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Arris DCX 3600 enhanced DVR for Time Warner Cable Maxx customers
Time Warner Cable’s enhanced DVR is here, at an enhanced price starting at $26/month.
Time Warner customers have long waited for an upgraded DVR capable of storing and recording more shows, and the Arris DCX 3600 is the result.
Available soon in Los Angeles and New York (and later in other TWC Maxx-upgraded markets), the enhanced DVR includes six tuners and 1TB of storage, enough to keep around 150 hours of HD programming.
The DVR includes QAM/RF-capability and a DOCSIS 3 modem built into the box. Time Warner Cable has set the monthly price for the box at $15.99 for single room DVR service, $19.99 a month for whole-house DVR service. An additional equipment rental fee also applies: $10.25/mo for the box and remote control, $11.75/mo if you are subject to Time Warner’s “additional outlet service fee.” That means customers will pay up to $31.74 a month for the DVR alone. Customers who subscribe to a bundled service package will likely pay significantly lower rates for the enhanced DVR.
Time Warner arrives very late to the DVR competition wars. Its current boxes can usually record only up to two shows at once and storage space, usually enough for 80 hours, may require customers to clear out older shows to make room for new ones.
Time Warner’s competitors are still able to beat Time Warner’s new DVR:
- AT&T U-verse comes closest to Time Warner, offering a four tuner DVR that can store up to 422 hours of SD programming, 155 hours in HD;
- Comcast is testing its new X1 video platform that can record 15 programs at the same time by linking together multiple HD-DVRs;
- Dish Network’s Hopper HD-DVR can record eight shows at once, and DirecTV’s Genie can manage five recordings at the same time;
- Verizon FiOS Quantum TV customers can record a maximum of 12 shows at once and its DVR package offers 2TB of storage.
The new equipment should be available in New York and Los Angeles by the end of this month and will gradually be introduced in other TWC Maxx cities planned for upgrades: Charlotte, N.C., Dallas, Tex., Hawaii, Raleigh, N.C., San Antonio, Tex., and San Diego. No word on when the new boxes will be available in Austin, Tex., where upgrades are already underway.
Customers in other Time Warner Cable cities will have to make do with older DVRs until either Time Warner schedules Maxx upgrades or Comcast succeeds in buying Time Warner.
Any idea when the new DVR is coming to Rochester?
I remember a story you posed over 2 years ago from the CEO of TWC at the time! saying it was coming soon.
It first went to a handful of test markets in upstate New York (not Rochester) and then has been redesignated as a feature enhancement in Maxx markets. I wouldn’t hold my breath for the new DVRs outside of those markets this year. Time Warner seems to be emphasizing manning the barricades in areas where it faces new or enhanced competition from U-verse, FiOS, and Google.
I don’t think there will be any direction change until the merger with Comcast is either approved or scuttled.
I’ve had the Verizon Quantum 6 tuner/1TB version for about a month (the 12 tuner/2TB version uses two servers) and am pretty happy with it. I no longer need to worry about scheduling conflicts. It seems that everyone (Comcrap & TW) is using the same Arris equipment, though with slightly different features. My biggest gripe with the Verizon version is that their software apparently has some memory leaks and can get pretty sluggish. A weekly reboot is needed to keep smooth operation. The price is $10 more than the 2 room multi-room setup that I had.
They are insane – you can buy a Tivo Roamio pro 6 tuner and just get a cable card and sdv box and get 6 shows at once and 1tb of space as well as streaming from hulu, netflix etc… 320 for a roamio 150 a year or 400 lifetime for the guide so say you just do per year – first year 470 for a tivo 6 tuner in ANY MARKET 380 to RENT a DVR from Time Warner year 1 year 2 – 150 bucks Tivo 380 Time warner so in a two year contract with TWC you… Read more »
If I get this new enhanced DVR, will I need to upgrade my Cable/Voice Modem? I have the Motorola SBV 5121 through TWC, and I am concerned about it being able to handle all the info coming through it when trying to record 6 tv shows.
The enhanced DVR has no effect on your cable modem. The shows you are recording are not coming from TWC’s Internet. If you are in a TWC Maxx area, however, you will want to check the maximum speed your current modem can support to make sure you are getting the performance you are paying for. The 6121 is perfectly capable of handling 50Mbps service — TWC’s Standard Service speed in Maxx areas. Above that, you will need a new modem. Here is a checklist from TWC showing the modem you will need based on what speed you plan to receive:… Read more »
Different cable companies seen to have different flavors of the same basic Arris box. The TWC offering seems to be the same as the FiOS Quantum offering (I’ve had that for almost a year now). The Comcrap Xfinity box (which my Son-in Law has in Minnesota), limits the recording capability to 4 channels (keeping 2 channels dedicated for two TVs, where the FiOS version allows conflicts between “live” viewing and recording). A couple of months ago, TWC was offering me this Arris box in the Buffalo market (where FiOS is active), but their total package price was no better than… Read more »