Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Thinking abotu buying a DVR box

No, because people are settling for good enough.

CableCARD support is required by all cable companies by the FCC since July 1, 2007. You may want to have a word with them.

My problem with Tivo is the cost of upgrading--minimum $5-600 to almost replicate (sans extra drive space) what I have now. It's really too bad.

Oh yeah, in case my earlier post seemed to harsh, I'm clearly part of the problem, too: I haven't given them a cent since 2002.

The default DVR with my cable service (cox) comes wih the ability to search for shows to record by title/keyword, record entire series (on all channels or only a specific channel) record first runs only, repeats, ect. You can set how many episodes to keep on the DVR at one time, ect.

The main problem I have is that there just isn't enough space for HD shows.

Besides the space issue, I am not sure if I would really gain much by switching to a Tivo since it appears that I have much of the "Tivo-Like" recording options with my default DVR.

You don't have the cute little character or cute sounds, though....

Not to mention the pending lawsuits!

One option is to look for used Tivo boxes w/ existing lifetime subscriptions. Sometimes, you end up w/ the cost of the subscription and $100 to $200 for the box itself, not bad. One option is to buy an old Series 1 or 2 box w/ Lifetime and transfer the lifetime to a new box. Then you have 2 boxes and a lifetime service. However, it's not as useful now w/ the all digital switchover. You'd need to use that older Tivo w/ an external digital tuner. It's doable if you use the IR out on the Tivo.

Here's a good Tivo forum.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/index.php

Saw a few Tivos w/ lifetime on ebay.

I don't think you can transfer the lifetime to a new box. If you could, I'd be set.

There have been periods (as early as this past year IIRC) where Tivo charges a fee for you to transfer your lifetime to a new box. I would call Tivo and check. I couldn't google anything current but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.

Alternately, you can do what I do. I transferred a lifetime Tivo subscription to a Series 3 a few years ago when it first came out, from my HD DirecTivo. (Yes, I paid a lot but it was worth it.) Then I got a Series 2 DT for another room. I pay a secondary fee of about $5/mo IIRC for the 2nd Tivo because I already have lifetime. Yes, I pay another fee but my wife watches her shows on that and I record all my HD shows on mine. Everybody's happy. IF you can't do a transfer, you could keep the lifetime on your existing box and buy the cheapest Tivo HD you can find. Then pay the extra Tivo fee for the Tivo HD.

Cable cards on Comcast shouldn't be more than $1.70/mo. The CS reps won't tell you that but that is the fee for the card rental because you don't need the cable box anymore, which itself is $8/mo. With a Tivo HD, you only need one card if you get an M Series card, which Comcast does carry in the Bay Area.

Apparently my cable company has had an agreement with Tivo since 2006. I guess the DVR interface is basically like a tivo, without the cool sounds and cute little character.

"TiVo will make its digital video recorder service available to subscribers of Cox Communications, the fourth-largest cable television company in the United States. It further strengthens the position of the pioneering digital video recorder company in establishing partnerships with other service providers."