Comcast DVR Reduced pricing after Christmas

[techieunite]

I recently called comcast to ask about adding additional digital cable boxes to my account and they told me there will be new dvr boxes after Christmas.

Currently in my area(chicagoland) a HD DVR cost $10.00 a month each. This HD DVR is a dual tuner that can record two separate shows at one time, while still being able to watch a prerecorded show at the same time.

Just a standard digital cable receiver is $5.00 a month with no DVR functionality.

However, the lady who I spoke to told me that there should be a dual tuner digital cable box available for rental sometime after Christmas. It will lack the ability to tune and record HD. The pricing as of now would be $5.99.

This sort of pricing makes me want to get totally rid of my tivos. I would no longer need any sort of networking/wireless adapter. Also, it would be a dual tuner of two digital cable channels at the same time.

On tvs that are not HD capable, it would be great. On an HD TV, the cost difference is minimal, definitely less than the $14.95 or $12.95 that Tivo wants to charge. Plus if the tivo boxes fail, I have to pay to fix them and unless you have a Series 3 and cable cards, on a rented box there is no upfront cost.

All of this sounds interesting, however, the lady couldn't guarantee me pricing. Plus I have to wait. I believe that my contract with tivo is up in February.

[c3]

Reduced pricing? You should read this first:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=326568

[bilbo]

I recently called comcast to ask about adding additional digital cable boxes to my account and they told me there will be new dvr boxes after Christmas.

Currently in my area(chicagoland) a HD DVR cost $10.00 a month each. This HD DVR is a dual tuner that can record two separate shows at one time, while still being able to watch a prerecorded show at the same time.

Just a standard digital cable receiver is $5.00 a month with no DVR functionality.

However, the lady who I spoke to told me that there should be a dual tuner digital cable box available for rental sometime after Christmas. It will lack the ability to tune and record HD. The pricing as of now would be $5.99.

This sort of pricing makes me want to get totally rid of my tivos. I would no longer need any sort of networking/wireless adapter. Also, it would be a dual tuner of two digital cable channels at the same time.

On tvs that are not HD capable, it would be great. On an HD TV, the cost difference is minimal, definitely less than the $14.95 or $12.95 that Tivo wants to charge. Plus if the tivo boxes fail, I have to pay to fix them and unless you have a Series 3 and cable cards, on a rented box there is no upfront cost.

All of this sounds interesting, however, the lady couldn't guarantee me pricing. Plus I have to wait. I believe that my contract with tivo is up in February.

i'm getting verizon fios for internet and video and dumping comcast altogether. i will pay less ($10-$15 per month) and get more channels (142 channels with verizon's fios tv versus comcast's single-digit-number of channels on extended basic). Comcast says i'm getting up to 6Mbps downstream, but during peak hours I am lucky to get anything substantially more than 1Mbps (if I am even getting that). yeah that speed burst technology that comcast touts is kind of a joke (up to 15Mbps) -- I just want a good connection all the time! i've got two lifetimed series 2 tivo, and i will have (at least) one lifetimed series 3 by the end of january (well technically the end of march with the 60-day "accounting" window). i'll have hd channels in a few months for less than what comcast would want for "digital" (silver or otherwise).

[techieunite]

Yes comcast does charge for the HD package and the digital cable package.

In my area, high speed internet from comcast starts a $42.95 a month plus taxes. The cheapest digital cable package starts around $49.95 a month. Each tuner has a different cost associated with it.

A simple motorola digital receiver is $5.00 a month. A dual tuner DVR is $10.00 a month. Plus in my area you pay $5.00 a month for the HD channels.

So on my bill it works out to be $42.95+$49.95+$10.00+$5.00=$107. With taxes and other franchise fees it's about $111 a month. Right now I have a discount on my bill where digital cable is only $39.95 a month.

I guess in other areas comcast charges much more for the boxes that they rent. I was told that I could add an additional HD DVR box to my account for only $10.00 more per month.

Right now since I'm in contract with tivo, I'm paying tivo $12.95 a month till at least the end of February. I would much rather pay $10.00 to comcast and have the ability to have a direct digital recording on two different tuners.

But pricing in other areas are different and maybe comcast will change as time goes on to offer different prices and services.

[HomieG]

I really don't know why Comcast would market a non-DVR dual-tuner STB. In the case of the DVR, they are dual-tuner for record only. Note that in any mode a dual-tuner DVR can only decode and output one video/audio stream for you to watch. And why would they market a dual-tuner STB without DVR that is also without HD. Comcast may not be to swift with the latest technology, but I'd be surprised if they were that dumb. We'll find out eventually in reality...and we'll see if that CSR was correct, or not. They tend to not be. Happy to hear any opposing business or technology thoughts on the attractiveness of a non-HD, non DVR, dual tuner STB. Unless I am missing something here, I just don't see why they would make a box like this available.

[Phantom Gremlin]

I really don't know why Comcast would market a non-DVR dual-tuner STB.
You are right that a non-DVR dual-tuner box would be useless. But I think you may be misunderstanding the original post, which said

However, the lady who I spoke to told me that there should be a dual tuner digital cable box available for rental sometime after Christmas. It will lack the ability to tune and record HD.

The above seems to imply a dual-tuner SD-DVR box. Just because it can't record HD doesn't mean it can't record SD.

This would be very useful to quite a few people. Especially since it would be cheaper to build than an HD-capable box.

In my neighborhood this would be much more interesting (if I didn't want HD) than any product TiVo now offers. That's because Comcast here is "100% digital" which means they simulcast all the analogs as QAM SD digital streams. A box that could record QAM SD could be quite cheap. For example it doesn't need MPEG encoders, the QAM streams are already encoded.

[HomieG]

The above seems to imply a dual-tuner SD-DVR box. Just because it can't record HD doesn't mean it can't record SD.

You're right. That's the part I was missing. Basically it's a dual-tuner SD-only DVR. Much like the non-HD DirecTiVo's. Thanks for pointing that out. Somehow I read it to mean non SD & HD, which was not what was written.

[rainwater]

Does anyone really believe something a Comcast customer service representative says about an upcoming piece of hardware? Btw, Comcast is no different than any other cable company in that their pricing will vary from market to market.

[Gregor]

I just got a note from Comcast that the price of the DVR in my area will increase to $12.99 from $9.99, effective Jan 1.

[DarkAudit]

Adelphia here (with a forced switch to Comcast due to the buyout). After doing the math, I found that switching to just TiVo for the DVRs would save me a grand total of 50 cents per month.