# Dropping TiVo for WOW Ultra TV



## shosterman (Oct 13, 2005)

Hello fellow TiVo users!

I have a hard decision to make and need your help. I've been a TiVo user and advocate for a long time so it's hard to think about saying goodbye.

My current Tivo is a basic Premier with an upgraded 2TB drive, with a $12.95/month plan.

As the thread title states, I'm considering dropping it for WOW's Ultra TV because of a few reasons I won't go into right now because of length.

Anyway, this all came about because we currently have WOW and wanted to switch to Time Warner because of a great promo plan and an Arabic channel for my mother-in-law while she is with us for the next few months. Well that promo plan fell through in the billing and TWC won't honor it. Since WOW retention gave us a better deal to stay, I'm considering that, but this is where the Ultra TV comes in.

It's based on the Moxi box, something I considered in the past, and will fully support the provider (ie, no cablecard which granted is the failure of the cable companies and the FCC.) Plus, we recently purchased a Roku 2 which will fill the void of Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. (Although everything in one box was nice)

Obviously, the 500GB is less than the 2TB I have, but I think we can cut down on the shows we store. I like the 6 tuners, not because we watch a lot, but because the few shows we like all fall in the same time slot.

Lastly, I considered a 4 Tuner Tivo, but another $350-$400 purchase where I'm not saving anything per month is hard to justify.

So, that's most everything. I'm looking for ideas or maybe support in my move to Ultra TV. Here is WOW's Ultra TV product page which is more commercialized than informative.
wowway.com/ultratv/

Take care.
Steve


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## rhettf (Apr 5, 2012)

Not Sure what your question is, are you looking for other peoples experience with WOW TV? 

I have a basic rule: If your planing on staying with your current provider for the next 30 months a TiVo box with lifetime will save you money - anything less and your paying premium.


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

why dont you just buy the lifetime on your tivo?



shosterman said:


> Hello fellow TiVo users!
> 
> I have a hard decision to make and need your help. I've been a TiVo user and advocate for a long time so it's hard to think about saying goodbye.
> 
> ...


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## shosterman (Oct 13, 2005)

Sorry, I finished the post and forgot to specify an exact question!

I think I was asking for both opinions on the Ultra TV and/or other cable based DVR's. I know years ago they were horrible and I was thinking they hadn't improved much. Anyway, after speaking with WOW, I found out the Ultra TV is more like a gateway, modem, hard drive all rolled into one. The boxes attached to each TV simply stream the content from the gateway. This turned me away as I need a separate advanced router with guest zones, port forwarding, etc. for the configuration of my network.

In hindsight a Lifetime subscription would have been better, but it always seems like a big expense at the time when there I might be trading up in just a 2 years.

As for saving money, I'm not sure how true that might be. My current service is about $85/month for Standard cable, 15Mbps internet, and cablecard. Add Tivo and it's almost $100/month. It's just frustrating that we TiVo users have to pay for On Demand content that we can't use with a cablecard.

WOW is offering me the Ultra + 15Mbps for $110/month or basic HD DVR for $80/month. 

The Time Warner promo that fell through was basic cable, 15Mbps, HBO, Showtime, TMC, Cinemax (all 1 year), and cablecard for $82/month.

So again, not really any question in particular, just venting my frustrations with the industry. If I could get a Premier Elite for less than $100 like I did my other Premier that would be fantastic and solve my issues! That or get rid of cable completely and just add Hulu to my existing Netflix and Amazon Prime.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

Sound like you have a plan. Moxie boxes were pretty good - If it makes sense to you then go for it.

I will always agree that lifetime is the way to go - if only for the resale value. Your 2TB box is worth, what about $50 - $75? Definately less then the current price of a 2TB drive. If you had lifetime on it it would be worth $400 - $500...

Enjoy


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

shosterman said:


> It's based on the Moxi box, something I considered in the past, and will fully support the provider (ie, no cablecard which granted is the failure of the cable companies and the FCC.)


Wait, what?

If WOW is "cable-based" (i.e. like obviously cable and FiOS too), then they DO have cable cards, the cable cards are simply embedded INSIDE the device. That is a FCC mandate.

If you're talking about something similar to AT&T U-verse, which is all IP-based, then <Emily Litella> nevermind </Emily Litella>


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## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

Yes, it's plain old digital cable which means that it has a cableCard embedded. 

WOW is great for TiVo since they have no tuning adapters or copy protection. No idea how their Moxi product ("Ultra TV") stacks up but at $25 a month I'm not interested in even trying it.

Note that WOW does give the FCC required credit for owned equipment if you have a bundle that normally includes equipment.


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## shosterman (Oct 13, 2005)

mattack said:


> Wait, what?
> 
> If WOW is "cable-based" (i.e. like obviously cable and FiOS too), then they DO have cable cards, the cable cards are simply embedded INSIDE the device. That is a FCC mandate.
> 
> If you're talking about something similar to AT&T U-verse, which is all IP-based, then <Emily Litella> nevermind </Emily Litella>


Phrased that incorrectly. WOW does provide the standard cable card to TiVo users. Plus I LOVE the no tuning adapter box. Next just need TiVo to add WiFi embedded (hello 2008)!

What I meant was a DVR provided by the cable provider usually gives you access to on demand content through them or the premium movie channel on demand if subscribed. But if we have only a cable card there is no access to that (not that it's actually worth it), but maybe those features are built into the monthly cost of their box?

I've decided to keep TiVo, it just doesn't make sense for anything else at the moment. Just need to get a good deal from WOW retention now. 

Actually one question I do have is I get a lot of "This channel is not authorized" messages if it sits on channel for two long. Anyone else experience that? Also, the signal has been choppy a lot recently, as digital signals go.


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## ghuido (May 9, 2007)

Is the talk dropping TIVO For the WOW DVR or switching his TIVO over the WOW Service over Time Warner.

The WOW DVR has 6 channels and 75 Hours of HD Recording capacity acccording to the website.

http://www.wowway.com/UltraTV/
http://www.wowway.com/UltraTV-faqs/

Is the focus more on cost saving month to month or feature set.


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## shosterman (Oct 13, 2005)

The original discussion was about dropping TiVo for the WOW ultra, but I've changed my mind. I was intrigued by the Ultra DVR at first because of the Moxi design and the 6 tuners, but then I found out it also acts as the gateway and router, so I can't use my own networking equipment. The cost was a little higher, but no so much for the features and what I was paying for cable.

But now I'm just trying to decide whether to keep WOW or switch to Time Warner. WOW does not require the extra Tuning Adapter box, but TWC has a nifty iPad/Android app and a rumor of a Roku channel. (That and an international Arabic channel for my mother-in-law)


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## ghuido (May 9, 2007)

One Word ... If you can stay away from Time Warner ... if you can run, fly, leap. Every month there are post about people having constant problems with TWC. 

"I was intrigued by the Ultra DVR at first because of the Moxi design and the 6 tuners, but then I found out it also acts as the gateway and router, so I can't use my own networking equipment. "

That is a lot on one box. Single Point of Failure comes to mind.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

ghuido said:


> Is the talk dropping TIVO For the WOW DVR or switching his TIVO over the WOW Service over Time Warner.
> 
> The WOW DVR has 6 channels and 75 Hours of HD Recording capacity acccording to the website.
> 
> ...


That video is funny. "so much space you can create your own home library". With six tuners and only a 500GB drive which has only 75 hours of HD storage?


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## ghuido (May 9, 2007)

Well if I read your stats right Aaronwt, you have more storage space than most small data centers.


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## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

Stopped into the WOW office today to drop off my cable modem so my CableCard is the only thing that I'm leasing from them now. While there I asked about the owned equipment discount. Predictably the guy had never heard of it so I had to tell him how to find it on the web site. After some fiddling trying to find the right code I'm now getting a $5 discount for my owned equipment.

I'm very happy to have WOW in our area since the other option is Insight which was recently bought by Time Warner.


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## Xab (May 21, 2004)

nrc said:


> Stopped into the WOW office today to drop off my cable modem so my CableCard is the only thing that I'm leasing from them now. While there I asked about the owned equipment discount. Predictably the guy had never heard of it so I had to tell him how to find it on the web site. After some fiddling trying to find the right code I'm now getting a $5 discount for my owned equipment.
> 
> I'm very happy to have WOW in our area since the other option is Insight which was recently bought by Time Warner.


I had WOW for a few years, the one nice thing about them is they don't employ SDV, so no tuning adapters needed. But they also never do any type of promotions, I guess it's just a policy of theirs. You get a rate when you sign up, but you can only expect that to increase. Unlike with Time Warner and some others, where you can just ask to be put on whatever promotion is going on, with WoW they won't really ever lower your bill or give you any freebies like Showtime for 6 months, etc.


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## shosterman (Oct 13, 2005)

Just if anyone is interested, I did decide to keep WOW and my Tivo.

Time Warner was such a pain to deal with that it just wasn't worth it. The promo package I signed up for never went through, the "promos" the sales team made me were worse than the package prices listed on their site, just a headache.

WOW on the other hand, offered me my same standard cable package, the 15Mbps speed, cable card, and then *added* HBO for a total of $81/month, exactly what I was paying previously without HBO. Hehe, I started activating and watching HBO GO as the rep was talking to me about the plan details.

Also, they gave me "Advanced Phone" for $9 more per month which I'll use for the next couple months so my wife can chat with her mom at the house. Instead of the $30/month prepaid T-Mobile plan.

They said they may need to give me a new modem to use the phone service, but once that is off in a couple months I'll ask about the owned equipment discount. I thought the "discount" was just that you didn't need to pay the $3/month lease of the equipment.


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

You couldn't pay me to switch from WOW to TWC. WOW is awesome, TWC sucks. (We used to have WOW in the last place we lived. Now, TWC is our only option.)

The rest of your question doesn't even matter.


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## dsnotgood (Aug 26, 2010)

Now just cough up the lifetime and you are all set to go for infinity...or until you need a new hard drive.


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## siratfus (Oct 3, 2008)

sushikitten said:


> You couldn't pay me to switch from WOW to TWC. WOW is awesome, TWC sucks. (We used to have WOW in the last place we lived. Now, TWC is our only option.)
> 
> The rest of your question doesn't even matter.


Is wow an east coast company?


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## vurbano (Apr 20, 2004)

ghuido said:


> Is the talk dropping TIVO For the WOW DVR or switching his TIVO over the WOW Service over Time Warner.
> 
> The WOW DVR has 6 channels and 75 Hours of HD Recording capacity acccording to the website.
> 
> ...


you mean 6 tuners. Nice machine


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

siratfus said:


> Is wow an east coast company?


From their site:



> We've been serving communities in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana since 1996 and we have received the highest accolades for our commitment to service, in an industry where that's not so common.


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## tootal2 (Oct 14, 2005)

vurbano said:


> you mean 6 tuners. Nice machine


I have 6 tuners on my wmc computer. I might add a second ceton card for 10 tuners


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## mpinegar (Sep 15, 2015)

rhettf said:


> Not Sure what your question is, are you looking for other peoples experience with WOW TV?
> 
> I have a basic rule: If your planing on staying with your current provider for the next 30 months a TiVo box with lifetime will save you money - anything less and your paying premium.


I am pretty much in the same situation,I have been with WOW for 20yrs and with Tivo since the series 1. I love WOW(except the $$$), and their current dvr. I now have a Roamio Plus/lifetime. I wish I could give up some channels and start "cord cutting". Good luck!


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