Walt Mossberg reviews HD DVRs (with video), pitting the Tivo Series 3 against Comcast’s DVR. The Tivo wins in functionality by the land slide, though the price still gives him pause:
So, why not just stick with the high-definition DVR supplied by the cable company? After all, while it isn’t free, it’s cheaper than the TiVo.
The answer is that, at least in my recent experience with the nation’s biggest cable company, Comcast, the high-definition DVR it supplies is just awful. If cable boxes were sold at retail like consumer-electronics devices, the Comcast DVR I tested, built by Motorola, would get creamed by better competitors.
His last point underlines the problem of an uneven playing field. With dominant cable monopolies skewing prices in much of the country, there’s almost no competitive market for independent DVRs.
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