FIOS after a month

[mike123abc]

A TiVo is as good as a 722. It has pluses and minus and the 722 has pluses and minuses too, but after having TiVos a couple years, I still have trouble choosing. I have mostly been using the 922 now on Dish, and again compared to the TiVo Premere I would still have trouble picking the best box (a while ago the TiVo won hands down since it would actually reliably record all the timers).

 

[navychop]

I'm one of those who doubts Tivo's continued existence. The piper must be paid eventually. However, perhaps whoever takes over their assets might offer to continue the EPG - for a price. Anyway, it has become less likely that I will be moving to Fios, but if I do, perhaps the Cisco box will suffice.

 

[mike123abc]

I'm one of those who doubts Tivo's continued existence. The piper must be paid eventually. However, perhaps whoever takes over their assets might offer to continue the EPG - for a price. Anyway, it has become less likely that I will be moving to Fios, but if I do, perhaps the Cisco box will suffice.

Nothing lives forever. And TiVo may die one day. They look to have enough cash on hand and making sales. I would say they have at least 5 years. If I get 5 years out of a TiVo box with lifetime I will be happy... Of course I would be even happier with 10 years, but really given consumer electronics improvement, 5 years is a very long time. There will probably be something better in 5 years.

 

[philhu]

Nothing lives forever. And TiVo may die one day. They look to have enough cash on hand and making sales. I would say they have at least 5 years. If I get 5 years out of a TiVo box with lifetime I will be happy... Of course I would be even happier with 10 years, but really given consumer electronics improvement, 5 years is a very long time. There will probably be something better in 5 years.

Tivo makes most of its money from long term Government and Hospital contracts. They close circuit training to these all the time. They were the first to make encrypted closed circuit addressable content viable back 2002-2005 timeframe.

 

[navychop]

Hmmm. I never knew that about closed circuit training. But I do recall reading that they have never made a profit from operations. The payment Dish/Echostar made to them put them in the black, though. At least, briefly.

 

[DAVEGTESTR]

I disagree. I have a TiVo HD unit ($99 Blockbuster Special last summer) and a 722 since September. The TiVo is slower and does not not have the backup capability of DISH Network's system; read multiple Hard drive backups. A TiVo is married to one hard drive as well, it dies, you lose all of your recordings on the external. If one of my DISH external's die, I still have the others, just plug them in. DISH Networks EHD's can be used on a RAID system if they are of the same size, I have read as well. Also, there is no guarantee that TiVo will support their drives or be around in 3 years either.

 

[mike123abc]

I disagree. I have a TiVo HD unit ($99 Blockbuster Special last summer) and a 722 since September. The TiVo is slower and does not not have the backup capability of DISH Network's system; read multiple Hard drive backups. A TiVo is married to one hard drive as well, it dies, you lose all of your recordings on the external. If one of my DISH external's die, I still have the others, just plug them in. DISH Networks EHD's can be used on a RAID system if they are of the same size, I have read as well. Also, there is no guarantee that TiVo will support their drives or be around in 3 years either.

You can get the TiVo desktop for your PC and transfer all that you want to save to your PC. It is not the same as EHD, but the programs are not really encrypted (i.e. you can decrypt them) and have pristine copies of all the shows. But, some cable companies put a copy protection flag on the signal which prohibits TiVo from copying them via the TiVo desktop.

 

[DAVEGTESTR]

Thanks, but my Frontier (call them F*) FiOS system uses copy protection on all non OTA programming. I think Comcast that would be possible, but with lower quality than DISH. Frontier video could be gone within a year, so a bundled internet solution for my baseball needs would be F*/D*.

 

[mike123abc]

Thanks, but my Frontier (call them F*) FiOS system uses copy protection on all non OTA programming. I think Comcast that would be possible, but with lower quality than DISH. Frontier video could be gone within a year, so a bundled internet solution for my baseball needs would be F*/D*.

I believe there is a TiVo group with info on how to get copies off the hard drive if you want to persue that route. Tivocommunity.com web site seems to be down right now, or I would give a link.

 

[Super Dave]

It took the latest batch of Dish's price increases for me to start looking for other providers, and I have a FIOS install set for Friday. Had me a little uneasy, as we love the DVRs and I even have OTA antenna plugged in, but it is only TV and after reading threads like these those who switched seemed happy. I know dumping Comcast HSI and Vonage will free up $86/mo. and the bundle price is lower than what we pay Dish, so it is primarily a cost decision. Having a 622 and 2 722s just costs too much at $17/box for the 722s. Dish wants to call and discuss my account but there is no way they can drop the bill to come close, nor do I expect them too. The new DVR holds more hours, and when 1.9 goes out I can hook up a 1TB drive and that is more than enough to cover our family of 4 viewing. Plus VOD seems like it could be a nice feature.

One question, how far out does the guide data go? We had DTV that was 2 weeks and now with Dish it is 9 days, so I did get used to at least a week.

 

[navychop]

If you get an option, go with the Cisco DVR.

For $86/month, I'd leave Dish for Fios. But it seems that in fact, after the one year teaser rate, I'd save little or nothing each month. As best as I can tell. Talking with a sales droid yields cheerful, yet evasive, answers. I can only assume they know I won't like the rate after a year, or they're so poorly trained they can't figure it out. I get 1 or 2 mailings each week from Fios. They seem desperate for more package deal customers. Due to my occasional overseas travel, and the desire to talk and surf simultaneously, I'd never give them my cell phone business. But maybe one day I'll go with the land line/TV/internet package.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

It took the latest batch of Dish's price increases for me to start looking for other providers, and I have a FIOS install set for Friday. Had me a little uneasy, as we love the DVRs and I even have OTA antenna plugged in, but it is only TV and after reading threads like these those who switched seemed happy. I know dumping Comcast HSI and Vonage will free up $86/mo. and the bundle price is lower than what we pay Dish, so it is primarily a cost decision. Having a 622 and 2 722s just costs too much at $17/box for the 722s. Dish wants to call and discuss my account but there is no way they can drop the bill to come close, nor do I expect them too. The new DVR holds more hours, and when 1.9 goes out I can hook up a 1TB drive and that is more than enough to cover our family of 4 viewing. Plus VOD seems like it could be a nice feature.

One question, how far out does the guide data go? We had DTV that was 2 weeks and now with Dish it is 9 days, so I did get used to at least a week.

I am trusting my memory but I know it is at least 2 weeks.

 

[philhu]

I have Tivo dvrs and the guide is 15 days on them

 

[riffjim4069]

Yep, if you don't like the FiOS DVR (we keep one around for VOD) you can always get a Tivo and/or Moxi.

 

[navychop]

It's kind of risky to buy a TiVo these days, don't you think?

 

[riffjim4069]

It's kind of risky to buy a TiVo these days, don't you think?

Not at all...I'm sure my Tivos will sill be working in another 3-years...and I'll probably want to replace them with some other newfangled technology long before Tivo goes out-of-business (if they do go bust). Offhand, I am really interested in seeing the new All-Vid gateway being implemented by all the Cable/Sat/Telco providers. We shall see...

Sent from my HTC EVO using SatelliteGuys App

 

[philhu]

Yes, Tivo box means virtually unlimited space. You can have a 2TB drive inside and a 2TB drive external. I only have the 2tb drive inside, and have 667hours HD, or 2667hours SD

 

[DAVEGTESTR]

Note that the external + internal storage depends on the model. 2TB/2TB inside does not apply for the really old Series 3 or even the moderately 4 yr. old TiVo HD in which the outboard max EHD size is 1.5T. I have a 1TB external hooked up. TiVo is not 'virtually' limitless as unlike the DISH Network 622 and newer DVR's, you cannot (at least easily) switch out one EHD for another or go back and forth between multiple EHD's. TiVo deactivates the first EHD when pairing/activating a second EHD. Yes, I know you can hack them...but I am interesting in easily going back and forth between EHD's like DISH. It may be a moot point for me as Frontier is bent on killing video in their Seattle, Portland and Fort Wayne areas. Comcast, no thx, too poor quality...

 

[philhu]

Frontier killing video? Can you explain that statement?

Also, I stand corrected, the TivoHD is 1.5, 1.5 disk Series 3 is 1tb/1tb
My Series 4 is 2tb/2tb

 

[DAVEGTESTR]

Frontier killing video? Can you explain that statement?

Also, I stand corrected, the TivoHD is 1.5, 1.5 disk Series 3 is 1tb/1tb
My Series 4 is 2tb/2tb

Frontier is raising prices by $30 on most video packages unless you are in or sign a contract. They may stop selling FiOS video altogether within a year. They are currently reselling Directv with a 3 year data/phone contract.