Got the new Tivo HD!

[knownzero]

I'm setting it up right now (sans cable cards) since I didn't have time to call Insight today. Anyone have any experience with Insight and cable cards? Last time I had an installer out he seemed pretty well versed on them already so hopefully it will go smoothly.

It's a nice looking unit, the remote is the same old peanut which is still a great remote but won't get used a lot since I have a Harmony 880. The price point is a lot better than the original S3 and according to the Tivo forums the eSATA port should be opened soon (unfortunately it'll be for Tivo branded drives only from what I've read). The OTA antenna (from my ATI HDTV Wonder) seems to be doing a reasonable job picking up some HD signals even in my Faraday cage of an apartment.

So far, setup was painless and the brief moments of HD OTA I've seen look great. More to come as I get the cablecards installed.

[Scott]

Welcome to the forum KZ! Is this the $300 model recently advertised?

[knownzero]

Welcome to the forum KZ! Is this the $300 model recently advertised?

http://www.circuitcity.com/IMAGE/product/enlarged/tvo/EC.TVO.TCD652160.JPG

Link (http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=188555&catOid=-12883&c=1&cm_re=main%20marquee-_-Introducing%20the%20new%20TiVO%20HD%20DVR—records% 20in%20HD%20and%20serves%20as%20a%20universal%20ca ble%20box,%20all%20for%20just%20$299!-_-TiVo%20HD%20DVR)

Yep, that's the one. I see all the CC stores are sold out here locally now also. I'll have the cable cards installed on Monday by Insight. The rep knew about the Tivo's and cable cards but mentioned that they haven't done many of them yet. (She was also one of the most pleasant CSR's I've talked to, good job Insight!)

Impressions so far: The HD OTA picture is excellent, better than the DVR from Insight (as you'd expect). Setup was very easy and quick, easily the fastest Tivo setup I've done so far. The OTA tuner seems to do a really nice job at pulling in stations OTA given that I just have my small antenna from my HDTV Wonder hooked up to it. The UI is reasonably fast, a heck of a lot faster than my glacial Series 2. Had to do a lot of cleanup after the channel scan since it listed a lot of OTA stations that I'd never receive without a massive antenna. One bug so far in the audio when playing a show in now playing - after deleting a show, the audio completely drops out until you go back to live TV and back into the menu. Not sure if it's the TV (47" Westy, the Tivo or what). Other than that, I'm extremely happy with it so far.

[Scott]

Thanks for the info on the new box KZ. My commitment to DirecTV is almost up and with the pending transition to MPEG-4 looming (forced into a non-TiVo) box, I may look into going this route with Insight. In the past, NFL Sunday Ticket would hold me back; but I didn't even pick it up last year.

My upgraded HR10-250 (500GB) is fetching $400+ on eBay right now, which would pay for the new box. I could probably save myself $100 per month switching to Insight (cable, internet, VoIP consolidation). I need to update the channel guides for each provider so that I can compare what Insight has vs. DirecTV.