froze up and then went into a re-boot, bringing up the green "serious error" screen. The unit did eventually "repair" itself and seems okay now, but needless to say, it will be yet another long while before I try the service again. Which is too bad as I really like the idea, I just wish it would work reliably.

Jim,

I tried the Netflix streaming out and had severe lip sync, so I gave up on it. I'll have to give it another try.

David

Check out the other channels too. Many times I've seen just one or two channels mentioned but others were added too.Huh. As it so happens, they added three of the twelve new HD channels that I'd complained about: Sci Fi HD, Bravo HD and Speed HD.I recently got a second "lineup change" message on TiVo advertising the addition of those channels. Turns out that it was actually four of the twelve--Showtime East HD was added as well. I hadn't realized, because the guide calls it "SHOWHD" and the west-coast feed "SHOWHDP".

How's everyone making out with the Netflix service?I've had a few problems, but I've managed to make a great deal of use of it (probably only a half dozen movies or so, but I got kind of heavily into some British TV series). There's been so much complaining about how poorly it works in the forums that I thought I might be getting a distorted view of it. I posted a poll to try to gain some sense of how many people are having trouble and how many are managing to use it successfully, here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=416750) on TiVo Community Forums. After 230 responses, 80% of the people who've tried it are using it successfully, though 60% of them (30% overall) have encountered a few problems.

It's been pointed out in that thread many times that my questions weren't very well formed :rolleyes:, but I think that I got a rough measure of what I was after.

How's everyone making out with the Netflix service? I got some movies today and they're advertising the service in the mailer so I though I would give it another try.

After trying one film and not getting any sound, I backed out of it and the S3 promptly froze up and then went into a re-boot, bringing up the green "serious error" screen. The unit did eventually "repair" itself and seems okay now, but needless to say, it will be yet another long while before I try the service again. Which is too bad as I really like the idea, I just wish it would work reliably.

I have really, really enjoyed it. I haven't watched any movies yet, but I did watch a couple of seasons of 30 Rock in HD. I had severe lip sync issues on my very first episode, but nothing too major after that. There are bandwidth issues from time to time, but nothing I can't tolerate..especially when you consider that there is no extra cost for the service...

What I've really been enjoying lately is watching old TV shows from when I was growing up...Adam-12, for example. I also have Emergency!, Magnum PI and some other stuff waiting in the queue. All in all, I'm a fan...

Randy

Thanks all for the responses. It's frustrating as I never usually have trouble with something new, I try it and it almost always works with no issues. This app though, is just not being cooperative for some reason, and I'm 99% certain it's not my internet connection as it's clean and very fast.

I ended up watching the film I wanted on the PC and it ran flawlessly, so I don't know, the fact that Netflix is advertising it in the mailers leads me to think that as far as they're concerned, it's working fine, which is discouraging.

I've had a few problems, but I've managed to make a great deal of use of it (probably only a half dozen movies or so, but I got kind of heavily into some British TV series). There's been so much complaining about how poorly it works in the forums that I thought I might be getting a distorted view of it. I posted a poll to try to gain some sense of how many people are having trouble and how many are managing to use it successfully, here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=416750) on TiVo Community Forums. After 230 responses, 80% of the people who've tried it are using it successfully, though 60% of them (30% overall) have encountered a few problems.

It's been pointed out in that thread many times that my questions weren't very well formed :rolleyes:, but I think that I got a rough measure of what I was after.
Well, the flip side of those numbers is that only 30% of the respondents have had an error free experience with it. That doesn't seem to fall into the success column for a new app IMO, unless that's the standard nowadays, if 30% have no trouble, it's a winner. :rolleyes::D

Well, the flip side of those numbers is that only 30% of the respondents have had an error free experience with it. That doesn't seem to fall into the success column for a new app IMO, unless that's the standard nowadays, if 30% have no trouble, it's a winner. :rolleyes::DI'm pretty sure TiVoPony or TiVoJerry said they were working on a Netflix update to address some of the issues reported by users. I don't think they've made that update available yet, but I could be wrong.

Well, the flip side of those numbers is that only 30% of the respondents have had an error free experience with it. That doesn't seem to fall into the success column for a new app IMO, unless that's the standard nowadays, if 30% have no trouble, it's a winner. :rolleyes::DOh, it quite definitely has its problems. But to read the many "the Netflix app is horribly broken" threads, you'd think that hardly anyone has managed to get it to work well enough to be worthwhile, which isn't remotely the truth.

Also, as far as Netflix is concerned, TiVo is just one small cog in the plan. You can stream their stuff to PCs, the Roku player, Xboxes and 3 Blu-ray players at this point. Do the mailers mention only TiVo?

I'm sure it is like practically everything else: It is probably okay for most folks, but there is no question that we've hit another instance where the lack of robustness in TiVo's designs is coming back to haunt many of their customers.

I ran accross this article (http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/do-not-time-netflix-hd-streaming-shootout/) from Engadget concerning Netflix players. TiVo did not do so well.

I will probably never use it, which brings me to a question on something else. Other then searching Utube, that beta search engine they gave us. Is that meant to replace the current search eventually, or will that be in addition to because if it's in addition to I think it's a waste of time. If it will eventually replace the current search engine then I think I see the purpose.

Maybe I missed something but I couldn't find an "HD" category, however when I ran a search it seemed to default to HD. Did I overlook something?