Considering TIVO again

[psternklar]

I am having constant problems with my 8300. The guide rarely updates without a reboot. TW tells me it is a known issue and no ETA for the fix is available. I loved my DVR when I had DirecTV but the customer service was non-existant. I am thinking about a TIVO box but I am concerned about all the threads with CC problems. For those of you with a TIVO/CC what has been your experience? Do the CC need constant TLC?? Thanks.

[peekb]

In my experience, the CableCards don't, but the Tuning Adapters do. They're a pain, but it's still better than a TW DVR in my opinion.

[the block]

I must be the odd man out because I almost never have cable card / tuning adapter problems. I think we've had them now around a year now, and I've maybe had to power cycle my tuning adapter 2 or 3 times total, which I don't think is that bad. And peekb is right, even if you had to do it once a month it is still better than using TW's dvr.

[Skaggs]

The TiVo experience is hands-down better than TWC's DVR.

TWC will try to steer you away from a CC and onto their DVR, but once you have a TiVo, you never go back. Imagine being able to record ONLY the NEW episodes of a certain program, no matter what channel they are on! There are too many reasons why a TiVo is superior to a TWC DVR.

The one downside is having to pay a monthly subscription fee, but you were paying a $14 monthly DVR Service Fee to TWC anyway. I went with the lifetime TiVo subscription for my two TiVos many years ago...when it was only $199.

[psternklar]

Thanks for the replies, but how flakey is the TA/CC set up?

[Deleted]

I also have had zero problems with the cable cards and the TA with my Series 3 TiVo. I stuck with the 2 separate cards rather than the multi-stream and have not regretted it for a minute.

Also, the SARA software does support the "first run" only recordings on the 8300 DVR and is in use in other areas of the country. Someone just needs to get it implemented in Albany.

[hurnik]

Jan 29, 2010 15:53:15 GMT -5 @retired said:

I also have had zero problems with the cable cards and the TA with my Series 3 TiVo. I stuck with the 2 separate cards rather than the multi-stream and have not regretted it for a minute.

Also, the SARA software does support the "first run" only recordings on the 8300 DVR and is in use in other areas of the country. Someone just needs to get it implemented in Albany.

TW Albany STILL hasn't implemented that? Good grief, it's been out almost 3 years now.

Anyway, Tivo with a cable card seems fairly okay now. It's that d**n tuning Adapter and SDV that mucks things up, IMO.

I would agree, once you have a Tivo you never want to go back. I've used the crummy TW DVR and it was so unreliable I got rid of it (even with all the TA/SDV problems with my Tivo, it's STILL more reliable than the TW DVR).

Price-wise though you'll have to fork out some money and keep it to "break even" as it were. Plus there's some hope that if/when Verizon FIOS ever comes in the area you can chuck the TA and not have to deal with SDV either.

[shanedude]

I have not had anyone try to talk me out of using a cablecard. A few times I have just been told that I would need to be transferred to a special group for support since the average phone person doesn't get many cablecard questions.

I got rid of my tivo in exchange for a Win7 HTPC with a ATI cablecard tuner. The tuning adapter works and I get all my sdv chs. No monthly fee makes me happy, and interface is great. 4 TB of HDD and ability to burn to DVD blow away the tivo.

Tivo was reliable however the interface was poor. Seems geared towards non-techy people. I looked at the MOXI, but never was able to play around with one in person so was hesitant in dropping the cash.

[Chris Miller]

Jan 29, 2010 20:17:59 GMT -5 shanedude said:

I got rid of my tivo in exchange for a Win7 HTPC with a ATI cablecard tuner. The tuning adapter works and I get all my sdv chs. No monthly fee makes me happy, and interface is great. 4 TB of HDD and ability to burn to DVD blow away the tivo.

How does the HTPC deal with the CCI protected content? Can you still burn it to DVD or transcode it for viewing a portable player? As much as I enjoy my TiVo HD, TWC shenanigans with the CCI byte on almost all of the digitals is very annoying.

[hurnik]

I dunno, the cost to run a decent Windows 7 HTPC (meaning buy or build one yourself) AND the ATI Card probably are more than the $200-300 for the Tivo HD and $300 or whatever for lifetime service, IMO.

You can burn to DVD with Tivo as well, but if you are using the ATI card with cable card you're only burning the local HD stations and the few analogs as the CCI byte should prevent you from recording/transferring anything elsewhere. MS is pretty good about following DRM stuff.

[bruces]

It took about 3 visits from TW to get the cable cards configured correctly in my S3. I think I was one of the first people in the area to get anything that required a cable card and TW was clueless, but they should be better now since their own boxes now use cable cards.

Once the cards were configured correctly and linked to my TW account, I didn't have any problems until the tuning adapter was added. SDV is a pain.

However, most of the shows I want to record are from the major networks anyway and the tivo has no problems with OTA stations.

[Chris Miller]

Trying to compare a Windows 7 Media Center PC with a TiVo is an apples to oranges comparison. The 7 box is a full featured PC and you can easily play stuff like Hulu through it. The TiVo is an appliance, a really cool appliance, but an appliance none the less. It is a closed platform with limited expandability (via HME). The 7 box is going to cost more, but you get more too. The new Ceton Quad-Tuner cards look very intriguing. especially being able to record 4 channels with a single cable card. However, with a list price $399, that card is price of a TiVo HD and a year of service.

From what I understand, you can stream DRM-protected recordings from a MediaCenter box to other TV's, if you have MediaExtender devices (like an XBox or a dedicated device). TiVo wont to do MRV when a recording is protected.

The TiVo being a well designed appliance, provides a much simpler interface. It does one thing and does it quite well. That being said, if I were buying a new TiVo right now, I would wait a couple of weeks. There will be some announcement by TiVo on March 2nd. There are rumors about new hardware releases. While it's just a rumor, I would still wait until after March 2nd before making any purchasing decision.

[sscfilms]

Hi,
I'm new to the site and got here by chasing down the CCI 00x2 issues which I think are clearly and cleanly explained. Nice Job!

Re: TiVo. It's one of the great life-changing devices of modern technology. If you are looking for the best functionality and the absolute best interface, you can only consider a TiVo. Everything else is a wannabe or a workaround. Period.

So, being a longtime TiVo fan and user, I find myself very frustrated by the CCI tags. I'm a Los Angeles TW user and I have found that the 0x02 tag is being used on d**n near everything. I have several TiVos and transferring programs from one TiVo to another TiVo is a real bonus. Said differently, not being able to transfer is really inconvenient.

Your thread led me to believe that TW Albany had decided to remove the 00x2 tags in October/November... and then what? Is this issue dead in the water? I hope not. TW can make me crazy sometimes.

Ah well, thanks for the info.

[Chris Miller]

Feb 16, 2010 23:14:07 GMT -5 sscfilms said:

Hi,
Your thread led me to believe that TW Albany had decided to remove the 00x2 tags in October/November... and then what? Is this issue dead in the water? I hope not. TW can make me crazy sometimes.

As far as I can tell, this is what happened:

Back in November, TW Corporate decided to allow the local offices to change the CCI flag for any channel where the programmer (HBO, Cinemax, etc) did not explicitly require it to be set as part of their contract. TW Albany started to make this change around Thanksgiving, but was soon stopped by TW Corporate. TW Corporate has decided that the CCI flag will be set to 0x02 (copy once) for all of the channels that are not available as OTA.

It's a brain dead decision on their part, and when FiOS comes into to town, it will be a factor on whether or not I switch cable providers.

[psternklar]

Thanks for all the replies. Decided to go to Dishnetwork instead. The DVR is fantastic and works smoothly. PQ beats TWC.