PVR Wire

1. Well, we've already seen it dip down to $511 at one point (from Dell.com). And it is often available in the $650 range now. So I'm sure the price will continue to come down over time.

Posted at 4:52PM on Jan 4th 2007 by MegaZone

2. There are more problems also:

1. doesn't support multi-room viewing
2. only supports cable-card version 1
3. doesn't support external HD's
4. I have to pay for the box as well as a subscription fee
5. If it breaks I own it and have to deal with returns instead of just driving it down to the cable office and swapping it out.

Initially I was excited for the series 3, but then the price and limitations were revealed. No way. Not even if there were no subscription fees and it only cost $200. Because of switched video the thing wouldn't even work correctly when connected.

Posted at 5:18PM on Jan 4th 2007 by Michael

3. Once again I'd like to publicly remind Tivo that they have abandoned DirecTV customers by releasing a box that won't even accept a signal from a satellite receiver.

Perhaps once John Malone and Liberty take over DirecTV a new partnership can be formed.

Posted at 6:19PM on Jan 4th 2007 by John

4. 1. D* abandoned TiVo, not the othe way around. Rupert Murdoch wanted to roll his own DVR instead of licensing TiVo technology.

2. There are also rampant problems with cablecard compatibility - check out the TiVoCommunity forums.

3. Dont expect to see a price break until after the superbowl. That seems the most logical time for a price break, if any. Also you can find deals occasionally that brings the price down to 600 (costco was the last one I checked).

I probably wont get one until its $499, the eSata port has been enabled and it supports more than 1TB of storage space.

Posted at 6:50PM on Jan 4th 2007 by Anthony

5. Even though my install took two months and five install appointments to make things work right, TiVo is, by far, the best way to watch HD T.V. The dual tuners are great (fantastic reception), the UI is awesome, and my wife loves it.

SOLD.

It was pricey (still is), but after dealing with DVRs from DTV, DISH, and the craptastic MOXI box, there is nothing that beats TiVo.

Posted at 8:20PM on Jan 4th 2007 by slowdrag

6. ummm... to poster #2:

arguments 1 and 2 are identical arguments to bullets 2 and 4 in the original post.

Posted at 8:43PM on Jan 4th 2007 by a different Michael

7. John #3

You have it completely backwards...DirecTV abandoned Tivo! Tivo has struggled to remain in business ever since this happened, it was a huge blow to them. It was the last thing they ever wanted to happen. If you're a DirecTV customer and you want Tivo back, then you need to complain to DirecTV and threaten to cancel your membership until they bring Tivo back.
That's exactly what I did, I canceled my DirecTV and made it very clear it was because they dropped Tivo. now I'm with Comcast and I'm waiting for the results of the Tivo/Comcast partnership which should be within the next 3 months! I can't wait to have comcast update my motorola HD DVR with Tivo software.

I'd buy the HD Tivo if I could get it for $400.

Posted at 10:23PM on Jan 4th 2007 by Brian

8. All,
Of course I know that DTV ended the partnership with Tivo. What I'm saying is that Tivo turned around and released a device, S3, that can only be used with cable tv. I was more than willing to buy a S3 and rent a directv receiver for it. I work for a NewsCorp sub-company and as such am required to have DirecTV because of the sports packages, NFL, etc. Canceling service would only hurt me and wouldn't change things at DirecTV. One thing I've learned about News/DirecTV and anything Mr. Murdoch owns is that it's about MONEY and not content, relationships or customer satisfaction.

Posted at 2:26AM on Jan 5th 2007 by John

9. Or you could spend about the same amount of money and build your own using free software. I don't know why everyone seems to forget about this option.
If you build you own you have no warranty to worry about.
You can upgrade and downgrade whatever components you want (such as more tuners or bigger hard drives)
You can even have add ons that let you transfer your recordings, view them from multiple rooms, schedule recordings from the web, etc.
You also have $0 monthly fees. I would think that right there would pay for itself.

Posted at 11:28AM on Jan 5th 2007 by rothgar

10. We replaced a craptastic Cox Scientific Atlanta 8300HD box with the S3.

I'm not sure why I waited so long. We had a series 2 Tivo for a number of years and I was constantly annoyed by the poorly designed SA software.

My advice, just bite the bullet and buy a Series 3. You will not regret it.

Posted at 1:26AM on Jan 6th 2007 by Rolo

11. I bought it the day it went on sale. Love it! (even with the 5 cable calls to get the cablecards setup)

I'll get the 2nd one for the bedroom when
1. price comes down
2. I can transfer shows between the two
3. I put a HDTV in the bedroom

At this point I would recommend anyone to wait for a price drop or to see how the TiVo/Comcast box thing works out.

Posted at 4:11AM on Jan 6th 2007 by Ray

12. For those who care about actual picture quality, the Tivo HD decoder buries any STB offerings by the cable companies.

I have the Panasonic 50" 600U plasma at home, and purchased one for my company's new trading room. The quality on my home Panny and the S3 is far superior to the POS Explorer HD cable box from Cablevision at work.

Posted at 2:10PM on Jan 6th 2007 by L'Emmerdeur

13. I hate the Motorola 6812 PVR boxes from Comcast we have, but with 2 little kids I cannot give up OnDemand capability. Thats all they watch, its too convenient and controllable.

I really hope that the TiVo software married to the Motorola boxes works.

Posted at 8:46PM on Jan 11th 2007 by Bill G