Another DVR Question

[Mako Koiwai]

I'm moving from Charter Cable country to Time Warner. I'm worried about that ... I hear that Time Warner internet is spotty.

Should I rent the Time Warner HD DVR ... or can one buy ones own DVR/Tivo ... and make it work with Time Warner?

What model(s) should I be looking at?

[Chuck Fowler]

love my TW DVR's. make sure you don't pile stuff on top as they run very warm and no ventilation will kill it. also we rarely have internet trouble. about every 18-20 months the modem dies. but since it and the DVR are rentals, you just take it over to the office and exchange it

[Will Kalman]

I've had TW internet for almost 10 years with no trouble whatsoev ..%^#$354...fg.5.g()

[Will Kalman]

No, really it's worked quite well and I like the upload speed as I frequently access my home computers from elsewhere on the Internet. I have had to trade the modem in twice, as mentioned above, but that's not TW's fault. I'll probably change if/when FIOS comes to my area.

[Jeff Shyu]

aaron's place (i guess my old place) has TW.

from my understanding, it really depends on your specific location. if TW just took over some crappy company that was servicing your area, or if TW actually went into the area to establish service.

if they did the work, usually there's no problem.

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

I'm moving from Charter Cable country to Time Warner. I'm worried about that ... I hear that Time Warner internet is spotty.

Should I rent the Time Warner HD DVR ... or can one buy ones own DVR/Tivo ... and make it work with Time Warner?

What model(s) should I be looking at?

DIRECTV FTMW!!!

[Jeff Shyu]

direct tv is pretty pimp. just about every other channel is in HD now..

it's gotten to the piont where, if it's not HD, i'll only watch it if it REALLY want to see it.

[Kurt Rahn]

DirecTV is great (more expensive than Dish for pretty much the same channels, though) but no real Internet access. The satellite-based service they offer blows. Just means you'd have to get cable Internet or DSL.

[Jeff Shyu]

yeah, i have charter + DTV.

10 down / 1 up isn't too bad..

[Kurt Rahn]

I have Dish and Verizon DSL. My DSL service is just about perfect. Almost always running, fast, and only had to replace my modem once in 7 years or so. On the Dish side, got a free multi-room HD DVR and free basic boxes for the rest of the house, plus free installation.

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

I'm with DIRECTV + Verizon DSL. And because I have my home phone and cell also with Verizon, they are now tied with DIRECTV so all my billing is on 1-Bill.

The DSL for DIRECTV beyond blows!

[Mako Koiwai]

Weird ... my ex is just a few blocks from Chuck Fowler, and her internet goes down regularly ?!

I had DirecTV ... no problems if I recall ... I think I switched to Charter to take advantage of their $99 bundle for tel/internet/cable.

BTW ... should I literally take my DirecTV dish with me when I move? I think the last tenants left theirs on the roof of the house we're moving into ... not that I need it, since I signed up with Warner to get the same $99 bundle.

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

BTW ... should I literally take my DirecTV dish with me when I move?

No. Even if you were staying with DTV, they just give you a new dish at your new place, take down the old one at your old place.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

BTW ... should I literally take my DirecTV dish with me when I move?

No. Even if you were staying with DTV, they just give you a new dish at your new place, take down the old one at your old place.

Yeah, both satellite cos. say to leave the dish, take the dvr/tuner boxes.

[Pat O\'Neal]

We switched from Dish to Verizon FIOS TV when our Dish contract ran out (we'd already had FIOS phone and internet). We had spotty reception on Dish - frequent screen freezing and dropouts even though the signal strength was strong. However, I liked the Dish DVR better than the new FIOS one. One thing that really gets me is when recording a series, the FIOS DVR gives you the option of recording "first run" only, which is of course what you'd want. However, it still records the same episode over and over, probably because according to the guide, all episodes are marked as "New", no matter when they air throughout the week. So, I'm constantly having to watch the first few moments of every show just to be sure we'd already seen it before deleting it, not to mention the extra disk space it takes up. How dumb. Great picture though.

[Mako Koiwai]

So we've moved into the house in South Pasadena together with Time Warner cable, internet and telephone.

First time I've had HD, and I'm surprised ... not many HD channels? Since then I've learned that apparently Direct TV has a lot more HD channels? Was the Singapore F1 race in HD depending on your provider? It was NOT HD with Time Warner.

With the Time Warner DVR I seem to lose the last few minutes of programs, ie. I need to add time to make sure I get the end of races. Never had that problem with Charter Communications?

I signed up for the fastest internet connection. When I do Speed Test it IS very fast. Just under 10,000 kps ... but it takes forever for sites to open up ?! I've reset my browsers, cleaned out my computer, started my Mac Lapbook Pro from a start up disc and ran the repair utility. Everything is supposedly fine on my end.

Karen's old PC laptop seems to load website slightly faster, but everything seems slow compared to the slower Charter Communication cable internet that I had in Glendale?!

[Thomas Smith]

I'm having the full Verizon FIOS install done at my home in Lakewood tomorrow. Landline phone, Internet 10/2, TV + dvr for $104 a month with free installation. This package looks like it will save me about $50 a month vs my current Verizon phone & DSL and Directv (non HD). One nice thing about FIOS is the HD channels are included in the basic package and the standard DVR is an HD version. I don't currently have an HD television but an considering the upgrade. I ran speedtest on my DSL and got a pitiful 768k/188k. I'll post after my FIOS install with the results.

[Greg Peng]

I signed up for the fastest internet connection. When I do Speed Test it IS very fast. Just under 10,000 kps ... but it takes forever for sites to open up ?! I've reset my browsers, cleaned out my computer, started my Mac Lapbook Pro from a start up disc and ran the repair utility. Everything is supposedly fine on my end.

Once you've gone to a slow site, do pages within that site load up much faster?

How much are you paying for that internet plan? That must the next tier up from what I have at double the speed. It would be nice to have that. Back when Adelphia was about to be taken over by Time Warner in my area, it was like they uncapped my bandwidth and my downlink speed was 24 Mbps over cable! My parents get to enjoy the nice 20 down / 5 up speeds of Verizon FIOS in New Jersey.

[Jason Munchhof]

Was the Singapore F1 race in HD depending on your provider? It was NOT HD with Time Warner.

There is no way to get F1 in HD at the moment. DirecTV is one of the only providers that carries Speed HD, but the original feed from FIA is still not HD. It's something like PAL 16x9, which looks fairly decent when FoxHD shows the race and upconverts.

IMO, the Time Warner DVR firmware sucks pretty bad. I always have problems with it.

[Mako Koiwai]

$99/month for unlimited US phone service, their fastest internet and HD cable. One year plan. hmmm ... I might be paying $10 or 20/month for the extra fastest internet ... have to check my bill. Free Showtime until January. Don't have HBO, etc ... don't watch it, but I hear they have some pretty sexy shows?

[Mako Koiwai]

yeah ... once I'm on the site, like this one ... I can move around very snappy. What does that mean? Slow for the site to be acquired, but then fast with in the site?

[Greg Peng]

Free Showtime until January. Don't have HBO, etc ... don't watch it, but I hear they have some pretty sexy shows?

A lot of the premium channels have those kinds of shows. It was a little embarrassing flipping through the movie channels of my brother's huge DirectTV package on a Saturday night with my parents visiting.

yeah ... once I'm on the site, like this one ... I can move around very snappy. What does that mean? Slow for the site to be acquired, but then fast with in the site?

Sounds like the DNS lookup servers that you have are slow. These translate the "www.website.com" name that you type into your browser into a numerical address ###.###.###.###. Once your computer has the number address, it shouldn't need to do the translation again during that session, or for some period of time. If you know how to configure your network settings in your router or computer, you can try using a different set of DNS servers. Try this web page for guidance: https://www.opendns.com/homenetwork/start/router/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rick Brown]

Recently got an HDTV with my basic TW cable (no box) and after the tuner scanned, found that even though they don't show up in the TV guide, the HD channels of the local networks are there, plus a couple others (Discovery HD, two Cinemax channels and a couple of PBS in HD). Next was to get some sort of DVR to replace my VCR. I can't believe you can't just buy one like a VCR. The only few out there do not have HD tuners, only SD. Makes no sense to me since the DVR's from the providers do tune/record HD. Just got a TiVo HD which has 2 HD tuners. But when it scans the basic cable, while it finds the HD channels, the TiVo guide (which I believe uses data provided by the cable company) only recognizes the basic channels. The HD ones are there and I can tune to them, but they don't show up in the guide with any info. The only way to record them is to manually program them like a VCR. Not a big deal since it will let me set it to repeat record, but of course it won't recognize reruns. But it means the TiVo guide is pretty useless so the monthly fee is basically for nothing. I think it will still manally record without the subscription, which just makes it a standalone DVR, which is what I want. Have to contact them to find out I guess, but at least I have 30 days to return it if it doesn't work out. I really have no desire to pay a monthly charge for a DVR, I'm basically cheap. I find the 'all-in-one" plans over priced to me. I have no need for a wired phone. A cell is way more convenient.

(soapbox)
It sure would be nice if a provider would actually provide what the customers want. Either give me a package with x many from column A, x many from column B and x many from column C so I can pick what I want and not have to take all the junk they force on you (20 spanish channels, local acess, TV evangelists) or just make it all ala carte so I pick what I want within my budget. I really don't like someone else deciding what I get to watch.

(\soapbox)

[Bob Beamesderfer]

We'd love to be able to order channels ala carte. Don't need any foreign language, shopping or religion channels either.

[Aaron Goldsmith]

yeah ... once I'm on the site, like this one ... I can move around very snappy. What does that mean? Slow for the site to be acquired, but then fast with in the site?

DNS


You still have the DNS server entry from your old ISP in your network settings or on your router?