[sneagle]

My parents just got their first HDTV in NYC. I am trying to convince them to get HD Tivo. One of the things I dislike about the TWC DVR they have is the shear number of buttons on the remote. It also seems that the DVR is slow to respond. Still, I am only a intermittent visitor there, so I was wondering if anyone had TWC NYC with a series 3 Tivo or HD Tivo and could comment on:
- ease of installation
- M card availability
- cost of cablecards vs. TWC DVR
- TWC DVR vs. Tivo: features, picture quality, etc...

I have told them besides cost, the disadvantage of Tivo is the loss of PPV, but you get Amazon Unbox instead.

I have not discussed with them the future of IPTV and how that will affect Tivo. Mostly because I am not sure I understand the issue.

 

[sneagle]

No one?

 

[sailnut]

I live on Staten Island. I bought a TIVO-HD about 3 weeks ago.

1: It took a phone call from Tivo support to convince TW to furnish and install the cable cards. They denied that their cards would work with a Tivo!! One of the SA cards was no good but outside of that the install went OK.
2: Once installed the HD performs as advertised. However many of the SD channels are afflicted with noise and distortion. Many of digtal SD channels look pretty good.
3: The HD feed seems to be OK and matches well with my OTA feed which is also received by the HD.

 

[rodalpho]

I live in manhattan with TWC NYC and have had my S3 since 10/06. The install went fine, and it's been working ever since.

I do get pixellation and audio dropouts, but that seems to be endemic to cablecard-based TiVos and not the cable company's fault.

 

[dpfels]

TWC in Manhattan user here.

I used their HD DVR for about 9 months before switching to a Tivo HD (I had been a long time user of an S2 before dropping it for the TWC DVR).

I had the cable-card install last week. They only have S cards at this point, though I think that will change in a few months. They said that there are M cards in some of the boxes they are installing, but that these cards are not available by themselves.

The install took a while, mostly waiting for the box to update, but it went very smoothly. The guy who did the install knew about Tivo boxes and knew exactly what to do. The only hitch: at one point the box appeared to hang during the download; I reset it, and everything went smoothly.

I think the worst part about the cable cards with TWC was dealing with the people who answer their phones. They know absolutely nothing about cable cards. Even when you are forwarded to someone "knowledgable", they make many mistakes.

Notably, it took me at least 4 calls to find out how much everything was going to cost. Also, they clearly have a script that they are trained to read that is designed to scare people off (you will lose all of your on-demand services, no HD, your hair will fall out ...) You get the idea (obviously, the last two statements are false, my baldness notwithstanding).

Since the install, everything is working beautifully. I am not sure, but I think the picture quality is better with the Tivo (using component, as I was with the old DVR). Obviously, I am delighted to have the Tivo interface and software back. The DVR was terrible in this respect.

Hope this helps,
Dan