Mine's here!

[Bierboy]

Arrived FedEx Home Delivery an hour ago! Not feeling well at work....don't know if I can continue....(cough) (cough)....

BTW, Circuit City shipped it in the TiVo box, no double boxing, so I'm glad FedEx did NOT leave it on my porch yesterday with nobody home.

[TiVotion]

They shipped it in the TiVo box with no external packaging? That's what I was afraid of. :(

I had mine shipped to work, to arrive tomorrow. Which means a friend of mine who also works with me is going to crucify me when she sees this thing delivered. I spent 2 days professing that I'd never spend that much on the S3. She thinks I'm out of my mind for doing so.

[cotton168]

Congrats Bierboy! Let us know how you like it. :)

TiVotion, don't worry about the grief that your coworker is going to give you. It's a wonderful piece of equipment. ;)

[Dssturbo1]

cool bierboy congrats

[JKay]

BTW, Circuit City shipped it in the TiVo box, no double boxing, so I'm glad FedEx did NOT leave it on my porch yesterday with nobody home.

I know you like Dorkey Comments so why not return it to CC and ask them to double box it for you.

[NJChris]

Mine got delivered today too. It's at home. And tonight I have to stay later!

:)

[Bierboy]

Got home from work today and set 'er up. Guided setup done though my home network connected by Cat-5. Screen said it might take a half hour and only took about 10 minutes. I'm doing Mediacom analog cable and OTA HD. Within an hour or two, I was up and rolling. Hookup is a breeze; analog PQ is MUCH better than the S2. HD PQ is great. Audio through optical to my surround system is great. Doing video with components to my Hitachi 51UWX20B (which has no HDMI).

I like having CC within the TiVo (I'm slightly hard of hearing), and it's only couple steps away. You hit info within a program, scroll down the right side of the info box and go to CC. I like the look of the unit; it seems very well made. As others have stated, it's very quiet.

One thing I don't like is that the clock on the front panel does not display if you're not using the unit. The entire front panel is dark unless it's being used for recording or "live" TV. And I've tried resetting the front display light level, and it doesn't seem to change even when I change the settings. Seems like it gets brighter initially, then goes back to the same level it was. Not a deal-breaker, though. I would like to know what's wrong there.

I'm using a universal remote (Harmony SST-659), so I can't comment on the revamped peanut, but the little I used it before re-programming my Harmony, it seemed nice.

One happy camper here.

[Larry in TN]

She thinks I'm out of my mind for doing so.

You are... Where do I get in line to order mine? :)

[Lampei]

One thing I don't like is that the clock on the front panel does not display if you're not using the unit. The entire front panel is dark unless it's being used for recording or "live" TV.

Wow, that's weird. Is there any menu setting anywhere to keep it turned on? That seems like an odd feature otherwise.

[alee]

Wow, that's weird. Is there any menu setting anywhere to keep it turned on? That seems like an odd feature otherwise.
I believe OLEDs are prone to screen burn so they probably don't power it unless they absolutely have to.

[quango]

I think the clock stays on while it's in use viewing recorded programming... at least, I didn't notice it suddenly vanishing while I put the S3 through its paces today.

I was able to set it up to tune OTA ATSC and analog cable with no hassles - I had the box up and running with SPs set up for shows that came on in primetime (My Name Is Earl and The Office) within 45 minutes--the box showed up at 5:45, and I was out the door to go to a soccer game at 6:30. Granted, I've probably set up a dozen TiVos by now... but Guided Setup just flew by on this box.

The only digital OTA locals I've had trouble with using an el cheapo indoor UHF antenna are the local MyNetworkTV affiliate (46-1) and a couple of low-power stations that don't seem to show up as even existing. I may even return the Silver Sensor I ordered from Amazon that's supposed to show up tomorrow, although I may give 46-1 another shot. (AntennaWeb said I needed some sort of fancy directional roof antenna to get stations 5 miles away... gotta wonder what they were smoking.)

I'll call Charter tomorrow to beg them to come out and do the CableCard installation so I can watch ESPNHD et al.

The only annoyances I've come across so far:

- If you are watching a prerecorded program and change the closed captioning setting, you get dumped out to Now Playing. It saves your place in the program, but it's still a little annoying.
- No way to zoom anything recorded in HD on the TiVo, so if they show something matted and don't upscale it (for example, Stargate* and Enterprise in syndication), you get a postage stamp in the middle of the screen. I wouldn't intentionally record something like that on the S3... but suggestions will probably pick them up anyway.
- The text under "channel banner" settings hasn't been updated for the S3 :-)

The FedEx Ground delivery guy was very jealous. I can't wait to see the reaction of the CableCard installer...

[Dssturbo1]

congrats quango
the biggest jealousy is from those on who ordered tuesday on here through tivo. you ordered through cc and paid for ground delivery and it was delivered to you on thursday, when tivo has yet to ship any.

quango did you get the 10% off too?

and tivo changed it's mind "unofficially" and will let you transfer a lifetime buying from a retailer.

[Bierboy]

I think the clock stays on while it's in use viewing recorded programming... at least, I didn't notice it suddenly vanishing while I put the S3 through its paces today....
quango...That's true. I've been experimenting with it. The front display does, indeed, go off when the unit is not in use. If you are recording a program and not using it otherwise, there's a single red dot that lights up showing it is recording. If you are watching a previously recorded (or "live") show while recording another, then the front panel WILL display the show that is recording.

Brightness of the display is also interesting. If you hit the info (or, I believe any other) button on the remote, the display brightens for several seconds. But then it returns to the previous, lower brightness level. That is explained in the settings where you change brightness levels.

[Rob Helmerichs]

That's odd that they don't have the clock on all the time. My appliances (VCRs, cable boxes, microwaves, clocks) have had always-on clocks for decades now, without any apparent negative impact.

[snathanb]

That's odd that they don't have the clock on all the time. My appliances (VCRs, cable boxes, microwaves, clocks) have had always-on clocks for decades now, without any apparent negative impact.

LED vs OLED issue.

Some OLED colors are subject to fading over time.

[Bierboy]

That may be true, but, if you'll notice carefully, the OLED lights around the navigation control on the far right of the front panel are on constantly. I spotted that this morning before I turned on the lights in my basement family room.

[Rob Helmerichs]

LED vs OLED issue.

Some OLED colors are subject to fading over time.
Then they probably shouldn't use them for things that are supposed to be on all the time...

[FourOhFour]

Perhaps they realize that some people may be putting this in a bedroom or some other room where the excess light would be annoying? (It's not a bug, it's a feature!)

Or maybe that people don't need yet *another* device with a clock? (At least the TiVo's won't be wrong or unset...)

[megazone]

Ah, I forgot to put this in my Review.

Yeah, I noticed this and asked about it - this is as designed. During development I guess some feedback they got is that home theater types like the lights to go off. If you hit 'Info' on the remote the front panel lights up. But it will auto-dim in a few seconds. It lights up to whatever brightness you've selected when you do a few different things, then drops back to the very dim setting in a couple of seconds.

That's all by design.