D* guy looking at Series 4-

[jaywtivo]

Can someone offer some guidance and suggestions for the following scenario...

I am a LONG time Directv customer. I had the Series2 Tivo and loved it. DirecTVs new DVRs have come a long way and now they rival or surpass Tivo in a number of areas...However...

I still want the Tivo experience. And the new Premier might be enough to make me jump ship.

Here's the problem: COST
With DirecTV I have HD DVRs in two rooms for a very minimal cost. 1 Wire to each room, dual tuners on both.

Is there a Comcast/Tivo solution that rivals this without having to spend 25 dollars a month for two Tivo subscriptions? I could swallow 1 Tivo Subscription, but not TWO. It's my understanding MRV on Comcast is nearly useless because of content protection. And the 2nd room isn't wired for Ethernet.

I get everything described above from D* for well under $100/mo. That's all channels and add-ons, save for the premiums. The Tivo solution with Comcast looks like it could cost $120/mo after the Comcast promotions.

Are there alternatives I am missing or not considering? Or is cable/tivo just THAT expensive?

[aaronwt]

DirecTV has a new TiVo coming out later this year. Why not wait to see what that will offer you since you like DirecTV?

[jaywtivo]

From reading the popular D* forum, it doesn't sound too hopeful that this device is coming anytime soon. There are a ton of posts on the subject over there.

[trausch]

As a former D* guy who switched to TIVO my advice is don't. I have 3 TIVOs and it is not worth the monthly fee on top of the cable bill. As soon as the dust settles on whether or not multi-room viewing will be free on D* I may switch back.

[jaywtivo]

As a former D* guy who switched to TIVO my advice is don't. I have 3 TIVOs and it is not worth the monthly fee on top of the cable bill. As soon as the dust settles on whether or not multi-room viewing will be free on D* I may switch back.

You pay 3 Tivo Subs? Thanks for your input.

[gweempose]

jaywtivo,

If you are looking to save money, TiVo is not a good option for you. For starters, you will be paying Comcast more money for less channels. Then, you have to add in the cost of the TiVO hardware (not cheap by any means), as well as service for those boxes. In your situation, it only makes sense to switch to TiVo if you want to specifically take advantage of the things that the new Premiere boxes can do that your D* boxes can't.

[chicagobrownblue]

DirecTV has a new TiVo coming out later this year. Why not wait to see what that will offer you since you like DirecTV?

Once Tivo starts shipping the Premiere I would guess that RCN and Best Buy will get the new models and then in a month or two Direct TV. RCN claims Tivo will provide the boxes at a lower cost than their existing boxes which is always a powerful business argument.

[AandFDakota2001]

TiVo announced during a Q&A session that the DirecTiVos will be base on the old Series 3 interface, not the new Series 4 HD Interface. I've also ready on DBSTalk.com that DirecTV promised the DirecTiVo during the second half of the year. No announcement as to what features the DirecTiVos will have other than DirecTV On Demand service.

In regards to MRV on Comcast, I haven't had any issues at all with content protection and transferring between 2 TiVos. I've been able to do it just fine although I haven't done it with Premium Movie Channels like HBO and Starz.

I'm not the biggest fan of Comcast to be honest, but I can tell you that I pay around $85 a month for Comcast and that includes all of the channels, HD, and HBO. When I priced out DirecTV, it seemed like it was going to be cheaper initially, but get more expensive after the first three months. that didn't really appeal to me. On top of that, I would loose my package discount with Comcast causing my internet to go up to $45 from $30.

Honestly, it's a toss up, but for me, I like the TiVo interface and am really excited for the new Series 4 HD Interface so it has been hard for me to justify just as much, if not more money to switch to DirecTV.

Justin

[jmpage2]

TiVo announced during a Q&A session that the DirecTiVos will be base on the old Series 3 interface, not the new Series 4 HD Interface. I've also ready on DBSTalk.com that DirecTV promised the DirecTiVo during the second half of the year. No announcement as to what features the DirecTiVos will have other than DirecTV On Demand service.

In regards to MRV on Comcast, I haven't had any issues at all with content protection and transferring between 2 TiVos. I've been able to do it just fine although I haven't done it with Premium Movie Channels like HBO and Starz.

I'm not the biggest fan of Comcast to be honest, but I can tell you that I pay around $85 a month for Comcast and that includes all of the channels, HD, and HBO. When I priced out DirecTV, it seemed like it was going to be cheaper initially, but get more expensive after the first three months. that didn't really appeal to me. On top of that, I would loose my package discount with Comcast causing my internet to go up to $45 from $30.

Honestly, it's a toss up, but for me, I like the TiVo interface and am really excited for the new Series 4 HD Interface so it has been hard for me to justify just as much, if not more money to switch to DirecTV.

Justin

You must have some kind of super duper discount going on, our Comcast bill, which is the expanded tier (but no premium movie channels) and two cablecard rentals, is $82.99 per month.

Our friends that have all the premium channels are paying over $120 a month for cable.

Comcast is too expensive for its own good, but if you are a big fan of TiVo and live in a Comcast market there really isn't any other choice.

[nrc]

Once Tivo starts shipping the Premiere I would guess that RCN and Best Buy will get the new models and then in a month or two Direct TV. RCN claims Tivo will provide the boxes at a lower cost than their existing boxes which is always a powerful business argument.

The Premiere box really isn't relevant to when the DirecTV box will arrive. The DirecTV box will be on a DirecTV DVR platform. It may be waiting for the new DirecTV HR24 platform to arrive.

Whether the new DirecTV TiVo will provide the TiVo experience depends on what you're looking for with that. It sounds like it will be the "classic" TiVo experience and it almost certainly won't provide any non-DirecTV content (Amazon, Netflix, etc).

Of course your satisfaction with switching to a SA TiVo is highly dependent on your satisfaction with your cable provider. Comcast doesn't have the best reputation in this regard so you should be sure to investigate alternatives like FIOS and WOW.

On cost make sure that you're comparing total cost. Switching to a cable/internet package from a cable provider can be substantially cheaper than paying separately for cable Internet and DirecTV. The difference can more than pay for any difference in TiVo service fees, especially when you pay in advance or for lifetime.

I switched from DirecTV to WOW cable almost three years ago and at the time I was saving $20 a month compared to DirecTV (for a single set). That was three DirecTV price hikes ago (compared to one for WOW).

Finally, check with your cable company to see if they have free installs or money back guarantees. Along with TiVo's 30 day trial you may be able to try it all out with no risk.

[DaveWhittle]

In the same boat as the OP: I'm a long-time DirecTV user, and I'm also thinking about switching to Comcast with the Premiere.

Reasons:
-hate the HR22 (D*)
-sick of waiting for Tivo to return to D*
-want to integrate Netflix (Amazon/Blockbuster a mild bonus)
-discount for Comcast Internet

With that said, DirecTV has been pretty decent in terms of quality of service, so I haven't fully made up my mind yet. I'm paying just under $100/month for D* channels, DVRs and HBO, which is too expensive for the amount of TV we watch.

Anyway, thanks for this thread and the input! :cool:

[mattack]

It's my understanding MRV on Comcast is nearly useless because of content protection.

This definitely varies for different people in different Comcast areas. Read the poll(s) that have been posted.

For me, I think the only thing currently protected (according to the Tivo) is stuff on HBO. (Strangely, once in a relatively *rare* while, I can't do analog dubbing to my non-Tivo hard drive/DVD recorder.. But that is NOT with something that is marked as copy protected on the Tivo.. Strangely, for at least my current HBO recording that is copy protected, I *CAN* dub it to my non-Tivo recorder then move to a DVD-RAM... but it is "copy once". So there are some strange combinations going on.)

[trausch]

In the same boat as the OP: I'm a long-time DirecTV user, and I'm also thinking about switching to Comcast with the Premiere.

Reasons:
-hate the HR22 (D*)
-sick of waiting for Tivo to return to D*
-want to integrate Netflix (Amazon/Blockbuster a mild bonus)
-discount for Comcast Internet

With that said, DirecTV has been pretty decent in terms of quality of service, so I haven't fully made up my mind yet. I'm paying just under $100/month for D* channels, DVRs and HBO, which is too expensive for the amount of TV we watch.

Anyway, thanks for this thread and the input! :cool:


I have charter and you do get cheaper internet with the bundled price if you have phone and cable with them. However, for Netflix I prefer the XBOX360 interface. It may be cheaper to buy yourself an XBOX than switch to the TIVO.

[DaveWhittle]

I have charter and you do get cheaper internet with the bundled price if you have phone and cable with them. However, for Netflix I prefer the XBOX360 interface. It may be cheaper to buy yourself an XBOX than switch to the TIVO.

That's a good suggestion, as I'm currently using a 360 as my Netflix device.

However:

I have two xbox 360s, one in a game room upstairs and one in the Home Theater downstairs. The HT 360 is too loud, even with no disc spinning. Also, I have to put my Xbox Gold account on a memory card to move it downstairs to access Netflix in the HT. Lastly, I simply want to consolidate Netflix service in the same thing I watch other TV shows so I'm not switching between devices.