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Thoughts on TiVo?
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msmemory and I find ourselves pondering what we're going to do about the whole digital-TV switchover. Not that we're receiving signals over-the-air, mind -- the supposedly-government-subsidized converter boxes aren't relevant to us. No, our problem is that the cable industry is lying through its teeth about the "if you have cable, you don't have a problem" thing.You see, we are on cable, and we pay a pretty penny for a fairly high-end package. But the reality is that the cables are *also* switching over to digital, for reasons related to those for the over-the-air change -- it's just lower-bandwidth, which lets them cram more channels in. And this means that any TV that is directly plugged into the cable (as opposed to through a cable box) is potentially screwed. Particularly to us, I am fairly sure that our trusty old Panasonic DVR, which has served us so well for many years, only has an analog receiver, so it's probably toast sometime fairly soon.
So we're pondering our options. We clearly want a functioning DVR -- it's how we watch all the TV we actually give a damn about. (Food Network is fine when we're simply looking for background noise, but we watch most of our series on the DVR.) Enough people have raved about TiVo for long enough that we're considering knuckling under and becoming part of the body.
In which case, the next question is *which* TiVo? The temptation is to go for way-high-end, but I'm taking my time and considering it carefully before spending that much money. The logic for it is that it's a good investment. We're clearly going to want HD capability within the next year or two, so it only makes sense to buy one of the HD models. Besides, the HD model accepts two CableCards, which is probably what we're going to want. (Not to mention the ability to download from Netflix, which is *very* appealing.)
And if we're going to do that, it may make the most sense to shell out the extra $250 for the insanely-large hard drive. The ordinary HD model has more than enough space for conventional-definition shows, but only about 20 hours of HD. Given that we routinely have 100 hours of stuff in our backlog on the Panasonic, this seems like it might become a problem if HD becomes common.
Related to this is the question of which plan to get. Again, there's an argument for going whole-hog: the "lifetime of the DVR" plan is pricey -- about $400 -- but that's the equivalent of about three years of service. If we expect to keep the device in service for a long time (and I'd certainly like to), then the lifetime plan might make sense. Moreover, it potentially increases the resale value of the device considerably if we decided to trade up to something else a few years down the line. So the question there is, how reliable have people found TiVos to be? Can we reasonably expect to get the 5+ years of service it'll take for the lifetime plan to be worthwhile?
Opinions welcomed. I don't have any idea what Comcast's timetable is, but I have no faith that the Panasonic will continue to work past mid-February, so this is gradually turning into a pressing question for us, and we'll have to act soon...
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One thing you might want to check is getting TiVo service from Comcast. That is, as long as you need a digital cable box from Comcast, they have some that include DVR capabilities with a TiVo branded UI and service. It costs more than the regular box on a montly basis, but less than if you bought TiVo service yourself, I think, as well as no hardware costs. I haven't looked closely at this, yet, because I really hate the thought of giving any additional money to Comcast.
I had to go to a digital cable box about four months ago. Comcast shoved some of the channels I watch to digital only. This was a bit of a pain, because instead of having Tivoli (my TiVo) tune the channels off the cable directly, it had to be configured to control the cable box to switch stations at need. This works okay, except when it doesn't. I've had a few times where I go to watch something I've recorded, only to find that it recorded something from a different channel, because the cable box has stopped listening to Tivoli's channel change requests. The problem seems to be on the cable box side, as the fix is to power cycle the cable box. It's annoying. So, I'd try to avoid having a separate DVR and cable box, if I could. That can be done either by getting a DVR cable box from the company, or one of the new TiVo's that take Cable Cards.
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From all accounts, the TiVo UI on Comcast DVR boxes is slow and buggy.
Incidentally, I used to work with MegaZone (mentioned in etherial's comment above). He's a long term geek and gadget lover. Heck, I knew him before he changed his name :)
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Yeah, I'll admit that that's part of my motivation here. The TiVo I'm contemplating is *quite* expensive, but it would pay for itself in a few years, and the money isn't going to Comcast.
If I had to wire a controller from the TiVo to the cablebox, I'd think twice about it -- years of having a cable mouse on the VCR make me cautious. But the HD TiVos not only take CableCards, they take two of them, so my inclination is to scrap the cablebox entirely and focus on those. The result will be that, whereas the Panasonic is essentially at the edge of our current video topology, the TiVo will be front and center...
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