[JHJanian]

I'm thinking of switching to a Series 3 HD Tivo from my HDTivo from Direc*TV.

Why? Direc*TV added new HD channels, but the HDTivo unit from them will not get the new channels.

Are people that have switched to the Series 3 units from Direc*TV happy in general? I would be using with Comcast cable.

Thanks, Jeff

 

[JHJanian]

I should add, I just saw Tivo has a new HD unit that is not series 3. I would consider switching to this from Direc*TV also. I just want Tivo, want HD and want to choose to record from the TV guide like I'm currently doing with Direc*TV Tivo. Thanks, Jeff

 

[Jon65]

I did just what you are thinking a month ago. So far it's been great. Of course I don't have as many HD channels, but the tivo interface is well worth it. I signed up with Comcast first, and had their Scientific Atlanta DVR. I could never get it to work like I wanted. Then the TiVo HD came out and I jumped right on it. It has been great! I upgraded the hard drive to 750GB and after a couple initial Comcast CableCard hiccups, all is well. I still have to call D* to cancel. I would say the main reason I switched was my neighbor's trees grew into my satellite line of sight, but my brother-in-law has their new DVR and really complains about it. All in all, I'm happy and waiting for more Comcast HD channels.

Jon

 

[JHJanian]

I did just what you are thinking a month ago. So far it's been great. Of course I don't have as many HD channels, but the tivo interface is well worth it. I signed up with Comcast first, and had their Scientific Atlanta DVR. I could never get it to work like I wanted. Then the TiVo HD came out and I jumped right on it. It has been great! I upgraded the hard drive to 750GB and after a couple initial Comcast CableCard hiccups, all is well. I still have to call D* to cancel. I would say the main reason I switched was my neighbor's trees grew into my satellite line of sight, but my brother-in-law has their new DVR and really complains about it. All in all, I'm happy and waiting for more Comcast HD channels.

Jon

Jon, is the new HD Tivo with comast as easy to record a show as it was with D*TV? You know what I mean? You pull up the guide, find a show and hit record?

Thanks, Jeff

 

[A J Ricaud]

[

QUOTE=JHJanian]Jon, is the new HD Tivo with comast as easy to record a show as it was with D*TV? You know what I mean? You pull up the guide, find a show and hit record?

Thanks, Jeff[/QUOTE]
I'm not Jon, but yes, it is the same. The Tivo menus are pretty much the same on all current Tivos, including Directivos.

 

[A J Ricaud]

I switched from Directv/HR10-250 to TimeWarner/S3s months ago. What an improvement in picture quality.
The S3s and HDs use the same Tivo interface, which is pretty much the same as your existing Directv/Tivo box.

 

[Jon65]

Jon, is the new HD Tivo with comast as easy to record a show as it was with D*TV? You know what I mean? You pull up the guide, find a show and hit record?

Thanks, Jeff

Jeff,

ABSOLUTELY!! I am so happy to have tivo I can't describe it. The SA8300HD was simply unusable for me. To give some background, in the process of preparing for the D*->C* switch, I set up one of my computers as a MythTV box, i.e. build your own DVR. I was able to get that working with minimal effort. I could NEVER use the SA8300, nor could my 10 year old daughter, who was also a tivo wiz with the DirecTivo. I had "modified" my DirecTivo quite a bit, added two drives, enabled networking, etc. I really hated to see that become unusable. But, I am really happy with the features of the Tivo-HD. Amazon Unbox, Swivel Search, etc. And upgrading the hard drive was incredibly easy using the WinMFS mentioned in other threads.

Additional benefits include a decrease in my cablemodem pricing, and improved picture quality. A friend and I did a side by side comparison where we recorded the same show off of DiscoveryHD and then got the exact frame on each. We could easily see compression artifacts on the D* signal.

Ironically, I don't actually watch that much television. But when I do, I want it to be good. And it is!

Go for it! You won't have any regrets. Unless you end up getting unlucky with your cable card install...see the Comcast thread for those horror stories.

Let me know what happens.

Jon

 

[jbernardis]

I made the same switch several months ago when TiVo was running their father's day rebate program. I am very happy I did. I couldn't live without the TiVo, and I believe the cable HD picture quality is better that that os D*.

 

[threeonparfive]

I just swapped from DTV about a month ago with the bastards up and told me my DirecTivo HD was no longer going to get HD channels. I bought the $300 TiVo HD which by the way is technically a Series 3 (it even says so in the information screen). I'm loving it. It's nice having software that's kept up to date. Probably the nicest thing was finally being able to dump my over priced home phone service in favor of Vonage now that I'm no longer slave to the D* phone line requirements.

The only thing that sucks is having to pay a per box DVR service fee now for 3 boxes where $5 got the whole house on D*. I can live with it though.

 

[JHJanian]

This is great news.

One more question: With the D*TV HD Tivo, I had to have 2 coax cables come into the back of the unit to use 2 tuners.

For Cable, (Comcast in my case), do I still need 2 coax cables inputting? Or do the 2 Cable cards (or 1 M card?) create 2 tuners with only 1 coax cable input.

I'm asking because in my bedroom I only have 1 coax into the wall and was unsuccesful in adding a 2nd line for my SD Tivo in that room.

Thanks again for all the great info!

Jeff

 

[Kablemodem]

This is great news.

One more question: With the D*TV HD Tivo, I had to have 2 coax cables come into the back of the unit to use 2 tuners.

The splitter is internal so you only need one cable (plus the cable card(s) for both tuners to work).

 

[jbrasure]

I switched from DirecTV to Comcast with an S3 about 6 months ago. It was an excellent decision, and both me and my wife are very happy. We love it so much that we have two S3's now. There was one week when my premium channels didn't work because of a Comcast screw-up, but otherwise it has been flawless. I won't ever go back to DirectTV (unless of course they get together with Tivo again).

 

[jfh3]

I should add, I just saw Tivo has a new HD unit that is not series 3. I would consider switching to this from Direc*TV also. I just want Tivo, want HD and want to choose to record from the TV guide like I'm currently doing with Direc*TV Tivo. Thanks, Jeff

You are incorrect - the Tivo HD is indeed a Series 3 box and has the same features as the original Series 3 box, other than the specific hardware differences (OLED display and front panel buttons).

 

[ADG]

Switched from DTV to Cablevision (and Series 3) last year and am 100% delighted. Suffered through a couple of months of problems with the S3, but after switching cable cards and receiving the TiVO updates everything is now fine. I also have a SA8300 in the same room as the S3, but will probably take advantage of the rebate & replace that with a second S3.

 

[fasTLane]

A quick question.

Is the OTA reception as good as the DirecTivo?

And is anyone around the Atlanta area having much success going this route?

I am very disappointed with Directv. The mpeg2 HD quality went downhill as soon as the mpeg4 started up. Considering dropping their HD package next week.

Thanks.

 

[HiDefGator]

The mpeg2 HD quality went downhill as soon as the mpeg4 started up.

That doesn't make any sense. The mpeg4 stuff is on a different satelite.

 

[aaronwt]

The National HD MPEG2 was already crappy. I don't see how it could get worse.

 

[fasTLane]

I know. Pixellation has jumped up considerably, especially DiscoveryHD. I see it with my own eyes. And I guess now they can do anything they like as far as compression is concerned.

Anyway back to the happy topic...

 

[Jasper]

I switched from Directv to FIOS and couldn't be happier.

The OTA tuner in the HD Tivo's is better than the one in the Directivo's. The tuner in the HR10-250 sucks. Also, keep in mind, that with cable, you should get all your local channels in HD via cable, so you probably won't even use the antenna. I purchased the HD tivo before I switched to FIOS so I used it with just OTA for a while and I got all of my locals, plus the Baltimore locals, rock solid. The HR10-250 was always sketchy with a couple of my lower power stations and the Baltimore stations.

As for how the program guide and interface is, it's exactly the same. My Dad has Directv with a Directivo, and when he visited, he couldn't tell the difference between the Directivo interface and the cablecard HDTivo interface. He kept asking me why my channel numbers were different......

 

[fasTLane]

Thanks Jasper. FIOS sounds fantastic.