I'm kind of torn on this Tivo premiere thing.

[Via]

They put out a 75 hour HD box for $150 so I decided to give it a try. I still have an old Series 2 that somehow chugs along, so I get a slight multi-service discount.

Things the saleperson didn't tell me:

No comcast on-demand
You still have to get an M card from Comcast, and that costs as much as a cable box.
No way to simply skip to the HD version of a channel (That goes against how I like to surf; I usually start at 01 and click upwards until I find something I like and then press the "watch in HD" button)
The M card is a finnicky bitch (I've had to call Comcast twice because of issues with it)

I have to weigh this against HD and the ability to record a show while watching another, which the series 2 obviously can't do. I also like the ability to watch whats on the series 2 hard drive on the premiere.

Does anyone here have a Comcast HD DVR? I'm thinking about picking one up this week and comparing it with the Tivo, and then keeping the one I prefer. I don't want to mess with that if the Comcast DVR sucks.

 

[frowertr]

Tivo is worlds better than of any of the cable companies DVR products. Even the 1st series Tivo's are better that many of the "current" DVR's on the market the cable companies like to peddle.

How much is Comcast charging you for an M-card? Usually its around $4/month per card. Most standalone non-DVR cables boxes are at least $10/month. If you want a DVR it will probably be closer to $15/month per box.

Not sure about skipping to an HD channel. I usually only stay in the HD channels myself which are in the 900's with my cable provider. I don't even look for stuff on the SD channels unless I'm trying to find a regional sporting event that isn't being broadcast in HD.

Can't comment about the on-demand as I don't use it with my cable provider either.

Once the M-card is paired properly it shouldn't be giving you any issues. Tivo knows their stuff well enough now to get proper programming and firmware right I would think. Maybe you got a bum one?

 

[nsafreak]

You could have a bum M card as you really shouldn't be having any issues. No Comcast On Demand is a bit of a loss but I doubt Comcast will enable it through the Tivo as they prefer to peddle their own DVRs. Oddly enough they have started to make it available through the 360 but I guess that's because they don't see it as a competing DVR box. Having used Comcast HD DVR boxes I can tell you that you really don't want to mess with them. The interface looks and feels like it came out of the stone ages of computing, the hard disk space is anemic to say the least (the 120GB that mine had was laughable) and other issues made me more than happy to ditch the unit and go back to Dish and their 722k HD DVR when I had the opportunity.

 

[thedarkwolf]

The first cable card from Comcast is suppose to be FREE and any extra ones are something like $3-4 a month. Mine is free.

 

[Wolfsraider]

Weird I am charged 9$ for my hd dvr thru comcast both I was told have have 500 gb hdd's. The last one i had had 250gb hdd's these are definitely bigger but I was told some come with 160gb drives (on the rng200n) I don't have a problem. the older models were fine as long as you stayed under 80% capacity (else they sometimes blanked out). Mine are rng200n motorola boxes and I am very happy with them. mine they even gave me hdmi cables (the user manual says not included lol)

Cisco RNG200 and RNG200N
High-Defi nition Digital-Only
Interactive Set-Tops with Multi-Stream
CableCARD Interface (Black)

user manual http://media2.comcast.net/anon.comc.../faqs/settopboxes/cisco_rng200n_userguide.pdf

These support on demand, hd pretty much everything.

 

[Via]

Comcast is charging me set-top box price for the M card ($9). It could be that I already have two boxes; around here you only get one free (they give you 2 of the non-box things for free if you want them, but they have no on-demand).

The HD DVR from comcast is about $16 a month, but I've heard bad things about the software so I've held off on getting one.

I like the Tivo a little better now; it must have taken a few days for all of the software to download. Only having the instant queue in Netflix is a HUGE disappointment. The M card issue still isn't fixed: My premium channels didn't work again last night.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Sounds like you might have a cable card pairing or activation issue. You can do some troubleshooting by accessing some screens through the TIVO.

http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/137

 

[frowertr]

The M card issue still isn't fixed: My premium channels didn't work again last night.

I'd exchange that card for another one then. M-Cards shouldn't be "flaky" once paired. Hell, they are plugged into every cable box you also rent and those don't give you troubles do they?

 

[Jeep4JB]

I removed all the channels out of my guide on the Tivo except for the ones in HD since that's all we watch.

 

[Via]

The Comcast tech is coming on Wed, so hopefully that'll take care of it.

I offered to exchange the card myself, but they insisted on sending someone.


One other thing that's slightly annoying: I set up some new season passes, and the message that tells you the recording conflicts with another season pass came up, and I had to choose which pass had the priority (it also happened with a movie I had requested about a week from now). Since it has two tuners shouldn't it just record both?