GBPVR vs. 'Cable' DVR: My Impressions

[groover km]

As I mentioned in another thread, I have recently upgraded our lounge cable box for the DVR box + service from our provider, Charter (before I get flamed into obscurity with cries of 'traitor!', my hand was forced due to marital harmony/ hauppauge drivers rendering my PVR into, basically, a test bed... a long story). This is what we got:

Motorola Moxi DVR



Brief specs:
- 2 analog/ Digital/ HDTV tuners
- DOCSIS 1.0 cable modem + ethernet port
- 80GB HDD c/w expansion via USB2.0
- Two USB2.0 and two USB1.1 ports
- Composite, S-Vid, Component, and DVI video outputs
- Phono, digital, and S/PDIF optical audio outputs

Additional cost (to my already extortionate cable bill) = $9.99 a month

Now, I don't have HDTV, and the purpose of the box is to simply give my missus a way to record her Survivor/ ER/ Dancing with the Stars/ Reality sh*te with minimum fuss (you want to test your marriage? Accidentally delete the last episode of a 24 season. I've been there, and it's not pretty). Anyway, that said, here's my comparison -

PRO's:
(1) Functionally, everything I have recorded so far has been flawless with the usual episode/ season/ all options that we are familiar with. Response is fast - near instantaneous - and with two two tuners (plus watch a recording) I haven't experienced a conflict yet at all.

(2) Appearance wise, the menus are very appealling. For example:





Forget the PiP thing (don't want to open that can of worms) but to describe, you move horizontally to select menus (channels, recordings, etc) and then vertically for details (specific channels, recordings, etc.) sounds crap, but it actually works quite well. Something like this in GBPVR would ROCK (*cough* Dottore? Tipstir? Old Dog?*)

(3) Very comprehensive search function: By title/ genre/ keyword/ etc. Well implemented and quick. I wish GB-PVR had this (I have problems with xsearch in this regard)

(4) Errr.. it's silver. Which is nice.


Okay, CON's:
(1) See the specs? Ethernet port, USB ports? Sexy, huh? Easy, tiger. These are DISABLED by the cable overlords. There is NO WAY to get your recordings off the box. No way to add more additional ext storage. I can't even connect my camera or iPod to it. Suckaroo.

(2) It includes a cable modem - yay! Can I use it? No! It is - you guessed - disabled by the Dark Cable Forces to ensure that I keep paying $5 a month to lease one from them. They are bad people.

(3) No TV Guide. Yep. NO TV GUIDE. At least, not like I am familiar with; there is no 'grid' showing channels/ times. What you can do is select a channel, scroll forward, select another, scroll forward... if this makes sense. Good to see what is coming up, but sucks to see what's on at 8, 9, 10pm. I know that this is supposed to be offset by the (admittedly impressive) search function, but: okay, disclaimer, I am a film student; I like to browse movies and if something I AM UNAWARE OF catches my eye, watch it (or record it). If I don't know what I want to watch, how can I search for it? Catch 22, eh? The jury is still out on this one - we can't decide if it is a 'quirk' we need to get used to, or just suckapalooza.

(4) It has a 'favorites' category for channels - that I can't add favorites to. The list is populated by length of viewing time; so even though IFC is one of my 'favourite' channels, it's not gonna make the list as I watch 3-4 movies a month on it; the Cartoon Channel will always beat it to the punch.

(5) You can skip forward in recordings - in 15 minute increments. Apparently (one google search later) the skip used to be 30secs, but pressure from 'the advertisers' forced this functionality to be crippled. Instead we get to watch commercials on FF. Welcome to the world of DRM, broadcast flag, and no fair use; it's your future.

(6) The beast is the size of an 80s VCR and has fans whirling away like an aircon unit - hurrah for MVPs. Oh, and 80GB? Charter, the 90s called, they want their hard drives back.

(7) TV and record. That's it. No music. No pictures. No permanent archive. Hey, charter provide my primary email address, and I can't even get email on it. I thought the buzzword was convergence?

My (biased) conclusion:
This is a temporary solution to a (hopefully) temporary problem; its role - to record standard network shows week in, week out, for immediate viewing and deleting - it admittedly does well in our A/V setup. But that's it. Just seeing and experiencing what the *corporations* have to offer has given me a much deeper gratitude/ respect/ love for GB-PVR specifically and non-M$ HTPC in general. I love having MY tv/ videos/ music/ whatever available thoughout the house, ON MY TERMS, and it is becoming increasing apparent to me that it only through people like sub, software like GBPVR, and developers like Reven, UncleJohnsBand, Jorm (apologies to those I forgot), that I will be able to do what I WANT with my stuff I have paid for.

More power to you.