I've always found the swivel search kind of slow and cumbersome, so I don't use it much. I have to really be trying to find something specific to go to the trouble. From jacksonian's description, the new menu/search is much slicker, but I'd like to hear about a direct comparison too.

I completely agree...and the Premiere's implentation may be far better. I was just thinking from a functionality standpoint you could see how much it appeals to you. But a better integration could make a huge difference in how appealing it is, as far as that goes. Since that feature is kind of buried on the S3 I thought it might be worth mentioning, anyway... :-)

I am kind of in a similar situation...my 3 year sub is up in August, so I am coming to a decision point. Do I continue on with the S3? Change to a Premiere? Give the 3-tuner Moxi boxes a hard look? Tell TWC to take a hike and go satellite? I have some time, but August will be here before you know it...I guess time will tell.

Good luck, and keep us updated on what you decide...

Randy

So lower resolutions (480 and 720) are still just upscaled to 1080i in the Premier?

If that is what you choose. The Premiere gives you a list of resolutions and you check what you want for the box to output. You check everything to give you native output, you would just check 1080i to have everything scaled to 1080i.

I am kind of in a similar situation...my 3 year sub is up in August, so I am coming to a decision point. Do I continue on with the S3? Change to a Premiere? Give the 3-tuner Moxi boxes a hard look? Tell TWC to take a hike and go satellite? I have some time, but August will be here before you know it...I guess time will tell.One thing you might want to do is send an e-mail to tivo-support@tivo.com and ask for the $99 Product Lifetime Service deal (see this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=442625) thread at TCF). It's a deal offered to people who bought 3 year prepaid plans when TiVo wasn't offering PLS; supposedly the deal ended at the end of April, but one guy who asked for it last week got it. It only costs you the time to send an e-mail (don't waste your time calling customer service--you won't get it that way). No matter what you decide to do, adding PLS to your unit will increase its resale value by a lot more than $99--people have gotten nearly $500 for units with PLS on eBay over the past week. With TiVo's upgrade program, you can get a Premiere with PLS for that :).

The deal has been unevenly applied. You were supposed to get an e-mail offer for it and not every eligible person did--I heard about it first in that thread at TCF and didn't receive an e-mail until the month after my 3 year prepaid plan died, so I ended up making one month-to-month payment. At first they were only giving it to people who bought their units within a narrow range of months which didn't include all of the time in which PLS wasn't available. PLS was taken off the table in April 2006 (http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2006-03/tivos-new-pricing-explained/), before Series3 shipped in the late Fall of that year and came back permanently in May of 2008 (http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2008-05/tivo-resurrects-lifetime-service/); before 05/15/08 there were some temporary promotions in which you could get PLS on a new unit, but you couldn't just buy the plan for any arbitrary box). A couple of people with the 3-year committed $6.95/month plan were given it, though the vast majority of those reporting at TCF about such attempts were denied (the couple of people who got it were very lucky, since they paid some $48 less over 3 years than those who bought the 3 year prepaid plan).

Again, it doesn't hurt to ask. Be very polite in the letter, explain that PLS wasn't available when you bought your 3 year prepaid plan in 08/07 and mention the unit's service number. You should get a call from TiVo fairly quickly--some people claim to have gotten the call within a few hours.

Thanks for the info...I might give that a try. My situtation is a little bit, er, cloudy. I bought my S3 off a guy on eBay, new with 3 years service. After the money and hardware changed hands, things started to feel a little 'odd.' And some people apparently had some problems with the seller after my deal was done...luckily, I didn't. He convinced Tivo to change to the account into my name, but when I go into my account and try to get to the billing history, I get this message: "Sorry, you are not the billing contact for this DVR, so you cannot view billing history for this DVR." When I try to get into the future billing options, though, it does let me go there. In retrospect, I certainly wouldn't have gotten into this position, but I didn't know anything was potentially wrong at the time.

Anyway, thanks again for the suggestion...I'll mull over whether or not I should take a shot at getting the PLS...

Randy

Remember, it's the difference between being able to sell your unit for $500 or $100.

If that is what you choose. The Premiere gives you a list of resolutions and you check what you want for the box to output. You check everything to give you native output, you would just check 1080i to have everything scaled to 1080i.
Sorry I wasn't clear with my question. I know it offers an array of selectable output options like the S3, but TiVo's features list for the Premiers includes "Full 1080p support" and the specs list its output resolutions as "480i, 480p, 720, 1080i, 1080p."

So I was looking for clarification of your previous comment that 1080p/24 is only pass-through and (more importantly) that it will not upscale a lower resolution to 1080p. Forgetting 1080p/24 for a minute (as that would mean inverse telecine and I never assumed it might have that capability), are you saying that the Premier's highest upscaling capability for lower-res input signals (480i, 720p) is 1080i, just like the S3?

Sorry I wasn't clear with my question. I know it offers an array of selectable output options like the S3, but TiVo's features list for the Premiers includes "Full 1080p support" and the specs list its output resolutions as "480i, 480p, 720, 1080i, 1080p."

So I was looking for clarification of your previous comment that 1080p/24 is only pass-through and (more importantly) that it will not upscale a lower resolution to 1080p. Forgetting 1080p/24 for a minute (as that would mean inverse telecine and I never assumed it might have that capability), are you saying that the Premier's highest upscaling capability for lower-res input signals (480i, 720p) is 1080i, just like the S3?

It will not upscale to any resolution above 1080i. Its just like the S3 in that department.

It will not upscale to any resolution above 1080i. Its just like the S3 in that department.
Wow, I think that makes their product description and specs downright deceptive, then. :mad: Nowhere did I see an asterisk or caveat that qualifies their claim of "full 1080p support," or clarification of the the limited nature of the "1080p output resolution" listed right next to all the other output options.

That's very disappointing, and it makes me look at all TiVo's claims and descriptions about the Premiers with a more skeptical eye.

Okay, I just used the TiVo website's "Chat" feature to try and get clarification from them. Somebody PLEASE tell me that this rep (I removed her name) was just woefully unknowledgeable about the product:

https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo REP: What questions can I answer for you about the Premiere?
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo Customer : The features describe it as having "Full 1080p support" and the specs list 1080p as one of the output resolutions. But others have told me that it doesn't upscale to 1080p (still goes up to 1080i, just like the S3 boxes). Can you clarify?
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo REP: It does not upconvert anything; it will display in the resolution the program you are watching is broadcast in.
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo Customer : So you're saying it has NO upscaling capability at all?
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo REP: No, it does not upscale anything.
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo Customer : Hmm, that's a rather bizarre downgrade from the S3 and all other DVRs I'm familiar with. Makes the box pretty limited, but you've answered my question. Thank you.
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo REP: Thank you for contacting TiVo, is there anything else that I can help you with today?
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo Customer : No thanks.



:eek::eek: This is wrong....right?

Okay, I just used the TiVo website's "Chat" feature to try and get clarification from them. Somebody PLEASE tell me that this rep (I removed her name) was just woefully unknowledgeable about the product:

https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo REP: What questions can I answer for you about the Premiere?
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo Customer : The features describe it as having "Full 1080p support" and the specs list 1080p as one of the output resolutions. But others have told me that it doesn't upscale to 1080p (still goes up to 1080i, just like the S3 boxes). Can you clarify?
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo REP: It does not upconvert anything; it will display in the resolution the program you are watching is broadcast in.
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo Customer : So you're saying it has NO upscaling capability at all?
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo REP: No, it does not upscale anything.
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo Customer : Hmm, that's a rather bizarre downgrade from the S3 and all other DVRs I'm familiar with. Makes the box pretty limited, but you've answered my question. Thank you.
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo REP: Thank you for contacting TiVo, is there anything else that I can help you with today?
https://tivointernal.custhelp.com/rnt/rnl/img/Message.gif?p_db_name=tivo Customer : No thanks.



:eek::eek: This is wrong....right?

OK, it won't upscale anything to 1080p. This is true. However if you're watching something broadcast on 720p and you have your TiVo set to 1080i it will change that format. That's not an "upscale" IMHO since I find 720p format better then 1080i. Nothing has changed there. There is no way it can take 1080i or 720p however and make it 1080p.

I think that's what's your asking. 1080p is only for something you would get from netflix perhaps that was 1080p. That it will bring you in full 1080p.

It's kind of like the way your television works. If you have a 1080p capable television it's not going to upscale anything to 1080p but it will show you the format that's being broadcast. If you use a bluray disk in a bluray dvr you will get 1080p. If it's passing through TiVo it would also be in 1080p.

OK, it won't upscale anything to 1080p. This is true. However if you're watching something broadcast on 720p and you have your TiVo set to 1080i it will change that format. That's not an "upscale" IMHO since I find 720p format better then 1080i. Nothing has changed there. There is no way it can take 1080i or 720p however and make it 1080p.

I think that's what's your asking. 1080p is only for something you would get from netflix perhaps that was 1080p. That it will bring you in full 1080p.

It's kind of like the way your television works. If you have a 1080p capable television it's not going to upscale anything to 1080p but it will show you the format that's being broadcast. If you use a bluray disk in a bluray dvr you will get 1080p. If it's passing through TiVo it would also be in 1080p.
Thanks for the response. I was indeed asking specifically about its maximum upscaling resolution, and it sounds like that's 1080i. Too bad TiVo doesn't make sure their CR people at least know the basics about the products. :rolleyes:

(But that's not like TVs, though. ;) Virtually all TVs are now fixed-pixel displays and can only display everything at their native resolution. Most of them, like mine, are native 1080p, so any signal not incoming at that resolution is processed to 1080p. There's no other option.)

To be fair, upconverting doesn't qualify as "basics" about the product, afaic. If you call that "basics" wtf do you call the stuff that you can figure out without reading the manual or specifications? I would use the word "basics" to refer to the stuff that folks like you and I just know. Let's use another word, something implying a higher level of knowledge, to indicate the things we don't just know.

To be fair, upconverting doesn't qualify as "basics" about the product, afaic. If you call that "basics" wtf do you call the stuff that you can figure out without reading the manual or specifications? I would use the word "basics" to refer to the stuff that folks like you and I just know. Let's use another word, something implying a higher level of knowledge, to indicate the things we don't just know.
Yeah, maybe just a different perception of "basics.". The resolutions a DVR (or any video component) does seems as basic to me, as say, what kinds of services you can use it with ( I would assume she knows that you can't use it with satellite or U-Verse), or what kind of cable cards it uses. But okay, maybe that's just me.

Wasn't there a survey done recently that showed most people with HDTVs weren't even watching HD, and didn't even realize it?

Yeah, that stuff is not "basic".

OK, it won't upscale anything to 1080p. This is true. However if you're watching something broadcast on 720p and you have your TiVo set to 1080i it will change that format. That's not an "upscale" IMHO since I find 720p format better then 1080i. Nothing has changed there. There is no way it can take 1080i or 720p however and make it 1080p.

I think that's what's your asking. 1080p is only for something you would get from netflix perhaps that was 1080p. That it will bring you in full 1080p.

It's kind of like the way your television works. If you have a 1080p capable television it's not going to upscale anything to 1080p but it will show you the format that's being broadcast. If you use a bluray disk in a bluray dvr you will get 1080p. If it's passing through TiVo it would also be in 1080p.

netflix only has 720P content.

Amazon VOD has 1080P24 content.

And with a 1080P TV, it will upscale everything to it's native resolution since it's screen typically can only show one resolution. So a 1080P set scales everything to 1080P , while a 720P set will scale everything to 720P.

I've been using 1080P Tvs since 2005. and every set has always scaled everything to 1080P for viewing since that was it's native resolution

Currently I input every Video device into an external scaler. and that external scaler scales everything to 1080P60 for me which then goes to my Tv so I don't need to use the Tvs scaler. The DVDO DUO is a much, much better scaler/deinterlacer.

Wasn't there a survey done recently that showed most people with HDTVs weren't even watching HD, and didn't even realize it?

Yeah, that stuff is not "basic".
LOL.....you make good points. :)

The CR, however, works for the company...she IS paid to answer questions about their products. :eek: Maybe a one-hour training seminar that goes beyond the basics of "what's HD?" might be a reasonable expectation. ;) Seriously..... "It does not upscale anything" is pretty bad misinformation to be circulating about the fancy new DVR they're trying to sell.

The CR, however, works for the company...she IS paid to answer questions about their products. :eek: Yup but CSRs in that industry are paid pretty poorly - I surely wouldn't aim for a job that pays that little! For what they're paid, it is not reasonable to expect them to be as well-trained as you're hoping. :(

Folks with that level of knowledge generally end up as second-tier support, I bet.

Remember, it's the difference between being able to sell your unit for $500 or $100.

I gave it a shot...no joy. I am welcome to purchase PLS @ $399 when my sub is up, though...so I've got *that* going for me. :) I went through the support site at tivo.com....hopefully that didn't have any bearing on the outcome.

Thanks for the suggestion...it was certainly worth trying...

Randy

As far as the resolution capabilities or feature upgrades relating to resolution, Premiere vs S3, the only benefit for upgrading to the Premiere would be if you intend to stream 1080p content to your Tivo DVR, correct?

And those options are still very limited right now. Essentially, Amazon VOD or if you've ripped blu rays to a server and you want to play them through your Tivo at 1080p native?

I gave it a shot...no joy. I am welcome to purchase PLS @ $399 when my sub is up, though...so I've got *that* going for me. :) I went through the support site at tivo.com....hopefully that didn't have any bearing on the outcome.AFAIK, the only way that anyone gets that offer at this point is to e-mail tivo-support@tivo.com, specifically. Don't call their phone support people or use their website. (Calling phone support worked for a brief period--I got mine that way, but they were just late sending me the e-mail offer. Within a month or so they stopped even trying to offer the $99 upgrade to such callers). In your e-mail, politely explain that like everyone else who got the $99 PLS upgrade offer, you activated your TiVo with a 3-year prepaid plan purchased while PLS was not on offer and would have bought PLS had it been available.

If you did all that, you might try again. People have tried 3 to 5 times before getting it. The last person to report being given the deal at TCF did so in this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7954544#post7954544) post, on the 24th.

As far as the resolution capabilities or feature upgrades relating to resolution, Premiere vs S3, the only benefit for upgrading to the Premiere would be if you intend to stream 1080p content to your Tivo DVR, correct?

And those options are still very limited right now. Essentially, Amazon VOD or if you've ripped blu rays to a server and you want to play them through your Tivo at 1080p native?
Seems pretty lame, doesn't it? :(

Seems pretty lame, doesn't it? :(

My Premieres were certainly worth the upgrade. 90mbs transfer rates are very fast compared to the S3 models. Even if you just use the SD menus, it is much faster than the S3 boxes. I've had no issues with my Premieres, and with the TiVo generous upgrade offer it only made sense for me to upgrade. For just a few dollars, (after selling my S3 units and several hundred Fatwallet cash back for the Premieres) It was well worth it to upgrade and get all new boxes with a 3 year warranty.

Even if I was was a new customer I would still choose the Premiere. It's much better than the S3 and also has much, much more potential for the future than the S3.

AFAIK, the only way that anyone gets that offer at this point is to e-mail tivo-support@tivo.com, specifically. Don't call their phone support people or use their website. (Calling phone support worked for a brief period--I got mine that way, but they were just late sending me the e-mail offer. Within a month or so they stopped even trying to offer the $99 upgrade to such callers). In your e-mail, politely explain that like everyone else who got the $99 PLS upgrade offer, you activated your TiVo with a 3-year prepaid plan purchased while PLS was not on offer and would have bought PLS had it been available.

If you did all that, you might try again. People have tried 3 to 5 times before getting it. The last person to report being given the deal at TCF did so in this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7954544#post7954544) post, on the 24th.

I actually called last week and was able to get the $99 upgrade. My 3 year sub was due to expire in a couple of weeks. I explaned that I wanted to buy PLS 3 years ago when I bought the S3 but it wasn't offered so I got the highest available 3 year plan. He said the $99 option wasn't listed on his screen and he put me on hold to go check with someone else. After a few minutes he came back and said he can give me the $99 option so I said definitely!

My Premieres were certainly worth the upgrade. 90mbs transfer rates are very fast compared to the S3 models. Even if you just use the SD menus, it is much faster than the S3 boxes. I've had no issues with my Premieres, and with the TiVo generous upgrade offer it only made sense for me to upgrade. For just a few dollars, (after selling my S3 units and several hundred Fatwallet cash back for the Premieres) It was well worth it to upgrade and get all new boxes with a 3 year warranty.

Even if I was was a new customer I would still choose the Premiere. It's much better than the S3 and also has much, much more potential for the future than the S3.
Thanks for the feedback, Aaron. When you say the Premier is "much better" than the S3, I guess I'm not quite seeing the specific areas (aside from the user interface) you mean, but the fact that you have such an overall positive impression is significant in itself. I may just upgrade one box and use the 30-day return period to decide whether it's the right move for me.

Thanks for all the comments. Feedback from other S3 owners is especially useful and I appreciate all who took the time to respond.



PS: My "lame" comment about the upscaling limitations, BTW, just arose from the fact that even mid-level DVD players and low-end BD players (which I group with DVRs as "video components") have very decent upscaling to 1080p these days. Wasn't referring to the player overall. :) It seems like better video processing is an area where aftermarket DVR/tuners could really distinguish themselves from the service providers' boxes and justify their cost. I guess I had hoped that the new TiVo generation would include a model geared a little more toward the sophisticated HTs that a lot more people have these days. A video processing upgrade and additional control options would have been really nice, but hey...can't have everything. ;)

I actually called last week and was able to get the $99 upgrade. My 3 year sub was due to expire in a couple of weeks. I explaned that I wanted to buy PLS 3 years ago when I bought the S3 but it wasn't offered so I got the highest available 3 year plan. He said the $99 option wasn't listed on his screen and he put me on hold to go check with someone else. After a few minutes he came back and said he can give me the $99 option so I said definitely!You were lucky. Most of their CSRs, if they don't see the option, will be very polite and offer you the $300 PLS deal. At first, most people calling about the $99 PLS (like me) got helped, but after a short time nobody was getting it that way. Then someone discovered the e-mail thing. You e-mail that address and apparently get a very rapid call back (many report that it came within a few hours). The people who make that call know all about the deal and are willing to discuss whether you qualify or not.

AFAIK, the only way that anyone gets that offer at this point is to e-mail tivo-support@tivo.com, specifically. Don't call their phone support people or use their website. (Calling phone support worked for a brief period--I got mine that way, but they were just late sending me the e-mail offer. Within a month or so they stopped even trying to offer the $99 upgrade to such callers). In your e-mail, politely explain that like everyone else who got the $99 PLS upgrade offer, you activated your TiVo with a 3-year prepaid plan purchased while PLS was not on offer and would have bought PLS had it been available.

If you did all that, you might try again. People have tried 3 to 5 times before getting it. The last person to report being given the deal at TCF did so in this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7954544#post7954544) post, on the 24th.

I just did this. It's not really a secret thing as the CSR I spoke with told me flat out that this was an offer they were extending to all S3 owners who wanted to buy a PLS 3+ years ago when they were not available. I was charged $99. plus tax and now have a PLS on my S3. No questions asked. Very happy with this!

I just did this. It's not really a secret thing as the CSR I spoke with told me flat out that this was an offer they were extending to all S3 owners who wanted to buy a PLS 3+ years ago when they were not available. I was charged $99. plus tax and now have a PLS on my S3. No questions asked. Very happy with this!

Hmmmm....guess I'll try calling. I was going to offer to upgrade to a Premiere if they'd let me go lifetime for $99.....but that is a different box, so I guess that wouldn't have flown, anyway...

Randy

I actually called last week and was able to get the $99 upgrade. My 3 year sub was due to expire in a couple of weeks. I explaned that I wanted to buy PLS 3 years ago when I bought the S3 but it wasn't offered so I got the highest available 3 year plan. He said the $99 option wasn't listed on his screen and he put me on hold to go check with someone else. After a few minutes he came back and said he can give me the $99 option so I said definitely!

Update: I received an email from Tivo yesterday offering the $99 PLS upgrade for my subscription that is due to expire in 3 days. So it looks like at some point they started offering this out again to customers that did the 3 year pre-paid plans while the PLS was not offered.

some good info here. i'm interested in this tivo but not sure if im going to go through with it and get it yet.

Has anyone switched cable providers with their Tivo? I recently switch cable providers from Comcast to Verizon and wanted to know how it would affect my Season Passes.

After I ran guided setup for Verizon I checked the guide and it had a day or two of program data. I then checked my to do list. All of the shows were still scheduled to record on the old Comcast channels. I then went to the season pass manager and viewed upcoming episodes. These were listed on the correct new Verizon channels, and the new episodes had the Tivo double check mark like it normally does when it is going to record. I double checked the to do list and they were still on the Comcast channels.

So do I have to go through and recreate my Season Passes on the new channels, or if I give the Tivo time to download more guide data and reindex or whatever will it do it for me?

Update: Just like bicker1 said, all the season passes automatically switched to the new channels.

Has anyone switched cable providers with their Tivo? I recently switch cable providers from Comcast to Verizon and wanted to know how it would affect my Season Passes. They switched over to the FiOS channels. I didn't have to do anything manually.

AFAIK, the only way that anyone gets that offer at this point is to e-mail tivo-support@tivo.com, specifically. Don't call their phone support people or use their website. (Calling phone support worked for a brief period--I got mine that way, but they were just late sending me the e-mail offer. Within a month or so they stopped even trying to offer the $99 upgrade to such callers). In your e-mail, politely explain that like everyone else who got the $99 PLS upgrade offer, you activated your TiVo with a 3-year prepaid plan purchased while PLS was not on offer and would have bought PLS had it been available.

If you did all that, you might try again. People have tried 3 to 5 times before getting it. The last person to report being given the deal at TCF did so in this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7954544#post7954544) post, on the 24th.

Thanks Michael .... I just sent the email to tivo-support@tivo.com and got a call back within an hour, and got the deal, no problem.

Thanks Michael .... I just sent the email to tivo-support@tivo.com and got a call back within an hour, and got the deal, no problem.

Just gave it another shot....fingers are crossed... :)

Randy

Just gave it another shot....fingers are crossed... :)

Randy

Score! Got it this time with no issues whatsoever...thanks for encouraging me to keep trying, michaeltscott!

Randy

I was able to score the $99 lifetime deal by e-mailing Tivo Support. I had already paid $99 in October for a 1 year deal after my 3 year plan expired. Since I already paid, TIVO is going to charge me $99, then immediately credit me $99 to get the lifetime subscription on my account. Thanks to all for posting details on this offer.

I was able to score the $99 lifetime deal by e-mailing Tivo Support. I had already paid $99 in October for a 1 year deal after my 3 year plan expired. Since I already paid, TIVO is going to charge me $99, then immediately credit me $99 to get the lifetime subscription on my account. Thanks to all for posting details on this offer.

My subscription is up September 28, but I was able to get lifetime for 99.00 by emailing them. I didn't try to back date it that far, I feel I got a great deal for renewing at lifetime with less then 1 year of service on this particular TiVo (HD TiVo). I've had this one since November, it replaced my S3.

My subscription is up September 28, but I was able to get lifetime for 99.00 by emailing them. I didn't try to back date it that far, I feel I got a great deal for renewing at lifetime with less then 1 year of service on this particular TiVo (HD TiVo). I've had this one since November, it replaced my S3.

Hey Hook...

I am still trying to understand this deal...

Did you have to purchase a 3-year paid in advance plan to get the $99 lifetime offer? Or can you email if you are month to month and get this deal?

I have been paying month to month since I got my S2 about 4-5 years ago, and we added the S3 the day it launched. When the S2 died, we called to cancel the service on it and they offered a refurb Tivo HD for $149 or $199 (I can't remember). I am considering adding a Premier, but am on the fence.

Thanks,
Jeff

EDIT: Holy sheet - I totally forgot I actually started this thread!

Hey Hook...

I am still trying to understand this deal...

Did you have to purchase a 3-year paid in advance plan to get the $99 lifetime offer? Or can you email if you are month to month and get this deal?

I have been paying month to month since I got my S2 about 4-5 years ago, and we added the S3 the day it launched. When the S2 died, we called to cancel the service on it and they offered a refurb Tivo HD for $149 or $199 (I can't remember). I am considering adding a Premier, but am on the fence.

Thanks,
Jeff

I was year to year. I paid 99.00 last year for the 1 year subscription on my S3 which died (well, maybe not…) and was replaced in November by a HD TiVo.

Now I didn't fully understand how the deal worked either, but I figured it was worth a try to get lifetime for the same price as a year, which was due on 9/28.

It worked. I'm happy.

Don't know if you can pull it off month to month but why not try? All they can do is say no.

I was year to year. I paid 99.00 last year for the 1 year subscription on my S3 which died (well, maybe not…) and was replaced in November by a HD TiVo.

Now I didn't fully understand how the deal worked either, but I figured it was worth a try to get lifetime for the same price as a year, which was due on 9/28.

It worked. I'm happy.

Don't know if you can pull it off month to month but why not try? All they can do is say no.

I suppose it is worth a shot, but I am hesitant to do it on either of my current Tivos. The S3 is getting a bit long in the tooth, and the HD just doesn't have much storage. If I did it, I might just wait until I got the Premier (still an a big "if" there, though).

I went back and looked to see when I actually got that S2 - it was May 2002. Longer than I thought. Maybe I get credit for being a loyal customer? :rolleyes:

Recieved my new slide remote yesterday and connected to my S3 :). This is a great upgrade to the TiVo S3 or TiVo HD. Since the slide remote is backward compatible, I'm wondering what I would gain if I upgraded to TiVo Premiere?

I am still waiting for a tuning adapter for my Tivo Series 3 in response to Time Warner Cable's move to SDV. Some channels are disappearing and it is getting really annoying to go through the dvr list and find out that the program recorded a blank screen for an hour.

Has anyone ordered this "Free" adapter from the following site and actually received one?

http://www.timewarnercable.com/dallas/learn/cable/sdv/

Just checking, thanks.

I am still waiting for a tuning adapter for my Tivo Series 3 in response to Time Warner Cable's move to SDV. Some channels are disappearing and it is getting really annoying to go through the dvr list and find out that the program recorded a blank screen for an hour.

Has anyone ordered this "Free" adapter from the following site and actually received one?

http://www.timewarnercable.com/dallas/learn/cable/sdv/

Just checking, thanks.

866.532.2598. This is the number for the cable card hotline. See if they can help you.

I am still waiting for a tuning adapter for my Tivo Series 3 in response to Time Warner Cable's move to SDV. Some channels are disappearing and it is getting really annoying to go through the dvr list and find out that the program recorded a blank screen for an hour.

Has anyone ordered this "Free" adapter from the following site and actually received one?

http://www.timewarnercable.com/dallas/learn/cable/sdv/

Just checking, thanks.Last time I needed a tuning adapter, I just walked into one of their offices and asked. Call your customer support.

866.532.2598. This is the number for the cable card hotline. See if they can help you.
I haven't needed a tuning adapter for my Comcast subscription (yet). Should that change, do you know if the Premiere negates the need for the adapter?

I haven't needed a tuning adapter for my Comcast subscription (yet). Should that change, do you know if the Premiere negates the need for the adapter?

My understanding is "no" - I don't think the Premiere has this function built in (but I could certainly be wrong).

I haven't needed a tuning adapter for my Comcast subscription (yet). Should that change, do you know if the Premiere negates the need for the adapter?Since there are multiple proprietary protocols for SDV, it's not possible to build the function in. There was the dream of the tru2way TiVo, which could have had the function downloaded into it by the cable system, but that's gone now.

Thanks, hook. I left a message and we'll see what happens. I might get over to a service center, too. MTS, I wouldn't know what one looked like if someone left it on my desk, but hopefully the staff is more knowledgeable. ;-)


I saw that Pandora was added and it reminded me of the channel problems. It seems to have lost my server connection as well.

The new remote looks neat with that keyboard - it is such a pain to type with the old remote. With so many devices performing the same functions, the TiVo was hanging on in our house by recording programs. Hopefully the tuner fix will be easy to acquire.

My TiVo HD has one USB consumed by tuning adapter, and one by Wi-Fi adapter.

This leaves none for slide remote USB RF adapter. Is there a way around this?

Sorry if this has already been covered; I've been out of the loop for awhile.

My TiVo HD has one USB consumed by tuning adapter, and one by Wi-Fi adapter.

This leaves none for slide remote USB RF adapter. Is there a way around this?

Sorry if this has already been covered; I've been out of the loop for awhile.

Use a USB hub. That will do the trick.

My TiVo HD has one USB consumed by tuning adapter, and one by Wi-Fi adapter.

This leaves none for slide remote USB RF adapter. Is there a way around this?

Sorry if this has already been covered; I've been out of the loop for awhile.
You could also replace the wi-fi adapter with a wireless bridge. That would free up a USB port, and it offers the added benefit of wired network connections for other components, if you happen to have a need for that.

I've had an S3 for several years using it primarily for OTAHD. I recently switched from DSL to cable for faster internet. I get "Limited" TV service with my internet service. My Tivo found about 400 new channels but I can only see a few of them, mostly local HD. I'm guessing I need CableCard to see the others. I am not getting an guide data either. It says "to be announced" on all the cable channels. Do I need CableCard to get the guide data as well, even on clear QAM channels?

I've had an S3 for several years using it primarily for OTAHD. I recently switched from DSL to cable for faster internet. I get "Limited" TV service with my internet service. My Tivo found about 400 new channels but I can only see a few of them, mostly local HD. I'm guessing I need CableCard to see the others. I am not getting an guide data either. It says "to be announced" on all the cable channels. Do I need CableCard to get the guide data as well, even on clear QAM channels?

Yes, you would need cable cards to get guide data. That's the way the S3 communicates with the cable company. Since it's an S3 you would also need to make sure that you get two cards. S3 cannot do multi tuners on a single card like the HD TiVo or the Premier.

If your cable company uses SDV you will also need a tuner adapter. That is free from the cable company.

Yes, you would need cable cards to get guide data. That's the way the S3 communicates with the cable company. Since it's an S3 you would also need to make sure that you get two cards. S3 cannot do multi tuners on a single card like the HD TiVo or the Premier.

If your cable company uses SDV you will also need a tuner adapter. That is free from the cable company.
I always thought the guide data is accessed online, and that's the primary reason your TiVo needs an ongoing internet connection. No?

@ Ron: Yeah, you would definitely need a CableCard to see more of those channels. Once you get it all set up, it's pretty slick. But it's criminal what cable companies charge for even the most basic cable line-up these days. :mad:

I always thought the guide data is accessed online, and that's the primary reason your TiVo needs an ongoing internet connection. No?


It's been several years since I started service. I know you need to run a guided channel set up to access the guide data provided by Tribune Media. I can't actually recall if that brought up all channels right away before cable card installation, but I do remember that the HD channels I could access were only the local channels. I could not access any of the digital channels with the exception of the music channels. I recall that quite clearly.

I know that the guide didn't appear with the normal listings. But that's all I remember.

So give it a guided channel set up and see what it gives you.

Guide data is provided to the TiVo via the network connection. TiVo downloads a database which has all the program information as well as what 'channel name' the programs appear on. The cablecard provides the resolution between the 'channel name' from the guide data and the actual frequency that corresponds to that channel name that TiVo needs to tune to and a channel map that tells it what channel names are available which TiVo uses to display available program information.

I always thought the guide data is accessed online, and that's the primary reason your TiVo needs an ongoing internet connection. No?You don't need an internet connection (unless you want services like Netflix and Blockbuster)--you can plug in a phone line for guide and firmware updates. Your box connects to TiVo's server either by internet or phone and it pushes guide and firmware updates to you terminating the connection when done.

You don't need an internet connection (unless you want services like Netflix and Blockbuster)--you can plug in a phone line for guide and firmware updates. Your box connects to TiVo's server either by internet or phone and it pushes guide and firmware updates to you terminating the connection when done.
Good clarification. I haven't used a phone connection since my old Series 2, so I completely forgot that that's an option. Thanks. :)

You don't need an internet connection (unless you want services like Netflix and Blockbuster)--you can plug in a phone line for guide and firmware updates. Your box connects to TiVo's server either by internet or phone and it pushes guide and firmware updates to you terminating the connection when done.

true but who really wouldn't use a network if they had the choice.

true but who really wouldn't use a network if they had the choice.Yeah--I suspect that pretty much everyone uses a network connection now.

I have looked for a section on HD upgrade on my model but can't locate it.1.-- My question is should I use an IDE drive or get an adapter and use a sata drive? 2.--I have a 500gig usb external drive already can I use it or is that not recomended? 3.--If you suggest an internal 1TB ide or sata drive are there certain make and model drives I should use. 4.--If there is an up to date section in this forum which covers these questions please direct me to that section. Thanks fiero1988gt I forgot to mention I have lifetime sub and don't want to loose that.

I have looked for a section on HD upgrade on my model but can't locate it.1.-- My question is should I use an IDE drive or get an adapter and use a sata drive? 2.--I have a 500gig usb external drive already can I use it or is that not recomended? 3.--If you suggest an internal 1TB ide or sata drive are there certain make and model drives I should use. 4.--If there is an up to date section in this forum which covers these questions please direct me to that section. Thanks fiero1988gt I forgot to mention I have lifetime sub and don't want to loose that.

If you can put a 1 or 2 tb hard drive internally that's your best bet. Reasson for that is you have a fan inside your TiVo cooling the hard drive. The other reason is that this DVR will no longer hook up with any eSATA. It has to be the one approved by TiVo (I forgot the name). Putting in a new hard drive will not change your lifetime subscription.

See the "Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784)" thread in TiVo Community Forum.

I have looked for a section on HD upgrade on my model but can't locate it.1.-- My question is should I use an IDE drive or get an adapter and use a sata drive? 2.--I have a 500gig usb external drive already can I use it or is that not recomended? 3.--If you suggest an internal 1TB ide or sata drive are there certain make and model drives I should use. 4.--If there is an up to date section in this forum which covers these questions please direct me to that section. Thanks fiero1988gt I forgot to mention I have lifetime sub and don't want to loose that.

THD (TiVo HD) uses a SATA drive... not Parallel ATA.

I suggest you check out the TiVo Community Forum...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=51

You will see a 'sticky' for TiVo S3/THD upgrades on the first page of the page I referred you to.

Thanks for the speedy reply. I take it that Tivo can tell what drive you use and it has to be a certain make and model. Would Tivo tell me the make and model so I will be buying the proper one? Also does this site have a sticky or section how to properly make this change?

I just got notified by Time Warner that SDV is coming my way.

What should I expect after I connect the tuning adapter -

- is it slower changing channels?
- any problems setting the Tivo to record on multiple SDV channels at once?

thanks,

FCD

Thanks for the speedy reply. I take it that Tivo can tell what drive you use and it has to be a certain make and model. Would Tivo tell me the make and model so I will be buying the proper one? Also does this site have a sticky or section how to properly make this change?
No, they don't recommend internal drive replacements, AFAIK. (They don't even sanction them, but lots of us do it anyway.) The link provided below will give you everything you need....drive recommendations, instructions, everything. It is best to use one of those recommended drives, because many drives meant for desktop computers might be too noisy for your HT, and may not be designed for the constant use they would get in your TiVo.

I just got notified by Time Warner that SDV is coming my way.

What should I expect after I connect the tuning adapter -

- is it slower changing channels?
- any problems setting the Tivo to record on multiple SDV channels at once?

thanks,

FCD

Im tempted to answer your question humorously by saying what Clubber Lang told the reporter when he was asked what Rocky could expect in the fight....

Pain..........

However, my experience with 4 Tivo's with TA's has been fine... couple issues once in a while but nothing earth shattering. Others havent been so lucky.

I just got notified by Time Warner that SDV is coming my way.

What should I expect after I connect the tuning adapter -

- is it slower changing channels?
- any problems setting the Tivo to record on multiple SDV channels at once?

thanks,

FCD


It kind of depends on what area you live in. For me up until 2 months ago it was a nightmare of constant calls to customer service and to Cable Card Services for about 1 year. Finally they put a patch in to solve the issue.

Everything else is the same. No problems recording multiple SDV channels.

Good luck!

Thanks for the speedy reply. I take it that Tivo can tell what drive you use and it has to be a certain make and model. Would Tivo tell me the make and model so I will be buying the proper one? Also does this site have a sticky or section how to properly make this change?As I said above, see the "Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784)" thread in TiVo Community Forum. It will have answers for all of your questions and a plethora of information based on the long collective experience.

Not sure if this was mentioned here, but a "Season Pass Manager" showed up on Tivo.com beta. From the description it allows copying between boxes. About time :)

Way overdue if it does allow you to save/restore SPs and WLs, hope it comes to tivo.com soon. Great news though.

I'm not following. Does this mean that you could use a season pass from one box and have it record on another? Because we already have a season pass manager.

Could someone explain it to me?

I'm not following. Does this mean that you could use a season pass from one box and have it record on another? Because we already have a season pass manager.

Could someone explain it to me?
I don't understand either.....:confused: (And what's a "WL"?)

I don't understand either.....:confused: (And what's a "WL"?)

Wish List. That I understood.

Ah....thanks. :)

It kind of depends on what area you live in. For me up until 2 months ago it was a nightmare of constant calls to customer service and to Cable Card Services for about 1 year. Finally they put a patch in to solve the issue.

Everything else is the same. No problems recording multiple SDV channels.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info.

Here's hoping it's a painless, Clubber Lang-free transition.

FCD

Thanks for the info.

Here's hoping it's a painless, Clubber Lang-free transition.

FCD

Here is the Clubber quote...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1TxiVhrkZA

:)

I'm not following. Does this mean that you could use a season pass from one box and have it record on another? Because we already have a season pass manager.

Could someone explain it to me?
My guess (and hope) is that it would allow you to copy SPs/WLs between boxes, or restore them if you had to replace the box or drive. This feature has been asked for many times over at TCF. I only have 50 SPs/WLs on my main box but it would be a pain to recreate all of them, and some I couldn't because the shows aren't running now.

xcrunner, please explain what it can do and how you are able to access the tivo.com beta site.

Looks like the Tivo Season Pass Manager will be available today.

http://www.tivo.com/spm

Review by Dave Zatz:

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-10/tivo-releases-online-season-pass-manager/

Great addition, thanks Tivo!! Now if we can just get co-op scheduling added to it...

Looks like the Tivo Season Pass Manager will be available today.

http://www.tivo.com/spm

Review by Dave Zatz:

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2010-10/tivo-releases-online-season-pass-manager/

Great addition, thanks Tivo!! Now if we can just get co-op scheduling added to it...

Thanks for the heads up slowbiscuit.

It's now available,
but I'm wary of changing my privacy settings.

FCD

Whoa, I had no idea I had so many canceled shows still in there. :p

47 of them between 2 machines! That's only 3 less than what the DIRECTV DVR can even handle in total. :D

Huh. Kind of cool (my privacy settings were already good, necessary for some old feature or the other--probably ordering things from Amazon VOD, which pushes files to the TiVo). I used it to quickly weed out about 10 "orphaned" season passes, much less painfully than doing it in the TiVo GUI.

If only it allowed saving the season pass list for when you transfer service to a new box (which I've done when my screwed-up unit was replaced with a factory refurb).

Anybody else try the new Pandora app? Not bad (though as bland as most TiVo GUIs) and it sounds amazing. I'd tried it on the PC quite a while back and forgotten about it, but I might use this.

Anybody else try the new Pandora app? Not bad (though as bland as most TiVo GUIs) and it sounds amazing. I'd tried it on the PC quite a while back and forgotten about it, but I might use this.

I haven't. Odd that only one of my TiVo's have received the email. I'll play with it when I get a chance.

Anybody else try the new Pandora app? Not bad (though as bland as most TiVo GUIs) and it sounds amazing. I'd tried it on the PC quite a while back and forgotten about it, but I might use this.
I have, sounds good. I'll definitely use it in my theater room since it's connected to my nice speaker setup.

Anybody else try the new Pandora app? Not bad (though as bland as most TiVo GUIs) and it sounds amazing. I'd tried it on the PC quite a while back and forgotten about it, but I might use this.

I just tried it this evening. The interface actually isn't bad at all. Considering that I was using a Tivo HD (not Premiere), the interface wasn't as low-res looking as the standard Tivo interface. I already have an account, and I used that one to activate the Tivo.

What sort of bitrate does Pandora use?

What sort of bitrate does Pandora use?

I read somewhere that standard Pandora streams 64k AAC+ files, but I have no idea if that is accurate.

I am curious if those of us that subscribe to Pandora One get the higher (192k) bitrate? I kind of doubt it, but I can hope...

That said, I listened for just a short time tonight and enjoyed it, regardless.. I have been a big fan of Pandora for awhile now, and having another avenue of access is a really nice bonus use of the old S3!

Randy

I am curious if those of us that subscribe to Pandora One get the higher (192k) bitrate? I kind of doubt it, but I can hope...

Randy
Currently, the high-quality audio option (192Kbps) is only available on computers streaming Pandora....not on mobile devices or home audio gear.

Currently, the high-quality audio option (192Kbps) is only available on computers streaming Pandora....not on mobile devices or home audio gear.

That is what i figured, but I was hoping otherwise. I haven't had any complaints regarding the iPhone or Sonos feeds, as far as that goes. Anyway, thanks for the info...

Randy

Been having serious problems since I received the Pandora update about 3 days ago. First time I turned on the TV after receiving the update it asked me if I wanted to try Pandora, to which I replied no. Note that this message came up first before I even did anything on the Tivo. About 5 seconds later the TV screen goes to complete static, like back in the analog days when you tuned to a channel that didn't exist. I ended up having to reboot (i.e. power off/on) the Tivo about 3 times before I regained use.

Today I was feeling better so I decided to try running Pandora. Went in and activated my Pandora account using the Tivo supplied code. As soon as I went into the Pandora menu then and tried to use Pandora I am now back to the static filled screen.

I'm running HDMI from the Tivo Series 3 directly to my 32" LCD TV. Only other deviation from the norm is that I have an external hard drive attached to the Tivo too. Already tried one reboot to see if Pandora worked, and have the static screen. Will try again, and report back what I find out.

RT

Got it fixed. When the Tivo rebooted the second time, it was static immediately. So I unplugged the HDMI connector from the TV and plugged it back in. Picture returned immediately and was fine. Went into Pandora and it is now working.

My guess is that since the Pandora display is obviously HD, somehow switching between the normal Tivo menu display and Pandora causes the HDMI interface to hiccup and get the static. Hopefully this will either not happen again, or if it is something in the software that they get it fixed pronto in an updated release.

RT

After placing my Series 3 TiVo unit in standby before going to bed last night, I awoke this morning at 3 AM to find the unit powered on with the green light lit on the front. I thought that was odd, so I turned on the TV and saw the TiVo "Welcome" screen. After a few minutes, the screen went blank and the green light went off. The "Welcome" screen then immediately reappeared and the green light turned on. It keeps doing this every 5 minutes or so, and is never able to reach the "Almost there" screen.

After following the troubleshooting steps on TiVo's website without effect, I then tried to access the unit's kickstart mode (hold down the Pause button on the remote while plugging the AC cord in until the appropriate light(s) is lit on the front panel), but nothing happens; the green light stays lit until the unit reboots itself again automatically. I can't get the unit to enter the kickstart mode.

I've been asking myself, "What caused the TiVo to enter its boot-up sequence after previously being in standby?" Since none of the digital clocks in my house were blinking, I didn't suffer a brown- or black-out during the night. The PC was still in sleep mode, as well, and is not set to enter sleep mode on its own. So, it leads me to believe TiVo pushed a firmware update in the middle of the night, and now my unit won't boot up. And it can't be a coincidence that this occurred on the morning in which daylight savings time ends.

Is anyone else experiencing this same problem? If not, are you able to tell if your unit received a firmware update this morning? I'm thinking TiVo bricked my system, since I can't even access the kickstart mode. Any info/help would be appreciated! :)

My guess is that you got the recent 11.0j update and it installed into a bad area of your drive. The only fix I know of, if you can't get into kickstart, is to use WinMFS to copy it to a new drive (and hope it completes successfully).

My guess is that you got the recent 11.0j update and it installed into a bad area of your drive.My TiVo HD rebooted right in the middle of while I was watching something last night.

Wondered WTH was going on, but now that I know there was a recent update sent, I imagine that had something to do with it. The unit always acts a little goofy for awhile whenever it gets one.

My Series 3 seems to handle updates just fine, but my HD gets a bit wonky, requiring at least 1 power plug pull re-boot to get going again, every time it happens it makes me nervous that the HDD has failed.

Anyone out there recently get a tuning adapter from their Cable Co?

I had an installation yesterday, where they were supposed to bring 2 (one for each Tivo), and they showed up with one. (Typical - I specifically told them when they called to set up an appointment that I needed two of them and they said that they would make sure they would bring 2).

Anyway - they installed the one (a Motorola) on my Tivo HD, and I don't think it is even doing anything. My understanding is that they may not have even "turned on" the SDV yet, but the adapter power light just blinks continually. Message light never comes on unless I go into the tuning adapter diagnostic in the menus, and then it only appears momentarily as I choose various options in the diagnostic menu. The SDV status menu shows a bunch of "N/A" items toward the bottom, and a bunch of 0000's at the top.

The installer had never done one before - and I don't really think he knew what he was doing. He actually went to his truck to get a cable box remote to try to change channels on the Tivo as I was holding the Tivo remote in my hand!

How do you even know if it is doing anything? They installed a splitter in the feed that was going to the Tivo - one leg goes to the adapter and the other goes to the Tivo. It seems like it would make more sense to feed the coax through the adapter and then out of the adapter into the Tivo, but I don't know if this is really an option (but the adapter does have two coax ports - so I figured one was an output)... I told him to pull the feed off the adapter to see if the Tivo would lose picture, and it didn't make any difference to the Tivo - it still worked normally.

The guy also thought that he would be taking the cablecards out of the Tivo, and that the adapter would do the work of the cablecards. I told him I didn't think so.

Thanks!

Anyone out there recently get a tuning adapter from their Cable Co?

I had an installation yesterday, where they were supposed to bring 2 (one for each Tivo), and they showed up with one. (Typical - I specifically told them when they called to set up an appointment that I needed two of them and they said that they would make sure they would bring 2).

Anyway - they installed the one (a Motorola) on my Tivo HD, and I don't think it is even doing anything. My understanding is that they may not have even "turned on" the SDV yet, but the adapter power light just blinks continually. Message light never comes on unless I go into the tuning adapter diagnostic in the menus, and then it only appears momentarily as I choose various options in the diagnostic menu. The SDV status menu shows a bunch of "N/A" items toward the bottom, and a bunch of 0000's at the top.

The installer had never done one before - and I don't really think he knew what he was doing. He actually went to his truck to get a cable box remote to try to change channels on the Tivo as I was holding the Tivo remote in my hand!

How do you even know if it is doing anything? They installed a splitter in the feed that was going to the Tivo - one leg goes to the adapter and the other goes to the Tivo. It seems like it would make more sense to feed the coax through the adapter and then out of the adapter into the Tivo, but I don't know if this is really an option (but the adapter does have two coax ports - so I figured one was an output)... I told him to pull the feed off the adapter to see if the Tivo would lose picture, and it didn't make any difference to the Tivo - it still worked normally.

The guy also thought that he would be taking the cablecards out of the Tivo, and that the adapter would do the work of the cablecards. I told him I didn't think so.

Thanks!

Short answer: if you're not missing any channels and the device is flashing yellow, Charter hasn't turn SDV on.

I went throughout a similar thing here in St. Louis Mo. Had to have the adapter installed by Oct 15th. Rollout has been delayed indefinitely so the device is just sitting there blinking yellow. No harm no foul save for the day off taken from work for the install.

Cable cards remain in the Tivo. One has nothing to do with the other.
Steve

The guy also thought that he would be taking the cablecards out of the Tivo, and that the adapter would do the work of the cablecards. I told him I didn't think so.AFAIK, the tuning adapter can do channel mapping, but not decryption. So, it can partly replace the CableCards. Just not the main part. :)

Got it...

Thanks guys.

Just curious about the hookup though... I checked tivo.com for support on the setup of these things, and in their tutorial, they show the coax feed from the wall going into the adapter, and then another short cable going out of the adapter and into the Tivo. This isn't how they set mine up - they have split the feed from the wall, and from the splitter, they have one cable going to the adapter, and the other leg going straight to Tivo. This doesn't make sense to me at all. It seems like the adapter should be taking the feed from the headend and then outputting the proper channel (via coax) to the Tivo (with the USB connection communicating the channel request from the Tivo to the adapter)...

Thanks
Jeff

Just curious about the hookup though... I checked tivo.com for support on the setup of these things, and in their tutorial, they show the coax feed from the wall going into the adapter, and then another short cable going out of the adapter and into the Tivo. This isn't how they set mine up - they have split the feed from the wall, and from the splitter, they have one cable going to the adapter, and the other leg going straight to Tivo. This doesn't make sense to me at all. It seems like the adapter should be taking the feed from the headend and then outputting the proper channel (via coax) to the Tivo (with the USB connection communicating the channel request from the Tivo to the adapter)...Nah, that's not how it works. The thing about SDV channels is that they're only on the wire when someone is watching them, assigned a carrier channel and subprogram within that channel's digital MPEG Transport Stream when someone requests them. Consequently, where to tune SDV channels is not a constant thing. A cable box has to say to the headend "I want to tune channel so-and-so"; the headend responds by placing the channel on the wire if it's not already there and returning tuning information to the cable box.

TiVo is physically unable to speak to the headend, and even if it could there are multiple different systems for SDV and it would have to know how to format requests and interpret responses for each of them. What the Tuning Adapter does is do that communication over the cable for TiVo; TiVo makes channel requests to the Tuning Adapter over USB using the standard TA protocol, then the Tuning Adapter repeats those requests to the headend using whatever proprietary SDV protocol is in use on the system, and translates the responses into Tuning Adapter protocol for return to TiVo. The TA is not itself a tuner.

Thanks, michael...

So it doesn't actually matter whether they are splitting the feed vs. running the feed into the adapter and then into the Tivo (like a passthrough)? I wonder if there is less signal loss when doing the passthrough vs the splitter option?

I have a Series 3 with a TA on Brighthouse in Tampa and the cable goes into the TA and then into the Tivo.

I do remember that the splitter in the TA that I had in the last place that I lived had problems, so I split external to the TA (Cox San Diego South, where I am now, does not yet use SDV, but TWC does). There shouldn't be any advantage of splitting in the box, but I'm not an expert in this kind of thing. Perhaps the splitter in the box could do something to correct any loss of signal by splitting?

I do remember that the splitter in the TA that I had in the last place that I lived had problems, so I split external to the TA (Cox San Diego South, where I am now, does not yet use SDV, but TWC does). There shouldn't be any advantage of splitting in the box, but I'm not an expert in this kind of thing. Perhaps the splitter in the box could do something to correct any loss of signal by splitting?

The Cisco TA has an amp (and high pass filter) between its RF in and RF out... If you have a strong signal already, you might end up with too much at the TiVo. I have mine set up with an external splitter and not using the TA RF Out and it is working great.

Im told that the Motorola TA is just a splitter with no gain... so no difference in that case.

I have Tivo 3HD which used to have 160gigHD. I bought and upgraded to 2TB HD which I got from e-bay from dvr dude. I works great but I lost one feature which I would like to have back. This feature is the 30 second skip. I have tried programing the remote by entering "select-play-select-3-0-select" This is not working for me. Is there now a new way to program this 30 second skip? Thanks fiero1988gt

I have a Series 3 with a TA on Brighthouse in Tampa and the cable goes into the TA and then into the Tivo.

I believe when a request for a SDV channel is made the Tivo over the USB tells the Tuning Adapter to call for the channel which is then sent throughh the TA and then the cable cards dicript the channel. The TA then keeps the stream live from the head end until the recording is done.

Here is a FAQ from Cable Labs: http://www.cablelabs.com/opencable/udcp/downloads/Switched-Digital-Video-Tuning-Adapter-FAQ.pdf

I've noticed for the last week or so, when I fast forward at double or triple speed,
the screen goes black until I resume play at normal speed.

Has anyone else experienced this, or know a solution?

thanks,
and happy T-Day to all,

FCD

I've noticed for the last week or so, when I fast forward at double or triple speed,
the screen goes black until I resume play at normal speed.

Has anyone else experienced this, or know a solution?

thanks,
and happy T-Day to all,

FCD

No. Mine are normal. That would be real bad. You have to be able to look at the video to know when to stop fast forwarding.

Is anyone using HDMI to go from a TiVo Series-3 into the TV?

I couldn't get it to work with my TiVo Series-3 and don't know what the problem was. I now have a TiVo Premier. I don't want to waste time trying to get it going if the Sony SXRD TV has a problem with the HDMI handshake

Thanks, cb

Is anyone using HDMI to go from a TiVo Series-3 into the TV?

I couldn't get it to work with my TiVo Series-3 and don't know what the problem was. I now have a TiVo Premier. I don't want to waste time trying to get it going if the Sony SXRD TV has a problem with the HDMI handshake

Thanks, cb

I have my Premiere and my S3 and my THD connected to my displays via HDMI. Works great. However, If your SXRD has HDMI issues, YMMV.

I run HDMI from mine (and all of my HDMI devices except my PC, whose HDMI has no audio) through my AVR and into my Mits LCD panel. Works perfectly.

Is anyone using HDMI to go from a TiVo Series-3 into the TV?

I couldn't get it to work with my TiVo Series-3 and don't know what the problem was. I now have a TiVo Premier. I don't want to waste time trying to get it going if the Sony SXRD TV has a problem with the HDMI handshake

Thanks, cb

Did you do connect up the HDMI cable and do the power reset of the S3 (pull power plug and plug it back in), and setup on the display for the S3?

Do this if you haven't.

That said, the S3's shouldn't have any issue w/ any TV fully supporting HDMI, but it could be the SXRD if it's one of the early models. What's the model?

Also, it could simply be a bad HDMI cable.

The S3, HD and Premiere are all rock solid when it comes to HDMI.

Huh--I hadn't noticed these little automatic ad-links before. Like for "Tivo Series-3", "Sony SXRD TV", "run HDMI" and "HDMI cable" in the posts just above this. I suppose that they're not particularly intrusive.

I run HDMI from mine (and all of my HDMI devices except my PC, whose HDMI has no audio) through my AVR and into my Mits LCD panel. Works perfectly.
I connect my S3 to my AV receiver, a Yamaha RX-V3900, with HDMI, too. Like Michael, my AV receiver is in turn connected to my display, a Pioneer Plasma 6020 HDTV. I have been using this setup for nearly two years and have never had any trouble with it. I do have one caveat, though. It you use HDMI, setting the S3's video output to Native creates both video and audio dropouts every time the resolution changes. Once I changed the video to 1080i Fixed, though, the problem went away.

Is anyone using HDMI to go from a TiVo Series-3 into the TV?

I couldn't get it to work with my TiVo Series-3 and don't know what the problem was. I now have a TiVo Premier. I don't want to waste time trying to get it going if the Sony SXRD TV has a problem with the HDMI handshake

Thanks, cb
I have a 50 inch Panasonic and had no problems.

Huh--I hadn't noticed these little automatic ad-links before. Like for "Tivo Series-3", "Sony SXRD TV", "run HDMI" and "HDMI cable" in the posts just above this. I suppose that they're not particularly intrusive.

I'm not getting ads like those:confused:
I do use ABP(ad block plus) with FF though, maybe that makes the difference??

I'm not getting ads like those:confused:
I do use ABP(ad block plus) with FF though, maybe that makes the difference??They're hotlinks, and if you mouse over them a little picture of a product (usually) related to the phrase pops up; left-click them and it takes you to a site where you can order it. It didn't make links on my post quoting the ones that I saw (whether or not I put them in double-quotes), so maybe it only does one per phrase per page.

They're hotlinks, and if you mouse over them a little picture of a product (usually) related to the phrase pops up;You can go into the UserCP and turn that off.

.... yes, it's under the "edit options" section within your CP, about 3/4's the way down that subsequent page. I forget what they call it exactly, but it should be obvious when you come across the description for it.

Ad Block Plus removes them as well I guess, I don't see them at all and my CP shows that they are all on. Plus I don't get the side ads anymore even though I'm not even an AVS club member anymore, the post box fills the page side to side. Nice addon. :)

You can go into the UserCP and turn that off.Thank you--I found it and turned it off. I did leave on the option which allows it to take words in my posts and link them to ads because it asked me to please leave it on because it helps support the site. It's fine as long as I don't have to see them :).

EDIT: The option looks like this:
Turn OFF in post auto word links?

Creates a link of models and products names to other sites for more information and deals/sales. (Hey, if you leave this on, you may find a good deal on something you are reading about. If you turn if off, you may never know of it. Don't we all want a good deal? Not to mention it helps to support the site operations.)

Is anyone using HDMI to go from a TiVo Series-3 into the TV?

I couldn't get it to work with my TiVo Series-3 and don't know what the problem was. I now have a TiVo Premier. I don't want to waste time trying to get it going if the Sony SXRD TV has a problem with the HDMI handshake

Thanks, cb

Series 3 to SXRD (A3000) via HDMI: No problem here.

They're hotlinks, and if you mouse over them a little picture of a product (usually) related to the phrase pops up; left-click them and it takes you to a site where you can order it. It didn't make links on my post quoting the ones that I saw (whether or not I put them in double-quotes), so maybe it only does one per phrase per page.

The relationship is poor. Mouse over "50 Inch Panasonic" above, and you get "50 Inch Tripod for Canon, Sony, Panasonic, JVC & Any Other Brand Cameras and Camcorders"

For you guys running both the S3 and the latest Tivo Premiere model, if you had to choose one or the other, which would you choose? Or, has there been a thread or poll on the Tivo Community site which has specifically addressed this question?

I haven't read up too much on the Premiere, but the gist seems to be that it's not much of an upgrade. Aesthetically, screens and text are certainly nicer/sharper and it's easier to view screen content while simultaneously perusing menus/guides. Also, faster wireless transfers to/from Premiere to a computer.. but not much else.

But then on the down side, the build quality is not as good and their have been too many operational "bugs", apparently, which may or may not be correctable in future firmware/software upgrades. Though I don't know the specifics of what those bugs are.

Would that be a fair thumbnail assessment of the general user base opinion?

For you guys running both the S3 and the latest Tivo Premiere model, if you had to choose one or the other, which would you choose? Or, has there been a thread or poll on the Tivo Community site which has specifically addressed this question?

I haven't read up too much on the Premiere, but the gist seems to be that it's not much of an upgrade. Aesthetically, screens and text are certainly nicer/sharper and it's easier to view screen content while simultaneously perusing menus/guides. Also, faster wireless transfers to/from Premiere to a computer.. but not much else.

But then on the down side, the build quality is not as good and their have been too many operational "bugs", apparently, which may or may not be correctable in future firmware/software upgrades. Though I don't know the specifics of what those bugs are.

Would that be a fair thumbnail assessment of the general user base opinion?

TiVo is coming out with a new app for the iPad for TiVo. But it only works on the Premiere. Now that irks me to death because as you're saying there isn't that much difference.

Series 3 to SXRD (A3000) via HDMI: No problem here.

I connected it via HDMI and it seems to be working OK. I have no idea what the problem was before this.

Thanks to all, cb

I have an old Series 1 (40 GB) collecting dust in the garage.

Is there any way to upgrade this,
or is it just time to recycle it?

FCD

I have an old Series 1 (40 GB) collecting dust in the garage.

Is there any way to upgrade this,
or is it just time to recycle it?

FCD
The old S1 is a boat anchor, it seems to me. As great as it was in its day, its day is long past. It's analog SD only and these days most, if not all, prospective TiVo buyers are interested in watching digital HD programming most of the time, if not exclusively. If I were in your position, I wouldn't mess with resurrecting an S1 at this late date.

My first TiVo was an S1. I bought it in 2000 and loved it. When I got an HDTV in 2003, I also got an HD DVR from my cable provider and never used the S1 again. For obvious reasons, when the S3 was introduced, I got one and it replaced the Cable company's DVR.

TiVo is coming out with a new app for the iPad for TiVo. But it only works on the Premiere. Now that irks me to death because as you're saying there isn't that much difference.
Hmm....interesting. Is it just a search & scheduling app...a tablet interface of the web site? I can't imagine why something like that wouldn't work with any Tivo that's online, but I also can't see how it's all that interesting.

If, on the other hand, it's an output device for streaming content from the TiVo, I suppose there could be some technical limitation. I wouldn't personally see much utility in that after the initial "oooh look, I can watch a TiVo recording on my iPad!"

What could get interesting, IMO, is an app that offers immediate, direct control of the TiVo box...essential a high-end interactive remote. That would be both cool and useful!

Any idea what the TiVo iPad app will actually be?

You can see it here (http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/product-features/stay-connected/ipad/index.html). Looks pretty cool, though not particularly vital :).

Hmm....interesting. Is it just a search & scheduling app...a tablet interface of the web site? I can't imagine why something like that wouldn't work with any Tivo that's online, but I also can't see how it's all that interesting.

If, on the other hand, it's an output device for streaming content from the TiVo, I suppose there could be some technical limitation. I wouldn't personally see much utility in that after the initial "oooh look, I can watch a TiVo recording on my iPad!"

What could get interesting, IMO, is an app that offers immediate, direct control of the TiVo box...essential a high-end interactive remote. That would be both cool and useful!

Any idea what the TiVo iPad app will actually be?

It would be nice to be able to flip content to the IPad in a resolution better than what TiVo Desktop currently offers. I can do it now, but I have to use a third part app to flip the .Tivo file to one that IPad can handle. Tivo Desktop's 640x480 doesn't quite cut it on the IPad. I have a long train commute, so flipping to the IPad is way more for me than just a "Wow Factor"

It would be nice to be able to flip content to the IPad in a resolution better than what TiVo Desktop currently offers. I can do it now, but I have to use a third part app to flip the .Tivo file to one that IPad can handle. Tivo Desktop's 640x480 doesn't quite cut it on the IPad. I have a long train commute, so flipping to the IPad is way more for me than just a "Wow Factor"
Watching shows on the go....good point and I didn't think of that. I wouldn't use it at all, but yeah, someone with a train commute could really make some use of that time to keep up on their TV shows. :)

You can see it here (http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/product-features/stay-connected/ipad/index.html). Looks pretty cool, though not particularly vital :).
Thanks for the link. :) It looks like the interactive remote I described....cool, but as you say, not particularly vital. Any idea why it might be limited to the Premiere....beyond a cynical move to push and support the Premiere at the expense of most existing TiVo customers?

Thanks for the link. :) It looks like the interactive remote I described....cool, but as you say, not particularly vital. Any idea why it might be limited to the Premiere....beyond a cynical move to push and support the Premiere at the expense of most existing TiVo customers?Nope. Like Hulu Plus support, I think that it's " a cynical move to push and support the Premiere at the expense of most existing TiVo customers".

I don't know if I'd say that it were at my expense. During the 4 years since I bought my S3, they've added a ton of new features and enhancements. Other than gaming consoles, I've never owned a device which has grown in this fashion over time. Although they could probably continue to support select features on the old platform, I don't feel as though I can demand it, or be much disappointed if they don't.

Tivo Desktop's 640x480 doesn't quite cut it on the IPad.

Where does that 640x480 resolution limitation come from, the target device? TD itself imposes has no such limitation I'm aware of (but then I never used it to convert).

Thanks for the link. :) It looks like the interactive remote I described....cool, but as you say, not particularly vital. Any idea why it might be limited to the Premiere....beyond a cynical move to push and support the Premiere at the expense of most existing TiVo customers?

Asked and answered.

Asked and answered.
Yeah....I was afraid of that. :( Pretty lame, IMO, and pretty poor treatment of people who've been TiVo customers for many years (if it really is just an attempt to get us to upgrade.) Not the kind of move that makes me want to upgrade to their newest product, knowing limited support awaits once another partially-quasi-semi-incremental replacement comes along. :rolleyes:

Yeah....I was afraid of that. :( Pretty lame, IMO, and pretty poor treatment of people who've been TiVo customers for many years (if it really is just an attempt to get us to upgrade.) Not the kind of move that makes me want to upgrade to their newest product, knowing limited support awaits once another partially-quasi-semi-incremental replacement comes along. :rolleyes:

+1

well put: "partially-quasi-semi-incremental replacement"

Make something that I think is worthwhile to upgrade to, then I'll do it.

As it stands now my cable company is offering new service. I forget what it's called but they allow you to watch any thing on two Samsung DVR's that come up with a tb of hard drive and are eSATA capable. There is suppose to be communication via network with the DVR's and they provide the modem. You can watch one program in up to 4 different locations. They will come out for any repairs during your schedule

The problem however is you have to get their stupid phone service as part of the deal. Monthly price is 175.00 a month (for now). I'm not sure how much home media it's really capable of.

I'm not watching as much television as I was 2 years ago. My TiVo HD with eSata is half full, and my other TiVo HD has nothing on it but analog shows.

And with cable putting the cap on anything other then network television transferable on TiVo, it now seems like it's limited in what it can do. Plus cable is offering even for their non DVR's thing like "start over" and "look back."

I still prefer TiVo specially since my experience with cable DVR's was not a good one. But TiVo needs to come up with something that will knock my socks off before I upgrade.

The problem however is you have to get their stupid phone service as part of the deal. Monthly price is 175.00 a month (for now). I'm not sure how much home media it's really capable of.

Hey Hook,

Is the above a typo? $175/month for cable plus phone service (or is internet included in that too)?

That seems really steep!

Hey Hook,

Is the above a typo? $175/month for cable plus phone service (or is internet included in that too)?

That seems really steep!

It's for cable, phone, internet, and their new faster then turbo Road Runner (which they haven't got yet but it's coming). Plus as I said they are providing you a wireless network as well.

And they will come out anytime during your schedule for repair. You get a personal representative of some sort.

Hey Hook,

Is the above a typo? $175/month for cable plus phone service (or is internet included in that too)?

That seems really steep!
I'm currently paying $124/month just for digital cable! (That figure is all-inclusive...taxes, fees, etc. Their advertised "rate" is considerably below that.) I get a mid-level digital package with only two add-ons....HBO and the cost of my 2nd & 3rd CableCards. It's ridiculous. (I also buy their internet service separately for about $40/month.....and that's a one-month-free rate because I pre-pay a year at a time.)

So I'm at $164 for cable and internet. :mad: It's so frustrating that the FCC allows a small handful of monopolies to rule this space....there's really no competitive service in my area, so I just keep eating Comcast's incessant rate increases.


@Hook: Who's your cable company?

Crime Warner Cable. :)

:D:D:D:D

I didn't know they'd changed their name....very catchy!

Wow - I thought I was paying a lot with Charter. I am getting Expanded Basic plus their digital view tier (some kids channels). I also get any HD channel that they offer which has an SD counterpart in my lineup of channels (so this includes ESPN, ESPN2, BigTen, TLC, Discovery, Food, NGC, TBS, HD locals, Comedy Central, USA, Speed, Bravo, SyFy, FX, Golf, HGTV, TNT, VS, History, AETV, FSD, Animal Planet and a few other I probably missed).

I also have the 8Mbps internet but no phone service (cellular only).

I pay about $90/month. Maybe that isn't such a bad deal. I do have to call them once a year to make get them to redo a promotional rate on my account.

Wow - I thought I was paying a lot with Charter. I am getting Expanded Basic plus their digital view tier (some kids channels). I also get any HD channel that they offer which has an SD counterpart in my lineup of channels (so this includes ESPN, ESPN2, BigTen, TLC, Discovery, Food, NGC, TBS, HD locals, Comedy Central, USA, Speed, Bravo, SyFy, FX, Golf, HGTV, TNT, VS, History, AETV, FSD, Animal Planet and a few other I probably missed).

I also have the 8Mbps internet but no phone service (cellular only).

I pay about $90/month. Maybe that isn't such a bad deal. I do have to call them once a year to make get them to redo a promotional rate on my account.
I'd be absolutely thrilled with a rate like that!!

I'm sorry to hear that it isn't just Comcast that tries to sneak through occasional "resets" of promotional pricing. Many years ago (Sopranos season 4, I think :)), I added HBO during a special "$6.99/month for life" promotion....not too bad, right? But after a year, it jumped up and, when I called, they explained that it was only the discount that would continue for life. :( Okay fine, so I'll get an $8 discount on whatever HBO's current pricing is...I can live with that. But every few months, their computers somehow inadvertently drop the discount. Until I call and request a reimbursement and reinstatement of the discount, they charge me the full price. They're real sorry whenever this happens.....:rolleyes:

I'd jump ship in a heartbeat if there were a decent alternative.

I'd be absolutely thrilled with a rate like that!!

I'm sorry to hear that it isn't just Comcast that tries to sneak through occasional "resets" of promotional pricing. Many years ago (Sopranos season 4, I think :)), I added HBO during a special "$6.99/month for life" promotion....not too bad, right? But after a year, it jumped up and, when I called, they explained that it was only the discount that would continue for life. :( Okay fine, so I'll get an $8 discount on whatever HBO's current pricing is...I can live with that. But every few months, their computers somehow inadvertently drop the discount. Until I call and request a reimbursement and reinstatement of the discount, they charge me the full price. They're real sorry whenever this happens.....:rolleyes:

I'd jump ship in a heartbeat if there were a decent alternative.



Stay away from Verizon at ALL costs. Their picture and Internet are great and in 4yrs never really had any tech issues but their customer service is the WORST!!!!!
For 6 months now I have had an issue with them about my bill and Package and after over 40hrs (no lie, I kept track of every call and the time I was on with them) and they still can't get it right.
So I will never use them and they are $200.00 a month for unlimited phone in USA, 25/25 Internet and the second from the top HD package with all the movie channels( hbo, show, stars. Etc). It was $140.00 then
After 2 hrs they raised the price.
Avoid like the Plague

Sorry to hear of your bad experience. I've always heard great things about their video quality.

I can't help but avoid them like the plague.....Qwest owns all the landlines here in Seattle, so until that changes or hell freezes over, Verizon will not be an option.

What's the best upgrade offer you guys have seen for Series 3 to Premiere XL with Lifetime Service?

I have a feeling one of my S3s is going bad. :( I get those email offers from them occasionally, but I haven't really paid attention to whether it's always the same offer or if they sometimes have especially good deals. The one I have in my inbox right now is $449 + $199 for service....which doesn't seem that great to me. But I don't know, is that the best I can expect?

You just missed the best deal, which was a woot.com Premiere refurb for $65. Lifetime service could be added to those, which would be $299 for you (or sometimes $199 depending on luck in the CSR lotto). Tivo.com currently has refurbs for $99 with $12.95 monthly service which can also be swapped for lifetime after you get it. Upgrading the drive to 2TB is very easy to do so there's no reason to overpay for an XL.

If your S3 is going bad, upgrading the drive in it is cheap and easy too. Most likely the drive having problems anyway, and a lot of folks think the S3 is better than the Premiere - it's certainly more stable right now.

You just missed the best deal, which was a woot.com Premiere refurb for $65. Lifetime service could be added to those, which would be $299 for you (or sometimes $199 depending on luck in the CSR lotto). Tivo.com currently has refurbs for $99 with $12.95 monthly service which can also be swapped for lifetime after you get it. Upgrading the drive to 2TB is very easy to do so there's no reason to overpay for an XL.

If your S3 is going bad, upgrading the drive in it is cheap and easy too. Most likely the drive having problems anyway, and a lot of folks think the S3 is better than the Premiere - it's certainly more stable right now.
Thanks for the response.....yeah, too bad I missed that woot deal. :(

I don't know what's happening with my S3. Last year, it started having issues that I concluded must have been the first signs of drive failure..... increasingly glitchy playback, especially with downloaded Amazon VOD shows, which would, for example, play the audio stream with frozen video. I'd have to erase them and re-download until I got it to play back all the way through.

So, I upgraded the drive with the recommended 1Tb WD. But in the past couple days, I've started downloading Breaking Bad Season 3 from Amazon VOD, and getting the exact same problem again. I thought this was an issue specifically with the VOD shows. But I realize now that it's a playback issue. (It may well have been before and I just didn't know it. :o) Yesterday, when the latest episode wouldn't play properly, I decided to check a known "good" episode that we'd watched the night before.....got the same failed playback.

This was my first inkling that it wasn't the recording itself that was flawed, but the TiVo failing to properly play it back. After restarting the unit, it played back the problem episode just fine.

Any thoughts on what's going on here? That doesn't seem (to me) like drive failure anymore. I suppose it's possible that the new drive could be experiencing the exact same failure as the old one, with the exact same symptoms, but kind of unlikely.

If this is a fixable problem with the S3, I'd much rather get it working properly than replace it with a Premiere. (It's a "principle of the matter" kind of thing....I think the Premieres are a lame "upgrade" and I hate how they're trying to push them on current owners.) So, by all means, if the the TiVo gurus around here have any idea what's going on with my S3, or how to fix, I'd appreciate any advice.


______________________

On a different topic: Any idea why Amazon VOD takes sooooo much longer to download than it used to? One hour HD shows used to take about 30 min....now they take almost three hours!

I would run the Tivo kickstart 54 diags just to see if it reports errors. If it does, pull the drive and run the WD diags on it. It might just be bad luck and you got a not-so-good 1TB drive.

I would run the Tivo kickstart 54 diags just to see if it reports errors. If it does, pull the drive and run the WD diags on it. It might just be bad luck and you got a not-so-good 1TB drive.
Sorry for my ignorance.....TiVo kickstart 54 diags?

------------------
EDIT: Okay, my friend Google and I figured it out. ;) I'm running the diagnostics as I write, having selected the first option from the menu, "Run S.M.A.R.T. Tests." Is it normal for these tests to take 5 hours??? :eek: I've run S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics on other HDDs (not in the TiVo) and even the extended tests on high-capacity drives don't take anywhere near that long.

EDIT 2: Correction....12 hours!! The 5 hours was just for the "extended test" phase....The "Off-line Scan" is another 410 minutes. Considering it has passed all the other tests (the extended S.M.A.R.T. scan being a pretty thorough diagnostic), I'm canceling it here.

The drive clearly has not triggered a S.M.A.R.T. error. Considering that, and the fact that the integrity of the recordings is okay, I'm increasingly skeptical that this is a drive failure issue.

Looks like you're a good candidate for a $99 Premiere refurb from Tivo.com. I'd bet that most of these are customer returns caused by the recent pricing switch and are barely used - not that it matters if you're going to upgrade the drive anyway.

Looks like you're a good candidate for a $99 Premiere refurb from Tivo.com. I'd bet that most of these are customer returns caused by the recent pricing switch and are barely used - not that it matters if you're going to upgrade the drive anyway.
Hmmm....recent pricing switch? I have lifetime service on my S3s, so I never pay attention to what the current pricing schemes are. Is that what you mean....a change in service cost that prompted people to return their new TiVos? The Premieres are so new that I'd be inclined to think returns are just coming from dissatisfied buyers. :(

A couple quick questions, if you happen to know: Do the refurbs have full warranty coverage, and an option for extended? And, are you sure that they would allow a switch to lifetime service?

If the standard Premiere's HDD is as easy to upgrade as the S3, and there are no other differences (besides the remote I wouldn't use anyway), you make a good point that it's more cost-effective to get the standard unit and install a bigger drive. Does that void the warranty? (I never had to consider that with my S3s, since they were well out of warranty by the time I upgraded.)

Sorry for so many questions. I really appreciate your help and feedback. :)

Tivo changed the pricing model late last year - you buy the box for $99 and are locked into a $19.99 monthly price for a year, or get the box for free and are locked in for two years. More importantly, they took lifetime away for those and there's no guarantee you can switch plans after your commitment is up. Many folks complained of bait-and-switch when some retailers didn't reveal the new plans, so I'm sure a lot of boxes were returned for that reason.

Refurbs have the same warranty as new. (https://www3.tivo.com/store/clearance.do) I have no idea if lifetime can be 100% had but a couple of folks bought them with monthly and then were able to switch to lifetime at tivo.com. They have a 30-day money back guarantee so it's no big deal to try - you should be able to do it 24 hours after you sign up for monthly at your tivo.com account page.

Upgrading the hard drive may or may not void the warranty, depending on whether they check your Tivo logs if you call with an issue. They can tell that you did the swap. I personally don't care and have upgraded both of my HDs within 30 days of purchase.

The pricing comment is interesting. Over on the TiVo HD thread there were posts being made about how they were able to send TiVo Customer Service an email requesting their plan be changed to lifetime because of a recent promotion. In July I saw this and I emailed TiVo Customer Service. They responded by saying they would be happy to give me the lifetime service if I wanted it for the same price as the 1 year service! Not only that, my card wouldn't be charged until this first year was over at the end of September.

September came and my card got charged and there it was, life time service on my TiVo HD. I'm not saying you're wrong slowbiscuit, I'm just sharing what happened to me this past Summer and Fall.

The new plans went into effect on 11/14 (http://www.tivo.com/abouttivo/policies/tivoservicepaymentplanstermsandconditions.html), and are applicable to boxes purchased at $99.99 (Premiere) or $299.99 (XL) from third-party retailers. Tivo originally said it was a holiday promo but it was extended to 1/31 and just yesterday to 3/31, probably because they're trying to figure out how to unload the discounted boxes and switch back to the old plans. Or maybe folks like the new plans with cheap boxes and their sales are up, who knows.

So....given the weird playback issues I'm getting, even though the year-old drive doesn't trigger any S.M.A.R.T. errors, would you guys try swapping the S3's drive again in the hopes of getting more life out of the S3? Or would you bite the bullet and replace it with a Premiere? (I have Lifetime Service on the S3.)

Drives are pretty cheap now, and I'm just trying to decide whether it's worth a try.

Has anyone heard/read if the Tivo iphone app is going to support Series 3 boxes?

FCD

Fred, I don't recall where I heard it but "eventually" is what I heard.

Thanks Hook,
Tivo time stymies us once again.

FCD

I haven't even been able to find an iPhone app for the Premiere, although the Premiere app for the iPad app is out of this world. Does anyone know whether there is a technical reason why an iOS 4 app couldn't support the S3 as well as it does the Primiere? Along the same line, is there a technical reason why the HD user interface couldn't handle the S3 as well as the Primiere does?

...is there a technical reason why the HD user interface couldn't handle the S3 as well as the Primiere does?I doubt it--TiVo Search runs fine on the S3, and its GUI is HD.

'Runs fine' is a subjective term - it's pretty sluggish.

'Runs fine' is a subjective term - it's pretty sluggish.
The Premier's HD UI is pretty sluggish, too. I still rather like it although it is admittedly slower than the S3's SD UI.

'Runs fine' is a subjective term - it's pretty sluggish.I just played around with it and Wishlist Search and couple of other menus and it seems no more or less responsive than the rest of the UI on my S3; perfectly acceptable to me.

There is a network speed component that wouldn't be part of most of the rest of the UI (unless they insisted on peppering it with little suggestion thumbnails, etc :D).

Apologies in advance as I tried to search this thread for answers but need additional clarification.

I have comcast with 2 HD-DVRs and recently purchased a 1TB WD DVR Expander drive that apparently works with my Motorola DVR which has an eSATA outlet. Unfortunately Comcast will not activate the eSATA so its useless. . . until I discovered it worked with Tivo S3. Now I have some very basic questions/confirmation requests on the comcast and Tivo S3 combination as I do not want to invest in a Tivo if it also will not work with Comcast.

1. If I purchase a Tivo S3 (I am thinking of the Premiere XL) to replace one of my comcast DVRs, I will also need to make a subscription to Tivo monthly services (which look to be about 19.99 for the first year) in addition to what I am paying Comcast, correct?

2. Although I no longer have to may comcast a monthly dvr fee (my other comcast hd dvr is free), I will need to get two cable cards from comcast, which will have an initial acquisition cost and a monthly fee, right? If so, I assume I have to have this installed by a tech and can't pick them up right?

3. Once I have the cable cards installed, will I have access on the Tivo to comcast services as normal with the addition of the Tivo guide? Subscription services I already pay for (e.g., HBO, showtime)? Access to comcast ondemand through the Tivo?

4. Finally if the WD DVR expander drive works with the Tivo, I assume it would be ablke to record all comcast content (other than ondemand of course) I subscribe to, right?

Thanks in advance for your help.

John

Apologies in advance as I tried to search this thread for answers but need additional clarification.

I have comcast with 2 HD-DVRs and recently purchased a 1TB WD DVR Expander drive that apparently works with my Motorola DVR which has an eSATA outlet. Unfortunately Comcast will not activate the eSATA so its useless. . . until I discovered it worked with Tivo S3. Now I have some very basic questions/confirmation requests on the comcast and Tivo S3 combination as I do not want to invest in a Tivo if it also will not work with Comcast.

1. If I purchase a Tivo S3 (I am thinking of the Premiere XL) to replace one of my comcast DVRs, I will also need to make a subscription to Tivo monthly services (which look to be about 19.99 for the first year) in addition to what I am paying Comcast, correct?

2. Although I no longer have to may comcast a monthly dvr fee (my other comcast hd dvr is free), I will need to get two cable cards from comcast, which will have an initial acquisition cost and a monthly fee, right? If so, I assume I have to have this installed by a tech and can't pick them up right?

3. Once I have the cable cards installed, will I have access on the Tivo to comcast services as normal with the addition of the Tivo guide? Subscription services I already pay for (e.g., HBO, showtime)? Access to comcast ondemand through the Tivo?

4. Finally if the WD DVR expander drive works with the Tivo, I assume it would be ablke to record all comcast content (other than ondemand of course) I subscribe to, right?

Thanks in advance for your help.

John


1. Yes

2. You only need one card, it's a dual M card and that's all most cable companies carry anymore. My understanding is Comcast will let you install it yourself.

3. No On demand with TiVo, although TiVo provides it's own On Demand. But it's nothing like the cables.

4. Yes it works with TiVo. Says so right on the box.

1. If I purchase a Tivo S3 (I am thinking of the Premiere XL)...Small nit--that's "Series 3 Tivo" (and is the Premiere part of Series 3 in any case?); "TiVo S3" refers only to the first CableCARD capable model. I've searched TiVo's site and that's what they always call it, to differentiate it from the others.

Small nit--that's "Series 3 Tivo" (and is the Premiere part of Series 3 in any case?); "TiVo S3" refers only to the first CableCARD capable model. I've searched TiVo's site and that's what they always call it, to differentiate it from the others.
Yeah, the shorthand for the Premiere and Premiere XL is "Series 4," they are the next generation after the Series 3. I should add that I got the WD 1TB eSATA drive the OP has for my S3 about 6 weeks ago. It has been terrific; it is quiet, stable, increased my S3's storage capacity 5 fold, and cost less than $110 from Amazon.

Yeah, the shorthand for the Premiere and Premiere XL is "Series 4," they are the next generation after the Series 3. I should add that I got the WD 1TB eSATA drive the OP has for my S3 about 6 weeks ago. It has been terrific; it is quiet, stable, increased my S3's storage capacity 5 fold, and cost less than $110 from Amazon.

I have the 1tb as well, but I paid quite a bit more then 110.00. Nice job, councilor.

I have the 1tb as well, but I paid quite a bit more then 110.00. Nice job, councilor.
Hook -- Thanks. The WD eSATA drives have come down a lot. If the 1TB version had been available at the time the original 500GB version came out, I probably would have sprung for it. Now, of course, I am glad that by waiting I was able to benefit from the substantial price reduction that occurred in the interim.

2. You only need one card, it's a dual M card and that's all most cable companies carry anymore. My understanding is Comcast will let you install it yourself.

When did Comcast start allowing self install of cablecards? And is there a reasonable procedure to call Comcast to get service on Cablecards issues(I think I will need to have mine repaired when I head north and last year I had to endure a service call to get them repaired.)

They only allow it in some areas, ours doesn't. But that's supposed to change for all cableCos later this year as part of the new FCC card rules.

If you change areas, you will need to call and get the card paired with the local system.

Comcast in the SF bay area allows self installs. They give you a CableCARD and a piece of paper with a phone number and the info they need from the TiVo to activate it, couldn't be easier.

1. Yes

2. You only need one card, it's a dual M card and that's all most cable companies carry anymore. My understanding is Comcast will let you install it yourself.

3. No On demand with TiVo, although TiVo provides it's own On Demand. But it's nothing like the cables.

4. Yes it works with TiVo. Says so right on the box.

Thanks. This is very helpful

Wooper, on tivocommunity, supplied me with the IR code for ID0. I created the IR codes for ID1 thru ID3
ID 0
0000 006d 0022 0002 0156 00ab 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 06e2 0155 0054 0016 0e53

ID 1
0000 006d 0022 0002 0156 00ab 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 06e2 0155 0054 0016 0e53

ID 2
0000 006d 0022 0002 0156 00ab 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 06e2 0155 0054 0016 0e53

ID 3
0000 006d 0022 0002 0156 00ab 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 06e2 0155 0054 0016 0e53

I have tested ID1. If ID2 or ID3 fail for anyone let me know.

I have owned a Sony DHG HDD500 for the past 4 years. Recently, I ordered analog only cable (limited cable) and discovered that my unit was not able to tune the channels. I am now running the cable directly into a Sony KV 30HS420 (pre-digital) TV.

I returned the Sony DVR for repair under extended service plan and they said that they can no longer get the parts to repair it. I also own a Dish PAL DVR and that pulls in the OTA signal better than the Sony.

My question is should I replace the Sony with a TIVO Series 3 w/ Lifetime service. I was wondering how the OTA tuner compares to the Sony. I'm getting pretty tired of the TVGOS thing and would really like to have a better tuner. Is the OTA tuner in the Premiers better that the Series 3?

I probably won't go digital cable anytime soon. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks.

The TiVo HD's ATSC tuner is unequivocably better than the S3's (and also a bit better than the Premiere's, for that matter).

The S3's might be a little better than the Sony's, but I wouldn't expect it to be by that much if it is. In fact, the S3's tuner is pretty old, and may actually only be 4th generation like the Sony's. It *might* be 5th, but I still wouldn't expect as much of a difference between the two as the 4th to 6th, like the Premiere has. The 6th generation is also better with multipath than the 4th or 5th.

If you can't find an HD cheap (and last time I looked, it wasn't easy, for good reason), I'd just go with a brand new Premiere (somebody just said somewhere else here that they ordered one from Wolf Camera for only $65). You'll get the newest version of the unit (I don't think the S3 has all the potential streaming abilities of the HD and Premiere, either - and some of that is free).

If you can find the S3 with lifetime dirt cheap, it's up to you, but don't be disappointed if the tuner doesn't turn out to be any better, going by what I remember when it was out (I also have a Sony, and I was paying attention to that somewhat at the time, even though I wasn't especially looking for a replacement right then. I was fortunate enough to come across a TiVo HD later at a pretty good, closeout price).

The TiVo HD's ATSC tuner is unequivocably better than the S3's (and also a bit better than the Premiere's, for that matter).

The S3's might be a little better than the Sony's, but I wouldn't expect it to be by that much if it is. In fact, the S3's tuner is pretty old, and may actually only be 4th generation like the Sony's. It *might* be 5th, but I still wouldn't expect as much of a difference between the two as the 4th to 6th, like the Premiere has. The 6th generation is also better with multipath than the 4th or 5th.



Many of the posts say the S3 is more robust. I like the looks of the S3 better.. maybe because it looks more like the Sony. I don't want to get tied to old technology like the Sony's OTA TVGOS. Its just a matter of time before the broadcasters will stop inserting that signal.

It has served me well these 4 plus years. Unfortunately, Sony chose to go another direction. They did come through with a software update to allow the guide signal to be received after the digital transition. Many dvr's, LG LST-3410 comes to mind, were left out in the cold with no way to download a guide.

Thanks for your input.

Rob

Many of the posts say the S3 is more robust.Yes - the build quality is definitely better than the Premiere's, and also somewhat better than the HD's, too.

I doubt if the S3's tuner is any less sensitive than the Sony's. I just thought from the way it sounded that it was more of a priority to upgrade the ATSC tuner performance, too.

Then go for the S3, if it has everything else you'd be satisied with.

I have had an S3 for four and a half years and have enough confidence in its continued viability to have recently added a 1TB eSATA drive. I don't know whether the build quality of the Premiere TiVos differs markedly from the S3's but the S3 does provide more useful information on the front panel than the Premiere line does. The new software enables A B and C buttons on the Premiere remote to perform useful operations. Those buttons are not available on the S3 remote.

The Premiere's big advantage, to me at least, is its HD graphical user interface. I have found navigation to be easier and more intuitive on the Premiere than it is on the S3. This is a controversial issue, though. Many Premiere users opt for the traditional SD GUI, which makes it just like the S3, including making the A B and C buttons on the Premiere remote useless.

I honestly don't think I can recommend any TiVo any longer. Now I haven't had any experience with the Premier so I can't speak about that one, but ever since the introduction of the tuner adapter, it has made watching/recording my TiVo's a real pain in the butt.

During the first year with it my TA's would constantly go into "brick mode." That's a flashing green light that blinks 8 times on and off with a pause at the end of the 8th blink. The only way to have that fixed was to get very lucky with someone at customer service, have an inside contact to directly fix it, or to call cable card support.

They did put a fix on that, now it goes out about once every 4 or 5 months and usually I usually call cable card support to get it fixed. Both of my TA's will go out when this happens.

There is a lag time when connecting with certain sdv channels. I have a real issue with this and Spike. It's a 50/50 chance if that channel gets recorded at all.

It seems like I lose my cable card connection from time to time. I get grey screens on both tuners. A reboot will fix this, but when I reboot the tuner adapter is suppose to go to a 6 blink and hold mode when this is going on. If it doesn't, and that's the majority of times then I have to get the TiVo to recognize the tuner adapter. Sometimes all I have to do is simply unplug the USB on the back of the TA and plug it back in. But other times I have to power the TA down, power it up, unplug the USB. Sometimes it matters if I unplug from just the USB on the back of the TA or if I use the one on the back of the TiVo.

I say I have a hassle at least every two weeks.

Now I will say that I think that my problem is probably more restricted to the area in which I live in, which is a combination of ex Adelphia and ex Comcast plus Time Warner Cable. The point is that the damn system is just not reliable, at least not for me.

I singed up for MLB Extra Innings, something I have done for the past 3 years with no issues. This year for some reason they changed a code in it so that TA's could not recognize the signal. They had to bypass the system to get it to work for me. 3 days downtime.

I'd go to satellite in a heartbeat if I had a clear line of sight. Cable card technology is just not a dependable working solution in my area.

For all of you who have not had these issues with a tuner adapter, be grateful. For those of you who never have had to deal with SDV, also consider yourself lucky.

hook -- By the grace of God, Cox OKC has not gone to any SDV channels, or at least none that I use. Consequently, I have not had to mess with tuning adapters, which reports have lead me to believe are buggy and unstable. In stark contrast, my CableCARDs have been solid for some time.

SDV really is a PIA.

When I fast forward on those channels, they all go to black,
which essentially makes FF useless.

FCD

The OP only wants it for OTA, remember.

Well, I was just ranting. I wasn't really referring .to his question.

I'm a transposed Dodger fan, win or lose I watch their games. I purchase MLB Extra Innings.

Prior to SDV I never had an interruption in service. I pay $179.00 a year with the early bird special. Regular prices is $199.00.

Last year when SDV first appeared in our area I got locked out of about 4 games due to a problem at the headend. I don't remember the details but it SDV was part of the issue. I received a $20.00 compensation.

This year right after the first 10 days of free preview my channels dropped. Now I always double check my order and I was assured that the order was in place and service would be fine after the 10 days. But for some reason they put a change in the code in the signal and I missed 3 days of service. They did a manual override and service was started. I was told I would receive a credit for the time I didn't get service, but after it was fixed and I asked the person who mentioned the credit about how much I could expect on the next bill (by email) I did not get a response. I let it go because they did work hard to resolve my issue.

On Wednesday night I retired to the upstairs bedroom, grabbed my remote and I had a gray screen. Well, probably kicked by SDV I thought, so I switched channels and went back to the channel I wanted. Message said "channel not available." I knew right then that my tuner adapter was in brick mode (8 blinks and a pause).

I called cable card support, got through within 5 minutes and advised the rep that only one of my tuner adapters was having this issue and gave him the serial number. 5 minutes later I had a solid green light. SDV was working. But not MLB Extra Innings.

So despite the fact that I had killed the lights and my 7 birds were sleeping I went downstairs and turned on my big set. MLB was working there. Weird! I sent an email out to my contact at TW, who at 10:30 pm responded and said she would look at it in the morning.

Next morning I got up and found MLB was gone from my downstairs tuner adapter as well. I was told that they believed it was a problem with the billing system and the addressable system communicating with each other. They may have to reset my cable cards to fix that.

So at 9:00 pm when it wasn't fixed I sent another email requesting compensation now as I've lost 5 days service. I did not get a response on that as of yet.

See this is my whole issue with TiVo. It goes to the cable card concept way back to when the HD boxes were first introduced. I believe they knew SDV was going to come and I think they said "We will cross that bridge when we get to it." And you know for many of you I know it works, and works well. But for me it's a constant battle. I have shows that are partially recorded. I have shows that are totally missed (only on Spike). Basically the main reason I dumped the SA 8300 and shelled out a $1000.00 on the S3 when it came out was I wanted a reliable DVR.

Now I find in reflection that I'm right back where I was when I had the SA 8300. Yes, it's more reliable but I have to reboot it seems at least once a month or more on each machine. The missed recordings and partial recordings are a mystery. And there is nothing I can do about it. If I had a regular digital box I could watch On Demand HBO or Showtime and wouldn't need a DVR. They also have that Look Back and Start Over features.

If I didn't have 163 shows recorded on the two TiVo's, I'd go to TW and hand them my cable cards and just get a digital tuner. This is ridiculous.

So today I'll wait. I'll check to see if MLB Extra Innings shows up. I'll send emails and see if there are any updates. But this IMHO really goes back to TiVo missing the boat when it came to SDV. For all of you out there with TA's that work great, man, I wish I was one of you.

To be continued…….rant over for now.

Hey group. Are we ever going to get guide program info for the new HD channels we got a while back? ( HUB 1111, OPERA NET 1152,
Lifetime HD 1211, Oxygen 1215, Tru TV 1220, Game Show Net 1281,
Yes HD 1341) It seems like its been over a month or more and nothing has shown up. Usually takes only a few weeks.

Ben Music (tivo S3)

I have received several guide updates over the past couple of weeks. I have every channel except 1211. That is not showing anything and not provided by the tuner adapter. That makes me think that it simply is not available yet.

I have received several guide updates over the past couple of weeks. I have every channel except 1211. That is not showing anything and not provided by the tuner adapter. That makes me think that it simply is not available yet.

Hi Hook,
I agree that 1211 is not available yet, but are you saying that your S3 tivo has program information for all the rest
of those new HD channels?

Thanks,
Ben Music

Hi Hook,
I agree that 1211 is not available yet, but are you saying that your S3 tivo has program information for all the rest
of those new HD channels?

Thanks,
Ben Music

I don't have an S3 active anymore, but that wouldn't matter. My TiVo HD's have it and if they have it the S3 would too. You are probably on a different hook up with me. I'm in Time Warner, City of Cleveland. You may have to report those changes to TiVo to get them in your area. Here you go:

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/contactsupport/lineup_tool.html

I don't have an S3 active anymore, but that wouldn't matter. My TiVo HD's have it and if they have it the S3 would too. You are probably on a different hook up with me. I'm in Time Warner, City of Cleveland. You may have to report those changes to TiVo to get them in your area. Here you go:

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/contactsupport/lineup_tool.html
You are right. The Guide information is identical on the S3 and Premiere boxes. Both versions of the TiVo software use the Tribune Media Services Guide information.

I'm a transposed Dodger fan, win or lose I watch their games. I purchase MLB Extra Innings.Heck of a lot safer to stay home and watch, anyway, rather than go to their park in person. ;)

Heck of a lot safer to stay home and watch, rather than go there in person. :p;)

Oh puhleeezze. The guy was a Giant Fan. They have got to be the most obnoxious fans in the world.

Just kidding, I wouldn't want to see anybody hurt like that. Once I went to see the Red Sox play against the Yankees at Yankee stadium. I was a Red Sox fan back then (still am I guess). I wore a Sox cap to the stadium.

Fortunately the Yankees kicked their butts that day. I could hear people standing around me waiting for the subway talking about throwing me on the third rail. :eek:

To continue on with my MLB Extra Innings nightmare, I advised my contact in TW that while missing out last night was not a big deal since they didn't play, tonight they were playing the Reds at Cincinnati. Which is a rare prime time game for me.

She responded that she had escalated the issue to Corporate Billing. :rolleyes: That didn't make me feel better. Then she said, if they don't fix it she will push the manual override switch again.:confused::confused::confused:

That's how they solved it the last time. So they cut me out two days service on something I paid $179.00 for and it could have been fixed two days ago?

Where is the beating my head against the wall icon?

I suppose she was trying to get it fixed correctly, because apparently this manual override thing is not a permanent fix. But that's not my problem, that's their problem.:mad:

Do cable companies charge extra for the tuning adapters? Was looking into getting TIVOs for me (Charter), my mom (Cox) and my brother (Comcast).

Do cable companies charge extra for the tuning adapters? Was looking into getting TIVOs for me (Charter), my mom (Cox) and my brother (Comcast).

Tuner adapters are free. Cable cards, and TiVo Service you have to pay for.

Yes - the build quality is definitely better than the Premiere's, and also somewhat better than the HD's, too.

I doubt if the S3's tuner is any less sensitive than the Sony's. I just thought from the way it sounded that it was more of a priority to upgrade the ATSC tuner performance, too.

Then go for the S3, if it has everything else you'd be satisied with.

Well I purchased an S3 and an HD XL. The tuners seem to be about equal. Both are better had handling multi-path than the Sony box. I have a very directional antenna with a rotator and have found that I only need to change the direction of the antenna for the one station, which is about 130 degrees off from the next closest station. I'm getting fewer drop-outs. Now I have to decide (justify) how to keep both. I've disconnected my PAL dvr and am getting ready to box up my Sony HDD500.
I'll miss the Sony's menus and playback features. Time to move on. I really enjoy the tivo's network capabilities. Now if I could just get the TIVO Desktop to work with my heavily firewalled router.

I don't understand. Why wouldn't the the TiVo Desktop software work with your router? I have a secure router too and I don't have any issues with it.

Well, let me back up a bit. I don't use a windows computer, I have a Mac and I do have the TiVo Desktop software installed, but I use PyTivo to do my transfers from machine to machine, along with toast titanium. lol, it's been so long since I've done anything with it I'm not sure why the TiVo desktop is even installed. I don't use it to play music with, I use Airport Express. The mp3 in the TiVo HD is a piece of garbage and crashed frequently on me.

And you don't need TiVo Desktop for your router connections. So maybe just Google PyTivo and take a look at that, maybe that will work better for you. It's actually easier to use with a PC then a Mac.

Our Series3 HD TiVo recently stopped working. The initial symptom was that the video gradually deteriorated as faint wavy lines appeared and moved up and down and back and forth across the screen. This lasted for a couple of months and I just didn't take the time to try to diagnose what was causing it. The effect was similar to what you would see if there was electrical interference affecting the coaxial cable but without static, only an ever-changing pattern of wavy lines that shifted their dance across the screen and disappeared and then reappeared.

But a couple of weeks ago the unit suddenly stopped displaying programming and started rebooting. It would display the Welcome screen for a few minutes, then the screen would go black for some seconds and then go back to the Welcome screen and this would continue until I pulled the power cord.

Thinking the problem was caused by corrupted data on the aging hard drive, I purchased a Western Digital WD10EVDS and copied the old hard drive using WinMFS and installed the new drive in the unit. When I started it up, it still would not progress past the Welcome screen and after some minutes would reboot. So, thinking perhaps the original hard drive had passed along corrupted settings to the new WD hard drive, I used the hard drive from a second, working TiVo S3 HD to try to initialize the new hard drive but it still would only boot to the Welcome screen and then loop back to the Welcome screen again and again. During this process, I tried a full copy of the original, failing hard drive. Then I tried a truncated copy of the original hard drive. Then I tried a truncated copy of the hard drive from a different TiVo S3 HD. In each case, the unit would start to boot to the Welcome screen and then restart.
At this point I tried WinMFS's bootpage fix with option 1. This didn't yield any better results. I then tried bootpage fix option 2 with similar results.
Then I read online that some of the WD green hard drives were being distributed with the intellipark feature so I created a boot CD with wdidle3.exe on it and ran wdidle3 /D to change the park setting to 62 minutes. This still didn't stop the endless reboot loop.
I then pulled both of the multi-stream cable cards and powered up. This time the unit progressed through the entire boot process until it got to the point where it realized there were no cable cards installed. It notified me that it was expecting two cards and instructed me to install the cards.
I followed the instructions on the screen which said to install the cable cards with the bottom card to be inserted first, but as soon as I installed the first cable card, the unit rebooted and entered the familiar boot sequence loop.

I tried booting the unit with only one cable card installed in the first position and that resulted in the endless reboot loop. I tried booting with only the second cable card installed and it entered the endless reboot loop. I tried swapping the cards and it entered the endless reboot loop. In short, I tried several different variations involving the cable cards and the only persistent observation was that the unit would not progress past the Welcome screen with the cards installed and, if I booted without the cards installed, it would immediately reboot as soon as either of the cable cards was installed.

With the combination of the faint wavy lines that dance across the screen and the reboot loop that only occurs when the cable cards are installed in the unit, I concluded that the power supply may be failing and has become too weak to provide adequate, stable voltage to the unit while the cable cards are installed.

I have ordered a new power supply to see if that will fix the problem.
Does anyone have any additional thoughts about this? Any other trouble shooting suggestions? At this point I am just trying to apply logical tests to see if I can get the unit to work but I do not have any formal education in electronics and I do not have specialized testing equipment to tell me if any of the motherboard components might be causing the problem. The power supply replacement seems like an easy and prudent measure to take based on the symptoms I'm experiencing but I wonder if someone with more experience sees something that would be worth investigating that I haven't tried yet.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

Yep, swap power supply is the only thing left to try, beyond that it's likely a motherboard or tuner fault which you can't fix. Another thing to try to rule out HDMI is to use component video output, but given the reboots that's likely not going to help.

Here is my sob story on a 2007 Tivo HD with 500GB expander, was watching a recorded program when the box just rebooted.
The first welcome screen with just the orange sun thing came up and stayed. Did not pass this point and only the power light on.
Of course I pulled the plug, waited and then pluged it back in.
The front panel lights flashed and nothing...

Did all the recomened stuff, unpluged everthing and did power only, tried a new outlet directly to the box with eveything unpluged. Even used a Series 3 plug from new outlet to the box. Nothing but a brief flash of all the front lights. Even the fan did not spin up.

Called Tivo and they seem to agree it is the power supply. Find it strange as nothing else plugged into the surge protector even hiccuped.

So do you think that is the problem?

If so what should I do, Tivo $150 plus tax for a refurbished unit or do I layout $100 (or so) for a power supply and replace on my own and if it is a mo-bo problem I'm out the power supply money... plus furhter replacement costs?

TIA

What service do you have? Lifetime or month by month.
If lifetime I'd have Tivo swap it out for a replacement and then after a few weeks to verify everything is OK I'd upsize the internal HDD to a 1Tb and get rid of your expander. I'd guess your expander caused your problems but other than plugging it back in your replacement(and possibly having it blow out the replacements power supply) you have no way to know for sure.

my s3 Box suddenly shut down and re-started itself twice last night,
in the span of about 2 hours.

It was fine after each re-start, but very annoying and completely unexplained.

Has this happened to anyone else?

thanks,

FCD

Probably the start of the hard drive going out. Unless you've already replaced it. They don't last forever.

Good (and bad) to know.

I also have an external drive attached.

Are there directions on -line on how to replace one or both?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

FCD

Good (and bad) to know.

I also have an external drive attached.

Are there directions on -line on how to replace one or both?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

FCD

It could be the eSATA that is causing you an issue. If it isn't doing it all the time then don't worry about it, but if it does happen on a regular basis then most people recommend not using an external HD and replacing with a larger internal hard drive.

If you want instructions, go to the TiVo HD thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=879469

Same works for the S3 for the most part and there is a complete guide on how to do everything.

You may lose your recordings in doing this. But read the guide carefully, there may be a way to do it without losing your recordings. Personally I'd just back all mine up to my Mac.

I just was checking out the list of compatible devices for the free streaming service for Amazon Prime members...here are the TiVo devices listed:

TiVo TCD746320 Premiere DVR (Black)
TiVo TCD748000 Premiere XL DVR (Black)
TiVo TCD658000 HD XL DVR
TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder
TiVo TCD540080 Series 2 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder
TiVo TCD649080 Series2 80-Hour Dual-Tuner Digital Video Recorder
TiVo TCD540080 Series 2 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder

Is it just me or is there some serious 'no love' going on for those of us with S3s??? Don't know whether to laugh or just shake my head... :(

Randy

interesting. I still have an S3 in the closet, I don't know if it works.

I think my HD TiVo's got an update last night. Both had rebooted and both had the tuner adapter connected message. Looks like there is a k in the serial number and I don't think that was there before.

I just was checking out the list of compatible devices for the free streaming service for Amazon Prime members...here are the TiVo devices listed:

TiVo TCD746320 Premiere DVR (Black)
TiVo TCD748000 Premiere XL DVR (Black)
TiVo TCD658000 HD XL DVR
TiVo TCD652160 HD Digital Video Recorder
TiVo TCD540080 Series 2 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder
TiVo TCD649080 Series2 80-Hour Dual-Tuner Digital Video Recorder
TiVo TCD540080 Series 2 80-Hour Digital Video Recorder

Is it just me or is there some serious 'no love' going on for those of us with S3s??? Don't know whether to laugh or just shake my head... :(

RandyWhere'd you find that list? No TiVo is currently supported for Amazon Prime Video because there's no TiVo streaming app for it. The Amazon app on TiVo is download only and APV is streaming only (the download Amazon Instant Video app does work on S3).

Where'd you find that list? No TiVo is currently supported for Amazon Prime Video because there's no TiVo streaming app for it. The Amazon app on TiVo is download only and APV is streaming only (the download Amazon Instant Video app does work on S3).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/devices#DVR

Upon further review, it doesn't specifically state streaming works...but it doesn't differentiate between streaming and non- in their compatibility listing. Of course, my S3 does work with their downloads, so since it isn't listed I figured this was more a streaming compatibility list. My apologies if I put out bogus info...it sure wasn't intentional...

Randy

http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/devices#DVR

Upon further review, it doesn't specifically state streaming works...but it doesn't differentiate between streaming and non- in their compatibility listing. Of course, my S3 does work with their downloads, so since it isn't listed I figured this was more a streaming compatibility list.If you look at this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/ontv/ref=sv_mov_aiv_2) page, which comes up if you click the "Watch On Your TV" link, you'll see a little 3x3 matrix of brand logos at the top, including TiVo's, marked with an asterisk. Under the matrix is written "*Prime instant videos are not currently available on TiVo devices".

There's a "Free Amazon Video On Demand With Amazon Prime!!! (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=463760)" thread at TiVo Community Forums featuring a bunch of pissing and moaning about the situation.

There's a "Free Amazon Video On Demand With Amazon Prime!!! (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=463760)" thread at TiVo Community Forums featuring a bunch of pissing and moaning about the situation.

People pissing and moaning about something in the TiVo Forum? Don't they give you a permaban for doing that? ;)

If you look at this (http://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/ontv/ref=sv_mov_aiv_2) page, which comes up if you click the "Watch On Your TV" link, you'll see a little 3x3 matrix of brand logos at the top, including TiVo's, marked with an asterisk. Under the matrix is written "*Prime instant videos are not currently available on TiVo devices".

There's a "Free Amazon Video On Demand With Amazon Prime!!! (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=463760)" thread at TiVo Community Forums featuring a bunch of pissing and moaning about the situation.

Got it...I blazed right past that. Thanks for straightening me out. I wonder why they don't list the Series 3 in the other area. Oh well, at least I know that having a Premier wouldn't do me any good.... :)

Randy

Our Series3 HD TiVo recently stopped working. The initial symptom was that the video gradually deteriorated as faint wavy lines appeared and moved up and down and back and forth across the screen. This lasted for a couple of months and I just didn't take the time to try to diagnose what was causing it. The effect was similar to what you would see if there was electrical interference affecting the coaxial cable but without static, only an ever-changing pattern of wavy lines that shifted their dance across the screen and disappeared and then reappeared.

But a couple of weeks ago the unit suddenly stopped displaying programming and started rebooting. It would display the Welcome screen for a few minutes, then the screen would go black for some seconds and then go back to the Welcome screen and this would continue until I pulled the power cord.

Thinking the problem was caused by corrupted data on the aging hard drive, I purchased a Western Digital WD10EVDS and copied the old hard drive using WinMFS and installed the new drive in the unit. When I started it up, it still would not progress past the Welcome screen and after some minutes would reboot. So, thinking perhaps the original hard drive had passed along corrupted settings to the new WD hard drive, I used the hard drive from a second, working TiVo S3 HD to try to initialize the new hard drive but it still would only boot to the Welcome screen and then loop back to the Welcome screen again and again. During this process, I tried a full copy of the original, failing hard drive. Then I tried a truncated copy of the original hard drive. Then I tried a truncated copy of the hard drive from a different TiVo S3 HD. In each case, the unit would start to boot to the Welcome screen and then restart.
At this point I tried WinMFS's bootpage fix with option 1. This didn't yield any better results. I then tried bootpage fix option 2 with similar results.
Then I read online that some of the WD green hard drives were being distributed with the intellipark feature so I created a boot CD with wdidle3.exe on it and ran wdidle3 /D to change the park setting to 62 minutes. This still didn't stop the endless reboot loop.
I then pulled both of the multi-stream cable cards and powered up. This time the unit progressed through the entire boot process until it got to the point where it realized there were no cable cards installed. It notified me that it was expecting two cards and instructed me to install the cards.
I followed the instructions on the screen which said to install the cable cards with the bottom card to be inserted first, but as soon as I installed the first cable card, the unit rebooted and entered the familiar boot sequence loop.

I tried booting the unit with only one cable card installed in the first position and that resulted in the endless reboot loop. I tried booting with only the second cable card installed and it entered the endless reboot loop. I tried swapping the cards and it entered the endless reboot loop. In short, I tried several different variations involving the cable cards and the only persistent observation was that the unit would not progress past the Welcome screen with the cards installed and, if I booted without the cards installed, it would immediately reboot as soon as either of the cable cards was installed.

With the combination of the faint wavy lines that dance across the screen and the reboot loop that only occurs when the cable cards are installed in the unit, I concluded that the power supply may be failing and has become too weak to provide adequate, stable voltage to the unit while the cable cards are installed.

I have ordered a new power supply to see if that will fix the problem.
Does anyone have any additional thoughts about this? Any other trouble shooting suggestions? At this point I am just trying to apply logical tests to see if I can get the unit to work but I do not have any formal education in electronics and I do not have specialized testing equipment to tell me if any of the motherboard components might be causing the problem. The power supply replacement seems like an easy and prudent measure to take based on the symptoms I'm experiencing but I wonder if someone with more experience sees something that would be worth investigating that I haven't tried yet.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

I have the same issues with my S3 Tivo. Did you ever replace the power supply? Did you figure out a solution to the problem?

Thanks

i figure the @S\3 has been around now for 5 years? Now depending upon use I suppose and other factors and my final analysts is upgrade to the premier.

There si nos sense IMHO in going with an out dated but nevertheless and outstanding machine But TiVo is indicating that support for the S3 and HD2 is going by the way side

Sometimes I even wonder if a DVR is even necessary. I mean you have your pay for view, look back. you jiss out on start over and rewind. But I'll probably stay with my TiVo's.

I have a S3 I haven't fired up in 2 year. I think the eSata iswhhat killed it

I have a close friend who's a SW engineer at TiVo and I've heard way too much about the Premiere to be interested. At this point, if my S3 were to die, I'm not sure that I'd replace it with a TiVo if I couldn't get another S3; I might actually prefer to lease a cable provider DVR.

Don't get me wrong--I paid $700 for my S3 5 years ago and PLS makes $1100 and I consider every penny of it well spent. But all I need my DVR for is timeshifting television, watching recorded and live TV and I doubt that TiVo is going to do anything to enhance that functionality on the Premiere. The only that might tempt me is the 4-tuner/2TB "Premiere Elite" that I'm hearing about, but it's likely to cost more than I'd be willing to spend at this point (and is complete overkill for my situation; 3 tuner, 1TB would be good enough :D).

But why is that, Mike? What is your Tivo friend saying that makes you think they have no intention of fixing the Premiere's obvious problems? Or updating the ancient Netflix and Amazon apps, etc.?

Sad, if true - looks like Tivo is abandoning the retail customer in favor of sucking up to the cableCos and milking patents. And then I read that the 'new' DirectTivo coming out is actually year-old hardware running software that's not been seriously updated either. What gives?

Personally I'm shocked that the Premier is still even using cable cards. Tru2Way is the way they should be making all their DVR's

Cable companies have is some ways almost eliminated the reason to have a DVR in the first place. With their Start Over feature, their ability to go back to a show you missed, and not to mention On Demand for just about everything conceivable for many a DVR isn't even required.

I'd still want one though. Now I haven't used a cable DVR for years but from what I understand the new boxes running Navigator in Time Warner seem to be pretty nice. At least the software is attractive. The question becomes does it actually record when you tell it to? I found that to be a serious issue with my old DVR from the cable company (SA 8300 SARA.)

I don't know a lot of details about it but the new Signature service that TWC has, also marketed as a "whole house DVR" is suppose to be able to record 4 channels at once. I don't know if that's 4 HD channels, there is a 500 GB Hard Drive and I believe you can install an eSata with it. This in my area is made by Samsung.

Right now my cable cards are costing me $10.00 a month. I could get 2 DVR's from the cable company with all the bells and whistles for an additional $4.00 a month. i'm going to hang on to my TiVo's for as long as possible but there may come a time when I let them go.

I have a close friend who's a SW engineer at TiVo and I've heard way too much about the Premiere to be interested.I have used over a half dozen Premieres and for DVRing outside of one software release they have been rock solid. App wise certainly not the most exciting however again outside of one software releases where my bandwidth was right on the border (of their HD) they have worked. Will things like their HD interface get resolved... who knows but their advisory surveys sure dig into the details. Now if their software followed through it would be something else. I think as they have fallen behind their price drop (last few I purchased for $60 - brand new) have keep them in the game (at least for me).

I have a feeling everyone knows this already, but the iPad App now works with TiVo HD and the S3.

Sort of.

I tried it on my iPad, I requested a 6:15 pm on 10/6 of the documentary "George Harrison, Living in The Material World."

Email I got back said no can do, two other programs recording at that time of 9:00. Try viewing other showings.

No, that wasn't what I asked for. And I did do that.

So I went to my TiVo itself and set up the recording.

I notice even when you try to set up an SP for a show like on HBO where they have it repeating it will come back with a message saying something like "Your request for ………. could not be completed. There are two showings at the same time with higher priority…etc."

But in those situations I also select the one I know when there is no recording. Oddly enough it does set up the Season Pass like I want it, it's just kind of odd the way they word the response to you.

Also for Android people there is an App for the S2 and HD TiVo as well. I downloaded it on my phone, I haven't tried it yet. If you search for that one simply search TiVo (In the Market), nothing else. There is another one but that only works on the Premier.