Series 3 TiVo To Cost $800
Update (09/06/06 @ 9:38 PM EST): I’ve created a post/poll just to discuss whether or not the Series 3 TiVo is worth $800.
The folks over at engadget found an article in next months issue of Popular Mechanics which confirms that the Series 3 TiVo will infact cost $800.
What do you think? Is $800 too much? I was hoping for more like $500 but that might have been wishful thinking. I’m not sure that the boss will approve $800! In any event, it looks like the Series 3 really is about to be released. Maybe the Sept. 17th rumor wasn’t that far off.
September 6th, 2006 at 11:37 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.
September 6th, 2006 at 11:50 am |
$800? At that price, there’s no way I’m touching one with a ten-foot pole. I’ll stick with my underwhelming yet cheaper Comcast DVR for my HD content.
September 6th, 2006 at 1:54 pm |
First I need to say that I had a DirectTV Tivo and loved it. Then I decided to go with cable because DirectTV decided to go with some other crappy DVR. I also wanted to try HD and wanted an HD Tivo. After reading around I discovered that the series 3 would be coming out soon and I thought I would compare the Brighthouse cable HD-DVR to the old Tivo I had. The Brighthouse DVR is a giant piece of crap. I could list why it is a piece of crap, but that would take too long. I literally have been counting the days until this new Tivo comes out. I had full intention of buying two of them.
Now the price is released… $800, plus the monthly fee plus the cable cards I need. So for me it would be $1,600 + Tivo fee + $8.00/month cable card fee.
Wow… I love Tivo and REALLY want this device, but at that price I will have to live with this pile of crap DVR. I honestly expected the new Tivo to be around $300 with a 2 year contract. Heck I would sign a 4 year deal if they could get the price down to $300, but $800? Sorry guys, but it just isn’t worth it. We will put up with the Brighthouse piece of crap for that much.
I wish Tivo good luck, but in my opinion that price is way out of line, and yes I understand that is MSRP. I believe the MSRP should be around $500 or less.
Now, if I don’t have to EVER pay them a monthly fee again, then perhaps $600 isn’t too bad. I will hope and pray that this is the case, but I doubt it.
September 6th, 2006 at 2:39 pm |
$800 is too steep a price for me. I was hoping it’d be more around $500. Looks like I’ll be waiting awhile, or I’ll see how the Tivo on Cox’s DVR works. I may try a Cox HD DVR with the Tivo software when that’s released.
September 6th, 2006 at 4:10 pm |
This thing is way overpriced - if $799 is accurate. It 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.
I still have to rent TWO CableCARDs from the cable company ($10-15 or so?), plus the TiVo service (at least $12.95, remains to be seen). Then $799 in up-front cash?
I love TiVo. I’d pay $200, but not $800.
Those who already have a cable company box for next-to-nothing — especially those who cannot appreciate the difference — will think it insane to even consider “switching” at that price. This will not attract converts.
September 7th, 2006 at 3:08 pm |
I think that this Popular Mechanics article all but confirms a mid-September release. TiVo had to know that this article would hit newsstands in the second week of September.
As for the pricing data, I am disappointed in the MSRP of $799.99. In my estimation, however, the series three will be more affordable then $800. For one, we must remember that TiVo is switching to a sales model more similar to cell phones. Do you recall how much the MSRP was on your last cell phone? Mine was $399.99, yet I only paid $149.99 out of pocket. As a result, I would suspect that the series three have a rebate of at least $150.00. In addition, the recent lease options should be encouraging, and I would be pleased if TiVo offered the series three for a $399.99 - $499.99 lease cost, with a $19.99 / month (one year) $18.99 / month (two year) and $16.99 / month (three year) fee.
September 8th, 2006 at 2:17 pm |
I’m sure the price will drop fast. We can only hope. So I’ll suffer with this Comcast box until then.
September 10th, 2006 at 1:27 am |
If i had to hazard a guess, it’ll launch on tivo.com store for $249 with a contract…