wierdo
join:2001-02-16
Tulsa, OK
 ·Future Nine Corpor..
·Teliax VOIP
| reply to amungus
Re: Not with their new pricing model
You may not see the value, but I certainly do (although I only pay $6.95/mo, since I have another box with lifetime).
In my area, it's cheaper (monthly) than a cable DVR and works far better. No missed or lost recordings, no AV sync issues, a usefully sized hard disk (along with the possibility of upgrading it yourself). It's also smart enough not to record the same episode of a program 5 times a day, oh, and its scaler is far better than the one in the Motorola box or my TV.
In my case, I pay Cox $1.99 per CableCARD and TiVo gets $6.95. Cox charges $15.25 for their DVR.
I've often thought about building my own MythTV box, but then I realize that I'd a) have to mess with it to make it work, and b) wouldn't get digital cable channels or HD premiums, and forget about it.
As long as 5C continues to be used, build your own DVRs are a non starter for anything beyond analog SD, sadly. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a system that I could use to archive HD content. |
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magnushsi
join:2002-11-06
Cedar Springs, MI
| reply to ColorBASIC
That's not correct. All cablecards support two-way. S and M cards. The host device has to have two-way capability. Cable companies want to rent boxes only because they want you to have access to impulse type services, ppv, vod, etc. The benefit of the Tivo supporting the M-card is, the M-Card supports mulitiple streams vs. the S-Card which only supports a single stream. |
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ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA
4 edits | reply to djrobx
said by djrobx  :... I will instead just deal with leased TW box. At least they replace it if it dies. And you don't have to deal with cable operators not issuing bi-directional cable cards (so you can do all the VoD stuff etc). In my service area with TWC, the cable cards will descrable but you can't do VOD or order PPV with them. From what I read the S3 TiVos are supposed to support the nextgen cards but no cable operators are offering them because they want people to rent their stuff for $17 (here it's $7.95 box rental plus $10 service fee).
I want VOD as it was one of the few things I liked when I had Comcast, but Dish Network's 2 tuner HD DVR was relatively cheap and the service is free (with their top tier programming package).
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Macintosh Users Group Serving the Inland Empire |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
·PHONE POWER
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
 ·RoadRunner Cable
2 edits | reply to ColorBASIC
Yeah, I agree completely. I am a big fan of TiVo, I've owned lots of them, even an S3 due to the lifetime transfer promotion they ran. But for $500+ $17/month+cablecard fees, I will instead just deal with leased TW box. At least they replace it if it dies.
Dropping the OLED display on this new S3 is no big loss. The one on the previous S3 is too small to read from across the room anyway.
Oh, and lifetime service used to be $199!
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Laser eye surgery rocks! I love frickin' laser beams. |
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amungus
Premium
join:2004-11-26
America
clubs:
| reply to ColorBASIC
Main reason I do not want a Tivo. Screw paying for a freakin' tv guide! I just don't get the allure of paying monthly for such a thing - I'd rather just rent a DVR from Cox or build my own PVR.
Why are no Tivo "generic" type things out there that would work the same minus the silly monthly fee? |
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ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA
1 edit | I'm not a fan of the new pricing model.
The monthly service is a complete rip-off unless you go with a long contract. But if you're willing to prepay you can get 3 years for just over $8/mo but you used to get lifetime service for that $300 range.
With a 1 year contract they were up to $20/mo for service for awhile. Now it's "only" $17. TiVo software is pretty good, but not $17/mo+HW good.
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Macintosh Users Group Serving the Inland Empire |
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