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HD DVR options for Cable Customers?

The vast majority of america's tech community has the same question: I am a cable customer today, and want to use HD services from the cable company WITH DVR capabilities. What can I do?

Details: Comcast keeps delaying their own Motorolla DVR boxes, and the early units are getting poor reviews. Tivo hasn't (won't?) come out with an "open format" HD DVR to plug into the back of a cable box. Panasonic, Sony, and a bunch of small vendors are pitching HD DVR's (many with MSFT's new Media Center OS), but it's unclear if the cable companies block all, some, or none of these from supporting HD recording?

I'm in the middle of a massive home media center upgrade, and am totally frozen right now because of this -- I don't want to switch to Direct TV because they don't have local HD signals, Comcast isn't going to solve this soon because their DVR isn't close to TIVO quality, and the open format strong brand-name HD DVR's don't seem to work with cable. What is my best option?
-- Byron Deeter

by Matt Haughey October 14, 2004 in Comcast, DVR, TV & HDTV

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