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TiVo Announces High-Def Series3 DVR
Posted by
Zonk
on Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:00 AM
from the new-toys dept.
from the new-toys dept.
prostoalex writes "Catching up with the competition, TiVo is set to unveil a high-definition digital video recorder. The unit will feature dual tuners, 250 GB, and a hefty price sticker: 'The long-awaited product will be $800 and available in mid-September, the company said. Subscription fees for the TiVo service are separate ... TiVo officials attributed its long development time in part to waiting for certain technologies to mature and the lengthy process of getting industry-related approvals, such as for the set-top-box's two built-in CableCARD slots. CableCARD slots allow users to access digital programming from a cable TV provider without the need for a separate receiver. The Series3 HD box also represents TiVo's first major product upgrade since it released its networked Series2 DVR in 2002.'"
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TiVo Unveils Series3 HDTV DVR 309 comments
MegaZone writes "TiVo unveiled their new Series3 unit at CES yesterday. The Series3 is a digital cable ready box, capable of recording two programs simultaneously. It supports cable and antenna input, and it can handle digital or analog cable, digital ATSC, or analog NTSC broadcasts. CableCARD is used for digital cable, and it can utilize a single multi-stream card, or two single-stream cards. The system also sports 2 USB ports, 10/100baseT Ethernet, and an E-SATA port for external storage expansion. Video output is HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite, and audio is optical digital or RCA stereo."
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800$ plus subscription?? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:800$ plus subscription?? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Just got email from Tivo saying if I buy a new HD Tivo, for $199 they'll transfer my lifetime sub to the new HD unit. Offer appears to be good for purchases of new HD unit through 12/31/
Re:Not quite (Score:4, Informative)
Put DirecTV on notice. (Score:5, Interesting)
You are on notice, DirecTV. I chose you over cable because (Adelphia) cable is (more) evil and I like my TiVo, and the multitude of hacks available. Now that you are charging me more, taking away my TiVo, and your TiVo has less funcationality than a real one, cable just may win out.
$800 is a chunk of change, but the price will come down eventually. I'd be happy in the $400 range if I ended up with real value in the end.
Re:Put DirecTV on notice. (Score:4, Interesting)
Same here. I have a DirecTiVo and it was very quickly clear to me that as much as I like DirecTV, I like my TiVo more. When my TiVo ceases to function (due to death, new channels I want to watch, whatever) I'm cancelling your service unless you offer a new Genuine TiVo I can purchase and use by then.
Dish Network: I've been getting mail from you every once and a while trying to get me to switch. Same thing applies. Give me a Genuine TiVo and when the time comes I'll go to you (since my local cable is horrid).
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I called and actually eventually talked to a VP at DirectTV and at this time they have no intention of ever working with Tivo again.
Now, an interesting part was how diff
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I wouldn't expect less
- Dual ATSC tuners? Check. (they're not enabled yet, but the hardware's there)
Excellent. I hope the software upgrade to enable them get's more funding that the TiVo software did. I still don't have folders on my H
Satellite? (Score:2)
I have DirecTV (which frankly because they stopped supporting my TiVo I will dump when the time comes). Now I know the Series 3 supports CableCARD but does not support satellite inputs. Does anyone know if it would be possible for DirecTV to make a "DirecT
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
But it's not out yet (just recently announced)...
E.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Which is espeically pathetic because I would still pay the DVR fee if they TRIPLED it to the $15 a month that TiVo charges. That way, I could still have a TiVo and DirecTV would get an extra $10 a month. Even if they only doubled it. Heck, they could have
Tivo can't compete any more.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Like the Homermobile (Score:5, Insightful)
I haven't bothered with a MythTV/MCE because TiVo was cheap (free after rebate for the 40GB model, quickly hacked with bigger HD) and was easy to use and good at what it does. Now if I want to upgrade it's priced right in line with these other technologies that offer more features. Tivo just isn't competitive anymore, especially once MCE supports CableCard.
Looks about right... (Score:4, Informative)
And for all of the posts bitching about "$800 PLUS subscription!??!?!?", remember that this is a set-top box replacement. You already pay Comcast or [insert other cable behemoth here] $10/month for that POS DVR that they provide with a clunky unreliable interface. $2 more gets you a better interface, suggestions, downloadable content, more guide data, the ability to program over the internet, the ability to download shows to your laptop or other device, the ability to display slide shows, mp3 playback, mp3 streaming, podcast streaming, and so on and so on and so on. And that's not even including the features in the pipeline, like (official) storage upgrades and a ton of other unannounced projects.
For $3 more a month, bring me my TiVo. And as far as the $800 initial fee, if you can't afford it - just wait for the first round of rebates. Or do what I always do, upgrade when they offer unbelievably cheap factory refurb units. Every TiVo I've ever owned has been a refurb - and with proper cable surge protection and a Smart-UPS, my units have never failed me.
Re:Looks about right... (Score:4, Insightful)
Um, I pay $5 for HD service and another $5 for the DVR. But even if I'm paying $10/month for the DVR, I *don't* have to pay for the hardware up front and if something better comes along in a couple of years, I can jump ship. Plus, another poster stated just renting the cable card may cost $5-10 from your cable provider.
Let's look at this over 5 years:
Comcast cost = 5*12*$10 or $600.
TiVo cost: $800 + 5*12*$5 (cable card) + 5*12*$13 (TiVo service) or $800 + $300 + $780 or $1880
It seems to me that TiVo is three times more expensive over the reasonable life of the box. That may be worth it to some, but not to me.
Already for sale on Tivo.com (Score:4, Informative)
According to TivoBlog, some Best Buy stores are taking preorders showing a delivery date of 9/17/06. There have also been rumors over the past few weeks that Best Buy and CircuitCity will have the Series3 Tivo in stock on the 17th or 19th.
Despite the heavy price tag, the need to rent 2 CableCARDs from my local Cable Company, and the expensive $12.95 Tivo monthly fee, I placed my order within a few minutes of Tivo making the change to their website. I bought one of the first 14-hour Tivos when they went on sale in 1999, and in all that time I have not seen another DVR that has a UI as good as the Tivo one. I finally abandoned Tivo in favor of a Cable Company DVR in 2004 when my local Cable Company started to offer HD programming. Finally Tivo is catching up 2 years later.
By the way, you can thank design firm IDEO [ideo.com] for many of the UI innovations of the Tivo (and early Macs as well).
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
That's what you get when there is a monopoly on the CableCARDs. If there were commercially available consumer versions of these then the price would be more reasonable from the outset. Unlike other posters seem to thin
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The CableCARDs are rented from the local cable company at something like $5 - $15/month.
The Tivo is essentially commodity hardware stitched together with solid software and a fantastic UI. As the cost of those commodity part
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
I'm assuming you consider more as not being able to record about 75% of the HD content out there.
Re:That DIY HTPC just became economical! (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
My question to manufacturers is why hasn't someone made a component in HD card?
That would cause quite a stir and be a boon for the DIYers. I think that is when I jump in on the MythTV bandwagon.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
sure you can!
Re:That DIY HTPC just became economical! (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
more than adequate and won't require a separate card that has it's own
noisy fan.
Be mindful of things like vga ports when you buy your HDTV and you
won't even need HDMI or DVI outputs on y