Just found out my local office has these. Thinking about calling them and trying to get one installed. Are they worth it?
If you are having problems with your current DVR, it might be worth it, but it will not get On-Screen Guide 2.0. Also, the DVRs that I have do not use a cable card and are old. The cable card version SA 8300 HDC DVR may have some problems but I don't know for sure.
I should have clarified a bit. Mostly the box will reboot on it's own after a freeze up or other similar do funny. Very annoying to say the least. Now, before the guide update my SA 8300HD worked virtually flawless. I just could not get one to work with the external drive after the update. Worked great with the SARA guide. Go figure.
That is strange that your SA 8300HD wouldn't work with the external drive after the guide update. It should have even retained your recordings. This is the first time that I have seen this reported. I have seen reports of missing recordings.
It retained the recordings so at first I thought that all would be well. However the first time i attempted to pause live TV the box froze up and would not respond. A reboot cleared things up until I tried to pause live TV again. it's been over a year now and I just do not recall if I tried a recorded show. I must have but I do not recall how that worked. I tried two other SA boxes. The first one was an older non cable card box and it would not work at all. Locked in an endless loop of reboots. The second was a cable card 8300HDC and it exhibited the same symptoms as my original box. The third box was a refurb 200 that was DOA. Now bear in mind I live in the boonies and the nearest office is 50 miles one way so my frustration meter was now pegging a 10. LOL. The fourth box was hand delivered brand new in the box by two techs no less. It's been a pain in the ass for sure but not the end of world. It is just TV after all. Now Comcast is adamant that TIVO VOD will be available here in a few months and 2.0 will be available mid to late summer. We shall see. If my external HD does not work with 2.0 I will be forced to go to Any Room DVR. Hopefully Triple Play customers will get a little break on the pricing.
"Comcast Corp. is conducting a small, technical trial of a network DVR that closely mimics what Cablevision Systems Corp. has already deployed to its customers, Light Reading Cable has learned.
And when we say small trial, we're talking tiny small. The Boston test, says an industry source, has fewer than a dozen people on it during the early phases. : It's also considered to be more power- and cost-efficient than deploying set-tops outfitted with local hard drives. The all-IP "X3" HD client box said to be on Comcast's roadmap is the kind of device that could take advantage of a network DVR."
Its almost June and still no news on when this new really cool looking guide is going to be released in Philadelphia
Is it safe to to say we wil not see this new guide until 2013 at the earliest?
Normally I would not be in such a rush however I can not tell you how much I hate the current guide its so buggy and I am sick of it
I think 2013 is the most likely timeframe unless your area is Boston or a test of a major market. With Comcast it could be delayed until 2014 depending on how the major market test or tests go.
They've been trialing it for over a year. now, right?
Why does it take so long to launch a product? By comparison Apple or Samsung will have gone though multiple product generations of phones and tablets in the time it takes Comcast to launch this one product. The hardware is already obsolete by the time it hits the market
Comcast doesn't put a high priority on the guides so it doesn't put the resources into producing quality guides or guide updates in a timely manner. By quality, I mean deploying guides without major bugs that have the features that users want. I think the reason Comcast doesn't put a high priority on the guides is because it doesn't believe it will get significantly more customers to justify the cost.
I think this is also true with other cable companies, for example Time Warner Cable's Navigator Guide.
TiVo and Pace Announce First Pace Product With TiVo Software Integration Pace XG1 Multi-Tuner Video Gateway to Offer 6 Video Tuners, Integrated DOCSIS 3.0 and Support for TiVo Whole Home Solution TiVo Press Release, Marketwire - May 21, 2012 »www.marketwire.com/press ··· 9508.htm
Greater Boston area on May 1 (RNG-150 on June 30) Atlanta and Chattanooga on July 31 Denver on August 15 Beltway and Freedom Region areas on September 11
Don't know if the dates for other areas on the list will now be slipped by a month or so.
"Initially, the X1 service will be delivered using a six-tuner gateway manufactured by Pace, available to new Xfinity triple-play customers with HD DVR service at no additional cost."
"Initially, the X1 service will be delivered using a six-tuner gateway manufactured by Pace, available to new Xfinity triple-play customers with HD DVR service at no additional cost."
"Initially, the X1 service will be delivered using a six-tuner gateway manufactured by Pace, available to new Xfinity triple-play customers with HD DVR service at no additional cost."
This is excellent news - just when I decided to come back to Comcast.
Now, only question - do I wait now til' September instead of next month? Hmmmmm....
Wait till its actually out. We know Comcast. I bet its delayed again.
Anyway reward Comcast for actually coming out with it. When people sign up once this is available, maybe they will see it makes a difference. If it makes a difference they may put more time and effort into continually improving the user experience (not something they've ever been concerned with before). So I'd wait if I were you.
"Initially, the X1 service will be delivered using a six-tuner gateway manufactured by Pace, available to new Xfinity triple-play customers with HD DVR service at no additional cost."
Only for Triple Play customers? Is there a techical reason for this, or is it simple coercion? I definitly want a DVR with more than two tuners, but I'm not at all interested in Comcast's phone service.
"Initially, the X1 service will be delivered using a six-tuner gateway manufactured by Pace, available to new Xfinity triple-play customers with HD DVR service at no additional cost."