Mossberg harshes on Comcast's DVR (and says something or other about TiVo Series3)
By Peter Rojas 
posted December 29th 2006 3:35PM
posted December 29th 2006 3:35PM
Mossy has a pleasant little rant today about one of our biggest pet peeves here at Engadget: namely, how totally crap the DVRs offered by cable companies are, especially when compared with the new TiVo Series3. He focuses primarly on Comcast's abomination of a box, the Motorola DCT3412 (pictured above), but we can tell you that the garbage you get from Time Warner Cable isn't any better. Mossberg nails the dilemma facing every gadgethead who wants a DVR that can handle HD cable: you can either overpay for an elegant solution or cough up a few bucks a month for a frustrating, awful solution. The smart thing would be for the cable companies to license TiVo's technology, which would allow them to charge a little bit more for a premium experience, but still way less than the total cost of ownership of a TiVo Series3. That's supposedly what Comcast is doing (we're still waiting to see the first fruits of their partnership), but in the meantime we're keeping an eye out for the first CableCARD-ready Vista Media Center PCs. Nah, they won't be as cheap as a Series3 (at least initially), but at least you get a full-fledged PC for your money -- and there isn't a silly monthly service charge for program listings.
Dude, I think Cox's DVR is substantially better than Tivo. It's faster and easier. Tivo is ALWAYS slow!
Re: "...think about what was meant by it's title."
If you're going to rant about grammar and usage, you might want to take another look at that apostrophe, Chief.
Comcast DVRs are at a distinct disadvantage over the Cox solution as they use TV Guide for their IPG. With Aptiv, the DVR solution seems to be a little more seamless and simple to use. Although that is all out of the window because Cox announced late last year that it will be partnering with Tivo in integrating the Tivo interface with Cox DVRs.
re: Chris @ Dec 29th 2006 7:09PM
"* If you start watching a show that is being recorded you don't have the option to start from the beginning-- you have to manually rewind from where the live show is currently."
I have the SA 8300HD from Comcast here in Arlington, VA, my box did the same thing until this last update, now you can go back to the beginning (even to the beginning of your buffer if you are not recording a show, as I found out last night watching the Boise game and wanted to replay the last play and was a little quick on the buttons). They have also added speed (another arrow) to the rw/ff.
"* No options to continue watching where you left off."
My box for a while now has always been right where I left off when I turned it back on or came back to it after changing channels, but I did notice that there is now a menu option to watch from the current location.
"* Slow and unresponsive. I end up pressing a button wait a second, press it again, wait a second, unit catches up and executes two button presses."
Even though you are not the only one who mentions this, I have not had any such problems.
I have no experience with the TIVO, but I do like the DVR I have. Maybe when/if Comcast rolls out their "TIVO" box (I hope it is the SA and not the Motorola that most people here are complaining about) I will see what TIVO fanboys get so excited about.
The thing I hate about the 6412's from Comcast is that the new firmware hoses the HDMI ports. I just had to trade mine in for a different one and I hope it will still work after the update hits. There is no way in hell I will resort to using Component cables.
"* If you start watching a show that is being recorded you don't have the option to start from the beginning-- you have to manually rewind from where the live show is currently."
not true. if you press the list button while a show is recording and press play you can start that show from the beginning. its how i can get through 24 every week 20 mins in....