Comments on aprigliano.org: Why the $300 Tivo HD is a disruptive device (but n...

Davis - loving the blog. Have some link love.

2007-07-31T17:23:00.000-04:00

Davis - loving the blog. Have some link love.

I wouldn't feel too foolish, the cable company wan...

2007-07-30T11:18:00.000-04:00

I wouldn't feel too foolish, the cable company wants to make it complicated so that you can't save money. What I do in my case, is to subscribe to the expanded basic package, instead of the "digital" tier. This gives me access to MTV, TNT, ESPN, etc., but I can't get HBO and the premium channels. The expanded basic package is about $15 cheaper than the digital package.

If you want to rent HDTV for $10 a month, they require that you also subscribe to the digital package, so the real cost to someone in my situation would be $25 per month vs. $9 - $12 for TiVo's fee (not included up front of the $300). If you want TiVoHD, you can get the expanded basic for a lot less and then just use the cable cards to avoid the digital tier charge. The difference between digital vs. expanded basic comes down to a couple of channels that I don't care about. Things like the military channel and the Woman's network. Overall, I estimate that I'm saving about $18 a month. With my lifetime fee transfer, I don't have the ongoing charges, but even if I was paying $12 per month for TiVo, the math still works out nicely, especially when you consider that the TiVo will at least have some kind of a resell value, if you decide to get rid of it in a few years. One thing I don't like is not having the option to go to satellite easily, but as a renter, satellite has never been much of an option for me. If you are really hard up for VOD and PPV, you can call Comcast and they will send you a dedicated VOD box for free (they don't advertise this, but it's there). In order to get the box though, you have to be on the basic package.

Davis,Good point. Very good point. I feel foolish ...

2007-07-30T10:46:00.000-04:00

Davis,

Good point. Very good point. I feel foolish for not working out the math.

So, you can kill cable - save heaping wads of cash while getting digital hi-def off air

-OR-

possibly keep cable and w/ cable cards save on equipment rentals.

Nice.

Here is one more reason why it's disruptive. If y...

2007-07-30T10:30:00.000-04:00

Here is one more reason why it's disruptive. If you get a TiVo HD, you don't have to pay cable $10 a month for HD access. They may require you to pay up to $1.99 for the cablecards, but because the CC prices are set by the FTC, they aren't allowed to gouge you like they do on the STB. While there is the $12 that you have to pay TiVo, this $10 in saving (plus no cable DVR charge on top of this) goes a long ways towards making this fee more reasonable.

Anon,I do agree, that $12 is a bit much. If I had ...

2007-07-26T14:10:00.000-04:00

Anon,

I do agree, that $12 is a bit much. If I had my druthers, I would got to store, buy the box, and not be beholden to anyone for anything. Zap2It/mythTV has spoiled me. It's just data. But $12 so another Zap2It scenario does not play out may be worth it for some.

Still, no argument from me.

12ish+tax for listings is outrageous. Better they ...

2007-07-26T11:46:00.000-04:00

12ish+tax for listings is outrageous. Better they charge $400 or $500 for the box and give you the listings. It costs them pennies a month to provide listings over te net. Keep in mind zap's been giving them fr free online. Charging 12ish is borderline criminal, certainly rapacious.

Besides media portal can do all that and more with cable cards soon for far less, if you already have the hardware.

as for zap it will only be a matter of time before they're pulling the listings from subscribed tivos, replaytvs, or win mediapcs.