Question about Cablevision DVR

[ADG]

I've been a DirecTV customer since they first entered the market in New Jersey. I've also kept Cablevision active as a backup (and for PIP). For the past year or so I've been thinking about eliminating one or the other (it's just too expensive to keep both). If I go with Cablevision I'll switch to their digital service (IO) - currently we have the full premium package from DirecTV and Cablevision's standard service (which doesn't require set top boxes - and that's very nice). Obviously there are some pro's and con's both ways:


The recent storms have highlighted the reliability differences between the two. Cable was always there, Satellite not so much
My primary TV's (not yet HDTV) all have PIP (which I use a lot), and it's just so much easier to use with cable
The DirecTV TiVo is GREAT and to be honest, that's the main reason I have not yet cancelled the service
Of course I'll be moving to HDTV (along with everyone else) at some point in the near future, and both services have excellent support


So I have a couple of questions please. The first and most important is about the DVR. If any of you have experience with the unit(s) offered by Cablevision I'd appreciate hearing from you - how do they compare to the DirecTV Tivo (do they have two tuners? are the listings as accurate? are they as easy to navigate - both in listings and usage? is the cost comparable?, etc). The second question - and I know it's tough to get a truly objective response because we all are biased somewhat - is for personal opinions and preferences between the two services from those of you who have tried both. Last - are there any other considerations my wife and I should take into account?

Thanks very much in advance for any input you can provide.

[briang5]

I have a series 2 TIVO and a standard def cablvision DVR.


Cablevision DVR:

It has two tuners...

Guide data is accurate, but only is for one week vs 2 for TIVO.

Not great navigation for "now playing". For example there are no folders.

Horrible Navigation for finding shows to record. They dont have advanced features like wishlists, but
they also dont have basic stuff. Want to record a new show you heard about ? You need to know when its on, you cant just enter the name of the show !!!. However, if you know the day a show is on, you can find it alphabetically sort of by going to the day that the show is on, and then the first letter that the show starts with. You then have to scroll down to the actual show!!!!. Horrible.

Cost is $15 a month for the cablvision DVR, 12 for the TIVO. Of course the TIVO has up front costs.



Unbiased opinion:

The cablevision DVR is horrid compared to a TIVO. OK, perhaps that was a bit biased. Seriously though, the main advantages of the cablevision DVR compared to my series two tivo is the dual tuners, and the picture quality. But you have those features with the Direct TV Tivo. Another huge advantage for the cable vision DVR is that for the same 15 bucks a month, I can get an HD DVR if I want.


Here are my biggest issues with the cablevision DVR:

I need to reboot approx once every couple of weeks. Have to do this every 6months-1 year for the TIVO.

Finding a show to record it is a big pain compared to TIVO. See above for details.

You cant really pause a TV show for a long period of time. If I am in the middle of a movie, and stop it, and go back to it a day later, the movie is back to the beginning. Now you have to fast foward to the point you were at.

There is no 30 second skip. This isnt major, but when you are used to TIVO it sucks.

The best forum I have found for the cablevision DVR is on yahoo, and the support is much better here.

One nice feature of the cablvision DVR is it has a percentage indicator for disk usage. (Get with the program TIVO!!!)



My advice would be if you wanted to save money is to give up the cablevision. When the weathers bad, you can just watch what is already on the TIVO !!

But before you do that, I would spend a little money getting the IO service for a month to do a head to head comparision. The reason I suggest that is that the HD Direct TIVO is espensive, and the cablevison DVR has no up front cost. If you try the cablevision standard def box for one month, you will know if you can live with its shortcomings. If you can, you will know that you can get there HD DVR when the time comes, and you will save some money.

[cwerdna]

To the OP, what software is on the box in your area? To briang5, what software is on your box?

You two may have totally different software on your boxes making any comparison/comments invalid.

[ADG]

Good input, thanks. And watching a prerecorded show in bad weather doesn't help if we miss a show we want to watch or record because of that bad weather :( . And of course using PIP with DTV and no cable is difficult at best.

Again, I apprecite the feedback.

Any additional thoughts from anyone else?

[mattack]

Wait for series 3??

(this from a person who is likely sticking with lifetime series 1s because of lack of new lifetime subscriptions.. but for you it sounds like it will fit your needs..)

[mund]

Good input, thanks. And watching a prerecorded show in bad weather doesn't help if we miss a show we want to watch or record because of that bad weather :( . And of course using PIP with DTV and no cable is difficult at best.

Again, I apprecite the feedback.

Any additional thoughts from anyone else?


I live in NJ too and just did exactly what you are thinking. I just got a new Hi Def TV
Cablevision has a special package price for people who switch from Direct to Cablevison. The normal price for the full package is 87.95 the special price is 59.95 for the FULL package. But you have to ask for it ,HD is free The HD dvr is 9.95/month
no other costs.That price is good for a year and goes up $10 the 2nd year. What the guy said above about the DVR is true, if you have Tivo you will absolutely hate this DVR, as soon as Tivo series 3 comes out I will dump this dvr
Good luck

[dvrman]

I have teh cablevision 8300 HD dvr. I agree with most comments that navigayion an dplaylist are inferior to Tivo but speed of remote control and access to VOD and other interactive stuff is better than Tivo today.
The other option you should consider is the new DIRECTV HD MPEG 4 DVR coming in 30-60 days. I assume DIRECTV will make it close to free with a rebate an dthis box should be vastly superiot to HD Tivo and Cablevision box as well as offer many new features down the road that Tivo and Cablevision aren't such as conenction to portable players or to your home PC.
I know the Tivo Home emdi aoptio nprovide spome of these but it is not for non-geeks and the performance sucks ( I haven'rt tried the lastest dual tuner).
I would stick with HD-Tivo an dtry an dnew DIRECTV DVR when it comes out.

[drew2k]

I agree with almost everything mentioned and will add one of my biggest complaints about the Cablevision 8300 HD DVR (with Sara software): The menus, guides, and DVR lists are only designed to display in the center of the screen, in 4:3.

You'd expect to get vertical borders on a widescreen when watching 4:3 programming, but not on the menus on an HD DVR!

Obviously, the menus from the SD DVR were just ported over as-is, without upgrading for the widescreen TVs the boxes are meant to be used with. Just pure laziness.

[ADG]

Thanks again :)