# sorta OT: screenshots of various cable co DVR software?



## cwerdna (Feb 22, 2001)

This is sorta OT but related to the other worst PVR experience thread. Is there a good place to get screenshots of all the stuff that's floating around out there so that people can easily identify it? There's too much confusion when people say Comcast DVR, Motorola DCT6412 [I now find the 6412 could be running MSTV, iGuide or Passport or who knows what else], etc. Adelphia has at least 3 different types of software running on 1 Scientific Atlanta and 4 Motorola boxes (http://www.adelphia.com/cable_entertainment/dvr.cfm).

I dug around and found some but my Google kung fu most not be that great and some are in the form of links to PDFs to PVR manuals.

Here are some that I know of:
Some shots of MSTV, Passport Echo (DCT?) and iGuide on Motorola boxes:
http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/dct6412_multimedia_demo.asp (click on Interactive Program Guide)

"Comcast DVR" Scientific Atlanta 8000 SARA software shots: http://www.pvrcompare.com/sciatlimages.html [whoops DrStrange's page title is wrong]

Pioneer "Echo?" Passport
http://www.pioneerdigital.com/passportecho/passportecho.asp
Cox Cable seems to run the above on DCT-6412s in some areas (http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/DCT6412_Passport.html)

Moxi on some Motorola Digeo box provided by Adelphia:
http://www.adelphia.com/cable_entertainment/Moxi_PF_User_Guide.pdf
Moxi screenshots (it's pretty disintictive, I've played with it before): http://www.moxi.com/prodserv/moxi_dvr.jsp

Motorola 6200 deployed by Adelphia, looks like iGuide: http://www.adelphia.com/cable_entertainment/Moto_Combo_PF_User Guide.pdf

Comcast iGuide PDF: http://www.comcast.com/newguide/Iguide.pdf

Are the above up to date or are there deployments of iGuide that look significantly different?

Are the tiny shots at http://www.microsoft.com/tv/FoundationEdition.mspx representative of MSTV Foundation Edition being deployed by Comcast in the Seattle area?

Are there some others? Know where there are screenshots?


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## Tviodit (Aug 8, 2005)

cwerdna said:


> Are the tiny shots at http://www.microsoft.com/tv/FoundationEdition.mspx representative of MSTV Foundation Edition being deployed by Comcast in the Seattle area?


I have never seen a cable box crash in my life, until they pushed that "Microsoft Enhaced" program guide on us.

Now crashes are as frequent on my cable box as they are on Windows.

See my attached pic of BSOD on a cable box


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## sbrown23 (Aug 25, 2004)

Tviodit said:


> I have never seen a cable box crash in my life, until they pushed that "Microsoft Enhaced" program guide on us.
> 
> Now crashes are as frequent on my cable box as they are on Windows.
> 
> See my attached pic of BSOD on a cable box


Then you haven't used Moxi. I've to restart mine several before because it would not respond. It can't handle recording HD and being time shifted behind live TV, pixellating horribly, especially when recording two shows at once. Talk about advertising something and implementing it very badly ... what a POS. The only reason I keep it is for watching LIVE HD and recording SD shows, since that is all it can handle. Got a Tivo in the bedroom on the SD 32" Sony TV.

Good lord, it is amazing how far ahead Tivo is over companies like SA, Digeo, et al. Now if they would just deliver Series 3, my HD-viewing life would be complete, and the wife would be satisfied. Yeah, she hates the Moxi with a passion, but loves HD quality TV.


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## ashu (Nov 8, 2002)

My Adelphia 6412-III has what fits the remote, UI and user manual you list for (possibly) iGuide above, but with numerous idiosyncracies (stutter, FF/REW lost after FireWire, no 30 second skip) akin to the Pioneer Passport/Echo page linked.

Which is it? 

Should I care?


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

ashu said:


> My Adelphia 6412-III has what fits the remote, UI and user manual you list for (possibly) iGuide above, but with numerous idiosyncracies (stutter, FF/REW lost after FireWire, no 30 second skip) akin to the Pioneer Passport/Echo page linked.
> 
> Which is it?
> 
> Should I care?


 The 6412 underlying firmware from Motorola is essentially common to all 6412 units (though different markets/providers use different versions of the firmware). Things like stutter, FF/REW lost after firewire, HDMI problems etc. are due to firmware problems and not the DVR software. Thus these kinds of problems are common to all DCT64xx solutions no matter what the software being used. Even for upcoming deployment of Tivo in Comcast markets using Motorola DCT boxes some of these problems will be there since it is out of Tivo's control.

So really it is not even sufficient to know what software (Iguide, Passport, etc) is running, you really have to know the underlying Motorola firmware version as well. In my market we have firmware 12.31 (for phase III DCT6416 boxes) and Passport Echo 2.5.040 and most big issues have been resolved and the DVR very reliably records what I want. It took about 2 years to get to this point but it is finally very stable and just works. As with any DVR software you have to learn as much about it as possible to really take advantage of it's full potential. A lot of users try and compare to what they were doing with Tivo or their previous DVR experience and immediately say "it sucks" without giving it much of a chance. With a little patience and research you can help yourself make the most out of whatever solution you currently have or are stuck with.


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## dtreese (May 6, 2005)

Tviodit said:


> I have never seen a cable box crash in my life, until they pushed that "Microsoft Enhaced" program guide on us.
> 
> Now crashes are as frequent on my cable box as they are on Windows.
> 
> See my attached pic of BSOD on a cable box


I'm sorry, but I laughed at that soooo hard. It's just a perfect picture of what Microsoft does.


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## ashu (Nov 8, 2002)

Gotcha, moyekj (thanks for detouring here from AVS!) That would explain it. Mine has 12.2x (either 12.21 or 12.27). So it's likely running iGuide.

Seeing as Adelphia here is in its last throes, I doubt they'll upgrade until the Comcast takeover is complete.


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## TiVo Troll (Mar 23, 2006)

cwerdna said:


> Are the tiny shots at http://www.microsoft.com/tv/FoundationEdition.mspx representative of MSTV Foundation Edition being deployed by Comcast in the Seattle area?


Yes. There are many more tiny shots *in here* starting on page 5 along with a full description.


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## dmdeane (Apr 17, 2000)

moyekj said:


> As with any DVR software you have to learn as much about it as possible to really take advantage of it's full potential. A lot of users try and compare to what they were doing with Tivo or their previous DVR experience and immediately say "it sucks" without giving it much of a chance. With a little patience and research you can help yourself make the most out of whatever solution you currently have or are stuck with.


Yes, but with TiVo the learning curve for the new user is much lower, the UI is more intuitive and user friendly, and the ability to learn and grasp the usefulness of advanced features is much quicker for the new TiVo user. Not to mention that there are in fact advanced features that the cable DVRs don't have yet and probably never will.

Ideally also you shouldn't have been forced to wait two years for your DVR to finally actually work; it should have worked from the moment you started paying for it. And you shouldn't have to be forced to just accept whatever DVR you are "stuck with" due to your cable or satellite provider's whims.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

dmdeane said:


> Not to mention that there are in fact advanced features that the cable DVRs don't have yet and probably never will.


You left out, CAN NEVER have the feature, unless they purchase the rights to use the "patented feature" from TiVo.


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## TiVo Troll (Mar 23, 2006)

dmdeane said:


> Yes, but with TiVo the learning curve for the new user is much lower, the UI is more intuitive and user friendly, and the ability to learn and grasp the usefulness of advanced features is much quicker for the new TiVo user. Not to mention that there are in fact advanced features that the cable DVRs don't have yet and probably never will.
> 
> Ideally also you shouldn't have been forced to wait two years for your DVR to finally actually work; it should have worked from the moment you started paying for it. And you shouldn't have to be forced to just accept whatever DVR you are "stuck with" due to your cable or satellite provider's whims.


We're often "forced" to weigh many competing factors and choose among them when deciding which products best suit our needs. An integrated cable or satellite box is arguably easier, faster and more reliable to use than any standalone add-on, all things being equal (which of course they never are).

TiVo is perhaps the most structured of all DVR offerings. It offers more options than I want to deal with concerning its specialty features, but forgoes offering other adjustments at all.

It appears that TiVo is still struggling with how best to make its service concept a profitable enterprise. The company often comes across as being manipulative in the way it offers and markets its service. Its all too coy way of offering the option of a simple one button 30-second-skip is a drag and it very consciously omits offering other options which are available on other recorders.

TiVo is a niche product which has to compete in an increasingly fractured DVR marketplace. TiVo markets the "sizzle" of a sophisticated search engine providing no-brain convenience and specialized features over the underlying substance of basic digital HD recording; i.e. the ability to record and playback at virtually the same time from a remarkably small piece of hardware with a relatively large storage capacity.

TiVo is intuitive and easy to use; but the same is true of other currently available DVR's. No other DVR is more reliable, although they are all getting better with several approaching TiVo's level of reliability. TiVo deserves credit for realizing from the start that it was critically important to focus on producing a reliable product to be successful. Now TiVo must compete against other, perhaps less ambitious recorders, in the area of the perceived value received for the cost.

(ReplayTV was a great concept but never fulfilled its potential in large part because of operational flakeyness. If only TiVo would buy RPTV's software, fully develop it and use it to create high-end software for HD/DVD recorders with complete editing facilities, which then could be licensed to hardware manufacturers as the true replacement for the dumb VCR!)


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

moyekj said:


> As with any DVR software you have to learn as much about it as possible to really take advantage of it's full potential. A lot of users try and compare to what they were doing with Tivo or their previous DVR experience and immediately say "it sucks" without giving it much of a chance. With a little patience and research you can help yourself make the most out of whatever solution you currently have or are stuck with.


Cool. How do I get 30 second skip and skip to tick? Where is the corresponding feature in the Comcast box? If the only way to navigate is via FF and Rewind then what you have is simply a bare bones basic "digital VCR". What about wishlists? Might be nice if Comcast even provided a manual. I have the 6412 Moto box and it came with a tiny blurb sheet for the remote and that's all... I hate it. Can't wait for them to incorporate TiVo into their boxes...


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

TiVo Troll said:


> Its all too coy way of offering the option of a simple one button 30-second-skip is a drag and it very consciously omits offering other options which are available on other recorders.


Such as? What options do the Comcast boxes have that the TiVo doesn't? As far as I can tell they offer a whole lot of nothing. They are as basic and cheap as they could possibly be. Clunky in their implementation and sorely lacking all but the most basic functionality.


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## btwyx (Jan 16, 2003)

tbeckner said:


> You left out, CAN NEVER have the feature, unless they purchase the rights to use the "patented feature" from TiVo.


Or you can wait for the patent to expire, they only last 17 years, they can't have much more than 10 years to go.


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## HomieG (Feb 17, 2003)

bareyb said:


> Cool. How do I get 30 second skip and skip to tick? Where is the corresponding feature in the Comcast box? If the only way to navigate is via FF and Rewind then what you have is simply a bare bones basic "digital VCR". What about wishlists? Might be nice if Comcast even provided a manual. I have the 6412 Moto box and it came with a tiny blurb sheet for the remote and that's all... I hate it. Can't wait for them to incorporate TiVo into their boxes...


Motorola 30-second skip:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Programming_the_Remote#Add_30-Second_Skip

Excellent info on Motorola DVR's:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Identifying_your_model
(use the links at the top of the page).

Come back when you've taken the time to configure your unit after reading these  Seriously, I agree the Comcast manual sucks. But that doesn't mean the box doesn't have some features, as does the remote. Fortunately Google provided further links to this info. Depending on software and firmware of the Motorola box, some features may or may not work. I haven't found any that didn't work.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

HomieG said:


> Motorola 30-second skip:
> http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Programming_the_Remote#Add_30-Second_Skip
> 
> Excellent info on Motorola DVR's:
> ...


Adding the 30 second skip is a HUGE improvement. This will make the Comcast DVR much less painful to use. It's still clunky but this helps a lot. Thanks!


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