XfinityTV and Equipment

[wvacca]

I want to buy a better dvr and get out of the monthly rental fee.  how about the cable modem??

[JayInAlg]

Your only choice for a DVR is a Tivo, which has both monthly or lifetime fees for the Tivo service and the monthly cable card fee from Comcast.  There is no free DVR that can receive the encrypted digitai channels.  Available from Tivo.com and Best Buy, there are several models, both 2 and 4 tuners.

If you don't have phone with Comcast, you can buy any D3 cable modem, the best model is the Zoom 5341J available online here or some Best Buys.

If you have CDV, there is one choice and it is difficult to find.  Arris TM722G only sold at select Best Buy's with Comcast Connection Centers.  Purchase from Best Buy and the on site Comcast rep adds it to your account.  Some area's allow self install, some a tech needs to come out.  Find the list of BB's with Connection Centers here.  These eMTA's sell for $150.

[edpeters]

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wvacca wrote:

I want to buy a better dvr and get out of the monthly rental fee.  how about the cable modem??

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Cable modems can be found for as little at $45.xx.  Look at the features and only pay for what you actually need.  I self-installed mine with no problems at all.  Besides Tivo, there are also Tuners that allow you to record Comcast cable with your PC.  I have one PC running Windows XP (without Windows Media Center) with a couple of Clear QAM/OTA tuners, and another PC running Windows 7 (with Windows Media Center) that has a QAM tuner (3-tuner) with a cable card to record encrypted channels.

[RighteousGrabe]

you can still roll your own media center (i.e. turn a windows 7 device or similar into your DVR). Windows 7 and most earlier ones come with Media Center

You would need to pick up something like a home run prime ($250) or a Ceton 4 tuner device ($199)

both devices would still require the cable card, which is a $1.50 per month charge or so.

Tivo is the option I go with . . but there is a monthly charge with that.