My series 3 has issues should I get a HD??

[briny319]

I have had a series 3 since they came out but now I keep getting the green screen with a serious error so I am thinking about returning it to costco. I can return it and pickup a tivo hd and I will probably also pickup $400 ($650 refund for S3 minus $250 for HD). I wasn't going to just for the money but now I am having some issues so why not.

Here's my concerns:
Are the cable cards the same between them? (I've heard about M and S cards but dont know what that means)

If they are the same any reason I can't just take them out of the old and install in the new, my cable company said to do that and call them with numbers on the screen and they would pair it.

I have a custom external hard drive can I use that with a HD? (I read that the HD would only work with the tivo external)

Are there any real differences between them besides remote, hdd size?

Thanks.

[briny319]

bump

[RonDawg]

You can take the CableCards out of the S3 and put them into the TiVoHD. Unlike the S3, the TiVoHD fully supports M-cards, so if your cable provider charges a lot for these, you can save even more money by exchanging the two S-cards for one M-card. S-card only supports one tuner, M-card supports more than one with a single card.

As far as your external drive, unless you know how to marry drives, you won't be able to use it with the TiVoHD, which only supports the My DVR Expander.

Other differences have been well documented in these forums, but the biggest differences are the smaller built-in drive, no OLED, no THX certification, only one set of audio outs, and slower MRV performance.