We are Comcast "auto-pay" customers, so instead of receiving a monthly statement by mail or e-mail, we just get an e-mail notifying us that they'll be posting a charge in a few days.
We have a TiVo Edge and many Mini Luxes (supporting up to 10 TVs, some connected using HDMI over CAT).
On Wednesday, 11/27, our TiVo system was working fine. When we next tried to watch TV using our TiVo Edge - all channels were not authorized.
I spent an hour and a half using Comcast's text message and phone support - and was told our cablecard was functioning and communicating - but it had been marked for "end of life". I tried a power cycle on the Edge and removed and reinserted the cablecard (which caused the Edge to go through setup again) - no change. They tried sending a refresh signal (multiple times) - no change.
On Sunday morning, I was able to reach the cablecard group - who confirmed the card was "end of life" - but tried to go through steps to get it to reactivate - and failed.
I was told I had two options. Since the cablecard group can no longer send out cards, I could try going to a local Xfinity store and see if they had any newer cablecards in stock - and then call back to get it activated. This was admittedly a long shot - even if they had cablecards in stock, Comcast is slowly deactivating the cablecards, so at best, we might only be able to extend service by a few more months - the end of cablecard service is inevitable with Comcast.
The other option - was to go to the store and get an extra X1 DVR (we have one included with our TV package). They would provide us the extra DVR for free FOR ONE MONTH, and after that, we'd have to pay $10 per month. To replace all of our TiVo Minis, we'd end up spending an extra $50-100 PER MONTH to go this route.
We have a fiber company in the process of laying fiber for home internet - and will soon be providing high speed internet as an alternative to Comcast, with the same download and upload speeds. $70 for 1Gb/s, $90 for 2Gb/s, $100 for 5Gb/s and $120 for 8Gb/s - unlimited data. With Comcast, the best we can get right now is their Xfi Complete package which provides up to 1.2Gb/s download and 35Mb/s upload, with unlimited data.
So we had been considering a switch from Comcast TV to a streaming service. But an initial review of our options wasn't encouraging - nothing yet appears to provide the same level as what we get from Comcast.
At least for now, we've decided to stick with Comcast TV and use our existing X1 DVR. We've been using that for remote viewing for over a year, since the TiVo android app has become increasingly unreliable (often unable to make any connections when away from home).
To replace the network of TiVo Mini Luxes and HDMI over CAT connections, we're buying an Amazon Fire Stick for every TV, plus a couple for use when we are away from home. These are surprisingly inexpensive - the HD version costs only $18 and the 4K Max costs only $32. Not only with the Fire Sticks provide access to the Xfinity Stream app (for live and recorded TV), we can also use them to provide full streaming support for all of our TVs - at a much much lower one time cost compared to renting X1 DVR boxes.
We'll miss using our TIVos. I was an early cablecard adopter - using ATI cablecard tuners and SiliconDust tuners with Windows Media Center - and when WMC became unusable as Microsoft shifted to newer Windows versions - we shifted to TiVo - and were one of their beta testers for new software and hardware.
The TiVo interface is still better than what we have with Xfinity. When it works, TiVo provided automatic commercial skipping - like we were able to implement with WMC and our older SonicBlue DVR. Xfinity does mark commercials - which can help when playing directly off the DVR or using the android app - but that doesn't appear to be a feature available on Fire Stick.
But if cablecards are going to soon be discontinued by Comcast, even if we could get running for a few more months, the end of TiVo use with Comcast is here.
I looked at listing our TiVo Edge, Bolt+ (with a dead hard drive) and many TiVo Minis and Mini Luxes on eBay. But there are already so many listings for TiVo hardware on eBay - it's pretty clear there's no market for used TiVo gear with the impending death of cablecard.
While we'll be using Comcast for TV, at least for now, one thing this has done is make it much easier to drop Comcast completely - and shift our internet, TV and landline to fiber from another company, providing much higher speeds - at a lower cost.
So... By dropping cablecard, Comcast is making it easier for them to lose those cablecard customers completely...
It's really unfortunate what happened to TiVo. They were in a fantastic position when we initially switched from WMC to TiVo. At that time, they had integration with Comcast - we could watch video-on-demand on our TiVo boxes. They had streaming apps - with search that crossed all of those apps. They had a smartphone app. They had all of the these features before any of the new streaming stick competitors entered the market. They could have positioned their products to be an integrator of over-the-air and cable TV and streaming services, providing access through their TiVo DVRs and Minis - and through apps running on smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs.
But they blew it...
Farewell TiVo - it was a great ride - while it lasted...
We have a TiVo Edge and many Mini Luxes (supporting up to 10 TVs, some connected using HDMI over CAT).
On Wednesday, 11/27, our TiVo system was working fine. When we next tried to watch TV using our TiVo Edge - all channels were not authorized.
I spent an hour and a half using Comcast's text message and phone support - and was told our cablecard was functioning and communicating - but it had been marked for "end of life". I tried a power cycle on the Edge and removed and reinserted the cablecard (which caused the Edge to go through setup again) - no change. They tried sending a refresh signal (multiple times) - no change.
On Sunday morning, I was able to reach the cablecard group - who confirmed the card was "end of life" - but tried to go through steps to get it to reactivate - and failed.
I was told I had two options. Since the cablecard group can no longer send out cards, I could try going to a local Xfinity store and see if they had any newer cablecards in stock - and then call back to get it activated. This was admittedly a long shot - even if they had cablecards in stock, Comcast is slowly deactivating the cablecards, so at best, we might only be able to extend service by a few more months - the end of cablecard service is inevitable with Comcast.
The other option - was to go to the store and get an extra X1 DVR (we have one included with our TV package). They would provide us the extra DVR for free FOR ONE MONTH, and after that, we'd have to pay $10 per month. To replace all of our TiVo Minis, we'd end up spending an extra $50-100 PER MONTH to go this route.
We have a fiber company in the process of laying fiber for home internet - and will soon be providing high speed internet as an alternative to Comcast, with the same download and upload speeds. $70 for 1Gb/s, $90 for 2Gb/s, $100 for 5Gb/s and $120 for 8Gb/s - unlimited data. With Comcast, the best we can get right now is their Xfi Complete package which provides up to 1.2Gb/s download and 35Mb/s upload, with unlimited data.
So we had been considering a switch from Comcast TV to a streaming service. But an initial review of our options wasn't encouraging - nothing yet appears to provide the same level as what we get from Comcast.
At least for now, we've decided to stick with Comcast TV and use our existing X1 DVR. We've been using that for remote viewing for over a year, since the TiVo android app has become increasingly unreliable (often unable to make any connections when away from home).
To replace the network of TiVo Mini Luxes and HDMI over CAT connections, we're buying an Amazon Fire Stick for every TV, plus a couple for use when we are away from home. These are surprisingly inexpensive - the HD version costs only $18 and the 4K Max costs only $32. Not only with the Fire Sticks provide access to the Xfinity Stream app (for live and recorded TV), we can also use them to provide full streaming support for all of our TVs - at a much much lower one time cost compared to renting X1 DVR boxes.
We'll miss using our TIVos. I was an early cablecard adopter - using ATI cablecard tuners and SiliconDust tuners with Windows Media Center - and when WMC became unusable as Microsoft shifted to newer Windows versions - we shifted to TiVo - and were one of their beta testers for new software and hardware.
The TiVo interface is still better than what we have with Xfinity. When it works, TiVo provided automatic commercial skipping - like we were able to implement with WMC and our older SonicBlue DVR. Xfinity does mark commercials - which can help when playing directly off the DVR or using the android app - but that doesn't appear to be a feature available on Fire Stick.
But if cablecards are going to soon be discontinued by Comcast, even if we could get running for a few more months, the end of TiVo use with Comcast is here.
I looked at listing our TiVo Edge, Bolt+ (with a dead hard drive) and many TiVo Minis and Mini Luxes on eBay. But there are already so many listings for TiVo hardware on eBay - it's pretty clear there's no market for used TiVo gear with the impending death of cablecard.
While we'll be using Comcast for TV, at least for now, one thing this has done is make it much easier to drop Comcast completely - and shift our internet, TV and landline to fiber from another company, providing much higher speeds - at a lower cost.
So... By dropping cablecard, Comcast is making it easier for them to lose those cablecard customers completely...
It's really unfortunate what happened to TiVo. They were in a fantastic position when we initially switched from WMC to TiVo. At that time, they had integration with Comcast - we could watch video-on-demand on our TiVo boxes. They had streaming apps - with search that crossed all of those apps. They had a smartphone app. They had all of the these features before any of the new streaming stick competitors entered the market. They could have positioned their products to be an integrator of over-the-air and cable TV and streaming services, providing access through their TiVo DVRs and Minis - and through apps running on smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs.
But they blew it...
Farewell TiVo - it was a great ride - while it lasted...
