TiVo has notified both the FCC and cable operators that CableCARD compliant HD Series3 units are currently being tested and should be released to retail… soon!
Letter says: The TiVo Series3 HD DVR product supports up to two CableCARD decoders. This product acts as two independent single stream UDCP CableCARD hosts within one set top box. It can also be configured to operate as a single CableCARD device.
This product is currently being tested by a small number of consumers in cable markets across the country, and will be generally available in retail stores soon. Thus, we wanted to ensure that you are aware of this product in time to make any necessary preparations to support customers who request two CableCARD decoders for their TiVo Series3 HD DVR.
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I hope “soon” IS SOON!!!
You just made my day. I hope soon means in the next few weeks because I’m about to go crazy waiting for this box. It’s funny that it wasn’t all that hard waiting the first 3 years, but now that it’s getting close everyday seems like an eternity.
Each day I get sicker and sicker of my junky Comcast box!
I’d pay $1,000 if I could get the Series 3 today. :D
$1000 ? Shut up! I’d pay the $300 it should be.
Buh bye sucky Motorola box from Comcast. Hello Tivo 3!
I like the email which looks to have been from Pony, judging by the forum comment. The elided name is four characters ending in a ‘y’. :-)
It was a PM to Pony.
$1000?? For that you could build your own MythTV box with at least 2 tuners, and probably a lot more storage too.
Enough with the “I’ll build my own mythTV box”… that is nonsense.
You can’t build a box that receives Cable based HDTV and uses CableCards….. not yet at least.
So it looks like TIVO is really the ONLY solution on the market that does what I want…it records cable HDTV.
When? When? When?
Me likey.
Sweet. I’ve grown tired of my cable company’s DVR.
Build a MythTV box…. I have tried to get a myth tv box not just once but three times. And every time it falls short of a tivo. Ok so it does a lot of other nice things but I don’t want to have to learn linux to keep the damn thing working…
Is 2 cablecard really needed? If so why?
crazw,
From what I understand, CableCARD 2 will allow for VOD and Guide support. CableCARD 1 is only one way.
I have been waiting for this box since I got my HD TV in February. I’m dying for it to arrive, all my fav shows are in HD. I also didnt want to waste money upgrading my disk space on my existing TiVo when the new version will make it too easy. Hurry up TiVo!
@crazw: To clarify, the box supports two CableCARDs to support dual tuner finctionality (record one show while watching another).
CableCARD version 2.0 is neccessary to get the cable funtionality like Pay-per-View and OnDemand that require communicating information back to the cable company. Ideally you would have a box with two cards, each card being version 2.0 to support these cool features.
CableCARD 2.0 cards will not work in a box designed for version 1.0 cards so if this box will either support verison 1 or verison 2 cards but not both (though they may release an upgraded version later that supports v2.0 cards if it doesn’t initially do so)
Downsides:
Lifetime subscription not included.
$13 monthly tivo fee
$10 monthly cablecard fee for 2 cards perharps?
No option for burning on dvds
might not be able to record some programs due to cablecard restrictions
pricey at $1000
I could definitely go for one in August. Definitely!
With the popularity of DVR, I think TiVo is nuts for releasing a new unit with only two tuners. It’s a logarithmic thing… if you have only 1 tuner, you’ll *always* want 2. If you have 2, you’ll *sometimes* want 3. If you have 3, you’ll *almost never* want 4.
I think I’ll wait for the Sony-branded unit with 3 or 4 tuners (two CableCard 2.0 cards).
CableCARD 1.0 will be supported by Windows Media Center for ceirtan (although you will need to buy a new computer and a HDCP enabled monitor to use it for high-def). CableCARD 2.0 *should* be supported, but it’s not ceirtan at this point.