[LisaD]

Hi all.... We keep struggling with the decision as to which HD Tivo to get. We have our old Series 1 that hasn't been in use till the last week - relying on our comcast/moto dual hd. Actually, I love the thing. Works great.

We do want the ability to do eSata, copy to computer without fuss/muss and also Tivo2Go. I can transfer my lifetime for the $200 fee so it's either do or die right now. Looks-wise, I do prefer the Series3, but we can hack it for more space if needed and also the ability to copy to a computer/external seems to negate the need for a big drive?

My question is.... I understand the basic differences between the TivoHD & Series3 but what I'm concerned about is the lesser publicized details regarding the guts of the devices - ram, speed, etc. etc. I'm pretty nutty about things working briskly, etc. Perhaps even Type-A 'ish...... could anyone share with me the details on the differences (if any) between the 2 units for that?

And, if anyone can tell me if I'd be pleased with the menu speed between series 1, ver. 3? software and the new ones - then I'll have something to be excited about. I tell ya though, I really wish Tivo would retain a window of the TV show playing while in the menu system ala comcast/moto. That's going to be a hard one for me.

I appreciate your help

 

[TexasGrillChef]

Once you get either unit. IT will soon upgrade to 9.2 software.

TTG/MRV will be enabled in November for both the S3/HD

eSata is enabled in 9.2 software. Which is available shortly & for some now.

There isn't enough difference internally between the S3 & HD unit to really be of much concern. Even down the road.

The HD unit has the benefit of being able to use ONE M card, while the S3 still needs 2 cards. So depending on how much your local Cable co charges per card. You could save a few bucks. In my area... It would only save me $3.

One thing many people have neglected to say. Is that if you UPGRADE the INTERNAL hard drive in either unit. You WILL Void the warranty.

Therefore... if Hard Drive space is of real concern for you, & Voiding the warranty is something you do NOT want to do. Then consider the S3. It has a larger internal drive right off the bat & no need to void warranty. Add a 1Tb eSATA drive & you will be set.

Menu speed. Between a S1 & S3.... Is relative. Some say the S3 is slower. Some say it is faster.

Keep one other thing in mind. Eventually the S1 will have very limited use/capability. Come February 17th, 2009 the OTA tuners in the S1 will be unuseable in the USA. Shortly after that some cable companies will drop Analog Cable service as well. So at that point the S1 will be unuseable to record anything unless you have a cable co provided STB/DVR.

TWC in Dallas, will be dropping Analog Cable in 2010, Also in 2010, TWC will only provide DVR's / Cable Cards and will no longer provide stand alone STB's.

I have both the S3, & a TiVo HD. I have the S3 in my main living room hooked up to my 65". I have my TiVo HD in my Bedroom. I watch 85% of all my TV in the living room. Very little gets recorded in the bedroom & really currently only use it to Pause live TV. Can't wait for MRV!

TGC

 

[richsadams]

Check out this thread for more details about TiVo HD's.

Check out this post for spec comparisons between THD's and S3's.

We have an S3 and love it but will probably replace our S2's w/TiVo HD's as they appear to be better situated architecturally for the future.

I tell ya though, I really wish Tivo would retain a window of the TV show playing while in the menu system ala comcast/moto.

That's an ongoing wish on the "Requested Features" thread...and one we'd love to see as well. :up:

 

[LisaD]

Thank you.... I'll read those.

 

[Resist]

I also couldn't decide which Tivo High Definition box to get, the S3 or the HD model. I liked the style of the S3 but felt the HD was more up to date internally. Ultimately I went with the S3 because there is a $200 mail in rebate and Amazon.com had free shipping and I would pay no state sales tax. The end result made it only a $100 price difference. And for $100 I got the better remote, more storage space and a great display. Sure the HD has 256k of internal RAM and the S3 only has 128k, but I doubt I will notice the difference. And sure the HD supports Multi-streaming cablecards right now, although I think soon enough the S3 will also support them through a software update. I also got a Tivo Network Adapter for $37.99 from Amazon.com with free shipping and no state sales tax.

Considering the S3 hit the market at $799 and I got it for $358, I think I made a wise choice.

My old Series 2 with a lifetime didn't make the in service date requirements, missed it by 2 months. So I will do an MSD and pay $6.95 a month subscription fee on the new S3. Hopefully another lifetime transfer deal will come around later.

 

[LisaD]

Yes, if I didn't have my old Lifetime to transfer over, the Series3 would be what I'd get tho' this ram thing is interesting! I didn't realize till today the transfer was just for the TivoHD. (ducking).... I'll get the TivoHD tomorrow and cross my fingers that it's somewhat as fast as my Comcast Moto.

 

[richsadams]

Yes, if I didn't have my old Lifetime to transfer over, the Series3 would be what I'd get tho' this ram thing is interesting! I didn't realize till today the transfer was just for the TivoHD. (ducking).... I'll get the TivoHD tomorrow and cross my fingers that it's somewhat as fast as my Comcast Moto.

The difference between the Comcast DVR and TiVo is night and day. You'll never look back. :up:

 

[LisaD]

I'm sure. I do miss the pretty screen and the bloop bloop sounds. I'm probably just fearful cuz everything is flawless right now and I'm fearing pixelization, synch issues, Comcast mucking the card thing up, etc. and slowness. I'm going to keep my Comcast DVR for a month before settling on it. And oh boy - I hope the Tivo2Go, and other cool features coming in will work with Macs properly. I didn't research that part of it. Trying to rush this to get everything in order to play with setup on a weekend. Comcast arrives tomorrow and I'm paying the $20 extra to get it at Costco vs. Amazon for the priviledge (and to easily return if defective).
I'm scared! Messing with my TV viewing is a big deal. I shall start drinking early tomorrow just in case.

 

[richsadams]

I'm sure. I do miss the pretty screen and the bloop bloop sounds. I'm probably just fearful cuz everything is flawless right now and I'm fearing pixelization, synch issues, Comcast mucking the card thing up, etc. and slowness. I'm going to keep my Comcast DVR for a month before settling on it. And oh boy - I hope the Tivo2Go, and other cool features coming in will work with Macs properly. I didn't research that part of it. Trying to rush this to get everything in order to play with setup on a weekend. Comcast arrives tomorrow and I'm paying the $20 extra to get it at Costco vs. Amazon for the priviledge (and to easily return if defective).
I'm scared! Messing with my TV viewing is a big deal. I shall start drinking early tomorrow just in case.

We kept our Comcast DVR for a short time after getting our S3 too...needed that safety net. Then we kicked it out of the house forever.

From the day got our S3 to now we've experienced very, very little trouble. The cable cards worked right away. One time there was a signal problem in our area that took Comcast four truck rolls to fix. They tried to blame it on TiVo a couple of times, but it turned out to be something they did at the "head end" up the block; since then very little trouble at all. A recent upgrade was a little buggy, but we have Motorola cable cards so apparently we didn't see some of the bugs others were seeing. We just received the latest upgrade and it seems to have smoothed everything out so we continue to be happy campers.

Have a drink on us…but don’t drive…just enjoy your shiny new TiVo! :up:

 

[Resist]

I'm paying the $20 extra to get it at Costco vs. Amazon for the priviledge (and to easily return if defective).

Normally I would agree with buying it from Costco but since the got rid of their lifetime return policy, that changes things. Amazon was free shipping and no state tax.

I feel your concern about the box failing and Costco still makes returns easy (only up to 2 years now), but I think that if it is going to fail, it will fail within Tivo's 90 day warranty period. Our Series2 Tivo has been running non stop for almost 4 years without a single issue.

My decision to buy from Amazon was a financial issue. Plus I hate to pay state tax (since they recenty raised it in my city).

 

[missdona]

If you're scared, try it out. You may be pleasantly surprised.

I was prepared for a nightmare with the cable card install. It went really, really well. He was a pro and was in and out in like 45 minutes. I was having a little bit of screen lag with 8.1, but it seems to have resolved itself with the 9.1 upgrade.

 

[fred2]

Resist:

I _THINK_ that Costco still have its original return policy on TIVO. (not for tv's or computers and some other stuff but still on some items)??????????

 

[Resist]

Fred2,

Costco started out with a 6 month return policy on computers but now Costco got ride of its lifetime return policy on any product they sell. That changed this year and is not widely known. With electronics there were just to many abuses to the policy. The only reason I even had a Costco membership was for the lifetime return policy. You used to be able to buy, lets say a pack of sodas, and drink them all but one and a few years later return it for a full refund of the whole pack. I never abused it but some people did.

Now the policy for electronics is 6 months return for cash and up to 2 years for replacement or repair. Still I guess that is better than anyone else has.

 

[Stylin]

I was considering buying my tivo from Costco. I just checked the return policy but do not see anything about a 2yr maximum. Could you pls direct me to the policy? Thks

http://www.costco.com/Service/FeaturePageLeftNav.aspx?ProductNo=10166081#Returns

Returns or Exchanges
Costco.com offers convenient returns at any one of our Costco warehouses worldwide. To expedite the return process, please have your order confirmation email with you.
Simply return your purchase at any one of our Costco warehouses worldwide for a refund (including shipping and handling). If you are unable to return your order at one of our warehouses, please email [email protected] or call our customer service center at 1-800-955-2292 for assistance. To expedite the processing of your return, please reference your order number.

We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund. Exceptions: Televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPOD/MP3 players and cellular phones must be returned within 90 days of purchase for a refund.

 

[Resist]

This might help, http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/costcos-incredible-return-policy.html . It seems Costco has limited the return policy down even more than I thought.

 

[LisaD]

I got the Tivo and waited for Comcast for 5 hours (arrived 1 hour after the 4 hour window). After TWO HOURS says that the host ID or the data number (forgot which one) - was acting like it was attached to another account. They couldn't hit it remotely at all because of this or blow out the number to start from scratch. And of course they claim only the warehouse can do these things and they were closed. Wow was I pissed because I called Comcast beforehand 3 TIMES to make sure they write down "do not even bother to arrive if you don't have extra cards as backup". I couldn't have been more specific or insisting/thorough about that. Sure enough - they bring one card with zero as backup.

They will try again today. I should've tried to get my own damn card despite them insisting I couldn't do that. They better waive this install fee. I felt bad for the tech. Not his fault. He even protested having only the one card on dispatch and they told him "you're lucky to get that one". Really bad situation. Oh, and I ÅGAIN spent 30 minutes alone trying to convince them I only needed one M-card. They have zero idea that the TivoHD exists and only recognize the Series3.

The 78 year old lady who went to the Comcast place with a hammer to smash things? My hero. I'm going to find her and congratulate her assuming she's not in jail.

 

[No Static At Al]

Well, the crowd here is persuasive. I fully intended to go with the S3 (mainly because of the appearance and remote) but after reading through many threads, I've been convinced to go for the THD, because of the architecture. Will transfer the LT from my S1 that has been faithful for more than 7 years.

That S3 sure is better looking though!!

 

[LisaD]

Yes - S3 looks fantastic in comparison IMO. The TivoHD looks much better in the rack than I anticipated though. Still, I have a fantasy about tweaking the front somehow. Might even just black out the silver. IDK.

I'm finding the menu so far to be fast enough for me. The hard part is getting the darned cable company to make everything work.

 

[wdwms]

We have both a HD and an S3 in our house; both with lifetime. The differences between the two are essentially 'nil when it comes down to usability. I feel the S3 menus are a tad faster than the HD. I got an extra glo remote on ebay for $36, so other than recording space (which is of no concern for us) and the OLEDs, both perform identical.

S3 is hooked up to a 50" Panny plasma while the HD entertains us on a 32" Vizio LCD.. SD and HD picture quality on both blows any Comcrap box out of the water.

-t

 

[Resist]

The 78 year old lady who went to the Comcast place with a hammer to smash things? My hero. I'm going to find her and congratulate her assuming she's not in jail.

Okay.....? What is this and where did it come from?