TiVo announces Series 3 HD TiVo, due this year

TiVo just announced their TiVo Series 3 HD Digital Media Recorder, with dual HD recording and 300 hours of recording space. The device supports dual CableCARDs, of the 2.0 or 1.0 a variety, so either way you can get dual signals, with one 2.0 card or two 1.0 cards. Of course you can still rock the analog cable, but you'll have more fun with digital cable or ATSC over the air. You can even go for some straight up NTSC over the air and relive your snow-filled childhood memories. They're also launching an external SATA drive to hold all this HD video you're going to be PVRing now through oh-so-many sources. The new box looks good, the new remote is backlit, those snazz download capabilities are still in force, and the good times should roll this year, so all is well in TiVo fandom.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

[khamel @ Jan 5th 2006 9:42PM]

can i wait this long? i wanted to get my mom a tivo but if i can just get an hdtv tivo and give her mine that would be awesome. this is the only thing i cared about hearing from this blog-busting convention.

[Chunks @ Jan 5th 2006 9:47PM]

Everything sounds fantastic but how much?

[Alex @ Jan 5th 2006 9:49PM]

Ethernet in and hdmi out, woohoo! Now we just need to see what apple or google might be up to

[FX Viewer @ Jan 5th 2006 9:50PM]

I thought TiVo was dying. What gives?

[portwineboy @ Jan 5th 2006 9:50PM]

Love to know how much one of these babies will cost...

[Steve @ Jan 5th 2006 9:52PM]

Bout time, now price please...

[Dot Flowers @ Jan 5th 2006 9:57PM]

I wonder if there will be any more Tivo for DirecTV? I hate to lose that combo. Still, if I had to chose, I would stick with my Tivo and settle for digital cable.

[Chunks @ Jan 5th 2006 9:58PM]

Sounds good so far but I have a feeling the price will be too much.

[Stephen Lease @ Jan 5th 2006 10:25PM]

finally! by the time it comes out i might even be able to afford one.



300 hours huh, that can't be at HD signal quality can it. Maybe they picked a better codec.

[Sean DL @ Jan 5th 2006 10:34PM]

No, they just added a external hard drive half the size of the TiVo S3 to accompany the internal one..

[Jon @ Jan 5th 2006 10:43PM]

I wouldn't hold my breath on Apple's plans to compete in this space. I think apple has stayed out for a reason. They like to "own the box" and the software too. If they can't control everything they don't bother. But Apples lack of anything competitive in this space is going to be a huge plank in their eye. MS has Media Center and 360 and even TIVO works with Windows.



I think clearly Apple is the wrong platform for connectivity between computer and living room.

They are going to have a tough sell when Vista comes around the corner. It's looking great and has some amazing features as well as the Media Connector stuff.

[MegaZone @ Jan 5th 2006 11:33PM]

The permalink for that would be http://www.tivolovers.com/252572.html

[ericn @ Jan 5th 2006 11:37PM]

FINALLY! I've been a TIVO subscriber since the beginning, but I just cancelled my service because my cable company offers a dual tuner HD DVR. Tivo's interface is WAY better, but I couldn't put up with not being able to record HD and the dual tuner is way cool.

[MegaZone @ Jan 5th 2006 11:41PM]

The 'up to 300 hours' is for SD content, which would mean about a 300GB drive. And that sign is just with the internal drive, the SATA drive is an extra.



I'll try to get more data tomorrow, I've been updating my original post in TiVoLovers.com and answering questions in the comments there.

[Pacey @ Jan 6th 2006 12:01AM]

I have been waiting a YEAR for this announcement. If all goes well, I'll be buying one of these the DAY it comes out... Way to go TiVo, you just made my 2006

[Alcaron @ Jan 6th 2006 1:04AM]

#13, I don't get it, you do realize there is allready a HDTiVo out correct?



Its dual tuner, only lacks locals in HD (at least in my area), and can record from any of the DTV HD channels.



Am I misunderstanding you?

[Carlos @ Jan 6th 2006 3:22AM]

Freaking sweet.



Will definitely buy one if it hits at a price of $800 USD.

[Wolfeman @ Jan 6th 2006 3:35AM]

#16, thats only DirecTV. This is for normal cable. There has never been a dual tuner TiVo for cable. I don't care how much it costs, I'm getting one...

[Phil P @ Jan 6th 2006 6:54AM]

Ack! "Due out mid-to-late 2006"!?! That's 1.5 years after initial announcement. Or are we supposed to forget that it was announced at CES 2005 :-)?

[Mike @ Jan 6th 2006 8:40AM]

I don't care how much it costs. This is what I have been waiting for, for a year now. I hope Tivo can get it out soon. I don't know how much longer I can take the crappy UI on my SA8300hd. Tivo please hurry!!!!

[Jason @ Jan 6th 2006 11:28AM]

Ya, buy this for $800-$1000 or just use the Comcast HD-DVR that costs me $10 a month to rent.



Hmmmmmm.



I think you have to watch a helluva lot of TV to justify this thing. The Tivo does more than other DVRs, but not $800 more.

[raygundan @ Jan 6th 2006 11:39AM]

If you'll recall, the 2005 CES announcement was for the product to be available in 2006. Yeah, that's a long time-- but to be fair, they're also not (yet) going back on their word.



I'm a patient guy. Until it comes out, at which point, I will be at the nearest retailer so fast the laws of physics will have to bend to let me by.

[Mike @ Jan 6th 2006 11:40AM]

I've been looking for a cable tivo. I use the Moxi from charter, and its alright, but it'd be nice to get rid of another rental fee. Especially since it just went up another $5.



Sure, rental is still cheaper than owning in the short term. But have it long enough, and it equals out.



Do we know if this one supports external hard drives via usb/firewire? Moxi has been saying they will, but no word on when. I'm assuming it'll support tivo2go as well.



Finally, Moxi doesn't support dual tuners. Watch one, record one. Or record two and watch nothing. (or maybe that is dual, not sure :) ). I'm hoping the tivo will record two and let me watch one. Wed night are crammed with Alias, invasion and CSI: NY at the same time.

[raygundan @ Jan 6th 2006 11:44AM]

External hard drives via SATA. Not removable in the normal sense-- once connected, it's treated like another internal drive. Shows could have data split between the drives.



It will supposedly recover from removal of the drive, but you'd lose any shows that were fully or partially on it, so it's not a "take some shows to your friend's house" sort of a drive. Just additional space.

[Robert Aitchison @ Jan 6th 2006 12:06PM]

I guess us satellite users can just sit on a tack. There are no S-Video or even composite imputs on this box nor is there serial control or IR blaster support.



Not that being a satellite user (Dish Network) I could use the dual tuner features (would need two satellite recievers) or of coruse the CableCARD but it would be nice to buy a Series3 because it would be more future proof, like maybe if Dish miraculously became CableCARD compible in a few years) or I switched to a different provider (less likely)



One of the things I REALLY love about my Stand Alone Series2 is that it's provider independent, and that it works with satellite, analog or digital cable, whatever I've got.

[Jason @ Jan 6th 2006 12:16PM]

If Tivo really wanted to up the Ante they would have definitely included true outboard storage to this new Tivo.



I could see springing $600 or more for one if I could simply put any external USB2 drive on it and having the Tivo handle it as additional storage through a few additions to the Tivo software (even just the ability to "archive" a show from the internal drive to the external one would have been a killer app).

[no use for a name @ Jan 6th 2006 1:39PM]

"I thought TiVo was dying. What gives?"



Moronic trolls, tech pundits, and stock shorties have been saying "TiVo is dying" every day for the past six years. Ten years from now, TiVo will be raking in billions from DVR advertising revenues and its stock will be through the roof and there will still be folks saying "TiVo is dying".



TiVo is a bit like Apple, in that way.

[carson @ Jan 6th 2006 1:46PM]

#11 ------



you make valid points about apple and the living room, but you need to remember that they took the cautious approach on the ipod too. They waited until creative and a few others bungled it all up and then apple created the monster known as the ipod. The media center had a long head start and only with vista is it now a good product. No telling what they have planned but, if history shows us anything they may suprise us on monday.



2legit,

Carson

[Mike @ Jan 6th 2006 3:04PM]

I wonder if the sata will be playable on a pc or notebook?



I to would prefer using any old usb drive to move data, but I'm guessing it'll support tivo2go anyway.



As for dish people sitting on a tack...um...you've had tivo since the damn thing started.

[The Jeremy @ Jan 6th 2006 3:09PM]

I'm only disappointed that there's no Firewire port on it as well as an internal slot for an Airport style wifi card. Using HME, the Firewire port could have been used to grab shows recorded on a cable set-top box, just in case somebody wanted to rent one of those and/or worked better than the CableCard setup. The wifi option also goes without saying.



But with that said, great machine. What's the price, and what's the lifetime subscription price on this machine? And will it still be easy to pop out the existing hard drive and replace it with something bigger?

[Nobuyuki Idei @ Jan 6th 2006 4:03PM]

Or get the Sony DHG-HDD250 for $499 with no subscription.

[Bogey @ Jan 6th 2006 5:56PM]

I like the sound of it. I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed that it'll debut at a price point that I consider reasonable.



Anything over $350 and you can forget it.



There's barely a dozen available HD channels right now (not including the pricey, subscription channels, like HBO) that I can get from ComCast here in the SF Bay Area, so I'm not in a hurry. If it's over that, I'll just stick with my Series2 and watch DVD's. If it get's priced over $500, I can cannibalise parts from existing systems a create myself an open-source MythTV solution.



BUT, it's a huge step in the right direction.

[Lori @ Jan 6th 2006 6:31PM]

Okay, I have been waiting forever for this! The DVR that comes with Time Warner Cable is terrible .. The only reason why I have the Time Warner DVR is beacause it records HD .. Wow, can't wait .. I don't care if it's 1,500 dollars ..

[coopatata @ Jan 6th 2006 7:12PM]

i just hope that it doesnt take like 5 seconds to change the channel when its connected to cable, thats the ONE thing i dont like about tivo, i wish it would change instantly like dvr-less tv

[Stoodo @ Jan 6th 2006 8:57PM]

"I'm only disappointed that there's no Firewire port on it as well as an internal slot for an Airport style wifi card. "



Sorry Apple fan boy. Maybe next time.

[The TimeHorse @ Jan 7th 2006 11:26AM]

Sweet! And here's why:



1) DirecTV's contract with TiVo runs out in Feb 2007 and there are no signs of it being renewed.



2) Since DirecTV is owned by NewsCorp and NewsCorp already developed a proprietary DVR for their Australian Market, known as the NDS system, DirecTV has been selling these units rather than DirecTiVos to new customers.



3) DirecTV announced that they will be switching all local and new HD broadcasts to the DivX / MPEG4 encoding standard. They are phasing out MPEG2.



4) There are no plans currently to make a DirecTiVo HD/MPEG4 that could decode the newer signals. NDS MPEG4 units are in active development.



5) DirecTV's answer is that they will allow you to trade in your old (read: TiVo) units with newer (crapier) units that will support the newer broadcast standard (read NDS -- remember the proprietary box I mentioned above). [In other words, downgrade to the inferior NDS technology.]



6) Even current DirecTiVo software does no support Home Media (except with hacking -- but that's why I like TiVo and hate NDS: I can hack it!)



7) Satellite is subject to weather and other environmental conditions -- your results may vary.



8) Now Verizon is offering FiOS cable television -- eat your heart out Cox!



9) Cox has a Cable Card. (1.0a IIRC)



10) I told Verizon that if they want my business, they'd best get on the bus too! I said that, with DirecTV's position on MPEG4 and NDS, all that stood in the way of them getting my business was a) DirecTV's failure to renew TiVo's Contract and upgrade the TiVo S/W / H/W [items 1-5], b) TiVo SA support of the CableCARD standard [above] and c) they release a CableCARD for the Verizon FiOS TV.



So it looks like the ball is indeed in Verizon's court...

[ADELE CLINGMAN @ Jan 8th 2006 3:23PM]

Will this be able to talk to Series 2 tivo's or to other Series 3 tivo's

[lucky @ Jan 8th 2006 3:57PM]

Yes, I freely admit it - I'm a little behind the times. I just bought my 1st DVD player and I don't have TiVo. So which should I get - TiVo or the Comcast setup? Please be gentle with your answers!

[ME @ Jan 8th 2006 8:27PM]

HOW MUCH PRICE $$$$$$ I HOPOEFUL UNDER $300.00 NOT $300.01 EH

[Rick @ Jan 10th 2006 11:55PM]

In Louisville KY are Insight Cable has the best HD package & DVR. I am getting it next week and a year from now when Directv has the best MPEG4 & related equipment. I will switch but I am bailing on Directv and have been with them 11 years but they have fallen behind...for now

[Sean @ Mar 19th 2006 6:48AM]

Can someone please elaborate on the series 3 ipod compatibility. I saw it had a podcasting feature in the picture somewhere but what does exactly does that mean? Can I hook video ipod directly to the tivo box via USB? This would be really nice. I dont know why tivo is canceling their lifetime scripts Its just dissapointing many customers, do you really wana have to worry about another pay per month service as if we dont have enough to deal with. Speaking of which XM actually had the balls to sign me up for another years worth of service AFTER i had sold it on ebay 6 months prior! Without any type of notification or permission by me just used my credit info they have saved, I assume this is more then illegal but what can I do. There service isnt worth more then zero dollars a month but anyway, I'm getting off the subject one more question is being I already have a tivo box plus lifetime subscription and was gona get a second one (which is half price) I guess theres no way to do so anymore?

[Joe Bowers @ Apr 4th 2006 10:41PM]

Will a series 2 be able to upload to a series 3?

[John Connolly @ Apr 7th 2006 4:27PM]

Did see on the Tivo American Idol contest that the value of winning the Series 3 Tivo with Lifetime membership was $1500.00. So that gives you an idea of how much you will have to cough up!!

[Axel @ Apr 7th 2006 9:29PM]

If the Series 3 Tivo is affordable one question remains: What do with my Series 2 device?

[Al @ Apr 8th 2006 4:33AM]

I was at a Circuit City store last week, mentioned TiVo HD to a salesman, and he said that they will be getting them in "soon" for sale at $800. I asked him what recording length, and he said 40 hours. Ouch, sorta, if true.

[Peter @ Apr 8th 2006 10:16PM]

No way it's worth $800. Comcast/others will offer increasingly more compelling UIs on their own DVRs. I love the idea but would expect to spend $300, maybe up to $500 max.

[Stephen @ Jun 27th 2006 9:08AM]

Tivo Cost $1500?
From the contest site:
"Grand Prize: 1 Special Limited Edition TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder w/Product Lifetime Service"

Obviously they are making it into a collectors item and over-valueing the package and adding something that is no longer available (Lifetime service). I seriously doubt they would price it higher than the cost of a Sony XBR HD TV. That would destroy them. If they want to compete, they are going to have to take some loss on the hardware and hook people on the monthly subscription..

[Danny Griffin @ Jul 16th 2006 8:51PM]

I believe since this will be able to be used as a cable box it is, by law, required that it have a working FireWire port. I know it's required on all actual cable boxes but I'm not sure about devices that only have a cable card slot.

[The Truth @ Jul 19th 2006 11:20AM]

I really dont understand everyone saying "it's about time" when you can get this same box for $10 a month thru your cable company with all of the same capabilities in one way or another.

[Dave @ Aug 3rd 2006 5:20PM]

If you don't can't justify the price tag of the TiVo, you most likely have never owned one or used one on a daily basis.

TiVo absolutely hit the nail on the head with their user interface. Nothing else compares.

I use a TiVo for standard-def recordings, but for HD I use the set top box / DVR that was supplied by my cable company (which I pay $12/month for). It absolutely SUCKS. The uesr interface is clumsy. Setting recording options is an excercise in futility. Its equivalent of TiVo's Season Pass is a joke.

My Series1 TiVo is still going strong after 7 years of everyday use. You can bet that I'm willing to pay a high price when the HD Series3 comes out.