Nice timing

As reported yesterday, I have an old, Series 1 tivo that no longer works -- the modem appears to be shot. I haven't used it in over three years, but with my move to Seattle, I thought I'd try it out again. I was contemplating buying an 80 hour Series 2, but hesitated a bit on the price of the unit and the $12.95 monthly service charge (probably subconciously reacting to Erich's post on "The Cost of Being Connected").

And then this morning, I read this:

...[L]ocal Comcast digital-cable customers will soon be using Microsoft's on-screen program guide and related features, rather than the TV Guide Interactive system currently in place.
...
The process will begin next week, when Comcast will start offering customers in [Washington state] Motorola digital cable boxes with built-in digital recording capabilities, dual tuners for recording and watching two different shows simultaneously, and enough storage capacity for 60 hours of standard-format TV. The price for existing digital-cable customers will be an additional $9.95 per month on their current bill.

No DVR to buy, cheaper service charge, and (one presumes) a more tightly integrated unit (specifically, no damn remote control rig). I'll definitely try it out, and I'm excited to see what Microsoft's take on the program guide looks like, given their acquisition of WebTV a while back.

And I certainly won't be sad to see the horrible, horrible TV Guide Interactive crap leave my set-top box. Good riddance.

Comments

[Dolan]

Michael they have offered the service in the Great State of New Jersey to digital subscribers, the issue has been an enormous BACKLOG of orders and a delay on delivery for up to 3 months. I would check out what the wait time is for a unit before you commit to the service.

[Michael]

Thanks for the tip, TD! I'll be sure to check into that when the service becomes available. (Also: sorry I haven't responded to your email yet; I'm a bit behind. Soon!)

[tony]

I wrote the original program guide implementation for WebTV. It shipped in the WebTV Plus, the Dishplayer (EchoStar satellite DVR), and UltimateTV (DirecTV DVR). I'd be very interested to know if any of my code survives to this day. I doubt it. They probably rewrote it as some sort of WinCE ActiveX control from hell. Send me a screenshot if you get a chance.

[Erich]

Tim beat me to my comment - I called last week to try it out the Comcast DVR service, but was told it's on backorder.

[Michael]

Tony: You know it! I'll definitely send you a screenshot. (Hmmm, and now I know who to blame if something goes wrong... ;)

Erich: dang! Well, maybe I'll have more luck up here in the Pacific Northwest.