TiVoToo
09-14-2006, 01:20 PM
S3 arrived yesterday afternoon (9/13). I unpacked it, set it up, activated it, and started Guided Setup starting about 5:30 pm after I got home from work. I 'played' with it until early this morning (and am paying for it now as I still had to get up and come to work this morning.)
Setup:
HDTV is Sony 60" A2000 SXRD. 5.1 DD/DTS Surround Sound via Sony V333ES receiver. Analog cable via BHN Central Florida. DT/HD via OTA antenna mounted in attic. No CableCards as yet. S3 connected to HDTV via HDMI. S3 audio via TOSLink to Receiver. S3 networked via wired Ethernet to broadband router.
I got picture and sound as soon as I plugged in the S3 power cord. No HDMI issues. No HDTV or audio issues.
Like:
1. Recording 2 HD programs while watching previously recorded HD program.
2. The Quiet! This thing is absolutely noiseless. You literally have to put an ear to it to hear anything.
3. The OLED display. Cool doesn't begin to describe it.
4. The THX intro.
5. The remote backlighting. More cool.
6. Same TiVo GUI. No learning curve for the family to use it.
7. Black glossy case and silver front. Matches the rest of my HT equipment.
8. Analog SD PQ is better than the S1 that this S3 replaced.
Dislike:
1. Black glossy finish is easily scratched/marred. Be careful when handling and installing this baby.
2. Unencrypted BHN QAM channels all assigned to Channel 0. No way to modify or label in order to tag for Manual Recording. My HDTV handles unencrypted BHN QAM channels much better than the S3, but that's a story for another thread. And the S3 doesn't find all of the unencrypted channels that my HDTV finds.
3. Channel Scan. Channel scan will scan cable and antenna to find all channels no currently in the channel list. My scan found over 400. Once scan is complete only choices are to add ALL found channels to Channel List, or not. I would have preferred to select channels to add to Channel List. There is an option to remove all scanned channels from Channel List (this only affects channels added by prior channel scan. These channels are indicated by an asterisk in the Channel List.)
Other:
1. Aspect. Native is recommended for HDTVs that can handle all formats. So, I started with Native aspect and let my HDTV reformat as needed. This resulted in slow channel changes and delays when switching back/forth from TiVo GUI to video. Changed aspect to 1080i fixed and changes were MUCH faster, but 480i/480p were zoomed. Plan to try 1080i Hybrid tonight.
2. I plan to use this recorder primarily for recording HD programs. Using Favorite Channels to tag just the DT channels that usually carry the HD content I would want to record made it easy to set up recordings.
Problems/Bugs:
1. Unable to tune the OTA transmission of the local Fox affiliate because no frequency is assigned to the channel. This appears to be a problem in the TiVo database for the Orlando area. All of the other digital channels in the database that I can receive have correct frequency assigned, and can be tuned. I've reported problem to TiVo.
I'll post some pictures of my setup this evening.
Setup:
HDTV is Sony 60" A2000 SXRD. 5.1 DD/DTS Surround Sound via Sony V333ES receiver. Analog cable via BHN Central Florida. DT/HD via OTA antenna mounted in attic. No CableCards as yet. S3 connected to HDTV via HDMI. S3 audio via TOSLink to Receiver. S3 networked via wired Ethernet to broadband router.
I got picture and sound as soon as I plugged in the S3 power cord. No HDMI issues. No HDTV or audio issues.
Like:
1. Recording 2 HD programs while watching previously recorded HD program.
2. The Quiet! This thing is absolutely noiseless. You literally have to put an ear to it to hear anything.
3. The OLED display. Cool doesn't begin to describe it.
4. The THX intro.
5. The remote backlighting. More cool.
6. Same TiVo GUI. No learning curve for the family to use it.
7. Black glossy case and silver front. Matches the rest of my HT equipment.
8. Analog SD PQ is better than the S1 that this S3 replaced.
Dislike:
1. Black glossy finish is easily scratched/marred. Be careful when handling and installing this baby.
2. Unencrypted BHN QAM channels all assigned to Channel 0. No way to modify or label in order to tag for Manual Recording. My HDTV handles unencrypted BHN QAM channels much better than the S3, but that's a story for another thread. And the S3 doesn't find all of the unencrypted channels that my HDTV finds.
3. Channel Scan. Channel scan will scan cable and antenna to find all channels no currently in the channel list. My scan found over 400. Once scan is complete only choices are to add ALL found channels to Channel List, or not. I would have preferred to select channels to add to Channel List. There is an option to remove all scanned channels from Channel List (this only affects channels added by prior channel scan. These channels are indicated by an asterisk in the Channel List.)
Other:
1. Aspect. Native is recommended for HDTVs that can handle all formats. So, I started with Native aspect and let my HDTV reformat as needed. This resulted in slow channel changes and delays when switching back/forth from TiVo GUI to video. Changed aspect to 1080i fixed and changes were MUCH faster, but 480i/480p were zoomed. Plan to try 1080i Hybrid tonight.
2. I plan to use this recorder primarily for recording HD programs. Using Favorite Channels to tag just the DT channels that usually carry the HD content I would want to record made it easy to set up recordings.
Problems/Bugs:
1. Unable to tune the OTA transmission of the local Fox affiliate because no frequency is assigned to the channel. This appears to be a problem in the TiVo database for the Orlando area. All of the other digital channels in the database that I can receive have correct frequency assigned, and can be tuned. I've reported problem to TiVo.
I'll post some pictures of my setup this evening.