to reinvent the wheel on basic simple functionality and options. I wonder if it's because they have to be careful not to step on intellectual property rights of like Tivo and other DVR software.

If you've ever used any of the computer based Channel Guide and DVR free software's out there (tuner card, hard drive, etc.), the difference becomes more stark.

From what I have heard and read about but don't know for sure is that basically your cable/satellite guide and DVR software all suck from Xfinity to Time Warner to Cox to DTV to Dish which is sad based on how many millions/billions these companies make when a couple of freelancer open source devs can put their heads together and pop out MythTV or Tivo who has consistently had the best channel guide and dvr service since it's inception.