# Comcast vs DIRECTV: Who has made the switch and is happier?



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

I'm interested to know who has made the switch from DIRECTV ---> Comcast or vice versa and is happier (or unhappier) as a result.

[edit: What about RCN? Anyone using RCN?]

We are a single-TV household and do not watch a tremendous amount of programming, but since we are currently still using our DIRECTV HR10-250, the amount of content we are missing in HD is growing and growing. We've already updated our dish to the 5-LNB type and have an HR20 unit, waiting in the wings, but still have not summoned up the guts to pull the HR10 and replace it with the HR20.

Clearly, I am a TiVo loyalist professionally, and I'm looking for reasons to stay with TiVo in my 'private life' (I do not consider our viewing habits to be typical in any way) as well. I am aware of the benefits of the Series3 when it comes to MRV, Rhapsody, Unbox, etc but I don't know that it will necessarily be useful in our personal environment. And with that said, the move from the HR10 --> HR20 may not be very painful from what I've read and experienced testing the unit, I'm still looking for reasons to stick with TiVo and just throw one of my lifetime subbed Series3 units into the rack.

I'm curious whether folks who have moved from DIRECTV --> COMCAST to stick with TiVo are ulimately happier than they were with DIRECTV? How about folks who have moved in the OTHER direction?

I know that the pricing of the packages looks slightly more expensive for COMCAST and that value is subjective, but what are your thoughts there? Is the service of either superior (in your opinion) in any way? (I have noticed a lot more rain fade with our new dish vs our older one)...

Anything else I've not taken into account here?

Very interested in your feedback!

Lou

PS Please see attached poll....


----------



## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

It's all about choice and expressing your desire for choice. I left DTV because of contracts and HW lockin not necessarily because of Tivo. I am with Comcast and S3/HD for now but I might leave to go with AppleTV or something else in a few years.

I also feel DTV has a minimal future as a standalone product because of their lack of broadband. There is so much content coming from the IPTV direction.
For example, there has been a number times that I wanted to show youtube content at a gathering.

I have also watched back episodes directly from the providers such as ABC. You can't do that with traditional DTV.


----------



## PRMan (Jul 26, 2000)

I won't answer the poll, but I can tell you that I actually prefer the HR20 DVRs over the HR10 DirecTiVo HD in many ways.

They are:

* Recording from the grid takes a second instead of 5 minutes
* Sorting season passes takes a couple seconds instead of 10-15 minutes
* More responsive in general
* Choice of 30-second skip and 30-second slip (I actually prefer slip!!! That was surprising, but I like it because you can cancel it with Instant Replay. This makes it way better for football plays and hockey faceoffs. And I actually like seeing what commercials I'm skipping, in case there's an Apple or Jack in the Box one).
* VOD is sometimes useful and there is quite a bit of free stuff on there if you look for it
* Using the box as a media receiver for my pictures and MP3s is useful because it plays them through my nice components (although the pictures don't upconvert as well as through a PS3 or Roku Photobridge).
* DirecTV's MPEG4 channels are nearly perfect, with nice saturated colors and no pixelization effects or blurring. And I'm one of the three guys that started the term "HD Lite" in a thread on the AVSForum, so trust me, if I'm (relatively) happy, it's much improved. Comcast is starting to compress so I doubt they'll be better than DirecTV for long. Time Warner has WAY worse HD where I live than DirecTV. It's colorless and pixelated.

The only feature that I prefer TiVo for over the HR20:

* The ability to search for "Los Angeles Kings" and have it record every game of the season (I know, they're the worst team in hockey, who'd want to...). It's a bit more of a management chore than on the TiVo. But, I figure I more than make that up with season pass management and recording time.

BOTTOM LINE:

TiVo hasn't done much to update their DVRs lately. The reality is that DirecTV has passed them while they were standing still.


----------



## PRMan (Jul 26, 2000)

zalusky said:


> For example, there has been a number times that I wanted to show youtube content at a gathering.


You could do this on the HR20 quite easily and for free:

1. Install Windows Media Player 11 on your PC.
2. Use keepvid.com to save the youtube video to a folder.
3. Tell Windows Media Player to convert flash video to MPEG2 on the fly or do it before hand with the program that KeepVid offers for $29.95, or for free with ffmpeg and the following command line:

ffmpeg -i jokes.flv -ab 56 -ar 22050 -b 500 -s 320×240 jokes.mpg

(replace "jokes" with the name of your video)

4. Go into your HR20, find the server and the video and play it.


----------



## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

I can't take your poll because our area is serviced by Time Warner and they suck. Their HD offerings are dismal. They can't even come to an agreement to carry our CBS affiliate. But, that's a two way street. 

I'll be staying with DirecTV as long as they stay in business.


----------



## Steven R Jones (Jan 10, 2005)

I moved from DTV to Comcast earlier this year after a 7 year stint with the satellite provider. I did it to upgrade from old (Series 1-ish) TiVo equipment to new (Series 3) HD units and wouldn't go back for all the T in TiVo.

Multi-room viewing, even of HD content is the killer feature but the lack of support in TiVo HD units for Comcast's on-demand is a big disappointment.

Anther key factor for me was consolidating Internet and phone with a single provider (still came out cheaper than 3 separate vendors).


----------



## BeanMeScot (Apr 17, 2002)

I was with Comcast for a year. Left when they wouldn't offer me any type of discount, then went back when they did offer a discount. I wanted Tivo, even though I went without last year waiting for the right opportunity. I am back with Comcast with a one year discount.


----------



## jkalnin (Jan 8, 2003)

I am with Comcast and they stink. The HD content is weak, and the signal has been further compressed for some new garbage channels. Once my two year contract is up I am switching to Fios.


----------



## Langree (Apr 29, 2004)

I switched solely because I had bad LoS for the HD satellites. 

With that in my I probably would have switched by now anyway because I have yet to find a non TiVo DVR that doesn't just drive me nuts.


----------



## 5thcrewman (Sep 23, 2003)

I moved from Comcast to D* years ago and my last TiVo with them was a SAT-60. I have 3 HR-20s and have been pretty happy with their stability, picture and feature set. 
I never got 'spoiled' for Series 2 features! 

I might look at switching to Verizon FiOS later this year (To combine all 3 services) but I have reservations about all the $ for the new units and I don't think I'd be as happy with Verizon's DVRs as I am with the HR-20s


----------



## Tkilmer (Dec 25, 2003)

I went to DirecTV HDDVR last year and have been really unhappy with it. I appreciate what they have been attempting to do with the software and have many features that are better than TiVo, I have just found my recordings to be inconsistent and my boxes prone to failure. I believe the satellite company that installed my HD dish did a crappy job, I have not had success getting it corrected even though I opted for the protection plan. 

Since lightning hit my house and fried my DirecTivo's, I bought a TiVo HD to check it out. I love it. I don't need cable or satellite with this thing. I can TiVo OTA HD and never look back. What OTA can't give me, I can supplement with DVD and the Net. Who needs the restrictions and cost of Cable and Satellite? Not me.


----------



## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

PRMan said:


> TiVo hasn't done much to update their DVRs lately. The reality is that DirecTV has passed them while they were standing still.


Correction: DirecTV hasn't allowed TiVo to update their DirecTV units beyond a few tweaks. TiVo has continuously improved and added features to their own DVRs.

I'm not going to bother going through your list since the OP is evidently familiar with the Series 3. Suffice to say that comparing the HR10 to the HR20 is largely irrelevant to a choice that involves a TiVo Series 3.

In addition to improvements that cover pretty much all of your points, the Series 3 provides dual live buffers, unlimited season passes, and all the ease of use and reliability that TiVo owners expect. Polls have shown that most DirecTV subscribers would prefer a DirecTV capable Series 3 to their HR20.

I didn't vote because Comcast isn't my cable provider. I switched from DirecTV to WOW cable with a Series 3 six months ago and I'm very pleased. For me, the cost is slightly lower than DirecTV. I'm missing two programs that I'd like to have in HD, but I get more HD movies since Starz is included in my package (vs. just HBO).


----------



## Tkilmer (Dec 25, 2003)

You know. There are only 2 features of my HR-21 that I wish TiVo would add. Mark and Delete and HDD space used. That is it. Just about everything else I think TiVo does better.


----------



## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

Tkilmer said:


> You know. There are only 2 features of my HR-21 that I wish TiVo would add. Mark and Delete and HDD space used. That is it. Just about everything else I think TiVo does better.


I never understood the "mark and delete" thing. Where's the benefit when you you can delete with one button on TiVo?


----------



## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

No Comcast or Directv here. Switched from D* to OTA digital and would not go back. Content is not king but price is.


----------



## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

zalusky said:


> It's all about choice and expressing your desire for choice. I left DTV because of contracts and HW lockin not necessarily because of Tivo. I am with Comcast and S3/HD for now but I might leave to go with AppleTV or something else in a few years.
> 
> I also feel DTV has a minimal future as a standalone product because of their lack of broadband. There is so much content coming from the IPTV direction.
> For example, there has been a number times that I wanted to show youtube content at a gathering.
> ...


Actually let me slightly rephrase. The offerings that traditional Cable/FIOS/Sat will increase a little maybe even double but the real future growth will be media delivered via the internet. You will be able to go to many/many competitive sources directly: Netflix/Amazon/Itunes/...
or what about FOX/ABC/NBC/... or what about YouTube/Flicker/...

The point is the major growth will be on something Sats cannot provide themselves. They will have to bought or partner and even then they will be second cousins. You can't do ondemand from DTV without a broadband link from a competitor.

Down the road the only consistent market the sats will have will be rural/non-upgraded areas, and content lockins like sunday ticket.

Why do you want to buy a package of 300 channels when you only watch probably 10. Why not go directly to the source and buy what you want.


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

zalusky said:


> Down the road the only consistent market the sats will have will be rural/non-upgraded areas, and content lockins like sunday ticket.
> 
> Why do you want to buy a package of 300 channels when you only watch probably 10. Why not go directly to the source and buy what you want.


I like the thought behind this, its really a 'trend vs reality' thing - I wish that we had that option NOW. I would certainly rather purchase season-passes or programs individually, even at $1.99, rather than spend $1200 a year for a bucket full of crap. (news and sports would be a problem, though...) I do love my VUDU, I just wish there was enough TV content that I could consider disconnecting satellite and/or cable...

I do agree, it seems the satellite folks have a bit more work to do, and Echostar, of all people, seem to be better positioned than DIRECTV, to partner and capitalize on a hybrid approach in the satellite world.

Right now, I'm leaning heavily towards pitching DIRECTV as a content provider...


----------



## PaJo (Dec 17, 2001)

A couple years ago, we left DirecTV for Comcast partly because of DTV dropping Tivo, we get offers to go back to DTV often and if a really good offer comes along we will go back. Until then we wait for the Comcast dvr powered by Tivo. In the last 2 years we sort of lost the enthusiasm for Tivo, I tell people that my enthusiasm dropped when tivo dropped Tivolution magazine, one of the best tools for finding more shows to watch. Most tivo users these days seem more interested in the extras rather than TV viewing. DirecTV seems to be leading the way with HD content and that is more of a priority for me than the ability to download stuff.


----------



## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

In a nutshell... that's my main reason for leaving D*. So, much content and a high price but i really only watched about 5 channels beyond the locals.



zalusky said:


> Why do you want to buy a package of 300 channels when you only watch probably 10. Why not go directly to the source and buy what you want.


----------



## [email protected] (Dec 1, 2007)

I dropped DTV because I definitely prefer TiVo to the DirecTV DVR.
It didn't hurt that for what I watch (no add-on sports packages, and now none of the big movie packages either) Comcast was a little cheaper, and let me upgrade my Internet service (from DSL) at a good price.

I replaced a SAT-T60 and an HR10-250 with a pair of TiVo HD boxes.
Things I miss:

o Capacity on the primary DVR

o HD on some of the channels I *do* watch (Speed, BBC America, SciFi)
(although I'm sure SciFi will turn up in the SF Bay Area soon).
I hope Speed will be available in HD by the time HD F1 coverage arrives.

Things I really like:

o No need for a phone line - just use my wireless internet access

o MRV - with a wireless-G network transfer between boxes is fast.


I suspect I'll have to pick up the expansion disk fairly soon, though - with a new LCD TV as well I'm recording a lot more of the shows I watch in HD (although a 1-episode HD season pass on the primary box, and an all-episodes SD season pass on the secondary box load balances quite well).


----------



## Tkilmer (Dec 25, 2003)

nrc said:


> I never understood the "mark and delete" thing. Where's the benefit when you you can delete with one button on TiVo?


You have to confirm every single delete, so it is actually 2 button presses for every program. With mark and delete you cycle through one list check marking them and then just hit the delete key for all of them to go at once. Plus you can just delete a whole folder on the HR21.

All in all not a big deal, but I definitely like the HR21 way better.


----------



## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

Tkilmer said:


> You have to confirm every single delete, so it is actually 2 button presses for every program.


On the TiVo S3 you press "clear" and the program is gone. No confirmation is necessary because the program remains in the "recently deleted" folder for a while after the deletion.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

nrc said:


> Correction: DirecTV hasn't allowed TiVo to update their DirecTV units beyond a few tweaks. TiVo has continuously improved and added features to their own DVRs.


I thought there was going to be one big upgrade.. did that ever happen? (I thought it was going to add the recently deleted folder to DirecTivos.)


----------



## HDTiVo (Nov 27, 2002)

Is it just me that took a long time to figure out this was about a cableCARD based TiVo, not the ComTiVo/CableSoft thing?


----------



## 30340guy (Apr 24, 2006)

I have been a DirecTV customer since late-2001, when I purchased a DirecTivo unit with lifetime service on it (I had a lifetime-service S1 before that). Overall, I've been pretty happy with DirecTV. They've been very easy to deal with, especially compared with any time I have had to deal with Comcast (which I've had to do over the years because of my job). 

Recently, though, I've wanted to make the switch to HD. I kind of want to stick with Tivo, but even more I didn't want to lease my equipment and be stuck with a 2-year contract from DirecTV. Because of that, I decided to switch to Comcast with a TivoHD.

I've been using the TivoHD with an OTA signal until today when the Comcast guy showed up to install the Mcard. The S3 interface is a little different from what I was used to with my S2 DirecTivos. I actually think it's a little cluttered in comparison. It's also much slower in terms of response. The picture on OTA HD is great, though. I also like being able to transfer stuff from my computer to the Tivo (this would probably be cooler if I wasn't already streaming content from my computer to my Xbox360). Being able to transfer shows between rooms will also be cool (I got an S2 that I've hooked up to the basic cable). 

The cable guy showed up today to install my Mcard. It wasn't as painful an experience as it has been for some people (knock on wood)--it took over an hour, though, and the installer was very annoyed at having to set up a cablecard. The HD stations look good (maybe not as good as OTA). The quality of the SD channels is lower than it was on D*, though. I'm going to play with the cables to see if I can do anything to improve it. 

I guess it will take me a while to know whether I am really happy with Comcast or not. I have a feeling it will be a mixed bag. I am going to try to put my DTV account into hibernation for 6 months to give myself time to decide whether I want to stick with Comcast or not. If we experience too many problems, we may just switch back and get the D* HD service.


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

Other than 5thcrewman, these folks moved from Comcast to DIRECTV and seem to be happier (according to the survey); curious as to why you moved and if you have any additional feedback?

What say you: cwerdna, fyremaker, nellee, PurpleMonkeyDish, samo, stetenka, strob777, and TolloNodre?

Is the picture quality better? Pricing? Customer service? Anything else?


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

The comparison doesn't really cover all of the available options. A better poll would be which provider do you currently have and why did you switch from the previous one. I love my Tivos but you couldn't drag me kicking and screaming to sign up with Comcast. I was a DirecTV subscriber for over 10 years and having DTivos and HDTivos was just icing on the cake for me.

About 14 months ago I was in a situation where I had to make a choice whether to stick with DirecTV or switch to FIOS. At the time, the mpeg4 sats and HD channels that had been promised for quite a while still hadn't materialized. FIOS had basically the same HD channel lineup as DirecTV at the time and the picture quality blew DirecTV's mpeg2 HD out of the water. If I was going to stay with DirecTV I knew I'd eventually have to switch from my HDTivos to DirecTV's HD DVR. 

The HR20 was going through a lot of growing pains in the early days following its release and there was no telling if and when it would improve. The fact that the S3 Tivos were available for use with FIOS was the clincher for me so I jumped ship and signed up with Verizon. I also dumped my Comcast cable modem in favor of Verizon's fiber optic internet service and couldn't be happier.

Like I said, I love my Tivos but I hate Comcast. The HR20 has turned out to be a perfectly respectable DVR, although only after countless software updates. My only reservation is that they can't be modified for anything other than a bigger hard drive, but no other DVR besides a Tivo can be otherwise tweaked either.


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

mr.unnatural said:


> The comparison doesn't really cover all of the available options. A better poll would be which provider do you currently have and why did you switch from the previous one. I love my Tivos but you couldn't drag me kicking and screaming to sign up with Comcast. I was a DirecTV subscriber for over 10 years and having DTivos and HDTivos was just icing on the cake for me.


Yeah, but it was Comcast, specifically, that I was interested in hearing about. Not that I don't want to hear about other people's options and reasoning, but I really did want to know about Comcast because that is the option I am considering vs sticking with DIRECTV and either continuing to nurse my HR10-250 or ultimately move to the HR20 (I too have been with DIRECTV for a long time - 11 years).


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

30340guy said:


> The S3 interface is a little different from what I was used to with my S2 DirecTivos. I actually think it's a little cluttered in comparison. It's also much slower in terms of response.


I'm not sure how long you've been using the S3 with OTA.. but others say that it speeds up after a couple of days of indexing & getting to the latest software version.

Plus, from using my friend's DirecTivo, my S3 & TivoHD are MUCH faster than that.
The DirecTivo (with just the stock 'tiny' drive) is almost as slow as my S1s... wait a long time to get to now playing, etc..


----------



## Tkilmer (Dec 25, 2003)

nrc said:


> On the TiVo S3 you press "clear" and the program is gone. No confirmation is necessary because the program remains in the "recently deleted" folder for a while after the deletion.


Cool. Had not noticed that yet.


----------



## Tkilmer (Dec 25, 2003)

mattack said:


> I thought there was going to be one big upgrade.. did that ever happen? (I thought it was going to add the recently deleted folder to DirecTivos.)


No. But it hosed a lot of older DTivo's. Matter of fact, I believe they stopped distributing the new software because I had to replace an HDD in one of my DTivo's and it came with older software and for the two months prior to the lightning killing it, no upgrade.

And the TiVo HD is slower than a 6.2 DTivo. I can verify that just coming from one. Not annoyingly slower, but noticeable.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

I moved from Comcast to DirecTV circa 2000, and I was happier. Then I moved from DirecTV to Fios in 2007, and I was happier still.


----------



## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

I moved from DirecTV (who I'd been with almost since DirecTV began) to Comcast around January 2007.

I'm much happier now.

I have almost every HD channel I have any interest in. Basically I'm missing FXHD, ABC Family HD and AMC HD... and I think DirecTV only has one of those now anyway. Nonetheless, DirecTV isn't gonna get my business again for a long, long time. I have two Series 3's and a TiVoHD and have kept a Comcast DVR for access to OnDemand programming, though it's a rare day I ever use it (well, recently I'd been catching AMC's Breaking Bad in HD from Comcast OnDemand, so I've used it about 7 times this year).

My TiVo's record everything I watch; all seamlessly; they just do their job and I jsut come around and watch things as they're available and I have time. I have speeds on the Cable Modem only Verizon FiOS can exceed around here, and get my phone service from Comcast, too, all at a nice package price.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

FXHD? ABC Family HD? Do those exist yet?


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

dswallow said:


> I moved from DirecTV (who I'd been with almost since DirecTV began) to Comcast around January 2007.
> 
> I'm much happier now.
> 
> ...


Hi Doug,

In-ter-esting...

Has anyone heard anything about when / whether Comedy Central will go HD?

_Doug...
Off topic... I was in Orlando a few weeks ago for a conference and drove by the old office on Hoffner Ave. The building still stands. Bee Line Mexican was gone (to my disappointment)._


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

So... Just as I was getting ready to pick up the phone and do some final research on the cost of CableCARDS from Comcast... Scott, who works for me, says, "Hey, didn't you look at RCN?" 

And I stupidly responded, "No."

OK, so a bit more research (I will post the 'matrix' we are compiling, shortly) revealed that RCN actually has MORE HD channels than Comcast (No SCIFI channel, though, yet...) and the similarly configured package was almost $40 less?!?!??!

Seriously, the 'full boat' package from Comcast came out to a little under $120, not including CableCARDS and the RCN offering was about $80. (I did not factor in any short term promotions...) I know there is a catch, somewhere, but I just haven't found it yet.

Anyone following this thread using RCN and have an opinion?

Lou


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Tkilmer said:


> No. But it hosed a lot of older DTivo's. Matter of fact, I believe they stopped distributing the new software because I had to replace an HDD in one of my DTivo's and it came with older software and for the two months prior to the lightning killing it, no upgrade.
> 
> And the TiVo HD is slower than a 6.2 DTivo. I can verify that just coming from one. Not annoyingly slower, but noticeable.


No what? I asked if there was another upgrade.. and you said no.. but "it" hosed DTivos??


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

Called RCN to schedule an installation service call today. Now I have to wait for them to come out. When will they arrive? Tomorrow, morning...


----------



## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

tivoupgrade said:


> So... Just as I was getting ready to pick up the phone and do some final research on the cost of CableCARDS from Comcast... Scott, who works for me, says, "Hey, didn't you look at RCN?"


I didn't think to look at your location. Is WOW available in your area. I know they're in Illinois. I'm very pleased with WOW, but it sounds like RCN may have more HD.

http://www1.wowway.com/home/index.aspx


----------



## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

I left DirecTV for Comcast limited basic and OTA HD.

I'm happy that I only pay $3/mo instead of $70.


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

nrc said:


> I didn't think to look at your location. Is WOW available in your area. I know they're in Illinois. I'm very pleased with WOW, but it sounds like RCN may have more HD.
> 
> http://www1.wowway.com/home/index.aspx


No WOW in Chicago (or not in my neighborhood, as far as I know). My brother-in-law in the suburbs has it though, and no complaints there.

Adam... we could *almost* get away with doing something like that, but we need our comedy central and a few other shows. I really can't wait until everything is available ala carte from VUDU, et al. I know, it will be years...


----------



## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

tivoupgrade said:


> No WOW in Chicago (or not in my neighborhood, as far as I know). My brother-in-law in the suburbs has it though, and no complaints there.
> 
> Adam... we could *almost* get away with doing something like that, but we need our comedy central and a few other shows. I really can't wait until everything is available ala carte from VUDU, et al. I know, it will be years...


Luckily for us the contractors Comcast uses aren't very good.

They never installed any filters, so I get everything in analog....

My Internet is also 10-12 Mbps...

My $55/mo I pay for cable and Internet is a bargain.


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

Adam1115 said:


> Luckily for us the contractors Comcast uses aren't very good.
> 
> They never installed any filters, so I get everything in analog....
> 
> ...


That is definitely a good deal. I won't even mention how much I pay for 10Mbps DSL here in the city. It is worth it for the service quality, but still *very* expensive.


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

The RCN installer showed up at about 11:45 (45 minutes into the window of 11-2pm). He was done in less than an hour - we ran two feeds, and that was the quickest part. All four CableCARDS worked fine (I have two Series3 units so we needed to use four M-cards running just like S-cards would) and that was it. Pretty straightforward. 

The installer was very sharp; he'd clearly been doing them for awhile and he said that they have come a long way since they began the CableCARD installs awhile back. The biggest problem he had in the 'early days' was CableCARD reliability and that has gotten much better.

Right now, everything is connected to a crappy little TV but over the weekend I'll be moving one of the Series3 units up to the living room and connecting to the large screen plasma; that will be a good test to compare picture quality with my HR10-250 which is still connected...


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

OK, its been a couple of weeks. We made the switch from DIRECTV to RCN and so far, we are very happy. I know that mileage will vary when it comes to installation experiences, but our install experience went without a hitch:

1) when I called RCN to place the order, we scheduled an installation window for the VERY NEXT DAY

2) the installer showed up just 30 minutes into the window, and installed two outlets ($65) very quickly

3) the installer was VERY knowledgeable about the CableCARDS; we were installing two Series3 units, and since RCN no longer has S-cards, they used to M-cards in each unit. cost per cableCARD? $1.50 EACH.

4) none of the cards were bad, the installer was on the phone for 10 minutes with his office and everything was up and running in no time; he was out of here within about an hour of arriving.

To date, we have had NO problems with our service and the picture/audio quality has been the same, or better as what we've seen on our HR10-250. We have had a few 'artifacts' during playback. When I say a "few" I mean that literally; I can only think of three times that I saw a single artifact. This is NOTHING compared to the routine crap I've seen on our HR10-250 where we cannot watch 30 minutes of TV without losing the picture or audio momentarily.

The additional features (and we've not yet even explored them all) offer a compelling difference to the HR10-250. We've been archiving things that I don't have time to watch (John Adams) onto our NAS. Playing back a few XVIDS using the latest TiVo Desktop (I downloaded the Robot Chicken Star Wars special because when we moved TiVo units, I lost my recordings), and playing with things like OneTrueMedia and TiVoCasts of The Onion and other interesting sites.

All in all, I wish I'd made the switch sooner, but as they say, "The cobbler's children have no shoes..." Well, now we have shoes...

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the amount of HD content we now have is astounding compared to what we had with DIRECTV and the HR10-250. Attached is a 'matrix' we've been working on that compares the various HD and SD content available across content providers. Its a work in progress, and we'll soon update our site with it. If you have any feedback, or think more should be added, indicated, or whatever, please let me know.

Lou


----------



## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

tivoupgrade said:


> OK, its been a couple of weeks. We made the switch from DIRECTV to RCN and so far, we are very happy. I know that mileage will vary when it comes to installation experiences, but our install experience went without a hitch:
> 
> 1) when I called RCN to place the order, we scheduled an installation window for the VERY NEXT DAY
> 
> ...


Can you update it to keep the titles on each page.


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

zalusky said:


> Can you update it to keep the titles on each page.


Yes, next revision will have that for sure. Thx.


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

Ok, as promised, here are revised versions of the channel comparisons among several providers (DIRECTV, Comcast, FiOS, Time Warner, Cox, RCN, Charter and WOW).

There are two versions, one is an alphabetical listing of channels, how they are offered and who offers them. The other is grouped by HD and SD, with a further breakdown of the SD channels by genre.

Lou


----------



## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

mr.unnatural said:


> My only reservation is that they can't be modified for anything other than a bigger hard drive, but no other DVR besides a Tivo can be otherwise tweaked either.


Why should you need to tweak your dvr in the first place?


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

HiDefGator said:


> Why should you need to tweak your dvr in the first place?


The best application I can think of, even on a modern Series3 that offers lots of cool features that were only achievable on older TiVo units by hacking, would be TiVoWebPlus. Accessing the now playing and scheduling functions of the TiVo through a web browser is significantly more powerful than using the remote scheduling functions available at tivo.com. And the ability to annotate content (by editing the entries and info in the Now Playing list) as well as prune it is extremely useful.

I'd file it under _want_ not _need_, though. As with all of these 'toys' they are really not as important as say... food, water and shelter.


----------



## flatcurve (Sep 27, 2007)

tivoupgrade said:


> Ok, as promised, here are revised versions of the channel comparisons among several providers (DIRECTV, Comcast, FiOS, Time Warner, Cox, RCN, Charter and WOW).
> 
> There are two versions, one is an alphabetical listing of channels, how they are offered and who offers them. The other is grouped by HD and SD, with a further breakdown of the SD channels by genre.
> 
> Lou


I was looking at this grid again today because another thread made me think of it. What struck me as really obvious was that just about all of the cable providers seem to have more premium movie channel content than DirecTV. For me, that's almost more important than HD content... because when there's absolutely nothing to watch on a saturday or sunday morning, I can at least usually find something on one of the premium channels.


----------



## Budget_HT (Jan 2, 2001)

flatcurve said:


> I was looking at this grid again today because another thread made me think of it. What struck me as really obvious was that just about all of the cable providers seem to have more premium movie channel content than DirecTV. For me, that's almost more important than HD content... because when there's absolutely nothing to watch on a saturday or sunday morning, I can at least usually find something on one of the premium channels.


I thought we have TiVo's to time shift the programming we do want to watch, so it will be available when we are. I can't seem to find enough time to watch all of the programs I record that I would like to watch. So, I guess I don't have the problem that you described.


----------



## bigray327 (Apr 14, 2000)

I switched from DTV to Comcast to follow the new TiVo hardware. That was a mistake. The TiVoHD is a great machine, but Comcast's cable card support (at least in Houston) simply isn't ready for prime time. Furthermore, as others have mentioned, their idea of HD doesn't quite pass the smell test. And as someone that's had TiVos for almost 8 years, I'm disheartened to see so many ads. If I could do it over, I would probably place more importance on the HD content than on the TiVo 9.3 bells and whistles, and just get a DTV DVR.

I'll be switching to FIOS the second it's available in my area.


----------



## flatcurve (Sep 27, 2007)

Budget_HT said:


> I thought we have TiVo's to time shift the programming we do want to watch, so it will be available when we are. I can't seem to find enough time to watch all of the programs I record that I would like to watch. So, I guess I don't have the problem that you described.


That's only part of the reason for me. I try not to record more than I can watch. But my point was that the extra handful of HD channels that DirecTV has over Comcast, RCN or FiOS isn't worth the trade off of not having the extra movie channels. The content on the movie channels is more important to me than having say... Fox Business Network in HD.


----------



## Budget_HT (Jan 2, 2001)

flatcurve said:


> That's only part of the reason for me. I try not to record more than I can watch. But my point was that the extra handful of HD channels that DirecTV has over Comcast, RCN or FiOS isn't worth the trade off of not having the extra movie channels. The content on the movie channels is more important to me than having say... Fox Business Network in HD.


Your preferences make sense to me.


----------



## meowth (Nov 12, 2006)

I think I may be pretty unique in that we have both directv with the newer model hd dvr and comcast with 2 tivohd's. When I first started my journey into hd my first setup was a comcast dvr, the motorola pos. Having been a longtime tivo user with 4 s2 boxes I hated comcast's box. When directv started rolling out all the hd channels late last summer/fall I started wanting to make the jump to hd on directv but didn't want to pay that much for their dvr. I finally gave in later in the year when i could get their box much cheaper. Then in Jan. of this year I got my first tivohd and finally was able to give the comcast boxes the boot. Out of all 3 models of hd-dvr's I've used the tivohd is by far the best to me. But as a longtime tivo user I routinely make use of the networking features available such as mrv and tivotogo. None of the dvrs are perfect. They all have some annoyances but the tivohd has far fewer for me.

As far as the quality of the pictures they are both pretty good. I am overall happy with both directv and comcast and at this time have no plans to change either one. Now if I could get fios here I would jump ship in a heartbeat but sadly if it ever came here it would likely be a decade or more away. (mainly for the internet though. lol)


----------



## jcaudle (Aug 16, 2004)

mr.unnatural said:


> The comparison doesn't really cover all of the available options. A better poll would be which provider do you currently have and why did you switch from the previous one. I love my Tivos but you couldn't drag me kicking and screaming to sign up with Comcast. I was a DirecTV subscriber for over 10 years and having DTivos and HDTivos was just icing on the cake for me.
> 
> About 14 months ago I was in a situation where I had to make a choice whether to stick with DirecTV or switch to FIOS. At the time, the mpeg4 sats and HD channels that had been promised for quite a while still hadn't materialized. FIOS had basically the same HD channel lineup as DirecTV at the time and the picture quality blew DirecTV's mpeg2 HD out of the water. If I was going to stay with DirecTV I knew I'd eventually have to switch from my HDTivos to DirecTV's HD DVR.
> 
> ...


We don't have Comcast in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. (thank god) The control most cable systems in the DC metro area. I left Directv 18 months ago for Cox Communications and with the bundled internet, phone, and cable TV package haven't looked back. Plus I don't get charged $10 to drop premium packages. I pay slightly more for cable, but its made up for by the bundled savings with internet and phone. The HD Content is clear and crisp. And i still have TIVo (hd and S3)


----------

