[MacBandit]

So many comments on the net in general are negative. This is due mainly to human nature to complain when something is wrong but to say nothing when it's good. Due to this and my own very positive results I thought I would share my own experience and ask all people that have positive comments to contribute.

POSITIVE COMMENTS ONLY PLEASE!!!!

I ordered my TivoHD the day after they announced it. I tried to order it the night of the announcement but the site was having issues and not wanting to be double charged due to a site glitch I waited until the next morning. Once I received confirmation that it had shipped and would land at my place on Tuesday 08/07 I went ahead scheduled installation with Comcast. I did this using there own online customer service chat service. In this way I was able to get pricing and all the details of what to expect from the service and installation I was then able to copy the entire text and save it for future reference. In fact Comcast's own service asks you if you would like to save the chat. I was able to get scheduled for between 8&9am the Saturday after I got the Tivo. When I received the Tivo I went ahead and hooked it up as recommended by Tivo and went through setup and got the software update and guide data. The morning of installation the Comcast installer showed up at 8:30 he had in hand about 6 cable cards as he has had problems at times installing cable cards in the past. He said he had only installed into one Tivo but had done several TVs. He initially asked if he could get to the back of the Tivo but I pointed out that this was a new Tivo with the card slots on the front. He was unsure of all the steps involved with the Tivo and was very willing to let me help him so we went through the guide step by step together. We installed the first cable card then he called the customer service tech and gave her the numbers for the card she registered them on her end and we waited a couple minutes and then were able to check the channels which were all there. We then did the exact same thing for the second one and had the same results. The Tivo then said I should restart and go through setup again which I did. Two days now and everything is working perfectly. I had a DirecTivo 2 years ago but was forced to go to a Comcast DVR when we moved to the north side of a hill with lots of trees so we couldn't get DirecTV to attempt to setup without us paying first. It's so much less stressful to have a box that does what it's suppose to.

I hope there are lots of people out there who have had my results and I'm sure there are but they've been quiet let's hope some of you take the time now to contribute your positive stories.

 

[lessd]

I don't think this is the way to do this, somebody should construct a good poll that easy to understand, maybe two polls one with OTA setups and one with CC setups, and only people that have and installed the TiVo-HD should vote in the poll.
OK, I am too lazy to set this up and i have not put the CC in my TiVo-HD yet anyways.

 

[MacBandit]

I don't think this is the way to do this, somebody should construct a good poll that easy to understand, maybe two polls one with OTA setups and one with CC setups, and only people that have and installed the TiVo-HD should vote in the poll.
OK, I am too lazy to set this up and i have not put the CC in my TiVo-HD yet anyways.

That wouldn't be hard to setup but isn't what I'm trying to do here. I want some positive stories to backup my hypothesis that there are lots of people with good results a poll may do just that but a poll doesn't counter the negative stories.

 

[Zaph32]

The Tivo works great on OTA and analog cable channels and has a lot more features than the DirecTV box it replaced. How's that for positive?

 

[alansplace]

I hope there are lots of people out there who have had my results and I'm sure there are but they've been quiet let's hope some of you take the time now to contribute your positive stories.

well i'm one of those. i purchased my TiVo HD from circuit city (using a $40 discount coupon from the web) on the saturday after the announcement. i activated it on the way home via cellphone & bluetooth headset. i immediately hooked it up w/o cablecard(s) and after completing guided setup both tuners worked perfectly on the 2-99 analog channels.

then i called time warner, and set up an appointment for the installation of the cablecard(s) for the following wednesday between 2 and 5 pm (the soonest that they could come out). on wednesday the tech showed up just after noon, installed two motorola single stream cablecards and was done before 1:00 pm. after he left i reran guided setup which added the digital channels. all has been great ever since.

i'll be getting a second TiVo HD soon!!
--
Alan

 

[DTSDude]

+1 for good install. Working MCard as of 8/10.

Guy showed up, tossed card in, walked through TiVo setup. Had to hit the card twice but that was as bad as it got. He was out the door in under 30 minutes.

 

[kennedy]

I am analog + OTA only and my THD works very well. The internal OTA tuners lock onto my local HD signals as good or better than my S3. Analog cable picture quality is very good. Count me as a hugh THD fan.

 

[jfh3]

My situation is atypical, because I was able to self-install M-Cards in two Tivo HD boxes, but both went flawlessly. Each time it took about 15-20 minutes on the phone, most of that to get the CSR to give the right information (CableCARD serial number, Host ID, Data) to dispatch.

 

[BrianAZ]

So my story is just on this side of being positive. Cox AZ guy (was actually from some local company they contract with) got here on time, brought 4 2005 SA cards because the prior (and first) Tivo call he went on the 2007 cards did not work at all and he heard 2005 worked better.

I gave him the installer sheet, which he read and attempted to follow. When he first put in the cards, it indicated that the firmware was upgrading. He was a bit impatient and wanted to pull the card and try another. After relaying some of what I'd read to him, he waited and the cards worked. Initially there were some issues where some channels would work and some would not, so he called back into the office and they sent another hit to each card. Card 1 came up fine after that, but Card 2 did not.

I got on the line with Tivo support who advised us to restart the tivo, which we did. At that point, Card 2 came online for some channels and the Tivo guy said that sometimes it takes a few hours for everything to sort itself out. So I let the cable guy go and within 30 min, all my channels were working perfectly.

All in all this was a positive experience (because my Tivo is working tonight) but we were very close to giving up. The main problem as I see it is that the cable reps have minimal CableCard knowledge and next to no Tivo knowledge.

 

[bhaas]

No problems with FIOS in Maryland! They came out with 2 cards the day after I called asking for them. Said they did CC installs about "every 3 months" and had never seen one done on a Tivo.

They LOVED the Tivo! they wrote down the necessary data from the screen, typed it into their laptop, and a few secs later both cards were up. As they left (visit was all of 30min) they were headed to Circuit City to pick up their own HD Tivos!

Quote on their way out: "forget our DVR- we're telling everyone about this new Tivo!"

full disclosure: I did have occasional pixellation on card 2, but it seems to have either cleared up or I am just not catching it. My kids watch it all day and said the picture is fine.

my only issue is not HD related- its that I wish the peanut remote could also turn a receiver on/off, not just adjust volume

 

[jrm01]

my only issue is not HD related- its that I wish the peanut remote could also turn a receiver on/off, not just adjust volume

try this:

1. press and hold TIVO & TV POWER, enter TV code
2. press and hold TIVO & MUTE, enter AUD receiver code
3. press and hold TIVO & TV POWER, enter AUD receiver code again

 

[Bruddah Chrispy]

Aloha kakou,

My installation was pretty straightforward:

- 11:00am - Ordered TiVo HD on Circuit City's website and selected on-site pickup at Bellevue, WA store
- 11:30am - Met Fred for lunch at Crossroads mall (yeah, I know, you don't care)
- Noon - Picked up TiVo HD. Used $40 off on $199 coupon. Sales girl was friendly, helpful, and cute.
- 12:30pm - Stopped by Comcast office in Redmond, WA and picked up two Motorola cablecards. No extra charges, no hassles.
- 1:30pm - Unpacked TiVo, purchased 3-year prepaid subscription on-line, ran through guided set-up.
- 2:00pm - Called Comcast to activate CableCards. This took a few tries, but the operator was patient and willing to keep trying until we got it to work.
- 3:00pm - Deleted channels that I don't receive. Set up Season Passes / Wishlists to match outgoing TiVo.
- 6:30pm - Noticed that I wasn't receiving the channel that should be recording the Seattle Mariners' game. Called Comcast who brought in tech support and solved the problem in about 15 minutes.

Since then:
- Some brief pixilation issues.
- Occasional audio drop, which is usually corrected by rewinding a few minutes and restarting.
- Not being able to turn on receiver with peanut - I'm going to go try jrm's solution.
- Happy Happy Joy Joy

Malama pono,
Chris P.

 

[20TIL6]

I've had one for over two weeks. Install and cablecard activation went smoothly. This is a great unit.

 

[dolfer]

I have been running a thread with the info you seek. It contains "mostly positive" to positive stories and technical details as well.

Check it:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=361955

 

[MacBandit]

Aloha kakou,

My installation was pretty straightforward:

- 11:00am - Ordered TiVo HD on Circuit City's website and selected on-site pickup at Bellevue, WA store
- 11:30am - Met Fred for lunch at Crossroads mall (yeah, I know, you don't care)
- Noon - Picked up TiVo HD. Used $40 off on $199 coupon. Sales girl was friendly, helpful, and cute.
- 12:30pm - Stopped by Comcast office in Redmond, WA and picked up two Motorola cablecards. No extra charges, no hassles.
- 1:30pm - Unpacked TiVo, purchased 3-year prepaid subscription on-line, ran through guided set-up.
- 2:00pm - Called Comcast to activate CableCards. This took a few tries, but the operator was patient and willing to keep trying until we got it to work.
- 3:00pm - Deleted channels that I don't receive. Set up Season Passes / Wishlists to match outgoing TiVo.
- 6:30pm - Noticed that I wasn't receiving the channel that should be recording the Seattle Mariners' game. Called Comcast who brought in tech support and solved the problem in about 15 minutes.

Since then:
- Some brief pixilation issues.
- Occasional audio drop, which is usually corrected by rewinding a few minutes and restarting.
- Not being able to turn on receiver with peanut - I'm going to go try jrm's solution.
- Happy Happy Joy Joy

Malama pono,
Chris P.

I had some initial audio drops as well after my second guided setup. I restarted it again and everything has worked perfectly since.

 

[sammydee]

Just thought I'd post a very positive story.

San Jose California. Called Comcast, told them I needed CableCards. They asked if they were for TiVo; I said YES. Told them I had two TiVos. They said no problem; quoted the proper price; and scheduled a truck roll.

Very polite Comcast employee shows up in the middle of the service window. Has done Tivos before; had not yet seen the HD. He tweaked my splitters for a while, then did the CableCards. He had brought M-Cards, but had S-Cards as a backup. (Lucky that I had HDs instead of S3s). He warned me that when he called in to pair the cards it might take a while, as he might have to "fish" for someone at the office that knew what they were doing.

But it didn't. Pop in the M-card; get the numbers; call the office; wait 3 minutes; done - working. Repeat on the other unit.

The only scary time in the install was that, on both TiVos, the screen suddenly went black during the pairing process, requiring pressing the TiVo button and navigating back down into the CC menus. This didn't inspire confidence, but it was fine. We never got any 161 errors or anything.

The installer was very impressed with the HD, especially the CC slots being on the FRONT of the unit. He asked info about price and where I bought it, and said he'd start recommending it to people (which he never did with the S3).

He said someone from TiVo had been to visit the local Comcast folks several weeks BEFORE the TiVo HD announcement to tell them about it, which had impressed him too.

SO, I have nothing but praise for the Cablecard experience with Comcast in San Jose.

The HD units, on the other hand, are both exhibiting the macroblock problem. It happens even on the Tivo menus, so it has to be a problem in the Tivo, not a Comcast issue. I'm looking forward to the service update, which hopefully will fix this.

All in all, a pretty good day. We'll see what the bill looks like.

...Sam

 

[MacBandit]

The only scary time in the install was that, on both TiVos, the screen suddenly went black during the pairing process,...........

...Sam

Was the screen completely black or did it have white text on it? If it had white text it's normal. Mine did the same thing for both cards. You put in the cards and wait a bit for the cards to install or something and then the screen goes black with white text with all the data for the cards.

 

[bdlucas]

Good experience with Cablevision. Installer showed up smack in the middle of the scheduled window. Measured signal levels at the intended location, found they were too low, so we moved the box to another location for setup and I said I'd fix the wiring problem myself.

Installer had done Series 3's before but not TiVo HD. I was a bit nervous when he missed the label on the front at first and put card 2 in first. (Bad design TiVo to have slot 1 on the right!) Also was nervous when he more-or-less ignored the instructions to do one card at a time - he inserted both cards, upgraded the firmware of both cards at the same time, and called in both numbers.

But they're working, and I'm a happy camper!

 

[sammydee]

Was the screen completely black or did it have white text on it? If it had white text it's normal. Mine did the same thing for both cards. You put in the cards and wait a bit for the cards to install or something and then the screen goes black with white text with all the data for the cards.

We were viewing the black screen with white text, when suddenly the screen went COMPLETELY black. We had to press "TiVo" and re-navigate back to the screen. Surprising and worrisome but not dangerous.

 

[Bruddah Chrispy]

We were viewing the black screen with white text, when suddenly the screen went COMPLETELY black. We had to press "TiVo" and re-navigate back to the screen. Surprising and worrisome but not dangerous.

Mine did that during the pairing process also.