Official AVS TiVo HD Topic! - Page 2

It is an interesting approach, but it also has potential problems as you point out. I would have to try it before I could decide which I like better. The SA 8300 HD works like Replay, looking at a New Episode Flag to prevent recording repeats.

Cox in Phoenix, Arizona, charges $18.00 monthly for their DVR plus $5.00 monthly for the guide service.

(With a three-year commitment TiVo service would be only a little over $8.00 each month. Since I have a TiVo S2 with a lifetime subscription a TiVo HD would only cost $7.00 monthly for their guide service. Even if I need two CableCards at $2.00 each monthly I would have $12.00 each month to go towards payng off the TiVo. That is about two years. If and when Cox offers M-Cards I'd save a bit and if TiVo offers lifetime subscription transfers the TiVo HD would be a bargain.)

Has TiVo unlocked the eSATA port for the TiVo HD? Does it have an IEEE 1394 interface?

Perhaps, it's very difficult to understand Comcast's website and charges. It's such a mess.

If you just have one TV and one DVR, I can't see Comcast being able to charge the "additional outlet" fee. I would think that if anything, you might be forced to pay the $5 HD-tier fee.

For the record, the VerizonFios pricing structure is so much easier to understand. They have a set base price, then all other boxes are an additional rental fee. They don't hassle you with "additional outlet" fees, "HD tier" fees, "Digital tier" fees, "just because we can" fees, etc.

ft

Troll alert!

My experience with TWC and box rentals is as follows. The analog tier (lifeline aside) runs $49.99 per month. For this you get all of the analog channels below 99.

For $53.99 per month there is the digipac 1000. This is the most reasonable digital tier and offers 200+ channels. Essentially everything except premiums (HBO, Showtime, TMC, Starz etc). In addition to the $53.99 there is an equipment fee of $7.95 per month for the STB. So the increase over the analog package is about $13 per month.

To move to DVR service there is a $7.95 box rental fee and a $6.95 DVR service fee. In my case the original digital STB went back to the cableco and was replaced with the DVR box. So the $7.95 I was paying for the original STB is now applied to the DVR box rental fee. Making the net increase in fees the $6.95 for the DVR service fee.

In my case moving to a cableco DVR increased my monthly bill $6.95.

I upgraded my TiVoHD to a 500 GB drive tonight. Now I have 64 HD hours capacity!
The TiVoHD isn't as good as my Series3 boxes but for only $244 it was an excellent deal.

Can you tell us how the TiVo HD is not as good as the Series 3, besides the remote and display? I just got the HD and may pick up a series 3, as well, or another HD. No problems upgrading the HD to the bigger hard drive? I thought that I had read that the software for previous TiVo's did not work with the HD.

The old software doesn't, but a new upgrade tool was released. It's still in testing -- not ready for official release yet -- but it appears to work very well. More information and download link here.



The TivoHD has a few graphical bugs that Tivo needs to fix. These are minor things, but the Series3 doesn't have them. The TivoHD is a completely new design with many new drivers, so some bugs are probably to be expected; the Series3 had its share of annoyances when it was released a year ago, but Tivo fixed them.

As noted above, the TivoHD also uses the older 8.1.x branch which doesn't have the performance improvements of the 8.3.x software on the Series3. As a result, the guide and menus are much slower on the TivoHD. The TivoHD should get 8.3.x or newer software in a few months to improve its performance, but until then, the Series3 is the faster and more responsive box.

In six months time, after several software updates, I expect the TivoHD to be the better box. As of today, the Series3 is the better box simply because its software is more mature.

The series 3 does a better job with analog recordings, but most people probably won't even notice the difference. I also like the OLED panel so I can see what is being recorded without turning the TV on. Plus the Series 3 cosmetically looks better. I think the Series 3 is better but it's really only minor issues that make it better. Not worth the huge price premium.
For the price(I paid $244 for my TiVoHD) the TivO HD is a better deal. I paid between 2 and 3 times as much for my three Series 3 units. The TiVoHD is definitely worth getting since it is so inexpensive.

I paid $406 for my TiVo S3.... at that price, the advantages, combined with the extra two months I've had the device, basically balance it out against the $299 price-tag for the TiVo HD. Of course, next year, expect $199 DVRs to beat the pants off of anything out there now. s

I picked up on of these wednesday when Circuit City had them $50 off. With another coupon I had I could'nt turn it down. I've tried everything but Tivo pretty much...the 8300, a BeyondTV/PC setup, and an old Showstopper, but I'm really happy with this so far. It has some drawbacks, but what does'nt.

Precisely! Enjoy your new purchase!

That's the Series 3 price. The TiVo HD price would be $598.
$299 for the TiVoHD and $299 for the 3 years prepay. The 3 years prepay is just the cheapest for your first box. You can still do monthly but it is more expensive. The $299 prepay is the cheapest and works out to $8.30 a month. The only caveot is you have to pay the 3 years at one time, but the cheapest monthly on the first box is around $12.95 so the prepay is a much better deal.
But if you already have a TiVo on your account you can do the monthly billing at $6.95 a month with a 3 year commitment. That's how my TiVoHD and two of my Series 3 boxes are on my account. $6.95 a month. And I prepayed the 3 years at $299 for my first Series 3.

I'm sorry, but lol at paying $300 for TV guide.
American broadcasters need to get their sh1t in order and start transmitting proper EIT/PSIP data, either that, or manufacturers need to get with the program and make their firmware receive this data properly. Paying to receive guide data over the air is insane. I'll stick with my analog VCR thank you very much.

Over on TivoCommunity, it has become apparent that the TivoHD software has some bugs in its CableCard/OpenCable driver that affects systems using Scientific Atlanta CableCards. Tivo released an update on the 1st which addresses the problem on some SA systems, but not all.

Tivo is working on a problem and expects to have a solution soon, but if your cable system uses Scientific Atlanta CableCards, you might want to hold off on buying a TivoHD for a few weeks. The Tivo Series3 does not have that same issues.

It's a little more than paying for TV guide. You've obviously never used a DVR, let alone a TiVo from your comments. The guide data allows you to do many things. You don't record things like a VCR. Although I guess you're happy being stuck in the 20th century with your VCR. I haven't used a VCR in many years and if I was going to record something it would be with a stand alone DVD burner which records the same crappy way as a vcr but without having to use tapes..

You're also paying for software updates and support, not just the guide data.

That's not really clear. Folks with the S1 pay the same as those with the S2 and S3, and they get only minimal software updates and support.

I think the DST fix is that only update that S1 TiVo users have received and that was made possible by someone outside the TiVo Corp., though they did eventually end up hiring him, or at least making an offer.

Indeed.

But with the S1 you could've bought lifetime, so you wouldn't be paying a fee now.

For some period of time, you do get updates and support with your monthly.

yada yada yada...

TiVo HD doesn't have it. And it has issues that make it IMHO not ready for prime time. Very slow menu navigation, grey screen for a few secs when changing channels, and worst of all, pixelation / macroblocking--several times an hour. I returned mine (I'm a long time TiVo fan--have my series 2 for 6 years), and will wait on the sidelines until/if TiVo fixes the issues--and hopefully addresses the SDV issue.

Any further info on the pixelization problem?

Tivo just started spooling out a new b software upgrade for the Tvo HD yesterday. Mostly to deal with macroblocking/pixelation problems associated with cablecards.

seems to be better with motorola cards some SA card uses are still reporting problems.

i have a small glitch in my tivo hd with the recently deleted folder.
With only one program in the recently deleted folder, i will permantly delete the program and it will not disappear the first time or even if i do it repeatedly it stays there.
Then if i go to watch a live tv program and come back to the menu, it still will show 1 prgram inside and then i can go into the folder and go through the Yes, permantly delete option and only then will it disappear and i have an empty folder then.

IF i have several programs (say 4 for example) in the RD folder I can permanantly delete 3 of them and they go away as they should but then the last one stays until i go out to live tv and come back and delete it again then it goes away.

just an odd glitch, no biggie.

d/l and installed the new b software and stills does it. understand the new software is trying to correct the macroblocking/pixelation problem that many are having and that is first and foremost but was hoping they might have fixed some little problems too.
why don't they give the tivo HD the 8.3 software that the S3 uses?

At some point during TivoHD software development they had to take the latest version of what they had and port it for that new hardware platform. At the time, that was 8.1.x.

The TivoHD and Series3 software platforms will likely merge in a few months with 8.4.x or 8.5.x.