TiVo Series 3 - "Official" Thread - Page 119

Yes, very good point.


Indeed, and it is not even a matter of will, for some of us -- some of us are just really bad with hardware, and are as likely as not to break something as effect the upgrade properly. That's where the value of the price incremental we're talking about stems from -- not from any value provided to folks who can readily and easily upgrade the box themselves, but rather from the value provided to folks who cannot.

In my area they moved channel 40 to channel 186. I was informed of this by TiVo (Cspan2 which I watch, well, never). So I got to channel 186 and I have guide info but also something on the bottom of the screen that says "channel not available."

I take a look at the diagnostic screen and I see nothing. Zip. So I'm guessing this is a TiVo problem.

I reboot. It still doesn't work.

So I call TiVo CS.

I get the Christmas greeting that they are busier then normal (surprise) and that it may take a while. A new menu option is available for TiVo's that are HD. I select that.

Bingo, CSR on the line just that quick. I tell him what's going on and the diagnostic info that I don't see. He sends me to channels to see if it's selected. I'm thinking "idiot that's the first thing I did." So I tell him it is. He then says "repeat guided setup" and I say yeah, OK thinking that ain't gonna fix this.

He tells me to stand by for the survay and for his trouble I slam him.

I then repeat guided set up. And wouldn't you know it fixed the problem. And I slammed the poor dude.

I feel like....subject line.

That guy was probably in line for a small Christmas bonus so he could afford to get Tiny Tim a toy for christmas and bring home some decorations and treat his family to a nice dinner. Now he's in his managers office getting a pink slip.

Wow, that makes me feel better. Let me go find a bus to jump in front of.

Hey guys, I hate to keep bringing this up, but I am still interested in Tivo. Could you guys please tell me your experience with tivotogo and multiroom with series 3 and Comcast? Anyone in Augusta? I called TIVO, and they said anything I can record, I can use with the two above features, is that true?
Thanks
Mo

Mo, I don't have multiple TiVo's (yet) but I do use tivotogo to move programs from my hard drive that I may want to view later to my computer. It works great for that. I really don't think Tivo to go and multiroom have anything to do with a specific cable provider. The only problem you may have with them is the cable cards initial set up, then again if they follow the directions they shouldn't have problems.

One thing and this is important! The S3 will not transfer HD shows to a non HD TiVo. Also many cable companies use copy once on channels like HDnet, even though they are not suppose to. So those shows would not be transferable at all.

If I were to use a series 3 in the bedroom, is there a way to turn off the display so that it doesn't bother me at night?
Thanks
Mo

I'm a single guy who shares a house and all my HT stuff is in my bedroom (I was willing to share it, but there was nowhere to set it up in the common space; now I'm used to using my 46" 1080p LCD panel as a screen for my laptop, so it's now a permanent bedroom feature ).

The TiVo S3's front panel display doesn't bother me with the default settings, but there are settings for changing the clock brightness to "Bright", "Regular", "Dim" and "Off" and a setting for disabling the LEDs though you can't stop the LED blink which acknowledges a remote button press. (Of course, if you're pressing remote buttons, you probably won't mind).

I would have thought a more pressing question would have been, is there a way to make the S3's HD stop spinning so it doesn't make nearly as much noise each night? (Would setting it on Standby work - and if it was on Standby, would it still record scheduled recordings?)

That's pretty much the only thing keeping me from putting a TiVo in my bedroom.

-- Don

Have you tried tuning both tuners to channels you don't receive? That should stop the buffering recordings from happening, I think...haven't tried it in awhile.

Well I did it, I bought a TIVO series 3 (again), and will have Comcast come out Saturday to put in cablecards. They didn't give me such a hastle this time, probably because I filed a complaint with the FCC. Anyway, you guys should have told me that this thing is actually audible! It is almost as noisy as my home theater pc which has 5 "toned down" fans. Does anyone have a TIvo HD ? Is that quieter? I need something for the bedroom.
Thanks
Mo

First the TiVo S3 that I own is quiet and I know this is on the board but "you should have told me" is a rather unpolite statement as it reads. Since I don't want another "you should have told me" make sure that when they come out to install your cable cards that they follow the instructions exactly. Remind them that this is your equiptment and if they don't follow instructions you will hold them responsible (only if they start to do something different).

Good luck on your install, I'm sure you will enjoy your S3.

You should have told me not to use "you should have told me"

hmmmm....where's that ignore button....

Yup, another quiet TiVo S3 here.

My S3 is silent, so far as I can tell. Maybe you have a bad unit.

I have so many other noisy pieces of equipment (the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and even my 46" Mitsubishi LCD panel, which has a mildly faulty PS--common problem for the model--which tends to make a constant scratchy "cricket" noise when displaying images with lot of bright areas, like now, as I use it as a display for my laptop). If I turn off the LCD panel all I can hear is the gentle sound of the fans in the laptop; nothing from the TiVo.

Quiet Tivo here!

Comcast guy came out yesterday with 2 M Cards, spent about 2 hours trying to get it to work even though I told him I thought my signal level was too high. He measured and it averaged out to 19dB so after 2 hours of no joy with the Cablecard he padded the signal and hey presto Cablecard #2 activated, took about 10 more minutes and Cablecard 2 came on line. By the time he left all channels working on both cards.

However! This morning no digital tier no multiplexes and no HD except for unencrypted off-airs. Everyone at Comcast scratching their heads trying to figure it out and they want to send out a tech. Will keep you all updated as the saga progresses.

Quiet S3 here as well.

I think the reason "us guys" didn't tell you is because of what you're seeing in these responses....our S3s are vewy vewy quiet...including mine....of course, I'm deaf in one ear and can't hear with the other.... Seriously, though, mine is whisper quiet. I cannot hear it from six feet away.

Okay.. okay.. so maybe the thing isnt too loud. Wish me luck tommorow.. I am excited!
Mo!

Don't feel bad, mine is just about a year old and is noisy enough to know it is there.

I didn't also know there is a standby mode. That would be the easiest thing to do to reduce noise and light. i hope in the future they could make a timer for this? So it is up and running when needed, but would go into this standby mode when not in use for a few hours or so..

Mo

When it is in "stand by" it still continues to record and if you have a recording schedule it will record as it is suppose to. If you take it out of stand by and turn on your TV you will see a green bar indicating it has been recording all along.

Since the hard drive is still running I doubt it will make it any less quiet.

The S3 is exceptionally quiet compared to DVRs I've owned in the past. If you guys are having issues with loud S3s then there is probably an issue with the box.

Or, you may just be a pain in the @$$ customer?! If the employees in stores you frequent roll their eyes when they see you coming, good news, your TiVo is OK!

Well the comcast guy came out. It took less than 15 minutes to install the cards. Unfortunately when he left, I realized that I was getting channels 2-99 and all the HD channels except for 2, and none of the channels between 100-180. Weird! So I called them back, they are going to call me. Any suggestions?

Tivotogo rocks! Although it is slow, it is worth it!

Mo!

Suggestions? Your account needs to be 'balanced' and 'hits' resent to the cards.

Had nearly the same problem. Could get my digital package again afte r a visit last night but my SHO & HBO multiplex and HD channels were still not on until a tech came out this AM and got a senior CS tech on the line to confirm the info was in the right lines in the addressability system. 5 minutes later one good hit and everything is working fine. This is with 2 M cards in the box, but as noted earlier in the thread the M cards look like S cards to the Series 3 anyway.

Hello all,

I'm a Verizon FiOS customer in Tampa and I'm trying to get my Tivo HD up and running. I had a Verizon guy at my house yesterday for 4 hours and he was unable to get the cablecards working. He activated them on his laptop, but the Tivo would never get past the spinning "acquiring channel information" screen. Now Verizon is trying to troubleshoot it as a MOCA problem, and I'm on the verge of pulling my hair out. I've tried telling the guy that the TiVO box isn't MOCA capable, so it shouldn't matter at all. The installer (and his buddy that showed up to help) are trying to say that the issue is my custom router that I use for work and my older NIM100. I tried explaining that VOD and guide updates work just fine on my DVR and the standard def box in the bedroom.

They seem to think that the cablecards need to hit the Moca side to be able to authenticate. This doesn't make any sense whatsoever to me and I'm starting to feel like I've fallen into their black hole.

Does anyone have any suggestions or a number I can call? I refuse to use the Verizon router because I use a special VPN router for work.

I hate being a "know it all" when the techs show up, but it really sucks that we know more on this board than they do.

Help, please!

They are sending the guy back today.. wow, I am actually impressed by the service. Dude.. where has tivo been my whole life. So far, I really like it. The tivotogo works awesome. The recordings are great! Does anyone have experience with two tivos? Can you for example record a show in the living room, go the bedroom, and watch that show, but skip to lets say the last 5 minutes of the show with no problems? Or does it need to download the whole show first?
Thanks
Mo

Multi-Room Viewing (MRV) works by copying the program from one TiVo to another over your LAN. You can start watching it while it's copying, but you can't skip to the last 5 minutes until it's copied that much of it. Obviously the speed of copying depends on your network; for high-definition content, the copying might not go as fast as realtime, and if you start watching it quickly after you start the copy, you might catch up with the copy and have to wait for more of it to download before you can resume watching.

It's also possible that on your cable system, some content might not be accessible via TTG or MRV. The cable providers are allowed to mark anything that's not part of the core basic tier (the 20 or so channels that you get for the lowest possible price that must include rebroadcasts of local over-the-air stuff) as "Copy One Generation". Content that's marked that way cannot be copied off of the TiVo. It'll show up with a little slashed red circle beside it on TiVo Desktop's "Pick Recordings to Transfer" dialog. What content gets marked this way is completely at the discretion of your cable provider--some don't use it at all and some mark everything that they're allowed to with it. Mine marks a subset of channels--about half of my extended basic channels, HD and SD, are marked that way (for instance, TNT HD is but Universal HD is not) and all of my premium digital channels (HBO and Showtime). They also mark all of the digital simulcasts of the analog channels that way, even the ones whose analog versions can't be protected, so I can't copy recordings of non-digital over-the-air channels.

Right now, out of 30-some-odd recordings, 3 are non-transferrable: episodes of Dexter from HBO HD, Stargate Atlantis from Sci Fi and Explorer from National Geographic HD.