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Looks like the Series3 TiVo will be $799

Engadget has the scoop on the price of the upcoming Series 3 TiVo. Next month's Popular Mechanics has a guide page listing it as $800.

I'm really surprised TiVo isn't doing a better job dropping details on their upcoming release. They announced a mailing list a few weeks ago but haven't sent messages to it. They've been silent since the rumored launch date and price had spread. And now we see validation in a major national magazine.

In the end, we highly anxious, anticipating customers that want to buy one ASAP are finding out what we wanted to know with or without TiVo, only it's through all these leaks. I'd love to see TiVo take control of their PR and just come out and tell everyone what it'll cost and when we can get them in a store.

Not every company can be top secret and surprise the world like Apple does consistently. TiVo, instead take your cues from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft -- be open and upfront with your customers and give them price and release dates well in advance (especially for major $800 purchases that might take people a couple months to save up for). Sure, once in a while deadlines slip, but it sure beats two years of speculation and a couple months worth of leaks that reveal everything everyone wanted to know anyway.

by Matt Haughey September 5, 2006 in Op-Ed

Comments

Maybe they are waiting on....say..... Apple's event next week.

Posted by: Johnny. at Sep 6, 2006 4:18:56 AM

I hate that I am not using Tivo now as my DVR, but for 11.99/month from Charter for a Moxi how can I justify an expense of 799.00 plus 17.99 per month for usage?

Yes the high enders who have money to burn, they will get one, but for the majority of ppl, we will have to stick with our series two or cable supplied DVR. Sad...TiVo had a chance to woo us all back, but not with a sticker of 799 plus monthly services charges. Forget it.

Posted by: Randy at Sep 6, 2006 6:13:00 AM

You've gotta be kidding me...$800 plus the monthlies? I'd been waiting on the S3s to start seriously looking at HDTVs, but with a price like that, it looks like I'll be waiting a lot longer.

Madness.

Posted by: Dave at Sep 6, 2006 7:32:09 AM

$800 sounds pretty believable for the initial price, remember the early adopters will pay almost anything for the new hot tech toy.

I don't remember how much the original Series1 cost when it came out, or for that matter the original Series2, but I do know they are much more expensive than even the Series2 DT is now.

I would expect the price to come down after the holidays and be closer to, maybe even under $500 (at least after rebate) by this time next year.

Hardware wise the Series3 probably cost a decent amount more to make with a much bigger hard drive and guaranteed more memory & processing power, the prices of these components will come down and allow TiVo to lower the price of the unit.

Licensing costs are also probably a factor, I don't know if TiVo needs to pay CableLABS & whoever owns the HDMI spec a per unit licensing fee but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case, there are enough new technologies in the Series3 that the licensing fees alone could very well cost more than the Series2 does now.

Posted by: Robert Aitchison at Sep 6, 2006 8:43:10 AM

Looks like I'll get one last season of NFL Sunday Ticket and then make the switch. Right now, I get DirecTV so I can have my dual-turner DirecTivos and still pay for Time-Warner for HD content (and their craptastic SA8300 DVR). So sometime after the first of the year, I'll probably go ahead and pick up an S3 Tivo (and I've got an S2 standalone sitting around unsubscribed that can go on the non-HD set). Cancelling my DirecTV programming and not getting Sunday Ticket will pay for the S3 box the first year. And waiting until after the first of the year (maybe a March birthday present to myself) should give the early adopters a chance to work out the S3 kinks and maybe even leave time for a price drop. :)

Posted by: AJRitz at Sep 6, 2006 9:43:17 AM

TiVo is talking to their customers, at least a little. The latest newsletter (#90) dropped this in the Letter from the Editor:
"Meanwhile, keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks for a defining moment, oh yes. Watch your e-mail Inbox. Your TiVo Central screen. The twinkling eyes of your best TiVo friend.

Coy? Me?
Shanan [editor@tivo.com]"

Posted by: luvsthebard at Sep 6, 2006 11:26:29 AM

I'm loyal to TiVo all the way, but I'm hanging onto my two Series2 boxes.

$799 plus $12.95/month (or whatever) plus whatever I have to pay the cable company for TWO CableCARDs (probably around $10-15) is a joke.

I'd love to "sell" this to my friends & family with their cable-issued Scientific Atlanta boxes, but this thing would have to be $100-200 like the Series2 for that to be possible.

Money talks and this thing is way overpriced if $799 is accurate. I cannot possibly compete with the cable company boxes, which are replaced for FREE when they break. When this thing breaks, I'm out $799. Ouch.

Posted by: Andy at Sep 6, 2006 1:06:12 PM

Remember, $799 is MSRP. When was the last time you paid list price for anything?

Best Buy's cost is $500. That means you should see it from Buy.com and Amazon.com for $600-650. Tivo also has a $150 mail-in rebate on new Tivo purchases. Your "true" price after mail-in rebate should be about $500.

The Series3 REPLACES your cable box. The Series3 is not like old Tivos that connect to your cable box. It is a complete replacement for your cable box. Because of this, the Series3 records all content at 100% original quality and changes channels near instantly.

You don't need CableCard slots in your TV because the Series3 Tivo has two CableCard slots BUILT IN. You pickup the CableCard from your cable company, plug it in the box, then call your cable company and read off to them the sequence of numbers listed on the activation screen. That is how you enable access to all the encrypted digital cable channels on the Series3. If you have ever had satellite receiver, or called to activate a satellite receiver, the activation on the Tivo Series3 works the same way.

Why buy a Series3 if you already have a DVR from your cable company? A few reasons:

1) Superior usability and reliability -- my Comcast DVR missed more recordings in two months than my Tivo missed in four years.

For cable companies, DVR is more of an afterthought. They offer it for competitive reasons. With Tivo, DVR service is their business -- they don't do anything else. They spend a lot of time making sure their shit works. If there are errors in guide data, they FIX IT. If there are bugs, they get fixed asap.

2) Superior responsiveness -- ever had lag or delays when using pause, fast forward, rewind, 30-second skip, etc on your cable DVR? No such lag on a Tivo.

The Series3 is the fastest Tivo yet, using the latest processing technology from Broadcom.

3) TWICE the storage capacity of the cable company's DVR, with external expansion fully supported. For $150 at Bestbuy.com, you can add a 500Gb drive that gives your Tivo more than SIX TIMES the capacity of the Comcast HDTV DVR. If you have lots of money, you can build a SATA raid to give your Tivo 20x to 50x the storage capacity of your cable DVR.

4) Whole house networking -- stream recordings from one Tivo to another. If you have three Tivos in your house, you can access all recordings from a single box, regardless of where the recording is stored. Look at the screenshot in this news post.

5) Computer integration -- Tivo Desktop lets you play content stored on your PC back on your Tivo, streamed over your wireless network. Download porn to your PC and watch it on your TV through Tivo. :) Series3 adds support for MPEG-4 and VC-1 (WM9) HDTV playback.

6) Burning to DVD/Blu-ray -- Tivo's software lets you transfer recordings from the DVR to your computer (over the network) for burning to DVD or Blu-ray disk.

7) Internet scheduling -- setup recordings on your Tivo from anywhere, including your mobile phone, through Tivo's web site.

8) Home media integration -- access and playback all the songs on your computer through your home entertainment system using the Tivo. View all the images (porn!) stored on your PC with your TV using the Tivo.

Already have a lifetime subscription on a Series1 or Series2?

Tivo just announced that they are allowing owners of current Series1 and Series2 lifetime boxes to transfer their lifetime subscription to the new Series3 for a one-time charge of $199. That means no monthly fees. As part of this offer, Tivo also includes an additional 12 months of free service on the existing box.

Posted by: Ken Fowler at Sep 6, 2006 1:48:17 PM

What alternate universe are you living in?

Where did Tivo "just announce..." that you can transfer lifetime subscriptions for $199?

Posted by: mattack at Sep 6, 2006 6:44:30 PM

Mmm, that foot in my mouth tastes real good.

(I now see the discussion on tivocommunity, quoting from the Teleworld paid programming the Tivos recorded..)

Posted by: mattack at Sep 6, 2006 6:47:03 PM

$199? That's over a year's worth of monthly fees just to transfer a subscription you already paid for! If you still use the old box for 12 months, you're only paying for an additional 3 months, but if you don't, that money's just going down the toilet.

Posted by: Jesse at Sep 7, 2006 1:23:30 AM

Man, this deal SUCKS. Ken "the tivo shill" Fowler might be the first to drop a few hondo on this turd, but I'll stick with a Series 2 I got for $100 TWO YEARS AGO.

This is making the cost of building a MythTV PC with all the bells and whistles look a hell of a lot better. No sense in dropping all the cash on a Tivo.

Unless Tivo starts releasing more info, like "Rectal rooter pricing of $800 + $18/month was just a joke. We're charging $400 +$15." They can forget about ever selling many of these things.

Did Tivo team up with Sony to have the PS3 team design the S3 Tivo? What a joke.

Posted by: richard pfister at Sep 7, 2006 10:02:26 AM

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