Retailers Leak New TiVo HD Specs and Price

Brent writes "Retailers goofed and posted most of the specs of the forthcoming TiVo Series 3 Lite, which Ars says may be called 'TiVo HD' at launch. A comparison with the standard Series 3 shows that for a savings of $300, you only lose the OLED screen (do you need a screen on your TiVo?), the glowing remote (which you can pickup for $50 anyway), THX certification (worthless) and 90GB of storage. Looks like it may be a TiVo hacker's dream."

Re:90 GB?

[OldeTimeGeek]

From TFA, about 11 hours. The "Tivo Lite" will have a 160GB (holds about 20 hours) disk rather than the 250GB (which holds up to 31 hours) disk on the existing Series 3.

Re:90 GB?

[Kamots]

It doesn't have 90 GB of storage.

It loses 90 GB of storage.

As to how much HD content it can store, RTFA. (31 hrs for the expensive one, 20 hrs for the new one)

Re:90 GB?

[LMacG]

90GB is the difference in disk capacities between the current Series 3 and this new unit. The capacity stated in TFA is 20 hours HD.

And TiVo "jumped on the HD bandwagon" several months ago, when the Series 3 first came out.

Re:*sigh* no satillite connectivity...

[dgatwood]

Satellite TV boxes put out analog (component) and/or digital (DVI/HDMI) uncompressed hi-def video. To record that, you need A. a component capture device (relatively cheap/easy) or DVI/HDMI input hardware (also relatively cheap/easy), and B. real-time hi-def compression hardware (expensive/hard). That last one pretty much puts the skids on any attempt to do an HD PVR for satellite without building it into the satellite receiver.

Losers!

[Glove d'OJ]

"Retailers goofed and posted most of the specs of the forthcoming TiVo Series 3 Lite, which Ars says may be called 'TiVo HD' at launch. A comparison with the standard Series 3 shows that for a savings of $300, you only lose the OLED screen (do you need a screen on your TiVo?), the glowing remote (which you can pickup for $50 anyway), THX certification (worthless) and 90GB of storage. Looks like it may be a TiVo hacker's dream."

The 90GB is what you LOSE, in addition to the remove, OLED screen, THX, etc.

You LOSE 90GB (250->160), not HAVE 90GB storage.

Damn. If you don't RTFA, at least parse the /. story correctly...

OT Recommendations

[asphaltjesus]

I've configured both knoppmyth http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html [mysettopbox.tv] and mediaportal for win32 http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ [team-mediaportal.com].

Each has their caveats. Knoppmyth works better once you get it rolling, but there's lots of fiddly work to get it going. Lots of fiddly work. Once it's up its rock steady. It manages powering down/sleeping between scheduled shows much better than win32.

MediaPortal is easier to set up. Buggy interface though. Not show-stoppers but whacky things that make it hard to use. For reasons I haven't investigated it uses some kind of proprietary file type to store the shows. If someone knows how to set it up to make an mpeg that would be great. http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ [team-mediaportal.com]

Re:90 freaking GB? 160GB, and here's why...

[Nom du Keyboard]

It has a 160GB drive, giving an estimated 21 hours of HD recording. The reason for the smaller drive is most likely to that they can still maintain a market for the much more profitable Series 3 Heavy at $799 + monthly programming fees.

My Tivo Series 3 Perspective

[Hangtime]

I just purchased my Tivo Series 3 (the wife and I are Tivo nuts and we just bought an HDTV so it was required) and here's my notes so far.

1. Cablecard installation sucks. Make sure when you talk to the provider that they ALWAYS bring 2 Cablecards. It just took for times for TimeWarner to actually get cable going. None of this is Tivo's fault as much as its lack of understanding on the cable company side. The problems are in two places: one - firmware upgrades can take FOREVER, it literally took my 3 days to update the Cablecards, two: provisioning the TWC head-end folks have not quited figured this out yet and it took the guy talking to a friend to get the cards provisioned correctly. So when they come out make sure they try to flash the cards before they leave HQ and know someone on the other side that knows how to provision.

2. The lost 90 GB is not much of a problem. Tivo Series 3 have an eSATA connection that can be enabled through a backdoor code (see http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.ph p?t=350510 [tivocommunity.com] on how to do so). Then you get yourself a $50 enclosure and $300 1 TB drive and your rocking for approximately the same price.

3. I wish the OLED wasn't even there and I had $50 back. You can't see it half the time and its so small its tough to read from across the room.

4. THX: I don't have a home theater (working on that but gotta be a little more frugal now) so I wouldn't worry about it.

The $300 price point is the magic number and when it comes in watch out because these will start flying on the shelves.

Re:What?

[phildawg]

I just wanted to say I goofed on the HD numbers. I originally looked into the Series 3 Tivo HD when it was released as I own 2 normal tivo's currently. I thought it had a 300GB hard drive and it was roughly a 10:1 ratio on space. I now see that it's a 250GB hard drive and the new version will have a 90GB hard drive. My point is still very true and even more so with this knowledge. If 250GB = 30 hours, then 160GB = 17 hours, 1TB = 120 Hours.

Re:Hackers dream?

[cayenne8]

I'd never buy another Tivo....they don't offer the lifetime 'service' any longer.

I'm not gonna buy a unit...and then have to pay a monthly 'fee' to use it for the rest of its useful life.

Re:What?

[HTH NE1]

the 30 and 21 hours of HD quality recording really is a setback, but fortunately you can record programs at lower quality on the HD Tivo's.

Only as long as you have the alternative to record HD programs in SD quality on an alternate SD channel carrying the same content. HD can only be recorded in HD. Last I checked, HDNET had no SD alternative. Also, the PBS stations in my area have different programming on the HD and SD channels (e.g. Doctor Who is only on the SD channel).

There's also no IR or serial control by which to use a down-converting cable box on the Series3 platform. For cable programming, you either can record analog and unencrypted digital channels, or you use CableCards.

Re:Why does Tivo get so much publicity?

[mkraft]

First off, popup ads were never implemented. TiVo tested them on a few people, found they didn't work well and scrapped them. I don't know why people always bring this up since there hasn't been a popup ad on a TiVo in over 2 years. There's far more ads on the cable box Comcast gives me (they're all over the guide), than I ever see on my TiVo.

Second, TiVo is the best known DVR out there and the most successful purchasable one there is. When Comcast starts selling their own HD DVR that's as good as TiVo (which will never happen) I'm sure you'll read it here.

Third, TiVo is one of the easiest DVRs to use which is probably why they won an emmy [gizmodo.com] for Outstanding Achievement in Enhanced Television Programming.

Re:Hackers dream?

[HTH NE1]

But having units with Lifetime Service still qualifies you for discounted monthly service at $6.95 a month for additional TiVos on the same account.