thinking of changing to charter phone/internet

[king3pj]

what do you guys thinks about tivos and how much are tivos i am thinking about switching to charter or direct tv

The Tivo Roamio line is great. In my opinion, the only thing the hopper did better was prime time anytime/auto-hop. The Tivo can do everything else as good if not better. If you don't have to have the latest and greatest you can get an older model with lifetime service on Ebay and save a bit of money.

It's also the best Netflix/Amazon device on the market as far as I'm concerned. I own several streaming devices (Apple TV, Roku, PS3, PS4, and Xbox One) and it's the only one that outputs 24Hz content natively. The Xbox One and PS4 do this for blu-ray movies but not streaming content. The rest of my devices convert to 60Hz before outputting it to the TV.

If you have a TV that can handle 24Hz content natively it's a much smoother experience. It takes out all the judder I normally get on panning shots. The Roamio also works well enough with Hulu Plus and MLB.tv. Hulu's interface look's terrible on the Tivo compared to the Xbox One's interface though.

 

[Chuck W]

I just switched to Charter a few days ago and went with a Roamio and one mini for now(keeping one Charter DVR for VOD). I switched because doing the Charter triple play would save me about $125/mo over Directv+Charter internet/Phone. However, the issue is, I went to cancel Directv(been with them for 16 YEARS) and they gave me such a great price to stay(for one year, but with no contracts involved... month to month), it would be $30 LESS a month with the new Directv price+Charter Internet/Phone vs the Charter triple play. So now I am completely on the fence for several reasons.

1. Being with Directv for 16 years, I was in shock as to how much FASTER the Roamio(heck even the Charter DVR) was, compared to my HR34/HR24s(I have am HR34+2 HR24s+1 HR20). It's kind of sad how slow the Directv receivers are these days.

2. Charter's HD lineup actually has a several MORE HD channels than Directv in comparing channels.

3. I would actually get my NY Rangers on MSG. With Directv, they don't pay Cablevision for the "outer ring" of viewership, which I am in(the retention specialist said they recently resolved this but I think she was blowing smoke).

4. The Charter channel organization seems like it was done by a kindergartener. Other than the Premiums(which are the same numbers as Directv), the rest of the channels are a complete cluster____. The locals aren't matched to their actual channel(Fox 61 is channel 6, WVIT 30 is channel 4). On top of that, the like channels are not together, so all the ESPN channels are strewn all over the 700's as opposed to being next to each other like Directv. Plus there are SD and HD duplicates all over the map(seems tho all HD is 700+, minus the premiums).

5. Charter's DVRs suck. They are not linked and have an SD guide and menus, but the Roamio helps here.

6. Charter's HD is Mpeg2 vs Mpeg4 on Directv. At times the difference is noticeable.

I guess why I am on the fence is while Directv would now save me about $30/mo, that Roamio/Min make the Charter experience excellent, plus I'd still have my NY Rangers issue with Directv. So it's a tough call.

As a side note, took me only about 10 minutes to get the cablecard activated over the phone with Charter. The issue I had was not waiting long enough on the Tuning Adapter to finally sync the first time... kept calling them thinking there was an issue.

 

[old corps]

Chuck-Same thing happened to me when I called to cancel Dish to go with Charter. I've been with them for 16 years as well. They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse, also no contract. When the year of credits comes to an end I'll be calling them again to cancel for Charter and I WILL cancel if they don't come up with a similar offer.
Best of luck with your decision.

Ed

 

[Chuck W]

Well, mine was too good to be true. I knew something was up when I asked her to email me the details of how she was getting to the price she threw out and when I got the email, all it was was a generic email with no specifics. When I called back last night, the person I spoke with had no idea how she got to the price she threw out(it was about $150/mo LESS than what I was paying now... which is why I was skeptical). She said the notes she put were 3 month pricing on certain things.

After talking with the person for 15 minute or so, it was evident that she couldn't touch the price I was getting with Charter's triple play. The closest she came was about $5 higher but without any premium channels. The Charter price included HBO/MAX/SHO. Adding those in would have added about $30 more a month. So I reluctantly cancelled.

I was disappointed that they couldn't match Charter's price, at least for a year, considering the amount of money I had given them over my 16 years.

Oh well, off to Tivo Roamio land for a while.

 

[old corps]

Wow, sorry they reneged on the offer-that sucks. Dish did follow through. $50 off @ month for a year and they upgraded me one package. I'm half way through the year now. We'll see what happens when it's up. BTW, I appreciate your initial post with the differences between Direct & Charter some of which sound kinda lousy. Guess there's no perfect provider. One of the things I dread about switching is reeducating myself and especially the wife on using a new system and Charter doesn't sound very user friendly, at least as far as channel placement.

Ed

 

[mdavej]

Oh well, off to Tivo Roamio land for a while.

In case you aren't aware, there's an amazing deal on Roamio with lifetime right now. I just picked up one myself.

http://www.techhive.com/article/296...etime-service-deal-as-new-hardware-looms.html

Get your old style Minis on Amazon for $100 a pop and possibly a bigger hard drive for the Roamio, and you're set.

Having defected from Dish a few years ago, and from DirecTV before that, I'm loving the new Charter. They have far more HD and most of my local sub-channels. So no OTA is needed. And you can't beat the Silver package in terms of value. Far better and cheaper than anything the satellite providers offer.

I've been running Windows Media Center for the past few years. It's been mostly trouble-free, but the current Tivo deal was too good to pass up (I went for the refurb Roamio basic). In any case, Charter plus cable card has saved me a ton of money and given me far more content.

Enjoy

 

[Chuck W]

Yea, I picked up a refurbished roamio to go with the Roamio plus I had gotten. The Roamio with the minis gets me pretty close to what I had with Directv (Genie and 3 dvrs all linked). Only thing I may miss is the 90 minute buffer on Directv vs on 30 minutes on the roamio.

As for channels, Charter has really upped their game and actually has more than Directv, at least for what we watch. They aren't quite as good as Directv visually but close.

Only real issue I have is the complete mess of channel numbers. There's very little rhyme or reason to them. Fox 61 is channel... 6 NBC 30 is channel...5? WTH? None of the like channels are together so things like the ESPN channels are all over the place and not next to each other. A kindergartener could organize this better. Plus Directv has the SD version hidden if there is HD. With Charter they both exist. Only good thing is the HD is all in the 700+. I'll get use to it though.

 

[mdavej]

I don't have my Roamio yet, but the last time I used a Premiere you could simply hide any channels you choose. First thing I do when setting up any system is hide all the SD channels, except for the few that have no HD version. Knocks my 700+ list down to about 200. Add a couple of favorites lists to pare down even more.

The only thing about Tivo I'll have trouble getting used to again is no Stop button. I guess Live or Tivo is the best substitute for that?

 

[king3pj]

I don't have my Roamio yet, but the last time I used a Premiere you could simply hide any channels you choose. First thing I do when setting up any system is hide all the SD channels, except for the few that have no HD version. Knocks my 700+ list down to about 200. Add a couple of favorites lists to pare down even more.

The only thing about Tivo I'll have trouble getting used to again is no Stop button. I guess Live or Tivo is the best substitute for that?

Yeah, I don't have any of the SD channels in my guide except for the local subchannels. I turn on the Weather Nation subchannel sometimes tornado watches/warnings.

 

[jcanavera]

We've been less than pleased with Charters support services. My son was losing HD channels and stayed home from work a couple of times to wait for service. In both cases they said the problem was in the outside network in the neighborhood and the problems were resolved. The third time it happened again he told the contact that he could not take off of work again and the problem has always been in the neighborhood, not on his premise. They refused to come out and he went to satellite.

I have Internet only with Charter and was experiencing intermittent loss of signal. I called on and off for over a week only to be told that they couldn't send anyone out unless I was having a hard failure that they could detect remotely. I told them that that line of thinking was unacceptable and insisted that they send out a tech. Once here the tech said he initially didn't see a problem but said with the underground wiring being 25 years old, he'd replace everything from their distribution box in the back yard to the splitter inside the house. Since that has been done, I haven't had a failure since. Bottom line I stay with them because of the speed of their a Internet, but won't consider them for phone or TV due to their lack of good customer service when problems occur.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[mdavej]

Yeah, a while back it took me 3 months to get an issue resolved. Granted, it was hard to prove and even harder for them to find (kind of like when your car makes that noise, but never when you take it to the dealership). But they eventually got it fixed. Since only one channel that I rarely watched was affected, it didn't really bother me. I eventually added their phone service too, so I'm all in. Besides that one issue, they've been very responsive about everything else.

I figure no company is perfect. With Dish, I'd lose channels in dispute for months on end and live with unfixed Hopper bugs even longer. With DirecTV, my DVRs would be slow as molasses, and they'd be just as slow adding new HD channels. Pick your poison.

 

[coolman302003]

I figure no company is perfect. With Dish, I'd lose channels in dispute for months on end and live with unfixed Hopper bugs even longer. With DirecTV, my DVRs would be slow as molasses, and they'd be just as slow adding new HD channels. Pick your poison.

It really depends on what channels you watch, sports is where Charter truly lacks. They don't have MLB EI, NBA LP/NBA TV, NHL CI, NFL ST, MLS Direct Kick etc. In many areas they lack carrying all the local sports since in many areas they don't carry additional RSN alternates. But, different strokes for different folks as I realize some folks don't watch or desire the extra sports DirecTV offers....

 

[Chuck W]

It really depends on what channels you watch, sports is where Charter truly lacks. They don't have MLB EI, NBA LP/NBA TV, NHL CI, NFL ST, MLS Direct Kick etc. In many areas they lack carrying all the local sports since in many areas they don't carry additional RSN alternates. But, different strokes for different folks as I realize some folks don't watch or desire the extra sports DirecTV offers....

They do have MLB EI and NHL CI but only in SD. So yea, kinda sucks there. As for the alternates, from what I'm told by people I know who have Charter in my area is that while they may not carry say MSG2 full time, if there is a game on that channel that we are supposed to see, they will put it on. You just need to hunt down where it is.

 

[RichManitoba]

You really should consider them for TV as well. They have tons more HD (80 more channels at least) and better picture quality (actual 1920x1080 rather than 1440x1080). You can roll your own whole home DVR essentially for free. I have a 6 tuner Ceton, Windows Media Center and 5 Ceton Echo extenders. So I have all my subscribed channels and recordings in 6 rooms with no Charter boxes. That's the equivalent of a dual Hopper - 4 Joey system for $2/month versus close to $50 I was paying with Dish. You could also do it with Tivo and lifetime if you prefer. Charter's own DVR still sucks, so I wouldn't even consider that if I were you. Lastly, they've never removed channels due to disputes as far as I can remember. That's what made me drop Dish in the first place, in addition to the high cost.

Almost forgot, their programming packages are much better as well. Their $80 package has far more channels than AT 250 and also includes HBO/SHO/MAX, making far cheaper than Dish for programming alone. With a promo, it would be closer to $60.

About a year ago, I quit DirecTv and went with Charter TV. I already have internet & phone. I got a great package and price for 3 years. The problem was, when they installed, the billing was not even close to what I was sold on the phone. I told them to check the recording because I knew what was promised. 1 week later, they called me and said, ......" we were unable to retrieve the recording and you have to settle for what was delivered". I told them absolutely not, was on the phone with DirecTV who cut me a new deal, and totally took out all Charter TV equipment and told them to come and get it. They did, and NEVER EVEN ASKED WHY!

I do like the internet, even though outages seem frequent. I seem to reset my modem at least weekly.