Anyone using Whole House DVR?

[Stuart-viera]

I am thinking of getting the whole-house dvr, but wanted to know if anyone else was using it and what their thoughts were.

One thing I have heard, and hope is true, is that it has a new Program Guide that is actually in HD - I am really sick of the 1980s-style program guide that I have, that only shows 90 minutes worth of programs and five channels surrounded by an enormous amound of black space. The other thing I want is a bigger HD, and more responsive navigation. Having an easier and faster way to find programs and channels would also be a plus.

I heard that the dvr of the WH system is much better than the standard one. Is this true? The Brighthouse website gives no clues.

In truth, I'm really looking for a more advanced receiver than I have, but I think the only way to get one is through this route. I had the whole-house dvr thing with DISH years ago, so I know what to expect on that score, although I don't really need it.

Thanks
-Stuart

 

[BHNtechXpert]

Hi There,

The guide isn't HD yet... exactly what advanced features are you looking for?

 

[Stuart-viera]

The Guide isn't in HD? Oh, that is a deal-breaker, then. I have a large screen tv, and need a system that uses it properly. But just to make sure we're talking about the same thing, I'm expecting to find a Guide that uses the full 16x9 screen to show more text than the current 4x3 display that looks like it uses a Commodore Vic 20 for its output (showing my age now!)

I feel that the current DVR hardward from Brighthouse is not very modern. The HD size is small, for example, and doesn't allow (so I was told) an external drive to be connected. The navigation (FF/RWD, etc) is really clumsy with poor latency. For example, if I try to FF through a program I am still recording, the navigation goes haywire (if I hit F twice, it goes back to play on the second one, etc - it starts working as expected once the program finishes recording). In general, the processor feels way too slow for a modern machine.

In terms of features I'm looking for, you just need to look at how Dish/DirecTV works to see what is missing. It must be seven or more years ago that I had a Microsoft box (can't remember its name), but it even let you organize your recording by person (for example, Dora The Explorer would be placed in a folder for my daughter), so when it came to playback, you just opened your own folder(s). Searching seems very tedious now: before Brighthouse, I could do a simple search of soccer games that are playing at this moment. It remembered your search patterns to easily apply them.

I moved into a new house three years ago and have had brighthouse since then. But it seems so low-tech that I'm probably going to have to switch to satellite. I heard about the whole-house DVR, and assumed that it must have a completely re-designed and re-written interface and hardware. From what you are saying, my wait has been in vain.