# Screw Comcast's DVR! (admittedly lame) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 1, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687 "2006-11-01T03:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/21 "2006-11-01T17:08:06Z")
Just checked. It started to record at 10:00 there is about a minute of some show with Ted Danson before BL starts. PS either my computer or the boards is skipping some of the letters I type. I type looking at the keys not the screen because I am a shitty typer, so I know I am hitting the keys but when I look at posts I haven’t previewed there are letters missing. This should not be viewed as a lame attempt to explaine my poor spelling skills just the multiple instances on missing letters… ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/22 "2006-11-01T17:12:04Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] …on missing letters… [/QUOTE] OF missing letters… Thats wierd the n is not near the f… ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/23 "2006-11-01T17:18:45Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] I’ll check it. But if BL was scheduled to start at 10:33 it would get recorded Starting at 10:33. I just set it to record BL I don’t tell it what time. It will record whatever is being broadcast during that scheduled time slot. Sometimes the schedule is wrong especially late night re-runs of scrubs. Schedule says “scrubs” it get recorded when I play it sometimes t is “Sex in the City”, I hit the info button it says it is scrbs when it clearly is not. Seams to me we have different systems. Mine records what is scheduled regardless of what is being broadcast. [/QUOTE] Likewise. I can set my DVR from Time Warner to: - record _Prison Break_ whenever and wherever it airs, or - record _Prison Break_ whenever it airs on Fox, or - record _Prison Break_ starting at 8:00pm on Fox, or - extend recording _Prison Break_ 5-30 minutes, and/or - begin recording _Prison Break_ 5-30 minutes early My default when I push the record button is either simply record the selected showing or option 1. My newest DVR does ask, for live events, if I wish to record past the scheduled ending. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/24 "2006-11-01T19:27:33Z")
When I know things will get jiggered with like that, I set a day-of-the-week recording on my cable-company-provided DVR, rather than specifying an exact time. In other words, set it to record, say, any episode of **Battlestar Galactica** that airs on Friday. Presto! Doesn’t matter what time it starts, doesn’t matter if there are late-breaking schedule changes, the episode _will_ get recorded. And for shows that chronically start or end late, I set it to run long at the beginning or end to make up for it. This does mean that I have to keep on top of my “scheduled recordings” on the DVR to make sure that one show running long doesn’t mean that another will be cut off, but that’s a small price to pay. And be doubly wary of any show that airs after a sporting event. Run those suckers way over, just in case. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/25 "2006-11-01T19:47:18Z")
So I am finally going to digital cable and HD. Should I pay $10 per month for the Comcast DVR, or extra for the TiVo box and its $20 per month fee? Know that this is mainly for the kids. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/26 "2006-11-01T20:15:42Z")
[QUOTE=DSeid] So I am finally going to digital cable and HD. Should I pay $10 per month for the Comcast DVR, or extra for the TiVo box and its $20 per month fee? Know that this is mainly for the kids. [/QUOTE] I have had the Comcast DVR for about 2 years, and it does pretty much everything I need it for. The manual recording setup is a little hard to locate, but I seldom need it. The differences between the Comcast box and the TiVo, as I understand it, are that TiVo lets you customize your preferences to a greater extent. Comcast doesn’t have the “Season Pass” thing, but you can set it up to record every broadcast of any program listed under a certain name. It doesn’t distinguish by channel or time slot, though. If I want to record every episode of NewsRadio, it gets both the Nick at Night and TBS broadcasts. Comcast’s box won’t suggest programs you might like based on your previous recording habits, either. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/27 "2006-11-01T20:57:36Z")
[QUOTE=NurseCarmen] c’mon, don’t be nigardly with your ignorance. (I’m suspecting that was a whoosh) [/QUOTE] Don’t you mean “…with your intelligence”? ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/28 "2006-11-01T21:32:38Z")
We now have both a Tivo and a Comcast DVR, and the Tivo is the better unit hands down. Better set-up, better functions, better reliability. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/29 "2006-11-01T23:43:17Z")
[QUOTE=D\_Odds] I can set my DVR from Time Warner to: - record _Prison Break_ whenever and wherever it airs, or - record _Prison Break_ whenever it airs on Fox, or - record _Prison Break_ starting at 8:00pm on Fox, or \*\*- extend recording _Prison Break_ 5-30 minutes, and/or - begin recording _Prison Break_ 5-30 minutes early\*\* [/QUOTE] (Bolding mine) Nice features, those. I love my Comcast DVR, but I do have to manually fiddle with it a bit in order to get it to do what it seems Time Warner offers automatically. Every Sunday, I pick out the shows we watch for the week using the guide. When I select “record” on them, I manually edit the recording time to start one minute early and end one minute late. We’ve gotten screwed over on both ends in the past, so I use this for insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/30 "2006-11-02T03:19:47Z")
I went from a TIVO to the Comcast DVR and hated it… I whined and complained for months, and then moved to Canada and ended up with a Scientific American 8350 HD Box… Same thing, even WORSE software with Rogers cable… You want to search for a show? OK, hit search, then hit the first letter of the show you want… Then SCROLL through hundreds of shows to find it… Looking for a program called “Truth”? Scroll through programs that start with TA… to programs that start with TÁ to TE programs to TÉ programs, etc… and eventually you’ll end up at TR… only to find out that it isn’t there for some reason… Damn I miss my TIVO… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/31 "2006-11-02T03:45:02Z")
[QUOTE=Daffyd] I went from a TIVO to the Comcast DVR and hated it… I whined and complained for months, and then moved to Canada and ended up with a Scientific American 8350 HD Box… Same thing, even WORSE software with Rogers cable… You want to search for a show? OK, hit search, then hit the first letter of the show you want… Then SCROLL through hundreds of shows to find it… Looking for a program called “Truth”? Scroll through programs that start with TA… to programs that start with TÁ to TE programs to TÉ programs, etc… and eventually you’ll end up at TR… only to find out that it isn’t there for some reason… Damn I miss my TIVO… ☹ [/QUOTE] Uh oh. Rogers is trying to sell me a digital cable box, possibly with DVR capability. Should I ignore them? ---
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/32 "2006-11-02T03:57:11Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Uh oh. Rogers is trying to sell me a digital cable box, possibly with DVR capability. Should I ignore them? [/QUOTE] It depends on if you do a lot of searching… I’ve actually found it easier to just go to the two week guide and look on the channel I think a show will be on and check day by day to see shows I want… Overall, it does it’s job - but not much better… One of the other things that drives me **CRAZY** is if the DVR is taping a program from 4:00 til 5:00, and you show up at 4:55 and want to watch the show.. If you pick it from the list of recorded programs, it starts playing where it is **NOW** - at 4:55… You have to hit “Back” and let it “rewind” back to the start of the program… TIVO used to at least have a “Back to the Beginning” button… It’s amazing really… It’s a hard drive, not a tape… you shouldn’t have to rewind anything. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/33 "2006-11-02T04:13:26Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Aw, man. Why did you have to bring race into it? [/QUOTE] At least he didn’t bring an AMAZING race into it. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/34 "2006-11-02T14:31:14Z")
[QUOTE=Daffyd] Looking for a program called “Truth”? Scroll through programs that start with TA… to programs that start with TÁ to TE programs to TÉ programs, etc… and eventually you’ll end up at TR… only to find out that it isn’t there for some reason… [/QUOTE] My previous model did that, and I hated it. My current model lets you keep entering letters. I could enter T-R-U and go to the programs. Could even enter the 2nd T, just to get rid of the show “Trucks”. It won’t let you enter letters for shows not on it’s list, so I couldn’t enter T-R-Q and get nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/35 "2006-11-02T20:36:00Z")
Comcast ‘upgraded’ me to free digital cable about a month ago but wouldn’t let me buy DVR services unless I paid full price for my package first, going from $35 to over $75. (“You don’t have digital service, you just have the box and some digital features.” Um ,ok. If you won’t let me buy DVR I can find someone who will.) So yesterday I had Dish installed, I get everything I had with Comcast, plus 2 tv’s with DVR, and free HBO for less than half that price. Bye-bye, suckers! I played around with the DVR last night watching Lost and it is awesome. I set the default to start taping one minute early and 5 minutes late for all shows to help with the 2 minutes over situations, and if I know a show regularly starts late then I add 30 minutes to the end of it for that show. It’s nice. I am no longer a slave to tv scheduling. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687/36 "2006-11-02T21:25:18Z")
Ok, you have to tell me how you did that. I have Dish network, the basic package (plus local channels) the dual-tuner DVR, and I pay nearly 50 per month. Basic package is like 29.99, then add lease fee, DVR fee, some other fee, and um, tax, I think. What’s your price? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-comcasts-dvr-admittedly-lame/378687.md?page=1)