Tivo Series 3 Prices

[Dizzy149]

Well, my wife has been watching a lot of HGTV lately, and we've been watching some of the shows as they start airing on TV. I talked to her about a DVR, and the Tivo seemed like a good idea. We spoke about a HD DVR and she thought it would bs a great idea.... Untill we saw the $800 cost on the Series 3. Quite a jump from the $30 and $130 for their other boxes.
I noticed that you get a price break on the service if you order it from www.tivo.com. The $19.95 price is $8.31 if you pre-pay for 3 years (Savings of $419 over the 3 year period).

Anyone found better pricing or deals or anything. I'd prefer not to sign up for 3 years of service to try to save all that money. I'm not sure I can talk my wife into $300 for service and $800 ($1100) for the Series 3, not when I can get a $30 unit and pay $225 for 1 year of service ($255 total)

[darkfiber]

You might be able to get some sort of discount in the coming months from places like Best Buy, but you will have to pay tax there. I don't think you need to pay tax if you buy it from tivo.com. TiVo is aiming the Series 3 at the high end market for those that really need HD recording.

I plan on getting one in a month or so when I clear off my credit card. :)

I already own a Series 1 that I bought back in 2001 and a Series 2 that I got back in 2004. I love TiVo and there is no other PVR/DVR that comes close to the ease of use, features and interface of a TiVo. I really hate the Time Warner Cable SA 8300HD DVR that I have to use now in order to record HD. It sucks reallly bad. It might be fine for some who has never used a DVR before, but it doesn't come close to a TiVo.

For some good TiVo info (and I hope the admins of this forum don't mind me plugging another site) I would recommend checking out www.tivocommunity.com . By far the most active TiVo forums on the net and they have TiVo reps that are members. They have a specific Series 3 forum as well.

[Scott]

Not sure if this helps but,

From http://www.tivo.com/vip:

For a limited time, transfer your product lifetime service from a Series1™ or Series2™ box to the new Series3™ HD for only $199. As an added bonus, we'll keep TiVo service activated on your old box for another 12 months for no additional charge.

How it works:
Buy (http://store.tivo.com/ord_cartit-TiVo.asp?Key=STN7S9XRTLJC) your TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder for 799.99.
Once your new box arrives within 7-10 days*, call our VIP line at (866) 424-8486 and we'll transfer service for $199. You will need your TiVo Service Number** for your new and old box ready to process the transfer.

[Dizzy149]

TiVo is aiming the Series 3 at the high end market for those that really need HD recording.

I guess that's the key. I don't NEED HD recording. Honestly, most the stuff I want to watch in HD I can't even get on TWC (I'm quite pissed about that!) So I'm usually stuck watching crappy analog anyway, or I download them later and watch them. I'm in an apartment, and I TRIED to aim an antenna for OTA, and I can either get ABC, or everything BUT ABC. Since the games are on ABC, and TWC doesn't offer ABC in Digital/HD, then I have no choice but to leave it set up for ABC.
I'm at Georgesville Rd and 270, 2nd story apt, the back window/patio door faces NE. You'd think I'd be able to get everything from downtown easily.

[Dizzy149]

Wonder if anyone thought about trying to arrange a Powerbuy or something for the Series 3 through Tivo. I'm sure there would be enough people interested in the tivocommunity forums to do it.

[Dizzy149]

From http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060913/bs_nf/46201

The TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder will go on sale in October and will set you back about $800, in addition to a programming service fee of $12.95 per month, according to the company Web site. Existing customers can make the upgrade for a one-time charge of $199.

Okay, so if I'm already a customer with a Series 2, I can pay $200 instead of $800 to upgrade to a Series 3? Or is that to upgrade the service? In which case, that seems like a huge rip off. Why couldn't you just replace the Series 2 box and continue service on the new Series 3 box? Hell, the service plan is CHEAPER for the Series 3, so why would you have to pay extra?
BUT, if I can pay $200 instead of $800 for the Series 3, then maybe I should get a Series 2 now, then pay the $200 upgrade fee :)



To separate itself from the pack, TiVo is offering HD content recorded using THX technology developed by George Lucas and the ability to get video through a broadband Internet connection.

This interests me. Nothing airs in THX, so why record it in THX? Hell, it's hard to find things actually airing in the 5.1 it's supposed to sometimes. Sounds like the THX thing is a gimmic, and accounts for $200 of the price. I AM VERY interested in this broadband download thing. I really wish more info was available. Is it downloads of old tv shows, or shows that aired earlier that week, or season. Will movies be available? If so, then maybe the THX could be put to some use. I see the iTunes and Amazon implementation of movie downloads and I think it's just god aweful. So I wonder what Tivo could do. Do I have to pay for the broadband content. If so, once I purchase can I store elsewhere to watch on another tv or computer. Or does it need to be kept on the Series 3. Once the Series 3 is full, then what? Do I lose those things I paid for? Lots of questions... Depending on how things are done, it might really help make that $800 worth it.

Someone want to come over and help me find/point an antenna so I can pick up more OTA stations? :p

[Dizzy149]

Spent some time on the Tivo Community forum and found answers to most of my questions.

The $199 is to transfer the lifetime service to the Series 3. Why should these people have to pay?! They already paid for a lifetime subscription, the $199 is basically paying for another two years, in which they'll prob release another box, and charge another $199. Sounds like a load of crap to me.

I also found out that TiVo To Go, Multi Room Viewing, and the network transfers are disabled!!! WTF, so they disable most the things that make this a great product, or a product that would actually be of some use and real value??

I'm sorry, but HD has been around for a while, and I've been recording HD for several years now, so THAT isn't new either. So I don't want to hear any BS about being an "early adopter". I was an early adopter when I bought a MyHD card for my HTPC 4 years ago. I built a HTPC for $450 which has dual HD tuners and 500gb of space. So I don't want to hear crap about how it costs a fortune to manufacture this thing either. With my HTPC I can use www.titantv.com to do many of the things the Tivo can do (schedule recordings, wishlists, etc), so there is no ongoing fee for it either.

Yeah, I was *VERY* interested in getting a HD Tivo, but there is no way in hell that I'm spending that kind of money when it's not even CLOSE to being justified. All I see is a product that had a lot of ideas, that were disabled due to CableCard, and now it's just an expensive toy.

I think I'll deal with the TWC HD DVR with their bad interface etc. I can put up with it for a year until the Tivo drops SIGNIFICANTLY in price. When it's in the $200-$300 range, THEN it will be worth it.

[tenja]

The S3 will record all cable HD and digital channels (as well as OTA HD), which the previous tivo's can't do. This is a huge upgrade and I have one already ordered.

[zelig2]

Don't forget you can only do the lifetime transfer if you buy the unit from tivo.com directly.

[buckeye3d]

If you are patient you should start seeing discounting relatively soon IMO. Its been reported on the Tivo forums that Best Buy's cost for the S3 is $500. I'm sure Amazon.com and the likes will start discounting them as thats a pretty fat margin.

[nakedeye]

Sean your alive....

Nice to hear form ya

[tenja]

as zelig mentioned, if you want to transfer a previous lifetime form a series 1 or 2 tivo, you need to order from a special site that tivo has setup. They pretty much have me by the short and curlies in this regard. I'm sure you cna probably get a little better price if you use coupons or rebates, but Amazon has them listed for $799. I don't see the prices dropping at all until after teh superbowl. (Just speculation on my part).

[Dizzy149]

Sean your alive....

Nice to hear form ya

Yup, it's been a while. Glad to be back though! :)

[darkfiber]

as zelig mentioned, if you want to transfer a previous lifetime form a series 1 or 2 tivo, you need to order from a special site that tivo has setup. They pretty much have me by the short and curlies in this regard. I'm sure you cna probably get a little better price if you use coupons or rebates, but Amazon has them listed for $799. I don't see the prices dropping at all until after teh superbowl. (Just speculation on my part).

Amazon currently has them for around $689. Mine should be delivered today.