kevlar
09-12-2006, 07:44 PM
With the series 3 recorder do we really need a cable card? My cable company is very reluctant to give them out as they are still buggy and difficult to program correctly. Can I just use my existing HD cable box to feed the series 3 unit via HDMI or component in? My television is digital cable ready and already tunes in most of the HD channels I would be interested in recording. Can the series 3 unit also tune in unscrambled digital HD channels? I'm reading things on here regarding mapping. Wouldn't Tivo already know what digital channels I receive from my local cable provider based on where I live? For example, isn't channel 75.2 ABC-HD for anyone with a digital cable ready HDTV in my neighborhood?
I also question the cost/benefit the series 3 is providing us. I've been a TiVo subscriber for 7 years now. I purchased the lifetime service on my series 1 unit for $199 after winning the unit in a contest. I then later transferred my service over to a series 2 unit for free after purchasing that unit directly from TiVo. Now it looks like I have to pay $800 PLUS the equivalent of my original lifetime contract purchase to transfer over my existing lifetime contract.
I know TiVo is doing us a favor allowing us to transfer over lifetime contracts since they are not obligated to do so as lifetime service contracts are bound to the unit for the most part. Can someone explain to me the benefit of shelling out $1,000 to simply upgrade my existing TiVo unit to one that records HD when cable companies supply their own DVR's for merely $15 a month?
I know a lot of people have complaints about these cable company supplied DVR's but bottom line, if they can record HD when most units can't, isn't that worth dealing with a few bugs here and there? If we break down the $1,000 cost of the series 3 unit PLUS the cost of the cablecard(2 if I want dual tuner HD recording) we are talking about $15 per month versus $10 per month a cable card($20 for two) on top of the $1,000 I'm paying up front to own the right to record in HD. The math here just isn't making any sense. ROI is something like 8 years out. By then most of us will probably be on to bigger and better units.
I also question the cost/benefit the series 3 is providing us. I've been a TiVo subscriber for 7 years now. I purchased the lifetime service on my series 1 unit for $199 after winning the unit in a contest. I then later transferred my service over to a series 2 unit for free after purchasing that unit directly from TiVo. Now it looks like I have to pay $800 PLUS the equivalent of my original lifetime contract purchase to transfer over my existing lifetime contract.
I know TiVo is doing us a favor allowing us to transfer over lifetime contracts since they are not obligated to do so as lifetime service contracts are bound to the unit for the most part. Can someone explain to me the benefit of shelling out $1,000 to simply upgrade my existing TiVo unit to one that records HD when cable companies supply their own DVR's for merely $15 a month?
I know a lot of people have complaints about these cable company supplied DVR's but bottom line, if they can record HD when most units can't, isn't that worth dealing with a few bugs here and there? If we break down the $1,000 cost of the series 3 unit PLUS the cost of the cablecard(2 if I want dual tuner HD recording) we are talking about $15 per month versus $10 per month a cable card($20 for two) on top of the $1,000 I'm paying up front to own the right to record in HD. The math here just isn't making any sense. ROI is something like 8 years out. By then most of us will probably be on to bigger and better units.