Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater TiVo's new HD DVR?

Does anyone have one of the new TiVo HD 2-tuner boxes that are designed to replace your cable box?

I was always a big TiVo fan, but they lost me when Comcast offered a 2-tuner HD DVR. We've always had annoying problems with it though. Very sluggish response (annoying when you FF through a commercial break, but then it doesn't react when the show is "back on" and you want it to STOP fast-forwarding!!!); For unexplained reasons, it keeps recording shows in regular-def even though we specify to record on "this channel only" and choose an HD channel; lousy search capabilities, yadda, yadda, yadda.

We also still have our old TiVo for non-HD recording. I have a DLP that does not allow discrete inputs through the remote (I always have to slowly cycle through them) and I have a non-HDMI receiver. Further, I have two Sony 400-disc jukeboxes that I'm planning on selling as they've been sitting unused for years.

So now that you have the background, the question is: "How good are those new TiVos?" I understand that in moving to the CableCard-enabled TiVo, I'll lose cables' on-demand service, but we never really use that much. Any other features we'll lose?

Is the box responsive? Anyone using TiVo as a networked music server (replacing the jukeboxes)? Anyone have experience with WeaKnees and their higher-capacity TiVo mods? Anyone try downloading movies to the TiVo via Amazon's "Unboxed" service?

I have to admit, having one source for all HD, non-HD, and music serving would be phenomenally simpler and more user-friendly!

I would like to know as well. I am essentially paying 15 bucks a month for my dvr service. supposedly $5 for the box, and then an additional $10 for the "dvr service"...

I keep toying with it.. maybe when I have an extra $500 and TiVo's offering the $200 lifetime transfer again I'll do it. But I don't have HDTV in any case. Or digital cable.

I would imagine that the navigation is quite fast. There was an arstechnica review awhile back, I'll see if I can dig it up.

The new Tivo HD is a great box. I have an Series 3 upgraded to 750GB or 100 hours of HD. I've got tons of shows unwatched to hold me through the writers strike... I have a dual tuner Series 2 and with the new firmware, I can share shows (SD) between boxes.

I set my inlaws up with a Series 3 and Tivo HD. Now both boxes share HD shows between them.

I have all the boxes connected to our Macs and iTunes. Now all the Tivos can play music and photos very easily.

Yes, you pay for Tivo, but IMHO it blows Comcast's s/w out of the water. I can't speak for Tivo's Comcast s/w as I haven't seen it, it's only beta in New England. But if it's close to Tivo, that's also a great solution.

Now to your questions:
1) "How good are those new TiVos?"
ANSWER: Very good. MUCH faster than the HD DirecTivos. The HD Tivos are a great price point. I've heard they are slightly slower than the S3 but I didn't notice it. Heck, it can't be any slower than the HD DirecTivo, which was almost as slow as Sarah McLaughlin's Angel...

2) Any other features we'll lose?
ANSWER: Correct, no on demand. There's some brewing about switched digital video but I think that'll take time to roll out. For now, it's a don't care, at least for me.

3) Is the box responsive?
ANSWER: Yes. Much faster than previous boxes.

4) Anyone using TiVo as a networked music server (replacing the jukeboxes)?
ANSWER: I've started to. W/ iTunes, I'm pretty impressed. So much so that I'm about to regret the Sonos I made my inlaws get... I've tried the Rhapsody service that's new to Tivo, it's decent and the sound quality is actually quite good. I'd never subscribe, but it's nice to have the option. Now if I could have Pandora...

5) Anyone have experience with WeaKnees and their higher-capacity TiVo mods?
ANSWER: Yes. I upgrade myself and it's not too bad. I've bought pre-formatted and done it myself. I prefer now to do it myself and just find or buy the CD to format your drives. You can find it on http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/. It's doable if you're comfortable opening up a PC and moving jumpers.

6) Anyone try downloading movies to the TiVo via Amazon's "Unboxed" service?
ANSWER: Yes, and it's not too bad. But it's not HD.

Something that I've found useful w/ my kids. I can now pull shows in SD and HD off all my Tivos. I move them to my NAS (network drive) and then convert them to use on an Apple TV and iPhone/iPod. GREAT for taking shows on the road. I don't have to buy DVDs and I can restrict my kids to PBS shows, rather than having them watch every Disney movie under the sun when we go on long trips.

Cesar:
Thank you VERY much for taking the time with that detailed reply!! You've certainly given me a direction for "rebuilding" this part of my HT!

Thanks again!!