Tivo vs Comcast DVR

[misteroz82]

I am considering the $19.95 a month TIVO special of the unit and service for a year. My other option is the Comcast DVR @ $9.95/mth. What should I do????

[Gregor]

Unless you absolutely need HD, Tivo beats the Comcast DVR hands down.

[HomieG]

There are pro's and con's to both DVR's. Perhaps knowing some of your preferences we could comment on which device offers the appropriate functionality/features. I've had a DirecTiVo and a Comcast DVR and find the Comcast DVR fully functional for what I need it for. It even does a few things the DirecTiVo didn't. But a fair comparison would be possible knowing your preferences and priorities, if any, such as cost, features, viewing and programming habits, etc.

And while others may blanketly say the Comcast DVR sucks, be sure to find out which make/model and software version they are talking about. The newer 34xx series with v12.x is pretty darn good. What DVR is your Comcast service offering?

Oh yea, this is a TiVo forum and community, so you're probably not going to find many fans of anything but TiVo, and I don't think objectivity is an issue since they are already here, but you probably already knew that ;)

[peteypete]

Tivo all the way. I had the comcast box for a while and its frankly a joke.

[mtchamp]

If you can afford the TiVo, it's worth the difference. Try it for one year and see for yourself. There are many posts by TiVo owners who had no choice but to rent the HD DVR supplied by cable until the new TiVo HD Series3 came out 09/12. They are so popular, they are in short supply. People are paying up to $800.00 for this new TiVo, so it has to be that much better than a regular cable DVR. These new TiVo Series3 owners have experience with the generic cable DVR and the TiVo Series1 and Series2 TiVos including DirecTV SD and HD TiVos.

[timo123]

Oh yea, this is a TiVo forum and community, so you're probably not going to find many fans of anything but TiVo, and I don't think objectivity is an issue since they are already here, but you probably already knew that ;)

Tivo all the way. I had the comcast box for a while and its frankly a joke.


See... :)

While I will always try to recommend Tivo, the $800 price tag for a S3 makes it really difficult to promote (for me) if you want to record HD. While the Cable DVR's are generally inferior to Tivo, some of them are pretty good (depends on what model your cable provider uses) and have some advantages (no hardware to buy, no out of pocket costs to replace or fix if they break). That being said, if you are simply using digital cable without HD or just analog cable I would say stick with Tivo. If you are looking at HD, then you have a decision to make as to whether $800 is really worth it. To some of us, it isn't, no matter how much we love Tivo.

[cwerdna]

I am considering the $19.95 a month TIVO special of the unit and service for a year. My other option is the Comcast DVR @ $9.95/mth. What should I do????
It depends on what software is on the boxes Comcast deploys in your area. They have at least 3 totally unrelated packages: MSTV from Microsoft, TV Guide/Gemstar's iGuide and Scientific Atlanta's SARA. There may be others.

What's running in your area? If you don't know, what geographic area are you in? The other folks who have commented didn't say what they have either so they may not be at all talking about what you'll receive.

[spincut]

i think the real question is, can you deal with whatever comcast would give you until they officially roll out their own Dual Tuner HD Tivo boxes so you can upgrade to that?

also though, i'm not sure what they'll have functionality wise in comparison to the Series 3, but if they have dual HD tuners and have at least the basic Tivo functionality, anything else would be an added bonus in my mind.