300-hr TiVo® Series3™ DVR
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- Type: Video Recorder (DVR)
- Broadcast Type: Terrestrial
- Compatible Service: TiVo
- Digital Receiver: ATSC
- TV Resolutions: 1080i (1125i)
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Tivo Series 3 HD DVR Rocks!
Pros
Record HD, Picture quality, HDMI support, Large storage capacity
Cons
Very expensive, 2 way cable services not supported, Cable card install can be a nightmare
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Expensive, but worth it
This is my second Tivo device. I previously owned a DirecTV Series 2 Tivo for three years and loved the tight integration between the DirecTV service and the Tivo device. When it was time to upgrade to HDTV, I did a lot of research concerning the DirecTV DVRs, Cable Company supplied DVRs and the Tivo DVR. Since I was already a DirecTV subscriber, I assumed that I could just swap out the Series 2 Tivo with the Series 3 HD Tivo. Unfortunately, DirecTV dropped support for Tivo DVRs and forced it's subscribers to lease their inferior DVR that has many issues. (Google DirecTV DVR and see how bad it really is) The biggest disappointment with the Cable Co issued DVR was that it didn't have dual tuner recording functionality which is a feature I had enjoyed with DirecTV. As with DirecTV, you also have to lease the DVR from the cable company which is another recurring cost every month. After agonizing for several weeks, I decided to drop the DirecTV service (after 10 years) and went back to cable (this was a tougher decision) so I could continue to enjoy the Tivo service and not be tied to some second rate "Tivo Wannebe." This review will compare the Series 2 to the Series 3 as well as detail some of the newer features and/or issues with the device.
Short Review:
The new Tivo Series 3 HD DVR is nothing short of amazing. The HD picture quality connected to my Sony HDTV is incredible. I've never seen a picture so clear and vibrant. The colors are amazing. The sound quality is awesome. It has a sleek and elegant design and looks great in your wall unit of electronics! With all the features (plus some) of the great Tivo service and the incredible picture/sound that it produces, you can't go wrong with this purchase. Though it is quite expensive, the price is coming down and you will not be disappointed.
Long Review:
First the picture is spectacular. I have the device connected via the HDMI port to a Sony LCD HDTV. As stated above, the picture is beautiful. Watch the faces of your family or guests when you demonstrate it. They will be blown away. It supports all HDTV broadcast formats (480, 720 & 1080i). You can set it at 1080i hybrid and it will automatically right size the screen if the broadcast format is 720 or 480. The titles, info bar and the grid are crystal clear. In addition to the HDMI output, there are several other S-Video, Component & RCA output jacks that could go to other devices, i.e. A/V receiver, DVD recorder, etc. There also appears to be a SATA port which could possible support attaching an additional SATA drive for increased capacity. (Not Confirmed).
All the great Tivo features from the series 2 are available in the Series 3: Pause, rewind, fast forward through programs. Integrated program listings tailored to your cable company channels with descriptions, ratings and HDTV aspect in the info bar, Season Pass, Wishlists, Search by programs, actors, movies, etc. The remote is the same. The green thumbs up button and red thumbs down button work the same. The Tivo device continues to learn your viewing habits and goes out and gets some "suggestions." The Now Playing list is the same, listing all the recorded programs and Tivo suggestions. The device either dials out or uses a broadband network to get the updated program/channel listings. All the grids, titles, etc. are the same though tailored to the cable provider's channel lineup. You can record two programs at once or record one and watch another. No additional training is required for the family because the Series 3 works the same as the Series 2.
Costs: The device is expensive. I paid over $600 for the Series 3 compared to $99 for the DirecTV Series 2. The cost of the service is another additional monthly charge (not charged by the cable company but charged directly by Tivo) is $14.95 (for two year commitment) vs. $4.99 a month from DirecTV. You can sign up and create an account at the Tivo website as well as manage your account and devices. You must provide the serial number of the Tivo device to complete the setup. While I was waiting for the cable installer to arrive, I setup the account ahead of time so when it was ready to connect and power up the device, I was all set.
Like the DirecTV Series 2 Tivo, the Series 3 has dual tuners. This allows you to record 1 program and watch another or record two programs at once while watching a previously recorded program. The DirecTV Tivo required two separate cables coming from the dish to accomplish this functionality. The Series 3 accomplishes this with 1 cable feed but two cable cards. The Series 3 TiVo can store 30 hours of HD programming or 300 hour of standard definition programming.
In order to watch digital and HDTV content, you need to obtain two cable cards from your cable company. These cable cards are inserted in the back of the Tivo and serve as the "cable box" for the Tivo. This functionality sounds great on paper, but it's very challenging for the consumer because you have to work with closely with the cable company. It took me 4 phone calls and two service visits before it was working properly. The cable companies (Mine is Cablevision of Westchester, NY) are not familiar with the technology yet and have very few employees experienced with this type of setup. These cards look like PCMCIA cards and slide into the back of the Tivo. You do one card at a time and if the card is good, each card installation takes from 20-40 minutes. If it's bad, it could take several hours and/or several visits by the cable company to finally fix it.
Once the card is inserted and any firmware, etc. is updated by Tivo or the cable system, the cable technician must then call the cable office, read off a bunch of numbers and then have that person at the Cable office configure the card for your account. Once it's configured, it takes anywhere from 5-20 minutes to receive all the channels. You do one card at a time repeating the above process. Note, the Tivo device displays a lot of information for the cable installer about the cable card install which can aid in any troubleshooting that is required. Once both cards are installed and configured, you should re-run the Tivo Guided Setup to configure the Tivo to see all the new channels and HDTV content coming from the CableCards. To initially set this all up, it is best to call the cable company during normal business hours and not during the weekend and speak to the "A" team. Insist on a technician that has done a cable card install in a Tivo device, not installations in a TV. This will eliminate you having to do all the driving through the Tivo menus. The second installer was familiar with the Tivo and I handed him the remote and let him do his thing. Contrary to what the cable company says, you do not provide the cable cards, THEY DO!!
The downside to the cable card setup is that cable company two way digital services such as Video on Demand, interactive program guides and the ability to order Pay Per View events using your remote are not currently available with a CableCARD installation. (Cablevision of Westchester, NY) To receive these "two-way" digital services, you still need a digital cable box. This is probably the only disappointment with this setup. With DirecTV, you could order pay per view, movies, etc. and record them on the Tivo for later viewing. So, while the cable cards eliminate the need for a cable box, it doesn't fully eliminate it because you will still need one if you want to view On-Demand or pay per view content. This may change in the future as the technology becomes more widespread.
Guided Setup – If you've never owned a Tivo before, the guided setup is great. It asks you all the questions and sets up the box based on your zip code and Cable Company. If you don't have the cable cards installed yet, you can run the guided setup and set the box up ahead of time. Note, once the cards are installed, you will need to rerun it again to get all the channels. You will need a phone line or the device connected to the Internet to complete the guided setup. The remote control can be setup to control the TV (power on/off, vol up/down, channel) but it's having problems changing the input (from HDMI to DVD, for example) on my Sony HDTV. Once its setup, you will need to tell it via a simple interface, what channels are available and/or you pay for so that it doesn't go out and try to record a program on a channel that you don't get.
The Series 3 supports on-line scheduling (as long as the DVR is connected to the network) but does not support the Home Media option or room to room viewing yet. Note: DirecTV Tivo didn't support either one of these options either but previous Series 2 cable Tivo DVRs did. So if you are coming from a cable Tivo DVR, you will have fewer features though Tivo is saying these features will be available on the Series 3 shortly via a software update. I haven't tried the Amazon UnBox option yet which was also not available with DirecTV DVRs.
Interesting Changes:
•
View & record HD content from HD channels.
•
Now Playing list has an HD folder so that you can directly go to HD only recorded programs.
•
Now Playing list has an undelete folder so when you delete a program, it removes it from the Now Playing list and places it in the Previously Deleted folder. This way, if you inadvertently delete a program, you can restore it back to the list. Not sure how long it sits in this folder, i.e. if space is needed the device may take the space from this folder.
•
The remote buttons are back lit and light up at night or in a dark room so you can see what button you're pushing.
•
It has a built in Ethernet port (not wireless) for direct, wired connection to home network.
•
HDMI support.
•
The grid can be changed to a split screen which will display the channel in the left pane and the lineup for the next 6 hours or so on that channel in the right pane.
•
Swivel Search which appears to find content from TV/Cable broadcasters as well as the Internet video producers.
Overall, the unit is expensive but the features and picture/sound quality outweigh the costs and make it a worthwhile addition to your home electronics. You won't be disappointed with this purchase.
Update - 12/05/07
After using this device for several months, I'm still very much satisfied with it. The Cablevision DVR now allows for multi-channel recording. (record two programs at once while watching a third already recorded program. When I wrote this review in August, they did not offer this.
The Tivo device still does not work with two way cable services (switched digital cable) such as On-Demand Programming, Pay per View movies, interactive cable channels, i.e. real estate listing channels, or car ad channels or any channel that requires you to input an answer via the remote. Supposedly, the switched digital cable cards will be available sometime in 2008. It sounds like the cards will need to be swapped out which will be a chore based on the initial install. Also, I'm not sure how this will work from a remote perspective considering that the Cablevision Cable Box remote has specific buttons that work with the On Demand, interactive channels that the Tivo remote does not have.
The picture quality with the Cablevison service is still incredible after 4 months. I've only missed DirecTv last week when the NFL network channel was required to see the Dallas/GB game. Cablevision doesn't offer the NFL Network. The Tivo and the Sony TV I have make for a great combination. You won't miss DirecTv and their 5 LNB dish mounted to your roof.
You can't underestimate the minimal training required for the Series 3 vs training the family on the Cablevision box. The transisition was seamless.
I haven't gotten the Amazon UnBox to work on this. Everytime I try to download a movie to the Tivo, it tells me that my network is slow and errors out even though I have a 6 mbit downstream connection to the Internet. Being an early adopter, I think there are some things that need to be fixed with this service before it can be reliable. If you try and browse the UnBox listings (browse for a movie), it is so slow, it's unusable. You click on a category or a movie and a full 2-3 minutes will pass before the information about a movie is revealed. If you get this to work, it's easier to browse/search for movies on the Internet site, then send it to your Tivo. Using this service on the Tivo is impossible.
I've had several Season Pass missteps with the device. The Season Pass recording would kick off and it would only record 1 minute of the program. This has happened about 3 times. Since August, there has been two updates so maybe this problem is fixed.
You can now use the multi-viewing option with other Tivo recorders. I haven't used this because I only own 1 Tivo but this was a complaint with other Series2 users.
The ad links in the "Now Showing" screen are disappointing but doesn't interfere with the operation of the device. It's more of a personal thing.
The "learning" process it uses to get content based on your viewing habits works much better than the DTV Series2. I works almost too good especially if your kids are watching the TV with the Tivo. With the increased storage, it goes out and gets 5-7 shows at a time, constantly recording though I wish it had more room for HD recordings.
Short Review:
The new Tivo Series 3 HD DVR is nothing short of amazing. The HD picture quality connected to my Sony HDTV is incredible. I've never seen a picture so clear and vibrant. The colors are amazing. The sound quality is awesome. It has a sleek and elegant design and looks great in your wall unit of electronics! With all the features (plus some) of the great Tivo service and the incredible picture/sound that it produces, you can't go wrong with this purchase. Though it is quite expensive, the price is coming down and you will not be disappointed.
Long Review:
First the picture is spectacular. I have the device connected via the HDMI port to a Sony LCD HDTV. As stated above, the picture is beautiful. Watch the faces of your family or guests when you demonstrate it. They will be blown away. It supports all HDTV broadcast formats (480, 720 & 1080i). You can set it at 1080i hybrid and it will automatically right size the screen if the broadcast format is 720 or 480. The titles, info bar and the grid are crystal clear. In addition to the HDMI output, there are several other S-Video, Component & RCA output jacks that could go to other devices, i.e. A/V receiver, DVD recorder, etc. There also appears to be a SATA port which could possible support attaching an additional SATA drive for increased capacity. (Not Confirmed).
All the great Tivo features from the series 2 are available in the Series 3: Pause, rewind, fast forward through programs. Integrated program listings tailored to your cable company channels with descriptions, ratings and HDTV aspect in the info bar, Season Pass, Wishlists, Search by programs, actors, movies, etc. The remote is the same. The green thumbs up button and red thumbs down button work the same. The Tivo device continues to learn your viewing habits and goes out and gets some "suggestions." The Now Playing list is the same, listing all the recorded programs and Tivo suggestions. The device either dials out or uses a broadband network to get the updated program/channel listings. All the grids, titles, etc. are the same though tailored to the cable provider's channel lineup. You can record two programs at once or record one and watch another. No additional training is required for the family because the Series 3 works the same as the Series 2.
Costs: The device is expensive. I paid over $600 for the Series 3 compared to $99 for the DirecTV Series 2. The cost of the service is another additional monthly charge (not charged by the cable company but charged directly by Tivo) is $14.95 (for two year commitment) vs. $4.99 a month from DirecTV. You can sign up and create an account at the Tivo website as well as manage your account and devices. You must provide the serial number of the Tivo device to complete the setup. While I was waiting for the cable installer to arrive, I setup the account ahead of time so when it was ready to connect and power up the device, I was all set.
Like the DirecTV Series 2 Tivo, the Series 3 has dual tuners. This allows you to record 1 program and watch another or record two programs at once while watching a previously recorded program. The DirecTV Tivo required two separate cables coming from the dish to accomplish this functionality. The Series 3 accomplishes this with 1 cable feed but two cable cards. The Series 3 TiVo can store 30 hours of HD programming or 300 hour of standard definition programming.
In order to watch digital and HDTV content, you need to obtain two cable cards from your cable company. These cable cards are inserted in the back of the Tivo and serve as the "cable box" for the Tivo. This functionality sounds great on paper, but it's very challenging for the consumer because you have to work with closely with the cable company. It took me 4 phone calls and two service visits before it was working properly. The cable companies (Mine is Cablevision of Westchester, NY) are not familiar with the technology yet and have very few employees experienced with this type of setup. These cards look like PCMCIA cards and slide into the back of the Tivo. You do one card at a time and if the card is good, each card installation takes from 20-40 minutes. If it's bad, it could take several hours and/or several visits by the cable company to finally fix it.
Once the card is inserted and any firmware, etc. is updated by Tivo or the cable system, the cable technician must then call the cable office, read off a bunch of numbers and then have that person at the Cable office configure the card for your account. Once it's configured, it takes anywhere from 5-20 minutes to receive all the channels. You do one card at a time repeating the above process. Note, the Tivo device displays a lot of information for the cable installer about the cable card install which can aid in any troubleshooting that is required. Once both cards are installed and configured, you should re-run the Tivo Guided Setup to configure the Tivo to see all the new channels and HDTV content coming from the CableCards. To initially set this all up, it is best to call the cable company during normal business hours and not during the weekend and speak to the "A" team. Insist on a technician that has done a cable card install in a Tivo device, not installations in a TV. This will eliminate you having to do all the driving through the Tivo menus. The second installer was familiar with the Tivo and I handed him the remote and let him do his thing. Contrary to what the cable company says, you do not provide the cable cards, THEY DO!!
The downside to the cable card setup is that cable company two way digital services such as Video on Demand, interactive program guides and the ability to order Pay Per View events using your remote are not currently available with a CableCARD installation. (Cablevision of Westchester, NY) To receive these "two-way" digital services, you still need a digital cable box. This is probably the only disappointment with this setup. With DirecTV, you could order pay per view, movies, etc. and record them on the Tivo for later viewing. So, while the cable cards eliminate the need for a cable box, it doesn't fully eliminate it because you will still need one if you want to view On-Demand or pay per view content. This may change in the future as the technology becomes more widespread.
Guided Setup – If you've never owned a Tivo before, the guided setup is great. It asks you all the questions and sets up the box based on your zip code and Cable Company. If you don't have the cable cards installed yet, you can run the guided setup and set the box up ahead of time. Note, once the cards are installed, you will need to rerun it again to get all the channels. You will need a phone line or the device connected to the Internet to complete the guided setup. The remote control can be setup to control the TV (power on/off, vol up/down, channel) but it's having problems changing the input (from HDMI to DVD, for example) on my Sony HDTV. Once its setup, you will need to tell it via a simple interface, what channels are available and/or you pay for so that it doesn't go out and try to record a program on a channel that you don't get.
The Series 3 supports on-line scheduling (as long as the DVR is connected to the network) but does not support the Home Media option or room to room viewing yet. Note: DirecTV Tivo didn't support either one of these options either but previous Series 2 cable Tivo DVRs did. So if you are coming from a cable Tivo DVR, you will have fewer features though Tivo is saying these features will be available on the Series 3 shortly via a software update. I haven't tried the Amazon UnBox option yet which was also not available with DirecTV DVRs.
Interesting Changes:
•
View & record HD content from HD channels.
•
Now Playing list has an HD folder so that you can directly go to HD only recorded programs.
•
Now Playing list has an undelete folder so when you delete a program, it removes it from the Now Playing list and places it in the Previously Deleted folder. This way, if you inadvertently delete a program, you can restore it back to the list. Not sure how long it sits in this folder, i.e. if space is needed the device may take the space from this folder.
•
The remote buttons are back lit and light up at night or in a dark room so you can see what button you're pushing.
•
It has a built in Ethernet port (not wireless) for direct, wired connection to home network.
•
HDMI support.
•
The grid can be changed to a split screen which will display the channel in the left pane and the lineup for the next 6 hours or so on that channel in the right pane.
•
Swivel Search which appears to find content from TV/Cable broadcasters as well as the Internet video producers.
Overall, the unit is expensive but the features and picture/sound quality outweigh the costs and make it a worthwhile addition to your home electronics. You won't be disappointed with this purchase.
Update - 12/05/07
After using this device for several months, I'm still very much satisfied with it. The Cablevision DVR now allows for multi-channel recording. (record two programs at once while watching a third already recorded program. When I wrote this review in August, they did not offer this.
The Tivo device still does not work with two way cable services (switched digital cable) such as On-Demand Programming, Pay per View movies, interactive cable channels, i.e. real estate listing channels, or car ad channels or any channel that requires you to input an answer via the remote. Supposedly, the switched digital cable cards will be available sometime in 2008. It sounds like the cards will need to be swapped out which will be a chore based on the initial install. Also, I'm not sure how this will work from a remote perspective considering that the Cablevision Cable Box remote has specific buttons that work with the On Demand, interactive channels that the Tivo remote does not have.
The picture quality with the Cablevison service is still incredible after 4 months. I've only missed DirecTv last week when the NFL network channel was required to see the Dallas/GB game. Cablevision doesn't offer the NFL Network. The Tivo and the Sony TV I have make for a great combination. You won't miss DirecTv and their 5 LNB dish mounted to your roof.
You can't underestimate the minimal training required for the Series 3 vs training the family on the Cablevision box. The transisition was seamless.
I haven't gotten the Amazon UnBox to work on this. Everytime I try to download a movie to the Tivo, it tells me that my network is slow and errors out even though I have a 6 mbit downstream connection to the Internet. Being an early adopter, I think there are some things that need to be fixed with this service before it can be reliable. If you try and browse the UnBox listings (browse for a movie), it is so slow, it's unusable. You click on a category or a movie and a full 2-3 minutes will pass before the information about a movie is revealed. If you get this to work, it's easier to browse/search for movies on the Internet site, then send it to your Tivo. Using this service on the Tivo is impossible.
I've had several Season Pass missteps with the device. The Season Pass recording would kick off and it would only record 1 minute of the program. This has happened about 3 times. Since August, there has been two updates so maybe this problem is fixed.
You can now use the multi-viewing option with other Tivo recorders. I haven't used this because I only own 1 Tivo but this was a complaint with other Series2 users.
The ad links in the "Now Showing" screen are disappointing but doesn't interfere with the operation of the device. It's more of a personal thing.
The "learning" process it uses to get content based on your viewing habits works much better than the DTV Series2. I works almost too good especially if your kids are watching the TV with the Tivo. With the increased storage, it goes out and gets 5-7 shows at a time, constantly recording though I wish it had more room for HD recordings.
