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Television Media Microsoft

Comcast Drops Microsoft 146

Posted by kdawson from the blue-screen-of-television dept.
Frosty Piss writes "Comcast plans to drop Microsoft's television software and on-screen program guide from its digital cable boxes. The cable company will replace the Microsoft technology with GuideWorks software — Comcast is a part owner of GuideWorks. Comcast has been the lone cable company in the US using Microsoft technology for set-top boxes, and only in the state of Washington, Microsoft's back yard." The Microsoft offering has a solid presence in Latin America. The company is no longer trying very hard to market it here at home.
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Comcast Drops Microsoft More

Comcast Drops Microsoft

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  • Guideworks sounds better than MS... ...but does it run Linux? If not, what?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Afrosheen ( 42464 )
      Of course I'm subject to correction, but I'm thinking it runs on VxWorks. Alot of embedded devices use it these days.

  • Good riddance (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Aqua OS X ( 458522 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @02:59PM (#19134671)
    I had no idea MS was to blame for that god awful cable box software. I thought that was Motorola's doing.

    Nevertheless, good riddance ... nuff said
    • The MS software was only used in Washington state. The rest of the country used non-MS software.
      • So being close to Redmond was what saddled me with this crap DVR software? I never switched back to Tivo for two reasons... 1: Dual tuner HDTV capable DVR, 2: cost was $5 a month more than a regular box. For a long time, Tivo's offerings just couldn't offer the "record two shows at once" or "record HDTV" capability. By the time they did, the cost for a new box and the service was so prohibitive.

        But the "Microsoft Powered" box would take a command (like fast forward) and get stuck for a minute or two,

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Richard McBeef ( 1092673 )
      If it didn't say "Powered by Microsoft" in the upper right corner, you weren't using Microsoft.

    • Re:Good riddance (Score:5, Informative)

      by Fizzog ( 600837 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:41PM (#19135433)
      Not sure why the parent is Flamebait.

      The previous software was cheesy but it had lots of options to customise how you used it. It didn't look pretty but it did a decent job.

      I remember when Comcast were advertising that they were changing to the MS software. They claimed it would perform better and would have many great new features. It performs considerably worse, has no new features, and several features of the previous software were not available.

      The MS software is really poor. Performance is terrible, navigation is a pain, options that should exist don't and it never does what you think it should.

      I'm glad they are changing to something else, it *has* to be better than the MS guide.

      • My Microsoft powered Comcast DVR is very unstable. It spontaneously reboots three of four times a week, and regularly becomes utterly unresponsive (generally when the thing is fast forwarding - maybe that's a nefarious scheme to make me quit skipping commercials). About ten percent of my recorded programs get interrupted by something or other. This thing doesn't provide anything close to the user experience that a Tivo does; it's not even close.
        • The reboot is triggered by Comcast, software updates, technical support fixes, etc. It is unresponsive when it is deleting something. Cheap hardware is the main cause of this. Software won't be able to fix it. Your programs get interrupted by the emergency broadcast system, Amber alerts and what not. This is something they need to work around. The emergency broadcasts could pop up a software alert, it doesn't have to interrupt programming with the on-demand capabilities. That way you wouldn't have to watc

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by cayenne8 ( 626475 )
            "This issue is no better with Tivo, Tivo just doesn't tell you that 3 minutes of your show is an emergency broadcast. Now all the ads that they keep adding to the guide, and the way they abbreviate show titles while they haven't yet used HALF the length of the guide entry, now that is stupid software problems. Having to press 3 numbers (002) to change the channel, while the "enter" button does nothing, now that is stupid. I liked being able to press "2" and sit and wait for it to change the channel."

            Dang!

      • FTA:

        "Some Comcast customers have encountered glitches when using the cable set-top boxes running the Microsoft software, such as a lack of responsiveness. However, Kipp said there haven't been any out-of-the-ordinary problems, and he said nothing along those lines played into the decision to make the switch.

        "Graczyk said some problems were caused by the firmware on the cable devices, which Microsoft doesn't provide. He noted that Communications Technology named Comcast's Washington region overall the "

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Octopus ( 19153 )
      You didn't notice the "Microsoft Enhanced" logo in the corner?

      Good riddance. Awful interface, very laggy on user interaction. I have it here in Seattle.
    • No, that guide you're using isn't Microsoft, it's probably the same one I have to use, where they recently released an update that replaced one of the lines of programming in the guide with an ad bar that you're forced to scroll over now. You have it backward. Yeah I hate that software too, I wish I could use the MS software. I guess they're making more ad revenue with this guideworks crap.
    • Hallelujah! My dual-tuner HD box from Comcast running the M$ s/w SUX! I was hoping they would license Tivo, but anything will be better than what I have now.
    • Apparently I don't have the MS guide, I know it was available on the motorola dvr in some areas. However in the last 2-3 weeks apparently I have received an "upgrade? bah" to my system which now allows me to have to click an Extra step to get past their asinine commercial at the bottom of the screen while I am in the Guide. What a horrible fuckin design, as if they don't over-advertise their shit anyway. Oh Well.. It's not like I can get the same connectivity speed for the same price or less anywhere else a

  • So that explains it (Score:2, Interesting)

    by joshv ( 13017 )
    Recently signed up for Comcast. I wondered why the on screen guide, and the On Demand features were so clumsy to navigate (and just plain ugly to boot) - now I know why.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by joshv ( 13017 )
      Actually, it seems that the MS version is used in Washington only. I am in IL, so I guess I don't have MS to blame for my poor user experience.

  • Before everyone cheers..... (Score:5, Informative)

    by LordPhantom ( 763327 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:00PM (#19134701)
    ...I've heard that the COMCAST software sucks. It's more or less an out of the frying pan into the fire situation. And to be honest, given their incredibly lousy customer service, what makes you think they're going to develop reliable software? Or software that will allow you to do anything -more- useful than the Microsoft offering? A quick google search showed as much (if not more) complaining about Guideworks on -current- comcast boxes versus the Microsoft software.

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The old comcast software that the microsoft software replaced didn't look as nice, but it had more features, some of which were pretty buried within the software, and was generally more responsive. The worst thing about the old comcast software is sometimes it would hork downloading its program guide and render the fonts incorrectly, occasionally to the degree that they were illegible. Over all, while microsofts offering seems somewhat more stable, the lack of responsiveness and lost useful features is ex
    • According to the summary (you didn't even have to read the article on this one), the MS system is only deployed in the state of Washington. That means that everyone complaining about how much Comcast's interface sucks that does not live in Washington has nothing to cheer about. So far on the page, LordPhantom seems to be about the only one that caught that distinction.

      Comcast's software does indeed suck. It is clumsy, slow, and not terribly user friendly. Our cable box stops responding entirely on a r

  • Guideworks blows (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hansamurai ( 907719 ) <hansamurai@gmail.com> on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:01PM (#19134707) Homepage Journal
    Looking at the Guideworks website, it looks like the same crap that was part of the reason I dropped Comcast months ago. This really isn't a big deal as the Microsoft switch affects a relatively small portion of people compared to how many Comcast serves. The thing is, Guideworks software is a pile of crap, the UI is absolutely horrible, and I had mandatory updates to it remove useful functionality and even lose some of the shows I had saved on the box's hard drive. But really, the user interface is as bad as it gets. It's unresponsive, randomly locking up for seconds and sometimes even a full minute on end, and then all of a sudden all the buttons you pressed during the lockup (thinking maybe you just didn't press that remote button hard enough...) queue up and are executed immediately causing even more problems.

    Comcast was supposedly talking to Tivo about replacing their Comcast/Guideworks software with the much loved Tivo software. Where is that?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Extide ( 1002782 )
      I have the same issue with my Comcast DVR -- its the motorolla one with DVI out (cant remember the model # right now) -- anyways constantly locking up, lagging, and doing everything you described. My friend also has another box just the same at his house, witht he same issues. I saw this article thinking they were finally moving us to something else, oh well guess not. (I am in UT)
    • I'm in WA, and I have Comcast's Motorola DVR boxes with the MS Interface. All the symptoms with the UI that you described are familiar to me with the MS interface. I bet it's just as much the Motorola hardware to blame.

      If I had another choice in the market for High-Def DVR, I'd take it. Anything would be better than Comcast. You hear me, nebulous market forces? I said I'd pay for your service if you offered it. Hearken to the pent up demand.

      Why don't I have another good option? Why is your pet option not wh
      • What's wrong with the Tivo series 3, other than the price? It takes cable card (no cable box!), has 2 tuners, records HD, works with Comcast in WA (I'm doing it right now).

        It is pricey, but it was worth the cost just to ditch the lame ass Comcast DVR
        • Lack of "on demand" is the serious issue.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by cxreg ( 44671 )
            Oh. I don't personally care about that, but I can see your point. It isn't a tivo problem, it's a cable card problem and when (if?) they introduce 2-way cards, Tivo will support them
          • on-demand is the biggest joke out there.

            if you already pay for movies, geeze, man; how impatient do you have to get? your movie channels will get all your OD movies, sooner or later.

            I fail to see how this money-grab called OD is worth anything. mostly, it seems like you pay for movies and then pay AGAIN to get some of them sooner.

            what a racket!
            • On Demand for channels that you have a subscription to is free. It's only the newest movies that aren't on the premium channels that cost extra.
            • I've never paid for a single thing on OnDemand... not sure what you're complaining about, the majority of content (full length shows and movies minus the commercials) is free.
            • Do you even have a premium channel like HBO? If you do, all the HBO movies, shows, specials, etc are 100% free and you can watch them whenever you want. Also, if I want to buy a payperview movie-- I really don't want to WAIT for it to start. I hated that when I had satellite.
        • Few questions for using your Tivo 3 with Comcast...

          Do you get ESPN HD? Can you record it? Is there a way to get ESPN HD and other HD channels that are not OTA without the Comcast cable box?

          Honestly, the initial price for a Tivo Series 3 is very high for me, and is simply not worth it for the amount I watch.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cxreg ( 44671 )
            Since ESPN has decided that hockey doesn't exist, I have no use for them, so I don't know if I get it or not.

            I'm not sure I understand your question, but I can record, for example, Discovery HD without the use of a cable box.
        • That, and 'no box' isn't really a feature when to get the cablecards you have to pay the same (or MORE, in Insight territory) that you would have to pay to get a box.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cxreg ( 44671 )
            The cablecards cost half as much as the box (same price then, when you get 2) for me

            But not everything is about using the cheapest solution.
      • I'm in WA, and I have Comcast's Motorola DVR boxes with the MS Interface. All the symptoms with the UI that you described are familiar to me with the MS interface. I bet it's just as much the Motorola hardware to blame.

        Not surprisingly, I sometimes encounter similar issues with Windows MCE. Thankfully I only use that for watching TV in HD or for watching the occasional downloaded video, so it's not like I deal with it on a daily basis. My TiVo doesn't do this, though...
    • The 'queue up' time that I experience and many other experience is not at the software level. Its either the hardware level or the network level. Every command that is performed through the Motorola box, every single remote button press that is received by the box, is recorded back into large databases. Comcast gets at least 20 million rows of data a day from its boxes, and that's just the Video-On-Demand activity. That's about 240 transactions per second. When a ton of people are doing interactive cable th
    • My local cable co switched from Passport Echo software to Guideworks iGuide about a year ago and it sucks. Crashes, loss of simple features like using the guide to see what i just missed, user interface hell, and hard drive that says "21% remaining" yet wont let you record. I want my passport back!
    • Same issues here in Southern California on my Time Warner (nee Comcast) Motorola DVR/HD box. I'd lay even odds that it's the hardware in this case. Having to unplug and plug back in to hard power cycle the box is a pain but generally gives me a week or two of stable operation. Having the audio on my HDMI connection drop occasionally on channel changes is a bother too.

      The Time Warner sticker placed over the Comcast imprinted logo on my box was a nice touch though. I'd love for more choice in cable or the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hxnwix ( 652290 )
      Comcast: Microsoft would pay us to use their software, which we don't, since it sucks ass. So why should we have to compensate you?

      TiVO: Because our stuff is better? Isn't it normal to pay for value?

      Comcast: Not when you value fucking people over! So I guess you'll just have to go fuck yourselves, you selfish bastards.

      TiVO: Wow... OK. Just... wow.

    • Re:Guideworks blows (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Chris Kamel ( 813292 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @04:04PM (#19135809)
      It's not the software's problem, I'm a Comcast customer living in WA. Everybody around here complains about the box (including those making the MS software themselves) and nobody is expecting things to get better with the switch because most of the problems are with the firmware of the box, not the software.
      That's why your complaints about the box with the Guideworks software are exactly my complaints about the box with the MS software, same locking up, same queuing up of the button presses, same everything.
    • >Comcast was supposedly talking to Tivo about replacing their Comcast/Guideworks software with the much loved Tivo software. Where is that? It is in the works still, but they will charge an extra $10 per month for it.
  • It seemed to have no ability to look forward more than a day or two, failed to understand that when you search for shows, you might be interested in others with the same title, and fried out way too often.

    This great news (dumping MSFT on my cable box), combined with the planned rollout of 400 Mbps cable modem service for the same price as I pay today, is fantastic!
    • GuideWorks, as shitty as it is, DOES let you see a week or whatnot into the future. So I hope that numbs some of the pain of having to switch to GuideWorks for you.

  • Bringing it in (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Applekid ( 993327 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:04PM (#19134795)
    This probably has less to do with Microsoft's guide sucking as it has to do with Comcast already having an on-screen guide software suite. For something so critical, one would think that Comcast would have been 100% behind the home-grown option.

    • This probably has less to do with Microsoft's guide sucking as it has to do with Comcast already having an on-screen guide software suite.

      Perhaps, but what I think is interesting is that Comcast was the last (hell, maybe it was the only>/i>) US cable company to use it. I'm just surprised that Microsoft, with all its cashola, couldn't muster better numbers in its home country. And strong in South America? What's with that?

  • The Chemo Is Working (Score:3, Funny)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:07PM (#19134843) Homepage Journal
    Now if we can just get MS software out of our ATMs and voting machines, the country might be safe to watch TV in again.

  • Good thing? (Score:3, Funny)

    by e2d2 ( 115622 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:09PM (#19134891)
    I was gonna say this is a good thing, but I dislike comcast so much that I actually wish more problems on them so I vote NAY.

    hate hate hate hate

  • Microsoft has television software? (Score:4, Funny)

    by wumpus188 ( 657540 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:13PM (#19134957)
    I wonder what it shows when it's late and between channels...

  • Enhanced for your pleasure (Score:3, Informative)

    by cxreg ( 44671 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:20PM (#19135091) Homepage Journal
    This guy's take on MS-on-Comcast is right on. It's been nothing short of godawful.

    http://wilshipley.com/blog/2006/03/this-post-is-mi crosoft-enhanced-tm.html [wilshipley.com]
  • Hey, I can hate on Microsoft with the best of them, but having been on a DirecTiVo and having to switch to Comcast, I can tell you that the Microsoft product was at least usable. I was fearing that I'd end up with the home grown OSD when we switched, having seen it at relatives in other states. I was relieved to see the Microsoft label when we turned on the new STB. Teh suck is now I'm in a place that can get DirecTV, but they've ditched TiVo so that's not a much better option. I guess it's time to start
    • They haven't ditched it... but new boxes are a bit scarce. Find one, and they'll let you have the service no problems. Worst case is they would make you buy new access cards.
  • Does that mean my On-Demand may actually work when they change it over? heh... yeah right...

  • opportunity for improvement (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fred fleenblat ( 463628 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:27PM (#19135205) Homepage
    Well, I hope the transition to the new software enables comcast to not make the same mistakes as most other digital set top boxes. Let's see if I can remember all my complaints.

    - widescreen support somewhere between zero and none
    - menu tree overly deep and wide, with a bad bad case of feature creep
    - distracting ad banners in every corner of the screen
    - video-on-demand jerky and unresponsive to ff/rew/pause buttons
    - huge fonts means you can only see listings for 1 hour and 5 channels on the screen at once
    - huge overscan margins which is not required for LCD or plasmas anyway
    - horrible play-skool color choices for the buttons, lists, menus, overlays.
    - cheesy 3-D looking buttons that look like windows 3.1 or motif 1.0 at best
    - showing channel number and station ID in pop-up or overlays instead of spending $5 to display it in LED's on the front of the box
    - button only remotes--how about a jog/shuttle scroll wheel like VCR's used to have
    - remotes with 60 buttons of which you only use 8 most of the time
    - the 1/4 size live picture when you pull up the menus or the guide is cute, except for those rare occasions when you're trying to read the menus or the guide
    - the box that supports DD5.1 or component video costs way more than it should...you can get the same outputs on a $30 DVD player at wal-mart, why should it cost so much more on a STB
    - how about an open protocol so i can access the cable feed from myth tv directly instead of having to use an IR emitter or cable card
    - maybe not charge so much for PPV movies since they're $1/day to rent at Kroger
    - when you do the triple-play, how about not sending me two or three boxes, how about just one box with a telephone jack, an ethernet port, and component video jacks?
    - why do you have to have some guy come out to "install" this thing when I can connect cables together just fine myself
    - how about HD actually being the same bandwidth as what I can get for FREE from rabbit ears instead of compressing the living daylights out of it
    - set top box can't actually set on top anymore if you have a flat panel TV, how about some brackets or let it look decent mounted in a vertical position
    - record button should be able to start my VCR (or should have 10 years ago) like directv receivers can, not just change the channel
    - even if the STB was flawless and seamless to use, the actual content is crap. i swear i spend more time using the cable modem to view stuff on youtube than i do watching TV.
    • Um...I don't think they will be transitioning to "new" software. They are just switching Washington residents to the same crappy Comcast software the rest of the country has been using.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by British ( 51765 )
      I have a Comcast HD box, and yes, it indeed sucks. Let's add to the list shall we?

      - How about have on-screen guides in HD? After all, the box is for HD, why not bring the program data(descriptions, etc) and re-render it in 720 or 1080? C'mon, it's 2007.
      - enable the composite in ports in the front? I'd love to have access to those to hook up a video game console, etc.
      - enable the Ethernet port so I can watch downloaded videos(okay that's a pipe dream, but that dang Ethernet could be useful).
      - make the god d
  • I have to say, I didn't mind Microsoft's software at all. It was pretty easy to use, and it seemed far better than the TV Guide software that my out of state friends who have Comcast use. So I'm hoping this switch is an actual improvement, because I was actually quite happy with my current software.

    But you know, down with M$!!! rah rah rah...

  • You are attempting to change the channel (Score:4, Funny)

    by Dancindan84 ( 1056246 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:36PM (#19135363)
    Cancel or Allow?
  • ...I'm anxiously awaiting CableCards so I can dump the sh*tty Comcast guide and replace it with my Windows Media Center guide on the MCPC connected to my HDTV.

  • AT&T (Score:2, Informative)

    by sTc_morphius ( 948420 )
    While AT&T is not a cable company, their uverse TV system is using Microsoft's Software here "at home". It is not to shabby really, and I do like it more then the Comcast box I just kicked out of the house.
  • He won't say exactly what patents they are, but they probably include things like "Method and apparatus for sitting on your couch eating cheesy poofs while watching television" and "Method and apparatus for displaying television programs which contain blocks of programming separated by commercials."

  • Did they really drop it? (Score:3, Funny)

    by xlation ( 228159 ) * on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:53PM (#19135621)
    Yesterday my Comcast provided cable modem died. I stopped by the local office after work and exchanged it for a new one.

    It did not just plug-and-play with my router, I had to plug it directly into a computer first and run their configuration. So, I plugged it into my powerbook. I expected trouble when the Comcast website came up telling me I would have to download some software, but when I clicked the button, the file it downloaded was actually a mac file--wow.

    After unpacking the install program a warning message popped up telling me I needed to use Internet explorer to continue the configuration. It then installed IE 5.something, which promptly froze up and died.
    • Modded funny, but true story. Same thing happened to me. All of the computers in the house are Macs, and none of them would run the Comcast installer, last updated in 2004. It installed IE 5.5, but it won't do anything after that. All the files are there on the CD, in the application bundle, but everything's javascripted to death so you can't even run the HTML pages manually.

      The only answer is to call Comcast (two or three times, since the first person you talk to will point you to a site to download th
  • Microsoft clearly can make good set-top box software. Their UltimateTV product was very nice. I had it with DirecTV. When I first got it, it was a little behind Tivo in some features, and ahead in others. First update, a few months after I got it, put it ahead of Tivo on most features, and next year's update made it even better than that.

    Then Microsoft shut down the UTV group, transfering the people off to, I think, the XBox group, apparently planning to someday integrate games and set-top boxes.

    The

  • How about 3rd-party boxes? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by r_jensen11 ( 598210 ) on Tuesday May 15, 2007 @03:57PM (#19135689)
    I've got a brilliant idea: let us choose which boxes we want. Here's a better one: Let us choose which software we want as well. I'm sure they'd gain a lot of goodwill and credit amongst customers if they allowed us to use MythTV with a cable card and 2-way communication with said cable card.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rts008 ( 812749 )
      I agree that would be cool, but not ever likely to happen.

      The hardware/software to skip recording the commercials, or skip playback of commercials would be trivial to implement-apparently this is a big no no nowdays.

      What would be more reasonable to expect is right out of 'A Clockwork Orange'. New TV tech will require you to sit in this special chair with restraing devices and eyelid clamps so you have to watch their commercials.
      It will be marketed as the new soooper duper enhanced media chair that will expa

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )
      Something like Open Cable [wikipedia.org]?
  • I canceled our Comcast about 8 or 9 months ago because they started putting ads in the guide menu. Let me know when they discontinue this behavior and I might consider getting cable again.

    Or perhaps someone could make an adblock addon for these cableboxes?

    • Good luck. Now the guide menu has ads on the top and bottom of the screen, and the ad bar on the bottom highlights just like a channel, making per-channel scrolling difficult. I think the Guide display is down to around 6 lines per page, with the rest as ads. It's almost as bad as the broadcast channel guide. Which reminds me... why are the Guide entries often wrong? Are the broadcasters not notifying Comcast or whoever that their programming has changed? The auto-record features don't work so well if
  • The Guideworks software is terrible enough. The problems that TFA mentions of unresponsiveness doesn't just affect the Microsoft boxes. It happens just as frequently using Guideworks. I can't think of a time where my set top box from Comcast ever operated how it was supposed to. It constantly freezes, forgets to record things, or locks up when it is recording. Had my set top replaced 3 times, and it still does it.
  • Did Microsoft get hurt?
  • This is a bit off topic, but the discussion about Comcast and Microsoft reminded me of liberate. [liberate.com]

    Liberate made set-top-box software that competed with Microsoft but they seem to have fallen on hard times. When I interviewed there back in 2001 it looked like they had a chance of actually competing.

    Today their web site is basically an e-tombstone.

    Anybody out there know what led to their demise?

    -S

  • As TFA notes, MS certainly isn't getting out of the TV and STB business, only the relatively trivial software that just shows you guides and changes the channel for you. Their software is being used by a disturbingly high number of IPTV installations, so the chances that MS software will be ruining your (wired) TV experience is only going up.

  • This is sort of like trying to decide who to root for in an Alien vs. Predator duel. My preference is to toss them both into the Thunderdome and then nuke it from orbit.

    >The cable company will replace the Microsoft technology with GuideWorks software -- Comcast is a part owner of GuideWorks.

    The issue is not that Comcast is particularly unhappy with Microsoft. It is more that they are going with software they own a piece of. In my experience, that usually turns out badly.

  • Dear Comcast Marketing:

    The other day, my son finished his homework and sat down for his favorite show: Heros. The show had started 20 minutes ago, so flicked on the TV, saw the start of a key scene (live), reach for the remote and hit the DVR button to start from the beginning, and BOOM - the box decided to reboot. He was in a complete panic, because he knew he just missed that key scene forever. My daughter noticed his frustration, and yelled out "It's Comcastic," which is what we always say when there's a
  • Microsoft TV was never used extensively on Comcast anyway. The i-Guide software (Guideworks) is indeed pretty bad, as is the Microsoft software. Consensus seems to be that the Microsoft software was slower and buggier, while i-Guide was harder to use, had fewer features, and was more annoying.

    One more reason to use Dish Network. Their software has crappy UI, but it's stable (at least on my 625 DVR), has all the features you could want, and responds quickly.

  • Does anyone know why Microsoft is doing well in South America but not in North America? What's the difference between the two markets?

  • The article says that the MS software was only used in Washington. So, what software is running these boxes everywhere else in the country? I've been using the horrid Comcast guide (and their horrid DVR) since about 2004, and never really even thought about the fact that it wasn't something horrible they created...

    Is GuideWorks what I've got as the guide now?

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