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Comcast Disables VCR Scheduling In New Guide
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.
Really? get over it you technophobe!
They're using their grammar skills there.
Yes, I'm replying to what's marked as a troll. BUT: "Corporation" goes in one hand. "Free Market" goes into the other hand. You cannot have both. They're mutually exclusive.
Question:
If Cox Cable wanted to enter my town to compete against Comcast, how much would it really cost for them to run a fiber through the already-existing underground metal conduits? I suspect very little.
IMHO.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
First, is it that important that you record television when you're in the real world? Must be nice to have first-world problems.
Second, my VCR is 17 years old or so, and is programmable. So if I did feel the need to record stuff, I could. Or buy a second VCR set to record the other channel at a different time. I don't know what ReplayTV is, but it sounds like if you have something like MythTV you should be able to get it to switch channels when you want it to (as opposed to telling it to figure out when to switch on its own). There are probably other workarounds as well, so I don't think Comcast's ignorance will affect everyone - just those unwilling to find a workaround. So you're paying them for convenience, which is the basis of the service industry. You can choose to pay them or not, getting your programming from over-the-air or your own workaround or some other option, and you can choose separately whether to use their tools or your own.