Have Sci Atlanta 8300HDC, thinking about TiVo series 3 HD

[BOMOON]

Hi Everyone,

Comcast gave me one of those Scientific Atlanta 8300HDC DVRs. I gather that the TiVo rollout for these units is going to lag behind that for the Motorolas.

I've got a real bug for those TiVo series 3 HD DVRs. Before Comcast I had DirecTV so I really miss the functionality of their TiVo DVRs. After reading many posts here and in the Comcast forum I'm seriously considering getting the TiVo unit.

<<snipped content NOTE: I had first thought that the TiVo DVR connected to the Scientific Atlanta. The first two responders corrected me on this point so I snipped content dealing with that. Rest of message assumes direct connect between TiVo and cable in, no SA in circuit>>

There are a lot of pros and cons especially the cost of the TiVo unit and subscription. I also know that On-Demand won't work. I can live without it. I'm used to using the TiVo Wish List and flagging what I want for recording. That's good enough for me.

Assuming that none of that matters:

Does the series 3 have working USB/Firewire/Ethernet ports I can use to connect to my LAN and copy recorded programs to my PCs? I make my own DVDs of cult movies and with DirecTV was forced to playback recorded movies and capture them with a Canopus vidcap card. I'd love to have a real data transfer interface for a change.

That's about all I know to ask on this subject. Thanks to all who take the time to read this!

Big Al Mintaka

[ajwees41]

The S3 or TivoHD will not work with an cable setop becacuse it replaces it.

You are correct the Tivo software for for the SA dvr's will be later.

[gastrof]

...There are a lot of pros and cons but the ones concerning me at the moment are primarily whether or not I could make a series 3 HD work with the Scientific Atlanta HD DVR. If it can't work, all of the other concerns are moot.

Has anyone gotten a Series 3 to work with this DVR?...


At best it's ill-advised to try and use a TiVo with a DVR as its signal source.

You've got two different machines trying to record TV shows, one of them totally dependent on the other. This means at best you can only record two shows at once, since one of the cable box tuners has to be tuned to the channel the TiVo wants to record, and that channel has to be what the box is displaying.

Besides, as mentioned above, the Series 3 and TiVo HD don't work with cable boxes. They have no way to control the channel changes, and have no Audio/Video inputs. They tune cable channels on their own, often with cable cards in the case of digital cable.

[BOMOON]

The S3 or TivoHD will not work with an cable setop becacuse it replaces it.

You are correct the Tivo software for for the SA dvr's will be later.

Thanks ajwees41, I corrected my first posting to reflect this and instead emphasize the other issues.

Big Al Mintaka

[BOMOON]

At best it's ill-advised to try and use a TiVo with a DVR as its signal source.

You've got two different machines trying to record TV shows, one of them totally dependent on the other. This means at best you can only record two shows at once, since one of the cable box tuners has to be tuned to the channel the TiVo wants to record, and that channel has to be what the box is displaying.

Besides, as mentioned above, the Series 3 and TiVo HD don't work with cable boxes. They have no way to control the channel changes, and have no Audio/Video inputs. They tune cable channels on their own, often with cable cards in the case of digital cable.

Thanks gastrof, I stand corrected on that. As I indiciated to ajwees41, I corrected my first posting to reflect this and instead emphasize the other issues.

Big Al Mintaka