[rmassey]

I have an S3 (Fathers day sale/rebate pending). I need/want another Tivo. Is now the time to buy or are there still too many issues with the THD? I only use my S3 with OTA HD + analog Cable, no CCards.

I have a CC coupon (real one - $40 off $199 or more). Any better deals out there than $259 from CC.

I prepaid 3 yrs on the S3. Can I get MSD with a 3 yr commit monthly for $6.95/mo or am I still confused on the new pricing?

TIA

 

[jfh3]

I have an S3 (Fathers day sale/rebate pending). I need/want another Tivo. Is now the time to buy or are there still too many issues with the THD? I only use my S3 with OTA HD + analog Cable, no CCards.

I have a CC coupon (real one - $40 off $199 or more). Any better deals out there than $259 from CC.

I prepaid 3 yrs on the S3. Can I get MSD with a 3 yr commit monthly for $6.95/mo or am I still confused on the new pricing?

TIA

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.

 

[jrm01]

I have an S3 (Fathers day sale/rebate pending). I need/want another Tivo. Is now the time to buy or are there still too many issues with the THD? I only use my S3 with OTA HD + analog Cable, no CCards.

I have a CC coupon (real one - $40 off $199 or more). Any better deals out there than $259 from CC.

I prepaid 3 yrs on the S3. Can I get MSD with a 3 yr commit monthly for $6.95/mo or am I still confused on the new pricing?

TIA

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.

 

[platbr]

Is now the time to buy or are there still too many issues with the THD?

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.

 

[jrm01]

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.

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).

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.

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.

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

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.

 

[rainwater]

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.

 

[rmassey]

Well I picked up a THD at CC last night. $259.xx w/coupon + tx = $279.xx.

I did a quick install with guided setup. Looks/works fine for me, but I don't really have any mileage on it yet.

So, $279 for this .vs. $406 for my S3/Father Day rebate. For +127 I get:

OLED display
Shinny Black Case
THX cert.
backlit remote
1 extra set of AV outputs
+ 90 GB of storage
ability to add eSATA HD (now) w/ Kickstart 62

OK, sure I guess that's all worth $127. Certainly not worth the $500 MAP difference to me.
The useful S3 perks to me are +90 GB, extra set of AV outputs (I actually use these on my S3) and the better remote. Most of which can be corrected after purchase.

So when is 8.3 available for the THD?

 

[rainwater]

So when is 8.3 available for the THD?

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.

 

[rmassey]

Ahh, OK I guess I didn't see some features (Swivel, music, photos) because I have not activated the box yet.

Oh yeah, now that I have an S3 + THD both connected to my network, I now have a burring interest in MRV - C'mon Tivo/Cable Labs... get moving.