DVR

[VvvJRvvV]

Comcast offers DVR service for $16 a month. Is it worth it or are there other options?

Thanks,
JR

[Quads]

Fuck that.
Go buy a DVR and end up with the media in hand at the end of the day.
Comcast - their box - their rules - their media.
Box goes back, as does all the shit you recorded.
Buy a DVR-RW and be done with it.

I also hate comcast, so I may not be a great sounding board.

[beachtrader]

Tivo.

/end thread, seriously, nothing beats them.

[Quads]

Agreed.
Highly hackable as well.

[Shadow]

Fuck comcast. $16/month is a lot. $5/month max.

However, DVR is simply JAWSOME. You'll wonder how you lived without it. Record your favorite shows and watch them later, skipping over the commercials. Record those shows that are on later at night so you can get some sleep and watch them later. Never worry about missing one and having to wait for the rerun.

But for $16 a month, you can buy/build your own media center PC for $500, or as also suggested, get TiVo. Better yet, ditch comcast altogether, but that may not be a suitable option. I have AT&T U-verse, DVR is included, FREE, with the u-200 package or higher. Downside is it's like satellite, you need a box for each TV, and they're raising the price of that from $5 to $7 each next month. :(

[tele_pathic]

However, DVR is simply JAWSOME. You'll wonder how you lived without it. Record your favorite shows and watch them later, skipping over the commercials. Record those shows that are on later at night so you can get some sleep and watch them later. Never worry about missing one and having to wait for the rerun.

X2. DVR service will change the way you watch or think about tv. I rarely watch a program live. My wife NEVER watches a live tv show. Skip the commericals. I never have to worry about "getting home to watch a show." or missing a show because I was gone. Never have to set a vcr. Two clicks of the remote and I can record every episode of 24, or whatever.

We've had tivo/dvr for 8 or 9 years now, and I can't imagine ever getting rid of it. Personally, I think the switch to non-dvr to dvr is bigger than the switch from sdtv to hdtv. Let me put it this way: I would sooner give up hdtv service than dvr service. Thank gawd I live in a country where I can have both.

As others have said, buy your own, though, it at all possible. And be sure to shop around. weaknees.com is a good site to shop. We upgraded our original 30 hour tivo to 100 hours, and loved. When that one crapped out, we bought a new one, a 100 hour box, then upgraded that to 300 hours. That's a lot of freakin' tv. We just upgraded to hd-dvr; the box is a 400 hours sdtv, 100 hours hdtv. I don't think I'll need to upgrade that one for awhile, but weaknees.com does sell external hard drives that can store 400 hours of hdtv. That's a fuck load of hdtv.

FWIW, I've been a directtv subscriber for 6 or 7 years. They offer new subscribers a free hdtv-dvr. Well, I called and couldn't get that; they wanted to charge my $300 for that box, according to the first girl I talked to. I asked to speak to her boss, spouting loyal customer and all that. After 2 minutes on the phone with her, I got that box for free, plus free installation. Only had to pay handling fees of $20. I can live that. The point: You might have to fight to get the box free or upgraded, but it's worth it, and it can be done.

Shit, this is much longer than I meant it to be. I guess I'm passionate about my tivo....Is that a bad thing, to be so passionate about watching tv?

TP

[VvvJRvvV]

Comcast is basically my only option. I can get satellite but it seems to be much higher in this area.

I was doing a little reading on Tivo. It seems I will have to get at a minimum 1 CableCard from Comcast. If I want to access more than one channel at a time, I will have to get two. The cost is free to $2 a month each.

What are the media center options? Would I still have to get cable cards? Would I be able to record more than one channel at a time?

Tivo out of pocket for the one I was looking at was $349. Link to Tivo machine. (http://www.weaknees.com/tivo/tivo-hd-300-hours.php) I can damn near build a PC for that. Is media center a viable option?

Thanks,
JR

[tele_pathic]

That one you've linked is a bit on the smallish size as far as storage space goes. Not that you have to get a gazillion hours, but, you know, 30?

Good point about the dual tuners/channels. You definitely want to be able to record two channels at once while you watch something from your list. With only a single channel capacity, you've basically got nothing more than a vcr.

As for building a media center, I don't shit about building computers and such, so buying something pre-made was the only option for me. Plus, I live out in the country, so something that relied on an ethernet connection/network was not an option either. Thus, tivo + direct tv. But, I might build something like that when I move into the city.

TP

[Screw]

IMO it's pretty simple. If you've never had Tivo, you'll like the Comcast DVR.

-Screw

[2_hotty]

Thats a great way to put it. If you've never had Tivo, a DVR will be fine.

I have two DVRs and a Series 3 Tivo. I HATE using the DVR's. The S3 is in my main TV room. It's a night and day difference. The only bad part about the Tivo is the cable cards. For one, cable cards are generally fucking garbage hardware, and they do go bad. Two, no matter what Comcast tells you, you can't get PPV's on that TV. It's weird because when I had WOW cable, I could get PPVs as long as I ordered them over the phone (so they're sent to all TVs in the house) but since I switched back to Comcast, I haven't been able to get them. No matter how many times they tell me on the phone that it should work.

[CRAW]

I'm currently using a TiVo made for DirecTV, and I'm pretty sure it has an 80 gig hard drive... I'm begining my switch to HDTV, and I'm wondering if the $199 DirecTV DVR they are currently watching will hold just as much as my standard def TiVo. They claim it will hold like 50 hours of HD programming, but they say nothing about the hard disk capacity.

Anyone know how the new HD DVR will compare to my standard def TiVo (80 gig) I'm currently using?

I'd love to get a new TiVo, but they are WAY over priced. :(

[Charlutz]

I'm currently using a TiVo made for DirecTV, and I'm pretty sure it has an 80 gig hard drive... I'm begining my switch to HDTV, and I'm wondering if the $199 DirecTV DVR they are currently watching will hold just as much as my standard def TiVo. They claim it will hold like 50 hours of HD programming, but they say nothing about the hard disk capacity.

Anyone know how the new HD DVR will compare to my standard def TiVo (80 gig) I'm currently using?

I'd love to get a new TiVo, but they are WAY over priced. :(

First, don't pay $200 for it. Nobody does. You can get them at Costco for $169. Or, you can call 1 800 directv and cut a deal with them. You have to sign on for 2 more years (have to anyway with any new equipment) but if you get the right CSR you can get them for free. I have 3 and haven't paid for any of them. When the computer answers the phone and asks why you are calling, say "cancel service." When it asks to confirm, say yes. You will then be transferred to a customer retention CSR who will not know that you just said you wanted to cancel. They have much more authority to give you deals than the frontline CSR's. When they ask why you are calling, tell them you just got an HDTV and are looking to upgrade to HD service. Tell them you want the HD dish and an HD DVR. If you pay your bills on time, they should give you the dish, the HD dvr and the installation for free. If they don't give you a deal you like, say no thanks, hang up and call again and talk to someone else. If you are nice, they won't put any notations in your account and the next person you talk to won't know what you turned down. It takes some persistence, but you can get it free or at least heavily discounted.

There are several hd dvr models. The HR 20 and 21 have 300gig hdd and store 40 or so hours of HD or maybe 300 hours of SD material. The HR 23 has a 500 gig hard drive and stores 70 hours or so of HD. The 20 has internal over the air HD tuners, so you can connect an antenna to it if you want to receive your local HD over the air. Useful if you look at the local weather HD channels or if you cannot get the local HD channels over the satellite dish. There are external tuner add ons for the 21 and 23 but you have to ask directv to bring them too when they come to install. The 20 is silver. The other two are black.

I have two 20's and a 21. One of the 20's is the one in my theater. For $35 I bought an external cooled hdd enclosure and for $110 I bought a 1.5 terabite hdd. It's plug and play to connect it to the dvr. I now have 400 hours of HD storage on that machine. :D

As for comparing to tivo, it will take a little time to get used to the new button presses. They've worked out most of the bugs, but one of mine locks up every so often. The biggest feature you lose is the dual tuner buffers. Hurts on Sunday during NFL as you can no longer pause one game and switch to another, and then come back to where you left off on the first.

[CRAW]

First, don't pay $200 for it. Nobody does. You can get them at Costco for $169. Or, you can call 1 800 directv and cut a deal with them. You have to sign on for 2 more years (have to anyway with any new equipment) but if you get the right CSR you can get them for free. I have 3 and haven't paid for any of them. When the computer answers the phone and asks why you are calling, say "cancel service." When it asks to confirm, say yes. You will then be transferred to a customer retention CSR who will not know that you just said you wanted to cancel. They have much more authority to give you deals than the frontline CSR's. When they ask why you are calling, tell them you just got an HDTV and are looking to upgrade to HD service. Tell them you want the HD dish and an HD DVR. If you pay your bills on time, they should give you the dish, the HD dvr and the installation for free. If they don't give you a deal you like, say no thanks, hang up and call again and talk to someone else. If you are nice, they won't put any notations in your account and the next person you talk to won't know what you turned down. It takes some persistence, but you can get it free or at least heavily discounted.

There are several hd dvr models. The HR 20 and 21 have 300gig hdd and store 40 or so hours of HD or maybe 300 hours of SD material. The HR 23 has a 500 gig hard drive and stores 70 hours or so of HD. The 20 has internal over the air HD tuners, so you can connect an antenna to it if you want to receive your local HD over the air. Useful if you look at the local weather HD channels or if you cannot get the local HD channels over the satellite dish. There are external tuner add ons for the 21 and 23 but you have to ask directv to bring them too when they come to install. The 20 is silver. The other two are black.

I have two 20's and a 21. One of the 20's is the one in my theater. For $35 I bought an external cooled hdd enclosure and for $110 I bought a 1.5 terabite hdd. It's plug and play to connect it to the dvr. I now have 400 hours of HD storage on that machine. :D

As for comparing to tivo, it will take a little time to get used to the new button presses. They've worked out most of the bugs, but one of mine locks up every so often. The biggest feature you lose is the dual tuner buffers. Hurts on Sunday during NFL as you can no longer pause one game and switch to another, and then come back to where you left off on the first.

This guy is the nuts!!! Thanks you very much!!! +rep!!!

I don't suppose you (or anyone else for that matter) would know if I could somehow just store movies that were recorded on my DVR to my PS3...?

[CRAW]

Charlutz,

I just got a $50 HD DVR and 6 months of free HD service for telling them I was thinking about going to cable. LOL! Thanks again for the pointers! Much appreciated!!!

:D

[Charlutz]

Glad it worked out for you Bro! I aim to please.