The Series 3 appreciation thread

[MickeS]

OK, with all the negativity around here (as expected :D) I needed to start a "praise" thread. So here are 2 things I was happy to see!

Series 3 has built-in Closed Captioning decoder, and zoom/stretch modes! :)

While other STBs have this, my TV doesn't... so if the Series 3 would not have had it, it would have been a blow against it. :)

[Shawn95GT]

It records HD via the Tivo interface - who could ask for more ;).

[stoli412]

I am unshackled from Comcast's/Motorola's pathetic excuse for a DVR! I can't wait to bite into all that TiVo goodness once again!

[hawkamer]

I'm so excited! Finally, I get to ditch this stupid, stupid Scientific Atlanta 8300HD for a REAL DVR. Yay TiVo!

[Sixto]

TiVo=DVR/DMR company that cares about "coolness". They have to be bleeding edge to keep customers. That's good for us.

[bap]

I am SO psyched to finally be able to get my hands on one of these. I have an old S1 that I hardly use any more because of my combination of HDTV & STB. Being able to get rid of the STB and have all my TiVo functionality back (and then some) is about time!

[BriGuy20]

I'm so excited! Finally, I get to ditch this stupid, stupid Scientific Atlanta 8300HD for a REAL DVR. Yay TiVo!

+1.

Well actually, the family will have the SciAtlanta DVR, but I won't have to watch it. :p

2 HD RECORDINGS AT ONCE!! :up:

[joey398]

Well I just bought mine. Picked up an Indoor HDTV antenna from Radio Shack. Not only do I get to throw the SA8300HD back at Cablevision, I will even be able to cancel my TV Cable subscription using OTA!! WOOT!

Worth all the money just for that alone. :)

[Adam1115]

It really looks great to me. Lots of complainers out their. Really the biggest problem is it's hard to justify the price tag, with 6.3 coming for the HR10.

But I'm excited! Looks like an awesome product! Hope to buy one next year...

[HiDefGator]

Well I just bought mine. Picked up an Indoor HDTV antenna from Radio Shack. Not only do I get to throw the SA8300HD back at Cablevision, I will even be able to cancel my TV Cable subscription using OTA!! WOOT!

Worth all the money just for that alone. :)

Are you serious? You are goiong to spend $800 plus monthly fees just to watch what is available OTA? No espn, discovery, history, hbo, etc. Why bother getting a TV if all your going to watch is OTA.

[MickeS]

HiDefGator, maybe you missed the title of this thread?

[Thos19]

I've been waiting for this for a long time. I have the SA8300HD through Adelphia, but hate the ergonomics. I'll try to get the best deal on the Series 3 I can get. I haven't been this psyched for new HT gear since I bought my RPTV and Iscan line doubler. :)

Thos.

[talmania]

It records HD via the Tivo interface - who could ask for more ;).

I am unshackled from Comcast's/Motorola's pathetic excuse for a DVR! I can't wait to bite into all that TiVo goodness once again!

The two most sensible and true quotes I've read all day!

[joey398]

Are you serious? You are goiong to spend $800 plus monthly fees just to watch what is available OTA? No espn, discovery, history, hbo, etc. Why bother getting a TV if all your going to watch is OTA.


What do you mean why bother getting a TV?

For me its all about the frustration with the cable companies CRAP dvr. There is nothing like a TIVO. If you wish to not use a Tivo, then don't. :)

[MichaelK]

got mine with next day shipping from TiVo.com

Hopefully it shows up Thursday!

Now to go call the cable company for an install...

[RCflier]

I'm so excited! Finally, I get to ditch this stupid, stupid Scientific Atlanta 8300HD for a REAL DVR. Yay TiVo!

2nd, bought mine this morning, and can't wait for it to get here! :D I love how the people saying they are leaving TiVo because the S3 is $800... they need to relax and wait for it to drop, like all past TiVo's have.

1 year almost exactly I have had the SA8300, my hatred for it has only increased..
I'll miss the way it would say it would record a show, and wouldn't
I'll miss the way it would never auto-delete shows, even though it was set to
I'll miss the way if I started watching a show 40 minutes into it, having to close my eyes as it rewound so I wouldn't see what happened..
Who'm I kidding.. what a POS.

[Leo_N]

2nd, bought mine this morning, and can't wait for it to get here! :D I love how the people saying they are leaving TiVo because the S3 is $800... they need to relax and wait for it to drop, like all past TiVo's have.

1 year almost exactly I have had the SA8300, my hatred for it has only increased..
I'll miss the way it would say it would record a show, and wouldn't
I'll miss the way it would never auto-delete shows, even though it was set to
I'll miss the way if I started watching a show 40 minutes into it, having to close my eyes as it rewound so I wouldn't see what happened..
Who'm I kidding.. what a POS.

Hmm, sounds like my Motorola Moxi box!! Just loved watching a live program from pause and while fast forwarding ahead on the slowest mode have it jump up to live time. Heh, not. Or the lovely ~ 6-8 hours of available HD recording space. Yep, gonna miss it.

Got 2 ordered and on the way... $1.50 for each cable card... $6/mo. is not so bad.

[bap]

Hopefully it shows up Thursday!
Hate to burst your bubble but there have been a few posts by people here indicating that TiVo will start shipping on Thursday, so you won't get it until Friday at the earliest.

[talmania]

I love how the people saying they are leaving TiVo because the S3 is $800... they need to relax and wait for it to drop, like all past TiVo's have.



I'm willing to wager those same people have never experienced the pure joy of owning a Motorola or SA DVR.

Your list is just the beginning of the headache that those boxes are.

[MichaelK]

could be, but there's a little asterisk that says "ships in 48 hours" I'm hoping that means tomorrow and not thursday.

But I'm prepared for friday if i have to wait.

ANyone know if the tivo store emails trackign info?

[mickeymammoth]

I've been waiting for this for a year at least! My poor 2-year old HDTV has been showing only SD all this time.

My series 1 DirecTivo (which replaced my series 1 standalone) has never had any of the advanced features, so I guess I won't be missing something I never had re: tivotogo etc. We're a 1 TV household, so I wouldn't even use any multiroom viewing features. I'm hoping we get these later, though.

Unexpected good stuff:

My TV is 2 years old, so it has its quirks. It has GRAY sidebars. Now my (soon-to-be) S3 Tivo can send black sidebars!

I can probably set my TV to be in full widescreen mode all the time. As it is now, the TV can't "sense" if the picture is widescreen or not. From the Tivo, it'll always be widescreen (when you count the sidebars).

HDMI. Unused on my TV to date.

I've liked DirecTV, but I hate Rupert Murdoch.

Hooray!!!

[maki]

It is simply beautiful. :D

[rwcrosby]

I'm looking forward to having one in my greedy little hands. Like many of you I've been waiting 2+ years for this. I've had a series 1 since the beginning (didn't see anything in the S2 that interested me enough to get one) and it's run flawlessly for what, 6 years! I've had friends that have the Scientific Atlanta box and while it is somewhat cheaper over the long term (not that much by the time you work it out) I haven't heard anything good about it other than it sort of works!

[Bierboy]

YUM YUM....Circuit City shipped mine today...supposed to be here Friday...Thanks TiVo!!

[MichaelK]

ahh, you're killing me, I should have bouight there rather than tivo....

[musicforme]

The S3 made switching to Verizon's Fios TV viable for me.

I'm currently on Comcast's Extended Basic and pay approx $55 a month for it. Being able to record the Golf Channel and the major cable networks is all we're doing these days.

Once I get the S3, for approx $60 a month, I'll be able to record two HD signals and get a ton more channels from Verizon. I can't wait to get all the additional HD channels!!!

[Gregor]

I'm happy it's here, I bet the Tivo engineers are even happier :)

[Dajad]

Glad to see this thread!

There's too much negativity on this forum.

Kudos to TiVo for bringout out the box and overcoming the many obstacles the cable industry and cablelabs have put before them! I can't wait to get my hands on one.

...Dale

[jfh3]

Thanks to all the hard working folks at Tivo for this release. Take a day off, enjoy!

Then get back to work on MRV/TTG for the Series 3, QAM mapping, text and screens optimized for an HD display and the Series 4 ... :D

[bap]

Series 4 ... :D
You know something we don't? What's in the feature set? ;)

[jfh3]

You know something we don't? What's in the feature set? ;)

You didn't get the memo? Faster chips, more memory, and everything else we wanted that's not in the Series 3. :D

[Dajad]

You didn't get the memo? Faster chips, more memory, and everything else we wanted that's not in the Series 3. :D

And the best S4 feature - an FSI!!!! :)

[wmcbrine]

It looks utterly beautiful. Way beyond the HR10-250. I'm still going to wait on it, for a few reasons... but this is the appreciation thread, so I'll leave those out. :)

[oneguido]

though, I'm not sure what to expect about the cablecard (I've heard of lots of problems) I think it's a sweet addition and I hated the channel change delay when using the STB.

- Cool new remote
- lots of space (when compared to my 40hr unit)
- awesome display on front of unit
- record HD at the same time on 2 different channels woooohoooo
- zoom/wide/full feature is unexpected but extremely welcome
- the eSATA will be great when available
- oh and now it will match the rest of my 17" silver audio/video equipment on the shelf :)

FANTASTIC!!!! ...... I just wish I had an extra $800 laying around!

P.S. That's not to knock it. I'll be getting one in do time.

[sommerfeld]

Then get back to work on ... the Series 4 ... :D
Given the size of the Chinese market, they'll probably skip 4 and go directly from 3 to 5.
(as I understand it, "4" is considered unlucky in Chinese and some other East Asian cultures.

[bdraw]

I for one can't wait!
I don't understand all the negativity, I hate to be negative, but have a feeling it's all about jealousy. They are mad because they don't have the money to buy the Series3 so instead they come here to complain about how much it costs.

I have a HR10-250 now and I will keep both for a little while. But I am looking forward to being able to choose cable again, without that choice meaning I can't record HD with my TiVo.

I can't wait to record OTA and cable in the same guide and the ability to choose which channels show up in my Cable lineup.

I am looking forward to less compressed HD channels compared to Directv.
Other channels that Directv doesn't get.

I am going to have a hard time sleeping till I get my Series 3 which I ordered via Tivo.com.

[Leo_N]

I'd like to mention one other thing I like. The launch. I know there is another thread bashing the launch, but I love the fact they finally just threw up all this info and said "OK, go ahead and order it if you want, we'll send it right out."

Now I just have to wait for my 2 shiny new S3s to show up. Good thing I'm going to Vegas this weekend, that should keep my mind off it a bit :D

[thechiz]

Now I just have to wait for my 2 shiny new S3s to show up. Good thing I'm going to Vegas this weekend, that should keep my mind off it a bit :D

You've probably already got 2 Porsche's in the garage.

Hope you are a lucky b****** !

[Leo_N]

You've probably already got 2 Porsche's in the garage.

Hope you are a lucky b****** !

Heh, no Porsche's here, just Chevy's. Probably won't gamble more than a couple coins in the slots, a bunch of us are heading out there for a bachelor party for a friend.

Definitely wouldn't mind getting lucky with those few coins though!

[Dssturbo1]

You know something we don't? What's in the feature set? ;)
the series 4 will have 1TB Hard Drive, 1080P output, HDMI 1.3, 7.1 audio, TruHD Dolby with built in HD DVD and BluRay recorders with free lifetime sub, all for $499. Should be out shortly.

[mtchamp]

I dumped DirecTV that I used to love a month ago to go back to full featured Series2's that I have and maybe buy a DT S2 and a S3. I don't have a HD TV yet, so I'm waiting till the end of the year for a possible price drop on the S3.

We're having our first experience with some type of non-HD Motorola STB with some DVR capability from Comcast while using 2 SA Series2 TiVos. The Motorola is terrible compared to TiVo and we stopped using it as well as On Demand. We only need it for digital channels. I have a serial cable installed for channel changes.

I'm definitely interested in the S3 Lifetime transfer option with a Series1 that I have, so I think I'll buy one before that offer expires. We have had TiVo for over 5 years and we watch less TV than ever as we must have seen it all by now and we have become very picky. Computers keep us entertained more than ever around this household.