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Trust me. If I'm leaving TiVo, it's in trouble. This breaks my heart; TiVo has always been friendly, innovative, fun, and easy to use. It should be celebrated, not abandoned. It's a verb, for heaven's sake. But by turning into a luxury product, it's consigned itself to the quiet fringes of a bustling TV world.Okay since that was written, the Series 3 Tivo has gone down in price somewhat ($600 rather than $800) but it's still not enough. It's still a luxury item. And a luxury item that I can't afford to buy right now. Guess I'll be using my cable company's DVR for a while. Bonus: Take the poll on HD DVRs. [tags] HD, HDTV, Tivo, Comcast, satellite TV, digital video recorder, DVR, HD DVR [/tags]
Dropping Tivo for Cable HD DVR
December 14th, 2007 No Comments
I recently got a new HDTV for my living room and that means a re-evaluation of my DVR.
Currently, I own a Series 2 Tivo which I've had for about a year or so. Previously, I owned a Panasonic ShowStopper ReplayTV that served me for about 5 years. (Yes, I came to the Tivo party late, but I think using DVRs other than Tivo gives me some good background and experience with DVRs.)
So now that I'm using HDTV, I got HD cable from my provider Comcast. So I had to upgrade my cable box and also decided to add on an HD DVR so I can record HD programming. It was just an extra $5 a month for the HD DVR and it gave me 30 hours of HD recording. Not a bad deal. The Comcast HD DVR works OK, but the interface and design isn't as friendly or sophisticated as Tivo.
Nevertheless, I decided to use both DVRs. My SD Tivo is hooked up on one input on my TV, and the Comcast HD DVR is connected via HDMI to get me that clear digital HD picture. It's working great so far. I can switch back and forth between HD Comcast and SD Tivo.
But as I started to watch more HD, I quickly realized one thing: I probably wouldn't be using my Tivo much anymore. Why use my Tivo when it can only record in SD? The SD picture quality looks awful on my new HDTV set. It's like being an expensive stereo, and only listening to AM radio.
An HD DVR is practically a necessity once you get an HDTV. But Tivo's Series 3 DVR is too expensive. And the new Tivo HD ($300) just doesn't have the features I expect in a Tivo product.
Even though I'm still using both DVRs at the same time, I realize I won't keep my Series 2 Tivo much longer. I do still have lots of TV shows recorded on my Tivo that I've been meaning to watch. At the same time, all those unwatched shows are somewhat of a burden. These shows have been patiently waiting for me to watch them, but I choose to let them sit in Tivo purgatory.
An article at PC Magazine crystallizes my sentiments. The writer, Sascha Segan says that they're leaving Tivo and getting a cable HD DVR. Why? Essentially it comes down to economics. Tivo's Series 3 HD DVR costs $800 plus monthly fees of $20 vs. cable which is free and $5 monthly fee. (See the article "So Long, TiVo; Hello DVR".)
Here's a good quote:
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The TiVo HD is under $250 and it has all of the software features of the Series3. What features doesn’t it have that you expect? And the Series3 is around $350 after rebate currently.
The Tivo HD doesn’t have add-ons like THX for surround sound, the nice remote control. Plus it has much smaller storage space compared to the Series 3.
When Tivo HD first was released it didn’t support Tivo 2 Go, but I noticed that it does support it now. That would have been the deal breaker.
As it is, however, buying a Tivo HD doesn’t make sense for me right now. I get the cable DVR for free, with a low monthly fee. Plus I still use the Series 2 Tivo for SD recording.
Plus, I need to make sure that I can access on-demand features from Tivo HD. I read there have been some issues with that, depending on cable providers.
The THX is just a certification. The TiVo HD has the *same* software as the Series3, and a lot of the same hardware. TiVo just didn’t feel it was worth paying to have the TiVo HD certified by THX. It was mainly a marketing ploy, and it didn’t work very well. The Glo remote you can buy separately if you want, for about $50.
The TiVo HD has 160GB to the S3s 250GB. But both support eSATA expansion. And you can always buy upgraded units (of both models) from DVRupgrade.com or WeaKnees.com. And DVRupgrade has a special – you can add the Glo remote to a TiVoHD for $30.
As for OnDemand – you can’t get OnDemand on any 3rd party CableCARD device today, including TiVo. That’s a whole can of worms with CableCARD, OCAP, et al.