Series 3: Smooth sailing in Palo Alto

[kongjie]

Well, like others I've been lurking, waiting, wondering whether to bite at the lifetime transfer offer. I moved to California about a year and a half ago, bringing my Series 2 but not my TV. When we bought a TV I decided on a Sony HD unit, but our dependency on TiVo meant that I never got to watch anything in HD.

I bought my Series 3 a couple of days ago and scheduled the cable card install with Comcast. The installer had done a number of Series 3 installations and knew just what to do. He even told me how to switch between tuners, although I knew. When I mentioned problems with cablecards, he said Comcast used to have a lot of trouble but since they've gone all digital, the problems cleared up.

Anyway, this thing rocks. Even non-HD broadcasts look substantially better. Maybe my cable box was adding some noise, or maybe it's the improvement from the HDMI connection, I don't know, but this was SO worth the investment.

I've totally forgotten how to set up the network info so I've not yet been able to play my music; I also can't quite figure out why the remote does or does not light up. Is there a light sensor in it?

The only possible quibble I could have at this point is that the switch to the TiVo screen is a little slower than it used to be. I have the video set at "native" and I think what happens when the screen changes resolution is that the TV needs a second to reset, or the TiVo is resetting resolution, I don't know.

The unit looks great and works great. It's much quieter than my Series 2. I like the front display, although it's a little small for my aging eyes.

All in all, a fantastic experience and probably my best holiday gift to myself and my wife.

[TLink]

We had a similar experience with Comcast (transitioning from Adelphia) in central Virginia. This was the first Tivo install for this regional office. The cable installer was not aware that a cable card could be used in any device other than a TV, but agreed to try an install using the directions provided by TIVO. Following the directions, the process went smoothly, with no glitches.

The impulse of the installer is to install both cards at once, and make a single call to the cable card authorization office. However, we had read of potential problems with this approach on the forum (Thanks!), and recommended that he activate the first card in the bottom slot before installing the second per the TIVO instructions. This process was seamless, and all the channels came up without a problem.

We really like the S3! Works as well as the Series 2, with dual-tuner enhancements. We tried recording on one tuner while watching live TV on another, and it worked great! We had not ordered digital cable for the Series 2, because of the overhead of setting up an additional IR extender for an extra cable box. Integrating the cable controller into the TIVO is a great solution. The home networking & media feature also worked - we were able to view photos and play music from a networked PC, view Yahoo weather, etc., just as we did from the Series 2.

All in all, a great experience with no problems.