Series3
As you probably already know, there's nothing we love more around here than some intense courtroom drama (our Series3 is already at capacity thanks to 24/7 Law Order), so we were excited to learn that the age-old grudge match between GPS kings Garmin and TomTom is about to enter a thrilling new chapter. To quickly recap the events so far: American manufacturer Garmin sued its Dutch rival over patent infringement in February of this year (something about technologies designed to calculate which streets are important enough to a driver's route to be displayed), after which TomTom countersued with infringement claims of its own. Garmin then fired back at TomTom in August with yet another patent claim, but instead of continuing this amusing game of tit-for-tat, TomTom decided to go after its rival in familiar territory, filing a suit in The Hague that accuses Garmin of copying the look and feel of its devices.
As The Register notes, Garmin and TomTom split the US market 50.8% / 26.9% and the European.
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Posted Oct 11th 2006 11:42AM by
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Here's something that opponents of restrictive DRM implementations aren't going to be too happy with: ZDNet is reporting that new copy-protection software for DVD publishers from a company called ProtectDisc not only makes it difficult to rip movies that you've purchased -- no surprise there -- but actually prevents discs from playing in a Windows PC at all. So if you pop in a DVD "infected" with Protect DVD-Video, it can't be read by Windows Media Player, Media Center Edition, or any DirectShow-based software, thanks to a Universal Disc Format that tricks your machine into believing that the IFO file is zero bytes long. As you might expect, there are already workarounds out there that can bypass Protect DVD: SlySoft reportedly updated its AnyDVD software recently as a direct response to this protection racket.
Still, this is a discouraging development for home theater buffs who have upgraded their setups to revolve around a hot new HTPC; remember that old standalone DVD player that you stuffed in the attic a...
Wouldn't you know it. After paying for anger management sessions to deal with those repetitive delays, finding out it wouldn't work right with your shiny new plasma, and wondering if the thing was even worth the $800 to begin with, we've got yet another reason to pass on TiVo's almost-excellent Series3.
If your box hasn't been plagued with issues just yet, we sure hope you aren't the proud owner of a JVC receiver, or you could be facing more of those ever-present DRM snafus. During CNET's testing of the Series3 box with the JVC RX-D702 receiver, things were going perfectly smooth as the TiVo streamed video / audio to the JVC over HDMI, and separate monitors via composite / S-Video -- until they switched over to HBO HD. Programming on this channel, as well as HDNet and Universal HD, yielded a gray screen complemented by a (presumably enraging) message stating: "Viewing is not permitted using the TiVo Digital Media Recorder.
Try another TV input." Further investigation (read: hitting the "Info" button) spilled..
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Everyone's favorite Danish gearmaker Bang Olufsen has announced a follow-up to its minimalist (in more ways than one) HDR 1 digital video recorder, with its shiny new HDR 2 unit upping the storage and shifting the style.
This new DVR packs a more reasonable 250GB hard drive, up from 80GB in the HDR 1, and encases the innards in a sleek brushed-metal design. Unfortunately, as with the HDR 1, it looks like you're still stuck without high definition recording capabilities, though you will get the standard array of PVR functions, including automatic recording of TV series (which we assume means it also has a program guide of some sort), pausing live TV, and simultaneous recording and playback. It also packs two SCART connections, Y/C input, and an aerial, or coaxial connection.
Still no word on price or availability, though you can expect to pay the usual B O premium, which will make this far and away more expensive than even that most lustworthy DVR...
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TiVo's great and all, but we sure wouldn't mind a bit of competition in the retail HD DVR space all the same, and it looks like Moxi is getting ready to deliver in 2007.
Their upcoming set-top-box -- which they're planning on showing at the upcoming CES -- should be packing CableCARD 2.0 for some single card multi-stream action, compared to the multiple CableCARDs required by Series3 to serve up multiple simultaneous feeds. Moxi is also boasting of the ability to stream video to your other TVs, but unfortunately that signal is downconverted to SD.
This box is supposed to be going for around $1,000, which isn't a terrible price for multi-stream HD DVR right now, but probably won't be looking so hot when this hits the market in fall 2007. All the same, we're looking forward to the Moxi offering -- a little DVR deathmatch does the body good.[Via Engadget HD].
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So you just paid $800 for your brand new Series3 TiVo ($1,000 if you transferred your lifetime subscription), waited patiently as the morons from the cable company tried to get their heads around installing CableCARDs in a non-TV device, and finally sat down on your couch to begin recording and commercial skipping all that great HD programming -- just to find out that your damn TiVo remote doesn't work! As many home theater aficionados know (first-hand, unfortunately), plasma TVs emit a significant amount of EMI and RFI signals from their surfaces that can confuse nearby IR sensors and render them useless, especially if your home theater gear juts out in front of the display. Well this problem has been happening in spades to new Series3 owners, as the box's IR receiver seems especially sensitive to other frequencies, so much so that they often need to press a button 10 to 15 times for a command to actually register.
TiVo seems to be aware of the issue, but has not yet offered a solution, which is why the...
Posted Sep 19th 2006 7:01AM by
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If you're a big enough TV fan to need 100 recorded hours of HDTV (or 925 hours of ever lovin' standard def) then you probably already know about WeaKnees, the website that sells modded TiVos at a premium. The site already has the TiVo Series3 available for pre-order at prices ranging from $800 to $1600, and the company says the new Series3 are expected in stock by September 22.
But the better news -- and the reason we're writing this article -- is that these modded TiVos are being officially deigned eligible for the $200 lifetime service transfer that TiVo is offering to existing customers who buy the new Series3. We still don't know why TiVo doesn't just sell these beefed-up boxes itself instead of letting someone else do it -- but no matter, more power to the independent retailer![Via PVRWire].
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Like many of the TiVo VIPs who rushed to order their Series3 boxes so that they would arrive the next day (unfortunately, things didn't turn out so well), we're big proponents of immediate gratification, which is why we still shop at brick-and-mortar retailers like Best Buy despite the increased selection and better prices found online. One thing we don't go to Best Buy for, however, is the Insignia Store, which sells super-cheap "top-notch quality" OEM gear that is supposedly full of "high-tech features" -- but which is really just targeted at consumers on the tightest of budgets. Anyway, the latest "feature-filled" product to take its place among the rest of the Insignia elite will be the NS-DVxG DAP from Joytoto, an absolutely hideous looking player that AVING amusingly implies could topple Apple's reigning champ.
Besides the flimsy controls and cheap-looking case, the DVxG does actually offer some compelling functionality, including video playback on the 2.2-inch LCD, wireless headphone and file transfer..
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So if you're a consumer electronics manufacturer in the midst of a highly-publicized product release, you'd think that the last group of customers you'd want to alienate would be the die-hard fanatics who participate in your forums everyday and were among the very first to place orders for said product, right?
Well judging by the tone of the comments on the TiVo Community boards, that's exactly what the company has down to its so-called VIP subscribers -- you know, the ones who possess those coveted lifetime subscriptions and woke up extra-early this past Tuesday to ensure that their new Series3 boxes would arrive the next day. Except TiVo apparently wasn't ready to handle the deluge of orders that it received, and after two days of wondering what the heck was going on (calls to customer service were met by confusion and misinformation on the part of the phone reps), everyone finally received an email confirming the delays and promising shipment by Friday. Luckily TiVo had the good sense to refund the.
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If you've got children whom you're attempting to safeguard from the many kinds of deplorable programming that might sneak into your living room with the press of a button (ahem), and you happen to own a TiVo, you've probably taken advantage of its KidZone filtering features. But when guarding your child's precious, innocent mind results in sluggish reactions from your DVR, something's gotta give-- and let us tell you, it isn't gonna be your kid's noggin. A crowd of folks over at TiVo's own forums are claiming that the most recent KidZone update (7.
3.1) has created a number of unwanted problems: "delays during channel changing, slow banner changes, slow response to remote control commands, slow menus, lost cable signals, slow deleting of items, occasional lock-ups, and forced reboots with no alleviation of symptoms post reboot." Most reports thus far are coming from Series2 boxes, not the fresh Series3 flavor, and it seems TiVo is "looking into" the issue in an attempt to get it resolved.
So parents, if...
Posted Sep 12th 2006 9:55AM by
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As we predicted, the TiVo Series 3 HD Box has finally been officially announced today, with availability coming "mid-September" according to the press release (or October?) -- but as we already know, you can order one from TiVo.
com immediately. Like we've reported countless times before, dual CableCARDs enable the recording of two different shows in HD simultaneously, and the whole package has THX certification. And yes, our pricing was spot on: $800 for this bad boy.
Oh, and don't forget to check out the new television commercial, featuring the little TiVo guy bouncing around and getting out of a limo, transitioning to the ever-popular Shanan presenting the features of the Series3 -- you know, the one who looks like she's straight out of the Broadway musical Cabaret.Read- Official Series 3 press releaseRead- Promo vid..
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You didn't think we'd leave you without some accompanying videos, now do you?
Dave shot some sweet videos of unboxing the new TiVo Series3, the new TiVo bootup sequence, and going through all the new high def video modes. Definitely a must see for TiVo fans whose staid boxes have changed very little in the past few years. Enjoy!
Watch [WMV] - unboxingWatch [WMV] - startup sequenceWatch [WMV] - video mode options...
The world's first THX-certified, dual CableCARD DVR has finally arrived in the form of TiVo's Series3. It doesn't come cheap with a price tag of $799 (don't forget service!
), but it's a fine cable company DVR replacement if your budget allows it. What are you waiting for, click on for the full rundown and lots more pics!.
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We heard from Todd the Best Buy employee that the new machines will be in stock on the 17th of this month, and now our friend Dave over at ZatzNotFunny has spotted the highly-anticipated DMR (remember, they're not DVRs anymore, and TiVo won't sell you one if you use that terminology) on Circuit City's website showing an October availability. Now does that mean October 1st? The 15th?
The 31st? Well if we knew, we'd tell ya, but at least now we seem to have an actual release window: the Series 3 will (probably) be available sometime between September 17th and October 31st. As usual, we'll keep you posted as more information comes to light, but if that's not good enough, you're always welcome to switch over to satellite and pick up on of DirecTV's new HR20-700 HD DVRs -- thanks to.
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Posted Sep 10th 2006 2:33AM by
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We know that the TiVo isn't inexpensive by any means: currently the highest tier (180-hour TiVo Series2 DT DVR) will run you a few hundred dollars per year. However, the newest TiVo, the Series3 will retail for $800, a fair jump from its last iteration. HDBeat examines the question: is the Series3 is really worth 400 Jeffersons (or 80 Hamiltons, take your pick) ?
Here's some of the things you'll get for shelling out that wad of dough: NTSC, analog cable and un-encrypted QAM support, eSATA support, front panel display, Ethernet port, two USB ports, HDMI TOSLINK and component out, can record OTA or cable, and, of course, has CableCARD support. Also, we should remind you that your lifetime TiVo subscription is transferrable to the Series3 for an additional $200 (though it's possible that TiVo's dealings with Cox and other cable companies may make it possible for you to get yer paws on a slightly stripped down model for far less cash). Still, TiVo certainly has a lot of catching up to do in the marketplace, and.
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Keywords: Posted Sep, Best Buy, Hd Dvr, So If, Protect Dvd
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