Home grown vs S3 VIP option thoughts...

[russwong]

I have an S2 with lifetime still and wondering if the S3 is worth it with the VIP transfer option. Thought I would get some opinions...

I have a home grown media center that is able to record 3 HD feeds at the same time. 2 of them have "guide" functionality so I can do season passes, one is only like a digital vcr. All the recording is done via unencrypted QAM. (I've had this for over 2 years, so it's given me what Tivo hasn't been able to give me till now....)

Pros - Home Grown
- I have about 1.5 TB of storage to record to (500G SATA, 250G SATA, 2*300G EIDE)
- I can upgrade as needed for whatever good price I find... just bought a 400G SATA drive for $80
- I can do multi-room viewing, because it's connected via the network and I can play these files on any computer with out any problems so far
- My xbox360 and plasma have media extender capabilities that can connect to this home grown machine
- I can transfer to my laptop for when I travel already
- no DRM issues so far that I can tell
- already have online capabilities and recording because it's a PC.
- I think I can do all those other features internet features that the Tivo might be doing in the future, because it's a PC.

Cons
- Not a Tivo, need to manage 3 interfaces one for each tuner, but once it's setup it pretty much requires no attention
- No cablecard, so I can't record encrypted channels - ESPNHD, INHD, DiscoverHD - I mostly recoard in the clear broadcast anyways....
- Not THX (is that really important?) I do 7.1 to my receiver already and my receiver isn't THX.
- It's running on Windows and it's a PC, so in theory it should be more problematic, but I also haven't had any issues with it or my non-hd media center box

Any other Pro's and cons?

Anyone else been recording HD already via one of these home grown options like Sage/MCE/etc... are you interested in going to the S3?

Is this VIP transfer deal worth it? For $1000, I'm sure I can build another kick*ss MCE box.

I'm glad Tivo finally came out with a solutions, but I wanted something years ago.... the question now for me is whether or not what I have is good enough or is Tivo worth spending another $1000 to transfer my lifetime...

Thanks!

[TechDreamer]

It sounds like the only feature you are missing is encrypted HDTV. Is that worth a thousand dollars?

[russwong]

It sounds like the only feature you are missing is encrypted HDTV. Is that worth a thousand dollars?

Well, the Tivo interface is still the best out there, that's for sure. But yeah, I'm debating on whether or not it's worth the $1000 and if not, I'll probably wait till they drop in price and consider using the Multi Discount.... I just don't want to miss out on the lifetime transfer deal, if it's really a good deal... At least I have till the end of the year to make a decision....

[Killerz298]

I am in the same boat. Can we generate more discussion on this? Are there any plans for a PC HD tuner with cablecard support? If that were the case I think I would definitely got the homegrown route.

[megazone]

Are there any plans for a PC HD tuner with cablecard support?Yes, but ONLY as part of a complete system. At this time they will not be available independently. You will need to buy a completely new Media Center PC with the card installed, running Windows Vista. That is the only option. Why? Because that's the only thing Cable Labs will approve at this time. They approve the entire system, hardware and software combined. So no home built boxes, which means no point in selling the tuner by itself.