Comcast TiVo Stinks: Let Me Count The Ways

[Naugahide]

The TiVo "sounds" only work correctly for a few minutes after the box starts, then it starts playing the wrong sounds, then it plays no sounds. How could thier QA department miss this? Didn't anyone give them a real TiVo to use for a while first?
Several minutes to change "keep until" from "when space needed" to "when I delete" for a single recording, not for a season pass. Did no one notice this either?
You can watch the Guide repaint itself on the screen. I haven't seen this kind of slowness since I used an Apple II.
Green screen on HDMI output only fixable by restarting the box. Funny, it went way when I went from the current generation Motorola box to the previous generation Motorola box. Better hope your tech has one of the "old reliables" on the truck when he stops by.
Truck rolls to update software. What is this, 1992?
Customers telling techs how to do the software upgrades. Yes, I too know more about how the software download works than do the Comcast techs.
Lost information on the program guide. My old Tivo S2 with its 56K modem never had a problem keeping the program info up to date - why does this modern all-digital marvel have such problems?

Sorry for venting, but it has to be said, this product stinks.

[greenPhantom]

Well, I've just turned in my second Comcast/TiVo box back to the local office; yes, it's certainly NOT worth the extra $$ each month for a barely usable HD signal and a box/OS that so frequently fails.

[Naugahide]

8. Software seemed to upgrade itself, but now any attempt to record a program
results in a screen telling the function is unavailable and to try again in a few
minutes! :down:

[Naugahide]

9. Was limping along without being able to add any more programs to record, then I noticed "On Demand" also replied with "temporarily not available". Tonight, all attempts to go from the guide to live shows resulted in "Live TV not available". Decided to do a shutdown from the menu, now the box is stuck at 'db01' on the front screen. Helpful Comcast employee told me that I still had analog cable available! Yes, and I still have rabbit ears too! Have a truck roll scheduled Friday AM. God help them if they try to take away my "good old" last gen Moto box. If they do, they can keep all their stuff, and it's off to CircuitCity/BestBuy for the Tivo HD for me.

[kmcheng]

Well, I've just turned in my second Comcast/TiVo box back to the local office; yes, it's certainly NOT worth the extra $$ each month for a barely usable HD signal and a box/OS that so frequently fails.

No, it is worse than that. Comcast should have paid their customers each month for the customers to keep this Comcast Tivo mess sitting in their living rooms.

[toddc]

No, it is worse than that. Comcast should have paid their customers each month for the customers to keep this Comcast Tivo mess sitting in their living rooms.

I got a CSR from Comcast on the phone to help with my TiVo and signal weakness (solved easily with a splitter which is better than the one that came with the TiVo).

The CSR unofficially told me to stay far away from the Comcast TiVo.

[Naugahide]

I got a CSR from Comcast on the phone to help with my TiVo and signal weakness (solved easily with a splitter which is better than the one that came with the TiVo).

The CSR unofficially told me to stay far away from the Comcast TiVo.Ahh, the old splitter issue.

10) After truck roll, tech replaced splitter next to the box and then the box itself. I also found out that the set top box needs two-way communication upstream to record anything at all. I can't understand that at all - I never had that happen with my old analog Series2 Tivo. The fact that the box itself gradually failed and it and the splitter failed seems to mean it was putting out too much energy in its attempts to send upstream and it failed. Otherwise, why the splitter next to the box, instead of the zillion splitters between me and Comcast? Note I live in a condo, and know of at least 5 splitters in my building before the Comcast signal enters.

After the 2 hours of the cable guy being here, another 2 hours of reprogramming the box (getting rid of channels I don't receive, adding my Season Passes etc).

Plan B: After four different Comcast boxes in the house, I've ordered a refurb Tivo HD from tivo.com (180 GB drive) with 500 GB WD SATA external hard drive. I looked at all the bootleg ways to get a big hard disk, and they do provide a bit more bang for the buck, but I am willing to sacrifice a bit on bang for the buck to get convenience: if it doesn't work, it all goes back to Tivo, since they have a 30 day return policy.

[sjashe]

Yeah, I've got the truck coming by on Friday this week to replace the box again... this one lasted almost a month.

I'm trying to figure out the finances.. ignoring the 2-300 to buy the box.. how do the monthly charges compare?

Comcast:
$3.00 for the tivo service
is it $12 or $15 for the box?

Tivo:
Sounds like about $12-15 a month for the service

Anyone know the actual figures?

[VivaLasVegas]

Yeah, I've got the truck coming by on Friday this week to replace the box again... this one lasted almost a month.

I'm trying to figure out the finances.. ignoring the 2-300 to buy the box.. how do the monthly charges compare?

Comcast:
$3.00 for the tivo service
is it $12 or $15 for the box?

Tivo:
Sounds like about $12-15 a month for the service

Anyone know the actual figures?

I had one for about 2 months and now I have the TiVoHD.
Comcast w/TiVo:
$12.95/mo for DVR + $2.95/mo for TiVo service = $15.90/mo

TiVo(HD, s3, etc):
Monthly plan $12.95
Annual plan $129.00 ($10.75/month)
3-year plan $299.00 ($8.31/month)
Product Lifetime service $399.00

[NCARalph]

I believe the first cable card is free, but they charge something for the second. You don't actually have to have the second, but it does allow recording 2 programs at once.

[VivaLasVegas]

I believe the first cable card is free, but they charge something for the second. You don't actually have to have the second, but it does allow recording 2 programs at once.

I have a single Motorola M-card (multi-stream). That decodes digital channels on 2 tuners from one cablecard. Its also easier to setup and you don't have to pay for a second card.

[Naugahide]

I believe the first cable card is free, but they charge something for the second. You don't actually have to have the second, but it does allow recording 2 programs at once.

1st card: free
2nd card: $1.50 / month

[Naugahide]

I have a single Motorola M-card (multi-stream). That decodes digital channels on 2 tuners from one cablecard. Its also easier to setup and you don't have to pay for a second card.So, how does one get one of these M-stream cards? Will Comcast supply one, or do you have to buy one yourself?

[Naugahide]

11. Any power failure during a recording produces a fairly unusable recording: the recording plays fine up to the point of the power failure, and any attempt to fast-forward past the point of the power failure causes the recording to go back to the beginning, ad infinitum....

[VivaLasVegas]

So, how does one get one of these M-stream cards? Will Comcast supply one, or do you have to buy one yourself?

I specifically requested an M-card when I called Comcast - which is a whole other story. They told me they didn't have M-cards, so I would have to get two S-cards. Then when the tech showed up he only brought one card. I asked if it was an M- or and S-card, and he didn't even know what I was talking about. Luckily, it turned out to be an M-card. (You know, the kind they don't have!)
So they screwed up my order by not letting me order what I wanted. Then they screwed upthe tech visit by not bringing what I did order. And somehow it all turned out okay and I got exactly what I wanted!

[Naugahide]

I specifically requested an M-card when I called Comcast - which is a whole other story. They told me they didn't have M-cards, so I would have to get two S-cards. Then when the tech showed up he only brought one card. I asked if it was an M- or and S-card, and he didn't even know what I was talking about. Luckily, it turned out to be an M-card. (You know, the kind they don't have!)
So they screwed up my order by not letting me order what I wanted. Then they screwed upthe tech visit by not bringing what I did order. And somehow it all turned out okay and I got exactly what I wanted!Thanks for the info. I called Comcast and got someone fairly knowledgable - probably because I selected the "problem with tivo" option on the voice menus. He knew about m-cards. I requested they bring out an m-card for my install. He said he would add my request to the work order, but could not guarantee that I'd get an m-card. He said it was basically whatever the installer had on their truck that day. I decided not to push it. I hope I get an m-card, and if I do not, I will do my best to get the $1.50 extra removed from my bill.

I guess I really don't like spending any extra on cable. I have gone to the point of cutting and pasting the entire cable lineup from comcast.com into a spreadsheet, then sorting by package, to figure out exactly which packages I would be willing to pay for. So, yes, I will call and complain about an extra $1.50 per month, should I need to.

[VivaLasVegas]

Thanks for the info. I called Comcast and got someone fairly knowledgable - probably because I selected the "problem with tivo" option on the voice menus. He knew about m-cards. I requested they bring out an m-card for my install. He said he would add my request to the work order, but could not guarantee that I'd get an m-card. He said it was basically whatever the installer had on their truck that day. I decided not to push it. I hope I get an m-card, and if I do not, I will do my best to get the $1.50 extra removed from my bill.

I guess I really don't like spending any extra on cable. I have gone to the point of cutting and pasting the entire cable lineup from comcast.com into a spreadsheet, then sorting by package, to figure out exactly which packages I would be willing to pay for. So, yes, I will call and complain about an extra $1.50 per month, should I need to.

I understand.

The tech may not have any experience with cable cards, either, so make sure to have the cable-card directions sitting right on top of the box when he shows up. And if you do end up with 2 cards, make sure he/she installs ONE and only one first and goes all the way through. Then he can install the second card. Most of the install problem people have seem to come from shoving both cards in and then starting the installation.

So I'm very glad to have the single M-card!

Anyway, we're getting off topic for this thread, but if you post in the series-3 forum you'll get lots of help!

[NCARalph]

1st card: free
2nd card: $1.50 / monthSo what does it take to get a real HD Tivo running on Comcast? I find their pricing very opaque. Do they charge for digital and HD separately if you are using a cable card (or two)?

[Naugahide]

I was told the following:
The digital starter package at $58.35 would be replaced by some other package (forgot its name) at $56.40 to remove the "digital cable box" fee of $1.70 and "remote" fee of $0.25
I have a Comcast DVR, so the "DVR Service" at $12.95/month would go away
Of course, the "Tivo Service" at $2.95/month will go away.
So by dropping the Comcast Tivo and going with my own Tivo, my Comcast bill will drop by $16.95/month or so
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I am going with a Tivo HD refurb at $179 for 180 GB HD and additional 500 GB drive for $199 plus refurb USB wireless for $39 for $417 ($378 if you don't need a wireless hookup)
As mentioned above, Tivo's annual plan ends up being $10.75/month. Maybe next year I'll go for the 3 year plan at $8.31/month next time.
So I am trading $16.95/month for $10.75/month (but am paying 1 year up front), but putting up around $400 into equipment, but getting 85 hours of HD recording versus 15, and am getting rid (hopefully) of flaky hardware and am gaining some cool features (TiVo's home networking stuff, Select-Play-Select hacks, hopefully more stable software, access to Amazon Unbox) but loosing access to Comcast's On Demand / PPV stuff.
As mentioned before, I think this will be getting me a much better HDTV experience, but in any case, I'll feel better not giving the cable company $16.95/month.

[netringer]

So what does it take to get a real HD Tivo running on Comcast? I find their pricing very opaque. Do they charge for digital and HD separately if you are using a cable card (or two)?

I believe the first cable card is free, but they charge something for the second. You don't actually have to have the second, but it does allow recording 2 programs at once.

Not for me. I got 2 M-cards for free with no monthly rental for those a tall.

I only pay a $5.99 monthly "Digital Access" (*cough* B*S*! * *cough*) fee.

Other that I pay for the "Standard+Digital Perferred" service ($70.98) + I have new customer deals for HBO and Showtime.

Yeah. It's still too much but whadygonnado?

[kperrier]

So what does it take to get a real HD Tivo running on Comcast?

All I had to do was add HD to me existing Comcast package, which was the basic non-digital service. Cable came out, plugged in my M-Card, configured the account, screwed it up, came back 3 days later and got it working. Now I have dual-tuner Tivo love with HD content.

[ericr74]

I specifically requested an M-card when I called Comcast - which is a whole other story. They told me they didn't have M-cards, so I would have to get two S-cards. Then when the tech showed up he only brought one card. I asked if it was an M- or and S-card, and he didn't even know what I was talking about. Luckily, it turned out to be an M-card. (You know, the kind they don't have!)
So they screwed up my order by not letting me order what I wanted. Then they screwed up the tech visit by not bringing what I did order. And somehow it all turned out okay and I got exactly what I wanted!

I had the exact same experience. To follow that up though, Comcast started charging me $1.50 per month for a "TiVo Cable Card package". I called them once a month for three months to remove that charge because as they say the first card is free, and I have only one M-card. Each time I got a $1.50 credit and they promised the charges would disappear permanently. Finally the third month I got not only a credit but they also removed the recurring charge.

[Naugahide]

Installer came out today. He said current policy is to issue one M-card and one S-card when an CableCard install is being done. That should cover just about everyone, no? If you need two S-cards, the M-card will act as a S-card.

CableCard install did not go smoothly. Not exactly sure why. TiVo HD was well-behaved: it correctly sensed the addition of the CableCard and brought us into the right menus to configure it. Seemed the tech called ATS and they provisioned the system with my CableCard's host id and data id, but whatever changes didn't perculate down to the CableCard for whatever reason.

I learned a lot about how CableCard works in the Tivo HD (hint: go to www.tivo.com/support and download the CableCard FAQ). I could confirm that the CableCard was receiving messages all along, but for whatever reason, those messages weren't the right ones. Seems it took 4 hours or so and an unintentional reboot on my part (I wanted to move the unit, so needed to power it down) for the channel info to download, and then had the tech back out because the premium channels were not being enabled. He called into ATS and she seemed to just do an ordinary refresh signal to the box, and all of a sudden the premium channels worked.

Now, one should not have to download documentation from TiVo and help out the tech doing the install, but I really wanted the TV working today, and saw no reason to keep trying different cards. Also I am a techie geek so I found it interesting to try to debug it.

The ATS guy on the first call said provisioning CableCards was mainly a waiting game, and he wasn't kidding! There's very little they can do to debug things, because the CableCard in TiVo runs in 1-way mode, so there's no way for them to access the box remotely to see what it is doing. It seems various provisioning messages sit in various queues within the cable infrastructure, and just take a while to make their way out.

I was the tech's first call of the day (10 AM) and his last (7 PM)! :)

[lkupersmith]

I was told the following:
The digital starter package at $58.35 would be replaced by some other package (forgot its name) at $56.40 to remove the "digital cable box" fee of $1.70 and "remote" fee of $0.25
I have a Comcast DVR, so the "DVR Service" at $12.95/month would go away
Of course, the "Tivo Service" at $2.95/month will go away.
So by dropping the Comcast Tivo and going with my own Tivo, my Comcast bill will drop by $16.95/month or so
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I am going with a Tivo HD refurb at $179 for 180 GB HD and additional 500 GB drive for $199 plus refurb USB wireless for $39 for $417 ($378 if you don't need a wireless hookup)
As mentioned above, Tivo's annual plan ends up being $10.75/month. Maybe next year I'll go for the 3 year plan at $8.31/month next time.
So I am trading $16.95/month for $10.75/month (but am paying 1 year up front), but putting up around $400 into equipment, but getting 85 hours of HD recording versus 15, and am getting rid (hopefully) of flaky hardware and am gaining some cool features (TiVo's home networking stuff, Select-Play-Select hacks, hopefully more stable software, access to Amazon Unbox) but loosing access to Comcast's On Demand / PPV stuff.
As mentioned before, I think this will be getting me a much better HDTV experience, but in any case, I'll feel better not giving the cable company $16.95/month.


Followup:
I'm also planning on dumping my Comcast TiVos (maybe one at a time) and switching the the TiVo HD boxes. Disregarding the recent rate increases, did the new pricing end up being what you expected? Are you being charged for the cablecard?

Also, is it all working as expected?

[Naugahide]

Followup:
I'm also planning on dumping my Comcast TiVos (maybe one at a time) and switching the the TiVo HD boxes. Disregarding the recent rate increases, did the new pricing end up being what you expected? Are you being charged for the cablecard?

Also, is it all working as expected?Yes, I was charged the fees mentioned above. The box is working fine with one M-Card to decode the two streams, and thus I am not being charged for a card (you should only be charged if you need a second card).

And it's all worked perfectly. The ability to add external storage just isn't available from Comcast, and it's a priceless feature for me. It's roughly the difference between 15 hours of HD and 86 hours of HD.

I have so much HD storage, I've gone into the channel selection menu and turned off all analog channels that are available on HD, so all I ever see is HD except for one or two channels that aren't on HD yet.

That's really what I wanted: a real HD experience, not analog sprinkled with bits of HD.

Not to mention that you can now download movies from both Amazon and Netflix! I'm not a big movie fan, but if I was, I think the Netflix thing would be big. As it is, I have around 30 season passes coded into the box, and I never run out of stuff I want to watch.

And I still use their PC software to make all my MP3s available on the TiVo so when I'm not watching TV I can be listening to my MP3s.

Reading back through the early parts of this thread, it's sad to see all the efforts I put into getting Comcast TiVo to work were fruitless, but I think I ended up in a much better place.

I've had no problems with the refurb TiVo box; I had forgotten it is refurb till I re-read this thread. The refurb hardware is what made the costs reasonable enough for me to give it a go.

[lkupersmith]

Thanks - I purchased two TiVo HDs last week, already returned my Comcast TiVos and Comcast is scheduled to be here this afternoon to install the cablecards. I requested an MCard for each - we'll see what he shows up with.

Meanwhile, although I've only been watching analog channels, the responsiveness is much better than the Comcast boxes, there's a LOT more information available in the guide and the new TiVo Search beta seems to be great.

As for the Netflix feature, I think its great. I already had a Roku Netflix player which I'm selling on eBay since the TiVo includes this function. It doesn't work perfect all the time, but I'm sure it'll be improved over time.

Bad timing for Comcast - they called for a survey on how I liked their TiVo service last night.