The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Just wondering whether anybody on the boards here has Cox cable TV and is using the Cox DVR recorder.

We currently have Cox cable at my mom's house, and I use the settop box to program a couple days' TV for her. However, the settop box only has 8 "events," so that really limits how much we can program, especially since I'm not there every day. I'm wondering whether, if we got the DVR, it would give us a lot more programmable events without requiring her to know how to use the box. Also, her home care person sometimes puts the TV on some channel so they can watch a particular show and doesn't put it back on the Food Network or whatever, so I'd want to use one event just to make sure it's back where we want it when the home care person leaves. We don't need to be able to access any of the HBO type premium channels, just up to channel 107 or higher, don't need HD or any of that.

Basically, what I want to do is to be able to program a lot of channel changes over a couple days, so that any time she turns on the TV, it is on something she might enjoy. She shouldn't have to press any "play" buttons or select programs or any of that, I just want more control (more events) over what's being actively watched. So... does anybody here have the Cox DVR unit (I'm assuming here it is a separate piece of hardware), will it do what I want, and roughly what does it cost to rent / purchase?

The Cox website seems to be particularly useless in terms of explaining the features, but if somebody can point me to a page that would answer these questions, that'd be great, too... I've looked and haven't found anything...

By the way... when we researched this stuff, it seemed like DirectTV did not provide the ability to program in channel changes at specific times, but if I'm wrong about that and it offers more events, we could be talked into changing, too... Qwest offers that service here in Phoenix.

Thanks,
Charles (KA)

I don't know about that box, but this is the TIVO method to achieve that:
- subscribe to the various shows at their various times (the basic DVR functionality),
- set to keep only one episode of any show
- set to delete when space is needed

Then it will always change channels in order to record the shows desired and never not record anything due to saved shows. Though it looks like she'll never watch it off the recorder, the mechanism to record will therefore enable her to watch the show as it is being recorded.

I have the Cox DVR. It really is great with a few small changes I'd like make if I redesigned it. But right out of the box it works great and is very easy to understand.
The pros:
1. You can record two programs at once (it has two hard drives)
2. You can tell it to record the entire season of a show you like.
3. You can tell it to either record new first run shows or to record first run and re-runs.
4. If you try to program a show at a certain time, but you already have two recording at that particular time, it will give other times that the other shows run on other networks or repeat time of that show. IE: The Daily show repeats 3 or 4 times a day.
5. If someone changes the channel, it will still record the show that you told it to.
6. If the hard drive is full, which has never happened to me, it will delete the oldest show recorded if you didn't tag it to save until you decide to delete it.
7. If you are watching a show in real time, you can pause' (that's French for stop) and then fast forward through commercials, etc. I'm always rewinding to hear what what said, etc.
8. That's all I can think of right now.

The cons:
1. If two shows are recording at the same time, you can't change the channel. You either have to watch one of the two show, or stop recording one of the two shows and tell to record the next repeat of that episode.
2. I guess that's my only complaint. But, you can buy a DVR with more than two hard drives, I just haven't had a big enough of a need for it I guess. But I did notice that AT&T is pushing their service and offering a 4 HD DVR, so that mean you can record 4 shows at once, or 3 record 3 shows and still flip through the channels. I'm sure I'll have this soon.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the responses.

BLT, to re-ask my original questions -

- you can use this box to control what you're actually seeing on the TV, right? (see my original question about its intended use)
- relatively large number of programming events, right? Like, lots more than 8?
- rough cost to rent / purchase - any monthly fees on top of the cost of the unit?

Thanks,
Charles (KA)

I'm not sure how many shows can be programed. Our program list has over 30 shows programed to be recorded each week. The only limitation is that it can only record two at the same time. So if Dancing with the Tards and American Tarddol came on at 8:00pm, you can record those two, but nothing else until those shows end at 9:00pm.
But yes, you can program one time to record an entire season of a show and you can program as many as you want. So 8 shows is nothing, as long as all 8 don't come on at the same time.

Cost is $8 extra per month and it includes the DVR/digital receiver combo unit, hand held remote with the DVR buttons and the on screen service. You can purchase your own DVR and just pay for the service. Not sure of the cost of the service alone. Thinking about it, I'm not even sure if there is a special on screen service or if it's just something in the DVR program.

I'm trying to understand your question about make it only show programs she might like when she turns on the TV.
The only way I can think of this happening would be to go into you TV programing features and do a channel skip or set up type thing where it only shows channels that you tell it to. But you don't need a DVR for that.
To watch recorded shows on the DVR, she will have to hit the button on the remote control that says, "DVR LIST" which pops up the programs that have been recorded, then use the up/down arrow to highlight the show she wants to watch and click select. I know what you're after because my Mother in law gets very confused with technology. But I showed her one time and she uses her DVR with no trouble. They make it very easy to understand. MUCH MUCH easier than a VCR. In fact, I equate the difficult factor of using the COX DVR the same as picking up a telephone and dialing a number, except the remote is the telephone and the phone number is on speed dial.
.....I suck at analogies.

Yeah, I believe I outlined the steps to achieve what you want, KA (having the TV tuned to desired shows through-out the day). While a DVR is overkill for that, I don't know of any simple programmable channel switchers.

TIVO is insanely intuitive, even for my in-laws in their 80s. So, to BLT's point, she may not have that much trouble with navigating the recorded shows on a DVR. Then she can pick what she wants to watch from known shows rather than just watch what's on at that time (live TV is so 90s). I don't know how we ever lived without DVRs. It is an entirely different experience.

And to BLT's other point, a VCR isn't even a reference point here. Using a DVR is absolutely NOTHING like using a VCR. The VCR was basically a torture device imposed on western society to create anxiety and promote low self esteem. Now I realize that you never even mentioned VCRs, but we seem to feel this is somehow relevant to the discussion at hand.

And yes, the box changes the channel of the TV in order to receive the show.

roymond wrote:And yes, the box changes the channel of the TV in order to receive the show.

Well, only if both HDs are recording a show at the same time, I think. If you are watching a show, it won't change to a channel of a show being recorded if there is only one show being recorded at that time. On mine, the little red light comes on telling me it's recording Debbie Does Dallas, while I'm watching Where the Boys Aren't.

Thanks for the info. This is a person who is having trouble answering her phone even after we removed the handset and covered up every button except the speaker on / off button. All she would be doing is turning her TV on and off, I would be going into the DVR and telling it what shows she likes... or maybe more to the point, telling it to change to Animal Planet at 6 a.m. (since Food Network is all infomercials in the morning), then change to Food Network once the cooking shows start, switch over to Fox Sports if there's a Diamondbacks game on, etc. Record "Walker Texas Ranger" tonight at 10 pm, but don't record EVERY WTR episode...

I just want to be able to set it up so that when she turns the TV on, whenever, it will be on a channel she stands a good chance of liking. Actually, I suppose there is a difference between that and "record all episodes of Dog Whisperer," so I guess that's more to the point - if I set it to record Rachael Ray on Food Network at 3 pm, will it continue to give her cooking shows until 7 pm when I tell it to record something on some other channel? I realize this is a major under-use of the technology, but it's what I want to do, and eight bucks a month to do that is a bargain...

Charles (KA)

I'm trying to think of how to do that. The first thing that comes to mind is to record at the same time the same show that you want her to watch. That way it switches the channel to that automatically. But I'm sure there's a better way. Let me think about this. I'll look at my DVR features when I get home and try to see if I can program it to switch channels at set times.
And yes, you can tell it to record WTR - Walker punches evil doers in the head when they try to steal his something or other, next thursday, at 6:00pm. (only this show).

sigh....how wonderful it must be to live in a country where there are actually television programmes you want to record

oh well, what's on Shortland Street this week:

...Sophie opts to give baby-sitting a try and volunteers to look after Maia's baby Jay. But with no prior experience with children under her belt, Sophie's first babysitting experience may prove to be her last. How will she cope with a major baby breakdown? What transpires is not to be missed! All will be revealed in upcoming episodes of New Zealand's favourite serial drama!

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/site_index_skin/ ... ndex_group