Comcast is now offering multiroom digital video recorder service -- a feature that has been touted by telco and satellite competitors -- in about 20 markets in its Motorola footprint, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, Ore., and western Massachusetts.
The "AnyRoom DVR" service requires one primary HD DVR set-top box, with up to three additional HD set-top boxes able to play back recorded content. The client set-tops connect to the central DVR using the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) specification.
The primary DVR -- the Motorola DCX3400-M -- starts at $13.95 per month for triple-play customers and goes up to $19.95 per month, with secondary set-tops like the DCX3200-M running an average of $8 per month, according to Comcast.
The multiroom DVR service is not available as a self-install and carries a one-time activation fee of $29.95.
AnyRoom DVR is currently available in approximately 20 of Comcast's Motorola markets including: Portland, Ore., southwest Washington State, the San Francisco Bay Area, Knoxville, Tenn., Savannah, Ga., Tallahassee, Fla., central Florida, western Massachusetts, Mobile, Ala., Sacramento, Calif., Lake Country, Fla., and Little Rock, Ark.
The primary DVR controls all DVR recording functions, including scheduling, deleting and recording settings. The networked set-top boxes can be used to view, sort, play, fast-forward, rewind, pause, skip ahead or skip back within DVR recordings. More information is available at www.comcast.com/anyroomdvr.
Verizon's FiOS TV, AT&T's U-verse TV and DirecTV also offer multiroom DVR features, while cable operators are just starting to roll them out. Cox Communications, for one, is providing multiroom DVR with its new "Trio" guide and related Cisco Systems set-tops.
