Time to buy a THD?

If you aren't using CableCARDs (especially SA cards), go for it. The software is at the 8.1 level, rather than the 8.3 level you are used to, but expect that is temporary.

Your understanding of MSD is correct.

 

With your setup and pricing I'd say go for it.

yes, you should get the MSD price of $6.95.

I prepaid (3 years) on my S3 and they reduced my old S2 to $6.95.

 

I'm going to have to vote "no" on whether to buy the Tivo HD. For me, it actually was the Tivo HD that brought me back "into the fold," from a Vista Media Center PC, but I couldn't do it. It actually wasn't apparent to me just how bad it was until I returned it (yesterday) and swapped for an S3. I'll leave open the possibility that I had a bad box.

The only showstopper for me was the audio. The Tivo HD audio "dropped" momentarily with every remote keypress that resulted in an on-screen update (i.e. guide, info, etc.). It was horribly annoying, although I didn't realize just how bad it was until I got the S3 which didn't have the problem.

Other drawbacks include the grid & menu speed, which I'm noticing now was many times slower than the S3 (I know this theoretically doesn't make sense, right? the HD is suppose to be faster (???)). Anyway, the S3 is light years faster. The wife-acceptance-factor ("WAF") is on the rise.

Also, the Tivo HD remote is pretty bad. It's unusable in a dark room.

So my issues are the audio, menu speed, and remote. With the exception of the remote, these are probably easily fixable in software. We are loving the S3, though...

PS -- we had virtually no issues with pixelization, or with the cablecards.

 

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This is a known problem when using DD 5.1 and the guide features. I would expect that it should be fixed in new software releas (just my opinion).

The S3 was just as bad until we got software 8.3 this year. When THD gets to 8.3 level I would expect this to be fixed.

I've used the ol' peanut for five years and love it. I love the distinctive keys. Room light doesn't matter since I do it all by feel, never even look at the remote. If it is a problem you can get the new S3 remote to work for the THD for $50.

 

Amazon.com has it for $285 with free shipping (and no tax depending on where you live). Just make sure you select Amazon.com from "More buying choices" if it isn't selected by default. Otherwise you will not get free shipping.

 

It looks as though most of the features of 8.3 are already in the current TiVo HD software other than indexing improvements and general speed improvements.