I called back and went through all this crap again and asked for a supervisor, I got “Rebecca”
and she said also “push this through”…during the call my cellphone dropped and she actually
called me back! I thought that was nice.
She said to expect the check in about 3-10 weeks.
We’ll see.

Has anyone here ever got a rebate check from them?

I tell ya, these companies do everything they can to get out of paying.
I haven’t got the check yet, I will post when I do.

I have everything hooked up through HDMI using a SONY STR-DG810.
After tons of research this is the best Tuner for the money, it has 3 HDMI inputs and at retail $399
or $260 on eBay it is the best.
If you don’t need 3 inputs then you have lots more options.
But I needed the Tivo, the XBOX-360, and the DVD.
If they would only make a DVD-R with a HDMI input-output then I could double that up and pass through
that way and maximize my quality.
Instead I had to output from the Tivo S-Video to the DVD, but it still looks great.

I am sure that in the next few years HD-DVD and Bluray recorders will become common and most
likely have HDMI inputs.

Overall, the HD Tivo is worth having, I guess the only question is, is it worth it to buy the
THX TiVo over the cheaper one?
I mean, what channel is broadcasting THX?
Am I really seeing the benefit of this?
That is still undecided, but I have an awesome Bose Acoustimass 10 setup…everything sounds good.

Thanks.
- Bob

If you only get *some* and not *all* of your HD channels – that almost certainly means your CableCARDs are not paired correctly. I, and others, have had that very same problem and it is corrected by correctly pairing the cards.

The picture delay while channel changing could be your TV. By default the S3 is set to ‘Native’ output, which means content is displayed at its native format – 480i, 720p, or 1080i. The TiVo menus are 720p, so if you go from a menu to a 480i show the signal changes and the TV has to re-sync to display it properly. Some sets do this almost immediately, other sets can take a while.

If this is the case, try setting your TiVo to 720p Fixed or 1080i Fixed (as appropriate for your TV – for a 1080p set you’d want 1080i fixed, etc). This makes the TiVo scale everything to that fixed format, so the TV always sees the same input and there is no re-sync when changing between content types.

I do have a few complaints about the Series 3,
for some reason it does not have the DELETED and RECOVERY function that the series 2 has.
That was a cool function that I am going to miss.
Also, the dual tuner aspect is hard to get used to, you never know which card you are operating on.
I will update as to when I get everything in order….

And you’re dead wrong on the pricing – the rebate is valid on units being sold, new, for under $600 – such as from Amazon.com, DVRupgrade.com, etc. ‘Authorized reseller’ is very broad with TiVo, and is basically anyone who sells new units as a retailer – as opposed to John Smith on eBay, etc.

You’re also dead wrong on the subscription. It requires a *minimum* of one-year service – you can use 1-, 2-, or 3-year monthly subscriptions or the 1- or 3-year pre-paid subscriptions. Lifetime hasn’t been offered for a couple of years now on any new units.

You could buy a REFURBISHED unit direct from Tivo for only $512.94 which carries all the same
exact warranty but requires a one year sub, again without the luxury of pre-paid discounted service.
You would be tied into a regular service agreement of $12.95 per month FOREVER.

Tivo has discovered that charging for service far outweighs the sale of hardware.

This rebate is a total waste of time and chances are unless you do everything just right you
will get ripped off by them and have to wait forever to get your money back.

As for the transfer – I really don’t know. I would tend to think it would make you ineligible for the rebate as is specifies *new* activation and I know that other subscription transfers – like transferring a multi-year commitment to a new box – make the new box ineligible for rebates.

Also it says you need to get a 1 year subscription. You can still transfer your S2 lifetime subscription to the S3 for $199 (you just have to ask). Do you think this will be valid for the rebate?

There are other rebates – right now the ’649′ has a $150 rebate. You have to use the right rebate and make sure you purchase the unit during the rebate period.

Cheers

As for Canada – TiVo still doesn’t officially sell there. I understand it is a regulatory thing – that if they officially sold and marketed the hardware there, they’d have to run it through all the Canadian approvals. So Canada is kind of a grey market on the hardware, even with the service supported there. I’ve heard that TiVo has accepted rebates from Canada, but it is probably safer to have a friend in the US submit it.