HDTV Reviews

For every TiVo fan out there they will love the TiVo Series3 HD DVR, but many will certainly not love the price. The Series3 is feature packed for getting the most out of your HD experience. The box can simultaneously record two HD programs at once and allow you to watch back a third all at the same time. Cnet have taken a close look at the TiVo and say, the TiVo Series3 box finally includes dual-tuner CableCard and HDTV support. As such, it’s the first TiVo model that can record HD cable programming. Yes, there was a previous “HD TiVo” model, the HR10-250, but that model worked only for customers of DirecTV’s satellite service. By comparison, the Series3 HD TiVo should work for anyone who gets TV service via cable or an over-the-air antenna, or any combination thereof. Moreover, the Series3 model includes a variety of network-friendly home media features.

The Series3 wasn’t our first experience with TiVo, so returning to the interface was as familiar as riding a bike. After the initial setup, recording our favorite TV shows–either in single episodes or weekly batches–quickly became second nature, thanks to the completely intuitive interface.

The dual-tuner functionality also worked smoothly. You can easily toggle from one tuner to the other by hitting the Live TV button on the remote, but the TiVo lacks a picture-in-picture (PIP) function. Moreover, despite the fact that the program guide organizes information from all of the tuners (cable, antenna, digital, analog, standard, high-def) into a nice, single interface, hard-core couch potatoes may be chagrined to realize that the Series3 can toggle between only any two live sources.

Final word: The Series3 delivers dual-tuner HD recording and some worthwhile networking features to cable customers, but the exorbitant price tag will be too much for all but the most devoted TiVo fans.