My 6416 just crapped out and deleted all my recordings for the 3rd time in a month so I just bought a TIVO HD XL and I was wondering about a few things. Is the quality the same - SD and HD as the Verzizon STB's. Also on the issue of cards - do you have to have a tech install as I have read in other posts? Are there more then one type of card available? I read post with alot of question but have not seen too many from successful Tivo/FIOS users. Anyone successfully using a TIVO HD XL with FIOS? Looking forward to hearing from you 
@TommyRox wrote:My 6416 just crapped out and deleted all my recordings for the 3rd time in a month so I just bought a TIVO HD XL and I was wondering about a few things. Is the quality the same - SD and HD as the Verzizon STB's. Also on the issue of cards - do you have to have a tech install as I have read in other posts? Are there more then one type of card available? I read post with alot of question but have not seen too many from successful Tivo/FIOS users. Anyone successfully using a TIVO HD XL with FIOS? Looking forward to hearing from you
Be aware that you can upgrade@ a standard TivoHD ($199 @ Sears) to 1TB for about $100, at the expense of the warranty. That's a cheaper alternative to the TivoHD XL.
I am using a TivoHD and a TivoHD XL with FiOS. Picture quality on the TivoHD is the same for HD and noticeably better for SD than the Motorola DVRs with IMG 1.6. I did require about -16dB of antenuation, as the FiOS signal straight from the wall was too strong for my TiVo; the TiVo is more sensitive than the Motorola DVR, and if the signal is too strong, you will get pixelization.
In most cases, Verizon requires a tech to install CableCards. Verizon charges $79 for a "truck roll" to install anything, and that includes CableCards. Verizon will not ship CableCards under any circumstances (as they will the Motorola STBs and DVRs), but sometimes you may get an installer that is willing to drop off the card and let you do the install, thereby avoiding the $79 fee.
There are two types of CableCards -- S-CARDs and M-CARDs -- and the TiVo supports them both. One M-CARD will support both tuners on the TiVo. S-CARDs only support one tuner, so two of them are required to support both tuners. S-CARDs were discontinued about a year ago -- M-CARDs are now produced exclusively -- but some Verizon service areas still have stock of the old cards left. Most -- but not all -- FiOS service areas have now standardized on M-CARDs. Unfortunately, the Verizon reps on the phone do not have accurate information about whether M-CARDs are available.
You can read more about the TivoHD and TivoHD XL in this post.
@TommyRox wrote:KenAF,
EXACTLY what I wanted to hear and thanks so much for the additional info. I called and they are coming out Thursday to bring the card(s) and luckily no 79.00 trip charge. If there is a choice, are there any advantages/disadvatages besides of course the price over the MCARD or SCARD? I actually work for Verizon and do FIOS support but I rarely get calls for TIVO or the cards so I do not know much about them. I am not sure if it's there are not many issues or perhaps not many people are using TIVO with their FIOS.
For the TivoHD, youalways want the M-CARD if you can get one.
With a M-CARD, you only have to pay for one card instead of two. At one point, Motorola also had quality control problems with the S-CARDs, resulting in high-defect rates; Motorola addressed their quality controls problems with the M-CARDs.
Using a single M-CARD eliminates the potential situation where the installer correctly activates one card but not the second. Sometimes TiVo users with two S-CARDs will find after the installer leaves that they can only tune / record one channel at a time, because the second card was not activated properly. This can be easily missed at installation, because even an unactivated card can tune the local HD channels. The only way to be sure that two S-CARDs are activated properly is to test two different digital cable channels at the same time (such as TNTHD and ESPNHD). To do that, you could record two cable channels at the same time and verify that you had a picture on both recordings. Alternatively, you could select TNTHD on one channel, press the LiveTV button to swap tuners, and then select ESPNHD on the other tuner; if one channel reports that it is not authorized, then you know that one card was not activated.
As a Verizon CSR, you should be aware that the original TiVo Series3 model, released back in early 2006 at $799, does not fully support M-CARDs. It always requires two cards -- regardless of type -- to support both tuners. The TiVo Series3 was replaced by the TivoHD in mid-2007, but TiVo continued to sell it as a premium model until last summer. The TivoHD uses newer, more integrated components to cut costs, and one of the benefits of those newer components is full support for M-CARDs. Some TiVo users don't know which model they have, and this can complicate the order process. Occasionally, you may run into a Series3 owner that has one M-CARD and doesn't understand why both tuners don't work, because they've read that only one M-CARD is needed on the TivoHD; they don't realize that they have an older model that always requires two cards.
You can easily tell the difference between the discontinued TiVo Series3 and the TivoHD/TivoHDXL. The TiVo Series3 case has its CableCard slots in the back, and the front of the unit has an orange OLED display that shows what programs are tuned / recording, even when the TV is off. The TivoHD and TivoHD XL moved the CableCard slots to the front, behind a panel, and eliminated the screen to reduce cost.
TiVo Series3 with OLED screen - always requires two CableCards