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TiVo vs Microsoft vs HDTV Cable

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the introducing-the-challangers dept.

Thomas Hawk writes "Technology writer Ed Bott is out today with a great comparison piece where he compares the various feature sets of his TiVo, his Microsoft Media Center PC and his current HDTV cable DVR. It seems like all three have various nice features but all three also have negatives that you have to suffer through. A great read and strong comparison piece for anyone interested in DVR technology. Would love to see Ed or someone else expand on this piece and incorporate the current HDTV DirecTV TiVo, Comcast's Foundation box being rolled out in a pilot program in Washington State and MythTV."

5 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. An idea... by NEOtaku17 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Myth TV anyone?

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    Creative Demolition
  2. Re:How Tivo can win... by joecm · · Score: 5, Informative
    They are opening up the API to developers:

    http://www.tivo.com/4.3.hme.asp

  3. Tivo vs comcast by FerretFrottage · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have a standalone tivo with tivo2go software and it is pretty neat. I really like the tivo interface, season passes....all works well. As I moved and dropped directv, I added comcast cable since they are also my ISP. I got a promotion for htdv and their new Motorola 6412 DVR. That box does record HD and supports dual recording via single coax cable connection. But the user interface and other tivo like features are not near as nice, plus the box seems to freeze up every so often (even when not recording). The thing that makes me appreciate my tivo is that I haven't seen tivo prevent me from recording or fast forwarding through a show. There are reports that comcast is doing just that, although I have not experienced it for myself.

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  4. Motorola 6xxx HDDVR is best by hackstraw · · Score: 4, Informative


    I've got one of these, and it does everything that the article mentions lacking in the products he used. I'm not sure if it goes weeks into the future with the guide, I've never tried. Oh, one thing it does not have is 30sec skip, but it has 3 or 4 levels of fast forward, and it accounts for human reaction time when hitting play. I always get exactly to the end of a commercial break, sometimes I get the last 5 or 10 secs of the commercial.

    It has all of the Season Pass features of a Tivo, and all in all its a great device, plus its HD. Oh, it also has two tuners so I can watch and record a show at the same time. The equivalent media PC would cost much more than I pay for this device, and not be as good. A Tivo is close, but no HD. I was pleasantly surprised with this device.

  5. Microsoft vs Tivo by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Informative

    Microsoft owns a big chunk of Comcast.

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