The guy showed up in the timeframe that Comcast setup (at the tail end of it, but within the timeframe nonetheless). I was up and running with basic cable and just had to wait for the CableCARDs to come. Everything worked perfectly and the menus walk you through every step of the setup. I basically plugged in my HDMI cable, digital audio cable to my receiver, the Comcast coax cable and I also opted for the TiVo Wireless G USB Adapter which allowed me to put the TiVo HD on my Wi-Fi network instead of having to plug it in to Ethernet or worse, a phone line. This way I was able to have it ready to go when the Comcast guy showed up. I read the setup card and it takes about 30 minutes total to get the TiVo setup BEFORE the CableCARDs get installed. In the meantime I opened the box to check it out and it’s a good thing I did.
I knew from previous experience with a CableCARD install on one of my HDTV’s that I better plan plenty of time for this as the folks at Comcast don’t seem to have their act together when it comes to CableCARD installs.
My TiVo HD arrived a couple of days ago and I immediately called to schedule Comcast to come out and do the CableCARD installation.
TiVo HD sitting under a PS3, Mac mini, HDMI switch and Apple TV. The differences are not worth twice the price – to me!
The Series 3 also does 30 hours of HD recording as opposed to 20 hours of HD on the New TiVo HD and the Series 3 includes an HDMI cable (see a complete side-by-side comparison here).
The main difference between the Series 3 TiVo and the New TiVo HD is the Series 3 TiVo has an OLED digital display on the front, it’s THX certified, has general navigation buttons on the front and a better remote control. What’s the difference between TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD?Ībout $700! ? On the serious side the price of the TiVo Series 3 has steadily dropped in price, however at my last glance over at the great folks at, the Series 3 box is still going for $649 which is still too much for a DVR even if it is a TiVo. If you have no appreciation for an elegant UI, then any DVR will probably do you just fine. They just work and the interface is both elegant and well thought out. They pretty much invented the category and I haven’t had a single issue out of YEARS of use of my TiVo branded DVRs. That’s like saying, why Macintosh? Why BMW? Why an iPhone? Although you can get pretty much the same basic functionality out of any DVR, the TiVo interface (experience) is second to none. You will have to get your CableCARDs through your cable provider and if that is Comcast, that means scheduling an installation appointment (at least last time I checked, they don’t give these out over the counter). With two cards you can record two shows on different channels at once. You could get by with one CableCARD, but then you would only be able to record one show at a time. However, in order to receive your digital channels, HD channels and premium channels (like HBO), you will need not one, but two CableCARDs. It goes for $299 and connects directly to your cable service without the need for a cable box. The New TiVo HD is just what the doctor ordered. I started hearing rumors that TiVo was coming out with a lower cost HD DVR. So I decided to just do HD through Comcast for now which is also my internet provider. I could have gone HD with DirecTV, but at the time I considered it, they didn’t have local stations through the dish and they also had their own DirecTV branded DVRs (not TiVo). So my main recording happens on these ancient DirecTV TiVos (which are no longer being produced) and my HD recording happens on the rented Comcast boxes.
Why two services for digital TV? Because I got hooked on DirecTV plus TiVo years ago and have never wanted to give that up. You might think I’m crazy, but I also have DirecTV service too. My Comcast DVRs lock up regularly (not as much lately as in the past, but I have a funny story about a recent lock up that I’ll cover further down this post).
Not only is the Moto box no where near as elegant or as full featured as the TiVo branded DVRs, it’s also no where near as stable. I’m a Comcast digital cable customer and have suffered through more Motorola branded DVRs than I care to think about. Now I’m glad I did! TiVo recently started shipping their New TiVo HD. When TiVo first announced the Series 3 HD DVR I cheered until I saw the price! At $1,000 I thought, "they must be nuts." There was no way that I was going to spend that kind of money on a DVR. I’ve been waiting for a long time for a cable compatible HD TiVo branded DVR.