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: Tivo HD Series3
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife and I have had the Tivo Series 2 80+ hour unit for years now and absolutely loved it. It is unbelievable just how intuitive the software is to know what shows you like to watch and then record some similiar type shows as alternatives. Most of what my wife watches now comes from these suggestions, archeology shows and the like not apt to be seen on the standard channels. The lifetime subscription made perfect sense so we opted for that almost immediately.
When the S3 was announced we got right on board, dual inboard tuners, THX certification, 303 total hours of record time...simply put, a nobrainer. One of the issues we had with the S2, as apparently did others, was to forgo a favorite show on on channel because there was a more favorite show on another. S3...problem solved. Tivo really does change the way you watch TV.
Between the time we went to HD (our Proscan died one time too many) and when the S3 was released we used the cable company's tuner. It's difficult to describe but ergonomically, it just didn't work right, it wasn't intuitive. Neither I nor my wife liked the remote layout. For $800 could one get used to it? Sure if they were willing to settle for less. Could someone driving a Lexus get used to a low-end Ford or Chevy? Sure, if they were willing to settled for less. So for the people that chirp about the price, think about the car you drive and what you could have saved settling for less.
Customer Review: Finally Back with Tivo!
Summary: 5 Stars
Like most other people, I was forced to go to my cable company's dvr when I switched to HD (in this case it was Cox Cable's Scientific Atlanta box (blech)). With the FCC's July deadline, Cox was finally forced to issue cable cards for 3rd party DVRs -- allowing me to go back to Tivo -- and not a moment too soon. If you know Tivo (which I am assuming you do)-- then you know this box. Its the same familiar interface with all of the HD goodness to go with it.
A word about cable cards -- Cox cable was surprisingly helpful in getting it set up for me. (they have to "install" it at 30 bucks each.). First off, contrary to what the first technician told me, a multistream card does NOT allow multi channel recording of HD channels You STILL NEED TWO CARDS in this DVR. Secondly, because the cards are "one-way" the cable company cannot ping them to trouble shoot. It had to send the setup instructions three times for the cards to take. Fortunately, Tivo has a diagnostics so you can see which card is receiving what channels.
I guess if you are into movies on demand, it may behoove you to wait for the two-way cards to come out next year (it is still unclear if the current Tivo will work with them), but if you are like me, and are willing to simply call the cable company when you want an On-Demand programs, then wait no longer -- the $200 off PLUS $200 rebate makes this the perfect time to reacquaint yourself with your old friend!
Customer Review: You don't need cable - over the airwaves HD is spectacular!
Summary: 5 Stars
I had a series 2 Tivo for years and so I am a confirmed Tivo fan. When we got our HD TV we used a Comcast DVR - I can't say enough bad things about that. I thought I knew what to expect with the series 3 but I was still blown away by how great it is.
1) Comcast took 8 weeks and four tech visits (some with up to three techs) before they got my cable cards working. I had already turned in my Comcast Motorola DVR, but you know what? I did not care because:
2) The reception off an antenna was fantastic. I'm in New Jersey about 12 miles west of Manhattan. I get 9 local channels (2,4,5,7,9,11,13,21,50) plus between 1 and 4 extra channels for each. To say this another way, I was getting 25 plus channels of programming at any point in time, all with a clarity I had never experienced with cable. All it took was a $25 set top antenna from Radio Shack. The HD channels look glorious. I think they looked better than the HD versions of those channels through Comcast.
3) The Tivo series 3 also does not get enough credit for its upscaler. Conventional television looks better than I have ever seen it. Really. I almost don't mind watching non-hd channels anymore.
So, don't worry about the cable horror stories. Over the air HD looks great, and the Series 3 will upscale standard definition cable (below channel 99) without a cable card to look great.
Customer Review: Well worth the price to upgrade to HD
Summary: 5 Stars
We've had the Series 2 Tivo for the past year and a half and loved it, but we were not able to use the functionality of the HD on our TV so we decided to take the plunge and upgrade to the Series 3. After reading some reviews we decided to go with the Series 3 rather than the plain HD Tivo because of the great price of the Series 3 on Amazon.com. For only about $80 more after rebate than the HD unit, the Series 3 offers much better features so in my opinion it was well worth the premium. You get additional hard drive space, the on-unit display of what programs are recording, and the backlit remote.
The ability to easily switch between tuners and record any 2 programs at once is amazing! No longer will we miss programs due to conflicts in the TV schedule when 2 of our favorite shows run at the same time. Also, we had some concern about losing the On Demand functionality provided by our Cable Serivce. However, we decided to keep our cable box in addition to the Tivo so we can still get OnDemand programming when we want it.
I have read some reviews that have described a latency when changing channels but I have not experienced that at all. The channel changing speed is much improved over the Series 2.
All in all, I can not think of any downsides of the Series 3 - especially at the reduced price and with the rebate. I wish we would have upgraded sooner!
Customer Review: TiVi Series 3- A Great Purchase
Summary: 5 Stars
TiVo TCD648250B Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder
We have had TiVo Series 2 for years, and we have been very happy with the product and the service. When we got our first HD TV, TiVo Series 3 did not exist. We leased a HD DVR from Comcast. When compared with TiVo, the Comcast HD DVR fails miserably. One cannot record a program without knowing where to find it on the guide. One cannot choose to record only first runs. Worst of all, the scheduled recordings are not always accomplished. Although they appear in the scheduled recording list and the guide, some recordings are just skipped. We have also had recordings made that we did not set up. The Comcast DVR by Scientific Atlanta presents a fine picture, but the aforementioned shortfalls make it a loser. The ONLY feature in which it beats TiVo is in its cost. When we got our second HD TV, there was only one choice, and it was TiVo. We now have both products, and TiVo is a clear winner. The on-screen menus are easy to use, and it is always being improved. It is a wonderful, reliable product with none of the negative features found in the Comcast Scientific Atlanta HD DVR. We would buy it again. TiVo customer and technical support are very good and easily reachable by phone 24 hous per day.