Digital Video Recording

[skymama 35]

Has anyone signed up for DVR through their cable company? Any likes or dislikes to say about it? How easy is it to catch onto programming the remote or box?

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Feeblemind 1]

We have it through our satillite company. Works like a champ and is user friendly. Best part is you can skip the commercials on recored shows

Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

[j0nes 0]

The main concern with the cable-supplied DVR device is the recording capacity. I've seen them go as low as 5 hours. As for ease of use, if you can use a cellphone address book, you should be alright. The interfaces are usually self-explainitory.

[skymama 35]

The info on the site says 30-50 hours, depending on the program.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Paige 0]

LOVE IT! Bright House sucks but that's the one thing I will always have from now on regardless of who I get my cable from.

The remote is very similar and easy to use. I don't know if you even need a different remote, I can't remember, you may.

Go for it!!!!

Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate
www.TunnelPinkMafia.com

[j0nes 0]

there may be a recording quality setting that affects the amount of time also. usually the higher the quality, the fewer hours you can record.

TiVo is really cool, but if you can avoid the initial purchase price AND the monthly fee, you might be better off with you cable/dish dvr.

[wildblue 4]

Tivo still has more 'cool stuff' than most standard cable DVRs... if you don't mind paying for it, it's nice (I don't have cable or sat, and I got my 80hr tivo for $200 w/lifetime service)
Of course, if they keep doing stupid crap, I'm selling it and going with MythTV.

it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

[AlexCrowley 0]

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Tivo still has more 'cool stuff' than most standard cable DVRs... if you don't mind paying for it, it's nice (I don't have cable or sat, and I got my 80hr tivo for $200 w/lifetime service)
Of course, if they keep doing stupid crap, I'm selling it and going with MythTV.

Tivo just shot themselves in the foot by bending over for the Industry and introducing a 'self destruct' to flagged content.

First they introduced macrovision on the ppv stuff, now this new flag which stops transfer to your PC and auto-deletes regardless of your preferences.

If I wasnt so lazy I would build my own PVR using off the shelf equipment and software...but I am, so I wont.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[TallGuy 0]

Got the latest DVR from my cable provider and love it! It even converts High Definition broadcasts to NTSC (standard US TV signal) and for those of you who haven't seen it yes converted HD does look better than regular digital cable plus you can get dolby digital audio. Honestly don't know how many hours it stores I'd say about 24 hours. Certainly less than TiVo. Super easy to use. Great quality.

One complaint (any perhaps my roommates complaint as well) is that I'm spending WAY too much time on the living room sofa watching movies and my favorite shows. The second problem is that I can't archive anything I've recorded over my home LAN. Guess people get past this with a modified TiVo or a computer set up to work as a DVR.

I would say if you are forking out the bucks for cable. DVR of some form is well worth the extra money.

[kelpdiver 2]

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Tivo just shot themselves in the foot by bending over for the Industry and introducing a 'self destruct' to flagged content.

First they introduced macrovision on the ppv stuff, now this new flag which stops transfer to your PC and auto-deletes regardless of your preferences.

you're grossly overstating what has happened. This feature might become an issue in the future, but it's a total non issue at present.

[AndyMan 7]

We have one from Comcast. It's manufactured by Motorola.

It works OK. Pros are that it's usually easy to use, and the interface is definately easy to pick up. Cons are that it occaisionally freezes up, sometimes fast-forward and rewind don't work as well as you'd think they should.

Generally we like it, we've never filled it past 50%. We do watch and record a lot of TV, but we don't archive shows. There's more than enough space to record a few weeks of regular TV while away on vacation, then watch and delete it when you get back.

In general, the fact that its integrated in with the digital cable set-top box makes it much easier to use than a TIVO, but we'd prefer the actualy usability of TIVO. We hope some day Comcast will make TIVO available, but until then we're happy with the Motorola unit.

We didn't program the remote - instead we programmed our pre-existing über remote to control the Comcast unit. Comcast didn't provide any directions for programing their remote, even though the thing does have buttons to control the TV.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[Kris 0]

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you're grossly overstating what has happened. This feature might become an issue in the future, but it's a total non issue at present.

Think again, it's in use in some areas already.

TiVo OS Update Adds Content Protection
TiVo User's Fears Explored
Tivo Institutes 1 Year Service Contracts

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
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[kelpdiver 2]

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Think again, it's in use in some areas already.

Unintentional flaggings of Simpsons reruns by a couple stations doesn't count to me.

Directv subscribers should run to get their $199 HDTivo box (~50hrs of HD, 200+ hours of regular programming). 2 tuners. $6/month to never think about commercials again. Doesn't have this expiration concern either.

By next year, there may be a decent tivo based cable DVR. OR a decent anything based.

[wildblue 4]

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We hope some day Comcast will make TIVO available

From Tivo investor call a few weeks back:

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There are teams of TiVo and Comcast engineers working on a combo TiVo/Comcast unit that is set for release sometime in 2006. They referenced this several times as a big future subscriber growth path.

it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

[AlexCrowley 0]

Not an overstatement. The feature is now present in the software. Where is this an exaggeration?

Has it been officially rolled out? no.

Is there code there that can perform this function if required? Yes.

Do Tivos conform to new broadcast flag standards which are written by the content providing industry? Yes.

Do Tivos restrict use of content by default? yes.

Do tivos use Macrovision on premium content? yes.

Would I recommend Tivo to anyone thinking of purchasing a PVR at this point? No.

The only advantage that Tivo offered over the cable providers offerings was less control over content, with that advantage now rendered void it is a box with a pretty interface.

BTW if you have a Tivo and use their desktop software: check into srcfilter and javaHMO

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.