So where is HDNET on TWC??

[The Law]

Thanks, this anwers my question...but brings up 2 more:

1)  You have an HD DVR? - I did not think TWC had them out yet.
2)  Buy have 2, do you pay for the service twice or do you pay for it once and then rent as many DVR boxes that you'd like?

and finally, borghe had mentioned he can record all except inHD - can that be true?

thanks

[gparris]

Answer #1: No, the HD PVRs are not out yet except for Green Bay Wisconsin area...wish I had one but I understand the electronics involved (at least to my knowledge and research). There are schematics you can acquire on the  SA8000HD if you dig.
Answer #2 : Each PVR, SD or HD has a monthly rental fee of $7.95 and a DVR charge assigned to each unit of $5. The reasoning is that each unit "talks" to the TWC mainframe as the PVRs they have do not require a landline phone connection for update and interface, rather a  type of network one. It would be more competitive, say, if TWC had the identical pricing Directv has of $4.99 (a penny less) to cover them all in one household or billing address...but it doesn't, then again, Directv is not the direct provider of the software interface and updating, Tivo is, to my understanding. $5 is a small price to pay for another DVR and there is no running a phone line to it, which can get interesting to some consumers in my experience with them.
Answer #3: borghe  can record iNHD already? Where?  Who or where is he getting iN HD from if not TWC? C-Band?  Does he have a HD PVR box as a beta tester?
In any case, iNHD may have incryption codes locked in the datastream on some shows and these disable any coping...I will have to wait and get MY HD PVR and test this out.

Hope this all answers your questions!:wave:

[The Law]

Again, thanks.  I figured as much (on having two).  The comment regarding inHD was from a post in this thread from borghe - I am unaware how he's configured it and whether or not he was just passing info.

[borghe]

no.. I cannot record inHD, nor will I probably ever be able to as the likelyhood of them coming to DirecTV is next to nil. My jabs are just at gparris, who feels he has found the best HD-DVR option out there while I respectfully disagree.

A couple of things I would like to point out though. First, in regards to firewire, while the Tivo box doesn't have firewire, it does have dual USB2 ports. Also to note that USB is faster than almost all current firewire implementations (480Mbps vs. 400Mbps). So intra-network transfers between systems is possible, and as a matter of fact already exists with HMO on Tivo. External storage also exists on USB enabled Tivos, although not officially sanctioned or endorsed by Tivo.. but it is possible for me to attach a 250GB USB2 drive to a Series 2 Tivo, copy shows to it, and access the shows on the unit.

As for pricing, you said it yourself... TWC charges $7.95/month/box and $4.95/month/box for DVR. So if I had 2 DVRs in my house and no other receivers, my additional fees from TWC would be $26/month and my additional fees would be $10/month with Tivo. Plus, if you subscribe to the top package from DirecTV you lose the DVR chargeand you total extra fees would only be $5/month. So, $21 extra every month adds up to $240/year... How long did you say it would take me to recoup those costs on DirecTV? By my math it will only less than 4 years to recoup my costs. And that isn't including the programming savings every month to boot.

But I will stop myself right here from turning this into a TWC vs. DirecTV thread... I don't want it to continue into that. We have all gotten into enough of those debates in this board. I agree, get whatever you are able to to record HD... As I said on the recording forum, I just preordered my Tivo this weekend. Should have it the first week of April. I am getting a Channel Master antenna installed by Kemmer TV. Come end of march/beginning of april it will be good times indeed.

[mhz40]

Originally posted by borghe
clip As for pricing, you said it yourself... TWC charges $7.95/month/box and $4.95/month/box for DVR. So if I had 2 DVRs in my house and no other receivers, my additional fees from TWC would be $26/month and my additional fees would be $10/month with Tivo. Plus, if you subscribe to the top package from DirecTV you lose the DVR chargeand you total extra fees would only be $5/month. So, $21 extra every month adds up to $240/year... How long did you say it would take me to recoup those costs on DirecTV? By my math it will only less than 4 years to recoup my costs. And that isn't including the programming savings every month to boot. /clip  

You bring up good points, but I don't understand why you are comparing two DVR's with one Tivo...
One DVR runs 7.95 + 4.95, or $12.90/mo.
Tivo is $10/mo, or a difference of $2.90/mo more for the DVR.  Now buy the cheapest Tivo for what?  $200 for the 40 hour Series2 model?  To recoup the $200, that's over 5 1/2 years at that $2.90 more you are spending every month for the DVR.

The way I look at it, both satellite & cable have competitive options for those who want to record.  Pick your poison.

[digdugm]

In my honest opinion, there's nothing much to record on either one of the systems, to pay anymore for anyhow. Ok I piad quite a few dollars to set-up my computer to record OTA, but I've already been recording for a year now. From what I can tell there won't be anything on the pay systems to record for probaly a couple of years. They just show the same stuff over and over, on the couple of stations they have.
But I don't begrudge any early adpotors, were the ones that build on the technologies and make it possible for everyone to enjoy it, at reasonable prices. buy buy buy :rofl:

[borghe]

mhz40 - you misunderstand.. I should have been more clear.. I am comparing two TWC (HD) DVRs to two (HD) DirecTivos... I was not referring to any sort of stand alone Tivo. I was doing two DVRs because that is what I have (actually for a while I will have three once I get my HD DirecTivo).

The total cost per month for hardware for me would be:

TWC ($8x2) + ($5x2) = $26
DirecTV $5

Not being charged for the first box by DirecTV and having my DVR fee waived for a TCP subscription causes DirecTV to come out $21 cheaper per month in hardware costs, not including programming costs.

Now worst case scenario with DirecTV you will have 1 DVR with no TCP subscription, although it would still be $7/month cheaper than TWC. The only way TWC "hardware" costs are cheaper than DirecTV is when you count running analog cable to cable-ready TVs... For me though this just wouldn't be an option.. there are a bunch of digital tier channels that various members of my family consider must have...

digdugm - I entirely disagree.. on the contrary, there is a ton to watch on HD if only I had a DVR to record it... There are a number of movies on HDNet Movies, HBO, and Showtime that I would love to watch except they are either on some ungodly hour at night or when I am at work. Likewise for a few prime time shows which only lose out because I am usually doing something else on those nights so I record them on SD.

There is a ton of HD out there that I think a lot of people would watch if only they had the ability to record it.

[The Law]

....plus...there's some of us who fight with wives over soccer games vs. american idol and would like to record one to view later

[Jimbo]

Originally posted by gparris
Answer #1: No, the HD PVRs are not out yet except for Green Bay Wisconsin area...wish I had one but I understand the electronics involved (at least to my knowledge and research). There are schematics you can acquire on the  SA8000HD if you dig.
Answer #2 : Each PVR, SD or HD has a monthly rental fee of $7.95 and a DVR charge assigned to each unit of $5. The reasoning is that each unit "talks" to the TWC mainframe as the PVRs they have do not require a landline phone connection for update and interface, rather a  type of network one. It would be more competitive, say, if TWC had the identical pricing Directv has of $4.99 (a penny less) to cover them all in one household or billing address...but it doesn't, then again, Directv is not the direct provider of the software interface and updating, Tivo is, to my understanding. $5 is a small price to pay for another DVR and there is no running a phone line to it, which can get interesting to some consumers in my experience with them.
Answer #3: borghe  can record iNHD already? Where?  Who or where is he getting iN HD from if not TWC? C-Band?  Does he have a HD PVR box as a beta tester?
In any case, iNHD may have incryption codes locked in the datastream on some shows and these disable any coping...I will have to wait and get MY HD PVR and test this out.

Hope this all answers your questions!:wave:

The reason for the extra five bucks is the extra tuner in the DVR.  All the digital boxes are two way devices and all communicate with TW, the DVR software covers the operation and just uses the guide to record much like the VCR timer on a regular digital box.
There are no beta testers yet and the first will be employees and  that hasn't happened yet.  TWC Milwaukee has to work out some software issues before anyone gets one.
As far as I know they will be able to record all HD channels but not the On Demand channels.
I also wouldn't look for firewire capabilities anytime soon.  I really doubt the people in Hollywood want us to have the ability to make an endless amount of pristine HD copies of their property.

[summerfun]

Originally posted by Jimbo
.
As far as I know they will be able to record all HD channels but not the On Demand channels.

I have the SD DVR today and you cannot record on the On Demand so I would guess it will be the same.

I was at the office yesterday and they are saying JUNE now.