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.
$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.
$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.
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.
$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.
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.
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.
I’m sure the price will drop fast. We can only hope. So I’ll suffer with this Comcast box until then.
If i had to hazard a guess, it’ll launch on tivo.com store for $249 with a contract…