Zatz Not Funny! - Latest Comments in The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

MIKE — Sat, 09 May 2009 03:45:33 -0000

HAVE A SERIES 2 TIVO WORKED GREAT COULD TRANFER ALL I WANTED.
GOT A SERIES 3 HD UNIT. TOOK ALMOST 5 WEEKS TO GET TWO WORKING CABLE CARDS FROM COMCAST IN MIAMI.
WHEN I FINALLY GOT WORKING CABLE CARDS FROM COMCAST I FOUND OUT THAT COMCAST DOES NOT ALLOW YOUR TIVO UNIT TO TRANSFER YOUR RECORDINGS TO OTHER TIVO UNITS OR PC. WENT ROUND AND ROUND WITH THEM THEY WON'T ALLOW TRANSFERS EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE CAPABLE OF DOING SO. (A COMCAST TECH THAT WON'T BE NAMED INFORMED ME THAT THEY CAN SEND A SIGNAL TO THE CABLECARDS THAT WOULD ALLOW TRANFERS BUT WON'T).
DON'T BUY SERIES 3 HD UNITS IN MIAMI AREA IF YOU HAVE COMCAST AND WANT TO TRANSFER CONTENT.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

FRANK — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:47:13 -0000

TODAY GOT MY TWO DVRS I WAS NOT IMPRESSED WITH IT.. IT TOOK ME 2 HOURS TO SET THIS UP CALL THING THEM AND TRYING TO FIX LITTLE BUGS THIS DVR DOESNT HAVE HDMI IMAGE THAT !!!! ON TOP OF THAT TRYING TO GET THE DVR TO LET THE CLOSED CAPTIONS COME THRU WHICH WAS BLOCKED ON MY TV .. DIDNT KOW WHAT TO MAKE OF THAT.. I JUST DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO ..

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Jim — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:59:31 -0000

So I was looking at the Comcast TiVo site and one thing that they have changed really makes me mad. The functionality of the LiveTV/Swap button. It says pressing the LiveTV/Swap button in menus will return you to livetv( what if i am 5 min before live tv) and swaps tuners if you are watching tv( again what if I am 5min before live tv, I dont want to swap tuners I want to catch up to live tv) The way the current comcast system deals with these features is way better.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Leo V. — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:49:37 -0000

I live in the Redmond, WA area. I have a Motorola 6412. I sent an e-mail to someone at Comcast to complain about the disabled eSATA and USB ports for hooking up additional storage. Not to mention the bugs with the software (1FF is useless on analog channels, for example).

Got a response and from Comcast. They said that new software is coming in October. Don't know if it is TIVO based (mine currently isn't TIVO based). Hope so though.

The guy commented that he was unaware of the ports I mentioned and that they could (should) be used for expanding the HD. He said that he would look into it.

I told them they are about to lose me to FIOS. Not that it would necessarily be better, but that I'm just tired of Comcast's disinterest in servicing people who want more storage.

Maybe in October, things will get better. If not, I may take my money elsewhere.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

darin — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:22:56 -0000

that's right. i did not have the comcast tivo, just the comcast dvr.

yes, online scheduling with tivo is yet another great feature. i don't know if comcast added that feature or not.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Jerry — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:19:38 -0000

OK. Now, I have the newest Moto DVR, the 3216, which from what I gather in other forums has corrected some of the technical maladies (especially the freezing) you describe about the Comcast DVR. Which unit did you have?

Based on what you're saying about the UI, you have experienced Comcast-DVR and TiVo-TiVo, but not Comcast-TiVo, which is currently only available in New England. Based on the description in the blog above, adding TiVo to the Moto-3216 should get things close to your user-experience.

Are you able to remotely program your TiVo via the internet? Does anyone know if this is a feature available on Comcast-TiVo?

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

darin — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:42:38 -0000

Jerry, most people, including me, don't have an hour to write about the many ways Tivo is superior to the comcast DVR. seriously, it would take at least that long to write a detailed explanation.

i had tivo, switched to the comcast HD dvr for about a year, and then got a pair of HD tivos. i could not be happier. to me, it's well worth the expense.

for anyone curious about the difference, i suggest you use the comcast dvr for about 6 month then get Tivo. it will take you about 3 days to understand. the difference in the UI's are subtle but vast.

but, i will give you a few details.

first, Tivo is very, very reliable. i had to contact comcast countless times for them to reset my dvr when it would freeze or malfunction. In the past year, my Tivos have acted up twice. to fix, you simply hit "restart" in the tivo menu and you're up and running again in about 4 minutes.

what i absolutely hated most about the comcast DVR was the lag between when you push a button on the remote and the time the DVR would respond i wanted to throw it through the wall everytime i would push a button...nothing happens...pushi it again...still nothing...push different buttons about a dozen times trying to get a response...still nothing...and then...about 30 seconds later...the comcast dvr responds to all 32 buttons i pushed in succession. arrrghh.

Tivo season pass is far, far superior to the comcast offering. same with the search and keywords.

kids zone is cool if you have little ones and don't want them stumbling upon sopranos or sex and the city that you downloaded.

Tivo also lets you transfer programs on one Tivo, say in the living room, to another in say, the bedroom.

on the series 3 Tivo, the show or shows being recorded are displayed on the LED readout. i like that little feature.

i do kind of miss On Demand but Amazon Unbox is a suitable substitue...just wish it had HD programming.

OMG, i can't believe i forgot to mention the 30 second skip feature on Tivo. it's one of it's best features. i also like the 6 second rewind button.

maybe if you do a search you'll find a detailed review of the differences between the two UI's. until then, take my word for it...Tivo is far superior.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Jerry — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:57:52 -0000

This is the sort of passionate response I was hoping I wouldn't get. (Just "TiVo's great, everything else isn't" but no specific details.) I asked my questions because I was hoping that someone who HAS USED the COMCAST TiVo SOFTWARE would be able to describe the tangible differences to someone who has never seen or used TiVo but is not dissatisfied with the Comcast Software so far. Other than the polished UI, what does Comcast DVR-with-TiVo provide that Comcast DVR-withOUT-TiVo does not? What is more "pleasant" about the TiVo software? (I'm sure Comcast TiVo has differences from "Real" TiVo, and would like to know those differences also)

Thank you, at least, for replying and showing that this forum is alive.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Curtis Cooley — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:12:23 -0000

Comcast is reluctant to provide details on TiVo because then nobody would want their crap. I suggest poking around tivo.com to see what Tivo can offer.

I gave up on Comcast and bought an HD TiVo and am very very happy with that decision. I've not used the Comcast TiVo software, but I fear it may be crippled when compared to a 'real' TiVo.

That said, a feature by feature comparison doesn't do TiVo justice. The whole TiVo user experience is just more polished and pleasant when compared to Comcast's UI. The type of experience one should expect from a product with a four or five year head start.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Jerry — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:20:18 -0000

I'm in Calvert County, MD and just got a new Comcast hookup with the Moto 3216 DVR service. I've never seen TiVo otherwise, so I think the Comcast GUI is pretty good. Can someone tell me what ADDITIONAL or DIFFERENT functions and capabilities I will get when Comcast gets around to offering me the additional TiVo option? Is there a FAQ or detailed list somewhere that you could point me to? Comcast's website is severely lacking on providing easily summarized details, if at all. What is the value-added of getting the TiVo upgrade over the current Comcast software?

Thanks!

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Rob — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:11:52 -0000

I've had the new setup for about 4 weeks now. Two days ago the box wouldn't let me delete any shows, so I told it to reboot... it went into an endless boot/reboot cycle. They came out and replaced it last night (lost all my shows.) I noticed a line on the config screen that said something about "jars" and thought to myself, "Oh crap, it's written in Java... game over."

In response to other questions: it's slow to change channels, and slow to respond to FF/RW commands. Not intolerable -- I understand we're dealing with HD data here -- but still annoying. If I have one more problem, I'm going to go for a Series 3 with cable cards.

P.S. The one really nice feature is that you get a PIP screen of what you were watching while you nav the Tivo menus. Great idea.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Curtis Cooley — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:23:48 -0000

$17.95 and you said no? I paid $270 for my TiVo plus a monthly service charge for the service, and it's well worth it.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Kevin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:27:07 -0000

I tried to get it last night. They told me that since my box is a 6400 series I can NOT get TiVo and need to have a tech come to the house and install a 3200 box and then the tech downloads the TiVo software for $17.95

No Thanks

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Bill — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:41:36 -0000

Dave - I also live in Montgomery County Maryland (Gaithersburg). Have you possibly heard anything about a date for this market? I spoke with customer service but didn't get very far.

Thanks,
Bill

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Jay — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:11:50 -0000

Does anybody know if the comcast/tivo will have dual live buffers?

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

chris — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:36:20 -0000

we are working on addressable cable cards for the sole pourpose of having the guide and on demand, and for now they r testing them in the brand new series box.
as for the tivo, it is 3 dollars a month extra and it is well worth it, dosent have the lag of the normal comcast gui (if u use the tivo remote)
it is scheduled to hit customers by mid nov, or mid dec. they r still unsure, i have been beta testing it for a few months now

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Dave Zatz — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:22:03 -0000

CableCARD rates definitely vary by region. In fact, they often vary within a region! My two Comcast CableCARDs in Montgomery County, MD are free. However in other areas they sometimes charge for the cards or "additional outlets."

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Curtis Cooley — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:47:58 -0000

I think the cable card rate depends on the area. I've seen different rates posted on the tivo community forum. I can't remember if I get the first one free or not, so it's either $1.99 or $3.98 per month.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

darin — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:08:24 -0000

i too got tired of putting up with the motorola comcast dvr and waiting for a tivo version. i bought the new HD Tivo and got a factory refurbished Series 3 (with free wireless adapter) from the tivo website. my gosh, i forgot how much superior tivo is. i don't regret the $ it cost. more than worth it.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

scott — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:47:35 -0000

Curtis, How much did Comcast charge you for the cablecards? They give me different answers each time I call.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Curtis Cooley — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 16:15:29 -0000

I have not tried On Demand yet because of Amazon Unboxed. I can rent or buy movies and TV shows from Amazon and have them downloaded to my TiVo. Got the premiere of Bionic Woman 3 weeks early that way ;)

It's my understanding, though, that I can get On Demand but the Cable Cards only function in the down direction, so I would have to call to order the show. I know that was the case with the Series 3 TiVo's that came out last year, but I am not certain about the TiVo HD units.

Trading On Demand for the TiVo experience is well worth it for me.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Ken — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 06:07:24 -0000

Curtis; does you Tivo HD work with Comcast's On Demand?

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

Curtis Cooley — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:03:49 -0000

I got tired of waiting and bought me a TiVo HD unit. Comcast came and installed the CableCards and I'm up and going with HD and TiVo.

The TiVo HD unit is $299 if anyone else is tired of the Comcast foot dragging. Me experience so far has been fantastic. I'll never go back to Motorola hardware.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

GreenWrangler — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 09:04:55 -0000

Called Comcast last evening about this. The first guy I talked to had no idea of what I was referring to. But he transfered me to someone who at least took time to find out from other folks what it was all about. He confirmed with other's help once again that this is certainly being tested currently but no test results have come back yet. He was indicating strongly to check back around Holiday Season and that its going to be heavily advertised, so we would definitely hear about it.

Re: The Comcast-Motorola-TiVo @ CES

John — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:05:03 -0000

Called Comcast in Mpls this week. They said they had no idea when it was going to be released still.

John