http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/ Engadget Comments for Comcast TiVo hamstringed in the worst places? http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/
Overall, I like the tivo interface, the suggestions thing surpized me how good it was.

There have been some cases where the thing was recording suggestions and I couldn't get it to stop so that I could just watch a station on one of the tuners.

HDMI did drop out a couple of times (green screen?), but I usually got it back by switching tuners and channels a couple times.. havent tried rebooting the thing yet.

Only thing I am missing is tivo2go. I'll have to check out the firewire and see if I can use that to capture recorded shows (would only want to do this once in a while).

]]>Jan 24th 2008 9:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/
It isn't an 'overlay' on the Motorola DVR OS either. There is a basic OS on the box which provides the OCAP layer. The TiVo software runs as an OCAP (well, not quite full OCAP yet, it is a precursor to OCAP) application. But it replaces the existing DVR software. That's not news at all - it has been known for about a year that it was OCAP based.

Also, the TiVo up-charge from Comcast is $2.95/month, not $6. I have no idea where he got that.

And some of what he said is just FUD - like the Firewire comment. No one has said anything about it being disabled.

And he's bitching about the extras - all the core TiVo functionality - Season Passes, Wishlists, etc - are in there.]]>Dec 29th 2007 3:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/
Also, as I outlined above, Comcast did copy-protect local channels with 5C encryption previously… in select markets. I had calls into the FCC, the 1394 TA, and Comcast technical directors. It still took almost 90 days to fix that (and I got involved nearly six months after Comcast started breaking the law with that mess). This was part of Comcast’s campaign to deter DVR makers from adding FireWire as a capture option… and it sure did work. Please, don’t call it FUD when Comcast blatantly breaks the law.]]>Dec 29th 2007 5:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/Dec 29th 2007 12:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/Dec 29th 2007 1:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/There is no "TiVo OS". TiVo's own boxes use the Linux OS with TiVo software running over it. Comcast is running OCAP with TiVo running over it.

How is this any different than DirecTV's DVRs "powered by TiVo?" They have never had any of the advanced options that TiVo's own boxes have offered either. In their place you get access to the provider's own services such as OnDemand and PPV.

If you want those advanced TiVo features you can pay a little more and get an actual TiVo box with cable cards.

Whether everybody knew it or just "TiVo zealots," the fact is that the information was available from TiVo and Comcast on what was going to be offered. Comcast showed an essentially complete working unit months ago. If Engaget was surprised they did a lousy job keeping up with the story. If the general public is surprised Engaget did a lousy job of reporting it.]]>Dec 29th 2007 4:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/comcast-tivo-hamstringed-in-the-worst-places/
My TiVo port is to the Motorola DCH3416 with a 158G hard drive (20 hrs HD). Comcast left me with a new TiVo remote that has a few Comcast buttons for OnDemand and other minor functions. The installers spent 2 hours at my house fiddling with the HDMI interface (to my Samsung 1080p TV). Over the past 2 weeks, the HDMI has dropped out 3 times and forced me to reboot the DVR. This morning, the PAUSE/REW function stopped working. That is, the DVR was not buffering any video. Reboot fixed this too.

These are minor problems to me, but thought I'd share. Oh yeah, $14.95 install, $2.95/mo, box free.
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