hot or not...Cox cable rolling out PVR

zsir

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
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I passed up the referb replay deals hoping this would happen soon......... Cox Cable in San Diego, CA (probably elsewhere too) will be offering pvr set top boxes for $9.95/month....... It replaces your digital set top box so you have to be a digital cable subscriber......Unfortunantley it doesn't support HDTV but that will change eventually.....If someone figures out how to save files to a PC......well..........it suppose to be available Oct 14th........... :clock:
 

DestruyaUR

Senior member
Jan 23, 2002
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I got this flier in the mail, too.

They've had this for a while now, but it's only free for the first month.

The service costs 9.99, as you said, and the set-top converter runs an extra 3.00 on the bill. Additionally, even though you'd most likely be able to install the box yourself (unless the boxes have a protection scheme that only allows them to be initiated by the host office), expect the 20 dollar charge on your bill for "installation."

I think it's a damn good idea for those who just want rudimentary PVR capabilities...the units aren't particularly spacious, I don't think. The Cox FAQ mentions 50 hours as an "up to" time - not sure if that's the capacity of the unit, though.

HOWEVER, let's do a cost-analysis here:

This service appears inexpensive at first, but really isn't. It's 12.99 per month between the service and box, or 155.88 - plus applicable taxes (and you just KNOW somehow Cox has found a way to tax this...) It's not appreciably hard to find a TiVo unit for a decent price, and with store-bought units, you can alter the storage capacity (albeit at the cost of your warranty) to insanely high storage space on account of the Linux OS kernel taking HDs larger than 132GB.

At least with the store-bought units, you own the box and it's pretty much guaranteed to work in any place you hook it up, whereas the cable box wouldn't be - and if you move somewhere without cable PVR service, trust me, you're not going to be happy - you learn to rely on the damn thing. The monthly fee is pretty much the same and TiVo still has the lifetime subscription fee in place. The only downside is that it's another remote, but they're typically universal and programmable anyway.

IMO, you're better off with a standalone box. More expansion opportunities since HDs are dirt cheap now. Plus I expect the prices on regular TiVo and TiVo 2 units to hit the floor whenever the HD-compliant models start hitting.
 

zsir

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
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I would like the ability to save shows to dvd through my PC a la replay but it's not a deal breaker for me..........

The 3.00 rental fee is a wash because that is what I currently pay for the digital cable box that it will replace......

I guesstimate about $500+ for a tivo or replay with lifetime which would mean that it would be over 4 years before I start losing money on the Cox deal and I really doubt I would keep the same PVR for 4 years or if replay or tivo will survive that long if cable companies get into the PVR buisness, not to mention the fact that if it breaks or just doesn't work to my satisfaction I can just give it back....

Well I'm looking forward to trying it :)
 

DestruyaUR

Senior member
Jan 23, 2002
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TiVo has such a following that if the companies that owned the administrative rights ever died such an upswelling of user-made resources would begin that the units wouldn't lose much functionality...

Have Linux, will code.
 

BartlettJ64

Junior Member
Sep 21, 2001
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I currently use this service from Cox Cable and while it has it's flaws, its the best solution I have at the moment. Tivo is great and all, but I tend to surf the channels with the up/down arrows. I tried this once with a Replay and well.... when you go channel up and say you are on channel 222 to get ot 223 it doesnt just go up it sends a signal to go to 223. If you are trying to scroll quickly it starts to mix the unit up ie: 223224225226. So then it basically screws it up and you have to type the channels in anyway. For me that was a bother. This may be fixed now but not something I am going to go testing either.

I can say I do get frustrated with the lag of moving channels, the menu etc with the current COX PVR though. Its still not very fast in its own right and can hang changing channels as well. I am looking toward Snapstream or some other PC based approach later, but that will come with time. For now, the convience of one unit that does it all outweighs the problems of it being slow. The biggest negative is.......... General Hospital........ My wife has learned to use the beast and its a nightly ritual to watch it :(

BTW, I am in Gainesville, Florida and they picked our area to test the service out. Works pretty well over all.
 

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
Jul 19, 2001
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Damn you guys are slow up there...

I had PVR with Cox cable for about 5-6 months in Gainesville, FL...

Overall it was awesome, being able to record everything and pause live tv... My only complaint? The box is SLOW... Changing channels is much slower than their standard digital box and it would freeze quite often.

I liked it, but if you like to channel surf, DONT GET IT :)
 

Wag

Diamond Member
Jul 21, 2000
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On a related subject, Comcast added VOD here in the Boston area. Some pay stuff, but well over 500 programs/movies for free.

You can FF/RW/Pause, etc.
 

ultravista

Junior Member
May 1, 2003
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Check out the free alternatives (linux) out there, they are pretty decent and MUCH cheaper. You can also get free EPG (electronic program guide) to program the thing.

A quick check on Google:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22Linux+PVR%22

I know of MythTV and FreeVo

SnapStream (pay for) software is pretty cool, tried the demo and like it.

TitanTV is a free EPG, check the list of software supported for alternative PVR applications.
http://titantv.com/ttv/Home/Home.aspx

Hope this helps.
 

dnuggett

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2003
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It's 12.99 per month between the service and box, or 155.88 - plus applicable taxes (and you just KNOW somehow Cox has found a way to tax this...) It's not appreciably hard to find a TiVo unit for a decent price, and with store-bought units, you can alter the storage capacity (albeit at the cost of your warranty) to insanely high storage space on account of the Linux OS kernel taking HDs larger than 132GB.

Point of clarification here. Cox is not a governmental body nor do they have any power whatsoever to levy taxes. Cox taxes nothing; your local, state and federal governments do that. Cox would not want this product taxed, it raises the price and there will be less demand. In short, if it is indeed taxed it sure wasn't Cox who found a way to do it.
 

JETninja

Senior member
Oct 5, 2001
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I'd have to give up my Cox HD Box (Motorola) and that's just not going to happen!!! :D

Actually, Motorola already has versions of my HD box with built in 180MB PVR, Firewire, Cable Modem (can you say XBOX!) and more...eventually we'll get them....
 

tart666

Golden Member
May 18, 2002
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Originally posted by: aphex
Damn you guys are slow up there... I had PVR with Cox cable for about 5-6 months in Gainesville, FL... Overall it was awesome, being able to record everything and pause live tv... My only complaint? The box is SLOW... Changing channels is much slower than their standard digital box and it would freeze quite often. I liked it, but if you like to channel surf, DONT GET IT :)

Is that the dual tuner SA box? If it is, the dual tuner part is one, but major advantage over store-bought boxes...