Thanks Kevy. Can the lifetime subscription be transferred off a Series 2 to a Series 3 box? Or is there a credit or some enhancement to upgrade?

I'm not opposed to upgrading, I will have to eventually. I thought I would have to get a new TIVO, digital cable and new DVD player. That all equals a ton of money I don't have laying around. If it there is some sort of enticement to upgrade to a series 3 and all I need are some cables (from one of them cheap intertubes places) then I would probably take that plunge sooner than later.

I'm not a big TV watcher but we do watch movies. I live our whatever inch Sharp. My next thing is to get a WiFi doohickey so I can stream netflix. I may end up with a bluray player but only because netflix rents them. I have no desire to start buying them.

If you're considering bluray anyway, be aware that there are now models that also do the Netflix streaming so two devices aren't necessary.

ETA: Whoops, misread what you wrote so you probably already knew that. But I'll leave it in case.

HA! TIVO sales has chat.

Full price TIVO Premier box (they don't sell series 3 anymore) for $299 and $200 off the $299 Lifetime ($199) for a total of $500.

That doesn't seem like a good deal.

Or I could find a series 3 box somewhere like Best Buy or Amazon and get lifetime for $299 with my 'multi-service discount' + the cost of a box. or not. I didn't look hard but they aren't much cheaper than the Premier. Which would also meet my wanting to watch Hulu and YouTube on the TV.

So I need another $500. Money tree anyone?

I read somewhere that Hulu might start charging for viewing. I can't find the article though so you'll just have to (or not) take my word for it.

Having said that, and all of the other technical stuff aside, I just got a Samsung 32" and am very happy with it (it was the largest size that would fit in my armoir, which I'm unwilling to ditch for a giant tv).



On another note, I have my cable company's dvr (time-warner) and am relatively happy with it...what would tivo give me that this, combined with a dvd and xbox live (so streaming netflix) don't?

You could have saved a little time ya know (and you started the thread :D)

When is Fios coming to your neighborhood? Ours came with some recording magic device that we use on occasion. (I'm so familiar with our TV it astounds me!)

You start talking all technical and things go right over my head

I know. I had some other questions for them too.

No idea when it's coming but I'm on their notify me list. The recording magic device is a DVR. My cable company offers one too but I hate the layout. I'm also not fond of the FIOS DVR format.

I did look, and the premier comes with a cable card but says the cable company may charge for digital cable service. Does that mean I'd have to subscribe to digital cable through them to use the cable card or can I just watch what I have through the TIVO (which will upconvert it).

I feel so dense when it comes to this stuff. Give me a network or some servers and I'm all over it.

The cable card is used to decode the digital cable signal. It is in lieu of a box.

You would probably want to get TWO cable cards with your TiVo (it accommodates two). That way you can be watching one channel while you record on another (or record two shows at once). (At least I assume the Premier accommodates two cards.)


ETA: Hmm... it only shows one Cable Card slot, but it says it is for a Multi-Stream card.
ETA2: It appears you only need the one card. From Wikipedia: