TiVo Premiere to add Xfinity on Demand

[inaka]

Yeah, the only thing I'll miss is the clock and TV show display of the S3, but I'll live.

Thanks to this thread, I'll be sure to tell the tech on the phone to have the MCard set to "one-way" and not "two-way" so hopefully that'll make things go smoothly. *knocks on wood*

[bareyb]

Originally Posted by inaka

Yeah, the only thing I'll miss is the clock and TV show display of the S3, but I'll live.

Thanks to this thread, I'll be sure to tell the tech on the phone to have the MCard set to "one-way" and not "two-way" so hopefully that'll make things go smoothly. *knocks on wood*

Same here. I do miss the OLED. That was cool and you will likely never see anything like that again on a TiVo. Now you just get a series of colored rings. I got used to it pretty fast though and the other advantages have more than made up for it.

One nice thing about this new box is the MRV. It's super fast now and there are a couple of other minor GUI enhancements too (I still prefer the SD Menus myself). Overall I've been really happy with it. We used to have two TiVos in the living room to catch all of our shows, and now it's all on one box. So no having to change inputs on the TV constantly. We ended up putting our trusty S3 into our bedroom and it's been really nice having TiVo in there. I'm watching some Sports on it as we speak (it's nice and quiet in here).

[ajwees41]

Originally Posted by inaka

Yeah, the only thing I'll miss is the clock and TV show display of the S3, but I'll live.

Thanks to this thread, I'll be sure to tell the tech on the phone to have the MCard set to "one-way" and not "two-way" so hopefully that'll make things go smoothly. *knocks on wood*

the cards are 2 way they is no setting them one way or two way it's the hardware which is one way that is why ondemand and other 2 way services do not work.

[inaka]

Originally Posted by ajwees41

the cards are 2 way they is no setting them one way or two way it's the hardware which is one way that is why ondemand and other 2 way services do not work.

I'm talking about what was covered in post #350 of this thread.

I'm not saying I need to change this setting, I'm saying I'll notify the Comcast tech when activating the TiVo to ensure its set to one way on Comcast's end.

[aadam101]

Can someone explain the difference between a "one way" and a "two way" device? Apparently, it doesn't mean what I thought it did.

[ajwees41]

Originally Posted by inaka

I'm talking about what was covered in post #350 of this thread.

I'm not saying I need to change this setting, I'm saying I'll notify the Comcast tech when activating the TiVo to ensure its set to one way on Comcast's end.

there is no setting that needs to be set on comcast or any cable system.

[ajwees41]

Originally Posted by aadam101

Can someone explain the difference between a "one way" and a "two way" device? Apparently, it doesn't mean what I thought it did.

one way devices cable card tv, tivo's all models, pc tuners that take cable cards.

two way devices truway, cable boxes

[inaka]

Originally Posted by ajwees41

there is no setting that needs to be set on comcast or any cable system.

I'm going by post #350 as I said to ensure that Comcasts on demand works properly with the TiVo Preimere.

[shaown]

Originally Posted by ajwees41

there is no setting that needs to be set on comcast or any cable system.

Definitely NOT true. On Suddenlink, they often code cable cards indicating they are somehow two way capable - apparently many of the cable cards are used in cable boxes that can respond back to the head end (even though the cable card itself can't since its a one way device). So if they setup a cable card used in a Tivo that way, their system fails to complete the authorization cause it waits forever for the Cable box to ping them back. A common problem - a process/software issue in the call center / head end. I would not be surprised if Comcast has the same options/issues.

[inaka]

Originally Posted by ajwees41

the cards are 2 way they is no setting them one way or two way it's the hardware which is one way that is why ondemand and other 2 way services do not work.

Yeah, I figured ajwees41 was making a mistake and using old info, especially after reading the bold part above. No big deal, tivo with ondemand is new and not available everywhere so it's natural to make that error. It was just a bit ironic with this being the Tivo with ondemand thread and all.

My Premiere XL4 arrives Friday.
Can't wait to test this stuff out.

[innocentfreak]

They announced earlier tonight that Boston starts next week.

https://twitter.com/stevewymer/statu...64112926507012

Yeah Boston! MT @ stevegarfield Breaking: Available next week for Boston area Comcast @TiVo customers, XFINITY VOD http://bit.ly/JEaxLz

[sbiller]

Originally Posted by innocentfreak

They announced earlier tonight that Boston starts next week.

https://twitter.com/stevewymer/statu...64112926507012

Anyone else as surprised as me that Comcast is launching in a second market so quickly?

[morac]

Originally Posted by sbiller

Anyone else as surprised as me that Comcast is launching in a second market so quickly?

I wouldn't really call this quickly. At the rate of one city/region per month, it will takes years to reach everyone.

[aadam101]

Originally Posted by morac

I wouldn't really call this quickly. At the rate of one city/region per month, it will takes years to reach everyone.

I think it is quick for COmcast. The last Comcast/Tivo rollout was 4 years ago and never made it past New England. The fact that this is already expanding is a very good sign.

[morac]

Originally Posted by aadam101

I think it is quick for COmcast. The last Comcast/Tivo rollout was 4 years ago and never made it past New England. The fact that this is already expanding is a very good sign.

That was a completely different animal and involved trying to put the TiVo software on a Motorola cable box, which was never designed to handle it. This is a lot less complicated. The hardest part (and the only part that involves an effort on Comcast's end) is adding the Internet to local headend communication (i.e. backend channel). Everything else, namely the TiVo software and Comcast VOD delivery system is already in place.

[aadam101]

Originally Posted by morac

That was a completely different animal and involved trying to put the TiVo software on a Motorola cable box, which was never designed to handle it. This is a lot less complicated. The hardest part (and the only part that involves an effort on Comcast's end) is adding the Internet to local headend communication (i.e. backend channel). Everything else, namely the TiVo software and Comcast VOD delivery system is already in place.

I realize that. I just think that is part of why people have low expectations for this project. The announcement for that old project was made in 2005 and took three years for the product to launch. The history of these two companies has moved VERY slowly. When compared to that this new roll out is happening at lightning speed.

[slowbiscuit]

Originally Posted by morac

I wouldn't really call this quickly. At the rate of one city/region per month, it will takes years to reach everyone.

[aadam101]

It's not really one city per month though. New England and the San Francisco Bay areas are pretty large chunks of space and highly populated. My guess is that there are lots of tech people living in these areas and those are people who tend to own Tivo's.

[sbiller]

Here's my guess based on Nielsen DMA...

Here's my guess as to the Comcast roll-out schedule if its based on market size.

#1. San Fran (1.73M Comcast Households)
#2. Boston (~1.7M (est) Comcast Households)
#3. Washington, DC (1.66M Comcast Households)
#4. Seattle (1.3M Comcast Households)
#5. Atlanta (1.37M Comcast Households)
#6. Detroit (1.16M Comcast Households)
#7. Miami (1.1M Comcast Households)
#8. Houston (.838M Comcast Households)

[bareyb]

I'm watching Countdown to UFC with the Comcast On Demand. Pretty nice. I was able to lose the "black box" borders simply by hitting "Zoom" on my TV's remote. Works like a charm and you don't miss a thing.

[Johncv]

Sort of a dumb question, what happens if this take off and sell more TiVo’s? Could this force the cable companies like Comcast and Cox and (Hell freezes over) Time-Waner to offer TiVo DVR instead of SA or Moto crap DVR?

[bareyb]

Originally Posted by Johncv

Sort of a dumb question, what happens if this take off and sell more TiVo’s? Could this force the cable companies like Comcast and Cox and (Hell freezes over) Time-Waner to offer TiVo DVR instead of SA or Moto crap DVR?

I think your "when hell freezes over" is pretty apt. I just don't see them ever offering a competitor's DVR when they go so far out of their way to force us to use their own pieces of crap. There's just too much money to be made, and too many uneducated people out there who think "as long as it fast forwards and pauses, it's good enough for me".

ETA: This article from the OP kind of touches on what the big providers are doing with regard to TiVo integration.

[ajwees41]

Originally Posted by sbiller

Anyone else as surprised as me that Comcast is launching in a second market so quickly?

any one in a comcast area know how long it took from the announcement of the tivo on motorola to actual launch?

[aadam101]

Originally Posted by ajwees41

any one in a comcast area know how long it took from the announcement of the tivo on motorola to actual launch?

The Motorola/Comcast/Tivo was announced in Mid 2005 if I recall. It launched in August(?) 2008.

[inaka]

Got my Premiere XL4 at around 2:30pm yesterday, to replace my S3.

The initial setup took a long time, as I think there was a software update in there somewhere. (The menus are kind of frustrating as it just says "Downloading..." for over an hour with no sign of how long it will take, etc.) I was worried the box froze up.

That said, after the setup, this thing is pretty amazing.
Setting up the cablecard was simple! I was expecting a nightmare, but it was easy. I had the cablecard I picked up at the Comcast office a few days ago, and I called to activate it. Within 5 mins it was up and running.

And within about an hour I saw the On Demand menu!
Oddly enough, if I switched the Premiere to the SD menus, I saw the On Demand right away. When using the HD menus, it took a few hours for it to show up.

Just doing a brief test, I do have small black bars on the left/right sides when viewing On Demand content, and even the main On Demand menus. Not a huge deal, at all, but it is a bit odd.

On a completely side note, the HD menus of the Premiere XL4 seem really slow and a bit buggy. I had a lockup once in the menus, and never had that with the S3. But I know during the initial loading/indexing stage performance of the tivo box can take a hit. I just hope it isn't this way all the time.

But the upgrade process could not have been easier!
Thanks to all in this thread for their info!

[aindik]

Originally Posted by sbiller

Here's my guess based on Nielsen DMA...

Here's my guess as to the Comcast roll-out schedule if its based on market size.

#1. San Fran (1.73M Comcast Households)
#2. Boston (~1.7M (est) Comcast Households)
#3. Washington, DC (1.66M Comcast Households)
#4. Seattle (1.3M Comcast Households)
#5. Atlanta (1.37M Comcast Households)
#6. Detroit (1.16M Comcast Households)
#7. Miami (1.1M Comcast Households)
#8. Houston (.838M Comcast Households)

You are missing Comcast's home market. We have to have more Comcast subs than Houston, right?

[jrtroo]

Are all of these markets fully digital? If not, I would conjecture that they are not set up for a first pass for this product.

Back when the plan was for Comcast w/ Tivo software boxes, Chicagoland, which is fully digital, was on the short list for release after Boston.

[jrtroo]

Originally Posted by Johncv

Sort of a dumb question, what happens if this take[s] off and sell more TiVo’s? Could this force the cable companies like Comcast and Cox and (Hell freezes over) Time-Waner to offer TiVo DVR instead of SA or Moto crap DVR?

Actually, this is from the initial press release (emphasis added):

Under the agreement, Comcast will make its Xfinity TV On Demand service accessible on TiVo Premiere set-top boxes in many of its largest markets, with the first expected to be the San Francisco Bay Area with a plan for additional markets to follow. In each of those markets Comcast and TiVo plan to partner on promotion of this new service in retail and other sales channels. Comcast will install TiVo Premiere set-top boxes with its cable service at no additional charge for its customers when the service is available in those markets.


Not sure what it means exactly, but sounds close to an offering of a retail box from/through Comcast.

[MichaelK]

Originally Posted by aindik

You are missing Comcast's home market. We have to have more Comcast subs than Houston, right?

I'm also surprised no NY and LA DMA's.

Living in the NY one I realize it happens to be devided up pretty well with other players- but those 2 are the largest DMA's so unless comcast has a tiny percentage they would still be a bunch of subs.

I guess maybe they dominate other areas?

Anyway my take would be it more has something to do with hardware at the particular headends in the area. (just really a guess though to be honest)

Seems Boston/New England is goto place for new initiatives so my guess is that the region wasn’t as cobbled together as others and so has consistent headend hardware and so it’s easier to upgrade that region rather than scattered headends at different times in other regions.

[aindik]

Originally Posted by MichaelK

I'm also surprised no NY and LA DMA's.

Living in the NY one I realize it happens to be devided up pretty well with other players- but those 2 are the largest DMA's so unless comcast has a tiny percentage they would still be a bunch of subs.

I guess maybe they dominate other areas?

Almost every neighborhood in the entire Philly area has Comcast as the default cable company. In almost every neighborhood, it's the only "cable" option (if you don't count FIOS as cable).

In NY, Comcast is only in New Jersey. Most of the rest of the area is Time Warner Cable or Cablevision.