Tivo HD $249 @ Amazon

Select buy from Vanns or 6ave and get it for $249. Ships free for me!

CheapCheap1 said: OP, how much it the monthly/yearly sub.?
Also, can you mod/hack it?

***I made a mistake...bought TiVo Series 2(.5) w/out checking the possibility & how easy to mod/hack it. I don't want to make the same mistake to get the HD version.

Hack it to do what?

CheapCheap1 said: OP, how much it the monthly/yearly sub.?
Also, can you mod/hack it?

***I made a mistake...bought TiVo Series 2(.5) w/out checking the possibility & how easy to mod/hack it. I don't want to make the same mistake to get the HD version.

I did the same thing....the "nightlight version"...something you just don't think about.

Series 3 and probably the new HD unit is NOT HACKABLE....besides a very new PROM MOD that you will not want to touch, and I think it was for the series 3 only.

One good thing I have read is that TiVo will be enabling multi-room access for the series 3 in NOV or DEC, which is really the biggest gripe I have for my series 3.

The direct HD capabilities of these units are amazing! Just remember to upgrade the HD....And when you do the only option is to SWAP IT OUT...no 2nd HD in the unit that I could find. You can have an external HD, but it will merge with the primary and you cannot unplug it without killing the box....

I'm really curious, is it possible to put movies on my pc onto this thing? Great deal by the way, I've been eyeing this thing for a while.

nice post OP!

CheapCheap1 said: dwit said: CheapCheap1 said: OP, how much it the monthly/yearly sub.?
Also, can you mod/hack it?

***I made a mistake...bought TiVo Series 2(.5) w/out checking the possibility & how easy to mod/hack it. I don't want to make the same mistake to get the HD version.

Hack it to do what?
To change the way TiVo works.
But it's not for the fainted heart.Those days are long gone.

dwit said: CheapCheap1 said: dwit said: CheapCheap1 said: OP, how much it the monthly/yearly sub.?
Also, can you mod/hack it?

***I made a mistake...bought TiVo Series 2(.5) w/out checking the possibility & how easy to mod/hack it. I don't want to make the same mistake to get the HD version.

Hack it to do what?
To change the way TiVo works.
But it's not for the fainted heart.Those days are long gone.
That is for you. May be not for the others.

Conservative1 said: I know this is not AVS forum but do I have to pay subcription fees to use this TiVo. Why would anyone pay monthly to use this TiVo?

Yes, you have to pay subscription fees. If you choose a prepaid option (as an example, I chose the $299 for 3 year deal), it's pretty close to what I would've paid for the Comcast DVR overall, factoring in the cost of hardware. And for the money, I get a vastly superior DVR that records what I want, when I want, offers suggestions based on viewing habits, wishlists using your favorite actors, genres, etc. The list of advantages has been posted before in prior threads, but after a little searching, you'll probably see that it's money well spent.

in 4 1

I bought two of these from Abe's a few weeks ago in the $280 delivered range...this is a good deal.

I am VERY happy with my units. First off, I had no trouble upgrading these to 750GB (107 hours of HD). It is SUPER easy -- there are detauiled instructions in the upgrade forum of tivocommunity. You need to buy the hard drive (make sure to get the Seagate D35 line...these are specially made for DVR's and are QUIET and COOL when they operate). The 750GB drives if you froogle them are now under $250. So for about $500 and fifteen minutes of your time, you have a huge HD.

Yes there is a monthly subscription. No you cannot buy lifetime. No you cannot transfer lifetime right now, but they sometimes offer promotions to do so for $199 or $299. Frankly its not worth it -- I just keep my lifetime Series 2 box (unused) as a mechanism to get the TiVo "second unit" pricing. So I am paying $6.95 per month for each unit (3 year contract rate). Much better deal than paying $299 now (which you cannot even do right now as they are not offering the lifetime conversion deal at this time).

Are these any use for a DVR for OTA ATSC HDTV without using 'cable' at all?
Would that be free (besides the cost of the hardware)?

These are the only non-buildityourself DVRs that do OTA recording, digital (and HD) and analog, but you still have to pay the TiVo subscription fee. Other than that, yes, free, and a lot of people with cable will hook up an antenna to get a few multiplexed channels that aren't carried (as well as uncompressed HD).

Another uncommon use is as analog cable tuners to replace your box, which requires no cablecard.

FW type deal for these would be to get one for the new really cheap Amazon price, buy a 500 GB drive for $100, and you're at 70ish hours of HD storage for less than the thing came out for. Find a used lifetime unit and do the trick described above where you can get this for $6.95 a month. Pretty good deal especially considering many of us paid all in a grand less than a year ago all in for S3 + lifetime transfer + upgrades.

Bala said: TiVo has reduced the subscription to $ 6.95 per month for a 3 year contract! In addition you get a $ 200 rebate from TiVo.com. Will I get it if I buy from Amazon.com?
What rebate are you talking about? The only $200 TiVo rebate I know of applies only to the series 3 units, not to the TivoHD.

I checked and found that it applies to the higher spec and cost 3 series only. To me that is a better buy from Vanns where it is only $570 minus $ 200. $ 370 only. The reduced TiVo monthly makes it very good offer
The HD series is cable compatible and not compatible with Satellite

I have had my TiVo HD, actually two of them, for about 2 months now. I LOVE IT! I have been a TiVo fan for the last 11 years. I was so excited when they made an affordable HD device. I did the same, I upgraded my hard drives. I only took them up to 500 GB. The cable DVRs can not compare to a TiVo box. The cable card installer from Cox was even so impressed he ordered one that night. Called me the next week to thank me again. I know it cost more then renting one from your cable company....but it is worth it.

I've got two old TiVo's ... a series 1 that I upgraded w/ a bigger drive and all sorts of software (that I never use anymore), and a Series 2 w/ a 140hr drive. Both have lifetime subs on them, and have more than paid for themselves compared to what it would've been at a monthly rate. As much as I'd love to upgrade to an HD version, I'd only do so if I could transfer my lifetime sub to the new device.

With TivoHD or TiVo S3 is there anything (either TiVo-sponsered or otherwise) on the horizon that will allow streaming x264 videos from a PC through the TiVo?

To follow up on the Comcast cable card issue above, you should know that the TivoHD has two cablecard slots and there are two options to get "two tuners" (so that you can record two shows at once): Option A = ONE (1) multi stream cable card and Option B = TWO (2) single stream cable cards.

Comcast has mostly single stream cable cards and this is what they will likely try to give you. They are $1.57 a month (or something close to that) -- BUT you need to make sure the agent is not charging you twice. I am not sure if it is an FCC rule or a Comcast policy, but in any event, under the theory of "the consumer should not have to pay for two since they are only offering single stream cards", you should not be paying for two.

One other wrinkle. Above someone asked why I bought two TiVo HDs. Well, one is for the bedroom and one for the living room. So all told I got FOUR single stream cable cards. The correct billing from Comcast is $1.57 x 2 and nothing more. Some agents will try to tack on the $6.99 per month "additional outlet fee". I dug deep into this, and found out that this is also not Comcast correct pricing policy. While that fee should be charged where you have two set top boxes, it is not supposed to be charged where you have two cable card driven sets.

I bought a TiVo HD from Costco about 2 weeks ago... I LOVE TiVo... I had a Series 2 for years and almost cried when I gave it up for HD.

But there are a few things that bug me... are these things happening to you?:

1. SLOW MENUS and INTERFACE - My Series 2 TiVo is QUICK and responsive... I mean... it did whatever I pressed on the remote as if it were anticipating it. But my new TiVo HD is SLOW. I'll press channel up or down a few times and it will miss one of the pushes because I was too fast. Or, for instance, I did the 30 second skip hack on the remote, and I press that 4 times or so real quick, but now I have to press it like, once a second.

2. Channels have a slight delay before showing. Will go grey screen, then to the channel. I'm told this is a cable card thing... needs to select channel, then descramble...

Was I just spoiled by the Series 2?