In temporary digs, coming from Directv w/Sony HD200 tuner and Tivo. Have Moto 3416.

SD is unwatchable. Tried different settings as per another thread, they all stink.

Missing several HD channels, most fatally TNT, so no HD basketball tonight. Several 'one moment please', but the channel never comes up. HD I have is inferior to Directv.

The guide is an unresponsive joke. The DVR can't find Entourage on HBO. Nor can I do so manually -- nearly everything in the future is not listed yet. Is this typical?

This box is simply awful in several ways -- not surprised Moto is struggling; the software logic is clumsy at best. Or does Comcast design it?

Probably/hope I have a bad feed/box, but this is embarrassing hardware/software.

It's a Motorola box, and Motorola's DVR product line isn't struggling -- it's among the best-sellers in the country.

You could have a bad box, that's true. My guide is responsive. I can find Entourage no problem. TNT HD is fine. And so on.

Many of the issues you're experiencing may stem from the fact that it takes a day or so for the guide to fully populate after a power-loss. That's by design. Remember that the general public's objective (typically, the lowest price) and your's may not coincide.

Thanks for the info., and hope you're right about the day or two power up.

I do think, however, it's a misnomer to portray boxes like this as bestsellers; they're simply what's provided by the cable companies. It's not a choice people make.

Implicitly it is a choice people make: People are choosing the no-upfront-cost, and $10 per month fee, boxes from their MSOs in favor of the alternatives, such as the $800 TiVo Series 3 with its $18 per month fee, for example. Not purchasing the TiVo Series 3 is a choice people make.

Not trying to argue here, but I wouldn't portray a no-upfront-cost option as a choice. It's the default position. Other options are a choice.

Implicitly it is a choice people make: People are choosing the no-upfront-cost, and $10 per month fee, boxes from their MSOs in favor of the alternatives, such as the $800 TiVo Series 3 with its $18 per month fee, for example. Not purchasing the TiVo Series 3 is a choice people make.
I have Comcast and the Motorola DVR is a $11.95 upgrade fee over the included box ($4.15) in Digital service, effective total is $16.10
(Areas that itemize all boxes charge ~$15.95).
Add Franchise fee and tax, and grand total here is $17.91.

Now maybe Tivo's $17.95 fee is taxed also, and there is an upfront cost, but I read it was (maybe still is) $600 at the Tivo Comm. store, and at Tivo, Inc. it recently was $500.

The Motorola DVR from Comcast is still going to be less of course, due to no front cost pro-rated over the life of the DVR, it just isn't that great of a deal, at least here and many other Comcast areas.

Not trying to argue here, but I wouldn't portray a no-upfront-cost option as a choice. It's the default position. Other options are a choice.That's just wordplay. Not making any choice (i.e., not having any subscription television service -- the TRUE "default" choice) is a choice, and so surely making what you choose to call a "default" choice is definitely making a choice.

In a way, this is basic principles of personal accountability: You cannot avoid responsibility for the choice you make by compartmentalizing the available choices and then claiming you have no choices. :)

I have Comcast and the Motorola DVR is a $11.95 upgrade fee over the included box ($4.15) in Digital service, effective total is $16.10 You pay the included service fee for CableCards as well, so you're back to $11.95.

Now maybe Tivo's $17.95 fee is taxed also, and there is an upfront cost, but I read it was (maybe still is) $600 at the Tivo Comm. store, and at Tivo, Inc. it recently was $500. Okay, so $600, plus tax.

The Motorola DVR from Comcast is still going to be less of course, due to no front cost pro-rated over the life of the DVR, it just isn't that great of a deal, at least here and many other Comcast areas.You say that as if it were true. You don't like paying that much -- I get that. If it wasn't worth it, people wouldn't pay it.

Comcast is really the only 'choice' I have in that I'm in a temporary rental. Guess I could forego a sub. service altogether, but c'mon, who does that on this forum (or elsewhere)? That's not a real option in the 21st century for most of us.

Seems to me the standard box/service Comcast provides ought to be decent -- shouldn't have to choose decent or pay substantially extra for it. Decency is too high an expectation for the choice most of us are pointed toward and that is substantially lower cost? I'll see what happens after the technician comes, there usually are problems the first go round of any type of tech. installation. -- that's not unique to Comcast. Where I'm at now though, Directv is far better employing the default (cheaper) choices.

You pay the included service fee for CableCards as well, so you're back to $11.95..
Yes, I thought of that later, it is paid for in Digital Classic or above. :)
So, actually it would be ~$13.30 (using my area to calculate fees/taxes).

But that only applies to areas that include the box, many I think, but nevertheless, there are areas that itemize all boxes.
So, in the latter case DVR is $15.95, add fees/taxes it would be ~$17.75.

Looking at Comcast's 'Second CC for a non-Comcast DVR using two CCs' is up to $1.91, as noted on their site.
So, apparently, first CC is always nominally free whether the area itemizes or not. The second CC carries a fee.
So, Tivo would be $17.95 + (up to 1.91 + fees/taxes) $2.11 for second CC = ~$20.06, apparently in all Comcast areas.

So, areas that don't itemize have a much better differential in favor of cable co. DVR. They pay the same effective fee when using the cable co. DVR, but when it comes to not using it they can't deuct the fee.
It really hurts the competition that effectively the first CC costs as much as a box by including it is Digital Classic and above, which is required for a DVR almost everywhere, AFAIK.

I agree it is better deal in terms of the competition, but just because there isn't a better deal out there, doesn't make it a good deal. It isn't just about cost, my DVR has functioned fairly well, but has had the 'false full' problem for a while, so it isn't that good, just the better value, I guess.

Okay, so $600, plus tax.

You say that as if it were true. You don't like paying that much -- I get that. If it wasn't worth it, people wouldn't pay it.
I meant it isn't that great a deal in my opinion based on the fees and DVR brand used in this area.

Comcast is really the only 'choice' I have in that I'm in a temporary rental.Each person's individual situation will vary; when you talk about what "ought" to be, though, what matters is what's available in the market, overall, from all vendors -- essentially what is available to the typical customer in the town.

Seems to me the standard box/service Comcast provides ought to be decent -- shouldn't have to choose decent or pay substantially extra for it.With "decent" defined by you, of course, eh? :) I can understand that as a wish, but not as an "ought to be".

[QUOTE=rblnr]In temporary digs, coming from Directv w/Sony HD200 tuner and Tivo. Have Moto 3416.

SD is unwatchable. Tried different settings as per another thread, they all stink.

I'm sorry your so unhappy with your service! What kind of TV do you have? I have Comcast and My experience is the polar opposite yours. I had Dish Network and enjoyed the equipment, channel choices, and prices. However, the picture quality was poor on SD and only fair on HD channels due to the compression they use. I get a much better HD picture with comcast and almost as many channels. The analog channels are poor, but I use a splitter and send one cable feed to my HD STB and one directly to my Sony 34XBR-970. The sony does a great job with analog......the best I have ever seen.

Going from Dish Network to Comcast is a pretty big step UP, imho. The issue most folks have with SD is that they're used to watching it on a small screen. The first time they see it on a big screen they see all the imperfections which were always there, magnified. They sometimes mistakenly associate that with whatever service they've gotten to drive that signal onto their television, and blame either the service or the television, when in reality the blame often rests with the nature of the signal itself and the fact that it is being projected onto a much larger screen.

I define decent as not completely obscuring motion blur, a reasonably sharp picture for SD w/complete understanding of screen size, etc. -- I would say a standard interpretation of 'decent'. I absolutely see this as an 'ought to be'.

Picture via a Panasonic tuner to an old 32 CRT is fine. The picture via the Moto box to a 16:9 Mits rear projection set is awful at any setting. Did not have this issue w/Directv on either screen. I'll try a splitter to the Mits. and see if it handles the analog signals better.

In temporary digs, coming from Directv w/Sony HD200 tuner and Tivo. Have Moto 3416.

SD is unwatchable. Tried different settings as per another thread, they all stink.

Missing several HD channels, most fatally TNT, so no HD basketball tonight. Several 'one moment please', but the channel never comes up. HD I have is inferior to Directv.

The guide is an unresponsive joke. The DVR can't find Entourage on HBO. Nor can I do so manually -- nearly everything in the future is not listed yet. Is this typical?

This box is simply awful in several ways -- not surprised Moto is struggling; the software logic is clumsy at best. Or does Comcast design it?

Probably/hope I have a bad feed/box, but this is embarrassing hardware/software.

Well the SD stuff is bad I went to Expanded Basic and HD channels because their Digital channels are terrible, I have low bitrate Mpeg 4 Ipod files that look better. Even at that with a DVR I was Paying $80 a month. So I am dumping comcast to get a bundled SD deal with Direct TV. I know Direct TV won't be much better but I'll only be paying $30 a month and have more channels to boot.

I define decent as not completely obscuring motion blur, a reasonably sharp picture for SD w/complete understanding of screen size, etc. -- I would say a standard interpretation of 'decent'. I absolutely see this as an 'ought to be'.That's pretty much what you get from Comcast in my experience. Sounds like you've got a local problem.