So I love my new cable box that I got last Fall via my cable provider, Millenium Digital Media. It gives me roughly 9 channels of HD included and I could add-on another 6 not exciting channels (the only good one is ESPN HD and I don’t want to pay extra $10/mo just for that).  I currently use DVI for video and the digital audio output.  It works great, except for the occasional drop in audio, which I attribute to my Kenwood stereo for being a fairly cheap surround sound setup which gets confused by the 5.1 digital audio changes from show to show.  My HD DVR box is also a Motorola box with dual tuners, which allows me to record 2 shows and watch a recorded show at the same time.  The software isn’t great, but it works for the most part.  It gets hung on trying to watch deleted shows and currently MDM is having problems with the NBC HD broadcast, which is mighty annoying.

I was browsing the web and saw a post by Alex Scoble who hates his Comcast DVR and referenced Scott Hanselman who also didn’t like his DVR.  I know Castle and Schlosser have a Comcast box from the Seattle area with the Microsoft software, but I haven’t looked at the back of theirs from a hardware perspective.  I know it has dual-tuners, but not sure about HDMI or DVI.  It seems to be way faster than the old OS, and still faster than Tivo and my MDM box.  Guys, want to chime in on your feedback on the device?

I prefer this box to my Tivo (use for basic analog tv) since I think Tivo is behind on the technology front.  Requiring a phone line or ethernet, no cable HD box, and no dual-tuner.  I pay an extra $10/mo for the DVR, and I didn’t have to buy the hardware.  I won’t be moving to a Tivo unless they step up to play with the big boys at Motorola and Microsoft.  Some partnerships with local cable companies would really help them out instead of being an independant provider.