kevinds
join:2003-05-01
Calgary, AB
kudos:1 | In the US, there is a monthly fee, to use the PVR, otherwise the feature is disabled, $5-$17 to turn the hard drive on.
Is the multiroom PVR worth it, that is a question you have to decide. The kitchen may never setup a recording, but would it be of value to watch items that had been recorded in the main room.
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Yes, I am not employed and looking for IT work. Have passport, will travel. |
tlhIngan
join:2002-07-08
Richmond, BC
kudos:1 | reply to BRD
UI wise, it's the Arris/Moxi UI. Of the UIs, it'll be better than the standard Motorola/Cisco(Scientific Atlanta) DVRs (which everyone pretty much agrees universally suck - PVRs have been around nearly 15 years and they still can't seem to do anything well).
How it compares to say, a TiVo is debatable. But I would consider we're still getting screwed as Shaw doesn't allow much to be done with the Arris. No TiVos (they can't decode anything but analog cable as Shaw does not support CableCARD). Windows Media Center does work if you use a Hauppage HD-PVR or similar with a Shaw HD box, but you're limited to analog inputs (1080i), IR blaster channel changing and general cablebox flakiness (see Motorola/Cisco hatred), again as Shaw does not support CableCARD so you can't use the nice CableCARD tuners.
It's probably the weakest part of Shaw's lineup - the general suckiness of the non-gateway cablebox. Not really Shaw's fault since the Motorola the Cisco boxes universally suck across all providers, though Shaw could bring in nicer boxes (e.g., TiVo Q (Premier), PACE's TiVo boxes, even the Ceton WMC based ones).
Now, the nice thing with the Gateway box is you can get another portal and hook it up to your kitchen TV- you can after all record from any portal and watch what you recorded from any portal.
If you're set on a TiVo-like thing, the Gateway would probably be the least frustrating UI purely because it's by Arris. (I honestly don't believe "web scheduling" should be a nice-to-have. Having used it with TiVos before Shaw went all encrypted digital, I used it a lot). |
