Comments on: Bye-bye, Tivo

By: Unamahler

Unamahler — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

I understand help may be on the way for one small bit of that remote control overload. Comcast (and others, I presume) will soon be rolling out new technology called, simply enough, Cable Card.

I’m told all new high-end TVs will soon come with an onboard slot to insert a Cable Card and voila, no need for a cable box. The cable signal will go directly into the set, where the card will allow your TV to do the necessary descrambling and decoding (including high-def)– hence, you will actually be able to use your TV’s original remote control. (And supposedly, get even better pq, because your quality TV will be doing the hard decoding work, instead of the the mass-produced, cheapy set-top cable boxes we currently use.)

(Of course, all this may be moot if we want to use our new HD-DVRs, but still, it’s something)

By: Zaine Ridling

Zaine Ridling — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Tivo, one of the great ideas for humanity. But then came DRM. I just hope that Tivo won’t unilaterally smother itself and force us all toward DVR, with which the cable companies will continue to restrict bit by bit.

By: Atlas Bugged

Atlas Bugged — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

I’m in a Comcast neighborhood and we use the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 digital video recorder. It is worse than TIVO in many ways, but overall has the huge advantages of being cheaper (by far) and easier (both to use and install). Some have called these boxes TIVO-killers, and they may just well be.

FYI, these boxes *do* have the option of first-run-only recording (sounds like your cable firmware needs updating), but they’re inferior to TIVO in other ways, such as when your show is delayed 20 minutes, TIVO might know this, but the cable boxes will begin recording 20 minutes late and end 20 minutes early. And TIVO has far greater capacity.

But all such distinctions pale, especially in any world related to computers, when you add in the free, zero-hassle, overnight-replacement comfort of renting rather than owning. The fact that the rental is cheaper, too, than the owning, completely devastates the case for TIVO. (TIVO’s program guide, alone, costs about what Comcast charges for the whole DVR setup including equipment.)

One more thing: It might interest you to know that there is an entire Yahoo discussion group devoted entirely to the SA8000 digital recorder. It’s here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/explorer_8000/

By: baddbill

baddbill — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

How did the second sata drive work out? I just got a Scientific Atlanta 8300 and would love to add a second hard drive. I’m finding it very hard to get info on this.

Thanks,
Bill

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Alas, Cox here in Phoenix hasn’t enabled the SATA port (and I suspect they’re like most other cable companies). I called and asked them about it, and the tech said it was the first he had heard anyone ask for this. He said they were getting more requests to have the Firewire ports enabled.

The standard drive fills up pretty darn quick…