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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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TiVo TCD648250B Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder
Customer Review: Excellent - No Regrets
Summary: 5 Stars
Just purchased the TIVO series 3 and it is everything I hoped it would be. Razor sharp picture and superior audio and all for a great low price. I couldn't pass up the current [...] rebate offer.
I must admit, setting it up was a little problematic ONLY because Comcast has no idea what they are doing. After having a couple of days with Comcast techs coming out to the house and not being able to figure it out, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I went to the local Nashville Comcast office and picked up 2 cable cards and installed them myself. Be sure to follow the directions provided with your box, and have Comcast on the phone so they can activate the cards one at a time. To play it safe, take a photo copy of each card before installing them so that you can have all the serial numbers and other critical numbers handy to provide to Comcast over the phone. (it will save you a lot of headaches). You will need to navigate thru some screens on Tivo like the cable card setting screen and provide some key info to rep over the phone. Be sure you ask the Comcast rep if they know 1) how to activate a cable cards and 2) if they know how to pair the cards with the Tivo 3 series. This step is critical in order for the box to work or else you are wasting your time. Insist on having a knowledgeable person on the phone. Comcast will try to force you to have a in-home service tech come out (which you get charged for), but it is totally unnecessary. All they techs do is insert the cards and navigate through the Tivo settings page and I can do that for free and so can you. I subscribe to only the expanded cable + the HD standard package which gets me all of my locals + about 10 other HD channels for only [...]. NO Digital package is required! Comcast will try to make you upgrade to a their digital package, but don't be fooled, its not required. Also, be sure to let them Comcast know that the 2 cable cards are being used for 1 outlet so that they don't charge you for 2. In their minds, 2 cable cards means 2 outlets, be clear on that with them to avoid extra monthly charges.
After 10 minutes on the phone with a KNOWLEDGEABLE Comcast rep, I had my HD Tivo up and running and haven't had any issues with it at all. I highly recommend getting this, especially with the THX certification and bigger hard drive, paying [...] (after the rebate) versus the [...] for the new HD Tivo box with a smaller hard drive was a no brainer for me. A new software upgrade coming in November from Tivo (tivo to go)will allow me to transfer programming from my downstairs series 2 to my upstairs series 3 and vice versa for standard def programming. The [...] rebate takes 4- 6 weeks to receive AFTER having the box activated for 30 days. Costs incurred: $399 for the box (after rebate) + Tivo monthly fee ([...] multi-box discount) + Cable Card monthly fee ([...]), first cable card is free. In my opinion, well worth the investment. I have it hooked up to a SONY SXRD 60 inch XBR2 via HDMI and run the sound through my Sony ES receiver via optical and I'm loving it.
Customer Review: Finally! But some important things to know before you buy...
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me be clear: no other DVR from a cable company can come close to the TiVo experience. TiVo has gotten so many of the fine details right that it's worth every penny of the extra cost.
PROS (especially when compared to cable company DVRs):
-- It could not be easier to find and schedule recordings of your favorite shows. DVR's from the cable company make the process soooooo much more complicated.
-- You can schedule your recordings online from anywhere you have an internet connection. I use this feature all the time -- more than I expected.
-- The television guide is better than any other guide you can find anywhere else. It doesn't get any better. Period.
-- It is so much easier to forward through shows. When you fast forward, it even knows to rewind a few seconds so you don't miss any part of the program. Small detail, but what a difference it makes.
-- The TiVo remote is so comfortable and easy to use. No other remote comes close.
-- You can stream music and videos to your TiVo, so no need to buy a separate multimedia network device. When you have people over, you can leave the tv on and show great pictures or artwork. Very cool.
WHAT'S NEW:
Compared to Tivo Series2, here is what is new:
-- Accepts cable cards, so you can ditch you cable box.
-- Dual tuners so you can watch and record two shows at once.
-- The new remote has backlighting and is a "learning remote"
-- Nice new look that is sleek sitting near the tv.
-- Has a front display that shows the time and other info. You can turn this off if you want.
-- You can hook the TiVo directly into your network with ethernet... no adapter necessary. Or you can use a wireless USB router.
CONS:
While I'm still giving TiVo 5 stars since it does all the important things perfectly, it is important to know that there are some features not available yet, even though they are on earlier TiVo's:
-- You cannot transfer tv shows to your computer or laptop. I use this feature all the time with my old TiVo since it's great for traveling with your favorite shows
-- Kidszone is not available (a great feature if you have kids in the house)
-- Ability to transfer shows between TiVo's.
What to know about CableCards:
-- My cable company had never seen a TiVo Series3, so they were a little confused. Hopefully that will change over time.
-- Cablecards are not terribly common yet and the technology isn't flawless. It took three long visits from my cable company to get the cable cards working. But the problem was NOT TiVo's fault.
-- With the cable cards, you probably won't need your cable box. Since cable cards usually cost a lot less to rent each month, you can save $10 to $15 per month. It makes the cost of TiVo service a little easier to rationalize. ;-)
-- Cable cards do not work if you want to rent movies through your cable company. This is something cable companies are working on, but it could be a while.
Customer Review: Good-bye Comcast, hello TiVo!
Summary: 5 Stars
I had a Comcast DVR for a couple of years and decided to shop around after they "upgraded" their operating system. Now that I've had the TiVo unit for a month, here are my favorite advantages:
1. When fast-forwarding, TiVo will back up a second or two when you stop so you don't go too far. The Comcast unit would back up, jump ahead, or make a dead stop. This was random, and if you really wanted to watch the beginning of a scene you could go back and forth a few times to hit it.
2. TiVo has WishList searches, by actor, director, genre, keyword, etc. You can save the search and repeat it or you can automatically record what it finds. Comcast's new system wouldn't allow a keyword search, or an actor search.
3. TiVo makes it easy to record a series, with a Season Pass. The Comcast method was annoying and offered fewer options.
4. TiVo has a To Do list which lists all the programs to be recorded, making it easy to cancel recordings as necessary. Comcast had an awkward menu requiring you to scroll day by day to see what was there. Also it was a pain to cancel something.
5. TiVo allows you to rate shows and movies, and uses these ratings to suggest new shows and movies with their Suggestions. Comcast? Right.
Some other things that helped with the decision.
1. You can now buy a wireless adapter for the TiVo unit so you don't have to download over a phone line; you can hook into your wireless network instead. This used to be a big issue for me, with no phone jack in my living room.
2. $200 rebate and the sale price on amazon brought the price down a lot.
3. If you are hooked up to your network you can schedule shows from your computer, like if you think of something at work. You can now also download shows to your computer, but that's new and I haven't tried it yet.
4. CableCards are now available and allowed me to use the Series 3 TiVo as a cable box too, so I don't need two boxes to get digital cable.
5. I bought a 3-year service agreement from TiVo which worked out to be about $4 a month less than Comcast's DVR rental. Of course that won't pay for having to buy the TiVo, but it's still been worth it to me.
Disadvantages/hopeful upgrades:
1. TiVo doesn't allow you to record a series on only one channel at one time. Comcast used to have that functionality until they "upgraded" their system, so that's now a wash.
2. Comcast had a %full indicator so you could see how close you were to maxing out the DVR storage. TiVo does not.
3. My Panasonic DVR has a couple of buttons that will fast-forward a set amount of time (30 seconds and 1/20th of the program). Neither TiVo nor Comcast have this feature.
Customer Review: Cost & Service made this device a Deal Breaker...but cost has now changed
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me start by saying that I have been a loyal TIVO customer since Series 1 and have loved the box. I have since bought two additional series 2 boxes. I have always had good luck with TIVO and the intuitive interface is unmatched. Sadly, the new series 3 HD has pushed me away as a customer. I have owned 3 boxes and bought the lifetime subscription on each. TIVO has done away with the lifetime subscription so there is now no avoiding a monthly fee. This box is $[...] and the features are a welcome and long overdue improvement. They offered a swap of my lifetime service from series 2 to series 3 (for a limited time) for an additional $200.00. That brings my grand total to $[...].
A Comcast DVR is $5.00 dollars a month. I can pay that amount for 13 years before I reach just the cost of a Series 3 box, not including a Tivo subscription wich currently lies at $20.00 per month for a year committment, or $13.00 for a three year committment. At the best case scenario the equivelent period with Tivo costs you an additional $2,028.00 in subscription fees alone. $5.00 a month goes a long way when you factor in all the costs. It begs the question, is the Tivo series 3 thousands of dollars better than my Comcast DVR. It's better, but is it thousands of dollars better. I would have to say a resounding NO. Especially since they have decreased functionality from the Series 2 (Tivo 2 Go, Room to Room Transfers).
Comcast just announced that the TIVO operating system will soon be available on their DVR's with a simple download. Even if the cost for the TIVO operating system is more you have a much better deal on your hands. Do the math, TIVO series 3 just doesn't add up.
I stand by my original review. At the time when Tivo HD first hit the market they had priced themselves out of it. Several years later they have returned to their former price structure, brought back lifetime ownership and added a host of features. I had the Comcast box for three years until Tivo figured it out and stopped bilking their customers. I got fed up with the Comcast box and was able to go back to Tivo. They have a great product, the picture is amazing, the menus are intuitive and it all just works very well. I couldn't be happier with the new HD box. Netflix functionality is great as well. I wouldn't spend the money on the Tivo XL as I don't thing the juice is worth the squeeze. Buy the 300.00 model and add on an extended hard drive for 90.00 and you will effectively have the 600.00 model sans the surround who ha but who cares. If you do then pony up but it didn't make sense to me. Tivo is hands down the best DVR on the planet. ***** 5 Star amended review.
Customer Review: My third Tivo
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had the Tivo for more than a week, and here's what I see so far...
The two tuner option is the best new feature...almost worth the upgrade on its own. It solves the clipping problem where the networks begin shows at 9:31. It also allows you to listen to Music Plus without Tivo changing the channel. When Tivo begins to record a program, it does it on the tuner you are not using. It also solves the problem of having two programs on competing stations.
The huge hard drive is great. I've gone from 82 hours in basic view to 303.
The Tivo is probably not Cable Card 2.0 compliant, so when the new standard comes out in a few months, Tivo Series 3 users will probably not be able to use most On Demand services. I haven't been very impressed with On Demand, and I will drop HBO when my vacation ends, so I don't think it will matter to me.
The menus are the same and do not take advantage of HD. I was expecting a Windows Vista like environment. In fact, the Series 3 is a generation behind the Series 2. The Kids Zone option is not available. I hope this can be upgraded in the future. Tivo to Go is not currently available. It is supposed to come in a future software update. I'm more concerned what kind of DRM Tivo will have to agree to in the future. I don't really care bout Tivo To Go because it watch almost everything on one television.
It seems that HD takes up so many resources that the Tivo does not operate as it normally does. It takes about a second and a half for the program to start and when the program ends. Programming responds as well as always to the remote, but for some reason, I don't her the Tivo beeps during HD programming.
The Series 3 does a good job with Closed Captioning. I like to have it on for fast paced shows like the West Wing. The Adelphia DVR imprints the captions on the programming when turned on, so you cannot turn it on or off once the program has been recorded.
The Series 3 also does a much better job of handling screen aspect. One simple button allows you to cycle through the choices, and you do not have to make the choices before recording. Aspect is an issue for HD channels running no HD programming. Either you have sidebars, or the picture is stretched out.
It's a Tivo! After spending a few months using non-Tivo equipment, it is great to be back. Bonus: when I transferred the Lifetime Service to the new unit, I got a free year on the old system. It isn't transferable, but it allows me to use the old Tivo for another year.
Amazon did a great job with delivery. They promised 5-9 days, I got it in 2!