Another Tivo thread...

[N 82 50 24]

I didn't have too much trouble pulling the trigger on the Series3 for $800. It really is worth it, lol.

[CrazyEyez]

I thought the NON-Series3 HD DirecTivos were only ~$400. Have they gone up due to demand/limited availability?

[suzzer99]

I've had a DirecTV+Tivo box for 3 years. I just "upgraded" to a new DirecTV box with their DVR built in. Not as good. Not nearly for a Tivo power user like me (I have 75 things in my Season Pass list). But I'm sure if you haven't ever had either, whatever you have will suffice. Which kind of makes me sad. Tivo did so much stuff right that most people don't even realize is happening as they use it.

Here's some examples:

One of my favorites: on Tivo you can watch two football games, pause each and use Prev Channel to toggle back and forth, while both stay paused. I don't think any other DVR can handle this.

Fast-forwarding past commercial with the dtv box is a nightmare. Tivo jumps backwards a set amount depending on how fast you are FFing, so after a while you can get used to when to click play. The dtv box seems to actually jump forward a bit, and you always have to rewind.

When you search Tivo for "Daily..." it finds "The Daily Show". On DirecTV's box you have to start with "The Daily...". Retarded.

When you delete and item from your saved shows list on the Directv box, the selection jumps all the way to the top. So you have to scroll all the way back down to delete the next item on the list. There are a ton of little places like this where the interface requires you to do 2 or 3 extra steps to get stuff done, or is not intuitive at all.

Tivo is a lot snappier and faster when it jumps around. I like the auditory feedback that a command was received, esp. since the directv box has a nasty 1-2 sec. delay a lot of the time. So you hit the remote button again, and of course it registers twice and gets you into all kinds of fucky spots.

You can only have 100 items in your To Do list on the dtv box. wtf? In 2 weeks only 100 items? My friend who's staying with me likes to watch Murder She Wrote and Charmed. That's like 50 items in 2 weeks right there. This causes all kinds of hassle if you want to record something new and already have 100 items in there.

The dtv remote doesn't work on my onkyo stereo. Even trying to program it is incredibly confusing. It also doesn't feel as good in my hand.

If the same show is playing on two channels (like reruns), the DTV box won't let you do two season passes for each show, or record all the shows without manually doing the second channel. On Tivo you could have as many season passes as you want.

As far as I can tell - you can't filter on say "sports: football". Only on sports channels. I guess this isn't a Tivo thing but a DTV "improvement". Weird.

With Tivo, at the end of each show, or close to it, if you exit out Tivo will ask you if you want to delete the show. With DTV, as far as I can tell you have to FF all the way to the end.

[CrazyEyez]

Suzzer - great post. The little things don't seem like much, but you add them up and they make a difference. People find their own little functionalities that come in super handy.

You mentioned watching two football games. That is such an awesome way to watch two games live. Watch one until they go to commercial. Hit pause, flip to the other tuner. Repeat. My brother has the DTV dvr and was mad to find out that he couldn't do this.

[N 82 50 24]

[ QUOTE ]
Tivo did so much stuff right that most people don't even realize is happening as they use it.

[/ QUOTE ]
This sums it up pretty well. The interface is just so well-designed -- including the menus, guide, backend functions that make everything work smoothly, remote, etc.

And you described a bunch of the stuff I've noticed on the cable DVRs as well. Just overall crap.

[El Diablo]

suzzer,

"My friend who's staying with me likes to watch Murder She Wrote and Charmed."

Awesome subtle brag post.

[suzzer99]

Diablo, could be a gay guy you know?

But yeah it's great. I have a co-dependant dysfunctional little pseudo-family (me, my friend and her daughter) crammed into a small one-bedroom while they await their section 8 approval. Doesn't get much more balla than that. Did I mention there's no sex?

[AZK]

I'm about to drop the dough on the series 3. What is the correct order of these events:

buy tivo
schedule comcast service with 2 cards
have htem installed
lifetime activation
Hard drive upgrade
sell 2nd sony series 2 tivo with 300 hrs on ebay = $$$

Is this the correct order? Should i upgrade HD before getting cards installed, I've heard some issues about this. Should I not lifetime activate until I can confirm with comcast that cards work?

How many of you with series 3 had to buy vs rent cable cards?

astro did you end up lifetiming the series 3 or pay by the month?

[N 82 50 24]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm about to drop the dough on the series 3. What is the correct order of these events:

buy tivo
schedule comcast service with 2 cards
have htem installed
lifetime activation
Hard drive upgrade
sell 2nd sony series 2 tivo with 300 hrs on ebay = $$$

Is this the correct order? Should i upgrade HD before getting cards installed, I've heard some issues about this. Should I not lifetime activate until I can confirm with comcast that cards work?

How many of you with series 3 had to buy vs rent cable cards?

astro did you end up lifetiming the series 3 or pay by the month?

[/ QUOTE ]
Just some quick background... before buying the Series3, I had one expanded (160gb) lifetime Series2 that I basically permanently lent to my parents and one dual tuner 3 year Series2 that I have in my apartment. I would have gotten lifetime on the 2nd one, but they'd gotten rid of the option when I bought it this past summer.

Once I found out about the upgrade thing to get lifetime on the Series3 (link again), here's how I went about upgrading...

1. Buy standard Series3 at Best Buy
2. Set up Series3 and make sure it is functional
3. Call Comcast and make appointment
4. Cards installed
5. Call TiVo VIP service, transfer lifetime off of my first TiVo (sorry parents, but you do get 12 more months of service)

Things I still have to do:

1. Sell my non-upgraded 3 year dual tuner Series2 on eBay.
2. Upgraded HD in Series3.

If you have lifetime on an old unit, I would absolutely switch it over to the Series3.

I didn't have to buy CableCARDs. Comcast charged about $15 to come out (no pickup and self-install allowed according to the CSR -- I wanted to get it done faster, but no go). The first card is free and I *think* I'm getting charged a few dollars a month for the 2nd one. I'd have to check my bill though to be sure.

Good luck with the upgrade, you'll love the Series3 (the new remote is awesome).

[AZK]

OK, that will be my plan. I'm sure the new remote is great, but if the layout is anything like the regular tivo remotes (read: retarded) i will be disappointed. Have you seen the Sony remote for their tivos, it is the nuts.