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Comcast Disables VCR Scheduling In New Guide

Posted by timothy on from the our-way-or-the-no-just-our-way dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Comcast has quietly launched a new on-screen guide for its cable boxes. What they're not advertising is that they've removed the ability to schedule VCR-compatible channel flipping any time more than a few hours in advance for people who don't buy the $20/month DVR service. What this means is that VCR owners are now forced to pay for Comcast's $20/month DVR service or else start their recordings manually. For us techies there might be a way around this, but ordinary VCR enthusiasts and owners of other recorders are left in the dust. Anyone know a good antitrust lawyer?" Raise your hand if you regularly use a VCR these days, too.

7 of 554 comments (clear)

  1. VCR owners revolt! by CyberSnyder · · Score: 4, Funny

    Both of them.

  2. "VCR Enthusiasts" by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm a part-time VCR enthusiast and a card-carrying member of the Classic Video Equipment Club of America, you insensitive clod!

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    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    1. Re:"VCR Enthusiasts" by Valdrax · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm a part-time VCR enthusiast and a card-carrying member of the Classic Video Equipment Club of America, you insensitive clod!

      Agreed. Everyone knows that analog produces a warmer, more beautiful picture free of the deleterious effects of the analog-to-digital conversion process. A properly configured analog video setup produces a superior experience to a digital setup. Anyone who disagrees just doesn't have sophisticated enough eyes.

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      If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  3. Re:That's interesting... by MasterOfMagic · · Score: 5, Funny

    I didn't know you had a Slashdot account! Tell me more!

  4. Re:That's interesting... by Anonymous+Psychopath · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/26/28-not-having-a-tv

    --

    Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

  5. /raises hand by Volante3192 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I still use a VCR, and I will until it starts eating tapes. (It's not that I'm some sort of zealot, it's just...well...it still works. Why fix what isn't broken?)

    Course, it serves one, and only one, purpose: recording Jeopardy OTA from my DTV box. Which is, incidentally, the only reason I even need the DTV converter in the first place.

    Funny story, my VCR is not year 2010 compliant, so I actually have to use a year with the same template as this year to get it working. (My VCR thinks that (as of this post) it's 11 Apr, 1999.) More useless trivia, it doesn't know about years preceeding 1990 either.

  6. Re:Lawyer? by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm pretty sure that getting you to open your wallet was Comcast's goal in the first place.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").