Whole Home PVR in Rogers Atlantic

[Micheljleger]

I convinced Rogers to give me the ``new Whole home PVR boxes free`` deal. You get 2 new Motorolla MOCA boxes free (to keep, not rentals) if you commit to a 2 year cable/internet term. (I guess they are feeling the pinch from FiberOP 2.0)


They came to install a DCX 3400M and a DCX 700M. The boxes work much better than the Standard definition boxes I had previously. There's a nice new menu and guide and the boxes respond much faster to commands.

I didnt previously have a PVR, but recorded a few shows on my new PVR and my hard drive was about 20% full so I needed more storage space.

I asked Rogers if there was an expansion option and nobody would give me an answer so I decided to try it for myself.

I ordered a Shaw 1TB PVR extender since Shaw uses the DCX-3400 box and their website said it was compatible with the box. I bought the drive online from Best Buy for $99 with free snail mail shipping, so worse case if it didnt work I just bought an Iomega ESATA external drive for $100 that I could use for storage with my laptop.

http://www.***********/en-CA/product...7a381af997en02

I got the Shaw labeled box with the Iomega drive inside and hooked it up by following the Motorolla Instructions (see link below) and the box asked me to format the drive, I loked at my % full and I am now at 7%, so success in just a few minutes and so far so good no errors or missed recordings.

http://www.motorola.com/staticfiles/...er%20Guide.pdf

Results may vary, but it worked for me so if your willing to gamble $100 its worth a shot.

I bet Rogers will price the PVR extender for this box higher than $99 if they decide to start selling it, the 1 TB PVR extender for Ontario Rogers customers sells for $179.

Just an FYI. The Hard drive only has ESATA connections and no USB, so if it doesnt work with your PVR and you want to use it on a PC or laptop you will need an ESATA connection, unless you crack open the case and take out the hard drive.

[lajohn27]

Ok .. so I had this installed by Rogers last week.

In classic "true to form for Rogers" capacity.. the box authorization from head end took two full days ... due to the system that authorizes boxes being down for an extended time during my install.

The install cost was $49.95. I called Rogers while waiting for the authorization and requested and got a credit for the cost of the install. There is no monthly charge for this. I do not pay for my boxes under a deal I worked out with retention last year.

So how does it work? Pretty well. There are some anomaly's when fastforwarding, 7 second rewind or what have you.. but generally speaking this works well..

Also true to Roger's typical "the customer knows more than their staff" -- the tech who installed it informed we could NOT set recordings from the non-PVR box.

Of course, he was wrong. I can set recordings on either box and the PVR unit will record them.

As much as I might like to consider another provider, the only option I have in my current dwelling is Rogers. So I figured I'd try to make the best of it.

[can6rxw]

I called Rogers a couple months back when I found out they had the new boxes out in Fredericton (I called the actual store). They told me to come on up and they'd change the HDPVR I had, 6416, for the new one. So, I took this home and hooked her up and it looked fine, no real issues. I noticed I had more recording space so I suspect it has a 250 gig drive as opposed to the 160 gig. I record only HD content and I can now have 10-12 HD 1 hour TV shows recorded and it only show as 25-30 percent full. I wonder if they did something with the compression (?)

I have noticed that when I FF, it does so faster than before. It was painful on the old box FF a show an hour long and you starting at the beginning and going to like the 40 minute mark.

I did notice in F'ton that they added a bunch of new HD channels. Problem with that is, that was the reason I got my discount, so I'll have to think of another one. My deals are done so I have to re-negotiate.

[can6rxw]

The following day that I got the new box, I went up to the store to take my old one back and they guy told me that Rogers told them that night that no one gets the new boxes unless they order the Whole-Home Service. I guess I lucked out!!

I wanted to clarify that so no one expected to change their old one and were told no.

[can6rxw]

Did you sign a contract with them? Also, I need to call Rogers to negotiate with them, do you have any suggestions on how to get the PVR's free?

[woodsie]

Can6:

Call them and tell them you want to negotiate a contract price as you've been shopping around. If you sign into a 1 year contract ask for a free PVR for the term + a discount to stay w/them. Get pricing from Aliant as ammo. They are still reasonable but not as much as last year BTW.. Oh, and make sure you speak to the retention dept because tier 1 CSRs have zero negotiating power.

[lajohn27]

I did not negotiate a contract..

They screwed up my last move really bad.. to the point where I was without services for weeks.. (back in February) .. so I asked for and received the boxes free for a year.

In your situation -- The Bell-Aliant TV offer includes whole home pvr... so.. you could use that angle.

And one other piece of good news.. the new black Motorola PVR boxes.. have an eSATA port.. and it DOES function. I attached a 1 TB eSATA drive and the PVR formatted it up and it greatly increased my recording capacity.

Knox

[TheHulk]

Where are you guys getting your esata external drives?

[lajohn27]

Mine came from Futureshop I believe.. not 100% sure as it was a gift.

[TheHulk]

Tried there and Costco, no eSata, all USB, tried the Shaw website, no go, it's uner construction for that option.

I'll have to keep my eyes open I guess, Rogers dosn't offer one either, went right to the store.

[Tridus]

Here's some options/ eSATA isn't nearly as popular as USB is simply because USB is on every computer and eSATA isn't. You might have to just order it.

[Micheljleger]

You can still get a 1TB drive from Best Buy for $99 with free shipping (on any order over $20) Thats where I got mine and it works 100%.

Go to Best Buy site and search for ``Shaw PVR Expander``. The drive they have last time I checked was an Iomega eSATA drive.

Guaranteed compatible since Shaw uses the Moto DCX 3400 in some markets.

I do not work for Best Buy, but the price seems pretty good, especially when it includes shipping.

[TheHulk]

I bought both of these boxes and have them authorized through Rogers but the 700 can't access the 3400, it keeps telling me to contact Rogers support, yup sure another 45.00 service call, is there anything I can do or check before I make that call to them? Both boxes work fine other than this.

[Danster]

Hey buddy, long time to speak! Can't you get Fibre Op where you live? You would have so much less grief if you did.

Aside from that, just a wild guess, do both boxes have the same firmware? If it's like our VIP boxes, one has to say it's the boss and the other know their place. To me it sounds like they both want to be the big shot.

[Stefer]

Hey TheHulk, i had the same problem too! The tech didn't put filters in + he had to call to let them know the filters were in. Just call.. they didn't charge me for install, as he was suppose to do it when he came anyway and he didn't. They have a few new techs to do installs and they don't always do 100%, thats what happened in my case, he didn't know better.
Thing is, the filters are so that neighbors don't access your box, for one thing, and more importantly, to not screw with phone modem and internet modem frequencies.