Comcast Certifies TiVo Software

**piranha10** · 07-04-2007 11:31 PM

Longhorn,

A couple quick questions;

Is the guide layout you show above the only one available or can you switch to the familiar “Tivo Style” guide format we are all familiar with? (with the DirecTivos for instance you can switch between the DTV and Tivo style guides)

Overall does the rest of the software and menus “feel the same” as the Tivo or another words if I hand this thing over to my wife in kids that have been raised on Tivos will they even know anything has changed?

Other than the Comcast logo seen above did you see any additional Comcast advertising or branding clutter in any of the menus or other interface screens?

How big again are the standard issue hard drives that come with the Motorola’s? Any hint if Comcast is going to either upgrade to larger drives or allow us to add external drives (unlikely I would assume).

Thanks

**LonghornXP** · 07-04-2007 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by piranha10

Longhorn,

A couple quick questions;

Is the guide layout you show above the only one available or can you switch to the familiar “Tivo Style” guide format we are all familiar with? (with the DirecTivos for instance you can switch between the DTV and Tivo style guides)

Overall does the rest of the software and menus “feel the same” as the Tivo or another words if I hand this thing over to my wife in kids that have been raised on Tivos will they even know anything has changed?

Other than the Comcast logo seen above did you see any additional Comcast advertising or branding clutter in any of the menus or other interface screens?

How big again are the standard issue hard drives that come with the Motorola’s? Any hint if Comcast is going to either upgrade to larger drives or allow us to add external drives (unlikely I would assume).

Thanks

The guide in the picture in this thread is the "only" guide available at launch. I have been directly told that the Tivo Live guide as its called "will" 100% be coming shortly after the software is out and launched. I'm 100% sure the live guide is coming just to make sure you all know okay.

Most of the GUI feels the same as say a DirecTivo but a few things are different and IMO I think some of the changes are even better on the Comcast Tivo. For the most part a past Tivo user will feel right at home but again a few little things might take you by surprise.

While using the software I didn't see any advertising or anything like that at all but I have a feeling this will be coming for one reason which I'll state. I've been told directly by Comcast that they still haven't installed the Tivo advertising server software yet. It may be called something different but you get the drift but its said to be coming in early 2008. I'm told it won't be as bad as you all think and most of the ads will be in the messages section and not really in the guide itself and no pop-ups either.

The biggest drive in current Moto boxes is 160GB and I'm not aware of any plans that Moto has for bigger hard drives. I also asked if external hard drive support would be added and was told they didn't know yet. I didn't have access to an external hard drive to test it either. I was told that a new firmware update for the Moto box itself would need to be installed which will increase the limit of the size the box will see. Right now if you plug in say a big 320GB hard drive in place of the current internal hard drive and format it the firmware will still only see 160GB of that 320GB drive.

Also to answer the question from the previous poster I didn't see an option to select a different RF channel to allow two boxes to not conflict on remote commands so sorry.

**jgantert** · 07-05-2007 09:49 AM

So this is only for the motorola boxes? My area uses SA8300HD DVRs, so I can assume TiVo won't be an option for my area?

-John

**Bobby** · 07-05-2007 10:15 AM

The Tivo addition will come to the SA boxes later in the game. I've heard sometime in the 1st quarter 2008.

**baloo75** · 07-05-2007 11:20 AM

Any idea if if the Tivo software will have a 30 sec skip? While the Tivo's FF and Rew are much nicer than what is in iGuide I still like the 30 sec skip feature.

Also with the main rollout are you saying that by Nov most markets will have OCAP capability? Isn't that much sooner than others have said?

**LonghornXP** · 07-05-2007 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by baloo75

Any idea if if the Tivo software will have a 30 sec skip? While the Tivo's FF and Rew are much nicer than what is in iGuide I still like the 30 sec skip feature.

Also with the main rollout are you saying that by Nov most markets will have OCAP capability? Isn't that much sooner than others have said?

I never checked if the 30 sec skip worked or not so sorry. The markets that will get the Tivo software "do not" need to be upgraded with OCAP. But those markets will need to install the TVWorks OCAP software layer though. The Tivo software is OCAP compliant but it was tested and running using the TVWorks software which allows the software and many other OCAP based software to run in markets that haven't upgraded to full OCAP yet. Now most of the New England market has been upgraded to full OCAP but it wasn't just for the reason of running the Tivo software.

So any multiroom viewing features that I'm told will be coming down the line will require full OCAP support at the cable plant. Sorry I cannot say when they are coming but you all will find out sooner rather than later though.

**baloo75** · 07-09-2007 04:09 PM

Thanks Longhorn. One other question, is the onscreen guide widescreen? Does it use the entire width of the screen or does it still display with black bars like iGuide? Don't know if the Moto HW even supports widescreen overlays but thought I would ask.

**brianr0131** · 07-11-2007 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by baloo75

Thanks Longhorn. One other question, is the onscreen guide widescreen? Does it use the entire width of the screen or does it still display with black bars like iGuide? Don't know if the Moto HW even supports widescreen overlays but thought I would ask.

My Moto only has bars when you're on HD Programming. If you're watching anything in SD it's full width. I thought all motos were like this for some reason.

**baloo75** · 07-11-2007 07:51 PM

It only has bars on HD because your TV or the box is stretching the SD picture including the guide. Ideally when you have an HD box the guide would utilize the entire screen available to it, for an HD signal this would include the areas of the display that are currently black. I believe the DishNetwork receivers do this, not sure about the Tivo S3.

**LonghornXP** · 07-11-2007 11:37 PM

The widescreen GUI output when tuned into an HDTV is a limitation of the current iguide software or so I've been told. The demo I was shown did indeed have the black bars on the left and right sides of the screen when tuned into an HDTV channel. I was told that this would be corrected before the public release as they did make a 16x9 GUI interface along with a 4x3 GUI interface. But again this is what I was told and I didn't exactly trust the information from the people who gave it. What I did confirm was stuff I saw with my own eyes without having to trust these people.

Sadly to say I would bet that the Tivo software will have the same issues with regards to no widescreen output of the GUI while tuned into an HDTV channel.