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: I'm overjoyed with the Series 3 capabilities
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned a TiVo for over 8 and a half years and can no longer live without one. It's what I've wanted all my TV-watching life. I recently bought an HD TV and needed to upgrade to an HD TiVo in order to take advantage of the new HD resolution.
While waiting for the HD TiVo to arrive, I got an HD cable box recorder from Time Warner. It did the job but was difficult to use and I filled it up half way in about a week. But it worked in a pinch. It's like comparing an old cell phone with an iPhone. They both make calls, but there's no comparison beyond that as far as ease of use. No one can compare with TiVo for that.
My existing Tivo was old technology, but I had upgraded it with larger hard drives (started with only 14 hour capacity but now have 300 hours) and an internet connection for downloading TV shows through various hacks. Still, I have been missing out on the latest TiVo technology.
The HD Tivo is amazing! I'm glad I was able to wait until the Series 3 HD version was available. HD capability is a must for me now, and the Series 3 lets you add an extra hard drive for more capacity without having to hack it! In fact, the new TiVo does almost EVERYTHING I used to do with my old hacked TiVo--and more--without the need for hacking.
You are legally allowed to download TV shows from your TiVo to your computer and convert them for your iPod or even burn them to DVDs (for your own use!). You are also allowed to UPLOAD your own movies or TV show episodes to your TiVo for easy viewing)! And you can rent movies and have them loaded onto your TiVo for you. It will also show photos and play music from your computer. You can schedule recordings for your unit from the TiVo web site from any web browser. This is everything you would want, and more--and all without hacking! And it all works on my Mac (PCs, too, of course).
Also, I didn't know what I was missing by not having a dual-tuner recorder all this time. I have very few recording conflicts now and usually shows record without me even knowing that it's happened. With two cable cards installed from my cable company, I no longer need my cable box (that saves me about $8/month). The TiVo can run everything and change channels instantly--no more IR blaster hanging in front of the cable box to change channels (or miss changing, occasionally). There's a little display on the front of the unit that shows the name of the TV shows currently being recorded, along with a clock. Neat!
There are even a few games on the TiVo you can play using the remote!
Best of all, the lifetime subscription is available again (at a discount if you already have a TiVo). And the price of the recorder has dropped substantially ($200 rebate coupons are regularly available). This makes it very affordable for the function. After all, this is a device that I use every day and it's working for me 24-hours a day, searching for shows I may like -- suggestions to fill any free space it may have. There's ALWAYS something good on TV with the TiVo on the job. And now, it's in high-def.
The HD video takes up quite a bit more space than standard definition, however. The 30 hours of HD (or 300 standard) weren't going to be enough for me, so I also got the expansion drive for about $150, which gives about 60 more hours of HD. I haven't needed it, but probably will soon (once you connect it, it's there for life--so I'm waiting until I'm full).
Anyway, I don't see how you can go wrong with this. I wish my old TV had broken earlier so I could have lived in this luxury sooner. I've had mine for a couple of weeks now and I'm just overjoyed with it.
Customer Review: TiVo Series3 Working Well
Summary: 5 Stars
I had been using a Panasonic DVR with an 80Gbyte hard drive to record all of our favorite TV shows. I have a basic cable service with no premium channels, not even HBO. Two years ago I acquired a Hi-Def TV set with a standard TV tuner and a digital tuner. Instead of upgrading the broadband cable to digital service, I purchased a HUMAX digital receiver and connected it to the TV using an HDMI cable. I was usually able to get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and the public TV station but I could not record the Hi_Def programs, and I was not using my TV's digital tuner. Several months ago I installed a multidirectional long distance antenna in my attic and my over the air digital reception improved dramatically but we still could not record the Hi-Def programs. Also, the DVR programming involved us weekly looking up when and where our favorite shows were coming on so we could update the Panasonic DVR recording schedule. Finally, I saw that the TiVo Series3 had a $200.00 rebate in addition to the Amazon discount so I ordered one from Amazon. When the Series3 arrived, the setup went well and we have been TiVo'ing ever since. I tried setting up a wireless adaptor (see my review for the Adaptor) but because of my Series3 location in a closet right next to the wirelss router I was not able to establish the wireless connection and I wound up using an ethernet connection on my wireless router which is less than 3 feet away from the Series3 box. The TiVo programming of our favorite shows is so effortless that it is actually fun to do although it takes some getting used to when you factor in recording quality, how long the recorded show is retained, simultaneous recording on the Series3 dual tuners, and so on. I deleted a lot of season passes before I got it right. Because the Series3 has dual tuners ( a standard tuner and a digital hi def tuner), I eliminated the Humax receiver and plugged the over the air antenna directly into the Series3. I also rerouted the broadband cable directly into the Series 3, still not upgrading the cable to digital service so I did not have to use the cable company plug-in circuit boards. Big surprise! The Series3 digital tuner is far better than the HUMAX digital receiver and it finds a lot more over the air stations including CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, and the public TV channels; it also brings in the over the air standard TV channels. The bottom line is that I am now recording most of our favorite programs in Hi-Def and my worst problem is deciding which of 2 simultaneous shows to record in Hi-Def and which to record in standard TV. Finding shows is easy using the TV-Guide or the convenient search algorithms and the Series3 handles when they really start so you don't get the last minute of a show truncated because it really starts 1 or 2 minutes off the hour. If you watch a lot of TV and like to program your shows with very little hassle, this is definitely worth the investment. I especially like the ability to rewind live TV. I wound up keeping the Panasonic DVR so we could play DVD's and occasionally record a 3rd program simultaneous with 2 others on the Series3. I live about 35 - 40 miles from the over the air transmitters for the digital broadcasts so I had to install a high quality multidirectional antenna in the attic. Without the antenna, I would have been compelled to upgrade our cable service to digital instead of standard cable in order to get the Hi_Def broadcasts. In summary, if you can provide the Series3 with an internet connection, a digital tv input, a standard tv input (cable) or if you have digital cable, the Series3 is a very solid well designed DVR recorder that makes maximum use of the TV guide info and the internet.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: 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.