S3: Satisfied/Dissatisfied?

[kosherbacon]

I have been lurking on this forum for a while, trying to measure user satisfaction with the S3. I see a lot of complaining, but I can't tell if it is just from a few very vocal people. So, I'll ask the question right out--are you satisfied with your S3? Please account for everything--delivery of hardware, customer support, cable card installation, bugs, system performance, and of course, the TiVo experience in HD/THX.

The deadline for transferring lifetime service is fast approaching. I wanted to hold out for eSATA support, and I still may, but that lifetime transfer is soooo enticing. Should I do it?

[Bierboy]

I am completely satisfied, but, then, I don't use cablecards. Screw eSATA....I ordered a 750GB upgrade from WeaKnees.

[windracer]

Love it. :up: :up:

I've only had basic analog cable on all of my S2 boxes. Man, do I love the dual-tuner/CableCARD setup of the S3. And the HD stuff is incredible. Throw in TTG/MRV (please!) and I'll be giddy.

[killyoko]

I have had my S3 for almost two months now and I am completely happy with it. I'm using two cable cards (via charter cable) and I'm networked using the ethernet cable. I've had zero problems with my unit. So I guess what I'm saying is go for it! ;)

[Jerry_K]

Two S3s now and they are great. I am in 100% agreement with Bierboy, don't need esata or cable cards. 750 gig hard drives and instant cake are my answer. MRV would make that a WHOLE lot easier. I will probably bring the cables outside the S3 box to swap harddrives at will.

[kosherbacon]

Two S3s now and they are great. I am in 100% agreement with Bierboy, don't need esata or cable cards. 750 gig hard drives and instant cake are my answer. MRV would make that a WHOLE lot easier. I will probably bring the cables outside the S3 box to swap harddrives at will.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!
Jerry and Bierboy--What do you and do in lieu of cablecards? OTA? QAM? Both?

[Shawn95GT]

I bought my S3 on zero day and used it OTA only. Even that gave me enough content to fill the original drive a just over a week. Now I have cable / cablecards in that same S3.

I ordered a second S3 that I'm not going to bother with Cablecards on. It'll either be OTA only or OTA + analog cable depending on where the unit ends up in my house.

A 3rd S3 is going to end up at my Mother's place with Lifetime from one of my S2s transfered.

I love this box.

[Robo1234]

I love my S3 but would like the qam and astc funtions on all channels in cable band and TTG/MRV would be nice ...and million bucks for Xmas :)

Come on tivo give us loyal fans a Happy xmas.........

[Bierboy]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!
Jerry and Bierboy--What do you and do in lieu of cablecards? OTA? QAM? Both?My setup is OTA and analog cable.

[hookbill]

I punched option one, but how many of these polls that ask basically the same thing do we need?

Yes I'd like TTG and more importantly eSATA. I still love it. I dust it every day. I check it's temperature twice daily. And I make sure it gets a proper diet and excercise. Better then I take care of myself. :)

[kosherbacon]

I punched option one, but how many of these polls that ask basically the same thing do we need?

Yes I'd like TTG and more importantly eSATA. I still love it. I dust it every day. I check it's temperature twice daily. And I make sure it gets a proper diet and excercise. Better then I take care of myself. :)

Aw Bill, you're just sore that I called you on the deformation/defamation mistake. ;)
(see original post (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=329849) )

I did look at other polls out there and didn't see anything that was an overall satisfaction. Everything was dealing with specific issues like cablecards or rebooting. The last 5 polls are:
--What is Comcast billing for CCs?
--Majority of problems with Series3..... (OTA, Cable, CableCard, Software)
--Does your S3 work reliably? (this one is close, I admit, but doesn't address overall satisfaction, it does not incorproate calls to support, cablecard install, etc.)
--Since my TiVo is rebooting, my plan is/was to...
--Has your Series 3 crashed, frozen or rebooted?

[Ilene]

I love my S3 and I really don't miss having MRV since I didn't have a dual tuner before and used the MRV mainly to transfer the shows that conflicted what I was watching (recording) in the living room. I didn't use TTG much after I got Slingbox - the next greatest invention after TiVo since I also have a Pioneer TiVo recorder.

My issues revolve around the CableCards. It took a while to install (mainly due to the negativity from the installer from Verizon Fios). All was well for about 3 weeks when I started have pixelation/audio problems on local HD channels. This was corrected by calling Fios to have them "reset?" the cards, but I was so behind on watching that I had about a week of shows I had to just delete (watched as many as I could on the network web site). I now just record the must watch them in order shows (ER, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives etc) in SD rather than HD. The benefit is I can record more since SD take less space than HD.

Learn and adapt.

[kosherbacon]

thanks for the feedback everyone. Watching thos poll all day, the top two answers had agrnered about 85% of the vote--that's a pretty resounding positive feel. The negative answers have been gaining ground though. At noon today, it was 90%. I guess I should have known, this being a tivo forum and all, but I'm glad that all of the complaining you see on these boards is mostly from a relatively few squeaky wheels.

[ctakim]

I don't know if you consider me a squeaky wheel, but my experience was painful and ultimately not successful. I returned the S3 after 28 days never able to get my cable cards to work with the unit. I chalked it up to the pain of being an early adopter. For those of you who have had trouble free experiences, my hat's off to you.

[MScottC]

Option 2: Give me the eSata and QAM so I can drop cablecards (only to lower the extortion rates being paid to comcast) and I'd be totally happy.

[kosherbacon]

I don't know if you consider me a squeaky wheel, but my experience was painful and ultimately not successful. I returned the S3 after 28 days never able to get my cable cards to work with the unit. I chalked it up to the pain of being an early adopter. For those of you who have had trouble free experiences, my hat's off to you.


Which cable provider in what region? I don't expect trouble with cablecard setup since I have Comcast in the home of Comcast. If they can't get it right here, where would they be able to get it right?

[ctakim]

GVTC north of San Antonio. It's a cable cooperative so it is a relatively small market.

[megazone]

I love my S3, no regrets at all.

[Deacon West]

Option 2: Give me the eSata and QAM so I can drop cablecards (only to lower the extortion rates being paid to comcast) and I'd be totally happy.

:up: and add MRV and TTG and I might start volunteering to be an advocate for TiVo. Oh, nevermind, I already do that.

[GoHokies!]

Seems like we have a lot of newer S3 owners out there - bump for the new guys.

The more data the better...

Edit: Now I see that the poll is closed... Sorry for dragging this back up if nobody can vote on it. Is there a time limit on all polls or is it user specified?