A few months back I complained that my Comcast DVR was dumb as it didn’t understand the difference between new and repeat episodes for some shows, which lead to my DVR being clogged with episodes I’d already seen.

TiVo reps told me that their DVR worked better than Comcast’s because it got the episode information from a more reliable source. In order to prove it, TiVo sent me a review unit to try out. So for the past few weeks I’ve been running both DVRs side by side to see how they did in a DVR death match.

And while I was expecting a TiVo blow out — it just didn’t happen. If I complain about something, I should compliment when it gets fixed. And it looks like Comcast fixed the big issue I was having with its DVR. Well, for the most part fixed it.

Let’s just get this out of the way. TiVo is without a doubt the better DVR. It’s interface is more elegant, it offers better search, and on the whole it’s just a better experience. But everyone knows that. Heck, Comcast knows it, that’s why the company is (slowly) rolling out a TiVo interface for its DVR.

My test only compared how the two handled recording repeats when explicitly programmed not to. The two shows chosen were Top Chef and The Soup. The Comcast DVR had a history of problems with Bravo shows and seems to particularly enjoy the comedic shenanigans of E! personality Joel McHale.

Up until recently, the Comcast DVR would have grabbed every episode of Top Chef regardless of its repeat or new status. This was especially annoying as Bravo likes to run marathons of its shows. But Comcast performed much better. It doesn’t record every episode anymore.

It’s not perfect, if I watched the new Top Chef and delete it and that episode runs again during the same week, it will record the extra instance. Thankfully, after that first week, Comcast ignores the episode. Comcast still has trouble with The Soup, however. It likes to record this show every time it’s runs (which is a lot). This could be an issue with the episode metadata that E! provides for the show or how TV Guide is relaying that in interactive programming guide.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Comcast DVR functioning much better. I know that’s kind of like rewarding a kid for not flunking out of school, but progress is progress.

TiVo, on the other hand, I’ll reward for staying at the head of the class. I didn’t have any problems with the device recording repeats of shows I had already watched. There isn’t much more to say about something that runs the way it’s supposed to — which is why I wish Comcast would hurry up and deploy TiVo on its boxes in the Bay Area already.