TiVo TCD648250B Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder
by TiVo
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List Price: Our Price: $139.99 You Save: $360.00 (72%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Receiver or Amplifier See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TiVo TCD648250B Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder
Customer Review: Great hardware, but not yet full Tivo
Summary: 4 Stars
Tivo functionality for HDTV. In my case, the key values were the ability to transfer (for a limited time only) the lifetime transferable service from my broken Series II Tivo, and prepare for HDTV next year.
The unit came with all the setup material required for non-HDTV use. (For HDTV, adapters from your cable company must be installed in the Series 3.) Setup was much easier than with earlier Tivo's, because the internet connection can be used from the beginning, and there is no need for a USB to wireless or ethernet adapter. I have hardwired ethernet to the Tivo location, so installation was mostly plug in power, TV, stereo, and LAN, wait overnight, and play. The Tivo "dogbone" remote controller was easy to program to control my 20 year old stereo receiver and my existing TV, allowing all three devices to be controlled from the Tivo controller. I had to pick up an auto-sensing S-video switch to keep the DVD and Tivo connected to the TV and Stereo. (The active one is selected by the switch.)
The two TV receivers allow 2 shows to be recorded at once, or one recording while watching another. For non-HDTV, there is lots of room for recordings. Non-HDTV recordings seem to be of better quality than the old series 2 system as well. If the TV station is broadcasting in stereo, the Series 3 will pass it through and record it, another enhancement.
Tivo provides a free download of software (Tivo Desktop Server) to allow all the music and all the photos on any computer connected to the LAN to be viewed or played on the Tivo. I had previously used this feature extensively, and it works well--sort of like having a media PC available, without having a media PC or home media center. With the Series3, the in-home sharing, access to Tivo games, and Yahoo sponsored goodies still work as before. However, the ability to move recorded shows to a PC and then save them to a DVD, available in Series 2 is not available in Series 3. This is said to be because of the ongoing attempt by the Media companies to try and convict 100% of its customers as thieves. In any case, you can push your recording to a VCR, but can't put it on a DVD, possibly a serious limitation for some. This functionality is said to be available soon, pending approval by some media funded group of digital cops. An HDTV program is recorded with the multiple channel sound that is part of HDTV, and played back the same way. However, music played via the Tivo Desktop: Server is limited to Stereo.
While not strictly a Series 3 problem (Series 2 users also hit it), all the non-local functionality of the Tivo server (music stations, games, etc.) stopped working over the holidays. It took Tivo weeks to fix it--and during this time, there never was an official description of the problem or an estimated time of repair and many callers to support were told that they were the only person with the problem, so it must be their home LAN. It can be hoped that this slip in Tivo service is an isolated incident, and not a warning of things to come as Tivo competes in the intensely competitive DVR marketplace.
A Tivo DVR is a combination of hardware, great interface, and system support for "beyond the box" functionality. The hardware and interface in the Series 3 are both improved from the excellent Series 2 levels. The system functionality is the same or not yet all there. If HDTV is with you now or will be soon, this should be a very useful and satisfying product. For non-HDTV, Tivo Series 2 has very similar (or better) functionality at a much lower cost.
Customer Review: Overjoyed to be back with TiVo!
Summary: 5 Stars
When we purchased an HDTV earlier this year, we resigned ourselves to using the DVR provided by Comcast, our cable company. We knew we needed DVR functionality, and we weren't content to watch only standard definition TV on our new set. So we bit the bullet and replaced our TiVo Series 2 with the Comcast-supplied DVR. I'm not going to review the Comcast DVR in depth here, but it's safe to say that I'm overjoyed to be able to go back to a TiVo device for our main TV.
I've been using the TiVo Series 3 for only about three days, so these are initial impressions. Overall, it's a huge improvement over the cable company DVR. It has the same awesome TiVo interface we knew and loved from our previous TiVos, but it's been spruced up a bit for HD. It looks nice. The picture quality is excellent, and the TiVo Series 3 has a great variety of options for what video modes it sends to the TV.
I had absolutely no trouble getting the two Cable Cards working. I plugged them both in to the box at the appropriate point in Guided Setup, called Comcast to have them activated, and then finished Guided Setup. They've worked perfectly from the beginning, tuning both SD and HD channels, both premium and non-premium.
I stole the TiVo wireless adapter from my Series 2 for the Series 3, and it worked seamlessly. I plugged it in before guided setup, and the TiVo used it for its connection from the beginning.
The only real problem I've experienced is that I've had a few very short audio dropouts. These last for less than a second, and seem to be related to load or resource constraints on the TiVo. For example, on the day I experienced this, I could clearly trigger it by scrolling around in the program guide. Making the box work harder had an obvious correlation to the audio dropouts. However, when I wasn't using the guide, the dropouts were very infrequent, and I haven't experienced them since that day. I don't find this to be a severe bug, but it's obviously something I'd like to see fixed. As it is, it's far less frequent and much less disruptive than the problems I had with my Comcast DVR.
At the time of this writing, a few features have not yet been enabled on the Series 3. This may or may not be a big deal to you:
1. TiVo To Go (transfer shows to and from your computer). I never used this on my Series 2, so its absence doesn't concern me at all.
2. Multi-room Viewing (transfer shows between TiVo boxes over the network). I'd like to have this, but it's not crucial for me.
3. Storage expansion via the ESATA port (attach an external SATA hard drive). For me, this is another "nice to have" feature, and certainly not a showstopper.
TiVo claims that these features will be added in a future release. At this time, it sounds like the ESATA port is less in doubt than the other two features. However, if any of these features is a dealbreaker for you, it would probably be wise to wait until it's actually shipped before you buy a Series 3. There's no guarantee as to when, or even if, these will actually happen. I'm personally ok with that, but you'll have to make your own decision.
I'm extremely happy with the TiVo Series 3. Yes, it's expensive. But to me, it was well worth the cost to get rid of the cable company DVR. To put it in perspective, it costs a lot less than most HDTVs, and in my mind the improvement it brings to the television wathching experience is on par with what HDTV brings.
Customer Review: This is the best TiVo yet.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'll talk about the cons first which other reviewers have mentioned.
Thumbs Down:
- There's no TiVoToGo or multi-room viewing (you can always keep your TiVo 2 active for the TiVoToGo)
- You cannot record HD from a Satellite receiver or cable box.
- One reviewer mentioned sound drop-out when flipping around the guide. This happens to me also.
- Press thumbs-up to record causes problems for me (rebooting is the worst of the problems). I've opened a ticket with TiVo for this and will avoid that feature for now.
- Also, my TiVo rebooted every time it hit a particular part of an HD recording where the signal was dropping out. I've also opened a ticket with TiVo. The problem has only happened once.
- I will have to open a 3rd ticket with TiVo because I cannot access the broadband features like Yahoo. I had the same problem with my series 2 which required a software update to correct.
- Cable card installation was finicky, but not as bad as the other reviewer mentioned. This was the first HD TiVo the tech had encountered, but the problems with the cable cards were with the company, not the TiVo. Both cards were working fine by the time he left.
- Finally, the $800 price-tag is extreme; especially given some of the problems I've experience.
- TiVo's lifetime subscription is no longer available to new customers. (Even the offer for existing customers expires 12/31).
Thumbs Up:
- Being a TiVo customer since 2001, my experience tells me they will resolve all the technical problems mentioned above.
- This is TiVo!!! Any of you who have TiVo know what that means. I was waiting for this TiVo before upgrading to HD and I'm glad I did wait.
- If you have a current lifetime subscription on a series 1 or 2 TiVo and can afford to drop $1000. You should get this unit for the $800 + another $200 to transfer your lifetime service. This means no monthly fees and your old TiVo will still be active for a year.
- This TiVo's set-up does not require a phone connection like previous TiVos. The whole initial set-up took 20 minutes over my home network.
- The remote is backlit and has a couple new buttons, but is the familiar TiVo remote. (I use a logitech harmony remote though, which I love)
- Recording from 2 tuners! The new series 2 also can record 2 shows, but it's a definite plus made available on the series 3. Press live tv to switch between tuners.
- You can hook up an antenna to record HD content from your local stations for free.
- 5.1 sound!!!! It's great that TiVo records the digital sound along with the HD picture. Watching football last Sunday sounded almost like being in the stadium.
- 480i content through the HDMI output is crystal clear.
- The front display has control buttons, a clock, and displays the name of the show it's recording.
- It is quieter than previous TiVos.
Overall, if you're a current TiVo customer and you don't want to lose the interface you love when you switch to HD, you will want this box. If you're new to TiVo, you will be amazed at it's functionality. TiVo can record based on season passes or word-search wishlists and parents will love scheduling approved content for your children's TV time. Some of you may want to wait for the price to come down and for TiVo to resolve some of the kinks before you buy.
Customer Review: LOTS of problems and not that much better than Comcast
Summary: 1 Stars
I have been a loyal and vocal Tivo supporter over the years. However, the Series 3 has burned through my good feeling, and rather quickly since I've only owned for ~35 days.
It's a total pain to set up, and I really mean a total pain. It took us three Comcast visits culminating in a senior level person coming out. We spent 4 hours interacting with them in our house and more than 8 hours time just waiting for them to show up, be on hold, etc. This is 12 hours total - do you have 12 hours? If I told you that's how long it might take just to get going with this product, would you be okay with that?
The remote is wicked slow to react. We think we need a new one but just haven't dealt with it yet.
The support is spotty and is designed to make me, the $800 paying customer, do the work and waste my time rather than make me happy.
So, all in all, this feels just like Comcast. Oh, but it gets worse.
My Tivo suffered a permanent failure where it endlessly rebooted as a result of a brief power outage (on a surge protector and nothing else in the house affected) on Thursday, January 4. I called Tivo service that day, and, while very helpful, the Tivo service personnel required that we be absolutely certain that the problem was not blown out cable cards (an option we felt remote since our issue is a documented problem with the Series 3 boxes) before they would ship us a replacement.
Because verification of the cable cards' a-ok status required a visit from our cable provider, Comcast, we could not verify that the Tivo was, in fact, broken till Monday, January 8 at approximately 2 pm (add another 1 hour of time on hold, 1 hour of wait time for the tech to show up, and .5 hour with the technician in the house = 2.5 hours so we're now up to 14.5 hours total to watch TV).
At that time we called Tivo support again, and they agreed to send us a new box. I explained that we needed it shipped out same day and overnight, as we were going out of town on Wednesday, January 10 for vacation and wanted to record our programs while away. Thus, it had to arrive the next day on Tuesday, January 9. I paid the $799 fee for the new box and was told this would be no problem.
However, after waiting at home today, Tuesday January 9, and no box being delivered by 4 pm, I called Tivo support. No replacement box has been shipped. Therefore, a new Tivo will not arrive today. Not sure exactly when the box will be shipped, but, it doesn't really matter since I needed it arrive today.
Therefore, I will get BACK on the phone with Comcast (expected wait time = .5 hours), I will once again cancel and schedule an appointment for my box to be set up again (assume another 1.5 hours so total time to watch TV now at 16.5 hours) - mind you, after I return from my vacation with NONE of my shows recorded and some of them never going into repeats and not on iTunes.
What's the bloody point if I don't get the TV I want recorded? Really?
I actually wish I hadn't bothered buying my Series 3, especially now with the new Comcast HD DVR with Tivo interface rolling out. I feel ripped off and exhausted. Think long and hard before you buy this machine; it's the fabulous Tivo you know and love, ONCE IT'S WORKING. It's the getting it and keeping it working part that ruins the relationship.
Customer Review: TiVo Series 3 HD -- Fantastic! So much better than Series 2!
Summary: 5 Stars
I just bought a new TiVo Series 3 HD through Amazon ([...] -- GREAT SERVICE!), and couldn't be happier. I just installed a new home theater system, with a Sony 52 inch KDLXBR4 LCD HDTV, a Denon A/V Receiver, and 5.1 built-in surround sound. I also have two Humax TiVo Series 2's, with built-in DVD/DVD recorders, and a VCR (which I have yet to turn use since upgrading). Operating it all is a Harmony 550 Universal remote.
My local cable provider is Comcast. Despite all this equipment, I'm very cheap when it comes to paying for cable, so I wanted to get the service as cheaply as possible. I am renting two digital cable cards from Comcast for $[...]/month each, which adds to my basic cable bill of $[...]/month. I went to the cable company, got the cards, installed them, and called the cable company to get them paired/activated. After one small glitch, we were up and running. It also came with an HDMI cable, so I didn't need to buy anything additional.
The picture quality is *incredible*! I am really having difficulty watching programs on my old TiVos now. With the dual tuners/cable cards, I can watch and record two different programs at the same time (or record two at the same time, since I never do watch live TV). This is the first time I've really watched true HD content on my TV (despite having an upconverting receiver), and after watching HD TV it's very difficult to watch regular definition TV again.
The software is also much improved. Fast forwarding is much faster, and the remote responsiveness is incredible. I could use my new TiVo with my universal out of the box without reprogramming it. In fact, I really haven't used its new and improved remote yet, since I don't really need it.
One other GREAT feature is that the series 3 detects the aspect ratio of the show, and changes the aspect ratio on your TV to match the native aspect ratio of the program. With the series 2's, I have to do it manually, and it gets to be a minor annoyance.
I also appreciated the additional hardwired ethernet port, allowing me to connect directly to my home network rather than having to buy another wireless adapter. (The whole house is wired for internet, so this turned out to be very convenient and made the installation much quicker.) I also like that I can add on additional external disk drives to expand capacity, rather than having to open up the box to replace the disk.
The only thing that I really miss from my series 2 is the ability to burn the programs to DVD. But, I'm sure that once the whole Bluray/HD format wars settle down, a DVD burner won't be far away. Then I'll have to upgrade my laptop to watch 'em I suppose...
One more note on this. I bought the TiVo through Amazon, from a company called [...]. Their service was incredible (very good at communicating the status of the purchase), and the box was delivered very quickly.
If I could rate this six stars, I would! All the feature improvements over the series 2 have added together to greater than the sum of the parts. All in all, a great product, and I'm very pleased.