TiVo Community Forums Archives - Cable PVR & SA TiVo

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Cable PVR & SA TiVo
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Posted by: mdscott

Comcast makes periodic noises about rolling out the Moto 6208 or similar HD cable box with PVR capability. And there are posts about how those type of boxes will be the "death" of TiVo; And an equal number of posts about how the the interface and software on such boxes is deficient.

What if TiVo and the the 6208 were done in tandem so that HD was recorded on one and SD (using the superior TiVo software) on the the SA TiVo.

At least until the SD HD-TiVo becomes a reality.

mds

Posted by: hongcho

quote:
Originally posted by mdscott
What if TiVo and the the 6208 were done in tandem so that HD was recorded on one and SD (using the superior TiVo software) on the the SA TiVo.

The software is indeed better on Tivo, but with SA Tivo, you need to re-encode the analog (well, for now) signal from the cable box. This will probably cause the signal to be slightly worse than the 6208 (which I think will save the bits directly).

Hong.

Posted by: feldon23

The cable companies are bypassing or outright cutting-out TiVo in trying to make PVRs. Until OpenCable takes hold, TiVo's hands are tied.

Posted by: DeltaBill

I too am interested to see what transpires with TIVO and the 6208/6408 recorders in the next six months. I am currently waiting on Comcast to provide a 6208 here in Atlanta for HD content, which is supposed to be by the end of January. However, I do foresee TIVO making an announcement sometime by mid April as the CableCARD availability of the OpenCable standard draws near.

As mentioned already in this thread, the true question is what will happen over time because the feature set on the 6208 is very limited compared to Tivo. I have been reading in other forums that Microsoft has been working with Motorola and there is a true potential that the awful TV guide software and feature set will eventually be replaced by Microsoft’s Foundation software . Also, I have seen some of the items Microsoft is supposedly developing and testing, and I must say that it will compete directly with Tivo. The key feature is the Smart Series Record which appears to be a euphemism from Tivo’s Season Pass. It now makes sense to me why Microsoft dumped UltimateTV as they could not compete directly with Tivo without damaging there reputation (even further by some accounts). However, if they back tracked and tried to compete at a later date using someone else’s hardware, and a large closed off market segment, then profits will be unbound. This may also explain why Tivo is having difficulties marketing to STB makers and cable companies.

Unfortunately, I am too new to post direct links, but you can do more research on Microsoft’s development by looking up “Foundation Edition 1.5” or appending tv/default.mspx to the Microsoft’s base website.

Posted by: Zakk

I was curious as to when some one would finally start competing with TiVo on the software side of things. It will be interesting to see how this pans out, and how/if TiVo responds in the near future.

Posted by: hongcho

> finally start competing with TiVo on the software side of things

I don't think the actual implementation of name-based recording is that difficult. The only reason others aren't doing it seems to me because of a possible patent issue. I've heard (don't quote me on this) that Tivo has the patent on name-based recording, so unless others are willing to pay Tivo, we won't see that on others.

Hong.

Posted by: Skyboss

The SA box sux. Drops a program if it isn't on for a week, has some nasty digital artifacts as well. Open Cable please so I can buy a consumer grade box that tunes QAM unscrambled AND SCRAMBLED! HD too!

Posted by: Pedro

I am actually thinking of doing the same thing for the time being, because I'm not ready yet to make the large investment of time and money to switch over to an HDTivo with DirecTV.

While I am no fan of comcast, I figure this might tide me over until I can save up the pennies and make the switch, especially because the rental cost for the PVR is (at least here in New Haven, CT) going to be the same as the standard HDTV box.

Although, who knows if DirecTV is going to have some sort of sweetheart deal to move people over to HDTivo then maybe I'll be tempted to make the switch sooner rather than later.

quote:
Originally posted by mdscott
Comcast makes periodic noises about rolling out the Moto 6208 or similar HD cable box with PVR capability. And there are posts about how those type of boxes will be the "death" of TiVo; And an equal number of posts about how the the interface and software on such boxes is deficient.

What if TiVo and the the 6208 were done in tandem so that HD was recorded on one and SD (using the superior TiVo software) on the the SA TiVo.

At least until the SD HD-TiVo becomes a reality.

mds