My start in the PVR world was with Dish Network's PVR. While it's not as smart as TiVo, it does have one function that I'm missing more and more: a 300x fast-forward feature. You can crank through a program at that speed!
In contrast, TiVo seems to drag, even at the highest fast-forward speed. Of course, I use the 30-second commercial skip hack, so I'm not using the fast forward as often as I might otherwise.
Now I'm waiting for Charter Communications to roll out PVR service in my area. Does anyone know if Charter has a super fast-forward feature, or does it roll along at about the same TiVo speed?
Also, for those of you with Charter's PVR, can you tell me if it has any other interesting features I should look forward to?
1. Charter has a few different models - do you know which one you're getting?
I've seen the SA8000/8000HD, IIRC that's rev'd to the SA83000 now. As I recall FF was about the same as TiVo. My parents have an SA8000 and it is, perhaps, the worst consumer electronics device I have ever had the displeasure of using. And that's ignoring the fact they had one just up and die and need to be replaced, and that, independent of that event, it also just up and forgot all the programmed records one day. Just bad - I've posted more than once about it in alt.video.ptv.tivo and elsewhere. I don't know that the 8300 has any major improvements.
Posted at 4:20PM on Jun 16th 2005 by MegaZone