# Let's Hear It For Legacy TiVos!!!



## mahermusic (Mar 12, 2003)

So, yeah.... I just wanted to give a quick shout out to my three TiVos that we're actively using in our house. All were purchased brand new, and all have been working non-stop since first plug-in. Oh yeah, and all three have had Lifetime since new:

We start with our first-ever TiVo, purchased and first activated on 12/31/2001...a Series 1 Sony SVR-2000. Working for over 13 years, It has only needed one new hard drive, and a replacement remote when the original one finally gave up. It is STILL on dialup (!!!), and residing in my MIL's room who lives with us. "Backwards-connected" to a Comcast Digital Adapter (so the TiVo remote changes the channel on the adapter, not the other way around, so we can use the TiVo remote instead of the little Comcast adapter remote), it continues to chug away, and dial out over our Vonage network.

#2 is our TiVo Series 2, a Sony SVR-3000 that we picked up during the liquidation sale at "Nobody Beats The Wiz", and activated on 3/27/2003. Also receiving a new hard drive, and getting a new remote last week, it is also connected in the same way to a Comcast Digital Adapter. This is our bedroom TiVo.

#3 is the "modern" TiVo, connected to a 60" flat-screen TV in our family room, the original Series 3 (THX-Certified) TCD648250B. It was activated 2/25/2007 (it's, like, BRAND NEW compared to the other ones!), and has received a new hard drive and power supply. It's using two "S" cable cards from Comcast (remember, this was the only TiVo that couldn't use an "M" card...) and can stream back and forth from my Series 2 upstairs. Downloading from Amazon Instant Video works great on those two as well.

I was looking at the 10-year deal to get a new Romio, and two TiVo Minis, but, frankly, everything now is working perfectly... Lifetime has paid for itself over and over on all three boxes, and I can't justify making the switch right now.

So, for a TiVo user that's been with TiVo for over 13 years, and STILL using the same TiVos, I want to take the time to THANK those legacy TiVos for doing such a great job all these years!!! (I think they can hear me talking about them.....!)


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

mahermusic said:


> "Backwards-connected" to a Comcast Digital Adapter (so the TiVo remote changes the channel on the adapter, not the other way around, so we can use the TiVo remote instead of the little Comcast adapter remote)


How is that backwards? That's the way it was meant to be set up.


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## SugarBowl (Jan 5, 2007)

The Sony SVR-2000 was my first model. I didn't realize they made a 3000. 

Thanks for sharing !


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

Yep, the Sony SVR-2000 was mine also. It still works too.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

I would recommend upgrading to a Roamio. It's a vastly superior experience. Also if you're paying for to "S" cards there would be some savings on that end which would help pay for the upgrade.


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## series5orpremier (Jul 6, 2013)

Yeah, it's been a good run for you but it's time to move on while the loyalty deal is still being offered. You could save money on cable cards, and for HD you currently have only two tuners and one point of failure anyway. If you do the upgrade for one of your boxes it seems like they should let you keep the other two active (or all three).


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

mahermusic said:


> It's using two "S" cable cards from Comcast (remember, this was the only TiVo that couldn't use an "M" card...)


First, congrats on your TiVos. I still have two working Series 3, like your unit, in addition to an Elite and two Roamios. They are rock solid units. :up:

Small nit: The S3 actually could use an "M" card, it just can't get multiple streams from it. So you needed two M cards (or S cards) for the two tuners. In most areas, S cards are no longer used, and M cards are all you can get.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I had one of the S cards in my old S3 die on me, so for a while it ran with one S card and one M card. It was an S&M TiVo.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

Arcady said:


> mahermusic said:
> 
> 
> > "Backwards-connected" to a Comcast Digital Adapter (so the TiVo remote changes the channel on the adapter, not the other way around, so we can use the TiVo remote instead of the little Comcast adapter remote)
> ...


And the Tivo remote doesn't (and can't possibly) change the channel on the DTA.


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## mahermusic (Mar 12, 2003)

series5orpremier said:


> Yeah, it's been a good run for you but it's time to move on while the loyalty deal is still being offered. You could save money on cable cards, and for HD you currently have only two tuners and one point of failure anyway. If you do the upgrade for one of your boxes it seems like they should let you keep the other two active (or all three).


Actually, we've got four tuners between three TiVos!

No charge for the two cable cards, either. (I think I SHOULD be getting a $0.50 charge for cc #2, but going on 8 years... both have been free.)


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

mahermusic said:


> No charge for the two cable cards, either. (I think I SHOULD be getting a $0.50 charge for cc #2, but going on 8 years... both have been free.)


I think some cable companies don't charge you for the second card if it is used in the same device as the first one.


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## t1voproof (Feb 6, 2010)

Thanks for sharing your story mahermusic. I think you would really like a Roamio


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

mahermusic said:


> Aha.... but it CAN! I've got both the Series 1 & 2 TiVos working like this. Both the TiVos and the Digital Adapters come with IR cables. (Am I saying that right? IR? Maybe RF? You know what I'm talking about, I'm sure) The TiVo IR cable is SUPPOSED to be connected on the back of the TiVo, with the other ends velcroed (pasted, taped...) over the IR input window on the front of the TV, right?............


Ummmmmm, no. The TiVo's IR sensor would be used for changing channels from an external STB like a cable box, satellite tuner, DTA, etc., if you use one. The older TiVos like your Sony 2000 had their own analog OTA and cable tuners but in, so on the instance that you only have basic analog cable or are connected to an antenna, you could use the TiVo by itself. If you did have an external STB, then you would tell it that during guided setup, as well as which brand and model you have, and then use the IR cable and flasher to send remote commands to your STB for things like changing channels, etc. And you would in turn connect it with composite or S video and stereo analog audio to the TiVo so it could do its pause/record/play magic.

It sounds like you have it hooked up this way, but by accident it appears. 



mahermusic said:


> ........That's how you are able to change your channels from your TiVo remote. Your Digital Adapter IR cable is ALSO supposed to be connected to the back of the digital adapter, with the other end velcroed over the IR input window on the front of the TV..........


No again. Your DTA is now the tuner for all the channels, so your TV is now just a plain old monitor, like a PC monitor, getting its signals from your DTA and/or TiVo.

The very reason a DTA (Digital Tuning Adapter) was created is because older legacy devices like TiVo S1/S2's and analog TVs weren't capable of tuning digital signals so when the cable co's went all digital they had to have a way for their customers with legacy gear to watch their programming they pay for.



mahermusic said:


> .......But what if you have a digital adapter, a TiVo box, and you want to utilize the TiVo remote exclusively?......


This is the way it's designed to work in the first place!



mahermusic said:


> ........ Now, this isn't written anywhere that I know of.... but I had a "what if" moment. There wasn't any way I was going to use the digital adapter remote, or even the digital adapter remote AND the TiVo together... so here's how I'm able to use my TiVo remote exclusively: I plugged the digital adapter IR cable into the back of the digital adapter, and then stuck the other end ON THE FRONT of the digital adapter. I then plugged the TiVo's IR cable into the TiVo, and then stuck the other end OVER the digital adapter's IR "bulb", so (if you can imagine), the digital adapter has a bulbous IR sender/receiver, and hanging over THAT are the two TiVo IR senders. Well, it's been working great for 3+ years so far. I don't even have to have it out front, since, using my TiVo remote, it's all done behind the scenes (or behind the TV, in this case!) Tivo remote changes the channel on the DA, which changes the channel on the TV. When TiVo wants to record something on another channel.... it changes it automatically... no issues, never didn't complete a channel change. It WORKS!


See above. There's no need for the IR from the DTA.

Glad it's worked for you though!  I agree with others that getting in on the 10yr Loyalty Deal is probably a good idea at the point.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

HarperVision said:


> See above. There's no need for the IR from the DTA.


The only reason it would be needed would be if the Tivo's IR emitter didn't reach the DTA's onboard IR receiver.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

mahermusic said:


> Now, this isn't written anywhere that I know of.... but I had a "what if" moment. There wasn't any way I was going to use the digital adapter remote, or even the digital adapter remote AND the TiVo together... so here's how I'm able to use my TiVo remote exclusively:


Of course there was no way you'd do that, it wouldn't even be possible.



> I plugged the digital adapter IR cable into the back of the digital adapter, and then stuck the other end ON THE FRONT of the digital adapter.


This accomplishes nothing unless the DTA has no onboard IR receiver of it's own. What brand and model # is your DTA?



> I then plugged the TiVo's IR cable into the TiVo, and then stuck the other end OVER the digital adapter's IR "bulb", so (if you can imagine), the digital adapter has a bulbous IR sender/receiver, and hanging over THAT are the two TiVo IR senders.


Exactly how it's supposed to be set up.



> Tivo remote changes the channel on the DA,


No it doesn't. the Tivo remote tells the Tivo to change the channel on the DTA. the Tivo itself changes the channel. How else do you think the channel gets changed when the Tivo starts a scheduled recording? The Tivo is what changes the channel.



> which changes the channel on the TV.


The TV's channel is never changed. In fact, unless the Tivo is connected to the TV via RF cable (coax), the TV isn't even on a channel.



> It WORKS!


Of course it does. It's supposed to work that way.

Here's the setup 
http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1277/kw/dta setup


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Arcady said:


> I had one of the S cards in my old S3 die on me, so for a while it ran with one S card and one M card. It was an S&M TiVo.


Some days they all seem that way.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

scandia101 said:


> The only reason it would be needed would be if the Tivo's IR emitter didn't reach the DTA's onboard IR receiver.


Good point :up:


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Congratulations on your TiVo's longevity. We're still using 2 S3 OLED's that we purchased in December 2006 and January 2007 and took advantage of the lifetime transfer from our original Sony SVR2000 S1 from June 2000 and a Phillips S1 from May 2002.

I've been trying to decide whether or not to take advantage of the loyalty deal as we're happy with our current units and it doesn't help that I upgraded them both to 2TB not all that long ago. The only thing that would drive us toward an upgrade would be Comcast deploying mpeg4 and I just don't believe that will happen for a number of years at least locally. Also the extra cost of having the 2 S3's with 4 CableCards is only $3 for the additional 3 (1st one is free) so saving money isn't an issue.

But I agree that you should definitely consider upgrading.

Scott


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## ScottUrman (Dec 22, 2004)

We still have our original OLED series 3 going strong after a hard drive replacement and capacitor replacement on the power supply. Our original Tivo was a Series 2 bought from Tivo headquarters itself in 2004 (they were having a deal, bring in your cable bill and get a free Tivo, I waited in line for 2 hours). Upgrade to lifetime, then transferred the service to the (then new) S3 in 2006 with a lifetime transfer Tivo offered when the S3 came out. I got a 1 year service on the old S2 out of that deal. 

2 M cards in there, no extra charges from Comcast on that either. Been debating the 10 year loyalty deal also (mainly for extra tuners) but I want to enjoy my soldering handiwork for a while longer yet I think...


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

ScottUrman said:


> We still have our original OLED series 3 going strong


You probably don't realize how offensive that is.

You probably didn't mean to be so obnoxious; but looking at your own selfish needs and deciding your old Tivo is working fine for you is just totally unacceptable.

You must upgrade immediately, spend hundreds of dollars; get some kind of Roamio whether you want one or not. You need to do this immediately because the Roamio has been around for awhile and is likely to be replaced by another model, at which time you will be expected to spend several hundred dollars more to upgrade to whatever that is.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

I have 3 S2s, a TiVo HD and a TiVo premiere, all lifetimed. All the S2s have broken at some time or another, causing me to resurrect them by replacing the hard drive. Currently two of them are broken but I'm planning on repairing them sometime soon. To tell the truth I might only repair one as my wife only seems to need 2 out of the 3 of them.


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## mahermusic (Mar 12, 2003)

The two S-cards work flawlessly in our Series 3....NOW, but when we first activated it when it was new back in 2007... it took FIVE truck rolls!


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## zaphodbeeblebrox (Feb 14, 2015)

I'm of the mindset that if you are perfectly happy with what you have, and any factors that might break that for you are not known to be headed your way (like H.264 conversion in your market), that upgrading to the newest thing might just be the worst thing for you, and could leave a bad taste in your mouth.

In other threads, I've seen people laughingly say the cure for some recent Premiere/Roamio changes is to buy TiVos that no longer get updates. I'd advise caution, and maybe a "wait and see" approach, with functions you may have become used to being what you might consider "core" to TiVo, as you know it. Two 20.4.6 losses are:

1. Loss of ability to use more than one SP for a program airing on multiple channels (no more Get another SP). No more multiple SPs to manage new/repeat priorities, etc.
2. Loss of ability to use Record All/Everything w/duplicates.

Even if these two don't matter (to you), nobody knows what the next update might bring, what it might take away, or what lies ahead in updates of the future, that just might leave you wishing you stuck with what you knew, and what worked for you, in the way that you use your TiVo (and won't change in older boxes).

Some of the "deals" TiVo has been offering seem to be somewhat open-ended, with a touch of "don't miss out" added, with expirations that have been extended. Even if they do end, they could come back again. TiVo seems to have some sort of strategy behind it all, offering deals when they need to boost numbers, and sometimes putting them on hiatus when they feel they don't need the numbers enough to justify the discounts.

If you choose to take the loyalty deal (or any other), my advice is that you might not rush to list the old TiVos on ebay. They might come in handy, and allow you the ability to just use the older boxes to work around what changes on the newer boxes. Just my 2c, and all I have to say.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

mahermusic said:


> The two S-cards work flawlessly in our Series 3....NOW, but when we first activated it when it was new back in 2007... it took FIVE truck rolls!


Hey there still are people having that much trouble, or more.


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## mahermusic (Mar 12, 2003)

zaphodbeeblebrox said:


> I'm of the mindset that if you are perfectly happy with what you have, and any factors that might break that for you are not known to be headed your way (like H.264 conversion in your market), that upgrading to the newest thing might just be the worst thing for you, and could leave a bad taste in your mouth.
> 
> In other threads, I've seen people laughingly say the cure for some recent Premiere/Roamio changes is to buy TiVos that no longer get updates. I'd advise caution, and maybe a "wait and see" approach, with functions you may have become used to being what you might consider "core" to TiVo, as you know it. Two 20.4.6 losses are:
> 
> ...


All good points. As for now, there's no real reason for me to upgrade... between the three TiVos, we can (could) record four shows. Have to be honest...there's never been a time when four shows that we watch have even been on at the same time.

Streaming between the Series 2 & 3 works fine, but we use it rarely.

We use SP mostly, set to "New recordings only", and "5 episodes max"

We download Amazon Instant Videos once in a while on the Series 3, but we've got a cable pkg. that comes with all the free movie channels, so we only download the newer movies if they're not on HBO, etc.

Cablecards, as referenced above, are free in our pkg.

All three TiVos have always had Lifetime Service.

If something happens (with cable, software or hardware) that makes the TiVos unworkable and/or unusable, then we will most likely inquire to see what's available. I'm sure that day will come sometime, but it's just not now.

(I think I would actually shed a tear unplugging the Series 1 for good. It's the little engine that could!)


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Wil said:


> You probably don't realize how offensive that is.
> 
> You probably didn't mean to be so obnoxious; but looking at your own selfish needs and deciding your old Tivo is working fine for you is just totally unacceptable.
> 
> You must upgrade immediately, spend hundreds of dollars; get some kind of Roamio whether you want one or not. You need to do this immediately because the Roamio has been around for awhile and is likely to be replaced by another model, at which time you will be expected to spend several hundred dollars more to upgrade to whatever that is.


Also, don't forget to buy the Extended Warranty! You have obviously already discovered how invaluable those are!


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## zaphodbeeblebrox (Feb 14, 2015)

mahermusic said:


> All good points. As for now, there's no real reason for me to upgrade... between the three TiVos, we can (could) record four shows. Have to be honest...there's never been a time when four shows that we watch have even been on at the same time.
> 
> Streaming between the Series 2 & 3 works fine, but we use it rarely.
> 
> ...


Happy to be of help, rather than play the role of a TiVo sales rep.

If you should find yourself wanting to do more streaming, or make use of other OTT services, it sounds like you are not the type of customer who cares if you have to switch the active TV input to do so. There are no shortages of a plethora of little inexpensive gadgets, that can give you all that, just not integrated within your TiVo, like the newer ones do, with a unified search across them (not always up to date or accurate, anyway).

Once you laid it all out there, most of the usual pro-upgrade arguments fell kind of flat. Moving from multiples TiVos, to just one, also can leave you without any TiVo goodness, should something go wrong on the one you bought to replace the many.

I am by no means trying to say those who did upgrade, and are happy they did, have made a mistake, or are wrong to share enthusiasm with those looking at a potential upgrade. One size does not fit all, and YMMV.

Let's Hear It For Legacy TiVos!!! (even though I upgraded, and sold mine).


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## MScottC (Sep 11, 2004)

To the OP, while I can't top you on the service lengths of my current TiVos, I can top you on the service of my current "lifetime" subscription. I purchased a Phillips Series 1 and the $200 lifetime to go with it in 1999. That "Lifetime" subscription is was transferred to a Roamio Plus and is still going strong 15 and a half years later. This has to be the best $200 I've ever spent. 

The Series 1 is still sitting in my office, not sure what to do with it, and the S3 OLED which bridged me between the S1 and the Roamio with an MSD fee (wish I had lifetimed that from the get go) was lifetimed for $99 and sold to my sister-in-law.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

OP- to be clear, education only here. You are copying between boxes, not streaming. Similar, but different. With the newer technology, you can stream real time between boxes, delete content, fast forward. All features you cannot use now. Transfers are lightning fast too, great for uploading or downloading to a PC.

You are welcome to use what you like, but those are some huge features that got me to move. I kept my S3 for as long as I could, but the readily available $99/$199 lifetimes, with used $25 boxes, and easy 2TB upgrades, all too much for me to turn down.


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## larrs (May 2, 2005)

jrtroo said:


> OP- to be clear, education only here. You are copying between boxes, not streaming. Similar, but different. With the newer technology, you can stream real time between boxes, delete content, fast forward. All features you cannot use now. Transfers are lightning fast too, great for uploading or downloading to a PC.
> 
> You are welcome to use what you like, but those are some huge features that got me to move. I kept my S3 for as long as I could, but the readily available $99/$199 lifetimes, with used $25 boxes, and easy 2TB upgrades, all too much for me to turn down.


My wife gave me (and her) a DirecTV Tivo for Christmas in 1999 which I used (paying DirecTV and not Tivo) until we moved and went to cable in 2002 and bought a Sony Series 1 which Lifetimed at $299 I believe. We've owned every type of Tivo since then and that S1 was not retired until recently. 
To this day, if you ask my wife or oldest daughter what one electronic purchase they could not live without, I believe Tivo would be pretty darn close to their cell phone on the list.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

larrs said:


> My wife gave me (and her) a DirecTV Tivo for Christmas in 1999 which I used (paying DirecTV and not Tivo) until we moved and went to cable in 2002 and bought a Sony Series 1 which Lifetimed at $299 I believe. We've owned every type of Tivo since then and that S1 was not retired until recently. To this day, if you ask my wife or oldest daughter what one electronic purchase they could not live without, I believe Tivo would be pretty darn close to their cell phone on the list.


I don't believe they even made a DirecTiVo in 1999. In fact, that's the first year the TiVo even came out, with the first model, the Philips 14 Hr Series One unit. It could be connected to an external DirecTV receiver, or any other mainstream cable/satellite STB, but software, etc wasn't built into a DirecTV receiver like the forthcoming DirecTiVos were. Can't remember when those first appeared.


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

HarperVision said:


> I don't believe they even made a DirecTiVo in 1999. In fact, that's the first year the TiVo even came out


He probably meant Christmas 2000. I used one of the first DirecTivos in 2000 but I think it wasn't until October-November.

The first limited market Tivos were out in 1998 but the first shipping version was, as you said, in 1999; Summer (?).


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## zaphodbeeblebrox (Feb 14, 2015)

Check wikipedia's listings for TiVo and "TiVo DVR". They haven't been updated enough to cover recent TiVos in depth, but have a timeline on when what came out, and are full of history of TiVos from the past.

Maybe somebody could update them, so those who use wikipedia before considering a TiVo purchase, actually have something to read...


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

zaphodbeeblebrox said:


> Check wikipedia's listings for TiVo and "TiVo DVR". They haven't been updated enough to cover recent TiVos in depth, but have a timeline on when what came out, and are full of history of TiVos from the past.
> 
> Maybe somebody could update them, so those who use wikipedia before considering a TiVo purchase, actually have something to read...


Instead of Wikipedia, try TiVopedia.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Arcady said:


> Instead of Wikipedia, try TiVopedia.


Good find !! :up:


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## zaphodbeeblebrox (Feb 14, 2015)

lessd said:


> Good find !! :up:


I was on TiVoPedia as well, as wikipedia links to it. I just neglected to remember to post that one... Oh well, Arcady caught it. :up:


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## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

zaphodbeeblebrox said:


> I was on TiVoPedia as well, as wikipedia links to it.


I just looked at both of them and neither seems exactly right on all counts. For example while TivoPedia was correct in saying that the first mass shipping Tivo was in 1999, there were definitely Tivos out there and being talked about IN SERVICE in 1998, I had first-hand reports of that, and as far as the shipping date for the S1 being March 31, 1999, that was certainly the official target but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find many buyers who actually had one in hand for several more weeks after that. I don't have any evidence for what I've just said, but I was there, cutting edge, and somewhat acquainted with Ramsay. OTOH my memory is mostly holes.


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## passname22 (Feb 17, 2015)

products are suppose to last... well good ones anyway. My LG HDTV lasted me 4yrs so and it was common issue. I don't support companies like that. So I'm never buying LG tv after that. Bought myself a vizio and it has been wonderful.

Yes product is suppose to last but I would still ugprade. The old ones don't support HD.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I don't know why people buy junk like Goldstar (LG) anyway. Always been bottom of the barrel stuff.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

passname22 said:


> products are suppose to last... well good ones anyway. My LG HDTV lasted me 4yrs so and it was common issue. I don't support companies like that. So I'm never buying LG tv after that. Bought myself a vizio and it has been wonderful. Yes product is suppose to last but I would still ugprade. The old ones don't support HD.


I service Vizio TVs and I can tell you those people that have and need repairs think the same thing about that brand. It's all based on your personal experience.



Arcady said:


> I don't know why people buy junk like Goldstar (LG) anyway. Always been bottom of the barrel stuff.


They used to say the same thing about Vizio (and Hyundai and actually Honda, in the car biz).


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Wil said:


> I just looked at both of them and neither seems exactly right on all counts. For example while TivoPedia was correct in saying that the first mass shipping Tivo was in 1999, there were definitely Tivos out there and being talked about IN SERVICE in 1998, I had first-hand reports of that, and as far as the shipping date for the S1 being March 31, 1999, that was certainly the official target but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find many buyers who actually had one in hand for several more weeks after that. I don't have any evidence for what I've just said, but I was there, cutting edge, and somewhat acquainted with Ramsay. OTOH my memory is mostly holes.


According to TiVo themselves, the S1's started rolling off the manufacturing line on March 31, 1999. See the Blue Moon post from TiVoPony.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=293830&highlight=Blue+Moon

But I'm sure you are right that end users couldn't actually buy them until they got to stores. I don't recall hearing of any being out in 1998 although I'm sure they would have had development boxes being tested.

Scott


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Arcady said:


> I don't know why people buy junk like Goldstar (LG) anyway. Always been bottom of the barrel stuff.


I like my LG washing machine and dryer.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

tarheelblue32 said:


> I like my LG washing machine and dryer.


I was referring to electronics, not applicances. If a company can't make a motor that spins, there's really something wrong with them.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

Arcady said:


> I was referring to electronics, not applicances. If a company can't make a motor that spins, there's really something wrong with them.


Most of today's appliances are electronics.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

tarheelblue32 said:


> I like my LG washing machine and dryer.


LG was (is?) the parent company of Zenith, who was a powerhouse in its day.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

HarperVision said:


> LG was (is?) the parent company of Zenith, who was a powerhouse in its day.


Our old pre-HDTV tube TVs were all Zeniths. I honestly wasn't aware that the Zenith brand still existed.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

LG bought Zenith out of bankruptcy in the 90's. The division of Zenith that made cable boxes was sold off in 2000, to become part of Motorola's cable box division. What's left of the Zenith name is just re-branding of LG products.

LG is the 20 year old re-branding of Goldstar (Lucky Goldstar) which is a Korean company.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Arcady said:


> LG bought Zenith out of bankruptcy in the 90's. The division of Zenith that made cable boxes was sold off in 2000, to become part of Motorola's cable box division. What's left of the Zenith name is just re-branding of LG products. LG is the 20 year old re-branding of Goldstar (Lucky Goldstar) which is a Korean company.


Yeah, something like that, thanks.


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## LI-SVT (Sep 28, 2006)

I am also still using a Series 2. I just sold the two TiVo HDs I had. I replaced them with Premiers about two years ago for the main TVs. I continued to use one TiVo HD on a bedroom TV for a while. Now I added a Roamio on the primary TV, moved one Premier and sold off both THDs. I use the S2 to record programs on copy protected channels, them transfer them in to the Series 4/5 universe. This allows me to watch these programs out of home.


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## kettledrum (Nov 17, 2003)

HerronScott said:


> According to TiVo themselves, the S1's started rolling off the manufacturing line on March 31, 1999. See the Blue Moon post from TiVoPony.
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=293830&highlight=Blue+Moon


I love that blue moon story. I hadn't reread it in a while.


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## hoyty (Jan 22, 2003)

Arcady said:


> I don't know why people buy junk like Goldstar (LG) anyway. Always been bottom of the barrel stuff.


This is old thinking on LG to say the least. I would argue that they are a top tier (in top 3) HDTV maker. They also are the only place almost to get OLED. I have several LG TV's used for digital signage for 24 hours a day for years.

I would buy an LG HDTV without a second thought over any other brand especially considering price / performance.


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## hoyty (Jan 22, 2003)

To the op topic I had my DirecTiVo around Christmas 2000 which was Sony branded and one of the first dual tuner TiVo ever. Had a few of those until I moved to a pre-ordered HR10-250, recording HD content was awesome. Eventually I left DirecTV for FIOS and got Series 3, which is off currently but works and I may hook up for OTA. Now loving my Roamio hooked to horrible Comcast overcompressed HD. (Which is why I want OTA.)


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## Series3Sub (Mar 14, 2010)

Totally agree. The S3 648 is truly the Cadillac of ALL DVR's. A very solid build and that LOVELY OLED that I really do use and need when I want to know what is recording or ned to confirm the right thing is recorded, but the OLED is just high-end TiVo premium thinking. Every DVR should have an OLED.

Unfortunately, every cable co is moving to MPEG, and variants of the S3 will become useless to cable subscriber, the largest number of TiVo subscribers. However the S3's are GREAT workhorse DVR's that can still record OTA antenna TV. And I for one still LIKE the legacy EPG because it is straight forward, non-cluttered, and does not have that stupid "Discovery Bar."

Look, no question the S5 Roamio line is truly state of the art and does really do circles around S3's and earlier series as far as the mobile and streaming features we demand today as well as the economical route of a Mini instead of another box in a second of third room, but to me the S3 648 is what all DVR's should've been or should be. Sorry, but the S4's and S5's just don't look as nice a piece of equipment as the 648's. I even USE the S3 HD(XL)'s resolution annunciaters all the time when some local widescreen sub-channel OTA claims HD when the TiVo shows the channel as operating at 480i. I JUST LOVE IT!

S5's are highly recommended, but I shed many tears for the more simple and rock solid S3 line. That was when days were much better at TiVo and the folks at Alviso designed for QUALITY. Those day are gone at TiVo.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Series3Sub said:


> Totally agree. The S3 648 is truly the Cadillac of ALL DVR's. A very solid build and that LOVELY OLED that I really do use and need when I want to know what is recording or ned to confirm the right thing is recorded, but the OLED is just high-end TiVo premium thinking. Every DVR should have an OLED.
> 
> Unfortunately, every cable co is moving to MPEG, and variants of the S3 will become useless to cable subscriber, the largest number of TiVo subscribers. However the S3's are GREAT workhorse DVR's that can still record OTA antenna TV. And I for one still LIKE the legacy EPG because it is straight forward, non-cluttered, and does not have that stupid "Discovery Bar."
> 
> ...


That unit (S3) come out at $799 in Sept of 1996, and was the first HD DVR that TiVo made, before that if you wanted to record in HD you had to use the Cable co. DVR. Today not many people are going to pay that type of money for any DVR (you had to add Lifetime Service or monthly to that price). I had one and it took about 60 watts to run, compared to about 25 watts for the Roamio. You may think that it was designed for *QUALITY* but that was no more true than then the Roamio is today (people did among other things had power supply problem with the S3 TiVos and not ever making use of a single M cable card was another big cost disadvantage for many cable users as an extra can cost you $7.45/month + tax in many cable system). For any co to stay in business you have to make a product at the correct price point, one that will give the co. some money and many customers will purchase as one must sell in volume.
Remember the age of the hand wired TVs as an advertising point ?.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

lessd said:


> That unit (S3) come out at $799 in Sept of 1996


You're only 10 years off. It came out in September 2006.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

WOW, those are some old TiVos!! Our S2 died in 2011, it was time to move on to HD at that point anyway.



Arcady said:


> I had one of the S cards in my old S3 die on me, so for a while it ran with one S card and one M card. It was an S&M TiVo.


^^^Post of the week!


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Series3Sub said:


> I even USE the S3 HD(XL)'s resolution annunciaters all the time when some local widescreen sub-channel OTA claims HD when the TiVo shows the channel as operating at 480i.


I'm not sure what you're talking about here, but the source resolution is available in the Info pop-up on S4 & S5.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

wmcbrine said:


> I'm not sure what you're talking about here, but the source resolution is available in the Info pop-up on S4 & S5.


Yeah. His post keeps mentioning the model 648, which is the S3 OLED. But then he calls it a s3 HD (XL), which would be the TiVo HD XL, model 658. I have a TiVo HD (model 652) which is one of the three Series 3 models, and it also gives the source resolution in the info pop-up.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

dlfl said:


> Yeah. His post keeps mentioning the model 648, which is the S3 OLED. But then he calls it a s3 HD (XL), which would be the TiVo HD XL, model 658. I have a TiVo HD (model 652) which is one of the three Series 3 models, and it also gives the source resolution in the info pop-up.


The 648 came out and had HD in big letters on the box, as I recall, and was the only HD capable TiVo (of the non-satellite persuasion) for a while, until the 652/658 models came out, and TiVo didn't make a big deal out of them also being S3 platform machines, but did name them HD, which just created confusion.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Series3Sub said:


> Unfortunately, every cable co is moving to MPEG, and variants of the S3 will become useless to cable subscriber, the largest number of TiVo subscribers.


You mean MPEG-4? All cable companies use MPEG. They are becoming obsolete, which is unfortunate, since TiVo could have updated them, but they aren't there quite yet.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Arcady said:


> You're only 10 years off. It came out in September 2006.


What 10 years among friends!


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

lessd said:


> What('s) 10 years among friends!


Usually about a decade.


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