Retailers Leak New TiVo HD Specs and Price

Brent writes "Retailers goofed and posted most of the specs of the forthcoming TiVo Series 3 Lite, which Ars says may be called 'TiVo HD' at launch. A comparison with the standard Series 3 shows that for a savings of $300, you only lose the OLED screen (do you need a screen on your TiVo?), the glowing remote (which you can pickup for $50 anyway), THX certification (worthless) and 90GB of storage. Looks like it may be a TiVo hacker's dream."

Comments

Re:What?

[wawannem]

well, the summary didn't mention the poster of Natalie Portman that comes with it.

Still doesn't change a big price difference

[rsborg]

Disclaimer: I'm currently owner of a Tivo Series2, unhacked, unmodified, connected to a SDTV, 5.1 receiver, and receiving analog cable (so I don't have to futz around with the channel blaster or deal with a cable box). I pay approx. $55/mo for this.

That said, if I'm going to get a new Tivo, I have to deal with a lot of new issues:

1. $$$: A new HDTV-compatible receiver and display
2. $$: Cost of upgraded Cable services
3. $: Cost of cable-card rental fee (x2 if I want to record 2 channels at a time)-or- dealing with the channel blaster again (yukk!)

So in addition to the upgrade to HDTV, I will have to shell out probably another $30-$50 a month, which I really don't see as being necessary, and for what? HDTV? Forget it.

On the other hand, this newsseems promising, if Comcast doesn't f$ck it all to hell.

Re:Losers!

[ArsonSmith]

Let me help you out and parse it with bullet points: ... you only lose:
*the OLED screen (do you need a screen on your TiVo?)
*the glowing remote (which you can pick up for $50 anyway)
*THX certification (worthless)
*90GB of storage

Now, why didn't 'you' parse the submission right?

My Tivo Series 3 Perspective

[Hangtime]

I just purchased my Tivo Series 3 (the wife and I are Tivo nuts and we just bought an HDTV so it was required) and here's my notes so far.

1. Cablecard installation sucks. Make sure when you talk to the provider that they ALWAYS bring 2 Cablecards. It just took for times for TimeWarner to actually get cable going. None of this is Tivo's fault as much as its lack of understanding on the cable company side. The problems are in two places: one - firmware upgrades can take FOREVER, it literally took my 3 days to update the Cablecards, two: provisioning the TWC head-end folks have not quited figured this out yet and it took the guy talking to a friend to get the cards provisioned correctly. So when they come out make sure they try to flash the cards before they leave HQ and know someone on the other side that knows how to provision.

2. The lost 90 GB is not much of a problem. Tivo Series 3 have an eSATA connection that can be enabled through a backdoor code (see http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.ph p?t=350510 on how to do so). Then you get yourself a $50 enclosure and $300 1 TB drive and your rocking for approximately the same price.

3. I wish the OLED wasn't even there and I had $50 back. You can't see it half the time and its so small its tough to read from across the room.

4. THX: I don't have a home theater (working on that but gotta be a little more frugal now) so I wouldn't worry about it.

The $300 price point is the magic number and when it comes in watch out because these will start flying on the shelves.

Re:Neato keen and all but meh

[feepness]

Very nice, albeit still not enough to justify me getting one. Mind you the reason why I haven't is not an issue with the TiVo itself - more of a matter of nothing being on television worth watching anyway. If they add a "unSuck" button you can count me as the first person in line. Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own a Television

Re:Hackers dream?

[HTH NE1]

But having units with Lifetime Service still qualifies you for discounted monthly service at $6.95 a month for additional TiVos on the same account.