Questions before I take the Tivo plunge

[mikeski30]

Hello all,

First let me apologize if I'm repeating earlier questions from other folks. I've been searching all over these and other forums with little luck and frankly I'm burnt out.

I currently have Comcast HD service in Maryland with the Motorola HD DVR. I'm fed up with the season recording feature on the box, as it quite often misses recordings of first-time broadcasts of shows.

I've been deployed overseas a few times over the last year, and to my horror upon my return, I didn't have first-run episodes of both Heroes and Entourage. For some reason, however, the Heroes SD reruns on SciFi network (aired on Fridays after the original Monday NBC running) were there, but not the original airings in NBC HD.

So here's my concern: I'm not sure if this is a Motorola DVR problem or a Comcast problem. Is the Motorola box just a piece of garbage, or did the channel not include the imbedded information that identifies a program as a new first-run episode?

I only ask here in the Tivo forums, because I imagine if it's a Comcast or channel issue, my problems will continue even with the Tivo box, and I'd hate to drop 300 bucks and continue to have the same problems.

Thanks all and sorry for the long post =)

[techieunite]

The problem lies in how comcast sets up a season recording.

If you search and add by the title of the show, you'll have the problem that you're talking about.

To get it work properly, you MUST setup the repeat recordings by finding them in the guide, then creating a repeat recording.

Tivo is smart enough to know about repeat recordings and only record what you actually want. Try to cancel any repeat recordings that you have now and set them up using the guide method.

I've done this and had very few if any problems with the comcast hd unit recording the correct show in the correct time spot. You may want to pad the recording with an extra minute on the end. Tivo would be smart enough to do this automatically, the comcast box won't.

I have tivo in the bedroom and the comcast box in the living room.

I really want the HD tivo too, but see too many current issues with it as of right now.

even at $300 it's still a huge plunge to pickup a box that may not be compatible with future cable technologies. Plus, if it fails I have to repair it or purchase a new one. In my area, the comcast HD box is $10.99 a month. It would take me almost 30 months in the case of the tivo just to breat even and that doesn't even include the service fee.(which I already pay on my existing tivos).

Not really interested in paying more to comcast or tivo at this point.

[mikeski30]

"To get it work properly, you MUST setup the repeat recordings by finding them in the guide, then creating a repeat recording."

Thanks for the info! That's my problem right there. Sometimes with the length of my deployments, I'm not around when the shows are added to the guide. That's why the option of programming Tivo from online is attractive to me.