Regardless, even if they are mainly the same inside (which I believe they are), shouldn't they be the same? Should one be clearly better then the other (at least in the 2 boxes I have, maybe this is not the same results with all boxes)? I have thought of swapping where the two boxes are, but already have season passes set on both for multiple shows & they fit better aesthetically.

I think it has to do with the quality control (or lack thereof) by Motorola. I went through five DCT641x over a two year period before I finally7 gave up and went with a Tivo HD. Each of them exhibited different but still profound issues. These ranged from the remote command backup issue to faulty hard drives to frequent random reboots (requiring a reload of the guide each time) to just locking up. While one would reasonably expect devices of the same model number within the same revision to work the same, with these faults, it seemed like each box was a different beast.

Given my experience and the experience of others with whom I have spoken with Moto DVRs, I don't find it surprising that you see differing performance on two different models.

Instructions for enabling the 30-sec skip backdoor on the Comcast DVR with TiVo Service:

Go to TiVo Recordings list and play back a recording.

Enter the following key sequence on the remote control:
Rewind
Slow
Fast Forward
Play
3
0
Advance

(The Advance key (aka skip-to-tick key) is the key that looks like ( ->| ) .)

The user will hear a chime sound to indicate that the 30-sec skip backdoor has been successfully enabled. The user can enter the same key sequence again to turn off the 30-sec skip backdoor.

With the 30-sec skip backdoor enabled, and while in "Play" mode in Live TV, a recording, or an ON DEMAND program, pressing the Advance key ( ->| ) will jump ahead 30 seconds. While in "Fast Forward" or "Rewind" mode, pressing the Advance key will jump to the next tick mark on the trickplay bar.

If the set-top box is restarted, the 30-sec skip backdoor setting is not maintained. Following a restart, the user will need to enter the backdoor key sequence to re-enable the 30-sec backdoor.

:D

Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Don't get too attached to the lack of ads in the guide. That will almost surely change over time. It is still early in the deployment.


I don't think i would continue to pay the extra for the tivo service is they started to clutter the guide with ads.

After the death of my fourth Motorola box I give up. I bought a new Tivo Series 3 ... I wish y'all well with this competely ridiculous product. In my view, we have all been paying to beta test a completely unworkable product.

Call and complain. I bet they'll refund you that 5.90 you shelled out.

Oh... it was much more than that... It will be fun trying to get it back.

Oh... it was much more than that... It will be fun trying to get it back.

Just out of curiosity, what part of 'soft launch of a brand new product' screamed very stable product to you? As much as many people want to be early adopters of new technologies, they don't want the possible side effects involved. It would have been nice if all went smoothly for everyone, but that wouldn't really be realistic. All things considered on this rollout they didn't go that bad (no one died that I'm aware of).

Just out of curiosity, what part of 'soft launch of a brand new product' screamed very stable product to you? As much as many people want to be early adopters of new technologies, they don't want the possible side effects involved. It would have been nice if all went smoothly for everyone, but that wouldn't really be realistic. All things considered on this rollout they didn't go that bad (no one died that I'm aware of).

I do think the launch went pretty well. There are plenty of bugs but overall it works and that is pretty good for a new launch.

From what I read, correct me if i am wrong, when Comcast calls to tell the customer it is available no one has said Comcast tells them it is a soft launch. It seems they are charging people to enter what I call Beta 2 which doesn't seem fair.

I would love to see someone extol the virtues of the iGuide software, in comparison to the TiVo software running on the same box. The fact that that's not likely to happen much is a testament to the fact that this isn't "Beta 2". Are folks with iGuide that much happier than folks with TiVo?

I would love to see someone extol the virtues of the iGuide software, in comparison to the TiVo software running on the same box. The fact that that's not likely to happen much is a testament to the fact that this isn't "Beta 2". Are folks with iGuide that much happier than folks with TiVo?

The problem is we don't like EITHER. One because it's not as functional (iGuide), the other because it was rolled out before it was ready. And personally having used the TiVo software for a couple of days before my box crapped out, I wasn't that impressed with that either. If it works, it's better than the iGuide, but not all that much.

Now this may be limited to those who have experienced a real TiVo. Others who haven't don't know any better.

Now, if I hadn't had so many problems with Comcast and wasn't thinking about switching to Verizon when they come around, I would have already gotten a Tivo HD box. To those who have an old TiVo, have the option to move over their lifetime subscription, and will be with Comcast for the forseeable future, GET THE HD TIVO BOX. It will pay for itself in a few years.

The problem is we don't like EITHER.The only other choice is doing without: Which of the three do you prefer, given the price associated with each?

Now this may be limited to those who have experienced a real TiVo. Others who haven't don't know any better.That's a great point: For vast numbers of customers, both offerings could be fine-and-dandy.

Now, if I hadn't had so many problems with Comcast and wasn't thinking about switching to Verizon when they come around, I would have already gotten a Tivo HD box.Be sure to research all your options. I haven't detected a significant difference in the likelihood of encountering people who don't like the service between the various options (Comcast w/iGuide, Comcast w/TiVo, FiOS, TiVo stand-alone, DirecTV, Dish Network, etc.) Seems that there are a lot of people who don't like each of them, and that seems to track the number of folks who HAVE each of them. >shrug<

Just out of curiosity, what part of 'soft launch of a brand new product' screamed very stable product to you? As much as many people want to be early adopters of new technologies, they don't want the possible side effects involved. It would have been nice if all went smoothly for everyone, but that wouldn't really be realistic. All things considered on this rollout they didn't go that bad (no one died that I'm aware of).
Let me preface my remarks by confessing that I am not a Comcast customer. Thus, I have had no first hand experience with the Comcast-TiVo software. I have, however, done a lot of beta testing of various computer and HT products and I can’t remember having as many problems with any of them as have been reported here.

I have to assume that Comcast decided to gamble and rollout TiVo to you folks in New England, despite its continuing bugs and without warning of their existence. To charge $14.95 for installation and a continuing $2.95 per month subscription fee under the circumstances verges on the unconscionable, it seems to me.

Despite my sympathy for those of you who have paid and are continuing to pay for a product that is, apparently, not yet ready for prime time, as a longtime TiVo owner I have a lot of faith in TiVo's software and think that the problems will be solved.

The only other choice is doing without: Which of the three do you prefer, given the price associated with each?

I prefer and recommend to others to just get a real TiVo which is far better (and cheaper if they use it for long enough) than either of the Comcast choices. Especially in standard definition, where the price difference can be made up much sooner. Nevermind all the extra useful features that the TiVo has.

That's a great point: For vast numbers of customers, both offerings could be fine-and-dandy.

Yes, when the Comcast TiVo service works like it's supposed to.

Be sure to research all your options. I haven't detected a significant difference in the likelihood of encountering people who don't like the service between the various options (Comcast w/iGuide, Comcast w/TiVo, FiOS, TiVo stand-alone, DirecTV, Dish Network, etc.) Seems that there are a lot of people who don't like each of them, and that seems to track the number of folks who HAVE each of them. >shrug<

I'm sure there are some who don't like TiVo stand alone, but complaints are certainly on the light side compared with others. Having used a Comcast iGuide DVR, a Comcast TiVo DVR, and a TiVo standalone, there is no contest. The only thing that the Comcast boxes have on the TiVo standalone is the live viewing screen on the DVR menu. That is the only feature that I would miss.

(Edit: responding to gwsat...)

I have to disagree. I've been a programmer for 30 years at various levels in everything from two-man operations to the Fortune 50 corporation where I work today, plus countless contract and side jobs. Some of my products have been deployed to user bases of a similar size or larger, including beta cycles. I've also been on the testing side on all sorts of products, too. I don't see anything especially atypical in what is reported here, particularly when I compare it to experiences that involve the general public and the wildly different situations one encounters in those cases.

I have to assume that Comcast decided to gamble and rollout TiVo to you folks in New England, despite its continuing bugs and without warning of their existence. To charge $14.95 for installation and a continuing $2.95 per month subscription fee under the circumstances verges on the unconscionable, it seems to me.

After my failed 3 day experiment with the Comcast TiVo box and subsequent reinstallment of the regular Comcast DVR, I contacted Comcast to make sure they remove the installation charge and TiVo service from my account. The phone rep said they had already been removed.

Given my history with what phone reps at Comcast tell me, I'll be checking my bill carefully.

I would love to see someone extol the virtues of the iGuide software, in comparison to the TiVo software running on the same box. The fact that that's not likely to happen much is a testament to the fact that this isn't "Beta 2". Are folks with iGuide that much happier than folks with TiVo?

The iGuide may be less user friendly and have less features but it works as intended. There have been multiple users in this post say they have switched back due to the issues.

I have the iGuide and I am happy with it.

Due to the number of issues and small rollout area I still consider this a Beta 2. If this were a product launch there would be advertisements and a nation wide rollout plan announced.

I prefer and recommend to others to just get a real TiVo which is far better (and cheaper if they use it for long enough) than either of the Comcast choices.Yes, sorry... four choices.

That is the one I recommend myself, incidentally, to family, but they always reject it because of the up-front cost. So they demand a recommendation among the remaining three options.

Yes, when the Comcast TiVo service works like it's supposed to.I have no way of knowing, but with a lot of these kinds of things, I've found that the service works as it is supposed to far more often than the online indications would lead me to believe.

I'm sure there are some who don't like TiVo stand alone, but complaints are certainly on the light side compared with others.You'd be surprised. Starting with the aforementioned upset over the up-front cost, and the high price itself, folks also mention the risk of failure (only 90 day warranty). In addition, CableCards are very flaky, and there currently is no solution available for SDV, though hopefully one will be provided for some cable customers around mid-year. Then there are the problems with the software itself, the guide data, the billing, the tech support, the home media failures and limitations, and so on.

Having used a Comcast iGuide DVR, a Comcast TiVo DVR, and a TiVo standalone, there is no contest.But there is. You and I have made the choice for a stand-alone TiVo, but it isn't the right choice for everyone.

But there is. You and I have made the choice for a stand-alone TiVo, but it isn't the right choice for everyone.

As far as it being no contest to which is the best, I was referring to features. The only reason it's not better for everyone is the upfront cost. Some can't afford to put that money up front.

Or don't see the value we see. Heck, I'm sure there are folks who don't see the value I see in having the Motorola 3416 alongside my TiVo stand-alone.

Or don't see the value we see. Heck, I'm sure there are folks who don't see the value I see in having the Motorola 3416 alongside my TiVo stand-alone.

I guess a lot of it truly comes down to how much tv one watches. I have both as well just cause i don't want to hear my wife complain if she misses one of her shows, if you factor that it Tivo is a no brainer.

....
To those who have an old TiVo, have the option to move over their lifetime subscription, and will be with Comcast for the forseeable future, GET THE HD TIVO BOX. It will pay for itself in a few years.

How do you know that "it will pay for itself in a few years"? And a few years is an awfully long time in the world of electronics. Are you saying that for the next few years there will be no substantial improvements to Tivo-Comcast?

That is a good point. Moreover, we don't know what competition may come to the market, or what changes may happen to your environment that would change the value proposition of one choice over the other.

How do you know that "it will pay for itself in a few years"? And a few years is an awfully long time in the world of electronics. Are you saying that for the next few years there will be no substantial improvements to Tivo-Comcast?

It's simple really, the $16 a month for a Comcast Tivo will eventually catch up with the upfront cost of the stand alone TiVo w/lifetime subscription.

Even if there are substantial improvements to the Comcast TiVo, which is REALLY SUBSTANTIAL if we're talking about catching up to the stand alone TiVo, the stand alone TiVo will improve as well. I have an old series 2 TiVo which is continually adding new features. That TiVo is almost 4 years old and had much better features when I bought it than either of the Comcast boxes have now.

Unless TiVo is thinking about moving their business away from stand alone boxes (HIGHLY UNLIKELY), their standalones will always be better than the Comcast TiVo boxes. What sense does it make for someone to buy a stand alone TiVo, when they can get the exact same thing from the cable company without the upfront cost.

Can you have VOD with standalone Tivo box? If not then it's not even an option for me. 30-40% of my viewing is VOD.

Can you have VOD with standalone Tivo box?

Not at this time.

Can you have VOD with standalone Tivo box? If not then it's not even an option for me. 30-40% of my viewing is VOD.

Yes. That is not affected. You just need to use your cable remote instead of the TiVo remote.

Not at this time.

That is not true. The TiVo box is between the regular cable box and the TV (or receiver and TV). Anything that comes out of the cable box, including VOD, can be used. However, as stated earlier the TiVo remote will not work with it, the cable remote must be used.

That is not true.



That is true unless you also have a cable box hooked up to the S2 standalone tivo.

That is true unless you also have a cable box hooked up to the S2 standalone tivo.

Are we talking Cable Card? I can't vouch for that, but am surprised by it.

I'm assuming to get VOD with Comcast you need a box. As far as I know, Comcast doesn't use Cable Cards around here (Massachusetts).

It's simple really, the $16 a month for a Comcast Tivo will eventually catch up with the upfront cost of the stand alone TiVo w/lifetime subscription.Surely anything will eventually catch up with a TiVo with a lifetime subscription (assuming that the TiVo lasts that long in terms of both its own longevity and its usefulness to you). However, what folks can legitimate interpret your statement to mean is, "Don't buy a TiVo without getting a lifetime subscription."

Even if there are substantial improvements to the Comcast TiVo, which is REALLY SUBSTANTIAL if we're talking about catching up to the stand alone TiVo, the stand alone TiVo will improve as well.No, not in the same way. The TiVo stands no chance against the upgrade possibilities for the Comcast DVR options. When you buy a TiVo, you are stuck with that hardware. For example, I've got an S3, so I am stuck renting two S-cards. By comparison, if one year from now, Comcast starts rolling out the DCX-3450, all I have to do is take the five minute drive down the block and swap my DCT-3416 for it, no questions asked.

Unless TiVo is thinking about moving their business away from stand alone boxes (HIGHLY UNLIKELY)What makes you say that?

Can you have VOD with standalone Tivo box? If not then it's not even an option for me. 30-40% of my viewing is VOD.No. No VOD and I doubt even that the tuning resolver will address that lack.

That is not true. The TiVo box is between the regular cable box and the TV (or receiver and TV).Whoa... I'm pretty sure folks are talking about HD DVRs. In that case, no, the TiVo box is, as folks indicated, 'stand-alone' -- no cable box. They connect to cable service directly, and/or via CableCards.

Surely anything will eventually catch up with a TiVo with a lifetime subscription (assuming that the TiVo lasts that long in terms of both its own longevity and its usefulness to you). However, what folks can legitimate interpret your statement to mean is, "Don't buy a TiVo without getting a lifetime subscription."

Good for them. I never said "DON'T GET A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION FOR A TIVO". It's not my responsibility to write opinions that are idiot proof. I said if you have the opportunity to move over your lifetime subscription, it's worth it.

No, not in the same way. The TiVo stands no chance against the upgrade possibilities for the Comcast DVR options. When you buy a TiVo, you are stuck with that hardware. For example, I've got an S3, so I am stuck renting two S-cards. By comparison, if one year from now, Comcast starts rolling out the DCX-3450, all I have to do is take the five minute drive down the block and swap my DCT-3416 for it, no questions asked.

Yes, you can, but what in the past has made you believe that that box you get a year from now is going to be any better than the HD TiVo you would buy now? Again, my TiVo from 4 years ago is better than the standard DVR's out by Comcast now. Not to mention, the newest HD Tivo is upgradable in hard drive size (yes, I know you need to buy it).

What makes you say that?

Because they certainly make more money on standalone boxes than through Comcast and other cable companies. And they continue to come out with new boxes.

Whoa... I'm pretty sure folks are talking about HD DVRs. In that case, no, the TiVo box is, as folks indicated, 'stand-alone' -- no cable box. They connect to cable service directly, and/or via CableCards.

Okay, my error. I made a bad assumption.

Good for them. I never said "DON'T GET A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION FOR A TIVO".But your argument only holds together if folks buy and use their TiVo for a long period of time, with a lifetime subscription. That's and important qualification that cannot be under-emphasized.

Yes, you can, but what in the past has made you believe that that box you get a year from now is going to be any better than the HD TiVo you would buy now?We already know that the TiVo S3 was released with previous-generation Broadcom chips. Things change year to year. If you don't buy your DVR, then you can make a different decision tomorrow.

Because they certainly make more money on standalone boxes than through Comcast and other cable companies.Uh, no, they don't. They have made money on their Comcast contract, and they lose money on every stand-along box -- the exact opposite.

Okay, my error. I made a bad assumption.

We are in the HDTV Recorders forum yet you keep comparing you 4 year old Tivo saying it is better than current DVRs. I don't think with the lack of HD and only one tuner that makes any sense. Atleast talk about Tivo HD to Comcast Tivo since they both will support it.

When you factor in the $16 a month you save by not renting a DVR from comcast you froget to mention that you will need to rent cable cards from comcast to work the dual tuner. A user also has to hope his unit doesn't break. Just becuase you had a good experience with your Tivo doesn't mean everyone has. There is peace of mind in knowing that if the Comcast Tivo box breaks you just call someone and they come out and swap it for you.

I think bicker made a good point about it is hard to predict what comcast's competitors are going to do as well. What if Tivo and DirecTV create a new contract? With all the HD DirecTV has and if they added a Tivo box, why would anyone not want to switch?

Alright, I thought I'd throw in my $.02.

After getting over the hype surrounding the Comcast/Tivo release, (I chose not to have it installed) I think I'm pretty content with the Comcast HDDVR. I have used Tivo, but never owned one, so I can't make a real comparison between the two. Anyways, last night I was watching my wife cruize around the guide, setting recordings, checking and adjusting series recordings, checking how much space was remaining and deleting some old recordings before primetime viewing, when I realized that she's good at it, and comfortable with it. It was at that point that I thought, "Why would I want to put her through the whole process of learning a new interface?" She and I are happy with what we have. That being said, we had a ReplayTv for years before switching to the Comcast HDDVR for HD recording and the dual tuners. But when you look at Replay compared to the iGuide, they're very similar, which made for a fairly painless transition. Look, they're all basically the same animal with a different skin. I think a lot of people (including myself) prefer the DVR they were first introduced to because they got comfortable with it. I still, to this day think that Replay had the best GUI and features. Now that's most likely because it was my first DVR. I used to tell people that Replay was Tivo for adults as a joke due to it's straight forward approach without the cute interface Tivo has. And we can't overlook the "automatic commercial advance" feature, which IMO trumps all features to this day. Before you Tivo owners go flaming me, it was a joke. I was mostly pissed off since Tivo was kicking Replays ass in sales. I felt like the guy with the Betamax machine during that time.:rolleyes:

Look, don't take this stuff too seriously. It's just TV. Enjoy it. And remember that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. It's just different grass. That's all I have to say about that.:)

It's simple really, the $16 a month for a Comcast Tivo will eventually catch up with the upfront cost of the stand alone TiVo w/lifetime subscription.

Unless TiVo is thinking about moving their business away from stand alone boxes (HIGHLY UNLIKELY), their standalones will always be better than the Comcast TiVo boxes. What sense does it make for someone to buy a stand alone TiVo, when they can get the exact same thing from the cable company without the upfront cost.
I thought that the only additional cost involved in renting the Comcast-TiVo software was $2.95 per month. Isn’t most of the $16 a month one pays Comcast for its HD programming going to still be owed, even if you have a TiVo HD?

It seems to me that TiVo's survival depends on its ability to deeply penetrate the cable TV market. I believe that’s not going to happen if one has to buy a TiVo HD for $300 and then pay another $13 a month for a TiVo subscription. One still has to pay the cable company for its HD services on top of that. Most of us bought either the TiVo S3 or the HD recognized that we would be paying extra for the privilege of getting a TiVo box but were willing to do so anyway.

I bought my S3 a little over a year ago because I had owned an S1 since 2000 and loved it. Also I had a lifetime subscription on the S1, which I was able to transfer to my new S3 for a one-time charge of $199. Even so, compared to the cost of the HD DVR I had been renting from Cox OKC for less than 10 bucks a month, the S3 was WAY more expensive. The HD comes closer to economic reality, of course, but not enough closer to make economic sense when compared to the cheap monthly rental charged for cable company owned boxes.

If the bug problems with the Comcast-TiVo software problems are solved, I think that many Comcast customers are going to be tempted to get it, many more than would ever even consider buying a TiVo box and paying for a subscription on top of it.

For these reasons, I believe that TiVo's very survival depends on its ability to make sure that its deals with Comcast and Cox to use TiVo software work. Otherwise, I expect them to fail eventually because their current business model simply hasn’t made a profit for them in the past and won’t do so in the future.

I thought that the only additional cost involved in renting the Comcast-TiVo software was $2.95 per month. Isn’t most of the $16 a month one pays Comcast for its HD programming going to still be owed, even if you have a TiVo HD?

The $2.95 per month is on top of the base fee for the Comcast DVR service, which runs anywhere from $13-16 a month. So the cost of a ComcastTivo DVR is $16-19 a month.

If you decide to get a TivoHD to replace the Comcast DVR, you save the $13-16 a month DVR rental fee. Of course, you need to factor in the cost of the Tivo and service. Most folks do the 3-year prepay since it is the best deal, so you divide $600 (Hardware+Contract) by 36 and get ~$17 a month so it should effectively be a wash vs. the Comcast DVR and could be cheaper vs. the ComcastTivo DVR.

In my case in Seattle, my cable bill went down more then the combined monthly cost of the TivoHD, the CableCard, and the three-year prepaid service. So I actually come out ahead about $1 a month. And for about three months, my bill dropped $9 a month. Why? I have no idea. But I essentially received two months free Tivo service and continue to save a bit of money.


It seems to me that TiVo's survival depends on its ability to deeply penetrate the cable TV market. I believe that’s not going to happen if one has to buy a TiVo HD for $300 and then pay another $13 a month for a TiVo subscription...I believe that TiVo's very survival depends on its ability to make sure that its deals with Comcast and Cox to use TiVo software work.

Hence Tivo making a deal with Comcast. Now that they could conceivably shut-down DirecTV's DVR service, I expect DirecTV will license their technology, as well. And once Comcast and DirecTV use Tivo, so likely will Cox and Time Warner.

So that should ensure enough money to keep Tivo alive, and the hardware and direct service sales will just be gravy. There will be people who feel the Tivo-provided service is better then what they can get bundled from their content provider. I expect ComcastTivo to get better in the next two years, but if it does not, I can still enjoy my TivoHD.

Lurker here from CA so I don't have to make any decision just yet. I am a TIVO lover (S2) but when I bought my HDTV it was a no brainer to get the Comcast (DCT3416). As is true for most things it all comes down to how one watches TV. My family makes extensive use of VOD, so anyone who does not use VOD then my 'logic" does not make sense for them.

Given the current state of Cable Cards, in order to upgrade my TIVO to TIVO HD I would still need the Comcast Box for VOD. Every time I do the math, this purchase just does not make sense (for my setup/Family). If by some miracle the TIVO software is available I would love to use it, if only because of my family being comfy with that interface. In addtion, if two way Cable Cards do actually see the light of day (and even when they do I am sure they will allow us to be beta testers) I would then likely get serious about the TIVO HD (or whatever flavor is available at that future date).

Lastly, I would be happy to support TIVO for the simple reason that the competition they bring to the industry benefits us all - no matter what "box" we are using. Do you really think Comcast, COX et al would really work hard at innovation if they were not pushed by an innovative company like TIVO?

Alright, I thought I'd throw in my $.02.

After getting over the hype surrounding the Comcast/Tivo release, (I chose not to have it installed) I think I'm pretty content with the Comcast HDDVR. I have used Tivo, but never owned one, so I can't make a real comparison between the two. Anyways, last night I was watching my wife cruize around the guide, setting recordings, checking and adjusting series recordings, checking how much space was remaining and deleting some old recordings before primetime viewing, when I realized that she's good at it, and comfortable with it. It was at that point that I thought, "Why would I want to put her through the whole process of learning a new interface?" She and I are happy with what we have. That being said, we had a ReplayTv for years before switching to the Comcast HDDVR for HD recording and the dual tuners. But when you look at Replay compared to the iGuide, they're very similar, which made for a fairly painless transition. Look, they're all basically the same animal with a different skin. I think a lot of people (including myself) prefer the DVR they were first introduced to because they got comfortable with it. I still, to this day think that Replay had the best GUI and features. Now that's most likely because it was my first DVR. I used to tell people that Replay was Tivo for adults as a joke due to it's straight forward approach without the cute interface Tivo has. And we can't overlook the "automatic commercial advance" feature, which IMO trumps all features to this day. Before you Tivo owners go flaming me, it was a joke. I was mostly pissed off since Tivo was kicking Replays ass in sales. I felt like the guy with the Betamax machine during that time.:rolleyes:

Look, don't take this stuff too seriously. It's just TV. Enjoy it. And remember that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. It's just different grass. That's all I have to say about that.:)
I agree 100% about the Replay vs. Tivo statements. My wife also liked the original Replay Showstopper and then the later series Replays, especiallly the auto skip commercial feature. Why bother pressing any buttons at all when Repay will do it automatically? HD is the only reason I moved on.



Given the current state of Cable Cards, in order to upgrade my TIVO to TIVO HD I would still need the Comcast Box for VOD. Every time I do the math, this purchase just does not make sense (for my setup/Family). If by some miracle the TIVO software is available I would love to use it, if only because of my family being comfy with that interface. In addtion, if two way Cable Cards do actually see the light of day (and even when they do I am sure they will allow us to be beta testers) I would then likely get serious about the TIVO HD (or whatever flavor is available at that future date).

Cable cards HAVE ALWAYS BEEN Two-way devices. It's the Tivo products that are not two-way compatible. How do you think that they use cable cards in all the current (Since July 07) cable provided STB's?

vegggas

Let me preface my remarks by confessing that I am not a Comcast customer. Thus, I have had no first hand experience with the Comcast-TiVo software. I have, however, done a lot of beta testing of various computer and HT products and I can’t remember having as many problems with any of them as have been reported here.

Well, I'm on the other side. I spent many years in computer and consumer electronics. I was involved directly in product development, beta testing and post-launch monitoring. The number and severity of bugs being reported here and the type of bugs seems not very unusual to me. You can wonder what fly-by-night companies I must have worked for, but that is not the case. Open buglists on release are part of formula and new bugs are found after release. If they waited until every bug was resolved before releasing this kind of product, it would never get released. The bugs are rated by degree of severity, and only "show-stoppers" will stop a release. We worked hard to remedy bugs, but certain known bugs would still be present on release. There would be a schedule for dealing with them. One other tidbit - some known bugs are never addressed. If they are deemed not to be really common or bad, and would require a major hardware change to fix, they were left alone until the next product release. I always hated that, but it was a reality.

It's your impression that other products you've bought didn't have this level of bugginess, but probably most of your impressions were as a lone customer and not from perusing groups of reports seen here. Message boards related to products tend to have people with problems in them. Those w/o problems are using the product and not looking for help here.

Cable cards HAVE ALWAYS BEEN Two-way devices. It's the Tivo products that are not two-way compatible. How do you think that they use cable cards in all the current (Since July 07) cable provided STB's?

vegggas[/QUOTE]


I could be wrong but I am not aware of any Cable Cards, I believe designated as V2 available for TIVO or for TV's that have Cable Card slots that allow two way communication for VOD or pay for view.

I agree 100% about the Replay vs. Tivo statements. My wife also liked the original Replay Showstopper and then the later series Replays, especiallly the auto skip commercial feature. Why bother pressing any buttons at all when Repay will do it automatically? HD is the only reason I moved on.

My first DVR was a Panny PV-HS2000 (donated to a friend who still uses it). And I still run a RTV-5504 with the auto skip (although it doesnt' get a ton of use). Every time we do use it, my wife asks "Why doesn't the other one do that (meaning the DCH)? I just chuckle and think the same thing to myself.:rolleyes: But I digress. Back to the topic.;)

Cable cards HAVE ALWAYS BEEN Two-way devices. It's the Tivo products that are not two-way compatible. How do you think that they use cable cards in all the current (Since July 07) cable provided STB's?

vegggas

I could be wrong but I am not aware of any Cable Cards, I believe designated as V2 available for TIVO or for TV's that have Cable Card slots that allow two way communication for VOD or pay for view.

Vegggas is correct. The cable cards are two-way devices and have always been. The following is from OpenCable's web site:

OpenCable™ — CableCARD™ Primer

CableCARD™ Overview

CableLabs® specifications define the interface between the CableCARD™ removable security module which separates the cable operator's proprietary conditional access system and the host device. Cable operators provide CableCARDs to subscribers. The cards provide secure access to encrypted digital cable programming. This separation of the host receiver from the conditional access function enables portability of retail host devices among cable networks throughout the country. For example, if a consumer purchases a set-top box or an integrated digital TV (DTV) in New York and then relocates to Los Angeles, that set-top box or integrated DTV will be operational on the new regional cable network.

CableCARD 1.0

The early cable removable security cards were called Point-of-Deployment (POD) modules. CableLabs later coined the term CableCARD™ and began describing the removable security devices as CableCARD security modules. The SCTE standards (ANSI/SCTE-28 and ANSI/SCTE-41) still use the term POD module. These are two names for the same thing.

From the very early specifications and draft standards, the CableCARD module has been a two-way device. That is, it included the functionality to enable two-way communication on the cable plant. This two-way communication is necessary for a variety of advanced cable services including video on demand (VOD), switched digital video (SDV), interactive services and applications.

The media has frequently reported that first-generation CableCARD 1.0 modules are one-way devices1. This is simply not true. CableLabs had always intended to develop the CableCARD module and host receiver standards with two-way capability. However the manufacturers of digital TVs requested that a host standard be developed that only had one-way capability. This one-way cable-ready receiver was defined by the FCC's Plug & Play order and by the Joint Test Suite (JTS). It is the definition of this one-way receiver that lacks the ability for two-way functionality, not the CableCARD module. While the FCC defined the elements of the one-way cable-ready receiver, CableLabs continued to define specifications for two-way receivers.

When a CableCARD 1.0 module is used with a two-way receiver (e.g., Samsung HLR5067C) that card supports all the necessary two-way functionality for VOD, SDV, and other interactive services.

Multistream CableCARDs

Over the years, technology advanced and CableLabs updated the CableCARD module specifications to create Multistream CableCARDs. Multiple stream processing is required in, for example, PVRs that record and play at the same time, picture-in-picture (PIP), and picture-on-picture PoP) type applications.

The development of the replacement interface specification was originally called the Multistream CableCARD Interface Specification. It updated the security system to support triple-DES (3DES) or FIPS PUB 46-3, added support for up to 6 simultaneous transport streams, and made use of the serialized interface, similar to USB-2.0, to achieve lower host receiver costs and higher data transfer rates. While doing this, the card maintained the original PCMCIA physical interface for backward compatibility.

Before anyone actually implemented this new Multistream CableCARD Interface Specification, it was recognized that it repeated a large portion of the requirements in the original CableCARD 1.0 interface specification. Having two separate specifications with duplicate requirements meant a tough job keeping everything lined up as specification clarifications came in from implementing teams. To resolve this, CableLabs began the process of merging the original (single-stream) CableCARD 1.0 interface specification with the new Multistream card interface specification. This combined specification includes all requirements for both previous specifications and is known as the CableCARD Interface Specification 2.0 or CCIF-2.0. A companion document that combined the requirements of the copy-protection specifications also was developed and is known as the CableCARD Copy Protection Specification 2.0 or CCCP-2.0. It is anticipated that most cable operators will simply migrate to the Multistream CableCARDs for all CableCARD uses. Multistream CableCARDs will work, in a backwards compatible manner, in Hosts that were originally built to the single stream CableCARD standard.

CableCARD 2.0

These new CableCARD-2.0 specifications were issued on March 31, 2005; at the same time the former CCIF 1.0 and Multistream Card (M-Card™) specifications were closed. Along with this update, changes were made to all related OpenCable specifications to require use of the new CCIF-2.0 and CCCP-2.0 in all places that previously referenced the former specifications. Beginning June 6, 2005, all CableLabs certifications of OpenCable products have been tied to CableCARD-2.0 (or CCIF-2.0) specifications. As of that date, new Cards and new Hosts have been certified to support the CCIF-2.0 and CCCP-2.0 specifications.

CableCARD Terminology

Since CableCARD-2.0 Interface specifications now included all the requirements from both the original (single-stream) CableCARD interface and the new (multi-stream) CableCARD interface, terminology was developed to distinguish between the two different operating modes and product types:

S-CARD: A two-way CableCARD module that follows the original CableCARD 1.0 Interface specification or implements only the single-stream portion of the CableCARD-2.0 Interface specification.

M-Card: A two-way CableCARD module that implements all of the multi-stream functionality as well as the single-stream functionality (for backward compatibility purposes) of the CableCARD-2.0 Interface specification.

S-Mode: The operating mode of the interface when the original parallel transfer function is being used in single-stream mode, which limits the video transfer rate to 40 Mbps in each direction.

M-Mode: The operating mode of the interface when the new serial transfer function is being used, regardless of how many transport streams are actually being delivered, to provide up to 200 Mbps data transfer rate for the video stream in each direction.

S-Host: An OpenCable Host 2.0 device or UDCP that operates exclusively in the S-Mode, regardless of how many tuners are included.

M-Host: An OpenCable Host 2.0 device or UDCP that has implemented the M-Mode variation of the interface, regardless of how many tuners the device includes.

Migration to Multistream Support

There are four types of devices that can be authorized to use the CableCARD module interface. This electronic authorization comes in the form of digital certificates that are embedded within the Host receiving device that accepts a CableCARD module. In order to receive these digital certificates a manufacturer must sign a license and build a product according to certain requirements.

The first type of Host product that can make use of the CableCARD module is the Unidirectional Digital Cable Product (UDCP) or "Digital Cable-Ready Receiver." These products were defined by FCC rules. The license a manufacturer signs for such products is the DFAST license and the requirements are found in the Joint Test Suite Conformance Checklist: PICS Proforma. For more information, please see www.cablelabs.com.

A second type of Host product is an M-UDCP device or a unidirectional receiver that uses an M-Card operating in M-Mode. In other words, a product that supports multiple tuners with a single CableCARD.

The third type of Host product that can use the CableCARD module is the OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR). The OCUR employs DRM technology (e.g., WMDRM and Real Helix), and is used to provide premium digital cable content to certain PCs. The PC itself must meet certain criteria established by the DRM provider, but is not certified separately by CableLabs. OCUR products are defined by CableLabs OpenCable specifications and the manufacturer must sign the CHILA license. The product must follow the requirements defined by the CableLabs OCUR specifications and DRI specifications. Presently these devices are required to support the S-Mode interface, but work is underway to extend their support to allow the M-Mode interface.

The fourth type of Host product that can make use of the CableCARD module is an OpenCable Host 2.0 device. This device is licensed by CableLabs under CHILA and the requirements for this product are found in the Host-CFR-2.0 specification. The main difference between this product and that which is defined by the FCC is the support for two-way functionality. The OpenCable Host 2.0 device specifications include all of the requirements necessary to support two-way cable services (e.g. video-on-demand or switched digital video), while UDCP devices do not. It is important to note that it is the receiver implementation that determines support for two-way services, not the functionality of the CableCARD module. All CableCARD modules are two-way capable.

The two-way OpenCable Host products originally were required to support the S-Mode interface and were exclusively an S-Host. The first two-way OpenCable products certified followed these requirements. Later requirements were changed for OpenCable devices mandating the M-Mode interface as a baseline.

Compatibility and Backward Compatibility of CableCARD Modules and Host Devices

Care was taken in the development of the multistream interface specification to ensure full backward compatibility. This is achieved by specific requirements on both the Host side and the Card side of the interface.

First it was established that the CableCARD module takes responsibility for operating in both modes, depending on the capabilities of the Host. This means that every M-Card is required to be able to operate equally in both the S-Mode and in the M-Mode and to be capable of sensing the capabilities of the Host.

When an M-Card is inserted into an S-Host, the CableCARD module will sense that the Host is designed for the S-Mode and will follow the S-Mode protocol. From the Host perspective, the CableCARD module will look and function like any other S-Card.

If that same M-Card is inserted into an M-Host, the CableCARD module senses that the Host is designed for the M-Mode and follows the M-Mode protocols, using the latest 3DES security and enabling the faster transport speeds capable of supporting multiple tuners.

This backward compatibility provision of the CableCARD module permits cable operators to migrate smoothly to an exclusive inventory of M-Cards that will be used for all products, with no further need to purchase or inventory older S-Cards.

Placing the backward compatibility burdens on the CableCARD modules assists Host manufacturers by freeing them from any obligation to include redundant or unnecessary circuitry while allowing them to take full advantage of the lower cost hardware design of the M-Mode interface.

Two-Way Functionality of CableCARDs and Host Devices

The ability to support two-way and interactive cable services such as VOD and SDV is a responsibility shared between the CableCARD module and the Host. There are circuits and functionalities needed on both sides of the CableCARD module interface to complete the connection and to enable full two-way signaling.

First, it is important to understand how two-way cable communication works at a high level. The two-way communications are broken down into the downstream and upstream directions. The downstream communication path describes the messages that flow from the cable headend to the subscriber device and the upstream communications are those that flow from the subscriber device back (up) to the headend. From the cable headend perspective, downstream = talking, while upstream = listening. From the subscriber equipment perspective, downstream is for listening and upstream is for talking.

All UDPC devices, M-UDCP devices, OpenCable Host devices and CableCARD modules support downstream channels, but only CableCARD modules and OpenCable Host 2.0 devices support upstream channels.

There are three distinct languages (or protocols) that are used on cable systems for the two-way communications: (1) Aloha (the protocol, defined by the ANSI/SCTE 55-1 standard, used by Motorola systems); (2) DAVIC (the protocol, defined by the ANSI/SCTE 55-2 standard, used by Scientific Atlanta systems); and (3) DSG (the protocol, defined by the ANSI/SCTE-106 DOCSIS Set-top Gateway standard, used by a variety of cable systems). All three protocols transmit their upstream signals on channels in the 5 MHz to 42 MHz frequency band. In order for a Host to support two-way services on any cable system, it must be capable of transmitting upstream signals using any of the three protocols. Only products compliant with the OpenCable Host 2.0 specifications include the transmitters capable of supporting all three upstream protocols. Products built to the Plug & Play or Digital Cable Ready (DCR) FCC requirements are unidirectional only, and do not include these transmitters and are unable to support two-way services.

On the other hand, CableCARD modules always were designed to support two-way functionality, including the original CableCARD 1.0 interface specifications. The CableCARD module includes the knowledge of the upstream transmission standards and protocols used by each cable operator and is able to format and prepare messages for that protocol. Those upstream messages are sent to the Host device for transmission (when so equipped). The upstream transmitter also is under the complete control of the CableCARD module to set frequency and output power. CableCARD modules are equipped to recognize the presence of these upstream transmitters in an OpenCable Host device and to use them as necessary. They also are able to detect the absence of this transmitter in a unidirectional Host and to operate in a one-way mode.

1 For example: (1) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; (2) “A CableCard That Hasn't Been Able to Kill the Set-Top Box,” Eric A. Taub, The New York Times, 2006-07-03; (3) CableCARD: A Primer, Nate Anderson , ars technica 2006-02-06; (4) FAQ: CableCard? What's that?, Richard Shim and Jim Hu, CNET (2005-01-05).

http://www.opencable.com/primer/cablecard_primer.html

Note: The cable industry is renaming the OpenCable technology to Tru2Way. This may further the confusion.

I expect DirecTV will license their technology, as well. And once Comcast and DirecTV use Tivo, so likely will Cox and Time Warner.

So that should ensure enough money to keep Tivo alive, and the hardware and direct service sales will just be gravy. There will be people who feel the Tivo-provided service is better then what they can get bundled from their content provider. I expect ComcastTivo to get better in the next two years, but if it does not, I can still enjoy my TivoHD.
TiVo already has a deal with Cox for its software, although I believe that no TiVo software has yet been deployed on any Cox owned boxes. I had heard that TWC was using its own software on its DVRs, so I have no idea whether a deal between them and TiVo is likely.

I, too, expect that the Comcast-TiVo bugs now driving the New England folks nuts will be ironed out and that TiVo's software will be widely deployed on a lot of cable company owned DVRs in the not too distant future. I hope so. My fondest hope is to be able to get TiVo software for the Cox box that is hooked up to my other HDTV. In the meantime, I’m grateful for my TiVo S3, which is connected to my main HDTV.

So last night I noticed that as I was moving through channels on my TiVo Comcast DVR that the Info screen for each channel was not showing the correct show title and information. Upon looking at this further I saw that the info was giving me show titles and descriptions for about 4 hours LATER. Also noticed that the guide was doing the same thing, and also the guide was not snapping to the channel currently selected, it was always going to one specific channel. This behavior was contiunuing today, so I rebooted the box. Well, when it came back up, the info and guide data was back to normal, but ALL OF MY SCEDULED RECORDINGS AND ALL OF MY ACTUAL RECORDINGS WERE GONE!!

It looked like when the box rebooted it went through the same process as when I first had the TiVo installed (but not for nearly as long).

Anyone seen this yet? Any thoughts? Do I have a bad box on my hands? It is a DCT-3416.

Thanks.

So last night I noticed that as I was moving through channels on my TiVo Comcast DVR that the Info screen for each channel was not showing the correct show title and information. Upon looking at this further I saw that the info was giving me show titles and descriptions for about 4 hours LATER. Also noticed that the guide was doing the same thing, and also the guide was not snapping to the channel currently selected, it was always going to one specific channel. This behavior was contiunuing today, so I rebooted the box. Well, when it came back up, the info and guide data was back to normal, but ALL OF MY SCEDULED RECORDINGS AND ALL OF MY ACTUAL RECORDINGS WERE GONE!!

It looked like when the box rebooted it went through the same process as when I first had the TiVo installed (but not for nearly as long).

Anyone seen this yet? Any thoughts? Do I have a bad box on my hands? It is a DCT-3416.

Thanks.

I did see some strange behavior on my box some time between Friday night and Saturday morning where the gide was showing strange data and neither tuner seemed to be recording anything (by that, I mean I saw live TV, but could not pause, etc), but I was able to get into Tivo menus, play existing shows, etc, but needed to reboot the box to get it back working. The box came back cleanly, though -- existing recordings and todo list were fine.

One item of note is that the reboot process seems strange (and long) for these boxes. First, it starts rebooting, it sits on live TV for about 5 minutes, then get a 4:3 screen saying welcome to Tivo or something like that (outer portion of the screen still showing 16:9 live TV). It then starts flashing up things like the initial install on the display (like cd00, etc) then finally comes up -- all told, maybe 10 minutes for full reboot.

One item of note is that the reboot process seems strange (and long) for these boxes. First, it starts rebooting, it sits on live TV for about 5 minutes, then get a 4:3 screen saying welcome to Tivo or something like that (outer portion of the screen still showing 16:9 live TV). It then starts flashing up things like the initial install on the display (like cd00, etc) then finally comes up -- all told, maybe 10 minutes for full reboot.

My TivoHD takes at least five minutes to reboot, so part of it might be the Tivo software and the rest the Comcast part.

Well, I got it installed yesterday. And I was sure the tech would be here for up to 3 hours. I was prepared for it and everything. So anyway, he looked on the bottom of my DVR box. He was on the phone with dispatch, and told them that the box was to be flipped to TiVo. He then went out to the truck to bring in a remote. He gave me one, and took the old one back. He said it'd take awhile to download. And so it took about a half hour, but then it got up and running. It looks like even all the guide data is there. It sure does look a LOT more sophisticated than the iGuide! It's amazing! It seems like I had a lot less trouble than most people here. And there are no closed-captioning issues at all so far. However, sometimes right after I swap tuners, I do get a little bit of pixelation. Is this one of the bugs that they're trying to resolve?

So, all in all, I'd say its pretty good.

... Now that they could conceivably shut-down DirecTV's DVR service, I expect DirecTV will license their technology, as well. And once Comcast and DirecTV use Tivo, so likely will Cox and Time Warner...
Did you mean to say DISH satellite DVR service instead of DirecTV DVR service?

Did you mean to say DISH satellite DVR service instead of DirecTV DVR service?

Whomever they won the patent infringement case against.

No tivo, i don't want you to change channels to record a suggestion at 7:30pm when i am watching the super bowl

No tivo, i don't want you to change channels to record a suggestion at 8pm when i am watching the super bowl

No tivo, i don't want you to change channels to record a suggestion at 9pm when i am watching the super bowl

does anyone know how to turn this off? i can't stand the way it shrinks the screen to prompt you.

Hit the record button.

While it is true that Cable cards have always supported 2 way communication it's still a very hollow statement. There is no standard for the way communication happens from the cable box back to the cable company. As far as I can tell there are 2 main standards that correspond to the 2 major cable box manufacturers, Motorola and SA.

The problem then becomes even if tivo for example wanted to try and implement both protocols to work in most areas with most cable companies they still wouldn't be able to. Cable Cards require that the devices they are used in be certified and there is no certification for 2 way systems.

The fact that no matter what dvr you look at you still have compromises tells me that while they currently seem to be following the letter of the law cable co's aren't really matching the spirit of the law.

Renting from the cable co and you have to deal with typically poorer ui, non upgradeable storage and at least with the motorola boxes seemingly unavoidable remote lag/command queueing.

Going for 3rd party like tivo and you loose out on on demand and PPView. You also may have problems with SDV which is likely coming to everyone sooner or later.

The fact that no matter what dvr you look at you still have compromises tells me that while they currently seem to be following the letter of the law cable co's aren't really matching the spirit of the law. Only if you assume that the spirit of the law was to be strictly in the consumers' interest. However, if you assume that the spirit of the law was to balance the conflicting interests of THREE parties (consumers, equipment manufacturers, and service providers), then you'll see the current situation clearly is in line with that.

To all those considering Comcast Tivo - here's another (negative) data point:

I got the Tivo upgrade a few weeks ago and was pretty happy with it until yesterday when my DVR kicked the bucket. First, the box seemed to be working fine but would not allow me to record any programs (I would select a program to record and I would get the Tivo icon indicating "program will not be recorded". That was a pain because I missed out on a few previously scheduled recordings before I realized this was happening.

I rebooted the system and then my box got stuck in a reboot cycle for about 20 minutes, after which it would pass through the signal of one channel but not allow me to change the channel or view any software of any guide (e.g. Comcast or Tivo menus, guide info or even onscreen channel info).

I called Comcast and have a service call scheduled for tomorrow. While on the phone I inquired about Cable Cards (since I am fed up and am thinking about switching to a TivoHD) but the person told me it would require a service call and Comcast had upped it's Cablecard rental fee to $5 per month per card (the first card is no longer free)! So that's would be $10 a month for 2 cable cards on top of the Tivo subscription and hardware costs!

I'm looking into FIOS, but I've had my share of problems with Verizon as well - so I'm reluctant to make the switch. Man, this is frustrating!

To all those considering Comcast Tivo - here's another (negative) data point:


same thing happ'd to me. after the reboot the box was DOA. they replaced it and it has been running ok since. the old box ran the old guide for a while without issue.

I got the Tivo upgrade a few weeks ago and was pretty happy with it until yesterday when my DVR kicked the bucket. First, the box seemed to be working fine but would not allow me to record any programs (I would select a program to record and I would get the Tivo icon indicating "program will not be recorded". That was a pain because I missed out on a few previously scheduled recordings before I realized this was happening.

I rebooted the system and then my box got stuck in a reboot cycle for about 20 minutes, after which it would pass through the signal of one channel but not allow me to change the channel or view any software of any guide (e.g. Comcast or Tivo menus, guide info or even onscreen channel info).

This appears to have been a problem with the guide data not filled in correctly. I noticed the same problem yesterday morning when I tried to record something also & got errors. I noticed all the show names were in the guide but there was no info for the shows, when I checked back a couple hours later the info was back & I could record again.

So this prompts 2 questions/observations from me:
#1 I'm wondering if setting a manual recording would have worked to get around this problem (I wish I thought of this yesterday when the problem existed but I didn't think of it then).

#2 Too many people are to quick to reset/reboot these boxes. Whereas resetting the Moto boxes with the I-guide seems to fix issues because the boxes get flaky, this does not seem to hold true with some of the issues with the Tivo guide. All of the guide related issues I've seen so far are that some of the info is not populating correctly/is wiped out. My theory is (and I haven't been proven wrong on this one from what I've seen so far), is that the guide data is going away by itself & if you give it a little time, it will come back by itself. Rebooting does not seem to help whatsoever, seems to actually cause people some issues. I'm not sure if the guide servers that these boxes tie into are new & have some bugs or what, but it's definitely something that needs to be on the to-do list of things to get working correctly, for obviously these boxes rely greatly on this information. I'm not saying that rebooting will never solve problems with these things, but I for one, won't be rebooting mine for missing guide info. And if the call center rep. tells you to reboot, just remember (from the sounds of many of these posts) they don't always seem to know what's going on with these boxes. Hits & reboots were always first try things before, but these are slightly different animals now.

My theory is (and I haven't been proven wrong on this one from what I've seen so far), is that the guide data is going away by itself & if you give it a little time, it will come back by itself.This is true of the box with the iGuide software as well. This is because, with the iGuide software, the program guide data is stored in memory, and memory is limited. So with there isn't enough room for all the program guide data (which happens with systems with more than a hundred or two hundred channels total), program guide data comes in knocking other program guide data out, and then the knocked-out guide data comes back around and knocks some other guide data out. This round-robin evidently continues until the program reasons a certain level of priority (one week prior, three days prior ???) after which it sticks around unless the box loses power.

Sounds like the program guide with the TiVo software works the same way. I thought we heard that the program guide data was going to be stored in the hard drive -- guess not!

but it's definitely something that needs to be on the to-do list of things to get working correctly, for obviously these boxes rely greatly on this information.If it is anything like the iGuide software, no changes are forthcoming because there is only a certain amount of memory.

It'll be interesting to know if the TiVo software works the same way as the iGuide software, in this regard.

I called Comcast and have a service call scheduled for tomorrow. While on the phone I inquired about Cable Cards (since I am fed up and am thinking about switching to a TivoHD) but the person told me it would require a service call and Comcast had upped it's Cablecard rental fee to $5 per month per card (the first card is no longer free)! So that's would be $10 a month for 2 cable cards on top of the Tivo subscription and hardware costs!

If your local office is offering M-Cards (Multistream Cards), you need only one of them to receive two channels on a TivoHD. This is how mine is configured.

No tivo, i don't want you to change channels to record a suggestion at 7:30pm when i am watching the super bowl

No tivo, i don't want you to change channels to record a suggestion at 8pm when i am watching the super bowl

No tivo, i don't want you to change channels to record a suggestion at 9pm when i am watching the super bowl

does anyone know how to turn this off? i can't stand the way it shrinks the screen to prompt you.

WOW! This sounds like a really bad idea. "Suggestions" should record only on the non watched tuner and only if there is no Scheduled Recording set.

The watched tuner should NEVER be interrupted unless you have two Scheduled Recordings set for the same time.

"Suggestions" seem, to me, are a major inconvenience and annoyance!!!

A really good idea but it needs tweaking to be a favorable benefit.

While it is true that Cable cards have always supported 2 way communication it's still a very hollow statement. There is no standard for the way communication happens from the cable box back to the cable company. As far as I can tell there are 2 main standards that correspond to the 2 major cable box manufacturers, Motorola and SA.

The problem then becomes even if tivo for example wanted to try and implement both protocols to work in most areas with most cable companies they still wouldn't be able to. Cable Cards require that the devices they are used in be certified and there is no certification for 2 way systems.

Sure there is, but TiVo didn't want to wait until the fall of 2008 to sell their paperweights. Early adopters are the best way to make money for mainstream products. Early adopters beta test, offer suggestions for improvement, solidify pricing points, and verify marketing strategies. Early adopters also wind up paying 2-3 times more for a final working product compared to the patient "mainstream consumer" who waits.

Will TiVo reimburse/discount the final "HD" box to those who bought TiVoHD and S3 boxes? They have in the past, time will tell.

So what's this magical certification for 2 way systems?

iDCR
I believe the brand name is "Tru2Way"

"The technology has been licensed by several dozen application authoring entities and equipment manufacturers, including Digeo, LG Electronics, Panasonic Corporation of America, and Samsung Electronics Co., and by chip makers Broadcom and Intel.

The tru2way technology enables consumers to access two-way digital cable programming without the need for a cable operator-supplied set-top box and is capable of supporting all cable services now delivered to devices currently leased to consumers as well as future services written to the tru2way technology. Major cable operators have committed to deploy support for the tru2way platform in service areas covering more than 90 million U.S. homes by the end of 2008."

Hmmm... TiVo is missing. That's a mistake on THEIR part.

"The technology has been licensed by several dozen application authoring entities and equipment manufacturers, including Digeo, LG Electronics, Panasonic Corporation of America, and Samsung Electronics Co., and by chip makers Broadcom and Intel.

The tru2way technology enables consumers to access two-way digital cable programming without the need for a cable operator-supplied set-top box and is capable of supporting all cable services now delivered to devices currently leased to consumers as well as future services written to the tru2way technology. Major cable operators have committed to deploy support for the tru2way platform in service areas covering more than 90 million U.S. homes by the end of 2008."

Hmmm... TiVo is missing. That's a mistake on THEIR part.

Well, from what I've heard, Tivo is working on a stand-alone tru2way product, but in addition, anyone with the Comcast Tivo is already sort of running it already -- I believe that it is based on the tru2way (new name for OCAP) protocol.

Wow, been away from this thread a few weeks and come back to find out deployments are still only in a limited area of Mass. And its February. Holy cow! At this rate, it'll be 2012 and the UltraHDTivo will be out before this is available in all Comcast markets.

:(

The Tivo port to Comcast's Moto STB's (and then to Cox) is not OCAP/Tru2way, but a port to the specific hardware based on a software Java overlay. The upcoming SA Tivo will be an OCAP/Tru2way port and the same software will be on upcoming Tivo harware with the added software to work in standalone mode.

vegggas

While it is true that Cable cards have always supported 2 way communication it's still a very hollow statement. There is no standard for the way communication happens from the cable box back to the cable company. As far as I can tell there are 2 main standards that correspond to the 2 major cable box manufacturers, Motorola and SA.

The problem then becomes even if tivo for example wanted to try and implement both protocols to work in most areas with most cable companies they still wouldn't be able to. Cable Cards require that the devices they are used in be certified and there is no certification for 2 way systems.

The fact that no matter what dvr you look at you still have compromises tells me that while they currently seem to be following the letter of the law cable co's aren't really matching the spirit of the law.

Renting from the cable co and you have to deal with typically poorer ui, non upgradeable storage and at least with the motorola boxes seemingly unavoidable remote lag/command queueing.

Going for 3rd party like tivo and you loose out on on demand and PPView. You also may have problems with SDV which is likely coming to everyone sooner or later.
The answer to Tivo's development problems for two way communication was to simply put in a broadcom cablemodem chip. With the hardware in place on a standardized platform for both MOTO and SA. This would enable the S3 and THD to communicate back to the headend via the RF cablng, once the software was ready. They simply chose not to add any return hardware thinking VOD was not a big deal, since they are a DVR platform.
BTW, the Comcast Moto port does use the STB's built in cabel modem for data from Tivo's guide database. Through the same lines, they could have added a lot of functionality by adding the cable modem in their own hardware, including not having to use a phone or ethernet connection to get guide data.

vegggas

Wow, been away from this thread a few weeks and come back to find out deployments are still only in a limited area of Mass. And its February. Holy cow! At this rate, it'll be 2012 and the UltraHDTivo will be out before this is available in all Comcast markets.

:(

Don't feel so bad. There is still more bugs to work out of this thing. Comcast is just saving you from the issues that is happening in Mass.

So i had the comcast-tivo for about a month now.
The installation has been quite difficult, requiring the tech to visit our house twice, for reasons i don't fully understand :)
The Tivo interface is SLOW, and the sounds (which can be turned off) are a real pain. I don't know how something like this ever cleared any sort of human testing.

After about 2 weeks, the Tivo suddenly one night stopped responding - it initially refused to play back any of its recordings, giving back some obscure error message, and then when i tried to re-start it, it never came back online. The unit was showing a flashing dot, which changed into a solid display of 8888. This would go back and forth. I tried to unplug it, still the same.
Called comcast, and after some initial "tests" (like trying to hook up the unit directly to the AC instead of the power strip i was using), they sent out a tech again.
The Tech came in and immediately went out and got a new box after seeing the display. he said he saw many of those, and they all had to be shipped back to Motorola.
So we lost all of our season pass settings and recordings.

This morning, it happened again, exact same symptoms. I'm not sure if i'm going to keep the Tivo software, since it seems that is is highly unreliable at this point, and just bricks the entire DVR, not letting us watch any TV.

It's sad that i have to choose between the horrible Motorola remote/user interface and the slow and buggy Tivo, But comcast is all the choice we got :)

It's sad that i have to choose between the horrible Motorola remote/user interface and the slow and buggy Tivo, But comcast is all the choice we got :)

You also have the choice of getting the TiVO HD standalone and a cable card from Comcast.

...I don't know how something like this ever cleared any sort of human testing...

I believe the first round of field testing was conducted by Comcast employees. [Fill in your own joke about whether that qualifies as “human testing”.]

I assume there was considerable pressure to get this product released as soon as possible. I also assume that most of the reported bugs are fixable, and future releases will perform well. But, I for one don’t like being a guinea pig, and paying for that dubious privilege.

Mickey

The Tech came in and immediately went out and got a new box after seeing the display. he said he saw many of those, and they all had to be shipped back to Motorola.
So we lost all of our season pass settings and recordings.


That stinks. Knowing that the Tivo software is using DOCSIS, I don't see why they don't save your season passes and settings on the server side. That way if you get a new box it would download all of your preferences, favorites and season passes. You would just start with a clean hard drive and no recordings.

Obviously there is a server somewhere that tells your account to download the Tivo OS instead of the I-Guide OS. That same very server should be modified to include your user preferences and scheduled recordings in a database tied to your account number and box position. Say they replace Box 2 with another one, they just would fill in the new serial number and it would download all of your settings from your previous Box 2. Say they replace Box 1 with another one, they just would fill in the new serial number and it would download all of your settings from your previous Box 1. Get where I'm going with this?

Get where I'm going with this?

Sorry, that makes way too much sense. This is Comcast we are talking about.

You also have the choice of getting the TiVO HD standalone and a cable card from Comcast.

It's not an option if you use VOD.

It's not an option if you use VOD.

It is, since you are entitled to a free non DVR cable box if you go the cablecard route for the purposes of VOD and PPV.

It is, since you are entitled to a free non DVR cable box if you go the cablecard route for the purposes of VOD and PPV.

Yes, but when you get the free digital cable box (because you pay for digital service) you then have to pay for the cable card. Which from reading this forum can be anywhere from $1.50 to $5.00/month.

It is, since you are entitled to a free non DVR cable box if you go the cablecard route for the purposes of VOD and PPV.

Is HDDVR free? Almost all of my viewing (including VOD) is HD.

Is HDDVR free? Almost all of my viewing (including VOD) is HD.

Good question. I have known people who have gotten different boxes as their free one. I dont see why HD would not work though if you pay the HD fee. Not DVR boxes though for free.

Is HDDVR free? Almost all of my viewing (including VOD) is HD. The NON-DVR SD box is free if you have a CableCard on the same outlet, and the NON-DVR HD box has a monthly fee ($6.50 in my area).

any word if they are spreading out beyond the initial launch?

The answer to Tivo's development problems for two way communication was to simply put in a broadcom cablemodem chip. With the hardware in place on a standardized platform for both MOTO and SA. This would enable the S3 and THD to communicate back to the headend via the RF cablng, once the software was ready. They simply chose not to add any return hardware thinking VOD was not a big deal, since they are a DVR platform.
BTW, the Comcast Moto port does use the STB's built in cabel modem for data from Tivo's guide database. Through the same lines, they could have added a lot of functionality by adding the cable modem in their own hardware, including not having to use a phone or ethernet connection to get guide data.


Isn't this how the Series 4 and any True2Way device will work, by having a built-in modem?

Yes, but when you get the free digital cable box (because you pay for digital service) you then have to pay for the cable card. Which from reading this forum can be anywhere from $1.50 to $5.00/month.

In my case (Westford MA), I have two HDTivo's, and one Comcast HD settop box - with the $99/mo triple play. With the price increases in January, this now costs me:

$6/mo - HD settop
$5/mo - First CableCard A/O
$5/mo - Second CableCard A/O

I had recently switched back to Comcast (from D*) and signed up for the triple play $99 pkg. At signup, I was told that even with the Comcast settop, the first CC would be free, and the second would be $2.75/mo. With the new price increases, having the HD settop is costing me ~$11/mo (because if I drop the settop, the first CC becomes free because it is the "first outlet" included in the $99 pkg).

So the settop is going back to Comcast this weekend .... I'm not too excited about paying $11/mo for the privelege of spending MORE money for VOD. They tried to sell me on the virtues of all the free content, but for $11/mo, it's not really "free", and it's certainly not worth it to me......

In my case (Westford MA), I have two HDTivo's, and one Comcast HD settop box - with the $99/mo triple play. With the price increases in January, this now costs me:

$6/mo - HD settop
$5/mo - First CableCard A/O
$5/mo - Second CableCard A/O

I had recently switched back to Comcast (from D*) and signed up for the triple play $99 pkg. At signup, I was told that even with the Comcast settop, the first CC would be free, and the second would be $2.75/mo. With the new price increases, having the HD settop is costing me ~$11/mo (because if I drop the settop, the first CC becomes free because it is the "first outlet" included in the $99 pkg).

So the settop is going back to Comcast this weekend .... I'm not too excited about paying $11/mo for the privelege of spending MORE money for VOD. They tried to sell me on the virtues of all the free content, but for $11/mo, it's not really "free", and it's certainly not worth it to me......

Here in Nashville, you can get a free M card, and a nonDVR box for VOD and PPV for free as long as its on the same TV (they dont know this). So for just the cable package price you have both.

The Tivo port to Comcast's Moto STB's (and then to Cox) is not OCAP/Tru2way, but a port to the specific hardware based on a software Java overlay. The upcoming SA Tivo will be an OCAP/Tru2way port and the same software will be on upcoming Tivo harware with the added software to work in standalone mode.

vegggas

But isn't that hardware specific overlay somewhat related to the OCAP standard (like a "Microsoft"-java type deal. Its OCAP, but not really OCAP?

That stinks. Knowing that the Tivo software is using DOCSIS, I don't see why they don't save your season passes and settings on the server side. That way if you get a new box it would download all of your preferences, favorites and season passes. You would just start with a clean hard drive and no recordings.

Obviously there is a server somewhere that tells your account to download the Tivo OS instead of the I-Guide OS. That same very server should be modified to include your user preferences and scheduled recordings in a database tied to your account number and box position. Say they replace Box 2 with another one, they just would fill in the new serial number and it would download all of your settings from your previous Box 2. Say they replace Box 1 with another one, they just would fill in the new serial number and it would download all of your settings from your previous Box 1. Get where I'm going with this?

Tivo doesn't even have this with their real boxes! I've always wished it were there for hard drive recovery, new box install, etc.

any word if they are spreading out beyond the initial launch?

yes, later in 2008. ;)

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For the past two days, the information being displayed in the channel title bar as I move across channels or hit the info buttin is not matching up to what is actually being shown on TV. At the current moment, I am getting channel and program information for programming from 8:30PM LAST NIGHT (2/9/08).

And if I go into the guide, the time frame displayed is correct, but it does not jump to the channel I am currently on.

I had this problem once last week, and after restarting the box lost all of my recordings and scheduled recordings, so I am not going to do a restart here.

The very interesting thing about this, I was having some serious problems last night - had a program scheduled for recording at 9PM, and I was watching something else, the red light came on, everything looked fine. I flipped to the channel that was recording about 9:30, and it looked like the program had just started?? I then checked the guide to see if the program had changed times, and it hadn't... checked the TiVo Recordings, and it showed the program started recording at 9. Started to playback the partially recorded program, and it was fine. It's almost as if when I tuned into that channel, TiVo started PLAYING the recorded portion, instead of giving me live TV. I was finally able to get out of this twilight zone by swapping tuners and using the playback buttons to kick everything back into sync I would guess. Also when this happened all of the channel and program info displayed correctly, but I guess overnight that went back to its messed up state. I tried the tuner swap again today, but now that will not work to get the info bar back to normal.

This is very odd behavior, and I can't tell if it is a messed up box, the TiVO software, or Comcast mucking things up.

Any thoughts??? It is starting to drive me a little crazy... especially last night's adventure, I really thought I was losing it!

Thanks.

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For the past two days, the information being displayed in the channel title bar as I move across channels or hit the info buttin is not matching up to what is actually being shown on TV. At the current moment, I am getting channel and program information for programming from 8:30PM LAST NIGHT (2/9/08).

And if I go into the guide, the time frame displayed is correct, but it does not jump to the channel I am currently on.




these 2 issues have been reported alot both here and on the tivocommunity forum, and i see them on both my boxes frequently as well

Very quite on this thread lately the Tivo's must be working better.

Very quite on this thread lately the Tivo's must be working better.

Now that the 30 second skip has been found all is good !!!!! Of course there are still some bugs that people don't like but I like it much better than the old Comcast DVR.

pressing the record button while watching a show, doesn't record the show.

am i asking for alot here?

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For the past two days, the information being displayed in the channel title bar as I move across channels or hit the info buttin is not matching up to what is actually being shown on TV. At the current moment, I am getting channel and program information for programming from 8:30PM LAST NIGHT (2/9/08).


Thanks.

I've had the same problem. i've had other problems. i'm on my second box and its not that much better.

i am going to switch back to the old dvr and get the install and extra fees refunded. it's just not worth the extra money

pressing the record button while watching a show, doesn't record the show.

am i asking for alot here?

I had the same problem last night for the first time. I had a season pass for Jerico set up. When I noticed that the show hadn't started to record it, I then pressed the record button. It asked if I wanted to continue to record the program even though it wasn't recording. No red light, nothing. Even switching tuners didn't help. Same problem on both tuners. Starting to have guide problems also as others have reported. Not good.

I just got my Comcast/Tivo installed today. Looks pretty nice. I do have a couple of gripes:

1) I notice that you can change between 1080i and 720p using the Settings/Video menu. So clearly there's a way for the software to switch resolutions on the fly without having to drop the box into standby mode... so why the heck didn't they add a native passthrough mode???

2) The guide is very sloooow to navigate through. Perhaps this will be faster once all of the guide data gets loaded.

3) On Demand doesn't work at all. Maybe this will automatically be fixed after some amount of data gets loaded -- I'll check again tonight.

4) No 5.1 sound as others have noted.

I had the problem with the guide last night where the info button for a channel would show the wrong time/show. it was 8:30 and it showed the info for 5-6.

I called comcast and they told me to unplug the unit and let it reboot. it never came back. this is the 2nd box that this has happened to.

so i told them to give me the regular DVR back. the lady on the phone said that it would be $15 for an equipment swap. I was not very happy. she ended up waiving the fee after arguing for 10 minutes.

i now have the old dvr and find the guide and controls to be much more responsive than the tivo. i think the hardware is underpowered or software is overly complex for it to work with the motorola box.

so long and thanks for all the fish

On Demand now works; I guess it takes a few hours after installation to get it going.

I actually have 2 DVR's with the Tivo software. I scheduled the same recording on both DVR's as a test. Turns out that one of the DVRS only recorded about 5 seconds of the program. The other one recorded it correctly. Not a great sign when the very first recording I try to make fails...

Suggestions seem to be working nicely. I gave a few programs thumbs up, and the next day I've got a bunch of related stuff recorded and ready to watch.

I believe the first round of field testing was conducted by Comcast employees. [Fill in your own joke about whether that qualifies as “human testing”.]

I assume there was considerable pressure to get this product released as soon as possible. I also assume that most of the reported bugs are fixable, and future releases will perform well. But, I for one don’t like being a guinea pig, and paying for that dubious privilege.

Mickey

Who on earth decided (or maybe failed to notice) that short buzz/error sound that triggers every time you scroll/page(?) - not sure if this is the action that triggers it, since i just turned off all of the tivo sounds because of that.
This product was RUSHED to the market, and it clearly shows. You can find many problems over a few days worth of use. (guide out of sync, no guide data for some channels, programs don't get recorded properly). This box is hot as hell as well :)
Nice idea there about storing your season passes server side, but i don't see that happening any time in the near future.
And yes, since i (my kids..) use comcast's VOD service, getting the standalone tivo is not a complete solution. Having a cable box and a tivo box is not a good option for me as well. I'll probably stick with the tivo/moto box if this one (3rd so far) survives. If it goes bad again, i'll probably ask comcast to remove the tivo software and go back to their default dvr service.

i think the hardware is underpowered or software is overly complex for it to work with the motorola box.



I think the hardware is way underpowered. Flashy responsive interfaces are not impossible to program. Just take a look at Sony's PlayTV for the PS3. It's an external digital tuner/media center program with SlingBox like functionality. It's only in Europe for now, but I'm showing you this as an example of what kind of flashy interfaces can be made:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/14/sonys-playtv-for-ps3-gets-shown-off-still-only-for-europe/

Just check how responsive that guide is. Look at the smooth scrolling and really wicked transition effects. Wish the hardware in our set tops had the ability to do stuff like that. Even the little PSP shown in the demo has really snappy performance and nice transition effects.

I had the problem with the guide last night where the info button for a channel would show the wrong time/show. it was 8:30 and it showed the info for 5-6.

I called comcast and they told me to unplug the unit and let it reboot. it never came back. this is the 2nd box that this has happened to.

so i told them to give me the regular DVR back. the lady on the phone said that it would be $15 for an equipment swap. I was not very happy. she ended up waiving the fee after arguing for 10 minutes.

i now have the old dvr and find the guide and controls to be much more responsive than the tivo. i think the hardware is underpowered or software is overly complex for it to work with the motorola box.

so long and thanks for all the fish

I have had this same problem brick 3 units in the past 3 weeks. I really wanted this to work but finally had to revert to the old service. It's unfortunate because the interface was much nicer. I will likely return to the TiVo service once they actually get past this beta release ;)

Okay, I've scheduled this program to record. It was appearing in the To Do List. But then I checked it again, and it said that the program would not record because it is no longer listed in the guide. So, I went to the guide listing, and for some reason, it was given a different name. So, I had to re-do the Season Pass. And it appeared in the Season Pass Manager with 2 check marks, which means it is a Season Pass. But it is not appearing in the To Do List under the day the program airs, and if I look at "Will Record", it lists the program, but only with 1 check mark. What does this mean?

It's sad that i have to choose between the horrible Motorola remote/user interface and the slow and buggy Tivo, But comcast is all the choice we got :)Customers can also choose DirecTV, or Dish Network. Some customers have even more choices.

Customers can also choose DirecTV, or Dish Network. Some customers have even more choices.

Don't forget they can also buy a box from Tivo and bail on their cable company supplied DVR.

Customers can also choose DirecTV, or Dish Network. Some customers have even more choices.

There any many situations where a lot of customers don't have those choices. Neighborhood restrictions on the dish being in the front of the house (where it would need to be) or someone renting a house, apt, or townhouse are just a few restrictions. Plus you are locked into a contract which all users don't like and you don't get a discount on your cable internet so it jacks up in price as well.

I also find that even if you have competiting cables companies they must work together and set their pricing. I live in Chicago and I have two options for cable, they are different by about one dollar in price. They use the same boxes from motorola and have the same level of customer service, pretty much none.

Don't forget they can also buy a box from Tivo and bail on their cable company supplied DVR.

No on-demand, large initial upfront cost plus pay tivo monthly or buy lifetime, if it breaks you are on your own

There any many situations where a lot of customers don't have those choices.Individual customers always have their own personal issues. When considering market issues, like this, though, we have to consider the options that the bulk of customers have.

Neighborhood restrictions on the dish being in the front of the house (where it would need to be)Restrictions that are unenforceable in many (though not all) of the cases you're referring to -- again, it falls back to a consumer's own choice not to assert their rights under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

or someone renting a house, apt, or townhouse are just a few restrictions.All reflections of a consumer's own choice, or their financial inability to purchase what they want. I'm sure you're not suggesting that the extra $20 per month for HBO be considered unfair because some people cannot afford it.

Plus you are locked into a contract which all users don't like and you don't get a discount on your cable internet so it jacks up in price as well.Consumers evaluate their options based on the total package, and choose the best option. Don't "blame" cable for being the best option, when it is the best option.

I also find that even if you have competiting cables companies they must work together and set their pricing.They don't. It's irresponsible of you to even suggest that.

Just because different suppliers have the same price doesn't mean they collude. They both have access to the same market data, and even disregarding that, when one increases their price the other knows about it immediately and can choose to follow suit. This is the way free markets are supposed to work. There is no Constitutional right to low prices for consumers. Our economy is strong because it balances the needs of consumers with the needs of business.

No on-demand, large initial upfront cost plus pay tivo monthly or buy lifetime, if it breaks you are on your own

It all depends what you want and how much your willing to spend. For the past couple of month, I have spent $37.80/m to have two Comcast DRV's with the TIVO software.

I had been planning on buying a Tivo HD, and transfer the lifetime from my Tivo series 2, but was waiting to see what the Comcast/Tivo box was like. After a short period of time, I decided the Comcast/Tivo software wasn't bad, but had a way to go to match the 'real' Tivo.

I'm keeping the one Comcast DVR I have in my bedroom and replaced the living room with a TivoHD, total cost $450. My monthly bill for DVR's + HD box + cable card from Comcast will now be $23.70/m.

Getting back to your original message, I will have on-demand, I personally don't mind putting up the cash and if my TivoHD lasts 33 months, it will have cost me less than having paid for the two Comcast DVR's. Plus I get to add storage and will have TivoToGo plus a few other features Comcast doesn't offer.

-Bruce

It all depends what you want and how much your willing to spend. For the past couple of month, I have spent $37.80/m to have two Comcast DRV's with the TIVO software.

I had been planning on buying a Tivo HD, and transfer the lifetime from my Tivo series 2, but was waiting to see what the Comcast/Tivo box was like. After a short period of time, I decided the Comcast/Tivo software wasn't bad, but had a way to go to match the 'real' Tivo.

I'm keeping the one Comcast DVR I have in my bedroom and replaced the living room with a TivoHD, total cost $450. My monthly bill for DVR's + HD box + cable card from Comcast will now be $23.70/m.

Getting back to your original message, I will have on-demand, I personally don't mind putting up the cash and if my TivoHD lasts 33 months, it will have cost me less than having paid for the two Comcast DVR's. Plus I get to add storage and will have TivoToGo plus a few other features Comcast doesn't offer.

-Bruce

I don't disagree with you, I have tivo. I am a fan of tivo over comcast, I just was stating some or most of the arguments I have heard here.

I guess by getting together to set pricing was a stretch, I just meant what you basically said. Even in a competitive market they will have the same pricing and they don't try to under cut each other at all. So maybe they don't sit down and hammer out pricing together but when one raise prices the other follows knowing that they can without losing customers.

Also, there is a large market "bulk" of renters who cannot go with directv or dish. They also only have the choice between dsl and cable at most. Comcast is the largest provider because in many markets they are the only choice. I don't hate Comcast or anything but I don't hear too many people saying the go with Comcast for the customer service or pricing.

I don't think I would ever compare purchasing HBO to purchasing a house but if you want to go with it.

Cable usually is the best option for most, I agree with you on that, that was what my entire post was saying.

I guess by getting together to set pricing was a stretch, I just meant what you basically said. Even in a competitive market they will have the same pricing and they don't try to under cut each other at all. Correct. It's called "value-based pricing" and it is the best approach for most consumer-facing enterprises.

Also, there is a large market "bulk" of renters who cannot go with directv or dish.Keep in mind that in that case the choice is being made by the landlord. The landlord can choose between any and all of the options. When you decide to rent, you're agreeing to let you landlord make a whole host of decisions for you. THAT, in turn, is your choice.

Comcast is the largest provider because in many markets they are the only choice.No. Comcast is the largest provider because they're the strongest company, and acquired weaker companies that couldn't adequately fulfill their primary mission.

I don't hate Comcast or anything but I don't hear too many people saying the go with Comcast for the customer service or pricing.That's because customers don't choose between the options based on that. I can refer you to complaints about Dish Network and DirecTV as well. Customer service is not a significant driver of consumer purchases in this market.

I don't think I would ever compare purchasing HBO to purchasing a house but if you want to go with it.I didn't. You misread what I wrote.

Cable usually is the best option for most, I agree with you on that, that was what my entire post was saying.That should be a basis to extol the virtues of cable, not condemn it. That was what my entire post was saying.

Correct. It's called "value-based pricing" and it is the best approach for most consumer-facing enterprises.

doesn't mean I have to like it

Keep in mind that in that case the choice is being made by the landlord. The landlord can choose between any and all of the options. When you decide to rent, you're agreeing to let you landlord make a whole host of decisions for you. THAT, in turn, is your choice.

I never said it wasn't someone's choice. I just said that their is a large market of renters who don't have access to directv or sat. I think is assumed they have a choice unless there is a apt complex that forces people to live in that I don't know about.

No. Comcast is the largest provider because they're the strongest company, and acquired weaker companies that couldn't adequately fulfill their primary mission.

Well yes they are strongest company, I never said they are stupid, it pays off to be the only provider in many markets.

That's because customers don't choose between the options based on that. I can refer you to complaints about Dish Network and DirecTV as well. Customer service is not a significant driver of consumer purchases in this market.

Please read the entire line. Customer don't choose based on price?

I didn't. You misread what I wrote.

I read it fine, you compared their financial inability to purchase what they want (when I referred to renting) to not being able to afford HBO to be fair

That should be a basis to extol the virtues of cable, not condemn it. That was what my entire post was saying.

I am not condemning cable just posting some of my opinions on the subject. Just because they are different than yours doesn't make them wrong.

My 2 Comcast/Tivo's are working well so far, other than the 1 screwed-up recording on the very first day. Perhaps that was a result of the schedule information filling in or something.

I do find it annoying that Suggestions are sometimes recorded on the tuner currently being watched, which means you get pestered frequently when you're trying to just watch live TV. I would prefer an option that Suggestions are only recorded on the secondary tuner, and never interrupt what you are watching.

Also, if the same show is being broadcast in HD and SD, the Suggestions should always record it in HD! It seems to be random whether it chooses the HD or the SD version.

My 2 Comcast/Tivo's are working well so far, other than the 1 screwed-up recording on the very first day. Perhaps that was a result of the schedule information filling in or something.

I do find it annoying that Suggestions are sometimes recorded on the tuner currently being watched, which means you get pestered frequently when you're trying to just watch live TV. I would prefer an option that Suggestions are only recorded on the secondary tuner, and never interrupt what you are watching.

Also, if the same show is being broadcast in HD and SD, the Suggestions should always record it in HD! It seems to be random whether it chooses the HD or the SD version.

I just can't wait for them to roll it out to more places.

Can I call you a "whiner"? :rolleyes:

How about we just agree to disagree?

Bicker, hmmm. Bitter.

No. Not a whiner. I just want mediocre service for high prices, I think that's not much to ask? Is it?

Or at least half what they promise.

There's nothing wrong with noticing Comcast does many things poorly.

I am a customer after all. I should know.

If pointing out Comcast's HD-DVR's are poor makes me a whiner then there are a lot of whiners out there.

I wonder if that's the same thing CSR's think when I complain about the horrible pixelization and sound dropouts I'm getting on USA HD and SciFi HD the last couple months since they started compressing sat. channels like DTV did. HD Lite on cable. Almost unwatchable.

Insisting HD channels come in clearly, HOW DARE I!!!

There's nothing wrong with noticing Comcast does many things poorly.Perhaps, but I think there is a problem with consumers (as a group) failing to recognize their own role (as a group) in bringing about the service quality levels that they're subjected to.

I hear the point and agree, stay on topic, I hate when others do that.

back on topic, whats new with comcast tivo dvr - coming soon thread? isn't it here? Maybe this thread should be deleted since there hasn't been anything new related to it posted in the last 20 pages or so.

Any word on the 5.1 fix? By far my biggest beef!
FREAK!

Am I correct in my understanding that Comcast has never said how long this "beta" period will last? Is it known whether it will be followed by some kind of phased or staged roll-out, or if it'll become available to everyone once they green-light it?

I have these fears of laboring through iGuide for another five years waiting for this thing to hit. If it isn't out this year, screw it, I'm biting the bullet, setting the credit card on fire, and going back to a real Tivo.

I don't think comcast had said anything officially on the overall release schedule. I know some people on here have speculated this summer it will hit most markets but I have never asked why they think that. Overall i think the launch or "beta" has been pretty successful. There are bugs but nothing show stopping, it does sounds like some users have to go through a few boxes to get a working one.

Doesn't the 5.1 work if you get a different model of moto box?

yes, the 5.1 does work if you get the DCT (the old box according to the installers) as opposed to the DCH box. Comcast has acknowledged the bug, however I want to know when it will be fixed.
FREAK!

Am I correct in my understanding that Comcast has never said how long this "beta" period will last?My understanding is that Comcast doesn't consider this a "beta" period. As far as they're concerned, the product is worthy. It will, of course, be improved over time.

I have these fears of laboring through iGuide for another five years waiting for this thing to hit. If it isn't out this year, screw it, I'm biting the bullet, setting the credit card on fire, and going back to a real Tivo.I don't really understand the quandary; from my standpoint, if the "real" TiVo is a legitimate choice (i.e., you can afford the up-front cost, and VOD isn't critical for you, and you're willing to deal with the risks associated with SDV) why would you even consider the Comcast TiVo? :confused: And I think my confusion there really speaks to the difficulty some folks seem to have with the Comcast TiVo. I do not believe it is really intended for people who would commit to a "real" TiVo. It is aimed at a less sophisticated user, who wants a more TiVo-like experience, but isn't hardcore enough to go all the way.

I don't really understand the quandary; from my standpoint, if the "real" TiVo is a legitimate choice (i.e., you can afford the up-front cost, and VOD isn't critical for you, and you're willing to deal with the risks associated with SDV) why would you even consider the Comcast TiVo?

I can afford it, but over the years I've been burned twice by lifetime subscriptions that were tied to hardware that got zapped by lightning in less than one year. The rental model starts looking pretty attractive at that point. In fact, that was the reason I jumped to DirecTV from Dish a few years ago -- they offered Tivo rentals. I've been limping along with my unsupported DTV Hughes SD Tivo ever since then, until I ditched it and went to Comcast last year in the hopes of getting this Tivo software. (I don't know what you mean about SDV risks, I've only done cursory reading about the HD Tivos.)

several posts deleted: please stop the bickering

Thanks

Does the Tivo Desktop software work with the Comcast DVR running the Tivo software?

Does the Tivo Desktop software work with the Comcast DVR running the Tivo software?No. Comcast is planning their own broadband functionality. That will cover that need, in time.

yes, the 5.1 does work if you get the DCT (the old box according to the installers) as opposed to the DCH box. Comcast has acknowledged the bug, however I want to know when it will be fixed.
FREAK!
My installer couldn't get the Tivo software to download to my old DCT box so he had to swap it out for a DCH box. He said that's quite common -- for some reason the DCT boxes often either take a long time to accept the download or fail to accept it at all, while it works correctly most of the time on the DCH.

The rental model starts looking pretty attractive at that point.Yes. That is a good point. Risk comes in many guises. That's something else that folks need to consider when weighing the current capabilities of the Comcast TiVo against a "real" TiVo.

(I don't know what you mean about SDV risks, I've only done cursory reading about the HD Tivos.)SDV = Switched Digital Video. It is a new technology that many cable companies are or will be applying, to make better use of the available bandwidth. As of today, channels that are "switched" are unavailable to TiVos, even with CableCards. some MSOs and TiVo are working together on something called a "tuning resolver" which the MSO will make available along with CableCards (presumably for an additional fee), that will provide the TiVo the ability to tune in even the "switched" channels. While they have aimed for release of the tuning resolver during the second quarter of this year, there is no promise or guarantee to that effect (so the release could actually be much later this year, or even next year), and even then, there is no promise or guarantee that your specific MSO, or MSO head-end, will offer it. Some will, some won't, and if yours doesn't, or doesn't do so until a later date, you are unable to tune-in the "switched" channels.

By contrast, folks can assume that the Comcast TiVo will almost surely support SDV from Day One.

SDV = Switched Digital Video.

Ah yes -- I'd heard of the switched video but it didn't click -- I was thinking you were making some reference to Standard Def TV. Thanks for the clarification. I was going to ask whether the DCH boxes do SDV, but I guess under the rental model, it wouldn't really matter.

Both DCT- and DCH- boxes support SDV as far as I know.

what are the advantages/benefits of SDV? Does Comcast do this now?

This explains it pretty well...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched_digital_video

has Comcast ever mentioned anything about SDV? Sounds good to me, more HD channels is the way I see it.

They sure have:

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6496096.html

A black screen and "please Wait" screen showed up when I turned on my TV tonight. Called Comcast, and rep told me to unplug the box for 30 sec. 10 seconds later, rep asked:" uh-oh, do you have Tivo?"! Brilliant. The box reads alternating "8888", and a blinking dot.

After getting to a supervisor, I was told my box was dead and would have to be replaced. All recorded shows, season passes lost. I was rather upset, and now have a 4-7 pm visit scheduled for tomorrow. I was told that my DCH 3416 would be replaced with a DCT 3416.

I'm in the Boston area. Any suggestions of what to replace this POS with, where to get triple play with HD-DVR? Fios, which consumer reports rates tops, is not available in my area.

From all the distressing posts on various forums I've read, these boxes are completely buggy, slow: simply not ready for prime time. It took 4 hrs for the tech to get it set up when I signed up, and I can't take that kind of time off work again. I'll update with news, if any.

A black screen and "please Wait" screen showed up when I turned on my TV tonight. Called Comcast, and rep told me to unplug the box for 30 sec. 10 seconds later, rep asked:" uh-oh, do you have Tivo?"! Brilliant. The box reads alternating "8888", and a blinking dot.

Same thing happened to me, sometime in the last two weeks while I was away. They came on Sunday (a day after I called), and confessed that there were no replacement boxes available, so they'd have to come back.

Today, they did. They didn't *tell* me I'd get a DCT, but that's what they brough. And it's a DCT 3412, so.....120GB instead of 160GB, right? Grr.

On the bright side, the techs told me that the DCT tended to boot slower than the DCH, but perform better. I've only used it for a few minutes, but it feels marginally faster, and I don't have the mangled sound effects problem that the DCH had (not that I really give a crap about the sound effects); see a post I mad earlier in the thread for an explanation. The HD is louder than in the DCH (meaning, I can hear it from 4 feet away--the DCH was inaudible unless I put my ear next to it). But that's about it.

So far.

I'm in Cambridge, and there's no FiOS where I am either. I'll see if the DCT works out ok, and/or if the lower capacity cramps my style, and then go from there.

At least with the lower capacity, if the box craps out, I won't lose so many recordings. I lost a ton of stuff I actually wanted to see when I got back from vacation.

A black screen and "please Wait" screen showed up when I turned on my TV tonight. Called Comcast, and rep told me to unplug the box for 30 sec. 10 seconds later, rep asked:" uh-oh, do you have Tivo?"! Brilliant. The box reads alternating "8888", and a blinking dot.


Exactly this happened to me yesterday morning and I scheduled a Comcast visit assuming the box needed replacement, but amazingly, the box revived itself while I was at work and is now working fine, so I canceled the visit. So there's a chance your box will fix itself -- but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I appologize if this has been posted already...

Looks like there is a firmware upgrade coming very soon (early march?). This info was posted by a comcast tech over at the TCF forum.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6026134#post6026134

just read in a memo this morning that this is a known issue ("crazy 8's and reset loop")with the DCH3416 boxes and will be fixed with the new firmware upgrade in early march

To all those considering Comcast Tivo - here's another (negative) data point:

I got the Tivo upgrade a few weeks ago and was pretty happy with it until yesterday when my DVR kicked the bucket. First, the box seemed to be working fine but would not allow me to record any programs (I would select a program to record and I would get the Tivo icon indicating "program will not be recorded". That was a pain because I missed out on a few previously scheduled recordings before I realized this was happening.

I rebooted the system and then my box got stuck in a reboot cycle for about 20 minutes, after which it would pass through the signal of one channel but not allow me to change the channel or view any software of any guide (e.g. Comcast or Tivo menus, guide info or even onscreen channel info).

I called Comcast and have a service call scheduled for tomorrow. While on the phone I inquired about Cable Cards (since I am fed up and am thinking about switching to a TivoHD) but the person told me it would require a service call and Comcast had upped it's Cablecard rental fee to $5 per month per card (the first card is no longer free)! So that's would be $10 a month for 2 cable cards on top of the Tivo subscription and hardware costs!

I'm looking into FIOS, but I've had my share of problems with Verizon as well - so I'm reluctant to make the switch. Man, this is frustrating!

FWIW -

As a follow-up to my post earlier this month - I had my previous box (DCH) replaced with a DCT-3416 and have had no problems since (knock on wood). The DCT seems to run better (seems a little more responsive and none of the annoying "repeat" sound effect issues I had with the DCH).

When I called Comcast to setup the visit I spoke with someone who was a Tivo "specialist" and was actually very helpful and knowledgeable about the issue I was having. The cable guy arrived on-time and the install went pretty well (although there was initially a problem getting the box to initialize that took about 45 minutes to straighten out).

A few weeks into my second box, I'm happy I gave it a second try (and happy I got a DCT).

BTW - Being told that FIOS didn't have any HD receivers (and wouldn't be getting any until Mid-March) didn't exactly make that alternative very attractive...

anyone know if this is coming to Chicago anytime soon? i'm planning on getting an HD DVR when i get my plasma in July, and I'm not into buying a $700 machine when i can just lease for cheap. i love Tivo, but that's a ridiculous price.

anyone know if this is coming to Chicago anytime soon? i'm planning on getting an HD DVR when i get my plasma in July, and I'm not into buying a $700 machine when i can just lease for cheap. i love Tivo, but that's a ridiculous price.

Welcome to the club. Get in line behind me. :D

wanna get in the FiOS line too?

LOL... My cable broadband seems to be the only thing Comcast is doing right.

I know this is off topic but since there are a lot of comcast wonks in this forum i tohught I would ask.

Do any have Comcast for phone service? What do you think about from a quality and reliability standpoint

I know this is off topic but since there are a lot of comcast wonks in this forum i tohught I would ask.

Do any have Comcast for phone service? What do you think about from a quality and reliability standpoint

I've had it for a few years. I thought I had voip before, but I was just recently forced to converted to the new system, which is voip.

I can honestly say, we have only ever had one problem/outage. It was due to some construction/digging in the neighborhood that took out a main cable line. That killed all comcast service for everybody around me. It was fixed within 24 hours. Even when my cable goes out (which is rare) or my internet goes out, the phone still works. I should add that all of our utilities are buried, which helps.

A friend at work has the 'triple play'. Last week, he had several outages that took down all 3.

I have all three. The phone service is ok. I've had some minor problems with voice mail from time to time.

I may understand this incorrectly but I don't believe comcast phone is VOIP. It doesn't rely on your internet or IP, it just runs over the cable lines to your house but it not routed through your internet like Vonage.

My internet has gone out a few times with out my phone being interupted. If you have the power back in place on the modem if your power goes out your phone will also still work.

I may understand this incorrectly but I don't believe comcast phone is VOIP. It doesn't rely on your internet or IP, it just runs over the cable lines to your house but it not routed through your internet like Vonage.

My internet has gone out a few times with out my phone being interupted. If you have the power back in place on the modem if your power goes out your phone will also still work.
The current Comcast Digital Voice (versus the old Digital Phone) is a form of VOIP. I believe it uses it's own tuner and frequency, but it's basically a dedicated low-speed Internet connection tied to the adapter, separate from any standard HSI service. I also believe it connects to and uses the same CMTS devices as regular HSI.

I may understand this incorrectly but I don't believe comcast phone is VOIP. It doesn't rely on your internet or IP, it just runs over the cable lines to your house but it not routed through your internet like Vonage.

My internet has gone out a few times with out my phone being interupted. If you have the power back in place on the modem if your power goes out your phone will also still work.

When I was forced to upgrade my phone service couple months ago, they brought in a new modem for voip and internet. The modem has built in battery backup.

Voice works great for me, had it since the fall. Quality is great, and the online settings are very slick (the online app does go down occasionally). I like being able to remotely forward calls to my cell for a few hours then back. It's basically VOIP but over a quasi closed WAN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast_Digital_Voice

I just gave up on the Comcast TiVo software that's supposedly "coming soon." It seems like the hardware might be as much of a problem as the software. My TiVo HD from woot.com for $179 (http://www.woot.com/) is on the way, and I can't wait to get rid of my Motorola piece of garbage.

No more "HD" On Demand, but I can live with that, as it stinks anyway from both a user-experience and a video quality perspective.

I too just wooted myself a TiVo HD!!!!

I just gave up on the Comcast TiVo software that's supposedly "coming soon." It seems like the hardware might be as much of a problem as the software. My TiVo HD from woot.com for $179 (http://www.woot.com/) is on the way, and I can't wait to get rid of my Motorola piece of garbage.

No more "HD" On Demand, but I can live with that, as it stinks anyway from both a user-experience and a video quality perspective.
I agree that OnDemand video is no big deal. I gave it up when I got my TiVo Series3 more than a year ago. Although, I have another HD DVR, which I rent from Cox OKC I have used it only once for something that was on OnDemand, a University of Oklahoma football game. Otherwise I haven’t even thought about it because I don’t care.

hey just wooted one too, thanks for the heads up. at least now i don't have to worry about when comcast is coming out w/Tivo here. i mean, that price for a box, no contract? awesome. i'll just transfer my current one to it.

Voice works great for me, had it since the fall. Quality is great, and the online settings are very slick (the online app does go down occasionally). I like being able to remotely forward calls to my cell for a few hours then back. It's basically VOIP but over a quasi closed WAN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast_Digital_Voice

What is the cost of Voice once the promo period ends?

Modem/UPS = $
Voice Service = $
Fees/Taxes = $

So, i'm on to my 5th DCH tivo/Moto box. All died with the same blinking dot/solid 8's.
Was told yesterday by comcast tech that i should get the DCT model, as many people posted before. They advised me to just take the current (dead) box to one of their service centers where i can have it replaced.
Walking into the service center this morning, i learned that the service centers
don't carry this model anymore, just the DCH ones.

Another tech visit incoming.

how cool is this :)

Edit: btw, there is now a "trouble with your Tivo" option on their phone service.

i have had two (as of yesterday) dead tivos witht he blinking 8's/dot (DCH). I walked into the service center today and swapped it out for a box 'pre-loaded with Tivo' - i put in quotes because that is what the person there told me - I do not believe it until I actually see it.
Man is this enoying!
The real problem is I like Tivo SO much, but they really need to improve the software- the guide shift lag and long period to set a future recording (not to mention no 5.1) is REEALLy starting to wear on me.
FREAK!

I just gave up on the Comcast TiVo software that's supposedly "coming soon." It seems like the hardware might be as much of a problem as the software. My TiVo HD from woot.com for $179 (http://www.woot.com/) is on the way, and I can't wait to get rid of my Motorola piece of garbage.

No more "HD" On Demand, but I can live with that, as it stinks anyway from both a user-experience and a video quality perspective.

What he said. All of it. Thanks for posting that link.

Now I'll just have to battle the local Comcast people and convince them I don't want to rent a basic box for VOD/PPV, I just want two cards, as cheaply as I can get them. And I don't need help sliding them into their slots, thankyouverymuch. It should be interesting seeing how THAT works out...

It will be interesting to see how the "I can install the cards myself" goes... I am going to attempt the same thing when I return that garbage Comcrap DVR I have now.

The only thing that makes me think it might work is that I called Comcast, and the guy said when I bring back the Motorola (hopefully to be crushed, melted, and re-formed into beer cans), they'll give me the CableCards on the spot.

Of course, phone-support people don't have the world's greatest track record for accuracy.

What he said. All of it.

I did the same. I already have one TivoHD for our main TV (picked it up in August). I was going to wait until Ccast released the tivo software for my wife's TV to replace her TivoSeries 2DT, but it died the other day.

Can't wait until it arrives.

The only thing that makes me think it might work is that I called Comcast, and the guy said when I bring back the Motorola (hopefully to be crushed, melted, and re-formed into beer cans), they'll give me the CableCards on the spot.

Of course, phone-support people don't have the world's greatest track record for accuracy.

The cable cards are a pain to install. I have read where you can have a guy show up with way more then two bad ones. I'm all for taking Comcast out the of the process but this is one case where it could turn out to be a big pain in the a$$.

Our M-series cable card in a TiVo HD has worked perfectly ever since we installed it ourselves many months ago.

The cable cards are a pain to install. I have read where you can have a guy show up with way more then two bad ones. I'm all for taking Comcast out the of the process but this is one case where it could turn out to be a big pain in the a$$.

In my experience (it's only a single data point), the cable card install for my first Tivo HD was a royal pain in the rear requiring three visits and multiple phone calls to Comcast and Tivo; however, that was only the case because the Comcast techs on the first two visits refused to follow the steps provided by Tivo exactly as offered. On the third visit, I insisted that the tech follow Tivo's steps. When the incompetent Comcast person at the NOC kept telling my tech that Tivo's instructions were wrong and it shouldn't be done that way, I insisted that they do a three way call with Tivo to ensure that it went smoothly. When Comcast did exactly what the Tivo instructions called for, it worked. Imagine that :rolleyes:

In my experience (it's only a single data point), the cable card install for my first Tivo HD was a royal pain in the rear requiring three visits and multiple phone calls to Comcast and Tivo; however, that was only the case because the Comcast techs on the first two visits refused to follow the steps provided by Tivo exactly as offered. On the third visit, I insisted that the tech follow Tivo's steps. When the incompetent Comcast person at the NOC kept telling my tech that Tivo's instructions were wrong and it shouldn't be done that way, I insisted that they do a three way call with Tivo to ensure that it went smoothly. When Comcast did exactly what the Tivo instructions called for, it worked. Imagine that :rolleyes:

My install took like three hours. The guy had never worked on a tivo. I think doing the install part would be easy enough. He let me hold his hand and walk him through it. Most of his time was spent on hold with comcast waiting the get the cards activated or linked to my account. The crazy thing is he had to call the same number I would call and wait on hold.

My greater fear in doing a self install would be getting cable cards that did not work or were not flashed properly, and having to make multiple trips back to the cable office for new cards.

My install took like three hours. The guy had never worked on a tivo. I think doing the install part would be easy enough. He let me hold his hand and walk him through it. Most of his time was spent on hold with comcast waiting the get the cards activated or linked to my account. The crazy thing is he had to call the same number I would call and wait on hold.

My greater fear in doing a self install would be getting cable cards that did not work or were not flashed properly, and having to make multiple trips back to the cable office for new cards.
It’s true that CableCARDs can be a big pain in the neck. In the 14 months I have had my TiVo S3, Cox OKC had done three CableCARD installations. None took less than three hours. My last installation, earlier this week, took the cake, though. The Cox tech came to my house at 2:45pm and didn’t leave until 8:55pm. The guy tried 7 different cards and even then, one of the cards still wasn’t working when he left. Somehow the second card healed itself overnight and the cards have been working for the past three days.

The good news is that until one of my CableCARDs failed during a firmware update on Tuesday, both had worked perfectly for about a year. If Cox hadn’t done the firmware update I have no reason to believe that they wouldn’t have continued to work well for the foreseeable future.

The bottom line is that CableCARDs continue to be the Achilles heel of the TiVo S3 and HD DVRs.

The bottom line is that CableCARDs continue to be the Achilles heel of the TiVo S3 and HD DVRs.

In honesty, it is the inability of Comcast support (on the phone and in the home) to properly configure them that is the true Achilles heel.

When I bought my TivoHD, my local Comcast office gave me an M-Card and an S-Card, even though I needed only one M-Card or two S-Cards. The TivoHD would allow both to be installed, but would only use the M-Card. The technician I spoke with on the phone during the initial setup was better then average in that they were actually able to walk me through configuring the card to work for the most part, though I was missing batches of channels in each tier (so a couple in the 100s, a few in the 200s, and a few in the 500s).

They did a truck roll (fortunately my cable package includes free ones when it's a configuration issue like this) and it was clear I knew more about CableCard then this fellow did - though my experience was a Wiki article and a perusal through this forum. :rolleyes: However, I lucked out that the tech on the phone identified the problem - the "Tivo flag" on my account had not been enabled and when it was, all the channels came in. Regardless, the tech at the house insisted I needed to have the S-Card installed, so I humored him and let him put it in. Then when he left I pulled it out and things were fine and I returned the S-Card and received the credit for the $1.75 monthly charge a second CableCard incurs on my package.

Been working fine since. :cool:

First, I apologize if this has been addressed before, but right now I don't have the time to go through 123 pages for the answer. Anyway, I've been loosely following this thread for a while so that I would know when the TiVo software is finally being rolled out, and from the recent posts here it looks like it is finally out there (although not free of bugs).

So, I called Comcast this morning and, as in the past, the person I spoke to was completely clueless about any TiVo software. "We don't have anything to do with TiVo" is what she told me. When I insisted that she is wrong she put the phone down and asked others in her call center. Nobody knew anything.

Somehow Comcast has made the TiVo-Comcast partnership a closely guarded secret among its own staff notwithstanding the fact that the product is apparently out in the world. Who do I need to call and what is the secret password that I need to use in order to reach the Comcast inner-sanctum where I can actually get some answers? Those of you who actually have the TiVo software apparently have figured out the secret. Care to share it?

Thanks!

jRickW, where are you located? The Comcast-Tivo roll out is only in parts of New England at this time.

^^^^^
Chicago. I guess that explains it to some extent, although I would still think that their customer service people would have some information, even if it's only something like "we are currently only testing in limited markets."

Thanks for the info.

i have had two (as of yesterday) dead tivos witht he blinking 8's/dot (DCH). I walked into the service center today and swapped it out for a box 'pre-loaded with Tivo' - i put in quotes because that is what the person there told me - I do not believe it until I actually see it.
Man is this irritating!
The real problem is I like Tivo SO much, but they really need to improve the software- the guide shift lag and long period to set a future recording (not to mention no 5.1) is REEALLy starting to wear on me.
FREAK!
Just an update on this...
I get the new unit home, plugged it in, no tivo software. The next day the box will only go up and down the channels - no guide no DVR no ondemand. the tech I talked to said it may be trying to DL the software. A second tech (Tivo specialist) told me it is messed up because it thinks is a tivo (based on my account) but does nto have the software. Next day I have a tech visit - all the guy did was call in to say 'flip it' and tell me he'll come back in two hours to check it. Twenty minutes later the Tivo saftware was up and running (note - my other two DL's took 2 hours).
Could I have just told the tech to 'flip it' and safe a whole lot of time and trouble?
FREAK!

Just an update on this...
I get the new unit home, plugged it in, no tivo software. The next day the box will only go up and down the channels - no guide no DVR no ondemand. the tech I talked to said it may be trying to DL the software. A second tech (Tivo specialist) told me it is messed up because it thinks is a tivo (based on my account) but does nto have the software. Next day I have a tech visit - all the guy did was call in to say 'flip it' and tell me he'll come back in two hours to check it. Twenty minutes later the Tivo saftware was up and running (note - my other two DL's took 2 hours).
Could I have just told the tech to 'slip it' and safe a whole lot of time and trouble?
FREAK!

Obviously NOT! The magic phrase is "Flip it" not "slip it.":D

Since my dead DCH TiVo was replaced 2 weeks ago (blinking 8s, etc), the DCT I now have worked ok for a week, and then crashed twice. I had to manually reboot it myself the first time, and then the 2nd time it restarted on its own while I was out. (I could tell because the 30-sec skip had been reset).

Along the way I was able to access the box's info menu by pressing Power and then Select on the front panel. Now, that no longer works: screen goes dark when I press Power, which makes sense if I'm "turning off" the box, but the Select button doesn't bring up the menu (which I want to see so I can check the box's uptime). Pressing Power again turns the box back on. Etc.

Am I missing something? It worked once after the 2nd reboot described above. But not since.

I have pretty low standards, since I'm coming over from an old ReplayTV with a miniscule hard drive, but this is starting to get annoying.

Since my dead DCH TiVo was replaced 2 weeks ago (blinking 8s, etc), the DCT I now have worked ok for a week, and then crashed twice. I had to manually reboot it myself the first time, and then the 2nd time it restarted on its own while I was out. (I could tell because the 30-sec skip had been reset).

Along the way I was able to access the box's info menu by pressing Power and then Select on the front panel. Now, that no longer works: screen goes dark when I press Power, which makes sense if I'm "turning off" the box, but the Select button doesn't bring up the menu (which I want to see so I can check the box's uptime). Pressing Power again turns the box back on. Etc.

Am I missing something? It worked once after the 2nd reboot described above. But not since.

I have pretty low standards, since I'm coming over from an old ReplayTV with a miniscule hard drive, but this is starting to get annoying.

As for the box crashes you report, I don't think every time the box resets it's necessarily a crash. I have two Moto boxes with the Tivo software & noticed they had both reset a week or two ago also but don't believe this was because of a crash. They may be doing upgrades and/or resets of these boxes that the public doesn't know about.

As for losing access to the menu you're trying to get to, are you pressing the 'select' button within a couple seconds of pressing 'power'? If you wait more then about 3 seconds it won't go into that menu, it's not as forgiving as the 'power' 'menu' screen that you can access pretty much whenever you want. However if you try to do it too quickly it may not register the second button press.

Hopefully all of these boxes will reset soon when we get the new firmware/patch that should be here by the end of the month to fix some of the current bugs.

As for the box crashes you report, I don't think every time the box resets it's necessarily a crash. I have two Moto boxes with the Tivo software & noticed they had both reset a week or two ago also but don't believe this was because of a crash. They may be doing upgrades and/or resets of these boxes that the public doesn't know about.


Good point. I kind of assumed that since the 2nd reset happened so soon after I'd been forced to reboot a non-responsive box, that it was related. Maybe it wasn't.


As for losing access to the menu you're trying to get to, are you pressing the 'select' button within a couple seconds of pressing 'power'? If you wait more then about 3 seconds it won't go into that menu, it's not as forgiving as the 'power' 'menu' screen that you can access pretty much whenever you want. However if you try to do it too quickly it may not register the second button press.


Yeah, I'm pressing the 2nd button pretty much immediately, just like I used to do. As quickly as within a half-second. But the box is going off (and the TV goes black) as SOON as I press Power, and it just ignores everything (except Power) after that.

I'm waiting eagerly for that software update too.

^^^^^
Chicago. I guess that explains it to some extent, although I would still think that their customer service people would have some information, even if it's only something like "we are currently only testing in limited markets."

Thanks for the info.

i'm in Chicago too. my Tivo HD is coming tomorrow and i have a Comcast appointment on Saturday. wish me luck.

i'm in Chicago too. my Tivo HD is coming tomorrow and i have a Comcast appointment on Saturday. wish me luck.

Be sure to report your experience!

Be sure to report your experience!

Are we talking apples and oranges...
jRickW is talking about Comcast Tivo
briansemerick is getting TivoHD

yes, sorry i was just responding to Comcast's service in general here. i'll report my experience in the Tivo HD thread.

Earlier I wrote:

Since my dead DCH TiVo was replaced 2 weeks ago (blinking 8s, etc), the DCT I now have worked ok for a week, and then crashed twice. I had to manually reboot it myself the first time, and then the 2nd time it restarted on its own while I was out. (I could tell because the 30-sec skip had been reset).

Along the way I was able to access the box's info menu by pressing Power and then Select on the front panel. Now, that no longer works: screen goes dark when I press Power, which makes sense if I'm "turning off" the box, but the Select button doesn't bring up the menu (which I want to see so I can check the box's uptime). Pressing Power again turns the box back on. Etc.

Am I missing something? It worked once after the 2nd reboot described above. But not since.

I had to manually reboot my box again yesterday, after it again (meaning just like the first time I had to manually reboot):
1. got confused about which tuner was doing what, saying a show was recording when it wasn't, and (when I forced that tuner to record) saying it wasn't recording when it was, and

2. one tuner seemed completely inoperative, only showing black no matter which channel I selected with it.

So this afternoon maybe 20 hours later, I'm watching a recorded show when it reboots itself (though it never shows the Welcome screen, so it wasn't like other restarts). AFter 5+ mins it comes back up, and just for fun I check to see if the status menu is available to me again (Power then Select). It is! But the uptime shows the time since my manual reboot yesterday, not the one just completed.

Whacky. REALLY ready for that software update. I'll call Comcast and get as escalated as far as I can to report these problems. Does anyone have any info on how/if they're collecting specific feedback about all the problems? I'd be happy to give them details if I thought the person on the end of the line knew what I was talking about, and wasn't simply logging "Tivo doesn't work."

So Comcast is coming to my home Friday to upgrade the phone system, new modem and new DVR/Tivo. I currently have an older DCT 3412. I am looking for some advice, please.
1) Should I take the DCT 3412 or the DCH 3412 if offered? Is one more desirable than the other. I will install the box, not the Tech.
2) I have a Home Theater MX 700 remote that is programmed to my DCT3412, will I need to completely reprogram the remote or just "tweak" it a bit with the new box?
3) Any other advice/concerns with this new upgrade?

Thanks for any help,
JTMav

...
3) Any other advice/concerns with this new upgrade?
...


3416 => 1/3 more disk space.

3416 => 1/3 more disk space.
Thanks for the advice, hopefully the tech will have one with him if they available.

Have they fixed the 5.1 audio over HDMI with the DCH and Tivo?

If not, I'd get a DCT, even if guide browsing is glacially slow.

Question,

when i rewind live tv or pause it, how do I get the tivo to go back to live tv without fast-forwarding to the live broadcast? ive tried the LIVE TV button but it just swaps tuners.. am i missing something?

Have they fixed the 5.1 audio over HDMI with the DCH and Tivo?

If not, I'd get a DCT, even if guide browsing is glacially slow.

Not yet. :mad:

Did anyone else with the Comcast TiVo lose their guide data today ?

Yes I lost guide data

Well at least it wasn't gone long, it's back !!!!

yup, guide data gone and back today

I didn't lose guide data, but I did encounter a different problem. One of the shows actually showed up as being recorded, but the length was 0:00, and if I played it it was just a blank screen. Has the update happened? I want to go back to the normal DVR service if I keep getting problems like this.

I have 2 DVR's. One of them is working fine (for now), including all guide data. The other one claims to have guide data through March 28 according to the System Information, but there are no scheduled recordings past March 19 and several of the functions aren't working: Season Pass Manager, Category Search, Suggestions, and Wishlist Search are all "unavailable, please try later". Restart doesn't fix the problem. I called Comcast and they entered a note for their engineers to look at the problem, but I'm skeptical that they'll be able to fix it remotely.

Any word on the firmware update?

Any word on the firmware update?

Starting in April

Starting in April

Wish or fact?

I just went to watch my comcast tivo HD DVR and everything was gone. No recordings. No Schedule programs. Every default setting back. I called Comcast Tech support and got no help from them. They said that it happens from time to time. I asked what the logs said but they said they don't have any......I write software for a living and catastrophic errors like this should be logged. So i asked for a new box and they said a tech has to be sent out but if they find nothing wrong with the box i would be charged. I am so done with comcast. The old DVR was junk and now this new one is junk also.

Wish or fact?


fact

I just spoke with tech support for an issue and he confirmed that the firmware update was in the system notated as "April" but this could still change...

fact

Cool. Hopefully, this will fix the DD5.1 bug for DCH boxes.

fact

2008 or 2009

2008 or 2009

2008

Wait, a minute. Since when was it pushed to April? I thought it was supposed to be in March.

For those of you who, like me, have this thread linked and check it every now and then, there are a couple other threads on AVS about comcast Tivo. Here is one that was done by a Comcast rep and discussus the upcoming update:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=979925

Another user story...I upgraded my boxes to tivo, the installer came out and swapped both my boxes out. One of them got up and running the other was still downloading when the installer left. The one that was downloading never finished and was stuck at the "Starting Tivo" screen with "ni01" on the LED. The other one stopped working within the week, and when power cycled got stuck at "starting tivo" with "db01" on the LED.

When my one tivo was working, it was much slower than my old DirecTivo. And when the 1 working cable box went down, my wife was quite unhappy that neither TV was working and made it clear in no uncertain terms that the situation was unacceptable...

So after another visit from the comcast installer, I'm back to non-tivo comcast boxes, and a happy wife...

Guess I'll try again when the bugs are worked out...

Another user story...I upgraded my boxes to tivo, the installer came out and swapped both my boxes out. One of them got up and running the other was still downloading when the installer left. The one that was downloading never finished and was stuck at the "Starting Tivo" screen with "ni01" on the LED. The other one stopped working within the week, and when power cycled got stuck at "starting tivo" with "db01" on the LED.

When my one tivo was working, it was much slower than my old DirecTivo. And when the 1 working cable box went down, my wife was quite unhappy that neither TV was working and made it clear in no uncertain terms that the situation was unacceptable...

So after another visit from the comcast installer, I'm back to non-tivo comcast boxes, and a happy wife...

Guess I'll try again when the bugs are worked out...

I had the exact same problem. My On Demand wasn't working after upgrading my DCH3416 to the Tivo software so did a power cycle. Little did I know that a power cycle is the worst thing you can do to a Comcast/Tivo box. The tech should have let me know about this when he installed the software.

I get the same Db 01 or Dc01 message and the DCH's LCD constantly says "Starting Up, Please Wait...." I have a tech coming tomorrow to fix or replace the box. I'm pretty pissed since I had a lot of shows saved that I wanted to hold on to for a while. :-( I doubt they can be restored at this point.

Just make sure the tech checks the signal first before just deeming it a bad box & swapping it out on you. Could just be an issue with that or the box could've 'fallen out' of one of the registration systems.

So the tech came and said my DCH3416 was bricked so he replaced it with another one. I lost all of my recorded shows (thanks Comcast!!! :mad:)

Last night while I was watching the new box I got a solid green screen, and changing the channel/tuner as Comcast Rep instructed did not fix the problem.

I tried doing a "blind" soft reset but did not remember exactly were the restart DVR option was in the Tivo Central Menu. In the end I did a power cycle and luckily the box rebooted successfully. I got really scared for a second when I saw the Db01 and Dc01 messages on the DCH LCD again... That firmware update really can't come any sooner, this is getting ridiculous..

Good afternoon,
Noticed last night on one of my comcast tivo units that there was nothing in the to do list which is strange because there always is something. I also tried searching for a program to record..when I found it and hit record it hung for a long time before saying it was added. I have rebooted the dct 3416 and that didn't help this time..it has in the past. My other box, a dch works fine and has a to do list. Anyone know whats up and how to fix this short of having a tech come out?

Thanks

Tom

Good afternoon,
Noticed last night on one of my comcast tivo units that there was nothing in the to do list which is strange because there always is something. I also tried searching for a program to record..when I found it and hit record it hung for a long time before saying it was added. I have rebooted the dct 3416 and that didn't help this time..it has in the past. My other box, a dch works fine and has a to do list. Anyone know whats up and how to fix this short of having a tech come out?

Thanks

Tom

Recently I had a suspiciously short to-do list that only went ahead about 2 days. I made some trivial modification to one of my season passes, and that seemed to cause the to-do list to fully regenerate itself. Give it a try, it might work for you...

Recently I had a suspiciously short to-do list that only went ahead about 2 days. I made some trivial modification to one of my season passes, and that seemed to cause the to-do list to fully regenerate itself. Give it a try, it might work for you...

Thanks for the quick come back..mind if I ask what kind of changes you made?

Thanks

Tom

PS. Well, I followed your suggestion and deleted the last two season passes I added and lo and behold the to do list came back. When I tried to edit one of the already scheduled recordings for next Wednesday (I needed to add 30 minutes to the recording) I got a tivo error sound telling me that the dvr has encountered an internal error and it should only be temporary. Could it be that the software is still doing its thing and adding the recordings back?

Thanks for the quick come back..mind if I ask what kind of changes you made?


I think I told it to delete when "space needed" instead of when "I delete". Then later I changed it back.

I also had an extremely long pause last night when setting a program to record, as in literally at least two minutes (the 'please wait' message was on the screen the whole time). I really thought I was going to have to reset the DVR but I just waited it out. I figured when/if it came back it was going to give me some type of error message, but it just came back saying the show was set to record as it normally should. I know these boxes continuously talk to a group of different Tivo servers, I'm assuming it had trouble during that for some reason. I didn't check my 'to do list' though.

Jon,
On other TiVo units, that pause is often caused by the TiVo internally checking other programs waiting to record, to determine if there is a conflict or not for the time of the recording, and/or whether there will be enough space based on old, "Save Until I Delete" recordings on the hard drive, and the committed recordings up to the day/time of the recording you are requesting.

I don't have the Comcast/TiVo, but I would expect the conflict management to be the same or very similar. Depending on the performance capabilities of the DVR and the numbers of TV programs involved, the processing time for all of that checking can be minutes instead of seconds.

This process does not go out to any external source for information, it uses info already within the DVR.

Yes, these Tivo/Moto boxes usually have a pause when you set a recording like you mention, but it's usually more like 15-30 seconds tops. This long pause Friday night was by far the longest I've seen so far with this guide in the approx. 2 months I've been using it. Also as I mentioned earlier, these boxes talk to 3 different servers for different reasons and I feel it was mainly an issue talking to one of them for whatever reason.

I know nothing about the background communications for the Moto/TiVo boxes, but I do know that the wait time for checking conflicts for a proposed recording gets much longer when the hard drive nears full and/or when the quantity of Season Passes gets larger.

What's important to me is, even with that bit of time delay, my recordings always happen if TiVo confirmed they would in advance, short of programs being bumped for special events, etc.

(also posted on www.tivocommunity.com)

My fuse with TiVo from Comcast grows shorter by the hour.

Last weekend my DVR started exhibiting unusual behavior that I have not seen, nor read about - it would just completely freeze up - picture and sound would still come through, but the box itself would be 100% unresponsive. Only way I could get it back into a usable state was to unplug the box and plug it back in. Struggled with this for a few days, then it seemed to go away. Then last Wednesday I started having issues with recordings, or more precisely, I only had a few days worth of recordings listed, and anything past the weekend showed as no recordings scheduled. If I modified a season pass recording, all the scheduled recordings would re-populate in the to-do list.

Then Friday I started seeing some duplicate recordings scheduled (same show, same time, same channel, scheduled to record 2-3 times). One was marked as the season pass recording, while the dupes looked like they were manually added. I could delete some of the dupes, but others would not go away.

Saturday brought some very strange behavior - my duplicate recordings list multiplied, and I now had 4-6 recordings set for every single scheduled recording. Additionally, the box froze again, requiring a plug pull and reboot. This time when the box came back I had the issue of no recordings showing past Tuesday (would have been today). I tried to modify another season pass recording to see if I could trick it into working again, only this time I was greeted with a lovely blue screen and an error message saying the DVR was unable to complete the action due to an unknown issue, and if the error comes up again to contact Comcast.

On Sunday, the floodgates opened - at about 10:30pm, the DVR reset on its own while I was watching TV. At a certain point during the bootup process, it reset again, and it looked like I was caught in a reset loop. By this time I didn't want to deal with Comcast, so I unplugged the box and let it sit with no power overnight. The next morning I plugged it back in, and about 45 minutes later it seemed to come back to life. When I returned home from work, my multiple recording issue had swelled to 8-10 recordings for each scheduled recording, and pretty much everything else I did was met with the same blue screen error I received on Saturday. This time I got Comcast on the phone - after telling them my saga, they cut right to the chase - they sent a "master reset" command to my box, which was supposed to wipe everything out and resend the TiVo software. 45 minutes later the box came back on, but all of my duplicate recordings remained, and I was still constantly getting the blue screen error. After some additional consultation with Comcast (and the infamous, "We haven't seen this issue yet" line) I asked them to send a tech out - and in my world that has to happen this Saturday.

I don't know if the box is fried, or something messed up the software, but this is pushing me closer to dropping TiVo for now and going back to iGuide.

Anyone else seen anything like this, have any ideas? The prospect of yet another 2 hour tech visit from Comcast is giving me a headache.

Get a Series 3 or TiVoHD box. I have seven of them and have zero problems.

As much as i would love to have tivo HD on my comcast box, if it is going to have all these problems. I would rather wait a year while you people in New England get to Beta test it.

That is what is happening, comcast is using you as a beta test. And you have a pay for it.

If they really did a beta test on their own they would have found these problems.

This is what happens when you have a monopoly as your cable provider.

Fios TV is going to be the best thing to happen. It will cause comcast to have to compete. Eventually we won't put up with @hit like this and use which ever service is better.

Sure we all want tivo, but a tivo that doesn't work is worse then no tivo at all.

by the way, 7 tivo HD's.. That's about $5400 on hardware + something like $140 a month.

If we all had that kinda money we'd do it too. But most of us don't.

by the way, 7 tivo HD's.. That's about $5400 on hardware + something like $140 a month.

If we all had that kinda money we'd do it too. But most of us don't.

:confused: A TivoHD is $299... 7 of them would be ~$2100.

:confused: A TivoHD is $299... 7 of them would be ~$2100.

You can get a TiVoHD for $200 to $250. Although MY series 3 boxes were $500, $720, and $720 in December 2006.
But that was nothing compared to the HDTIvOs from DirecTV in 2004 that were $1K. I bought 8 of them and sold 6 on Ebay to cover the costs of my first two and upgrading their capacity(two 250GB drives in each which is a paltry amount by todays standards). They were going for over a 50% premium above the retail cost when they first came out so it worked out very well for me.

And the monthly cost for each of the boxes I have that aren't lifetime is $6.95 a month.

I believe the $6.95 is a grandfathered rate. I don't think it is available to new MSD customers.

As much as i would love to have tivo HD on my comcast box, if it is going to have all these problems. I would rather wait a year while you people in New England get to Beta test it.

That is what is happening, comcast is using you as a beta test. And you have a pay for it.

If they really did a beta test on their own they would have found these problems.

This is what happens when you have a monopoly as your cable provider.

Fios TV is going to be the best thing to happen. It will cause comcast to have to compete. Eventually we won't put up with @hit like this and use which ever service is better.

Sure we all want tivo, but a tivo that doesn't work is worse then no tivo at all.

It is hard to believe that it took almost two years for Comcast to get this product on the street and after all that time it does not work. You would think in two years they could of developed and tested their own DVR from scratch.

The problems described in this thread go well beyond a couple of little bugs that can get fixed with a firmware upadate. The Tivo on Comcast just does not work. I wonder how long they will stick this out if it has taken this long to get this far in one market. Think about how many different systems Comcast has gobbled up over the years and they all have different hardware that has to be made to work with the Tivo offering.

Does not look like a nationwide roll out is coming anytime soon. If you want your Tivo fix you should consider using that stimulus check on a Tivo HD.

My I-Guide DCT-6412p2 reset on me last night. Both tuners were recording HD material on different QAM's. Then we tried loading up an HD recording from the "My DVR" Menu. BAM! Instant 'click' power cycle "8888" and back to channel CN8 with no guide data.

How are developers supposed to fix these instabilities if the thing resets right away? If they printed some error message that I could paste online or send to a tech, perhaps that would help software developers find flaws in their code and correct them. How about for DVR's, when a crash occurs, save a crash dump file to the hard drive. Then when the DVR reboots and gets situated, upload that crash dump via the internal DOCSIS modem. Then Comcast can forward all crash dumps to their software vendors to help improve the product. Kind of like Windows XP Error Reporting.

Without proper debugging information, how are you supposed to pinpoint potential problems in the software? This is like flying blind.
Sure there could be a lab debug mode, but many issues are not found in a lab environment. Customer environments are drastically different than those in a lab or testing facility.

I've had my Comcast Tivo DRV for a little over a week now and it is a complete disaster. I don't know if I can wait for the firmware update to dump this steaming pile of crap.. a few "minor" bugs:


Random resets
Cannot stop the TiVo suggestions no matter what I try. The box is so consumed with the suggestions that it will flat out change the channel, without asking, and record two suggestions at once.
To call the guide slow would be an understatement. Glacially slow is a good description.. but I don't know if that is even slow enough.
Did I mention that every single operation is slower than a glacier?


There is no way this passed ANY QA tests and instead was deployed to the masses for us to QA it.. while paying extra. Just when I thought Comcast couldn't screw me any more they come along with this gem. Please, Comcast, for the love of God pull this disaster and redeploy it later. At the very least give it to us free until it is useable.

Thanks for letting me vent. :)

E

Intestingly enough I got an email yesterday about the Tivo Once-In-A-Blue-Moon birthday special:

TiVo HD DVR, Product Lifetime Service, Wireless Adapter, free shipping: $698.99. Which is worse? The Comcast TiVo DVR or the CableCARD installation? :)

I've had my Comcast Tivo DRV for a little over a week now and it is a complete disaster. I don't know if I can wait for the firmware update to dump this steaming pile of crap.. a few "minor" bugs:


Random resets
Cannot stop the TiVo suggestions no matter what I try. The box is so consumed with the suggestions that it will flat out change the channel, without asking, and record two suggestions at once.
To call the guide slow would be an understatement. Glacially slow is a good description.. but I don't know if that is even slow enough.
Did I mention that every single operation is slower than a glacier?


There is no way this passed ANY QA tests and instead was deployed to the masses for us to QA it.. while paying extra. Just when I thought Comcast couldn't screw me any more they come along with this gem. Please, Comcast, for the love of God pull this disaster and redeploy it later. At the very least give it to us free until it is useable.

Thanks for letting me vent. :)

E

I am pretty sure that for every "disaster" post in this thread there are many customers for whom Tivo-Comcast works just fine and therefore there is nothing to write about. I am one of them. Yes, there are issues and the lack of DD5.1 on DCH boxes is my biggest complain, slow response would be the 2nd. I did expect some bugs when I signed up for it the very first day of availability, and I am having fun beta testing it. I have not had any of the issues described by some posters here so maybe I am just lucky.

From the TiVo Community

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=389485

Got the new software update yesterday!


I'm one of those southern NH comcast customers --- came home last night and noticed I was now getting DD 5.1 out of my Comcast TiVo box!

Also noticed a small red "rec" light on the front panel display which was never there before when something was recording.

I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the other bugs out there....any others I should look for to see if they fixed them?

:mad::confused:
Wow, this really is amazing. I only monitor this thread occasionally, but I can't believe its now Q2, the rollout is still in a very small geographic area and there are still some significant service problems.

I'm glad I'm not waiting and hoping.

Oh great, now I gotta head home to check it out...lol

It is hard to believe that it took almost two years for Comcast to get this product on the street and after all that time it does not work. You would think in two years they could of developed and tested their own DVR from scratch. Comcast contracted the work out to TiVo. Figure that they know as much about developing and testing DVR software as anyone, so the issue isn't a lack of attempt or achievement, but rather is a matter of how incredibly difficult achieving the objective is. Remember, there is a firm requirement that this software run on the millions and millions of DVR boxes that Comcast already owned, and that customers already had in their homes. I suspect it would be hard to over-state just how difficult achieving the objective is.

If Tivo works as well as the regular software, well.....

I'll wait another 2 years.

It took 3 years for the regular guide to work.....at a mediocre level.

Plus, Tivo is much more demanding on the hardware than the i-guide.

.... I suspect it would be hard to over-state just how difficult achieving the objective is.

They get no sympathy from me. None. They were trying to build another complex layer of code on top of the barely functional POS Motorola box. If they STILL can't get the non-Tivo version to work without slow remote responses, resets, etc, then how can anyone expect the new Tivo code to work?

are there faster boxes than Motorola's on the market?

are there faster boxes than Motorola's on the market?

Whatever is running native Tivo code on the S3 and HD come to mind. :p

Whatever is running native Tivo code on the S3 and HD come to mind. :p

I wonder how the cost works out. Will have to check that out.

are there faster boxes than Motorola's on the market?


Not so much faster as more powerful.

Moto has a new box coming out soon DCX series.
Panasonic will next year(Comcast is involved with this one).

2009 "should" be a good year for us cable DVR people that have suffered with crap for 3-4 years.

They get no sympathy from me.They'll get no sympathy from me, either: Some objectives just aren't worth pursuing and this was probably one of them.

But no sympathy for any of the customers, either. Customers can try it, and if they don't like it, cancel. Comcast will even probably give customers a refund of the first month's extra $3 if the customer didn't like it and wants to go back.

(also posted on www.tivocommunity.com)

My fuse with TiVo from Comcast grows shorter by the hour.

Last weekend my DVR started exhibiting unusual behavior that I have not seen, nor read about - it would just completely freeze up - picture and sound would still come through, but the box itself would be 100% unresponsive. Only way I could get it back into a usable state was to unplug the box and plug it back in. Struggled with this for a few days, then it seemed to go away. Then last Wednesday I started having issues with recordings, or more precisely, I only had a few days worth of recordings listed, and anything past the weekend showed as no recordings scheduled. If I modified a season pass recording, all the scheduled recordings would re-populate in the to-do list.

Then Friday I started seeing some duplicate recordings scheduled (same show, same time, same channel, scheduled to record 2-3 times). One was marked as the season pass recording, while the dupes looked like they were manually added. I could delete some of the dupes, but others would not go away.

Saturday brought some very strange behavior - my duplicate recordings list multiplied, and I now had 4-6 recordings set for every single scheduled recording. Additionally, the box froze again, requiring a plug pull and reboot. This time when the box came back I had the issue of no recordings showing past Tuesday (would have been today). I tried to modify another season pass recording to see if I could trick it into working again, only this time I was greeted with a lovely blue screen and an error message saying the DVR was unable to complete the action due to an unknown issue, and if the error comes up again to contact Comcast.

On Sunday, the floodgates opened - at about 10:30pm, the DVR reset on its own while I was watching TV. At a certain point during the bootup process, it reset again, and it looked like I was caught in a reset loop. By this time I didn't want to deal with Comcast, so I unplugged the box and let it sit with no power overnight. The next morning I plugged it back in, and about 45 minutes later it seemed to come back to life. When I returned home from work, my multiple recording issue had swelled to 8-10 recordings for each scheduled recording, and pretty much everything else I did was met with the same blue screen error I received on Saturday. This time I got Comcast on the phone - after telling them my saga, they cut right to the chase - they sent a "master reset" command to my box, which was supposed to wipe everything out and resend the TiVo software. 45 minutes later the box came back on, but all of my duplicate recordings remained, and I was still constantly getting the blue screen error. After some additional consultation with Comcast (and the infamous, "We haven't seen this issue yet" line) I asked them to send a tech out - and in my world that has to happen this Saturday.

I don't know if the box is fried, or something messed up the software, but this is pushing me closer to dropping TiVo for now and going back to iGuide.

Anyone else seen anything like this, have any ideas? The prospect of yet another 2 hour tech visit from Comcast is giving me a headache.


A follow-up, had a tech visit this morning, immediately swapped the box (for a "brand new" DCH3416 reason for quotes in a moment...).

After swapping the boxes and calling into ATS to "flip the box", tech powered it up, and lo and behold it fired right up into the TiVo interface - we were both amazed, figuring we were in for a 30-45 minute wait. After messing around with a few things it looked like I was back online, so the tech left, still amazed at how fast the software "downloaded". Well, as I was starting the process of setting up my season passes (for the 4th time since switching to TiVo) I found out why the box came up so fast - it ALREADY HAD TiVo INSTALLED FROM A PRIOR USER!!

There were recorded programs, and 25 season passes setup. I could not believe they would drop in a box in this condition. I sat on hold with customer service longer than I cared to, then hung up and just went through and deleted everything. Is this common practice? I would think at the very least if they are going to recycle boxes they could wipe them clean first. I still plan on calling them to complain about this, but wanted to know if anyone else had dealt with this before.

As for my service, well, it works, kind of - still have some issues with recordings and the like not setting up properly, but I am going to give it a few days to see if it evens out, and if not, I'm cancelling TiVo and going back to the iGuide.

Comcast needs to rethink this offering, cause right now it is nothing to write home about.

A follow-up, had a tech visit this morning, immediately swapped the box (for a "brand new" DCH3416 reason for quotes in a moment...).

After swapping the boxes and calling into ATS to "flip the box", tech powered it up, and lo and behold it fired right up into the TiVo interface - we were both amazed, figuring we were in for a 30-45 minute wait. After messing around with a few things it looked like I was back online, so the tech left, still amazed at how fast the software "downloaded". Well, as I was starting the process of setting up my season passes (for the 4th time since switching to TiVo) I found out why the box came up so fast - it ALREADY HAD TiVo INSTALLED FROM A PRIOR USER!!

There were recorded programs, and 25 season passes setup. I could not believe they would drop in a box in this condition. I sat on hold with customer service longer than I cared to, then hung up and just went through and deleted everything. Is this common practice? I would think at the very least if they are going to recycle boxes they could wipe them clean first. I still plan on calling them to complain about this, but wanted to know if anyone else had dealt with this before.

As for my service, well, it works, kind of - still have some issues with recordings and the like not setting up properly, but I am going to give it a few days to see if it evens out, and if not, I'm cancelling TiVo and going back to the iGuide.

Comcast needs to rethink this offering, cause right now it is nothing to write home about.

A long time ago I went from a single tuner DVR to a dual tuner DVR. When I received the box it was also full of previous recordings from the last user. So I don't think Comcast has a process in place to "wipe" them clean.

There should be a procedure to reset the boxes, but with high demand for HD, and Comcast's 'replace first, ask questions later' policy, they may not have time.

For iGuide, there is a procedure in the Wikibook to fully reset the DVR portion. For iGuide itself (colors, settings, favorites), that so far can only be reset by some signal from Comcast. They did that to me once when I first got my DVR, and OnDemand wasn't working properly (it still didn't, but started working a few weeks later.) It's not a normal 'hit', but something that fully resets it. Even the firmware/authorization reset in the Wikibook doesn't fully reset iGuide.

I had box 4 installed yesterday. Previous 3 all came down with the crazy 8888's syndrome. Guy plugged it in, had it "flipped", said it should be up in an hour and left. The previous guys at least hung around. No big deal. I could do without the mindless chit chat.

About an hour later I go downstairs and notice the Tivo software is installed. I figure I'll start setting it up. First thing I do is switch it from 480i to 1080i Hybrid. That's met with a solid green screen. I hit the down thumb and it's back to the Tivo menu. I try 1080i Fixed, green screen. This happens to everything but 480i. I turn the box to standby and then hit Menu on the box, switch it to 1080i and it still goes green. This time it's bad news because I can't just hit thumbs down to get out of it. At this point I'm thinking the box is bricked.

Bust out the laptop and chat with the Comcast rep. He has me take it off HDMI and switch to composite. No help. I tell him to go ahead and send the reset code because I got nothing to lose. Miraculously the box came back to life. Not only was I able to set it to 1080i Hybrid, I was also able to switch it back to the HDMI cable.

Later on I'm entering my season passes again (which is taking about 5 minutes per pass, no joke) and I accidentally hit the On Demand button. Rather than going to On Demand I get the green screen again. Discouraged, I give up on entering passes assuming this box isn't going to work out and I'm wasting time. I fire up the PS3 and kill a couple hours.

Before going to bed I switch over to the cable tuner to check On Demand and the f'n things work. I really couldn't believe it. This box is showing some resiliency. Maybe this is the one...

What's the point of this post? I'm not sure there is one. But if you take anything from it let it be this, resets can fix green screens.

For curious minds, no this box did not get the newest firmware release. I'm in southern MA, well out of the roll out area

Just a thought. When you get a real Tivo the drive takes some time to work well because it has to go through some indexing process. Could this be the problem with the Comcast offering.

Maybe you should wait a couple of days before setting up season passes. Maybe juszt seeing the Tivo screen is not good enough.

I tried setting up season passes again last night. Just a couple shows that are on Wednesday that I'd like to have recorded. Still taking a full commercial break + to set it up. I'm just gonna take it one day at a time and hope it improves. Aside from being annoying it's not that big of a problem. Really, how often do I have to setup season passes after it's initially done?

I set up the 30 second skip trick yesterday. I'd describe it as "life changing"

I set up the 30 second skip trick yesterday. I'd describe it as "life changing"

Sorry. Been away from the thread for a bit. So the 30-second skip DOES work with the Tivo software?

Yes it does.

My Comcast Moto DCT3416 lasted precisely 1 week before absolutely bricking. No lights, no codes, nothing. Completely DOA. It did at least 1 reset, with the "sunshine" welcome screen, and at least 1 88:88 display. Died last Friday, truck roll for replacement tomorrow.

Took 3 techs for the install: 1 for the trouble call of neither of my old standard boxes working. Signal problem, he replaced the line from the street and put in an amp. 2nd tech here for the Tivo HD install ripped the amp out and called another tech with a bucket truck to replace something on the pole to actually cure the signal problem.

Tivo was cool for the week that I had it, seemed to work better after a few days, as some others have suggested, though season pass requests were still ridiculously long. My first experience with Tivo or any DVR and I was digging it. Wife was less than happy with the change from the familar standard box, though she did ask for a few things to be set up for her. :)

I did have tech #2 put in a splitter against his better judgment, so I could have PIP. I think I'll try this box w/o that... haven't really been using it. Might try an OTA antenna instead for PIP.

No messages in two weeks? Did everybody give up on Comcast/Tivo, or did it suddenly start working perfectly?

I was thinking the same thing. Not too many great reviews on the upgraded DVR service, Last I heard we were to get it in May 08, but I highly doubt it.

My look on it is beside OnDemand functions, the best bet right now is TIVO HD. It's $300 and has a much better interface.

Thinking I will go that route and get a standard cable box. Just hook each to different inputs on my TV so I can watch PPV and such. Tired of waiting for something that has already been labeled "junk"

...the best bet right now is TIVO HD. It's $300 and has a much better interface.

I did it 6 months ago and wish I had done it earlier.

Where does one go to get some good background info on the subject, get up to speed? I have some questions.