said by GOLFnSUN :

The cable card capability means it can be used with almost all cable company systems.

The SATA capability means lots of storage for HD recording.

And the multiple tuners allows high flexibility for combining OTA and cable or sat connections.

If it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I think Tivo may actually have a winner here. It may be a product that can keep them from going bankrupt.:D

said by Nightfall :

The only thing I hope is that some of these cable and satellite companies actually SELL the cards. Look at computer built Tivos like Windows XP Media Center. They have been waiting and waiting for cable or satellite cards to no avail.

Why don't the cable and satellite companies start SELLING their cards so things like this Tivo become a reality?

said by Nightfall :

The only thing I hope is that some of these cable and satellite companies actually SELL the cards. Look at computer built Tivos like Windows XP Media Center. They have been waiting and waiting for cable or satellite cards to no avail.

Why don't the cable and satellite companies start SELLING their cards so things like this Tivo become a reality?

said by bob000001 :

You are confused. Cable cards are not PC cards. CableCARD is a PCMCIA Type II card (like the cards you put into laptops for network or wireless access) that serves as an interface between third party tuners and the cable company.

Ask the PC tunner card manucafturers when they are goin to make a Cablecard compatable digital cable tunner card for a PC.

said by djrobx :

They're coming, but won't be usable until Windows Vista.

said by djrobx :

I think the companies have all been required to offer them for some time now.

said by Nightfall :

Why don't the cable and satellite companies start SELLING their cards so things like this Tivo become a reality?

said by GOLFnSUN :

And the multiple tuners allows high flexibility for combining OTA and cable or sat connections.

If it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I think Tivo may actually have a winner here. It may be a product that can keep them from going bankrupt.:D

said by imrf :

If they actually release it. It was announced and demoed at last years CES too.

said by imrf :

It's been nothing but vaporware from them about the HD box for years. They had a OTA HD box out the year before last, it never came out as well.

I don't see that this box is leaps and bounds better than the cable DVRs. Tivos interface is slow as hell and doesn't appeal to me at all. I've had a functional SATA port on my DVR for over 6 months now, and Tivo is finally getting around to it.

said by tbeckner :

Actually the DirecTiVo (TiVo) HR10-250 DVR, has OTA HD recivers built in and it was release two years ago.

BTW, if you had a eSATA functionality on a DVR, what DVR where you using, one of the cheap Motorola, SciAmerican, or Moxi boxes, or a Dish DVR (which I understand are real cruddy), or one of the dead ReplayTV DVRs?

And if you have had one for 6 months, then we do know that it is NOT SATA II compatiable, so no 3Gbps interface for you.

said by imrf :

That's fine, but the box would be pretty useless without DirecTV service as the guide info was pulled over the sat and required DirecTV service to active it.

Scientific Atlanta 8300HD.

Doesn't matter, the Tivo box uses the eSATA interface, which is the same as the SA 8300HD and the Motorola DCT-6412 Phase III. None of them will transfer at 3Gbps. SATA II doesn't even offer a major advantage over SATA I as the PCI bus is still the limiting factor in the transfer rates. The are few(if any) that break the 150Mbps transfer rate of SATA now.

said by imrf :

I've had a functional SATA port on my DVR for over 6 months now, and Tivo is finally getting around to it.

said by JoshNJ :

Yeah, so? Tivo users have been able to upgrade their internal drives for a number of YEARS with a small amount of computer knowledge, and with no computer experience whatsoever for at least the past few years from weaknees. A far cry from being able to add a whole extra box next to your tv for the past 6 months.

The feeling in this thread seems to also be most people going towards tivo.

said by imrf :

and then they'll still have to rent CableCards from the cable company along with the Tivo subscription price.

said by imrf :

until they see the $1000 price tag

said by JoshNJ :

Boohoo, a whole $1.50 per month,

It's amazing how you could possibly know a price even though one hasn't been made public yet.

Anyway, they are referring to this new model as their series 3 box, not hd series, not cablecard series, simply series 3.

You can bet they will sell them as cheap as they possibly can since you can get a series 2 for $0.00 to $150 depending on rebates at the time.

said by imrf :

Per card. To get full use you'll need two v1 cards or a single multi-stream card.

said by imrf :

Look at the price of the HD DirecTivo when it came out. One can use that as a good guess to the starting price. Look at the price the Tivos were when they first came out, upwards of $400 for the box.

said by imrf :

It still will be marketed as a HD Tivo and nothing else.

said by imrf :

What, do you think Tivo is going to sell them for next to nothing? Keep dreaming. They'll sell them for as much as the market bears, and $1000 isn't unreasonable. Go look at the price of the single tuner Sony DVRs.

said by imrf :

Look at the price of the HD DirecTivo when it came out. One can use that as a good guess to the starting price. Look at the price the Tivos were when they first came out, upwards of $400 for the box.

said by JoshNJ :

What do you have against tivo as a company? They said last year it would be awhile before it would come out. Personally I am guessing they waited to be able to integrate support for the next generation of cable cards (while at this time last year the current cable cards were just really starting to roll out.)

Of course this unit will come out. Having all the features of the hd directivo plus built in nic plus hmo/hme makes this a killer unit, beats the cable companies dvrs by 10 miles.

said by GOLFnSUN :

The cable card capability means it can be used with almost all cable company systems.

said by oliphant :

...TiVo execs are a bunch of spamming whores. Like Adaware...I'm NEVER going back no matter what they release. All of my series 2 units were spammed endlessly (until I cancelled anyway) and new DRM rules (wouldn't let me keep Family Guy until I delete) lame. I've had TiVos since the first Xmas they were released and back then the service was great. You bought the box, paid $10/mo for guide updates...no spam...perfection in technology.

Then they raise the monthly fee 30% and you would think with such a large increase they could go without banner ad spam, spam while FFWDing, the pulsating thumb ads and system message spam (yes I would get "official" system messages about new Sheryl Crow albums). That would all be well and good if guide updates were free, but for nearly $160 plus the cost of the hardware (plus I paid HMOx2 when they used to charge for it) you would think they could provide a spam free service. My HD DirecTiVo sees no such spam and if it ever does, it will be gone too.

Now I've seen some here claim they've never seen this spam...to them I say consider yourselves very lucky.

said by jesseb_66 :

Now just if DRM and etc works out being at least OK for customers I think TiVo might have something that can really pull them out of the hole they are in.