TV Toys: DVR from Comcast
Topic: Film & TV | Geek Bling
Posted: Wed, Jan 26, 2005 
I just got a DVR, yay! I've been wanting this for a while, as I have no working VCR and need some way to resolve the time-slot conflict between Alias and The West Wing at 9:00 on Wednesday nights. I'm also looking forward to recording some of the great movies shown on TCM in the middle of the night.
My investigation into DVR options started in earnest last fall with TiVo, which would have cost me about $200 for the lowest-capacity box (40 hours) plus either a $12.95/month or a $299/lifetime-of-the-box fee for the service. But since I don't have broadband Internet service at home, I would have needed to hook up a phone line to get the Tivo data feeds via dial-in, and that just doesn't sound very promising.
In mid-December I called my cable provider, Comcast, to ask whether they had some sort of DVR service in the works. The CSR said they were almost ready to roll it out — they had the boxes but were sent the wrong remote controls, and had to wait for those before they could install. She didn't have much info on the capacity of the boxes (she thought it might be 30 hours) or any other details of the service — but she did say they would work with the Comcast On Demand programming. This past Saturday night, I called to inquire again, and found that it was all ready! I was astounded to find that my net cost increase would only be $5/month — there's no charge for the box, and since they were replacing my high-definition digital cable box, that $10/month charge would go away and be replaced with the $15/month charge for this new high-def/digital cable/DVR box. That beats the hell out of $500 for TiVo!
I scheduled installation for Monday, and they came out and replaced my cable box with the new DVR box. The DVR actually has about a 60-hour capacity (OR 15 hours of high-definition programming), and two tuners — so I can watch one thing while recording something else, or even record two things at the same time. The remote control is almost exactly like the one I had for my digital cable box, so the learning curve there was small. And no phone line is needed, since the info just comes through my cable.
The new Comcast-TV Guide menu system is in use for this box, so I had to get used to that, but it's an improvement on the old one. The old menu showed eight channels at a time, in single half-hour increments, plus advertising on the left; it also completely covered what's on-screen. The new menu shows five channels at a time, but in three half-hour increments at a time, with no advertising; it also displays the live TV picture in the top-right corner. (So, all at once, you can see what's playing on channels 52-56 from 8:00-9:30, instead of seeing what's playing on channels 52-59 from only 8:00-8:30.)
You navigate through the times and channels on this menu, and then just select what you want to record with a couple of clicks. You get to verify your selections so there's no accidental recording, which I guess could be a problem if the box was nearly filled to capacity. I think the box starts deleting its oldest recordings automatically when it's full, in order to fit your newly scheduled recordings. I haven't tried setting up a series recording, where you can tell it to record one of every episode of a series; maybe I'll try that tonight. And I haven't tried recording high-def programming yet.
Hardly any documentation came with the new box — I got a pamphlet that has some helpful pictures and numbered instructions, but hardly rises to the level of a "user manual." There is also an instructional sheet for the remote control, but those instructions don't necessarily match what the pamphlet says. One thing to look out for: the pamphlet refers to a "Swap" button, which is very important (it lets you go back & forth between Tuner 1 and Tuner 2) — but there's no real "Swap" button on the remote, except it seems to have a tiny little "Swap" sticker under the "Input" button at bottom left, that was obviously applied recently. This is actually the correct button to use for swapping between tuners, and this is where the two sets of instructions don't match up.
Visit the Comcast site for minimal, high-level details on the service. One discrepancy: on their site, they say that On Demand channels cannot be recorded. But on the phone, the CSR I spoke to said they could. I need to investigate that further.
So far, I love this service -- it's a wonderful convenience. Call 1-888-COMCAST (1-888-266-2278) to get yours installed.
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Comments
1. Jan 26, 05 02:53 PM | Steph Mineart said:
Brighthouse Cable has basically the same service at the same price; I've had it since January of 2003. (I had to go back through my blog to figure out when I had it installed.) It's amazing and it completely changed the way I watch TV. I've seen entire seasons of series, whereas before I used to miss an episode here or there due to faulty VCR programming, or something being pre-empted by local programming. I never watch anything live anymore, because I can't stand sitting through the commercials. I hardly every sit and just surf, because I always have something saved. And I get to see whole movies on HBO and Showtime; I just search for the new features once or twice a week and record them for later.
2. Jan 26, 05 03:39 PM | Rachel Wolfe said:
DVRs count as Geek Bling, right? That's still sort-of geeky?
3. Jan 27, 05 05:13 AM | Steph Mineart said:
Sure. Anything technology related...
4. Jan 27, 05 10:02 AM | Brent Mundy said:
Any word on how this box will work with the impending Broadcast Flags? Will Comcast dectate what programs you can record (no pay-per-view for example)? This may urban-cable ledgend, but the broadcast flags could put a damper on DVR technology.
Regardless, time-shifted viewing is the way to go. Watching what you want on your own time rocks. You certainly watch better TV this way.
5. Jan 27, 05 10:09 AM | Rachel Wolfe said:
I don't know anything about the impending Broadcast Flags. Can you extrapolate, or provide a link?
6. Jan 27, 05 10:26 AM | Brent Mundy said:
Here's a start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_flag
The skinny is that the Gov wants to switch everyone over to digital TV ASAP so they can reclaim the broadcast frequncies used by TV and sell the frequencies to the Mobile Phone companies. They have a two-fold problem for accomplishing this goal.
First they need to get 85% of the population onto digital sets (or change the law dictating the 85% figure). There is a planned phase out of broadcast TV over the next couple years, so this one will take care of itself.
Second problem is Hollywood. They've seen what happened with the music industry and don't want the same thing happening with their movies. They are demanding a 'broadcast flag' be imbedded in all broadcasts so they are able to dictate what you can do with your DVR recorded programs (or from their perspective, they want to protect their product). Possible uses for the flag include; time expired programming, blocking recordings, and pay-to-rewatch recorded program schemes.
Much of this is FUD from Hollywood. They created equal stink when TV started broadcasting in color in the 50's and when VCRs hit the market in the early 80's. They want to retain their power over not only the product, but also it's distribution.
7. Jan 27, 05 10:46 AM | Brent Mundy said:
Something kind of related, Google recently launched a new video search service. It looks like they are scraping the closed caption text and taking a screen shot of the shot at the beginning of the dialog. Like reading the show's script with screen captures of the show in-time with the text.
I played with it and it seems buggy (it is in BETA). Check it out: http://video.google.com/
8. Jan 27, 05 01:48 PM | Steph Mineart said:
Hmmm. Given the strangeness of close-captioning at times, the google thing seems odd.
Regarding broadcast flags, the public reaction to that will, I think, kill the idea pretty quickly. There's no point in my recording something if I have to watch it in three days before it expires.
What I want to see is weather and news alerts on a separate layer that I can turn off while recording. It's strange to see last month's storm warnings when I watch a program.
9. Feb 17, 05 02:09 PM | Brent Mundy said:
Here's some discussion of an incident where a Comcast user could not fast forward during an American Idol episode. Seems there were also some problems with the program '24'.
http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2005/02/american_idol_b.html
10. Feb 17, 05 08:08 PM | Jennifer Bortel said:
The latest from RSA security conference on Broadcast flags (and this is according to Hollywood executive types, not security types) is that the flags will let you make as many copies from the *original recording* as you want and do whatever you want with it (make a million copies and mail it to a million of your closest friends). What it will do is prevent you from making copies of copies, so the Wella Balsam effect is stopped. This obviously compromises the ability of P2P outlets like BitTorrent from distributing it.
11. Mar 4, 05 02:55 PM | Dustin Sullivan said:
I'm late to the party here, but I have had a DirecTivo box for a few years now, and you'd have to pry it from my cold, dead hands to take it out of my house. (Yes, I'm aware that DirecTV isn't planning on renewing their partnership with Tivo, but I'm hoping they'll continue to support the Tivo units much like Microsoft is still supporting UltimateTV.) I'm a big fan of the Tivo interface and wish their marketing and biz dev teams were more effective. I strongly believe that people who are currently happy with their DVRs would be even happier if they had Tivos instead.
Anyway, I thought I'd add that 80 hour standalone Tivos can be had for $160 these days, but they still aren't a perfect solution. $12.99 monthly fee plus only one tuner. Man, if I didn't have DirecTV, I'd be hard pressed to go this route when my cable company had something for 5 bucks a month (which, BTW, is also what I pay for my DirecTivo with two tuners). But of course I'd be hard pressed to go to Comcast unless I had to. I've been burned by them before...
Anyway, my brother has Comcast and just bought a SA Tivo. He claims a Comcast rep told him he could get their DVR or on-demand, but not both. Was he duped by a clueless rep?
12. Mar 4, 05 10:43 PM | Steph Mineart said:
I got some inside scoop from Bright House that they will soon come out with a new box for the second TV in your house, so you can transfer shows from the main DVR box to the secondary and watch recordings on more than one TV. They also are planning a firewire port for an external drive so you can add storage space to your DVR box.
13. May 9, 05 01:50 PM | Rachel Wolfe said:
From today's IMDb news. Court Lowers Broadcast Flag: The Consumer Electronics Assn. on Friday lauded an appellate court decision that held that the FCC had "exceeded the scope of its delegated authority" when it ordered manufacturers to include anti-piracy technology in their TV recording devices that would recognize a so-called broadcast flag and thereby prevent certain digital broadcasts from being copied. "Courts are right to be wary when government institutions seek to regulate the specific features and functions of safe, useful consumer technology," the organization's CEO, Gary Shapiro, said in a statement. In its ruling, the court said that the FCC had no authority to regulate consumer electronic devices unless they are being used for broadcast transmission -- not reception. "In the seven decades of its existence, the FCC has never before asserted such sweeping authority," the court said. Congress, it added, "never conferred authority on the FCC to regulate consumers' use of television receiver apparatus after the completion of broadcast transmissions." The matter nowded back to Congress where content producers are likely to demand that lawmakers do just that.
14. Feb 20, 06 01:10 AM | Michelle said:
Has anyone out there experienced problems with closed captioning after having a Comcast dvr box installed? I am specifically referring to "on demand" shows like Deadwood and Rome. I had a dvr box installed downstairs and immediately lost the closed captioning for both of these shows when I played them "on demand". Ironically they were probably the only two shows where I constantly used closed captioning. What comes up now is some sort of phoenetic garbage which is for the most part unreadable.
I had a regular box upstairs where the closed captioning still worked on these shows. Unfortunately, due to the olympics coming up - I had to install a second dvr box upstairs just to keep up - and the closed captioning went away there as well.
I have talked to the Comcast reps without success. They say it probably has something to do with my TV settings - but I don't think so. I played around with the menus but could not resolve the issue.
Can anyone out there help?
15. Feb 20, 06 08:42 AM | Rachel Wolfe said:
I haven't had that problem with my DVR, to my knowledge -- I've never tried to use the captions on the On Demand programming. I have always found Comcast reps to be remarkably unhelpful; the only problem I have is that sometimes the sound will go in and out, but they said it must be my TV. "It's your TV" must be their standard answer for anything they can't fix, or don't know how to fix, whether it's actually a TV problem or not.
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