| reply to Lark3po
Re: At lest there drop the $20+ rent down to $16 for HD Dvr but Actually that is exactly why the fee is now regulated to $2 per card, and even though Comcast tries to be shady with M-cards by charging double based upon the premise that the person is getting at least twice the use out of it, it's only $4. Compare that to having two DVRs at $20/mo each and its a big savings. |
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 NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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Grand Rapids, MI
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| said by canesfan2001:Actually that is exactly why the fee is now regulated to $2 per card, and even though Comcast tries to be shady with M-cards by charging double based upon the premise that the person is getting at least twice the use out of it, it's only $4. Compare that to having two DVRs at $20/mo each and its a big savings. I will be doing the same thing. I will be saving $40 a month going this route because I have 2 DVRs on Directv.
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
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1 edit | reply to canesfan2001
And how much are you factoring in for the cost of the HTPC?
For the record, I have 2 MS Media Centers, and I do enjoy them.. I also have the Comcast DVR as well. But I still consider the $750 I spend on each computer when thinking about any 'monthly savings'... |
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| reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:said by canesfan2001:Actually that is exactly why the fee is now regulated to $2 per card, and even though Comcast tries to be shady with M-cards by charging double based upon the premise that the person is getting at least twice the use out of it, it's only $4. Compare that to having two DVRs at $20/mo each and its a big savings. I will be doing the same thing. I will be saving $40 a month going this route because I have 2 DVRs on Directv. Direct only makes you pay $5 per box and box 1 is free.
Dvr and HD is a flat fee. Some cable systems have a per card HD fee. |
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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| reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:And how much are you factoring in for the cost of the HTPC? For the record, I have 2 MS Media Centers, and I do enjoy them.. I also have the Comcast DVR as well. But I still consider the $750 I spend on each computer when thinking about any 'monthly savings'... I am thinking of it as less of monthly savings and more of usability. By the time this project is over, I will have dropped about $700 on it between the card, Xbox, and so on. When I am finished though, I will have a 4 tuner system with an extender in another room. I will have more recording space and features.
Heck, when I moved to Directv and got 2 HD DVR boxes, those ran me $400 out of pocket. Even at $20 per HD DVR box on Comcast, for 2 DVR boxes thats $40 a month. In a little over a year the investment will be paid off.
Saving money isn't the reason you go with a system like this though. You go with this system for more features.
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| reply to fiberguy
To start all I need to do is add a tuner to my PC. That would be $400 for the Ceton card with 4 tuners. Then I would be reducing my cable bill by as much as $40/mo. I can use the Xbox 360 I already have as an extender to my living room TV.
This would pay for itself in less than a year.
If I were to build a whole NEW PC for this it would add about $400 to the total cost.
If I really went all out I would build a new HTPC and get an HDTV to replace the old CRT in the bedroom for another $500, hook the HTPC to that and leave the Xbox in the living room as an extender. This would total about $1300 but would give me functionality way beyond what i have from Comcast. |
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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| reply to castsucks
said by castsucks :said by Nightfall:said by canesfan2001:Actually that is exactly why the fee is now regulated to $2 per card, and even though Comcast tries to be shady with M-cards by charging double based upon the premise that the person is getting at least twice the use out of it, it's only $4. Compare that to having two DVRs at $20/mo each and its a big savings. I will be doing the same thing. I will be saving $40 a month going this route because I have 2 DVRs on Directv. Direct only makes you pay $5 per box and box 1 is free. Dvr and HD is a flat fee. Some cable systems have a per card HD fee. I am not sticking with Directv. I am moving to Comcast because I want to watch Versus for the NHL playoffs. That and I want features like Multiroom viewing that Directv hasn't gotten around to yet. Lastly, I want more recording space without buying more DVRs.
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to Nightfall
You're correct.. in this sense, its about the value to you.. and I agree.
Many people are wanting to do this in the hopes to save money tho.. at least that's the way some people portray in their posts. |
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to canesfan2001
When you said "build an HTPC" its gonna be assumed that you're building the whole thing, not upgrading an existing computer.. but like the other guy said, yea.. you're also doing it for more functionality..
like I said, I have the same thing.. two of them, actually.. one for each floor of the house and it's shared. So I get more functionality as well which I like.
I have the comcast box just for ease on some channels is all. |
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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1 edit | reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:You're correct.. in this sense, its about the value to you.. and I agree. Many people are wanting to do this in the hopes to save money tho.. at least that's the way some people portray in their posts. I learned this lesson quite quickly. When I thought about it deeper though, I came to this.....
In 2007 when I bought my new TV, I bought 2 HD receivers. Both of which costed me $200 each for a total of $400. I have been running those ever since. So if you figure the $400 investment + $5 per month per box (because I have a 3rd box running), thats over $700 or so for 3 years of use.
So running this HTPC system with more usability for the same out of pocket investment is ok with me.
You really can't look at a HTPC investment to be a money saver. Its meant to add features.
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| reply to fiberguy
Sorry, to clarify, my plan is to buy the card, and make sure it works as I hope, if it does, then I will get the rest of the HTPC components. |
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | "the card"...? As in the cable card? or cards for the computer? |
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| said by fiberguy:"the card"...? As in the cable card? or cards for the computer? Tuner card. |
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| reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:I am not sticking with Directv. I am moving to Comcast because I want to watch Versus for the NHL playoffs. That and I want features like Multiroom viewing that Directv hasn't gotten around to yet. Lastly, I want more recording space without buying more DVRs. Actually, DirectTV should have their MVR out very soon. Check out DBS reports.com |
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to canesfan2001
ahhh.. okay.. just curious was all. |
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| reply to digitalfreak
said by digitalfreak:said by Nightfall:I am not sticking with Directv. I am moving to Comcast because I want to watch Versus for the NHL playoffs. That and I want features like Multiroom viewing that Directv hasn't gotten around to yet. Lastly, I want more recording space without buying more DVRs. Actually, DirectTV should have their MVR out very soon. Check out DBS reports.com MRV is in beta and it's actually pretty slick. I hear the new DVRs will have MoCA which means you don't need to have any cat 5 cable going to your DVR. |
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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| reply to digitalfreak
said by digitalfreak:said by Nightfall:I am not sticking with Directv. I am moving to Comcast because I want to watch Versus for the NHL playoffs. That and I want features like Multiroom viewing that Directv hasn't gotten around to yet. Lastly, I want more recording space without buying more DVRs. Actually, DirectTV should have their MVR out very soon. Check out DBS reports.com A service which they will probably charge for.
»www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/e···ultiroom
quote:
Please note the DIRECTV Multi-Room HD DVR service is currently in its beta testing phase. During this beta phase, the service will be offered at no charge. Once the service is out of beta and has launched nationally there will be a monthly service fee for the service.
Please do not purchase any additional receivers to participate in this beta trial. If your existing receivers are not currently networked please do not network them to participate in the beta testing phase. Once the service launches nationally there will be a special offer available to take advantage of the service.
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| reply to Nightfall
I'm not sure I may be misreading your post, but it looks like you plan to use cable cards with directv, cablecards don't work with directv, the only current way to use directv with a third party dvr is with a IR blaster to the sat box, and then your already paying for the box. |
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bsoft
join:2004-03-28
Boulder, CO | reply to fiberguy
You also have to consider power consumption. A decent Media Center PC is 60W at idle; my DCX3400 Comcast DVR is 28W.
If you leave both on 24/7 (the Comcast DVR doesn't actually use less power when it's "off", and Media Center's "wake for recording" is flaky) then you're looking at 23.8kWh/mo more for the PC.
At my rates, that works out to $3.57/mo. Not huge, but it cuts into your monthly 'savings'.
Not that there aren't huge advantages for owning a media PC, but you need to know what you're getting into. |
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| reply to fifty nine
It does us moca, but only works with newer HD boxes, I have the beta running on my Directv DVR
Who knows how long I'll have it, they'll probably send me a letter asking if I want to pay for it once it's deployed lol, way to thank your beta testers  |
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