What do you use to replace the Cable Company's DVR box?

I'm sure this has been talked about before but I'm just curious what people are doing to replace the cable company's rented DVR boxes. I have Comcast and they just upped my bill AGAIN. So my wife started asking me if there was anything I could do to replace the box or the dvr. I told her I don't know but I know where I can find out. So here I am asking the masses. If you would be so kind please tell me what you use and how you like it.

Thanks

phenix said:

I'm sure this has been talked about before but I'm just curious what people are doing to replace the cable company's rented DVR boxes. I have Comcast and they just upped my bill AGAIN. So my wife started asking me if there was anything I could do to replace the box or the dvr. I told her I don't know but I know where I can find out. So here I am asking the masses. If you would be so kind please tell me what you use and how you like it.

Thanks

Click to expand...

not exactly answering your question, but if you are not under contract, you can call comcast and tell them you have a great offer from directv/dish/etc for $x and ask if they have any comparable deals. if they say no, call back some other time. different reps are more willing to help. you can also use their online chat. i call directv annually to do this, and last time they offered me $10 off per month, waived the DVR fee, free hbo for 3 months, starz for 6 and a free upgrade to HD at no additional cost for 1 year. i do have comcast for internet & used the online chat to get 12mpbs service for $19.99/month for 1 year vs $50+.

Well I see a lot written about sagetv, hauppauge and slingbox. I'm not to familiar with any of them. I would just like to eliminate the comcast dvr box. And what ever I end up using I would like to integrate into CQC.

I can confirm this works for comcast too.. Just tell them you want to sign up for a contract price... I jut signed a two year contract which gave me one free dvr, HBO, digital premium package, and internet and they cut my bill like 50 bucks. and my second non dvr digital box is only $1.99/month for a year.

they dont want to loose customers, if CS doesnt help ask for retentions and tell them you are considering changing to dish with all their great promo pricing. and see what they say

phenix said:

Well I see a lot written about sagetv, hauppauge and slingbox. I'm not to familiar with any of them. I would just like to eliminate the comcast dvr box. And what ever I end up using I would like to integrate into CQC.

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for CQC, you'll probably be going to sagetv. and given that comcast is probably going to do away with clear QAM for all but broadcast networks, you'll be looking at using the hauppauge HD PVR and some comcast set top box.

" i do have comcast for internet & used the online chat to get 12mpbs service for $19.99/month for 1 year vs $50+. "

Curious how you do this? I'm at around $59 month with Comcast. Don't use them for TV just for Internet. Noticed though that my DirecTV just keeps going up every year. I still haven't gone HD with them as I can't separate my wife from her Tivo yet. Last time I called them was to get another card for a second Tivo and they told me I would have to pay for it. I told them to keep their card.

DirecTv.

petec said:

" i do have comcast for internet & used the online chat to get 12mpbs service for $19.99/month for 1 year vs $50+. "

Curious how you do this? I'm at around $59 month with Comcast. Don't use them for TV just for Internet. Noticed though that my DirecTV just keeps going up every year. I still haven't gone HD with them as I can't separate my wife from her Tivo yet. Last time I called them was to get another card for a second Tivo and they told me I would have to pay for it. I told them to keep their card.

Click to expand...

i told them at&t was offering me dsl for $19.99/mo for 12 months, that i didn't want to switch, but it was considerably less than what i was paying. the rep i was chatting with didn't hesitate & just offered the same deal. it took all of 5 minutes.

here are recent threads about getting free/cheap stuff from comcast http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1538045 http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1538721
comast internet http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1508323
and another for directv http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=140292

I'll give it a try. I think with TV(no movie channels, 1 hd DVR and 1 set top box) Internet and Phone I pay $145 now.

I have also used the "I'm gonna leave if you don't lower the bill" tactic for about 2 years now. Now that FIOS is available it's time to go. Bye Bye Comcast, It's been a long time coming.

On topic with the DVR question... Has anyone tried this yet http://www.nero.com/enu/liquidtv-introduction.html . It's Tivo for the PC builder...

Well without changing providers, if you have digital cable, there really isn't a viable way to get rid of the actual box. You could possible use a QAM tuner and you computer to record stations that are not being encrypted. But generally the only channels you can count on not to be encrypted is your local channels is HD. Some people do get more channels than that, but there is no guarantee that you won't wake up one day to find all your channels were switched to encrypted overnight. That can certainly kill the WAF.

You might be able to find some equipment that uses a cable card. That card is issued by your local cable company and includes all the information needed to decrypt the encrypted QAM stations. That being said, the cable companies usually have a monthly charge for the cable card which is similar to the rent on a digital cable box. So it really doesn't save any money.

TIVO HD with Cable card.....which the first card is free.

Thanks Damage...will give it a try....

I use a PVR program called GBpvr, it works amazing well, does everything I could ask of it and more. It records all my wifes programs that the Comcast DVR used to do as well as a few movies for me. I've tried all the PVR type programs, Sage, BeyondTV, Myth, etc. GBpvr is easier to setup, simpler to use and has more features than the rest. It's run here for the last two years virtually unattended. That's a pretty good record.

Oh, and it's free to boot.

If you're looking to dump the rental DVR box I can recommend it highly.

phenix said:

I'm sure this has been talked about before but I'm just curious what people are doing to replace the cable company's rented DVR boxes. I have Comcast and they just upped my bill AGAIN. So my wife started asking me if there was anything I could do to replace the box or the dvr. I told her I don't know but I know where I can find out. So here I am asking the masses. If you would be so kind please tell me what you use and how you like it.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I hated all that...so my wife and I moved to HULU and Antenna.

There has only been 1 thing for my wife, that were not able to find on either Hulu or Antenna. Same with me.

For her, we live close enough to the Bill's stadium that there was a black out (due to the poor seat sales...which I never understood...). So, we watched some other game that was on and put on the radio. Generally speaking, we either have the movie on DVD, or can wait. We don't really "want" to see things that BAD.

For me, I saw an advertisement for a SCIFI show that I would have liked to see (Hanger 9 or whatever it was called). Oh well, I've got enough other things to do. I love to read, so I will put a movie on (custom HTPC setup using Homeseer DVD Profiler, DVD Collection (heavily modified)). Recently I just added the ability to play JUST the episodes you wanted to watch for TV show seasons that we purchased (Monk, Sea Lab 2021, etc.).

--Dan