DailyTech - TiVo Readies the Series3

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Gadgets TiVo Readies the Series3
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - July 19, 2006 9:39 AM

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20 comment(s) - last by vstone.. on Aug 23 at 5:34 PM

TiVo says "soon" but no new date has been set

According to a filing with the FCC, TiVo is currently in the final stages of testing its Series3 DVR set top box. The filing indicated that the new Series3 is already in the hands of several select consumers across the country.

The new Series3 from TiVo is a dual CableCARD tuner, capable of supporting two independent single stream UDCP CableCARD hosts. The product can also act as a single CableCARD device. Many DVR fans have been waiting for the Series3 from TiVo since it was announced more than a year ago.

The filing claims that "During each of these meetings, TiVO provided a progress report on its Series3 ("S3") HD DVR that has been verified as digital cable ready by CableLabs. TiVo expressed appreciation for cooperation of CableLabs in moving through the verification process in a timely manner."

TiVo said that it's already working with a number of HD cable providers to get its new Series3 ready for distribution. Earlier this year however, TiVo CEO Mike Ramsey announced that customers should expect the new Series3 DVR to be released in "early 2006," but unfortunately that didn't happen. No new date has been set, but according to the filing, TiVo expects to release its Series3 box soon.

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What??

By Doormat on 7/19/2006 10:18:17 AM , Rating: 2

At CES 2006, TiVo said the S3 TiVo will ship in the second half of 2006.

http://www.bleedingedgetv.com/index.php/video/arti...

tivo should just sell software

By michal1980 on 7/19/06, Rating: -1

RE: tivo should just sell software

By BPB on 7/19/2006 11:16:39 AM , Rating: 2

You make good points. Unless this is a two way device no On-Demand and such, so why bother? I must say I don't understand why they need two cards. You would think they could do dual-tuner with one card. I guess the cable companies force them to use two. Can't see where this will be cost effective.

A while ago I did see where it was being said that some companies like Cox may begin using TiVo boxes instead of the crappy Motorola boxes they use now. We have had it for quite some time and though it's better than nothing, it's also nothing to brag about.

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RE: tivo should just sell software

By bhigh on 7/19/2006 11:36:29 AM , Rating: 2

The Series 3 can use either 2 single-channel cards (CableCARD 1.0), or 1 two-channel cards (CableCARD 2.0).

If your cable company only supports CableCARD 1.0 and you want to record two digital cable channels, you have to rent two. Otherwise, you can rent a single CableCARD 2.0 and still record two digital cable channels. You can also rent one card and record a digital cable channel, in addition to an analog cable or OTA HDTV broadcast.

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RE: tivo should just sell software

By vstone on 8/23/2006 5:34:37 PM , Rating: 2

Although some pictures show the CES Tivo S3 to support either one CC2 or 2 CC1 cards, I bleieve that it either supports 2 CC1 cards or 1 CC1 multistream card.

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RE: tivo should just sell software

By cckrobinson on 7/19/2006 11:39:05 AM , Rating: 2

The Series 3 Tivo supports CableCard 1.0 and 2.0. CableCard 2.0 does support On-Demand.

quote:
I must say I don't understand why they need two cards

If your cable company only offers CableCard 1.0 then you will need 2 cards in order to record two streams. If they offer 2.0 then you only need a single card since 2.0 supports dual tuner.

If Tivo can deliver and keep the price down, it's easily the most fully featured commercial offering available. This beast actually has 6 tuners (2 cable, 2 ATSC and 2 NTSC). The catch is that you can only record 2 shows at once. It also has an external SATA hard drive connection that will allow you to add additional storage. That's a huge plus compared to what the cable companies can offer.

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RE: tivo should just sell software

By Doormat on 7/19/2006 11:42:13 AM , Rating: 2

Technical reasons for 2 cards..

CableCard 1.0 supports one decryption stream per card, and is unidirectional (from the Cable Head-end to your TV).

CableCard 2.0 supports up to 5 decryption streams per card, and is bidirectional (enabling PPV, On Demand, etc).

The FCC required Cable Companies to implement CC1.0 by last July. Supposedly the requirement for CC2.0 is sometime in 2009. However, the problem now is that Cable companies are starting to switch away from traditional broadcast cable, and are moving to switched digital systems which are incompatible with CC 1 and 2. The question is will the FCC force them to keep CC support or will it drop it and allow cable companies to screw over cablecard device owners and makers.

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RE: What??

By Exodus220 on 7/19/2006 1:24:08 PM , Rating: 2

What is TiVo?

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RE: What??

By Exodus220 on 7/19/2006 1:25:51 PM , Rating: 2

TiVo would be a nice feature to have, but when I miss my shows that I really have to watch (Lost, Alias, 24, The OC) then I just find a torrent and download it. The torrent may not be as high quality as the TiVo but it works just fine for me.

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RE: What??

By TomZ on 7/19/2006 2:04:58 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
What is TiVo?

Are you serious? Use google.

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So...

By bob661 on 7/19/2006 12:31:05 PM , Rating: 2

there's no DVR's for cable users?

RE: So...

By MrSmurf on 7/19/2006 12:41:26 PM , Rating: 2

Well they don't do all the extra like tivo does, including recordings based upon your ratings.

I don't like my cable DVR simply because it's generic. I don't like my dual tuner Tivo 2 because you have to control your cable box through it and they are slow enough on their own.

Directv with Tivo is exactly how it should be done. Tivo should be working with cable companies to intergrate their service. Cable cards are a step in the right direction but Cable Cards have numerious flaws that need to be resolved; namely software conflicts.

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RE: So...

By daveyd on 7/19/2006 12:48:06 PM , Rating: 2

IS Direct TV slowly getting rid of TIVO? I had an installer come over and hook up a DirectTV DVR and it's different from the Phillips DirectTV TIVO unit I already had

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RE: So...

By schwinn8 on 7/19/2006 1:06:08 PM , Rating: 2

As I recall, you can still get Tivo DirecTV boxes from DTV... but you have to ask for them specifically.

That being said, Comcast has a deal with Tivo to make their DVRs in the future. I don't have any recent news on that, but that's a pretty good chunk of the cable business to be involved with. I'd be happy to pay Tivo for a Tivo-comcast DVR... but I am certainly NOT paying Comcast for their crappy homegrown box.

In the meantime, I will keep my S1 Tivo alive as long as possible... I just miss the neat new features S2 users are getting.

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RE: So...

By Wolfpup on 7/19/2006 7:33:00 PM , Rating: 2

Remember that even with a cable DVR with Tivo software, it's up to the cable provider to support various features, software upgrades, etc. The "DirecTivo" boxes are WAAAAAAAY behind the actual Tivo Tivo boxes on software.

It may not be 100% perfect, but a S3 Tivo is as good as it gets for today's marketplace.

Actually I'm also considering getting a Dual Tuner S2, as I don't care about HD right now, and the price is excellent (and for sure I can get it before the fall season). My 80 hour Tivo actually has enough storage space for me (though occasionally I get close to filling it up during sweeps when tons of shows are new). So a 180 hour DT S2 should be perfect (I know you can technically upgrade the drives in these, but I don't want to until/unless my original drive dies).

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RE: So...

By johnsonx on 8/2/2006 4:53:39 PM , Rating: 2

DirecTV already got rid of TiVo. Go to their site, and you won't find so much as a single word about TiVo. They do still support people who have TiVo (me), but that's it. Someone else said you can still get a TiVo from them if you ask specifically for it, though even then that will probably be the less desireable DirecTV R10 unit (much harder to hack if I understand correctly; not supported by the easy utilities like PTV-Net).
You can still by DirecTiVo's on the net. PTVupgrade sells re-certified Phillips units (though you have to add your own hard drive):
http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/dsr704/

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RE: So...

By johnsonx on 8/2/2006 5:06:55 PM , Rating: 2

ammendment:

Ok, it looks like the DirecTV HD DVR is sill a TiVo. But notice they barely mention it - only in the grey fine print in the bottom of the page.

It seems to me in the past that they had a new non-TiVo HD DVR listed on their site in addition to the TiVo. I guess that unit was delayed, as it's no longer mentioned.

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Question then...

By FliGuyRyan on 8/2/2006 11:38:58 PM , Rating: 2

So, if we have Dish at my house with two HD televisions and one analog running three Dish Network receivers and NO DVRs in the house currently... then, how I ask, would TiVo help in my situation? Because my dad skipped out on the DVR, but I really want one. What's the deal with CableCards?

Thanks guys...