Chew

Stolen from the tivocommunity forum:
As a new owner, looks like you're out of luck.

Mordred

So basically the lifetime transfer I did from my S2 to my TiVoHD on Monday for $199 now costs $399? Sounds good to me

aktick

I'm thinking about buying my brother an HDTV...he has a regular S2 Tivo (w/Time Warner cable, IIRC), and I think he paid for 3 years of service when he got it (I want to say it was fall of 2006, so about a year and half left).

I haven't looked elsewhere for info (ask first, research later ), but what would be the best deal if I got him just the standard HD Tivo and he didn't keep using his old S2 anymore? There's also a good possibility that once he's done with school in a year or two, he will get DirecTV and not even use the thing anymore.

More questions (disclaimer: I'm a DirecTV guy, always have been, so I don't know much at all about any other company's products or services):

1. Does the cheaper HD model have optical audio out?

2. Time Warner cable...he doesn't watch much that would be in HD on cable, and also might not want to pay more per month (he has the basic non-digital cable package now), but any advice for or against getting a Time Warner HD package and what to expect? It would have to be via cable cards, right?

3. OTA HD...if locals aren't available in HD for very little $$$ through Time Warner, this would be the obvious route - I'm assuming there's an internal tuner that works just fine? Are there 2 OTA tuners?

4. Hard Drive...easy enough to add another or bigger drive?

Appreciate any advice.

rfduncan

I believe it does.

Yes. Not all cable systems have compatible cards though.

Yes.

Via an external proprietary hard drive that runs about $200 - Western Digital My DVR Expander Hard Drive

Honestly if he is still in school, why proceed with this venture? It is going to cost him money out of pocket that he doesn't currently spend. By the time he gets out, things in the HD arena will have gotten a little cheaper and more standardized. In the meantime, he should just get a converter box with the government check and watch what he has and STUDY!

Jadzia

Do these work with DirecTV yet?

My HD DirecTV DVR leaves a lot to be desired. I still have DirecTivos on my older non-HD sets but if I ever upgrade those TVs to HD I will miss the D*Tivos so bad. I might just have to go back to Comcast eventually.

rfduncan

Yep. Since their messy divorce, DirecTV will never let these units on their service again.

I use my TiVoHD OTA on my HDTV, and my DirecTivo picks up the slack (like tomorrow when I will HD record Ugly Betty and Smallville and SD Earl and Scrubs). Of course this also means I can only record network TV in HD, but like you, I will be investigating cable options once the DirecTivo is either phased or dies.

Tracer Bullet

They never will. Satellite providers don't have to conform to the same open standard as the cable companies, so no way for TiVo to work with them.

aktick

Well, it's not going to cost him anything. I'm buying the TV and I'd buy the HD Tivo...unless he decided he wanted HD cable channels, then that would cost him whatever. He watches as much TV as most of us around here do anyways, and has a 360 he plays plenty, and goes to a slacker school to begin with.

So basically the only thing that changes for him is he's watching shows and playing games in HD instead of SD.

I'm just not sold on getting the HD Tivo yet...it would just cost $300 upfront, he'd activate the new HD Tivo, deactivate the old SD Tivo, and his current subscription that goes until fall of 2009 would remain unchanged, right?

datagirl7

I got mine a couple weeks ago.

Getting Comcast to CORRECTLY install a CableCard was a nightmare. 4 appointments. Probably 12 hours total. Uggh.

BUT, now it works great. I'm going to have to get one of those external drives though. 20 hours hd isn't much. I've told mine it only gets hd channels so taht cuts down a little, but wiht 2 tuners, every day it's full and I have to delete.

I wish I could tell it to only record in HD, but it is picking up datime stuff in SD from the HD channels.

With this and my 300 hour SD tivo, I'm quite happy.

B.A.

Tivo was recently offering a special - $700 for the HDTivo that included lifetime service and the wireless adapter.

I wish those bastards were offering that last summer.

I had my first hiccup on Monday night. It skipped about fifteen minutes during two back-to-back programs. Looks like a lot of people in Tivo-land had problems after a recent update.

kenage

So with that deal BA the only thing I would have to pay after that would be the cable service if I had one? What is the wireless adapter for?

big whoppa

I just bought 2 dual tuner TiVos but I wanted to get a HD TiVo. I can't seem to find an answer to my question. I know the HD versions can record over the air for free now with a simple antenna. How and will that change when the stations convert to digital next year? I read on the net that these antennas won't work in getting OTA reception next year. Does that mean I would have to subscribe to cable or satellite to get HD or would I have to buy something else? I'm trying to get HD the cheapest way possible.

DVDChris

Tivo either needs a phone connection, or internet connection to get all the TV listings. Most people don't have their internet in the same room, so the wireless adapter avoids having to run a cable from your Router all the way to the Tivo.

kenage

I see. Thanks DVDChris.

B.A.

You will still be able to receive digital HD broadcasts over the air. You just won't be able to receive analog broadcasts any more.

kenage - the wireless adapter enables the user to enjoy several more features since it is connected to internet. Amazon Unbox HD video rentals for example.

B.A.

By the way - The special I mentioned earlier doesn't seem to be available anymore, but the HDTivo is on sale for $250 through their website.

aktick

Just to be sure I'm not going nuts...you guys are just talking about free OTA signals, correct? You still need to pay to receive the Tivo service, even if you only have OTA locals. Right?

big whoppa

Oh, so you can still use the old rabbit ears to pick up the HD broadcasts come 2009?

I'm only concerned about picking the network stations. If I can get better reception and a HD Tivo, I'll drop cable.

^To answer the question above, the Tivo box is practically useless without service. You can pause live TV.

aktick

Yeah, I figured that's how it was still for OTA channels as well, but I was half asleep and read your previous post as suggesting you didn't need to have a Tivo subscription if all you had was OTA.

rfduncan

Yes. Rabbit ears work just fine. Mind you that OTA can be spotty unless you're a clear shot to all 4 major networks. I can receive stuff fine with rabbit ears but I'm less that 5 miles from all transmitters. If you have an antenna on the roof, that would be better. Use this website for help:

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

They have HD video now? Everything I've gotten from them so far has been SD....

mphtrilogy

correct, free HD OTA, then the monthly nut to Tivo. THey do have various service plans from $7-$13, depending on how much you pay it forward.

I love Tivo HD it is great!

big whoppa

Thanks for the info, guys. I need to make one of those wire hanger antennas. The last antenna I had brought in great HD but I had to constantly fiddle with the thing. I gave up and went to cable where I'm stuck with SD since I'm not paying the premium for HD.

I've rented a lot of movies from Unbox and I've never seen any HD movies on the Tivo or on Amazon's site.

B.A.

Sorry, I thought they did - I've yet to make the purchase.

Walker Boh

Now that you've been through it, do you have any tips on how to make things go smoother with Comcast? I'm planning to get this, but really don't want to use several vacation days to deal with it.

Roto

I brought my Comcast DVR to the Comcast store and traded it in for an M card last Tuesday. Other than waiting because they were having computer problems, it went nice and smooth. The lady at the counter told me what to expect.

Went home, put the cable card in and called Comcast to activate it. Gave the 2 codes that were on the screen to the rep, they activated it and told me to call back if it didn't work. It worked fine. I'd recommend this over having an installer come to your home. You can go to www.comcast.com and find a bill payment center. It should list if they have cable cards.

Everything worked great. The only problems I've run into is HDCP problems with the HDMI connection. Neither of my displays want to work with HDMI, even though they were fine with DVI on the cable box. I'm not blaming Tivo for that though. HDCP sucks. I've spent way too much time fiddling around with Tivo Desktop and PyTivo, but I think I've learned to avoid any settings regarding subfolders in PyTivo.