I’ve suffered for a year with your horrible, horrible DVR service. The box is a lesson in frustration, with a bizarre interface, slow performance, and constant crashes.
And yet, because it records in high definition and is relatively cheap per month — $10 — I’ve dealt with it.
TiVo is about to (finally) release their dual-tuner high definition DVR. I tell myself that I won’t get it because it costs $799 and then $13 per month for service.
But now the tide is turning. Because just a few moments ago I brought up the guide on my Comcast DVR to discover that the already too-small 5 visible channels in the guide has been cut down to four… because the last channel has been replaced by a banner ad!
As if this weren’t bad enough, said banner ad gets selected when I use the arrow down key to scroll down the channel list.
I’m not sure if this is the last straw that makes me switch back to satellite, but I’ll tell you — it is damned close.
Love,
Gene Cowan
P.S. If I am now to be graced by advertising that inteferes with my ability to use the guide, I expect to stop paying a fee for the DVR service.
[Update, August 30: The ad has been removed and the Guide is back to normal — Comcast claims that this was an error on their part; that the ad was mistakenly included in a firmware update. They go on to say that this was supposed to be part of their TiVo software package… so, in other words, when they roll out the TiVo software for their DVRs, it will have an intrusive banner ad in the guide. And evidently, they still plan on charging a premium monthly fee for the TiVo software. Ugh. I hate cable companies and phone companies. I hate our current economy based on advertising and marketing to us at every opportunity.]
[Update, August 30, 7pm: The ad returned prompty at 7pm. The current Comcast line is that it is taken away during the day because of laws restricting advertising to children. This is clearly bull. I say that they took it away during the day because their call center couldn’t handle all the complaints.]
I’m not really sure whose fault the awful performance of the HDTV DVR is. Some say that it is iguide or whomever provides the software for the box. Some say that it is motorola itself.
I love the entries on here:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Bugs
The picture quality of analog recordings is not very good
* Cause: Motorola has a reputation around the circuitry world for having really bad digital to analog conversion. The digital video recording is made by Motorola and the signal for all analog stations have to go through this converter before appearing on the screen.
* Remedy: Wait til STB stops using Motorola based products.
OUCH.
(running to the bedroom to hug my old, hiccupy, lifetime-subscription analog Sony TiVo, then to the living room to stick my tongue out at the stupid Comcast DVR.)
our DirecTV IS AWESOME, we got a new channel called the Sleuth network…channel 308… in runs Miami Vice and Knight Rider…pops and moms DVR is full of the old stuff on 308!!!!