Comcast Tivo Online Scheduler

Back in June I got a postcard from Comcast advertising some new features for the Tivo on Comcast. One of the features that I was really excited about was the online scheduler. This feature will allow you to schedule tivo recordings from any computer. A very nice feature if you are not at home and realize that you have forgotten to record something. The postcard just said the feature was coming soon and pointed to this page: http://comcast.net/tivo to check for availability. At the time the feature was not available for me and I kind of forgot about it.

Earlier this week I decided to check the website again and was presented with a page allowing me to activate the TIVO online scheduler. You click on the button it verifies your TIVO box and you are good to go. In order for the feature to work I think you need to be logged into http://www.comcast.net/ using your Comcast ID. Then you need to access the TV listings for your area. The TV listing Guide with the TIVO Online scheduler is below.

It is pretty simple to use, just click on the show you want to record and a little box pops up on the right allowing you to schedule the recording or set up a season pass.

If you click on the little Tivo Online Scheduler Button on the upper right another box pops up (above) that allows you to view or cancel your upcoming recordings and season passes.

There is also a DVR selector page that will appear if you have multiple DVR's. I assume this page did not appear because I have only one DVR.

First Impressions:

The interface was easy enough to use and I think is a great new feature. This is a feature that is included if you buy a real TIVO box so it is time that Comcast added it.

Issues:

The TV Listing page can take a while to load. Not all of the time but a couple times when I went into it I thought my screen had locked up.

The Online Scheduler screen seems a little buggy. When I cancelled a recording the list of programs got all crunched together and I could no longer read them. See below:

Not really an issue but something to keep in mind. You need to give the DVR some time to sync up with the online changes. So if you need to record something that starts in 5 minutes you probably will miss it.

I wish Comcast would notify their customers where these features are available. I got the initial postcard in June but it was not available at the time. Some time over the past couple months they turned this on and did not notify me. I have a friend who also has the TIVO box and he was not even aware of the Online Scheduling functionality

Overall:

Despite the few issues I have I am very happy that Comcast continues to add features to its products. The online scheduler is not something that I will use that frequently but will be nice to have when needed.

WeatherScan on Comcast

About little over a year ago I noticed that Comcast had added channel 845 (Weatherscan) to the HD grouping of channels. At the time the channel just displayed a message stating that the channel required a subscription. I assumed that the channel was just not part of the package I am subscribed to. No big deal.

Then a few months later I started noticing that when I was scrolling through the 800 level channels when I got to 845 (WeatherScan) I would be automatically be redirected to 245 which was the digital version of Weatherscan. This was a little annoying as I could no longer just scroll through the HD channels. I called Comcast to report the problem and was told that a new version of the Guide software being released in the next couple weeks would fix the issue, which it did.

Just this weekend I noticed that I am now getting the live channel WeatherScan on channel 845. The channel is identical to Weatherscan on 245 so I am not sure why it is included with the rest of the HD channels. It is definitely not being broadcast in HD and since it is just a loop of the current weather, forecast, traffic, etc I am not really sure it needs to be in HD. With limited bandwidth being a concern with cable providers I would much rather have one of the many other HD channels that Comcast doesn't currently carry than this one.

Comcast Boston / New England High Definition Channels

The last time is posted about the line up of High Definition channels was about a year ago. At the time we had 41 channels. Comcast seems to have been randomly adding channels over the past year and we are now up to 47 High Definition channels. My current channel lineup is:

800 - HDPPV
802 - PBS - WGBH
803 - ION HD - WBPX (formerly PAX)
804 - CBS HD
805 - ABC HD
806 - FOX HD
807 - NBC HD
808 - CW HD - WLVI
809 - ABC - WMUR (New Hampshire Affiliate)
814 - WSBK 38
818 - MLB Network HD
821 - National Geographic HD
823 - Discovery Channel HD
824 - Disney HD
826 - ABC Family HD
828 - Palladia HD
830 - FX HD
831 - TBS HD
832 - HGTV HD
833 - TNT HD
835 - USA HD
837 - A&E HD
839 - HD Theater
841 - Fox News HD
842 - CNN HD
845 - WeatherScan HD
846 - Univeral HD
848 - Golf HD
849 - ESPN HD
850 - ESPN2 HD
851 - NESN HD
852 - Comcast Sports Network HD
853 - NFL Network HD
854 - Food Network HD
859 - American Movie Classics HD
862 - SciFi Network HD
863 - Animal Planet HD
865 - Versus HD
866 - Science HD
867 - The Learning Channel HD
868 - Cinemax HD
870 - HBO HD
872 - History Channel HD
875 - Starz HD
877 - Showtime HD
878 - Showtime 2 HD
883 - The Movie Channel HD

We seem to have lost a channel or two somewhere along the line. I think we had Bravo at one time but it doesn't seem to be in my listing anymore.

DVD Rental vs Netflix vs Comcast On Demand

I will preface this post by saying I haven't seen a movie in a theatre in about 5 years. I spent thousands of dollars on my HDTV and surround sound system so we happily watch all movies in the comfort of our family room couch.

Up until about a year ago all of the new movies we watched were rentals from Blockbuster. At the time it was a good deal for me. I used points on my rewards card to get 8 free rental certificates every few months so I basically was not paying anything out of pocket to see new releases. Our local Blockbuster was in a pretty convenient location so it was not too out of the way to stop by and rent/return movies. Then suddenly our local Blockbuster closed and it was no longer convenient so no more blockbuster for us.

At the time it was not that big a deal because of the writer's strike there was not a whole lot of new movies out that we wanted to see. We also added a baby to our family so our movie watching time was fairly limited. When there was something we really wanted to see we would watch in on Comcast On Demand. Usually when we did this though we had a free coupon. Since the ON Demand rentals are $4.99 and I was used to renting movies for free we probably only ever paid for 2 or 3 movies in total.

A couple months ago we noticed there were a bunch of new movies out that we were really interested in seeing. A couple of our friends have been using Netflix for a while and are really happy with it so we decided to give it a shot. We signed up for their one at a time unlimited plan for $8.99/month. We usually only have time to watch movies on weekends and with our schedule we usually only watch one movie a weekend. Given this we still get 4 movies a month for a cost of about $2.25 a movie.

Compare that to Comcast On Demand's cost of 4.99 a movie and the choice was pretty simple for us to stick with Netflix. The one advantage that Comcast On Demand has over Netflix is that you can order using your remote rather than needing to mail the DVD back. But to me that is only a minor advantage. The only way Comcast On Demand is going to compete with Netflix is if they offer some kind of monthly plan structure similar to Netflix where you get 4 OnDemand movies for around $10/month, 5 movies for $12/month etc. I am sure Comcast has thought about this and my guess is the movie studios are preventing them from doing it. Another hurdle may be that they would need to rewrite the cable box software to allow for the operation of a plan structure. So something like this is probably a way off but in my opinion it is the only way On Demand is going to gain market share form Netflix. I look forward to what the future holds for Comcast On Demand but for now I am staying a Netflix customer.

Comcast DVR with TIVO New Features

I got a postcard in the mail today from Comcast regarding some new and upcoming features on the Comcast Tivo DVR.

• Reminder to Pad Live Recordings - When you schedule a recording for a live program, you will now get a reminder to add extra recording time in case the game or event runs long. I guess this is a nice feature but I think it may get a little annoying to be reminded every time I schedule a recording.
• Recently Deleted Folder - If you accidentally delete a recording you can now recover it from the recently deleted folder. I noticed this folder a couple weeks ago. Nice feature but it is pretty difficult to accidentally delete something with the TIVO interface.
• Saved On Demand Programs - If you find an On Demand program that you want to watch later you can just save it to the Saved On Demand folder in the Tivo Recording List. This is should be a pretty useful feature as it will save time navigating through the menus to get to Saved On Demand
• TIVO Online scheduler - Soon you can schedule your recordings away from home - even manage your Recording schedule and Season Pass Priorities. This is the feature that I am pretty excited about. On a couple occasions I have forgot to record something and was not home in time to set it. This is a feature that the full-blown TIVO has so it is about time that Comcast gets it out there. There is no time frame on the postcard regarding when it will be available. It just says that an email will be sent to my Comcast Account. Based on previous rollout schedules I have to assume that the feature will be available within the next couple months. There is also a website link http://comcast.net/tivo but it just says that the feature is coming soon.

NFL Network

The National Football League and Comcast announced yesterday that they have reached a deal to make the NFL network available to 10.8 million of its digital subscribers. The parties have been battling it out for the past couple years. A few weeks ago it wasn't looking too good but it appears the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell finally stepped in and got the deal done.

The channel was previously carries on Comcast's Sports Tier which subscribers paid extra for. As of August 1st the NFL Network will be available as part of the Digital Basic package. It sounds like the sticking point in negotiations was cost. The NFL reduced the monthly cost from 70 cents per subscriber to about 50 cents per subscriber.

Considering I pay close to $100 for my monthly cable bill it will be nice to now have the channel included.

Comcast / TIVO Issues in Boston Area

Last week a happened across this article written by a Comcast customer in the Boston area that was/is having issues with his TIVO box. According to the article it isn't just him but many other customers in the area that are experiencing issues. I didn't think much of the article as my TIVO has been working fine......until tonight.

• A couple shows we had a season pass set up for did not record.
• I can not manually record any shows
• I can not delete any previously recorded shows.

I can watch saved shows but that is pretty much it. I first tried the standard restarting the box procedure which did not fix the issue. So I got on the line with Comcast Customer Service who seemed to hint around that they had been seeing some issues but did not come right out and say it. She had me restart the box again which again did not fix the problem and she sent some codes to the box which apparently told her that the box was functioning. Since not of that fixed the issue she had me unplug the box and then plug it back in which also did not fix the issue.

So I now have a problem ticket open with Comcast and a technician scheduled to come out to my house on Sunday. I guess I will have to just wait and see what happens. Interested to see if any other customers are experiencing similar problems and what the resolution was. I have a feeling though that I will be getting a new box on Sunday.