There's good news and bad news on the Comcast TiVo front. The good news, as you may have heard, is that Comcast is finally letting users sign up to receive TiVo software for $3/month over the cost of the cable company's regular PVR unit. The bad news is that while you'll get some of the same features a regular TiVo unit sports, you don't get everything.There's no TiVoToGo, no Amazon Unbox, and no Real Rhapsody. And it's not like any of the features are likely to come in the near future. That's because Comcast's Motorola set-top-boxes don't have a way to connect to the internet or your home network. Therefore, there's no easy way to move videos from your set top box to a PC for archiving, and there's no way to download or stream internet content. There's also no eSATA support for adding an external hard drive.
On the other hand, since Comcast offers TiVo service on top of its existing platform, you do get a few things with a Comcast TiVo that are unavailable on standalone TiVo boxes. For example, you can watch video on demand programs. And, well, that might be about it. Well, that and you don't have to pay $250+ up front to get a set top box.
[via EngadgetHD]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-30-2007 @ 6:34PM
MegaZone said...
The physical boxes are available with eSATA ports and even network interfaces, but those aren't enabled by Comcast. So they're things that might be enabled in the future.
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1-04-2008 @ 9:52PM
Mainer said...
So I guess one could re-write the headline to read "Comcast TiVo hardware is really Comcast Lite". After all, we shouldn't blame the software for the shortcomings of the hardware, or the inability of Comcast to properly set the expectations of their customers.
12-30-2007 @ 10:07PM
Dave Zatz said...
I doubt any Comcast Moto boxes will get home networking. But it's conceivable they would enable web scheduling from Internet -> headend -> home DVR. Then again, the FiOS TV Moto boxes are home networked and even Internet -> DVR for web scheduling (not sure if is is active yet). In addition to the cable-co VOD, there's also some other enhancements us stand-alone folks don't have such as the beefed up search and PIP.
However, the Comcast - TiVo tug of war seems to have taken a toll on the interface. It's pretty brutal in some places. Also the interface is more static than on TiVo hardware - purely a loss of eye candy, but a loss nonetheless.
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12-31-2007 @ 5:13PM
Ian said...
To be expected IMHO. One didn't think that Comcast would enable services for which they receive no part of the action did you?
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