# Sears says a new model of Tivo HD is coming



## Tekniqal (Mar 20, 2009)

So I have been trying to find Sears with Tivo HD in stock so I can get that 199 price and after calling around one warehouse employee said Tivo had a new model coming out and it sounded like Sears was trying to clear out all the old HDs for this new model. 

Can anyone shed light on this subject. I was going to try and get a BestBuy price match but now I am curious about this new model. Maybe it will fix some of the bugs I have heard about.

Thanks


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

Sears employees do not have that information.

From what I have been able to gather, Sears was able to obtain a *large* allotment of TivoHDs as a good price, and they are using them to attract customers to their stores with the goal of selling TVs.

The Sears stores in my region continue to receive new shipments of the TivoHD every 2-3 weeks. They've made it clear that the product is (and will continue to be) available only at stores. No online availability is planned.


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## Mchero (Dec 20, 2001)

Who where you talking to The CEO of Sears or some uninformed sales staff?


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## Tekniqal (Mar 20, 2009)

bkdtv said:


> Sears employees do not have that information.
> 
> From what I have been able to gather, Sears was able to obtain a *large* allotment of TivoHDs as a good price, and they are using them to attract customers to their stores with the goal of selling TVs.
> 
> The Sears stores in my region continue to receive new shipments of the TivoHD every 2-3 weeks and they've made it clear that the product is (and will continue to be) available only at stores. No online availability is planned.


Thanks for your insight. None of the stores in the Portland, OR area have any information on future shipments unfortunately. I am gonna have to hope Best Buy doesnt do a in-stock check in addition to seeing the Sears weekly ad.


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## WBragg (Jun 30, 2007)

The Sears employee may have been thinking of the HD XL, but I wouldn't even go that far. I would think that the prior post is on the money ... Sears associates are going to be about the last people on the planet to know about anything new from Tivo. You're better off listening to the night janitor at a Best Buy in BFE ... he'll be way ahead of the curve versus anyone at Sears.


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## Tekniqal (Mar 20, 2009)

Mchero said:


> Who where you talking to The CEO of Sears or some uninformed sales staff?


LOL, no love for Sears people? I was just sharing what I heard and wanted to know more. I was a little curious because I have heard that these Tivo HD's lock up like once a month and have to be restarted and that navigating menus is laggy.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

In the past, one way to watch out for new Tivo hardware targeted at digital cable is via CableLabs certification document:
http://www.cablelabs.com/udcp/downloads/OC_PNP.pdf
No new Tivo hardware listed there at the moment (only 648, 652, 658 models listed) and last update was 3/10/2009. I think I recall the TivoHD 652 model showed up in the list before the official Tivo announcement of the box.


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## Tekniqal (Mar 20, 2009)

Thanks, that sounds like the best option.


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## Mchero (Dec 20, 2001)

I have two Tivo HD's and never had to restart because of a lockup (fingers crossed)



Tekniqal said:


> LOL, no love for Sears people? I was just sharing what I heard and wanted to know more. I was a little curious because I have heard that these Tivo HD's lock up like once a month and have to be restarted and that navigating menus is laggy.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

Tekniqal said:


> Thanks for your insight. None of the stores in the Portland, OR area have any information on future shipments unfortunately. I am gonna have to hope Best Buy doesnt do a in-stock check in addition to seeing the Sears weekly ad.


When I went to the local Best Buy to get them to do the price match they said they didn't do price match on TiVo's. Just be forewarned that you may not get the match.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Sparty99 said:


> When I went to the local Best Buy to get them to do the price match they said they didn't do price match on TiVo's. Just be forewarned that you may not get the match.


that's a load of BS....I'd press them strongly on the issue...have them SHOW you where, in print, they have a policy that states as much.


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

Tekniqal said:


> I was going to try and get a BestBuy price match but now I am curious about this new model. Maybe it will fix some of the bugs I have heard about.


That's just *wishful thinking* about bug fixes.

I desperately wanted a high def TiVo. But the original S3 boxes had a litany of big and little problems. And they were expensive. I didn't buy. So when the TiVo HD was announced I bought one right away. That was a *mistake*. There were plenty of teething problems, and they took months to fix.

Right now my TiVo HD boxes work OK. They occasionally lock up or reboot. But it's not a frequent problem.

Given the good, but not fantastic, reliability my boxes have had, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase more if that were the only consideration. However, there's a major, major other issue. *I don't trust TiVo not to break the boxes with updates.*

I still have 4 active SD DirecTiVo boxes (and only 2 TiVo HDs). I'd love to switch away from DirecTV to FiOS. But I don't trust TiVo to not brick all my boxes with an ill-timed, ill-tested, bug infested software update. TiVo has done that before, they're likely to do that again.

Having said all that, I expect that if you bought the current TiVo HD, you would be very happy with it.

Plus you have a 30 day return period. If it doesn't work in your particular situation, bring it back and try again next year.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

I went to the local Sears and got the floor model for $139. There was nothing with it (remote, instruction manuals, etc.) but I can live with that for the price.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

Tekniqal said:


> I was a little curious because I have heard that these Tivo HD's lock up like once a month and have to be restarted and that navigating menus is laggy.


Our TiVo HD has been running non-stop for well over a year now. It's never "locked up", the menus work fine...never a problem.


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## pdxsam (Mar 3, 2002)

Sparty99 said:


> When I went to the local Best Buy to get them to do the price match they said they didn't do price match on TiVo's. Just be forewarned that you may not get the match.


There was a post on Consumerist either yesterday or the day before regarding Best Buy's new price match policy and that the local managers are trying not to do price matches. They make up bogus excuses as to why they can't price match.

When pressed, they finally give in and do the match on occasion but more often than not, they don't.


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

pdxsam said:


> There was a post on Consumerist either yesterday or the day before regarding Best Buy's new price match policy and that the local managers are trying not to do price matches. They make up bogus excuses as to why they can't price match.
> 
> When pressed, they finally give in and do the match on occasion but more often than not, they don't.


Thanks for posting. That was a good article. The practice is apparently called "murfing".

I hadn't heard of The Consumerist. It seems pretty good.

BTW anecdotal evidence of the opposite here in Oregon. On the weekend of Black Friday last year, the local Best Buy was willing to match a Circuit City price on an LCD TV (without trying to make me buy an extended warranty). They didn't have it in stock, but checked inventory and reserved one for me at a store a few miles away. They even helped load it into my car.


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

Tekniqal said:


> LOL, no love for Sears people? .


No.

All of us TiVo internet nerds know far far more about products and releases than store sales drones.


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## woodway (Nov 5, 2006)

Even thinking about setting foot in a Sears gives me the willies...


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## fjbmiller (Mar 20, 2009)

This past weekend (3/14/09) there was a $199 price for the HD in the Sears Flyer. Went to Sears (Frederick Maryland) - none in stock. The floor person told me the same thing that he had heard the Sears was clearing out all stock for a new version. He said they they had not received any since Christmas and that the flyer was planned/printed months ago.

I went to Best Buy on Monday, they gave me the price match with no problem. Got my new HD box for the $199 price Sears had listed in their flyer.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

They are no doubt referring to the HD XL. I'm not sure if the HD is even available anymore through most retailers. Tivo was probably losing money on the standard Tivo HD and what better way to remedy that than to gouge the customer on an overpriced 1TB drive!


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

It doesn't make sense that TiVo would drop a $300 product and replace it with a $500+ product. To many people even the cheaper box is much too expensive compared to "free" boxes from Verizon or from the cable company.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

richsadams said:


> Our TiVo HD has been running non-stop for well over a year now. It's never "locked up", the menus work fine...never a problem.


I second that. The only time my TiVoHD ever reboots itself is for an upgrade - about every three months. I have rebooted it myself a handful of times, but not very often, at all. As it happens, the last time was 7 days ago, but before that I think it was last summer some time. I wouldn't have rebooted it a week ago except I had made a number of changes and the easiest way to make sure they were all properly implemented was to reboot. Odds are it was unnecessary, but then it doesn't hurt anything, either.


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## restart88 (Mar 9, 2002)

pdxsam said:


> There was a post on Consumerist either yesterday or the day before regarding Best Buy's new price match policy and that the local managers are trying not to do price matches. They make up bogus excuses as to why they can't price match.
> 
> When pressed, they finally give in and do the match on occasion but more often than not, they don't.


They're been doing that to me for years so I stopped shopping there. That and ordering online only to find out a day or two later my item(s) was back ordered. OTOH Circuit City always treated me right in price matches.

The way the world is going who knows if Sears will still even be in business when a new Tivo comes out. Seriously! Things looked kinda bleak when they merged with Kmart and the consumer market hasn't exactly been so hot lately as demonstrated by the loss of CC & CompUSA and others.


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## mec1991 (Nov 5, 2004)

richsadams said:


> Our TiVo HD has been running non-stop for well over a year now. It's never "locked up", the menus work fine...never a problem.


Rich,

How fast are the menus compared to an S2?

I have been spending way too much time recently focusing on my old S1's connection problems, but I have really been impressed how fast it is compared to my S2 (model 540). I find myself selecting screen choices I do not want simply because it is so damned slow compared to the S1 and I hit something by mistake while it is still in the process of "moving up or down the menu" for lack of a better way of phrasing it.

TIA.


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## jcaudle (Aug 16, 2004)

mr.unnatural said:


> They are no doubt referring to the HD XL. I'm not sure if the HD is even available anymore through most retailers. Tivo was probably losing money on the standard Tivo HD and what better way to remedy that than to gouge the customer on an overpriced 1TB drive!


Costco has the HD on their website for $279.89, including 3 months of service. Its not the rock bottom price but I can say this about Costco and Tivo: the Tivo, like DVD players is not subject to costco's 90 day return policy. If you have problems with it you can return it to any Costco location...a lot better than Sears or Best Buy's policies.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

mec1991 said:


> my S2 (model 540). I find myself selecting screen choices I do not want simply because it is so damned slow compared to the S1 and I hit something by mistake while it is still in the process of "moving up or down the menu" for lack of a better way of phrasing it.
> 
> TIA.


the 540 is probably one of the slowest TiVo DVRs for menu navigation out there. It was a cheaper to make version of the more robust 240 model - the Series 2 DT model was made more robust than even the 240 model.

the TiVo HD is more robust than the series 2 models - but once you add in dual HD recording and perhaps upgrade the drive you give the TiVo HD a lot more to deal with.


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## PIANOCRAT (Mar 8, 2009)

Bierboy said:


> that's a load of BS....I'd press them strongly on the issue...have them SHOW you where, in print, they have a policy that states as much.


Check the Best Buy website. It states clearly that BB does not price match on clearance items. The Sears ad flyer clearly states that the $199 Tivo HD is a closeout item.

From the BB website regarding BB store price match policy: 
"The Price Guarantee does not apply to our or our competitors' free offers, limited-quantity items, items for sale November 28th & 29th, 2008, open-box items, *clearance items*, Outlet Center items, mail-in offers, financing, bundle offers or pricing errors".

You can argue semantics--whether "clearance item" means the same as "closeout item", but it is an argument that you are not likely to win.

That said, I would go the local BB store, and have the BB employee call Sears and ask about the $199 Tivo.

If the Sears employee confirms the price without stating that it is a closeout item, BB might just match the $199 price.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

PIANOCRAT said:


> Check the Best Buy website. It states clearly that BB does not price match on clearance items. The Sears ad flyer clearly states that the $199 Tivo HD is a closeout item.
> 
> From the BB website regarding BB store price match policy:
> "The Price Guarantee does not apply to our or our competitors' free offers, limited-quantity items, items for sale November 28th & 29th, 2008, open-box items, *clearance items*, Outlet Center items, mail-in offers, financing, bundle offers or pricing errors".
> ...


When I tried to get the price match it was based on a printout from their website, not the clearance ad. One of the guys seemed more than willing to do it until he went to get manager approval and he said, "We don't price match on TiVos." Had nothing to do with the closeout nature of the sale, but rather with the item being price matched. After looking at their website, there doesn't appear to be anything on there about limitations based on product.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

mec1991 said:


> Rich,
> 
> How fast are the menus compared to an S2?.


It's a bit of an apples/oranges comparison. The S2's menus are faster than our S3's or THD's but not by a lot, maybe a half second or so. But then the S1's menus are faster than the S2's. As Zeo mentioned, each is doing more (or less) in the background. By comparison our THD's and Series3's menu speed is about the same though (The S3's are possibly a little faster) Both come in at just under a second per screen change or so. The response time moving up and down the menu items varies. If it's just the common recording surfing they both move quite fast IMHO, almost as fast as I can push the buttons. Even when I use our Slingbox from a remote location the response time is pretty decent.

The only other comparison I could make would be to the POS Comcast DVR we had once. TiVo is much more responsive by comparison.

Hope that helps!


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## PIANOCRAT (Mar 8, 2009)

Sparty99 said:


> When I tried to get the price match it was based on a printout from their website, not the clearance ad. One of the guys seemed more than willing to do it until he went to get manager approval and he said, "We don't price match on TiVos." Had nothing to do with the closeout nature of the sale, but rather with the item being price matched. After looking at their website, there doesn't appear to be anything on there about limitations based on product.


Good point.
However, when I went to the Sears website this morning, no price was listed for the Tivo HD DVR--only a button to connect to "a customer care advsior" if I wished to order. No price is listed on the website, so I'm not able to print the Sears price for the DVR, bring it to B-By/force the issue, and compare my results to yours.

UPDATE: The Sears website now lists the price @ $199.99. I've printed the page, and will use it at B-by if the local Sears store is out of stock.


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## Tekniqal (Mar 20, 2009)

They price matched for me no problem in Salem, OR. I had a printed out weekly ad from Sears and the cashier didnt hesitate to get me the price match. I was very pleased.


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## cliffdwelling (Jan 29, 2009)

PIANOCRAT said:


> Good point.
> However, when I went to the Sears website this morning, no price was listed for the Tivo HD DVR--only a button to connect to "a customer care advsior" if I wished to order. No price is listed on the website, so I'm not able to print the Sears price for the DVR, bring it to B-By/force the issue, and compare my results to yours.
> 
> UPDATE: The Sears website now lists the price @ $199.99. I've printed the page, and will use it at B-by if the local Sears store is out of stock.


I saw this a month ago at my local Sears and they had none in stock, called Tivo and they gave it to me for 199.00 plus the three months free. Worth a call.


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## Moab336 (Mar 18, 2009)

The Sears flyer here in Chicago did NOT say that this was a clearout. I was able to take the Sears flyer (OOS @ State st.) to Best Buy (North Ave) and received a price math no problem. After mentioning the 110% price match guarantee, they actually took another 10% off the total price making the Tivo HD 180+tax. I think I got lucky with the 10%, it should've at most been 10% of the difference, or $10.


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## restart88 (Mar 9, 2002)

Which goes to prove once again it doesn't hurt to ask even when you think you know the answer is no.


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## 911medic (Mar 17, 2009)

PIANOCRAT said:


> Check the Best Buy website. It states clearly that BB does not price match on clearance items. *The Sears ad flyer clearly states that the $199 Tivo HD is a closeout item.*
> 
> From the BB website regarding BB store price match policy:
> "The Price Guarantee does not apply to our or our competitors' free offers, limited-quantity items, items for sale November 28th & 29th, 2008, open-box items, clearance items, Outlet Center items, mail-in offers, financing, bundle offers or pricing errors".
> ...


Nowhere in the Sears ad in the Minneapolis paper last week did it say it was a clearance or closeout item. It only said it was a "$100 price drop." The ad did say that it might not be available in all stores, so I suppose that BB could try to argue it was a "limited-quantity item," but that'd be pushing it.


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## DaveMN (Nov 14, 2001)

911medic said:


> Nowhere in the Sears ad in the Minneapolis paper last week did it say it was a clearance or closeout item. It only said it was a "$100 price drop." The ad did say that it might not be available in all stores, so I suppose that BB could try to argue it was a "limited-quantity item," but that'd be pushing it.


I tried calling TiVo to explain the Sears situation and see if they'd sell me one for $199, but they refused. They offered me the standard deal on the $199 refurb unit.

On Friday, however, I got a price match at the Eagan, MN Best Buy with no questions asked. I went in thinking it was a long shot, but was pleasantly surprised. I guess it depends on the BB store.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

DaveMN said:


> I tried calling TiVo to explain the Sears situation and see if they'd sell me one for $199, but they refused. They offered me the standard deal on the $199 refurb unit.
> 
> On Friday, however, I got a price match at the Eagan, MN Best Buy with no questions asked. I went in thinking it was a long shot, but was pleasantly surprised. I guess it depends on the BB store.


As I mentioned in my earlier post, I had to be firm and ruffle some feathers before I got another BB CS rep to call Sears a second time to get the match. As they say, "the squeaky wheel..."


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

Interesting article on Engadget about BB employees receiving training and bonuses for denying legitimate price matching opportunities. From the article:



> Here's how it works, according to Phil Britton, a member of Best Buy's Competitive Strategies Group:
> 
> What is the first thing we do when a customer comes in to our humble box brandishing a competitor's ad asking for a price match? We attempt to build a case against the price match. (Trust me, I've done it too). Let's walk through the "Refused Price Match Greatest Hits:
> "Not same model? Not in stock at the competitor? Do we have free widget with purchase? Is it from a warehouse club (they have membership fees, you know)? Limited Quantities? That competitor is across town? We've got financing! Is it an internet price? It's below cost!&#8230;.."


What a great concept for customer trial and maintenance. Not!  All the more reason to patronize Amazon, Newegg, etc., etc.


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## restart88 (Mar 9, 2002)

They may think they're being clever but in saving the $10 or $20 from refusing to honor their own voluntary shopping incentive I usually just walk right out the door and don't make the other purchases for several $hundred and just avoid the chain entirely for quite a while. I've probably not even set foot in a BB in over 3 years, though I did try a couple of order online, pickup in store purchases in that time frame but but they failed to deliver - literally - claiming a day or two later the items were "out of stock."

I'm really sad that it was CC and not BB that went out of business because over 98&#37; of the time I had only good experiences with them and usually even the bad ones eventually got resolved to my satisfaction.

While not always the case I know many people will buy a Tivo about the time they buy a new TV. My preference is to do the price match items first and then go look at other things I might buy simply because I HAVE been burned on price match denials in the past under some of the same excuses posted. So this thread certainly does not inspire me to go give them yet another chance even if it meant they were in jeopardy of closing for a lack of shoppers. I just hope they don't needlessly get some kind of Federal bailout to keep them afloat just to scam another day.


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## muya (Jul 22, 2005)

Tekniqal said:


> LOL, no love for Sears people? I was just sharing what I heard and wanted to know more. I was a little curious because I have heard that these Tivo HD's lock up like once a month and have to be restarted and that navigating menus is laggy.


i own 2 hd's and have never had a crash. as far as menu lag, only for the first few hours after set up. granted, i've seen pvr's with faster menus, but the tivo software blows them out of the water. just my .02¢


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

And it just keeps getting better...

*Best Buy sued for violating its Price Match policy on purpose.*

From the article:



> Essentially, this suit will claim that Best Buy is in "extreme" violation of its own Price Match policy, and that it uses the advertised policy as a way to scam consumers into the stores and purchase gear.


Anyone think justice will prevail?


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## fallingwater (Dec 29, 2007)

richsadams said:


> *Best Buy sued for violating its Price Match policy on purpose.*
> 
> Anyone think justice will prevail?


My experiences with Best Buy have been overwhelmingly positive!

Recently a Manager OK'd without hesitation a competitor's discounted price that I didn't literally qualify for. Also within the past year they replaced a 42" LCD TV under their Extended Warranty when it displayed image retention problems, which most extended warrantees won't cover. I got a 46" LCD Sony being closed out as the replacement.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

fallingwater said:


> My experiences with Best Buy have been overwhelmingly positive!
> 
> Recently a Manager OK'd without hesitation a competitor's discounted price that I didn't literally qualify for. Also within the past year they replaced a 42" LCD TV under their Extended Warranty when it displayed image retention problems, which most extended warrantees won't cover. I got a 46" LCD Sony being closed out as the replacement.


I've never had any problems with them either. Seems to be a market-by-market situation. But if they find success in training and a bonus program that rewards employees for however many price matches they avoid (not sure how that would be measured ) in one area, it'll surely spread across the country.

It's too bad that it's come to litigation, but hopefully that will send a strong message to senior management that encouraging negative activity isn't the way to maintain or grow the company.

My only real complaint with Best Buy is that unless it's on sale, it's rarely a "best buy".


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## mec1991 (Nov 5, 2004)

@ Zeo and Rich

Thanks for the info, guys. I figured mine had to be slow for a reason, just did not know it was the specific model I had. That makes me feel a lot better about upgrading to either a DT S2 or a HD (minus adding a ginormous hard drive).

Thanks again. :up:


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## Len McRiddles (Dec 21, 2002)

I called six different Sears stores today, only one person said they were on closeout because a new model was forthcoming. When I asked what model was coming ,they could not tell me.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

Len McRiddles said:


> I called six different Sears stores today, only one person said they were on closeout because a new model was forthcoming. When I asked what model was coming ,they could not tell me.


Sears will be the last place to know when a new TiVo is coming out.


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## tline (Mar 18, 2009)

I went to Sears to get a $199 special. Out of course. They did have two display models, unplugged and by all appearances, never hooked up. I asked about them and they said they would sell them but upon further research, no box, no remote, no manuals, no cables, etc. They did find the electrical cord. I plugged one in and hooked it up to a tv and it powered up fine, got to the setup screen. They offered it to me for $139. Not so fast. I have to buy a new remote which is at least $50, no manuals, no cables, etc. Got them to $99. SOLD. Bought a remote on ebay for $15. Took it home, set it up, no problem. Cable card installed - up and running.

Build date was August 2007.

I was also in a Magnolia store over the weekend and asked him about tivos. He said that they are coming out with new models.

Possibly "new" means same models but increased storage. Think ipod - increased storage but same price points.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

tline said:


> Possibly "new" means same models but increased storage. Think ipod - increased storage but same price points.


There is the TiVo HD-XL.

That said, I wouldn't totally disagree with the notion that TiVo could be giving the base TiVo HD a slight capacity increase, to 250 or 320 GB perhaps.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

classicsat said:


> There is the TiVo HD-XL.
> 
> That said, I wouldn't totally disagree with the notion that TiVo could be giving the base TiVo HD a slight capacity increase, to 250 or 320 GB perhaps.


Possibly, but unlikely (as I don't believe such a capacity increase has happened without a new model introduction). And even if it did happen, the people on this board would know about it far before anyone at Sears did.


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## randude (Mar 22, 2004)

Phantom Gremlin said:


> That's just *wishful thinking* about bug fixes.
> 
> I desperately wanted a high def TiVo. But the original S3 boxes had a litany of big and little problems. And they were expensive. I didn't buy. So when the TiVo HD was announced I bought one right away. That was a *mistake*. There were plenty of teething problems, and they took months to fix.
> 
> ...


I just purchased an HD tivo for off the air recordings. There is no comparison to the Directv DVR and the HDTivo! The HDTivo is 1000 times more reliable and I have yet to have any problems with it (I've had it two weeks now). It's just funny to hear you say that after the CONSTANT updates to the Directv DVR that break something.


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

randude said:


> I just purchased an HD tivo for off the air recordings. There is no comparison to the Directv DVR and the HDTivo! The HDTivo is 1000 times more reliable and I have yet to have any problems with it (I've had it two weeks now). It's just funny to hear you say that after the CONSTANT updates to the Directv DVR that break something.


Right. DirecTV pushes out minor updates on a regular basis with only limited testing. Periodically, DirecTV will break one thing and then they'll fix it a week or two later. But since they push out so many updates, this happens more frequently than it should.

The TivoHD has always been solid when it comes to OTA. Most of the issues Phantom is referring to related to CableCard compatibility issues that TiVo addressed the first six months or so after the TiVoHD was released. For example, when the TivoHD was first released back in July, 2007, it had serious issues with cable companies that used Scientific Atlanta CableCards.

When the TiVo Series3 first came out in early 2006, it too suffered from a number of CableCard-related issues with some providers. Many assumed that the TivoHD would not exhibit these CableCard-related issues since they had been fixed on the Series3 in the months after its release. As we learned, the TivoHD is a different hardware design that uses different drivers, so many of the fixes made for the Series3 did not apply to the TivoHD.

A next-generation TiVo design is likely to go through an initial period of growing pains, because new drivers for new hardware components inevitably have bugs, which can't all be caught in beta testing with a few dozen people. Hopefully, the initial issues on a next-generation TiVo will be less problematic since both TiVo and equipment vendors now understand far more about CableCard and cable system compatibility than they did a few years ago.


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## mp11 (Jan 29, 2008)

bkdtv said:


> > The TivoHD has always been solid when it comes to OTA.
> 
> 
> Does the Tivo HD have actually OTA "scanning"? Unlike the Directv HR2* series that uses a database of cities.


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## nipster00 (Feb 9, 2009)

mp11 said:


> Does the Tivo HD have actually OTA "scanning"? Unlike the Directv HR2* series that uses a database of cities.


yes


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