Sunday, January 25, 2009

Cable Box still ain't working. Should I go TiVo HD Cable Card?

Help with TIVO HD DVR
I currently have an HD television with a Scientific Atlanta 4350 HD cable box from cablevision, and a TIVO series 2 DVR (non-HD). I want to upgrade to an HD TIVO, but TIVO advises that I will have to give up my cable box and go with cable cards instead. If I give up my cable box, I will lose the ability to get on demand programs and lose the cable companies program guide. Does anyone know if this is accurate or if there are alternatives. Bottom line question: Can I use a TIVO HD DVR with an HD cable box?
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Right - you'll lose the ability to initiate on-demand from that unit, but if you initiate it elsewhere (from a different unit, or online) that same TiVo should be able to view and record it.

You will lose the cable programming guide, but you'll get the (much better, generally) TiVo version.
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You don't use a TivoHD with an HD cable box; it takes cablecards and acts as a cable box itself. There's no good way for it to record from an external box since it can't really record in HD that way. You have to use cablecards.

You can use one alongside, working independently from the HD cable box. TivoHD has its own guide so losing the cable company's guide isn't much of a loss. The only significant thing you lose is OnDemand/PPV, unless you keep the cable box for that purpose (which can be costly). Personally I find the OnDemand selection/pricing mediocre compared to subscribing to Netflix so I don't see it as a huge loss.
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