price wise, maybe as i pointed out buying a used tivo xl with a lifetime subscription would give you a much bigger hard drive (1tb) and only cost the fee for a cable card. i would also argue that tivos don't have the software problems that some bhn boxes have. last bhn box i used was a samsung. while it was better than those old SA boxes, i would still choose tivo. plus newer boxes have 4 tuners in them!
No doubt the tivo hardware/software is better. But I think he was trying to lower his bill not increase it.