Today marks the first time in nearly a decade where I didn’t have at least one TiVo active in the house. Last Sunday, we re-subscribed to the more-than-basic cable — back to Time Warner’s digital cable tier. While the cost savings of just paying for the basic level of cable were great, we came crawling back for a number of reasons:
1. TiVo
Read my earlier post about how TiVo has let me down. But the short story is TiVo’s hardware and software have allowed competitors to catch up, and TiVo’s quality control has gone way south. We’ve gone through three TiVo HD’s in as many years. There’s also the complexity of the TiVo HD — and this is in no way TiVo’s fault. To get all the channels we wanted while we had digital cable and TiVo HD, we needed the TiVo HD hardware, SDV Adapter and a mCard cable card. Whenever anything went wrong, it was a major pain in the butt to diagnose which piece was the culprit, and TiVo and Time Warner both liked to blame the other.
2. High Definition
Reverting back to basic cable meant we were back to standard definition. I just couldn’t do it. I thought we’d just get the networks via an over-the-air antenna, but our neighborhood is just too far away to do OTA broadcasts without a behemoth of an antenna mounted on the roof. I’m too lazy and too cheap to buy it, install and wire it. Cable was an easier option, albeit more expensive in the long run. Now the two TVs we watch the most have HD again, complete with HD recording. Sure, I can do the same for around the same price with a pair of TiVo HD’s, but I don’t have the faith that the hardware is going to last, making if a very pricey gamble.
3. Sports
We’re too into sports to not have all the options available. I wanted ESPN* and Fox Sports South to maximize my Tar Heels basketball and football games. Truth be told, we’re pretty religious about watching the Sprint Cup series, and only the first third of the season is available on Fox. Then it’s onto TNT and ESPN for the remainder.
4. Variety
My wife missed more channels than she’d like to admit — CNN, Travel Channel and Food Network to name a few that she’s already dived back into wholeheartedly.
So while the TiVo is still smoother and less clunky than the Time Warner DVRs, we really just wanted to simplify our technology a smidge. Sadly, I thought TiVo was going to put up more of a fight for a nearly ten-year old customer. In the end, we’re going to try to adjust to the Time Warner HD DVRs less-responsiveness and are trying to appreciate the simplification of our technology. Time Warner is far from our favorite company, but they are providing the television content we want.