| 5Gs |
so...anyone thinking of getting one? it's available now. for me, I think I'll wait until maybe the end of this year, even if it stays at $800.
tivo series 3 |
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| jay |
I'm mulling it over, but for me a Comcast HD DVR at an extra $10 a month seems like a better way to go, especially when they roll out the TiVo software.
I have two Series 2 boxes, a 40 hour and an 80 hour, with lifetime subs. With the $199 transfer option to transfer the lifetime sub to the Series 3, I wonder what I could sell the 40 hour unit for?:confused: |
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| 5Gs |
| yeah I thought about the $199 transfer but since I'm planning on keeping the series 2 for a while, it didn't make any sense to transfer the subscription. I'm guessing you should be able to sell your 40 hour unit for $300 or more. |
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| jay |
| But in the deal with the $199 transfer, you get a 1 year subscription on your Series 2 for free. So you could have your Lifetime on the 3, and still use the 2 for a year. |
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| iglesias |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
I'm mulling it over, but for me a Comcast HD DVR at an extra $10 a month seems like a better way to go, especially when they roll out the TiVo software.
You'll want to wait for the TiVo's Comcast DVR. I have a TiVo and the Comcast DVR (non-HD). The Comcast DVR is crap compared to TiVo. The interface sucks, it's harder to search for programs you want to record, I could go on but you get the idea. :3: |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by iglesias
You'll want to wait for the TiVo's Comcast DVR. I have a TiVo and the Comcast DVR (non-HD). The Comcast DVR is crap compared to TiVo. The interface sucks, it's harder to search for programs you want to record, I could go on but you get the idea. :3:
I'd heard that before, on the TiVo Community Forum. That's sorta why I've been holding out. But these single tuner non-HD TiVos really hose me twice - while it's recording non-HD from the set-top box, I'm watching analog input on my HDTV. :( And I'm not paying Comcast for another set-top box to plug into the TiVo and building a tent over that TiVo tuner box so the remote signal doesn't reach it.:p |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
But in the deal with the $199 transfer, you get a 1 year subscription on your Series 2 for free. So you could have your Lifetime on the 3, and still use the 2 for a year.
right, and if I continue to use the series 2 after that year, I'll have to pay $6.95/month. if that's the case, I'll just pay $6.95/month now for the series 3. the question is, how long do I want to continue using the series 2. looks like the break-even point is about 29 months. |
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| robottik |
As clunky as my Comcast HD DVR is, I'll keep it for now until until a) HD Tivo drops in price or b) like Jay said, they roll out Tivo software on the Comcast HD boxes.
PS - I also have ReplayTV on my other SD TV. Love that box. They will be releasing PC based ReplayTV software soon, but it won;t support HD in the inital release. |
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| iglesias |
quote:
Originally posted by robottik
As clunky as my Comcast HD DVR is, I'll keep it for now until until a) HD Tivo drops in price or b) like Jay said, they roll out Tivo software on the Comcast HD boxes.
I probably won't get to see the Comcast Tivo software - we got switched to Time Warner after Comcast and TW bought Adelphia. |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by iglesias
I probably won't get to see the Comcast Tivo software - we got switched to Time Warner after Comcast and TW bought Adelphia.
And as I understand it. only part of the Comcast system will get the TiVo software - those of us who get the Motorola set-top boxes. The Comcast areas that are still using Scientific Atlanta boxes are sol. |
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| jay |
This thread has caused me to really think about how I use my TiVo boxes, and for now I think I'll just get a Comcast HD DVR. The biggest issue I have now is noy being able to watch a different program, especially in HD, when something is recording, since the cable box feeds my TiVo. I have the cable split, with one side going into the cable box, then out to the TiVo, and the other side straight into the TV.
Earlier this week when "Vanished" was recording, I watched the football game in analog. Bleh!
Since the Comcast HD DVR has 2 tuners, and it would add only $10 more to my monthly expense, it seems to make more sense right now that an $800 TiVo box, plus another $6.95 a month. I'll still be able to use the TiVo to record most stuff in SD, and watch HD while the TiVo's doing it's thing.
I guess it's off to Comcast tomorrow to swap set-top boxes.:p
Since I have two TiVo boxes, I once thought I could record on one box and watch what I wanted on the other TV, then transfer the recorded program from one TiVo o the other to watch. While it sounds good in theory, and does work, it really screws up any spontaneity. The transfer time from one to another is a killer; when you're ready to watch a program, it's on the other box, and you have to start the transfer and wait a good 30-45 minutes before you start watching, so you don't "out-watch" the transfer feed. Ah, the trials of technology.:p |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
This thread has caused me to really think about how I use my TiVo boxes, and for now I think I'll just get a Comcast HD DVR. The biggest issue I have now is noy being able to watch a different program, especially in HD, when something is recording, since the cable box feeds my TiVo. I have the cable split, with one side going into the cable box, then out to the TiVo, and the other side straight into the TV.
Earlier this week when "Vanished" was recording, I watched the football game in analog. Bleh!
Since the Comcast HD DVR has 2 tuners, and it would add only $10 more to my monthly expense, it seems to make more sense right now that an $800 TiVo box, plus another $6.95 a month. I'll still be able to use the TiVo to record most stuff in SD, and watch HD while the TiVo's doing it's thing.
I guess it's off to Comcast tomorrow to swap set-top boxes.:p
will an antenna solve your problem? my setup is similar to yours, but I also have another cable going into the tv that's connected to my antenna in my attic, for hd ota.
btw, if you don't think you'll need your tivo, I'll happily take it off your hands. :D |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by 5Gs
will an antenna solve your problem? my setup is similar to yours, but I also have another cable going into the tv that's connected to my antenna in my attic, for hd ota.
btw, if you don't think you'll need your tivo, I'll happily take it off your hands. :D
I guess that'd be another approach; with the problems a friend at work had a while back trying to use an antenna for OTA HD, I'll pass. Not to mention there are all the cable HD channels that aren't OTA broadcast. |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
I guess that'd be another approach; with the problems a friend at work had a while back trying to use an antenna for OTA HD, I'll pass. Not to mention there are all the cable HD channels that aren't OTA broadcast.
I use antenna web to guide me as to where to point the antenna, and ever since I've had it up, it's worked without a problem. I get all the major networks in hd. the only game I don't get in hd now is monday night football, on espn. maybe I should spring for the hd over cable... |
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| Bill Balmer |
Where can I get more info about Tivo software on Comcast? I just signed up with Comcast and now have a Motorola HD DVR from them, but I agree about the interface. Is a software upgrade in the works? What do I need to do to be a part of it? Do they upload software upgrades directly to my box?
On the subject of OTA HD, I have an antenna on my roof that worked fairly well for HD when I had Dish Network, but unlike the Dish receiver, my new Comcast HD set-top box has no antenna input, so I have no HD receiver for my antenna signal.:3: Fortunately the HD programming on Comcast is far more complete. |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by Bill Balmer
Where can I get more info about Tivo software on Comcast? I just signed up with Comcast and now have a Motorola HD DVR from them, but I agree about the interface. Is a software upgrade in the works? What do I need to do to be a part of it? Do they upload software upgrades directly to my box?
On the subject of OTA HD, I have an antenna on my roof that worked fairly well for HD when I had Dish Network, but unlike the Dish receiver, my new Comcast HD set-top box has no antenna input, so I have no HD receiver for my antenna signal.:3: Fortunately the HD programming on Comcast is far more complete.
I learned about the Comcast deal from the TiVo Community Forum. http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/
From what I learned, it looks like early next year Comcast will upgrade the software on the Motorola DVRs to the TiVo interface, and it'll roll out like any other software upgrade to your box.
You can also google on Comcast TiVo and read the news, speculation, etc., that way. |
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| jay |
Well, my trial of a Comcast DVR has taken some interesting turns. First, unlike what I believed, in this area we get the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 HD DVR. No chance we'll ever get the TiVo software upgrade, as it's only for Motorola boxes, and we'd need a change to the infrastructure and headend here to support Moto boxes, as I understand it.
Comcast gave me the DVR box and remote, but no manual, so I had to find it on the net to figure out how to get the thing configured to properly display HD on my TV. The good news, it has 2 tuners; the bad news, there's no independent control of the tuners. Plus, you have to select what gets pushed out HD or SD. You can't control one tuner, with HD to your TV, and have standard digital going a series 2 TiVo. So basically, my 40 hour lifetime service series 2 single tuner TiVo is a paperweight.
I could push signal to the TiVo, but then everything is in standard def, and I still only have the one tuner, effectively, as there's no independent control of each tuner.
The interface isn't as clunky as I was expecting, and I set it to record and left this afternoon, and came back to a recorded HD movie, so that seemed to work okay. The other issue, though, is that my Bose system doesn't always detect the audio signal, and to fix that I have to switch to another input source on the Bose, then back to the cable input, and it begins working properly. That's hit or miss, though. The coax Digital Audio cable is plugged in tight at both ends, so who knows what the problem is.
The long and short of it is that I decided to take advantage of the lifetime transfer offer. I ordered the series 3 earlier today. When it arrives, I'll schedule Comcast to install 2 Cablecards, and call TiVo to transfer the lifetime from the series 2 to the series 3.
I'm undecided about keeping the Comcast DVR, or even using a set-top box. The cablecards won't let you use the Comcast On-Demand channels or pay-per-view features. While I haven't done any pay-per-view, I do like the On-Demand option. And the nice thing about the Comcast DVR is the ability to do Picture-in-Picture. Decisions, Decisions.:p |
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| jay |
I'm enjoying using the Comcast DVR, and my TiVo order arrived today, unexpectedly. I received order confirmation a few hours after my order on Saturday, but never received a shipping confirmation email. But the S3 arrived today. I'll install it and do the lifetime transfer tomorrow, after I watch some stuff that's on the S2.
Getting a consistent answer from Comcast about Cablecards was a whole other story. I called the local number, punched all the right buttons, then talked to someone who refused to schedule a cablecard install, since they don't support TiVos. BIG BS. She asked for a number so someone could call me back, and I hung up.
I then drove to the local office, and the lady told me the cards were free, the install was free, but service to each card was $9.95 per card per month. I left.
Then I called 1-800-COMCAST, and the rep. said the cards were free, but there was a one time install fee of $9.95 per card. And since I already pay for HD service, there won't be a $5 per card per month fee for HD. I scheduled the install for Monday. We'll see. |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
I'm enjoying using the Comcast DVR, and my TiVo order arrived today, unexpectedly. I received order confirmation a few hours after my order on Saturday, but never received a shipping confirmation email. But the S3 arrived today. I'll install it and do the lifetime transfer tomorrow, after I watch some stuff that's on the S2.
Getting a consistent answer from Comcast about Cablecards was a whole other story. I called the local number, punched all the right buttons, then talked to someone who refused to schedule a cablecard install, since they don't support TiVos. BIG BS. She asked for a number so someone could call me back, and I hung up.
I then drove to the local office, and the lady told me the cards were free, the install was free, but service to each card was $9.95 per card per month. I left.
Then I called 1-800-COMCAST, and the rep. said the cards were free, but there was a one time install fee of $9.95 per card. And since I already pay for HD service, there won't be a $5 per card per month fee for HD. I scheduled the install for Monday. We'll see.
it requires someone to come out and install the card?? |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by 5Gs
it requires someone to come out and install the card??
Different area have different rules. In the Seattle Comcast area, you can pick them up and install them yourself. Here, they're slower on the uptake. Heck, even my first HD set top box they had to schedule an install. The second one, they finally figured out that we could do it and probably not F it up as bad as an installer. Even with the first one, I had the installer stand by while I ran cables, etc.:cool: |
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| jdeanski |
| If you guys were really, really smart, and I know some of you are, you'd dump cable and migrate to DishNetwork and get their PVR....it absolutely rocks. So what if it doesn't follow your viewing habits and have all the bells and whistles of Tivo, the Vip622 is amazing. I dumped cable years ago, I'm so glad I did. |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by jdeanski
If you guys were really, really smart, and I know some of you are, you'd dump cable and migrate to DishNetwork and get their PVR....it absolutely rocks. So what if it doesn't follow your viewing habits and have all the bells and whistles of Tivo, the Vip622 is amazing. I dumped cable years ago, I'm so glad I did.
My parents have Dish at their house about 25 miles away. A storm came up one day while I was there, and they lost service for 30 minutes. No thanks. I may complain about my Comcast service, but it's always worked in a rainstorm when I needed it most. :4: DirecTV with an NFL season pass, maybe.:p
I also can't get too excited about Dish Network, click on DVR info on their website, and get:
"The page cannot be found
The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
Please try the following:
Make sure that the Web site address displayed in the address bar of your browser is spelled and formatted correctly.
If you reached this page by clicking a link, contact the Web site administrator to alert them that the link is incorrectly formatted.
Click the Back button to try another link.
HTTP Error 404 - File or directory not found.
Internet Information Services (IIS)
Technical Information (for support personnel)
Go to Microsoft Product Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and 404.
Open IIS Help, which is accessible in IIS Manager (inetmgr), and search for topics titled Web Site Setup, Common Administrative Tasks, and About Custom Error Messages." |
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| Sportymonk |
If Cromagnon man can hop in on this. I don't have HD anything or a Tivo. Just TV, VCR, DVD player. Thought about Tivo but when the HD fills up you are stuck with getting rid of something. Thought about how I can take a VCR tape out and put a new on in and can send a tape to friends if I want.
Went down to Best Buy and they had a demo on the difference between HD TV and non HD. Two identical sets side by side. Only real difference was the sharpness of the edges on the ESPN logo on the bottom of the screen. College aged son didn't see much difference either.
With the cost of LCD and Plasma TVs and an anticipated move next year, I figure I will wait. Maybe a TV will get broken an I get anew one. As far as TV goes, I don't see it being better than a VCR. Just MHO. |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by Sportymonk
If Cromagnon man can hop in on this. I don't have HD anything or a Tivo. Just TV, VCR, DVD player. Thought about Tivo but when the HD fills up you are stuck with getting rid of something. Thought about how I can take a VCR tape out and put a new on in and can send a tape to friends if I want.
I used to think that, but I can copy whatever I want to keep onto a vcr (yes I know, it's an extra step) or my computer. plus, if I copy it to my computer, I can convert the tivo file to mpeg or something that I can transfer online to any of my friends.
quote:
Went down to Best Buy and they had a demo on the difference between HD TV and non HD. Two identical sets side by side. Only real difference was the sharpness of the edges on the ESPN logo on the bottom of the screen. College aged son didn't see much difference either.
I wonder what hd content they were playing? I know it's night and day difference for me when I'm watching nfl football games (if they're broadcasting in 720p or 1080i, not 480p like what fox used to do).
quote:
With the cost of LCD and Plasma TVs and an anticipated move next year, I figure I will wait. Maybe a TV will get broken an I get anew one. As far as TV goes, I don't see it being better than a VCR. Just MHO.
I have to admit...the tivo is one of those things you don't think too much about, but after you get one, you wonder how did I ever watch tv without one! :) |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
Different area have different rules. In the Seattle Comcast area, you can pick them up and install them yourself. Here, they're slower on the uptake. Heck, even my first HD set top box they had to schedule an install. The second one, they finally figured out that we could do it and probably not F it up as bad as an installer. Even with the first one, I had the installer stand by while I ran cables, etc.:cool:
once you get the s3 going, I'd like to hear what you think of it. I'm thinking of getting one, but probably not until the end of the year. :) |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by Sportymonk
If Cromagnon man can hop in on this. I don't have HD anything or a Tivo. Just TV, VCR, DVD player. Thought about Tivo but when the HD fills up you are stuck with getting rid of something. Thought about how I can take a VCR tape out and put a new on in and can send a tape to friends if I want.
Went down to Best Buy and they had a demo on the difference between HD TV and non HD. Two identical sets side by side. Only real difference was the sharpness of the edges on the ESPN logo on the bottom of the screen. College aged son didn't see much difference either.
With the cost of LCD and Plasma TVs and an anticipated move next year, I figure I will wait. Maybe a TV will get broken an I get anew one. As far as TV goes, I don't see it being better than a VCR. Just MHO.
You weren't seeing HD. Trust me. Maybe analog vs. digital, but I've never seen a Best Buy demo that's true HD. The HD set I demo'ed there looks spectacular on HD here at home, but only so-so in the store. |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by 5Gs
once you get the s3 going, I'd like to hear what you think of it. I'm thinking of getting one, but probably not until the end of the year. :)
I will. You should know, though, that right now there's no support for TiVo-to-Go or Multi-Room-Viewing, the benefits you described in your earlier post about TiVo, on the S3.:( |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
I will. You should know, though, that right now there's no support for TiVo-to-Go or Multi-Room-Viewing, the benefits you described in your earlier post about TiVo, on the S3.:(
yeah I heard about that. it doesn't seem like such a hard feature to enable, considering it was working just fine on the s2. hopefully soon, or by the end of this year they'll have that enabled! |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by 5Gs
yeah I heard about that. it doesn't seem like such a hard feature to enable, considering it was working just fine on the s2. hopefully soon, or by the end of this year they'll have that enabled!
Like most things lately, it seems, it's a Digital Rights Management issue, not a technical issue. But given how slow transfers are from one S2 to another, I can't imagine how long it would take to transfer an HD stream from one TiVo to another over a home network. |
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| jdeanski |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
My parents have Dish at their house about 25 miles away. A storm came up one day while I was there, and they lost service for 30 minutes. No thanks. I may complain about my Comcast service, but it's always worked in a rainstorm when I needed it most. :4: DirecTV with an NFL season pass, maybe.:p
I
I dumped cable years ago when I would continue to wake up to the static of the cable being out for whatever reason. When the hurricanes for two years ago left us without power and my neighbors without cable I had a generator and DishNetwork. Yes, satellite is subject to rain fade but cable has more that it's share of outages too.
Yes, DirectTv has the NFL, but I could care less. I don't buy any of those sports packages. I started with Direct but when they arbitrarily chose to void my smartcard and offered to sell me a new one I moved to Dish.
I watched the Florida/Tennessee game at a friends that had digital cable and believe me the quality of his cable's HD broadcast was far inferior to my setup.
I get thirty HD channels not including my locals. How many do you get? |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
Like most things lately, it seems, it's a Digital Rights Management issue, not a technical issue. But given how slow transfers are from one S2 to another, I can't imagine how long it would take to transfer an HD stream from one TiVo to another over a home network.
I'm hoping the s3's network interface is better/faster, as you're right that the transfers of the s2 are pretty slow. 100mb bandwith should be plenty fast for sd content, and should be enough for hd content. |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jdeanski
I dumped cable years ago when I would continue to wake up to the static of the cable being out for whatever reason. When the hurricanes for two years ago left us without power and my neighbors without cable I had a generator and DishNetwork. Yes, satellite is subject to rain fade but cable has more that it's share of outages too.
Yes, DirectTv has the NFL, but I could care less. I don't buy any of those sports packages. I started with Direct but when they arbitrarily chose to void my smartcard and offered to sell me a new one I moved to Dish.
I watched the Florida/Tennessee game at a friends that had digital cable and believe me the quality of his cable's HD broadcast was far inferior to my setup.
I get thirty HD channels not including my locals. How many do you get?
not all hd is the same, as I know directv compresses their hd as much as possible that a lot of people I know think it sucks. I think comcast digital compresses some of their stuff, but not as bad as directv. ota hd is the best in terms of quality. I get all the major broadcast channels ota, so I don't get 30 channels. :( but I know that when I'm watching some football game on sunday or csi:wherever, I know I'm watching it at the highest quality hd. :) |
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| iglesias |
quote:
Originally posted by 5Gs
I used to think that, but I can copy whatever I want to keep onto a vcr (yes I know, it's an extra step) or my computer. plus, if I copy it to my computer, I can convert the tivo file to mpeg or something that I can transfer online to any of my friends.
You can also make a DVD of the Tivo recordings. |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by jdeanski
...
I get thirty HD channels not including my locals. How many do you get?
I get 15 HD channels, a few more if I subscribed to Cinemax, Showtime or Starz. I can't disagree with you. I lived through a period when I was in an apartment complex and couldn't have a dish, and hated cable. Even after the law changed forcing landlords to be flexible, the direction my apartment faced effectively precluded getting a dish.
So I've stayed with Cable, and now have my Internet service with them. The hassle to switch, and the relatively close costs of the two, have kept me from researching it to any great degree. And the rain fade issue was just an extra measure of rationalization that I'd made a good decision.;)
Had the situation years ago been different, I might have had a dish, and taken your position.:p |
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| Bill Balmer |
quote:
Originally posted by jdeanski
I get thirty HD channels not including my locals. How many do you get?
It seems that jdeanski and I are making a habit out of disagreeing, and now it's going beyond politics! ;)
I just dumped Dish Network for Comcast cable and couldn't be happier. The HD is clearly a higher quality with cable (1080i), and I get my local networks in HD as well - something that Dish couldn't provide. I have a roof top antenna, which I used with the Dish for OTA HD, but I live far enough away from the city that, even with a monster antenna, I was getting lots of drop-outs on some channels.
I'm curious what 30 HD channels you get, jdeanski. I had the HD package that Dish Network offered, and without any premium channels it consisted of only about 6 channels - ESPN, TNT, HDNet, Discovery, and a couple more dedicated movie channels.
I occasionally saw rain fade when there was a big thunderstorm, but it was no big deal. On the other hand, snow on the dish was a definite problem in winter for me.
My biggest beef with Dish Network though was their buggy equipment. Constantly losing the program guide so it would read "no info", the DVR forgetting the "timers" that tell it what you want to record, re-acquiring the satellite signal for no reason whatsoever, and taking over 5 minutes to do it, and even re-acquiring the satellite signal and shutting down all output WHEN I WAS WATCHING OTA FROM THE ANTENNA!
My cable never goes out even during a storm, the HD quality is better, I get local channels in HD, I have a better selection of non-ota channels to choose from, and my receiver doesn't shut itself down in the middle of a show.
To each his own, but that's MY experience. |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by iglesias
You can also make a DVD of the Tivo recordings.
yep, I've done that for some recordings. unfortunately (at least for me) it does take a little while. first I have to transfer the recording to my computer, and then load up the software to burn the tivo file. |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by robottik
According to Comcast they will have 30+ HD channels by Q3 of next year. :4:
let's hope that doesn't mean they'll compress everything more! |
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| robottik |
quote:
Originally posted by 5Gs
let's hope that doesn't mean they'll compress everything more!
I think their plan is to start dumping analog channels. You can get several digital channels in the bandwidth 1 analog channel takes up. |
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| jay |
So I installed the S3 yesterday, in anticipation of the Comcast cablecard install in a couple of days. The first thing I did was call TiVo to do the Lifetim transfer from the S2. That went off without a problem.
Next, I deinstalled the S2 and installed the S3. The S3 includes all the cabling you need, with the possible exception of an optical audio cable, which I already had. I hooked up Component Video, HDMI, and a regular video cable. The HDMI signal, even with analog input, is marginally better than the other two when watching live TV, and noticeably better when displaying a TiVo menu screen.
I put the S3 on my home network, using a TiVo 802.11g wireless adapter. No problem there. It didn't initially see my network, but once I put in the network name and WEP code, it found the network, and started through the rest of the setup.
The Guided Setup process seemed to be a lot quicker than on the S2, but it still took a while to get complete guide data. I left the house for a few hours after the initial setup, and when I returned, was able to set up a couple of season passes, no problem.
The other thing I noticed, even with an analog signal, is that the audio is much better on the S3 than the S2; after all, it is THX certified. When I got the Comcast DVR and compared it to the old S2, I figured out that the audio output from the S2 was muddy, with the dialogue on most shows being hard to understand unless I boosted the treble. So far, the S3 seems to be much better in that regard.
It was also nice to see that the S3 remote is backlit, and is a learning remote. Finally, I could program it to control the volume on my Bose 3-2-1 GS II media center.
Now just waiting until Monday, hoping that Comcast sends a knowlegeable tech. and two good cablecards, so I can really put the S3 through its paces. |
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| Sportymonk |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
.... Since I have two TiVo boxes, I once thought I could record on one box and watch what I wanted on the other TV, then transfer the recorded program from one TiVo o the other to watch. While it sounds good in theory, and does work, it really screws up any spontaneity. The transfer time from one to another is a killer; when you're ready to watch a program, it's on the other box, and you have to start the transfer and wait a good 30-45 minutes before you start watching, so you don't "out-watch" the transfer feed. Ah, the trials of technology.:p
Assuming the two units are close together, wouldn't it be easier to just unplug the unit with the recorded show and plug it into the TV than to transfer? Sorry If I don't get it. |
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| Sportymonk |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
... The good news, it has 2 tuners; the bad news, there's no independent control of the tuners. Plus, you have to select what gets pushed out HD or SD. You can't control one tuner, with HD to your TV, and have standard digital going a series 2 TiVo. So basically, my 40 hour lifetime service series 2 single tuner TiVo is a paperweight.
Really am trying to learn all this. Sounds like you have two tuners, but for some reason you can't watch a HD signal on TV while recording something else on the Comcast even though it has two separate tuners. Why have two tuners if they don't work independently of each other? |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by Sportymonk
Assuming the two units are close together, wouldn't it be easier to just unplug the unit with the recorded show and plug it into the TV than to transfer? Sorry If I don't get it.
The units are on two separate levels of the house, serving two different TVs. Once they're all wired up and working, moving them isn't a viable option. |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by Sportymonk
Really am trying to learn all this. Sounds like you have two tuners, but for some reason you can't watch a HD signal on TV while recording something else on the Comcast even though it has two separate tuners. Why have two tuners if they don't work independently of each other?
You can ercord one HD and watch another, but can't independently control the tuners, or select which tuner gets pushed out to the TV, or have each tuners otput pushed to a different device. |
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| tim.s |
quote:
Originally posted by Sportymonk
If Cromagnon man can hop in on this. I don't have HD anything or a Tivo. Just TV, VCR, DVD player. Thought about Tivo but when the HD fills up you are stuck with getting rid of something. Thought about how I can take a VCR tape out and put a new on in and can send a tape to friends if I want...
Our 5 disk DVD changer has a neat feature, it remembers the status of the last 200 DVDs that were played - put in a disk from a couple months ago and it will start playing were it left off.
DVRs/PVRs are like that, except you don't have to load the disks. Plus, you are recording everything you watch. The pause, rewind, fast forward, 30 sec skip forward, 15 second skip back features are used regularly when watching live TV.
The morning news starts recording 15 minutes before I get there. I watch the news and skip the commercials. If I'm not paying attention and miss the traffic or weather, I just hit the jump back button and watch it again.
It's great for kids. They know the show will wait - even live TV, so there is no complaining when they have chores, need to do homework, etc... Okay, so there is some complaining, but not nearly as much as there is without the DVR. ;)
I never really keep shows after watching them on the DVR, so disk space is not an issue. However, I do have a cabinet full of video tapes that I never bothered to watch more than once. |
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| tim.s |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
You can ercord one HD and watch another, but can't independently control the tuners, or select which tuner gets pushed out to the TV, or have each tuners otput pushed to a different device.
So you don't pay seperate monthly charges for the two tuners in the single box right? That's how mine is. Each box has two tuners, but counts as only one "subscription". That's why they limit the output to a single TV.
However, I can record two shows at the same time and switch between them at will while they are recording - with the output going to a single TV.
BTW, I've got dual tuner (non-HD) DirectTV with built in series 2 TIVO. |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by tim.s
So you don't pay seperate monthly charges for the two tuners in the single box right? That's how mine is. Each box has two tuners, but counts as only one "subscription". That's why they limit the output to a single TV.
However, I can record two shows at the same time and switch between them at will while they are recording - with the output going to a single TV.
BTW, I've got dual tuner (non-HD) DirectTV with built in series 2 TIVO.
What you described is correct for the Comcast DVR as well. With Comcast, you get the first tuner box free, unless it's a DVR; that's where they get you for another $9.95 a month - the box rental. |
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| tim.s |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
What you described is correct for the Comcast DVR as well. With Comcast, you get the first tuner box free, unless it's a DVR; that's where they get you for another $9.95 a month - the box rental.
How about your DVR service, is there a separate charge for each dual tuner DVR box to have Tivo? In other words, do you pay one dual tuner fee and one DVR fee for each dual tuner DVR?
With DirectTV, we pay $4.99 for each dual tuner and then a single Tivo fee of $5.99 for the household. It doesn't matter if we have one Tivo or five, the we only pay $5.99 for the whole house to have Tivo. |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by tim.s
How about your DVR service, is there a separate charge for each dual tuner DVR box to have Tivo? In other words, do you pay one dual tuner fee and one DVR fee for each dual tuner DVR?
With DirectTV, we pay $4.99 for each dual tuner and then a single Tivo fee of $5.99 for the household. It doesn't matter if we have one Tivo or five, the we only pay $5.99 for the whole house to have Tivo.
I presume when Comcast rolls out the TiVo software to its boxes, nothing will change as far as Comcast. With my standalone TiVo boxes, I have a lifetime subscription with TiVo, so no charges there. |
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| jdeanski |
quote:
Originally posted by Bill Balmer
It seems that jdeanski and I are making a habit out of disagreeing, and now it's going beyond politics! ;)
I just dumped Dish Network for Comcast cable and couldn't be happier. The HD is clearly a higher quality with cable (1080i), and I get my local networks in HD as well - something that Dish couldn't provide. I have a roof top antenna, which I used with the Dish for OTA HD, but I live far enough away from the city that, even with a monster antenna, I was getting lots of drop-outs on some channels.
I'm curious what 30 HD channels you get, jdeanski. I had the HD package that Dish Network offered, and without any premium channels it consisted of only about 6 channels - ESPN, TNT, HDNet, Discovery, and a couple more dedicated movie channels.
I occasionally saw rain fade when there was a big thunderstorm, but it was no big deal. On the other hand, snow on the dish was a definite problem in winter for me.
My biggest beef with Dish Network though was their buggy equipment. Constantly losing the program guide so it would read "no info", the DVR forgetting the "timers" that tell it what you want to record, re-acquiring the satellite signal for no reason whatsoever, and taking over 5 minutes to do it, and even re-acquiring the satellite signal and shutting down all output WHEN I WAS WATCHING OTA FROM THE ANTENNA!
My cable never goes out even during a storm, the HD quality is better, I get local channels in HD, I have a better selection of non-ota channels to choose from, and my receiver doesn't shut itself down in the middle of a show.
To each his own, but that's MY experience.
Here's the list of HD channels I get:
Showtime HD
Starz HDTV
HBO HD
Animania HD
Family Room HD
GamePlay HD
Discovery HD Theater
Equator HD
National Geographic Channel HD
DISH Network PPV in HD
Film Fest HD
Food Network HD
HDNet Movies
Kung Fu HD
Monsters HD
World Cinema HD
HDNews
Rave HD
ESPN HD
ESPN2 HD
NFL Network HD
Rush HD
WorldSport HD
Gallery HD
HDNet
HGTV HD
TNT HD
Treasure HD
Ultra HD
Universal HD
My HD locals come through OTA. I have a small antenna in my attic with a preamp/amp on it, my closest station is 32 miles away.
I understand Dish had some problems with some of their earlier HD equiptment and I also understand they are replacing the old stuff for customers. Since I've been a Dish customer, 6 years I've only had one receiver fail on me but I've upgraded several times. I now have their latest 622 HD DVR. It's an amazing machine, I couldn't be happier. |
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| jdeanski |
quote:
Originally posted by tim.s
How about your DVR service, is there a separate charge for each dual tuner DVR box to have Tivo? In other words, do you pay one dual tuner fee and one DVR fee for each dual tuner DVR?
With DirectTV, we pay $4.99 for each dual tuner and then a single Tivo fee of $5.99 for the household. It doesn't matter if we have one Tivo or five, the we only pay $5.99 for the whole house to have Tivo.
With Dishnetwork I have two dual tuner DVR's. One is HD and the other is standard. I have their "platinum" HD package at $99.99/mo so I do not pay a DVR fee, only $5.00/mo for the extra receiver. |
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| Bill Balmer |
quote:
Originally posted by jdeanski
I have their "platinum" HD package at $99.99/mo
Ahh - that explains the 30+ channels. I had the most basic of HD packages, and paid less than half that. And you are correct that I had an older model HD receiver (the 811). I never heard anything about them upgrading for me, and with all the problems I reported, I would think they would've let me know.
I'll admit that their DVR had some features that were superior to the Comcast box I now have, like completely independent control of the two tuners. I had one feeding a tv in a different room, and I could watch anything recorded on either tuner on either tv at any time - even two things at once on two tvs. The second remote was UHF and worked anywhere in the house. |
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| jay |
My Comcast cablecard installation in the Series 3 is done, and I'm re-running the Guided setup as I type this. When the tech saw that the cards were going into a TiVo, he called to make sure it was okay.
They were on top of it, as the guy back at the office said they'd been emailed information in the last day or so (after a customer in Reston raised heck with them). The first card was bad, but the second initialized just fine. In diagnosing the bad card, I discovered that the little release button to pop the card back out of the TiVo is busted.
The tech got a new card, it installed fine, received all the channels fine, but the 2nd card took some work. The tech who programs the cards into the head-end was able to resolve whatever the problem was with the 2nd card, ans all is well.
Happy camper here. |
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| Bill Balmer |
| As a non-Tivo, regular cable customer here, I'm showing my ignorance - what's the function of the card? :8: |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by Bill Balmer
As a non-Tivo, regular cable customer here, I'm showing my ignorance - what's the function of the card? :8:
Some newer TVs and the TiVo Series 3 will accept Cablecards in lieu of a set-top box to descramble the scrambled channels. In this area Comcast scrambles the digital channels. The TiVo has two tuners, hence the need for 2 cards.
The downside is that the cablecards don't support Comcast On Demand or Pay-Per-View services, which I rearely used anyway. |
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| jay |
The TiVo has been performing extremely well, and I'm enjoying it. The Comcast DVR, on the other hand, didn't record a show on Sunday, even with the 2 tuners. I set up Cold Case for a 9 start, padded to 10:30; I also set up Without a Trace for 10:00, padded to 11:30. The Comcast box did not record Without a Trace. Luckily, I had a TiVo analog backup (since that was before the cablecards were installed).
Also, 3 or 4 times now in the last 10 days, the Comcast DVR revert to displaying SD Video. The only way to fix it is to turn off the DVR, hit the Guide and Info buttons on the box while it's powered off, then step through the setup dialog that pops up. PIA. The box is going back to Comcast.:cool: |
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| 5Gs |
| you can get a tivo series 3 for $679.99 shipped (no tax to california...not sure where they're located) from tivo community store using "tcdeal" as the coupon code. :) |
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| 5Gs |
| I finally decided to buy one before the end of the year and before the lifetime transfer ends. I'll probably get it transferred since I probably won't use the s2 much afterwards. plus a decent deal came along from a friend. I'm confident it'll be well worth the cost. :cool: |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by 5Gs
I finally decided to buy one before the end of the year and before the lifetime transfer ends. I'll probably get it transferred since I probably won't use the s2 much afterwards. plus a decent deal came along from a friend. I'm confident it'll be well worth the cost. :cool:
I like mine a lot. I also did the lifetime transfer from an S2 40 hr. You saw a picture of my TiVo S3 sitting under the Bose 3-2-1 media center in that Bose thread.:p The audio from it into the Bose system is much much better than the equivalent audio from the S2 box.:p |
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| jdeanski |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
The box is going back to Comcast.
......and my DishNetwork PVR works flawlessly! |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
I like mine a lot. I also did the lifetime transfer from an S2 40 hr. You saw a picture of my TiVo S3 sittig under the Bose 3-2-1 media center in that Bose thread.:p The audio from it into the Bose system is much much better than the equivalent audio from the S2 box.:p
I saw that! I'm planning on hooking up the s3 into my receiver with an optical cable. now if comcast will just show up on time with the cablecards! they wouldn't let me just pick up a couple of cards myself.:( |
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| 5Gs |
| comcast showed up, but for some reason my cards weren't activated correctly, so I was missing most of my channels. had to call comcast up myself, and got everything cleared up. so far so good. so nice to record hd finally! here's a screenshot...can you guess what movie this is? :cool: |
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| jay |
quote:
Originally posted by 5Gs
comcast showed up, but for some reason my cards weren't activated correctly, so I was missing most of my channels. had to call comcast up myself, and got everything cleared up. so far so good. so nice to record hd finally! here's a screenshot...can you guess what movie this is? :cool:
Glad to hear you got things working properly. I have no clue what movie that is. Enjoy your S3!:p |
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| 5Gs |
quote:
Originally posted by jay
Glad to hear you got things working properly. I have no clue what movie that is. Enjoy your S3!:p
since I still have the s2, I even wired both tivos to a tv in another room, so I can enjoy either tivo on either tv. :D
hint, that movie was the top grossing movie in its year of release. ;) |
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