Thoughts on TiVo?

[jducoeur]

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...

Comments

[matildalucet.livejournal.com]

Wait, Comcast is lying to me? We have analog cable and they haven't said anything about forcing us to a digital package. If our signal is going away or if they are going to force us to rent a cable box, there will be screaming and gnashing of teeth here.

[cellio]

I went through this with Comcast here in PA. They first assured me that there would be no problems, but on pressing -- I asked them to confirm that my direct cable feed with no intervening box would work -- they hemmed and hawed and eventually said something like, "well, of course you'll have to upgrade to another package", at more than double the rate I was paying. I'd been thinking of dumping them anyway and that was the last straw, so I went out and bought an amplified antenna and a converter box, and so far as I know I'll be fine come February (or whenever).

All that said, a DVR would be a better long-term option so I'll be watching the comments on this entry.

[laurion]

It's called the 'Digital Squeeze' and all the cable companies are going that route. Comcast has already done it in a lot of networks. They're all taking advantage of the broadcast digital switchover to do their own switching at the same time. The hope is that in the process people will think the government is making them do it. Of course, it's just adding to the confusion and the bad feelings all around.

[jducoeur]

Yeah -- as the others have said, this is happening quietly under the covers of the government switchover, but is really the cable companies gradually removing analog support for their own reasons. (Often with no warning.)

Wouldn't have even known about it myself, but I got treated to a rant on the subject from my father a few months ago. He consults for the cable industry, and is kind of steamed about the fact that even people like us, who are fairly well-informed, mostly haven't heard about this. From what I've been hearing, I'm guessing that they'll transition everybody as soon after the broadcast transition as they can get away with...

[matildalucet.livejournal.com]

Don't they have to tell us? I mean, they take our money and if they just stop providing what we pay for with no notice, that seems to be breach of contract or something.

[jducoeur]

I suspect that they would argue that they've never made any claims about the service without the cable box. It happens to work, but I don't know if there's anything contractual about that. They've been pretty clear for many years that you are *supposed* to use a cable box -- many of us have simply ignored that...

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

In Cambridge, this has already happened: I was playing with a secondhand TiVo from a friend in August, and hooking the TiVo up directly to the cable line got me a lovely Blue Screen with a "Message From Comcast: as of July 15th, 2008, all Comcast cable services are digital only. If you are seeing this message, you should plug into your cablebox; if you don't have one, call 1-800-COMCAST."

I believe they were still legally mandated (until Feb) to do certain broadcast networks in non-Digital, but I couldn't find them looking through the channels. (I didn't investigate hard once I realized the TV I actually cared about didn't work.)