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For anyone using a DVR and HD, it’s the classic dilemma: Do you use your cable or satellite provider’s DVR box or buy a Tivo? It’s like “Sophie’s Choice”.

On one hand, your cable provider offers a low cost DVR that works with HD content for just a few dollars a month–Comcast charges me about $5 per month. You also get just one box, rather than having to use a cable set-top and a separate DVR. Plus cable companies don’t charge you for buying the box; you usually rent the box for just a few dollars a month.

Going with Tivo means, higher initial cost of buying the HD DVR (about $600 to $800 for a Series 3 DVR).  It also means higher monthly costs–I pay about $20 per month for the Tivo service.

So lots of people are going through these issues when they upgrade to an HDTV and HD service. One blogger called “Dog Monster” wrote about this dilemma after deciding to go with a Comcast DVR, rather than buy an HD Tivo DVR.  And he writes that his frustrations with the Comcast DVR happened in less than one day of using it. He writes: “I loved watching television until I got my cablebox DVR.”

He goes on to list his 20 reasons why he decided to dump Comcast’s DVR and buy a new Tivo Series 3 box. Here’s the quick list:

1. Comcast DVR has no predictive fast-forward.
2. No Start From Beginning When Reaching the End of a Recording.
3. Not Recording Shows.
4. Searching for Shows is Clunky and Slow.
5. Finding Your Favorites Shows is Difficult.
6. The Cable Box Doesn’t Show the Time When Recording.
7. No Way of Knowing if A Show is Being Recorded.
8. Button Lag.
9. No Sound Effects like Tivo.
10. Not Intuitive Interface.
11. No Recommendations.
12. Recording Same Episode Multiple Times.
13. Doesn’t Know What Shows Are New.
14. Cannot Change Recording Quality.
15. Not Being Able to Exit the Play Timeline.
16. Doesn’t Warn About Conflicting Recordings.
17. Accidentally Recording SD Channel Rather than HD.
18. Comcast Doesn’t Group Shows Together Like Tivo.
19. Remote Control Is Not Easy to Use.
20. No Scheduling Shows Online.

Along with the points made here, I really miss the integration with the Internet for downloading photos, and other content (like RocketBoom) and the ability to save files on my computer with Tivo Desktop software. I must admit I am hitting my breaking point with Comcast’s DVR. I’ve been using it for about two months now (alongside my Series 2 Tivo for SD recordings) and have been very frustrated with it as well. Since I have multiple inputs on my HDTV set, I have both my Comcast DVR connected to watch and record HD content, and my Tivo for SD recordings and all my previously recorded shows.

But switching between the two is getting tedious. I want HD recording and Comcast’s DVR just isn’t giving me what I want out of an HD DVR.

It’s probably just a matter of time before I buy an HD Tivo and use it 100% of the time and drop Comcast’s DVR.

[tags] Tivo, Comcast, HD DVR, DVR, Comcast DVR, Series 2 Tivo [/tags]

I just got a new HDTV set last month and have been enjoying the crisp picture from DVDs, and HD channels from my cable provider. In fact, my HD set has changed how I watch TV.

I now watch HD content almost exclusively. My cable provider Comcast has a decent amount of HD channels and groups them in a separate part of the channel listing, plus I can also search and look at only the HD TV and on-demand channels. So I’ve been ignoring all the SD channels I have (which must be over 70 to 80) in favor of the 20 HD channels I get. In fact, I sometimes prefer watching an HD commercial over actual SD programming! The quality of the picture is so great, it’s almost not worth spending time watching SD content on an HD set.

I watch more HD sports. It’s football season and now I’m watching more football than ever. In recent years I haven’t watched much sports on TV, but now with HD I’ve been watching Sunday and Monday Night Football as well as the NBA. The quality is incredible; it seems like there are actual little men running around in my living room. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Motorola, found that more people (45%) would prefer to watch sports like college and NFL football on a HDTV than in person (32%). Watching in HDTV is almost like being there in person, with with the comfort of being at home and (if you have a DVR) the ability to pause, record and re-wind the action).

I watch HD music. I love all kinds of music, especially live music. I get MTV’s high definition music channel called MHD and watch that very often. It features live concert footage of artists like Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys or MTV concerts in HD format. The quality of the concert footage is simply stunning. The lights and sounds and crisp images make it seem like you’re live at the venue. Unfortunately, when I tried to watch music videos on Comcast’s on-demand menu, they were all SD quality. There was no option for HD music videos. Where can I find them? Surely artists are filming their videos in HD, so why can’t I find them?

Planet Earth. I can’t stop watching the Discovery series Planet Earth, a mini-series documentary that took over five years to film. The filmmakers used HD cameras exclusively to capture the majesty of the Earth’s planets, seas, and animals. It was simply made for HD. The other day I watched a slow-motion, high-speed video of a shark attacking a seal. And it was breathtaking to see the clarity, the detail of each split second. This kind of made for HD programming is what viewers want to see.

In sum, I want more HD content. What I have is simply not enough. And SD content seen on an HD set just looks crappy and fuzzy and out of focus. I can’t wait until everything on TV is HD.

I recently got a new HDTV for my living room and that means a re-evaluation of my DVR.

Currently, I own a Series 2 Tivo which I’ve had for about a year or so. Previously, I owned a Panasonic ShowStopper ReplayTV that served me for about 5 years. (Yes, I came to the Tivo party late, but I think using DVRs other than Tivo gives me some good background and experience with DVRs.)

So now that I’m using HDTV, I got HD cable from my provider Comcast. So I had to upgrade my cable box and also decided to add on an HD DVR so I can record HD programming. It was just an extra $5 a month for the HD DVR and it gave me 30 hours of HD recording. Not a bad deal. The Comcast HD DVR works OK, but the interface and design isn’t as friendly or sophisticated as Tivo.

Nevertheless, I decided to use both DVRs. My SD Tivo is hooked up on one input on my TV, and the Comcast HD DVR is connected via HDMI to get me that clear digital HD picture. It’s working great so far. I can switch back and forth between HD Comcast and SD Tivo.

But as I started to watch more HD, I quickly realized one thing: I probably wouldn’t be using my Tivo much anymore. Why use my Tivo when it can only record in SD? The SD picture quality looks awful on my new HDTV set. It’s like being an expensive stereo, and only listening to AM radio.

An HD DVR is practically a necessity once you get an HDTV. But Tivo’s Series 3 DVR is too expensive. And the new Tivo HD ($300) just doesn’t have the features I expect in a Tivo product.

Even though I’m still using both DVRs at the same time, I realize I won’t keep my Series 2 Tivo much longer. I do still have lots of TV shows recorded on my Tivo that I’ve been meaning to watch. At the same time, all those unwatched shows are somewhat of a burden. These shows have been patiently waiting for me to watch them, but I choose to let them sit in Tivo purgatory.

An article at PC Magazine crystallizes my sentiments. The writer, Sascha Segan says that they’re leaving Tivo and getting a cable HD DVR. Why? Essentially it comes down to economics. Tivo’s Series 3 HD DVR costs $800 plus monthly fees of $20 vs. cable which is free and $5 monthly fee. (See the article “So Long, TiVo; Hello DVR“.)

Here’s a good quote:

Trust me. If I’m leaving TiVo, it’s in trouble. This breaks my heart; TiVo has always been friendly, innovative, fun, and easy to use. It should be celebrated, not abandoned. It’s a verb, for heaven’s sake. But by turning into a luxury product, it’s consigned itself to the quiet fringes of a bustling TV world.

Okay since that was written, the Series 3 Tivo has gone down in price somewhat ($600 rather than $800) but it’s still not enough. It’s still a luxury item. And a luxury item that I can’t afford to buy right now. Guess I’ll be using my cable company’s DVR for a while.

Bonus: Take the poll on HD DVRs.

[tags] HD, HDTV, Tivo, Comcast, satellite TV, digital video recorder, DVR, HD DVR [/tags]

In a few days, I’ll be getting a 52″ HDTV set for my home. And that means I’ll be looking for more HD content. I have Comcast cable and have already signed up for HD content and have the HD box with the HD DVR.

It’ll be quite sad to lose my Tivo Series 2 DVR, but it’s not HD so I’ll need to use the Comcast HD DVR. I’ll actually have both connected at the same time since I still have lots of content sitting around my Tivo that I haven’t watched yet. Plus, the Comcast HD DVR only has about 30 hours available for HD programming which means I’ll probably be filling that up pretty quickly. Having a backup Tivo for SD programming makes sense until I bite the bullet and buy a Tivo Series 3.

When I had an HDTV set earlier this year, I noticed a few rather interesting things.

I Only Watched HD Content. Switching to HD really made me want to only watch HD content. I watched nature shows on Discovery HD, travel shows on the Travel Channel and lots of sports in HD. It really changed how and what I watched on my TV. I thought it was just a phase, but I predict it’ll happen again.

Not Enough HD Content.  After getting an HD set, I was hungry for HD content. But I found that it was severely lacking. Sure there were a few movies, sports and some HD channels, but the majority of channels were in SD. Fortunately, some of my favorite prime-time shows–like Lost, 24 and Heroes–are in HD so I’ll be able to enjoy them in HD mode.

I saw a story recently showing research that said consumers are happy with HDTV picture quality, but want more HD programming. A survey of511 HD households found that 85% thought the quality of their HDTV sets was either above average or excellent. Only 39%, however said the same about the selection of HD programming.

Being happy with the programming usually comes down to how you’re getting your HD programming–antenna, cable, satellite or IPTV.  Cable and satellite companies are battling it out over who has the most HD channels, and it’s hard to know unless you do the research.

The survey found that sports and movies were the most popular HD programming. In fact, ESPN HD was the most-watched source of sports programming, and HBO was tops in HD movies.

Meanwhile, there’s evidence that HDTV is getting more and more affordable. With the holidays approaching and the Super Bowl just a month away, it is a great time to start looking around for HDTV deals.

A new JD Power study found that consumers love their HDTV sets and would buy HDTV again, like the sets a lot and would recommend them to friends.  Among HDTV brands, Sony, Pioneer, and Samsung are top consumer favorites. JD Power’s “2007 Large Screen HDTV Usage and Satisfaction Study” measured customer satisfaction with HDTVs.

In my quest for HD programming, I’ll report back on my search of TV providers in the San Francisco Bay Area on who has the most channels for HD. For now, I have cable but am willing to switch to a new provider if they have a better offering.

[tags] HDTV, HD, Comcast, cable, Tivo, HD DVR, DVR [/tags]

Western Digital unveiled external hard drives that can be hooked up to Tivo’s Series 3 DVRs and Tivo HD. Its “My DVR Expander” was launched in June 2007 for the Scientific Atlanta 8300 series of HD DVRs for $200 and they are now available for Tivos. The product was Tivo verified and is even on sale on Tivo’s web site.

The 500GB model provides 300 additional hours of SD content or up to 60 hours of HD.

I have a Tivo Series 2, so this isn’t available for me. That’s ok, since this is really for hard-core users that want more space for their HD content. Although 60 hours of HD content still doesn’t seem like enough space for a TV junkie like me.

[Via Gizmodo, TivoLovers]

[tags] Western Digital, Tivo, HD DVR, DVR, HD [/tags]

Sony said that it is dropping support from regular DVDs from its DVRs and only supporting its Blu-Ray format. This is for their upcoming DVR lines in Japan.

Dropping support for DVDs means that consumers will have to upgrade and buy the new Blu-Ray discs if they want to archive shows that they’ve recorded. Now that’s great news for those looking to store more movies in each disc and good news for the growing number of HDTV users. But it’s bad news for people still clinging to their DVD collections.

Coolest Gadgets says that support Blu-Ray offers much more storage:

“[a] …50GB Blu-ray disc is capable of holding slightly more than 4 hours of HDTV whenever one records over-the-air MPEG2 stream, but transcoding this stream to MPEG4 AVC makes it possible to cram in up to 16 hours of HDTV onto the same disc. “

It will probably also raise prices since the new recordable HD drives are more expensive than regular DVD recordable drives. I guess it’s great that Sony is very forward thinking, but here in the U.S. many people are still using regular DVDs and haven’t made the transition to HD discs.

But what about support for HD-DVD? Looks like the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is heating up.

Research from The Leichtman Research Group found that about 20% of U.S. households own digital video recorders. That’s a big jump of 8 percentage points from last year when it was at 12% of households.

What’s driving this surge?

Popularity of HDTV. Would you really bother to buy a regular VCR after purchasing a $2,000 TV? No, you’d probably want a DVR. You’ve already invested in HD, ordered HD service from your TV provider so you’ll probably want an HD DVR. Liechtman found that 53% of DVR owners had an HD set but there were no numbers on how many were HD DVRs.

Availability of DVRs. Tivo and ReplayTV used to be the only DVRs that you could buy. But now cable and satellite providers offer their own DVRs. And at prices that are cheaper than buying a standalone Tivo and paying monthly Tivo subscriptions.

Higher Household Incomes. According to Leichtman Research Group, the mean household income for DVR owners is 33% above average. If you’ve got higher income, you can afford to pay for HD, and buy a DVR.

Skipping Past Commercials. Well, not quite. Although most DVR users say the ability to skip commercials is very important, only 8% say it’s the main benefit of owning a DVR.

Consumer Acceptance of DVRs. More people know and understand what a DVR is and how it can change how you view TV. However, only 45% of respondents said that they record five or fewer programs per week. Perhaps, I’m a TV junkie, but I record over 20 hours (Ok, maybe it’s closer to 30 hours) of programming every week. Of course, I can’t watch it all but I watch a lot of it. Plus, Tivo records suggestions for me all the time. It seems my Tivo is always recording something no matter what time it is.

Finally, Leichtman also predicted that the number of U.S. households with DVRs will grow to over 60 million by the end of 2011.

[Via TV Squad]
[tags] Liechtman Research Group, DVR, HD DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, personal video recorder[/tags]

In response to market and customer demand, Tivo announced a new lower-priced HD DVR TiVo that will sell for $299 rather than the Series 3 which retails for $799.

Along with the lower price, the new HD Tivo comes with a 160GB hard drive which is a lot smaller than the 250GB of the Series 3. The new Tivo HD can store just 20 hours of HD or 180 hours of standard definition TV. Even with 250GB, the Series 3 only can manage 32 hours of HD content. I need more storage!

Twenty hours of content isn’t much. Frankly, that’s still not enough for me to switch to an HD Tivo. I currently own a 180 hour Series 2 dual tuner and don’t own an HD TV set so I’m not in a hurry to switch. But once I switch to HD, I would probably still choose Comcast’s HD DVR over the new HD Tivo. I can’t imagine going from 180 hours to 20 and not affecting my TV viewing and recording experience. I may even decide to pay $799 for the Series 3.

Having just 20 hours of content isn’t a bad trade off however, since you can install a larger hard drive that you buy separately. Sure it means opening and tinkering with your new Tivo, but it’s not too difficult and just a little harder than installing a new hard drive on your PC.

Like the Series 3, the new HD Tivo also has dual tuners, and can do many of the same things as a regular Series 2 or 3 DVRs such as photos, music, TV and movie downloads via Amazon Unbox, TivoCast and more.

The HD Tivo comes with support for CableCARDs, as well as HDMI but it doesn’t come with a nicely brushed metal box, front panel display or a back-lit remote control. It also doesn’t support satellite programming at this time.

A major downside is that TiVoToGo and multi-room viewing are not available on the new TiVo HD although Tivo said that a version will be made available in the future.

Clearly, Tivo is going after the people who are currently opting to go with their cable’s HD DVR and don’t a small hard drive. A Series 3 Tivo is still the dream machine for those serious about HD and getting the full Tivo experience. In fact, Tivo’s FAQ says that Tivo HD is “designed as a universal cable box replacement that works seamlessly with any cable provider…” It’s made for people that have HD and want their Tivo at a lower cost.

Tivo is accepting pre-orders today with boxes shipping in early August. After August, you can find Tivo HD at your local retailer as well.

Update: If 20 hours or even 32 hours of HD content isn’t enough for your Tivo, why not buy a Tivo from Weaknees? They do the hard work of adding a bigger hard drive, so you can choose from a 65 hour Series 3 Tivo for $699, or a 144 hour Tivo for $1,049.

The Wall Street Journal posted an article on Friday about DVRs and new features–like programming shows via cell phones and movie downloads from the Internet.

Although the article is mostly a re-hash of current DVR features and some recent news, one interesting tidbit is that Cablevision is looking to do away with a set-top DVR and give subscribers storage space within its network for recording shows.

This would cut costs and make DVRs more invisible and accessible to users. But the WSJ says that Hollywood doesn’t like network DVRs because they violate their copyrights.

How can this be? Does where and how you store content affect the legality? Or is it just another battle between Hollywood content providers and cable/satellite companies?

I don’t know if I would like the networked DVR. I enjoy having complete control of my content on a set-top-box that I own and have in my house. Having my cable company in control seems like they might dictate what I can and cannot do with shows that I record.

And how about using my DVR as a media hub? I like being able to watch Internet content on my TV with Tivo, or watching photos from my networked PCs on my TV. Would I lose this ability with a networked DVR?

Still, I can think of a few good things about a networked DVR:

1. Unlimited Storage Space. Hopefully, my cable company wouldn’t limit how much storage I have. One way to make money from this is to offer consumers tiers of storage space, so those who save lots of TV shows can pay more per month, for example.
2. One Less Box Under the TV. If I didn’t have my set-top DVR, I’d have less clutter and more space for something else. Like a new Xbox 360 or Wii, for example.
3. Not Having to Upgrade to New DVR. Tivo Series 1 users wouldn’t have to upgrade to a Series 2 or 3. They can just upgrade to the next tier. The same thing should be possible when you upgrade to HD and don’t want to spend $800 on a Tivo Series 3.
4. Backups of DVR Content. I’d hate to lose shows that I’ve been saving for weeks or months. Having them stored off site would be great in case my DVR suddenly conks out and loses all my shows.
5. Not Buying Multiple DVRs for Every Room. This can save consumers lots of money if they don’t have to buy a separate DVR for every room. Renting an extra set-top box, for example, is much better than buying another HD DVR.

Even with a networked DVR, I’d still like to download shows to my home computer, and save them on DVDs. Perhaps the cable company will be forced by Hollywood to charge a fee for users that do this. If the fee was affordable enough, like a few dollars per show, I wouldn’t mind.

So what do you think? Are network DVRs the future? What are the plusses and minuses? Will Tivo remain viable if cable and satellite companies turn to network DVRs instead?