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Tivo Series 3 'Lite'
Specifications, photos emerge...

Several e-mails inform us that reports of a broadband-connectible Tivo Series 3 Lite edition are emerging over in the Tivo Community forums. The specs:

quote:
Unconfirmed Series3 "Lite" Specifications (TCD652160)

- BCM740x DVR CPU w/ integrated MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 decoders

- 1x dual MPEG-2 encoder (BCM7041 or possibly an encoder from LSI)

- 2x Samsung S5H1411-based tuners (analog/QAM/8VSB)

- 128Mb DDR SDRAM

Click for full size

- 160Gb SATA HD

- Smaller, lower-cost PCB

- Cheaper power supply

- No THX certification

- No OLED display

- Standard Tivo remote

- $299 MSRP

Though the drive is smaller, it's a significant price drop from the regular unit's $800 price tag. Just like the original unit, the device can use two single-channel CableCARDs or one multi-channel CableCARD.
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Camelot One
MVM
join:2001-11-21
Bloomington, IN

Camelot One

MVM

Too good to be true?

Almost seems too good to be true. With as easy as it is to upgrade the HD, whats the catch? (mind you I have not looked at the tivo forum for details)

RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY

RARPSL

Member

Re: Too good to be true?

said by Camelot One:

Almost seems too good to be true. With as easy as it is to upgrade the HD, whats the catch? (mind you I have not looked at the tivo forum for details)
The cable cards. That means no Interaction (Pay on Demand Channels) or ability to view channels that are being served only if someone on your node is watching (I forget the technical term but it has to do with preserving bandwidth by restricting the number of channels that are always available and using the "saved" bandwidth to feed multiple channels as needed).
NGOwner
join:2000-11-21
Leawood, KS

NGOwner

Member

Re: Too good to be true?

said by RARPSL:

or ability to view channels that are being served only if someone on your node is watching (I forget the technical term but it has to do with preserving bandwidth by restricting the number of channels that are always available and using the "saved" bandwidth to feed multiple channels as needed).
SDV = Switched Digital Video

[NG]Owner

RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY

RARPSL

Member

Re: Too good to be true?

said by NGOwner:

said by RARPSL:

or ability to view channels that are being served only if someone on your node is watching (I forget the technical term but it has to do with preserving bandwidth by restricting the number of channels that are always available and using the "saved" bandwidth to feed multiple channels as needed).
SDV = Switched Digital Video

[NG]Owner
Thanks. It is VERY frustrating when you suddenly draw a blank on a technical term like that (but remember the concept itself).

alg
Passionately apathetic
Premium Member
join:2001-04-10
Houston, TX

alg

Premium Member

How about TTG??!!

To hell with all the other stuff, give S3 boxes TTG already.

rawgerz
The hell was that?
Premium Member
join:2004-10-03
Grove City, PA

rawgerz

Premium Member

the remotes blow

time to make something more ergonomic.

NOCMan
MadMacHatter
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Colorado Springs, CO

NOCMan

Premium Member

Re: the remotes blow

said by rawgerz:

time to make something more ergonomic.
Care to explain how those tivo remotes are bad? I've had Tivo's and I loved the remotes. Much easier on the hands than some of the crap out there. Some of the Harmony remotes also have a bit of the peanut shape as well. Too bad I cant justify buying one of those expensive ones though.

rawgerz
The hell was that?
Premium Member
join:2004-10-03
Grove City, PA

rawgerz

Premium Member

Re: the remotes blow

the buttons are spread out everywhere, constantly have to slide your hand up and down to use the main buttons (numerals, Live TV, etc). It's a little too thick, and there was/is only one replacement remote thats even worse.
IanR
join:2001-03-22
Fort Mill, SC

IanR

Member

Cheaper power supply

Does this mean that adding an external HD will not be possible?
NGOwner
join:2000-11-21
Leawood, KS

NGOwner

Member

Re: Cheaper power supply

External HD means that the External HD will have an External Powersupply, as well (I think).

[NG]Owner

ifarrell
join:2000-08-10
Willow Spring, NC

ifarrell to IanR

Member

to IanR
said by IanR:

Does this mean that adding an external HD will not be possible?
More than likely no eSATA as the smaller board won't support it.
No doubt though the internal drive will be upgradable (through hackable means) to put a bigger drive inside.

Robert
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Miami, FL

Robert

Premium Member

Staying with the S2

I'm staying with the S2 because of cost, cost cost! Tivo is a little expensive as is, and I can't justify dropping $500+ on the S3.

ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium Member
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA

1 edit

ColorBASIC

Premium Member

Not with their new pricing model

I'm not a fan of the new pricing model.

The monthly service is a complete rip-off unless you go with a long contract. But if you're willing to prepay you can get 3 years for just over $8/mo but you used to get lifetime service for that $300 range.

With a 1 year contract they were up to $20/mo for service for awhile. Now it's "only" $17. TiVo software is pretty good, but not $17/mo+HW good.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

Re: Not with their new pricing model

Main reason I do not want a Tivo. Screw paying for a freakin' tv guide! I just don't get the allure of paying monthly for such a thing - I'd rather just rent a DVR from Cox or build my own PVR.

Why are no Tivo "generic" type things out there that would work the same minus the silly monthly fee?
wierdo
join:2001-02-16
Miami, FL

wierdo

Member

Re: Not with their new pricing model

You may not see the value, but I certainly do (although I only pay $6.95/mo, since I have another box with lifetime).

In my area, it's cheaper (monthly) than a cable DVR and works far better. No missed or lost recordings, no AV sync issues, a usefully sized hard disk (along with the possibility of upgrading it yourself). It's also smart enough not to record the same episode of a program 5 times a day, oh, and its scaler is far better than the one in the Motorola box or my TV.

In my case, I pay Cox $1.99 per CableCARD and TiVo gets $6.95. Cox charges $15.25 for their DVR.

I've often thought about building my own MythTV box, but then I realize that I'd a) have to mess with it to make it work, and b) wouldn't get digital cable channels or HD premiums, and forget about it.

As long as 5C continues to be used, build your own DVRs are a non starter for anything beyond analog SD, sadly. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a system that I could use to archive HD content.

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

2 edits

djrobx to ColorBASIC

Premium Member

to ColorBASIC
Yeah, I agree completely. I am a big fan of TiVo, I've owned lots of them, even an S3 due to the lifetime transfer promotion they ran. But for $500+ $17/month+cablecard fees, I will instead just deal with leased TW box. At least they replace it if it dies.

Dropping the OLED display on this new S3 is no big loss. The one on the previous S3 is too small to read from across the room anyway.

Oh, and lifetime service used to be $199!

ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium Member
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA

4 edits

ColorBASIC

Premium Member

Re: Not with their new pricing model

said by djrobx:

... I will instead just deal with leased TW box. At least they replace it if it dies.
And you don't have to deal with cable operators not issuing bi-directional cable cards (so you can do all the VoD stuff etc). In my service area with TWC, the cable cards will descrable but you can't do VOD or order PPV with them. From what I read the S3 TiVos are supposed to support the nextgen cards but no cable operators are offering them because they want people to rent their stuff for $17 (here it's $7.95 box rental plus $10 service fee).

I want VOD as it was one of the few things I liked when I had Comcast, but Dish Network's 2 tuner HD DVR was relatively cheap and the service is free (with their top tier programming package).
magnushsi
join:2002-11-06
Cedar Springs, MI

magnushsi

Member

Re: Not with their new pricing model

That's not correct. All cablecards support two-way. S and M cards. The host device has to have two-way capability. Cable companies want to rent boxes only because they want you to have access to impulse type services, ppv, vod, etc. The benefit of the Tivo supporting the M-card is, the M-Card supports mulitiple streams vs. the S-Card which only supports a single stream.

ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA

ninjatutle

Member

>

They better make the monthly fees cheap. $10 or less. Why do they need $15/month just to push you some programming lineups. tv.yahoo.com or tv.msn.com will give it to you for free.

Slingbox is thriving because they don't include the rip off fees. They could have charged a monthly fee to do the placeshifting but choose not to. Tivo has been dying and they wonder why

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

djrobx

Premium Member

Re: >

Especially now that they're broadband enabled. They should offer a cheaper "bring your own access plan" because I have to think the dialup portion of TiVo service factors into the high cost.
58483323 (banned)
Gurt me
join:2003-06-23
Normal, IL

58483323 (banned)

Member

Smarten up!

Tivo does need to smarten up here. Charging $15-20 per month just to use the thing is ridiculous. They should keep the fee at $10 per month and nothing more. I'm sure the high monthly fee is a turn off for many.

Cabal
Premium Member
join:2007-01-21

Cabal

Premium Member

Re: Smarten up!

How about $8 per month, would that suit you?
58483323 (banned)
Gurt me
join:2003-06-23
Normal, IL

58483323 (banned)

Member

Re: Smarten up!

Well sure... the cheaper the better.

But I'm perfectly happy with my Dish DVRs which I lease for $6 a month with no upfront costs. Who can beat that?

floepie
join:2005-12-01

floepie

Member

Streaming?

Their monthly fee would *almost* be worth it if they included some sort of AppleTV-esque ability to sync/stream with/from a base PC all media including pics and audio files. Now that would be great - a DVR and streamer with onboard MP4/MP2 dedicated decoder chip to replace a make-shift HTPC with media center.
L00ker
join:2007-01-18

L00ker

Member

Re: Streaming?

Uhmmm you can, it's called TiVo ToGo, and you can also use Galleon which I use and stream full dvd length movies across my network from a server with it.... 1.2TB of movies and MP3's is pretty nice!

Johnny34
Fed Up. Bye.
Premium Member
join:2001-06-27
Atlanta, GA

Johnny34

Premium Member

Sold

At $299 I'm getting it. I already pay the $12.95 TiVo series 2 fee and need to get rid of this disaster called the Motorola 3416, along with its crappy interface and confusing remote.

Advantages the TiVo has over the Motorola:

- can use broadband and the web to schedule
- can see your Now Playing list on your computer over the network
- has a interface that actually makes sense and responds immediately
- doesn't forget the programs it recorded
- programs by name, not by time slot
- lists the programs on "To Do" list all on one screen
- can download recorded programs over the home network to the computer
- remote control is 100x better than the Moto
- has automatic 8-second rewind after fast forward
- entering text to specify a title or actor name is 10x better than the Moto's kludgy system

yomama11
join:2002-11-01
Sharpsburg, GA

yomama11

Member

Re: Sold

Not everyone wants these "advantages"

All I need is a VCR type experience to record HD OTA.

NO fees...NO program guide...just manual scheduling.

I know what I want to record.

I have Directivo and its nice and handy to have all the bells and whistles, but there should be a bare bones option after spending $300 on an electronic device to be able to use it VCR style.

Tivos are way over rated and over priced.

Some day people will wise up.

Johnny34
Fed Up. Bye.
Premium Member
join:2001-06-27
Atlanta, GA

Johnny34

Premium Member

Re: Sold

I'm paying $11.95 now for the Comcast Motorola unit. It blows.

I'm paying $12.95 a month for my Series 2 TiVo. It's not HD, and only has a single tuner, but it's responsive, doesn't lose the program guide, doesn't freeze up, doesn't erase programs that I recorded, doesn't erase the programs I scheduled it to record, and has that nifty automatic 8-second rewind when you let go of the fast forward. It also uses broadband, not the cable, to get its program guide, and I can schedule programs and download recordings from my computer in my office.

Next week I am ordering a TiVo HD. That will give me about 2-3 weeks to get any kinks worked out (especially with the hostile Comcast cableCARD installation) in time for the new TV season.

And I will be paying $299 for 36 months, $8.31 a month, instead of $24.90 a month.

And I won't have to mirror every recorded show onto a separate unit like I do now (since the Moto 3416 forgets what it recorded).

PolarBear03
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium Member
join:2005-01-03

PolarBear03

Premium Member

DirecTivo!

I want Tivo and DirecTV to kiss and make up, dammit! Rupert is gone, so screw his crappy R-15s.

I want a Series 3 High Definition DirecTivo with broadband capability (phone lines? are you flipping kidding me?!?).