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Hardly anyone ever used a VCR to tape shows

Really? Apparently you know a completely differet sort of people than I do. I wonder who was buying blank VHS tapes a dozen at a time at WallMart?

And, please, stop telling me how great TiVo is. At least until it is sold in more than 2 countries (neither of which are where I live).

TiVo has 3 fast forward speeds: 3X, 18X and 60X (source, TiVo FAQ). If you're skipping commercials at high speed, as I always do, a one minute commercial goes by in one second! How annoying can a pop-up ad be during that time?

If everyone had PVRs and did this kind of skipping, advertisers could get the same effect by putting up a stationary box for the whole minute with their ad text, on part of the screen. It's not objectionable.

The main new feature is that you can press a button and send in your name and address to request information about the product. TiVo has had opt-in ads accessible from their main menu like this for a year or more. These are high quality ads and I've used the opt-in occasionally, it's pretty nice.

The big problem I see is that there is no time to react in one second and press a button to get more information. My guess is that this is targetted at the people who FF at 18X, who will have 3 seconds to react. Quick people like me won't be affected.

Far more annoying are the banner ads which run across the bottom of regular programs, advertising upcoming shows (and sometimes products!). These have recently become noisy and drown out the dialog or add incongruous sound effects spoiling the scene. I expect the use of this kind of advertising to increase because you can't TiVo around it. Banners during commercials would be much less of a problem.

Yup $299:

http://www.tivo.com/1.2.asp

I got one of the Sony units early on and, after paying for the first couple months, got an offer on a lifetime sub that seemed like a really good deal at the time*. I think I paid like $200 (limited time offer, recommend a friend and if they sign up get a $100 off lifetime subscription -- my sister was ready to buy one).

*and it was, I've already passed what I would have paid for monthly sub @12.95 x 24 months -- I think I'm well into the third year now.

Where's your IANATO (I am not a TiVo owner)?

Any legal thread quickly over flows with 'IANAL', any discussion of IP brings out the folks who don't know copyright form trademark, so why should this thread be any different?

Yes, I use TiVo to skip over commercials. I also use FF for shows I can watch without sound and faster than real time. Will the service know if I'm FF over a commercial or for some other purpose?

For example I can watch a 3-hour football match in about half the time. I don't need the analyst's inane chatter, and I can always go back to regular speed to catch a big play.

In addition, this 'feature' contradicts TiVo's own marketing. There's no sound while a show is in FF, but one of TiVo's tips is to turn on the closed captions and read the dialogue while watching the show faster.

How is TiVo "free tv"? TiVo gives NOTHING for free. I've already paid for the hardware and paid for the service, and I didn't whine about it. This is TiVo unilaterally changing the terms of the deal after they have my money. Would you applaud nVidia if they decided to display banner ads on every computer with their graphics cards? Listen, nVidia needs to make money, right?

Yes, I use TiVo to skip over commercials. I also use FF for shows I can watch without sound and faster than real time. Will the service know if I'm FF over a commercial or for some other purpose?

For example I can watch a 3-hour football match in about half the time. I don't need the analyst's inane chatter, and I can always go back to regular speed to catch a big play.

In addition, this 'feature' contradicts TiVo's own marketing. There's no sound while a show is in FF, but one of TiVo's tips is to turn on the closed captions and read the dialogue while watching the show faster.

If the banner ad is anywhere on the screen where I can see it, then it is intrusive.

"Listen, TiVo needs to make money. They're a company selling a product. Everyone seems to forget that and whine when they don't give you everything for free. I applaud them for coming up with a way to sell ad space without interfering with normal use of the product."

That's just wrong. TiVo gives NOTHING for free. I've already paid for the hardware and paid for the service, and I didn't whine about it. This is TiVo unilaterally changing the terms of the deal after they have my money. Would you applaud nVidia if they decided to display banner ads on every computer with their graphics cards? Listen, nVidia needs to make money, right?

"What would you rather have, no fast-forward, forcing you to watch commercials, or a fast-forward with a small screen overlay that you only have to look at for as long as you are fast-forwarding?"

I'd rather have the service I paid for. But you're missing the real question, would you rather have FF with a small screen overlay, or a boat anchor that's useless if TiVo goes out of business and no other company picks up the service?

Ask and you shall receive...
http://www.tivo.com/2.1.2.asp

Does the manual include a copy of the source code, or an address I can write to to get the source code for all GPL'd parts?

http://www.tivo.com/linux/

Quote from the site:

In compliance with the GPL, we are pleased to provide our modifications to the Linux PowerPC Kernel, as well as a few new commands, and some tools to get you into the code.

Additionally, if you would like a CD-R of our modifications you may send a written request to:

TiVo Inc.
2160 Gold St.
Alviso CA 95002-2160
Attention: Customer Care - GNU/Linux Source Code Request.

You will be charged a $15 fee for reproduction, shipping and handling costs, as allowed by the GPL. Make sure that you include a bank certified check for $15.00. Otherwise, you can download the code for free from below:

$100 new for a 40 hour series 2 Tivo right now (with mail in rebate). See here for details.

We had two series 1 Tivos, and we just updated to 2 series 2 Tivos. The cool thing about the series 2 is, they support ethernet (or wireless) out of the box (with a USB ethernet/wireless adaptor). You hook the two up, and then you can use the Remote viewing feature to transfer shows between the two.

Oh, and if that's not enough, you can even schedule recordings online, so if you're on holiday on the other side of the planet, and someone emails you to let you know $COOL_SHOW is on, you can browse to the website and tell your Tivo to record it for you. How damn cool is that?

Before anyone responds, yeah I know you can probably do all this and more with MythTV, but for $100, you can't really go wrong, and it's a really nicely integrated solution for people who just want to plug and play.

$100 new for a 40 hour series 2 Tivo right now (with mail in rebate). See here for details.

We had two series 1 Tivos, and we just updated to 2 series 2 Tivos. The cool thing about the series 2 is, they support ethernet (or wireless) out of the box (with a USB ethernet/wireless adaptor). You hook the two up, and then you can use the Remote viewing feature to transfer shows between the two.

Oh, and if that's not enough, you can even schedule recordings online, so if you're on holiday on the other side of the planet, and someone emails you to let you know $COOL_SHOW is on, you can browse to the website and tell your Tivo to record it for you. How damn cool is that?

Before anyone responds, yeah I know you can probably do all this and more with MythTV, but for $100, you can't really go wrong, and it's a really nicely integrated solution for people who just want to plug and play.

$100 new for a 40 hour series 2 Tivo right now (with mail in rebate). See here for details.

We had two series 1 Tivos, and we just updated to 2 series 2 Tivos. The cool thing about the series 2 is, they support ethernet (or wireless) out of the box (with a USB ethernet/wireless adaptor). You hook the two up, and then you can use the Remote viewing feature to transfer shows between the two.

Oh, and if that's not enough, you can even schedule recordings online, so if you're on holiday on the other side of the planet, and someone emails you to let you know $COOL_SHOW is on, you can browse to the website and tell your Tivo to record it for you. How damn cool is that?

Before anyone responds, yeah I know you can probably do all this and more with MythTV, but for $100, you can't really go wrong, and it's a really nicely integrated solution for people who just want to plug and play.

Or you can try a series 2 Tivo with the Home Media Option

Or you can try a series 2 Tivo with the Home Media Option

Happiness. What a fantastic device

This device + Tivo has been around since December. Here's the product page for it.

It's made by Pioneer.

Tivo it ain't, and this guy clearly needs the simplicity of a Tivo.

Time-Warner doesn't have DirectTV's HD lineup either ( googled DirecTV HD Tivo link here ) which is definitely the way I'd go, IF I were blowing a ton of cash on HD ( er, I'm going to wait, thanks ). If I were to get an HD set right now, it'd be (1) a clear sign I have too much money (2) mainly for playing video games and watching DVDs (3) I'd get an off-air HD receiver, and *maybe* get a satellite HD feed... but even though my local Comcast HD cable is pretty good, it doesn't beat DirecTV's offerings, it just comes close.

Oh yeah, and directly from the Tivo site: DVD Recorder with Tivo

According to NTBugtraq's article, TiVo has software package that allows a user to setup an Image and Audio server on their PC. When connected to the same LAN as the TiVo it allows the image and audio files to be viewed on a TV via the TiVo DVR. The software uses gdiplus.dll file that has a JPEG parsing engine.

I would if I could

Like when my son and I watch a Tivoed episode of Oobi or Maisy, or take in Finding Nemo or Potty Time With Bear together... or those evenings after the boy goes to bed, when my wife and I stay up and watch Surreal Life and some good movies ( actually, right now we're working through The Sopranos ).

In all seriousness ( although, maybe sadly, we do all of the above, and my son is an expert on the Noggin and Sesame Street websites ), my post was *designed* for the "Funny" rating it now has... still, it is true that Tivo and Netflix are my two favorite entertainment sources. I'd probably give up my horses first, if only because they're more expensive...

I'm only posting on /. because I'm at work, what else am I going to do? Oh, yea, right...

You actually get 2 weeks of guide data (faq) with the subscription.

If you look at the monthly fee as simply a guide data fee . . tivo might not be for you. With that service fee, you get a full solution.. theres season passes, wishlist searches, and remote scheduling. You don't get those with the cable company DVR.

You can buy a TiVo for $99

If you happen to live in one of the two countries that TIVO is available in.

If you live anywhere else in the world, building a MythTV box is one of the few ways to get a PVR. (yeah, I know some cable companies will rent you a box with PVR functions, but they are very short on features, and not hackable)

Alviso is right on the Southern tip of the San Francisco Bay. It's mostly abandoned but for a few hold outs like Vahl's Restaurant. There's an bartender named Frank there who's straight out of a Rat Pack movie. Ask him to do some magic tricks for you.
Most of Alviso is now a briney marsh due to redirection of Bay water, dikes, and nearby salt evaporation pools. On summer evenings, the sound of crickets and frogs in the reeds can be deafening.
For those brave enough to visit, it's off the 237 next to Tivo's office.

No such thing as a free lunch, baby.

And the people who make the content want to control how you get it, and what you do with it. Tivo is in the unfortunate position of being squeezed by the entertainment conglomerates who own most of the content, and don't like the fact that Tivo exists.

To placate them, Tivo engineered in anti-extraction technology into the series-2, and now are working on the Tivo to go addition which is a content encryption locking/unlocking technology that will allow you to move content from your Tivo to a PC or other device, that is only playable on a player that has the Digital Rights Management software allowing you to unlock it.

Many people who have Tivos also have broadband, and home networks, allowing them to get their Tivo updates through the Internet, and this already includes "content" in the form of Tivo ads which come up in the guide. It's not hard to see where this is going... video ala cart. Note I didn't say on demand, and quite frankly, unless everyone gets fiber to their house, on-demand will never be viable.

What Tivo has proved convincingly, is that most people don't *really* want on-demand programming. What they want is to select as much programming as they're interested in, and let the DVR aquire that programming and store it, so that at some later time, when they have time, they can enjoy the entertainment.

This is where the entertainment conglomerates are typically short sighted and leave a lot of money on the table, because unless it's available at blockbuster, there's a tremendous amount of entertainment material that people are willing to pay for, which just isn't available. All the studios need to do is make this material available in a broadcast quality format, and the cash will come flooding in. Would you rather go to blockbuster and wander the isles looking for the great indie movie your friends all raved about (which Blockbuster has 2 DvD's that will be checked out until next year) or would you rather take 10 minutes to order them on friday morning, knowing that when you get home friday night, they'll be sitting on your Tivo waiting for you to watch them when you have time?

The entertainment conglomerates are so obsessed with the money they think they're losing to pirating (and the fact is they've been losing this money for years, and nothing has changed whatsoever) that they treat their customer base as if they are all potential video pirates, rather than looking at what customers want to do with the content.

Tivo can see the future very well, and they know that they have the potential to be the delivery endpoint for all this content. They can't afford to piss off the media companies. Fortunately they have "Tivo" brand recognition, customer loyalty and excellent word of mouth going for them. Strangeberry has certainly got them a lot of press, but I doubt they see it as being much more than a speculative R&D group, perhaps in the end not unlike Xerox Parc. Most people know that Tivo is a MIPS based Linux box under the covers, and there's no magic to what they're doing technically. What's more important in the long run is not the gee-whiz technology, or even the user-friendliness, which most people agree has been Tivo's strongest selling point. In the end, it will all hinge on where the most content is available, and the way things are going, I certainly wouldn't bet against the box with the brand name recognition, and best relationship with the content providers.

TIVO only costs 99 dollars now:
TIVO!

I may have missed a whole story on this I don't know, but TiVo's website claims (with no real detail yet) that soon they will have TiVo To Go :

Coming Soon... TiVoToGo(TM)!

Leaving town? Take your favorite shows with you! TiVoToGo(TM) offers unprecedented portability, extending your digital recording with the ability to transfer recorded programs from your TiVo® box to your computer. Only with TiVo® service.

Seems pretty cool to me you can see for yourself here

With all of the talk about TiVo getting greedy and not adding features, they seem to be following the demands of their consumers pretty closely. They just made the home media option free, you can share stuff between tivos. I for one will continue ot give them my $12/mo as long as they continue to churn out new features and offer them to me for no extra charge. Go TiVo

TiVo has a published API for the existing Home Media Option, which JavaHMO takes advantage of. It wouldn't be surpising if they do the same for their next generation Home Media offering.

maybe even a less invasive phone-home spying scheme

Seriously, take off your tinfoil hat and shut the fuck up. If you can't see that TiVo aggregates data for your benefit, then you just tell them not to do it.

The privacy policy is exceedingly clear about this. Please come back with you have read it.

http://www.tivo.com/5.11.3.asp

Why is this device any better than just bridging your ethernet to your wireless peer network?

It doesn't require a PC or Mac, needs no drivers, and so can provide connectivity to devices such as Audrey, ReplayTV, TiVO, Xbox with network connector, or playstation2 with network connector.

I think it's closer to the Airpad since that uses USB power, except that this new device doesn't require a computer so it plugs directly into the ethernet port and allows any number of devices to connect to it -- none of which need be PC or Mac computers, and so no drivers are required.

Examples of such devices include Audrey [audreyhacking.com], ReplayTV [digitalnetworksna.com], TiVO [tivo.com], Xbox with network connector [xbox.com], or playstation2 with network connector [playstation2.com] just to list a few.

Slashdot ate half my post, 503 errors suck, here's the full post

Your post confuses me. I read your (broken) link (HTML isn't hard -- try it!) and it seems that "any number" is, well, one. And, unless you mean drivers (which the Airpad requires, but the new D-Link device does not,) I don't understand what software has to do with it.

Most importantly, the product you linked to requires a computer to be connected to the ethernet port, upon which drivers muct be installed, and into which the Airpad connects to allow other computers to share said connection.

In contrast, the new D-Link device plugs directly into the ethernet port and seems to allow any number of (and I do mean more than one!) devices to connect to it -- none of which need be PC or Mac computers, and so no drivers are required. Examples of such devices include Audrey, ReplayTV, TiVO, Xbox with network connector, or playstation2 with network connector just to name (and link) a few.

Maybe it's just me, but given the wording of your post, I expected more than one. I suppose "one" is "any number," but I think that's phrase is usually reserved for cases where there are several. I also expected an equivalent device (hint: USB-power isn't the main feature) which the device you mentioned is not.

And, since the Airpad costs $92 and requires a computer (PC or Mac only,) and the D-link device is $99 with no computer required I can think of (and link to) any number of possible devices for which this new product may have applications where the Airpad can't work.

DVD burner

Also slated for release late this fall is TiVoToGo. With it you'll be able to get the shows off your box and burn them on your PC, or take them to a laptop or PDA to watch on the go. (It'll encompass some sort of DRM)

I am still rooting for TiVo. But, I should say, that I'm watching recorded TV on my TiVo right now.

DVD Recorder, you say. Pioneer makes a TiVo with a DVD burner attached. Additionally, on ANY TiVO when you pick a show, and go into it's menu, it does have an option to "Save to VCR." I suppose you could use some other kind of video recording device too.

You're right about being weary of the monthly fee--but in my oppinion it's worth it. With that fee, you get guide data far out in the future. You can plan what your TiVo will record for you over your vacation, and if you miss anything you can schedule it online (but not if you have DirecTivo, because they're not allowing HMO onto those boxes).

Most TiVos only have one tuner, and it sounds like a huge limitation. It's not. Most shows are shown again within the same week. If you use Season Passes (the best feature of TiVo), it'll handle the conflicts for you.

As for your Digital Cable delimas, you need one cable box per tuner. TiVo can change the channel on it by IR or some by a serial port. The more elegant solution to this is a CableCard TiVo; unfortunately, there isn't one in existance yet, but there is chatter that it's coming.

TiVo has a 30 day money back gaurentee.. try it. Anyone with a TiVo will tell you that once you get it for the 30 days, you wont know how to live without it.

TiVo had shown a reference HDTV unit back at the CES show in January 2003. However, no manufacturers were interested in building it. The DVR market is still small, and HDTV is an even smaller piece of that.

As far as limitations on the HR10-250 unit, you can probably blame DIRECTV. Their Series2-derived DVRs have USB ports that can be used for HMO (Home Media Option) but DTV has chosen not to do so. If you can find 4.0, you can install it on your HDVR2 and enable HMO. So the missing HMO functionality is not a technology issue.

Putting a DVD burner in each unit would be handy, but would also increase the cost. DVRs still aren't in widespread use and keeping the price point high won't help.

Finally, TiVo did announce TiVoToGo, which will allow you to play content on your PC.

Blank DVDs are getting REALLY cheap now, a DVD-RW only system would appeal to people who archive stuff.

Series2 doesn't have a built-in Ethernet port. It has two USB ports that you can install one in (wired or wireless). Here is a list of adapters that are supported by TiVo.

I DO know that Tivo has had a very suspect privacy policy in the past and that they DO transfer personally idendifiable data back to their dbs.

WRONG. TiVo has a very upfront privacy policy, which can be viewed at http://www.tivo.com/5.11.3.asp. TiVo also has hosted on their website a PDF file of a presentation to the FTC that details exactly what information they store on their customers. In short, information is only collected anonymously (this has been verified by multiple third parties) and used in aggregate. If you do not want to participate in this anonymous, aggregate data gathering, you can call TiVo and opt out completely.

Tivo is owned by Phillips

WRONG again. Philips does not own TiVo. TiVo is a publically traded company independent of Philips. Philips did (and still does, I believe) produce products that use licensed TiVo technology.

I DO know that Tivo has had a very suspect privacy policy in the past and that they DO transfer personally idendifiable data back to their dbs.

WRONG. TiVo has a very upfront privacy policy, which can be viewed at http://www.tivo.com/5.11.3.asp. TiVo also has hosted on their website a PDF file of a presentation to the FTC that details exactly what information they store on their customers. In short, information is only collected anonymously (this has been verified by multiple third parties) and used in aggregate. If you do not want to participate in this anonymous, aggregate data gathering, you can call TiVo and opt out completely.

Tivo is owned by Phillips

WRONG again. Philips does not own TiVo. TiVo is a publically traded company independent of Philips. Philips did (and still does, I believe) produce products that use licensed TiVo technology.

A TV that obeys my will and shows only things I like to watch is a good TV.

TiVo

Doug

it's almost like i've seen something like this before...

You need a TiVo

It doesn't have a real 30 second skip? Crap! I'm so depressed, I've been hitting the 30 second skip button for the past 3 months like a sucker!

You don't like Tivo because of the attitude? Eh? I like my Tivo. Occasionally people ask if I like it, and I tell them I do. That makes it a cult? I feel sorry for you, so much hate in your world, what with hating every piece of equipment, all the time. Or, wait, maybe you like some of it. Guess you're a member of a cult, by your definition. Get deprogrammed, stat!

As for the remote, I just scheduled a program using this. I agree that remote-only systems have their drawbacks.

FWIW, I'd say what you want instead of a serial port is an ethernet port, with some kind of standard interface so the components can interact to a master console, which handles the magic.

An ex-coworker actually designed what amounts to a universal programmable remote with a serial port on it and had a small hardware run done, so it's not a breadboard. It's not as nice as talking directly to the components for reasons you explained, but if it's the only thing controlling them they'll always be in the correct state.

Gee, you're quite the charmer, aren't cha?

How about this? Sure, it doesn't play ogg, but then again, nothing does. You should be used to it by now.

As for everything else, I'm sure you've got a nice computer there. Perhaps you could get up off your couch and use it like a normal person on a higher resolution monitor, which means greater usability.

Maybe, hey, you could get a console system, they're so incredibly cheap. Then you can do wacky things like run emulators on your TV via a console system. Just like the rest of the world.

Isn't it $12.95/month?

http://www.tivo.com/1.12.asp

Uh...Oh!

I have a TiVo Series 2 DVR and recently TiVo decided to allow people who connect their DVR's to their home network to access music on their PC for free. This used to be a paid feature, luckily they changed it. TiVo can only play music and display pictures but I only want it for the music playing. Sadly, additional software is required to stream the audio.

What? No.

ReplayTV
TiVo

Take a slightly closer look.

Considering what a difficult time the people who *wrote* the GPL seem to have specifying exactly what some parts mean (are binary-only kernel modules illegal, for example?) I don't think its unfair to say that they require somewhat different skills from those required for closed licenses.

Generally, PPU (closed) licenses have legal terms, while open-source licenses often have technical-legal mixed terms. A lawyer doesn't generally do to well at understanding the concept of linking, at least not without additional study, while most lawyers have no problem at all with typical closed license terms.

Considering what a difficult time the people who *wrote* the GPL seem to have specifying exactly what some parts mean (are binary-only kernel modules illegal, for example?) I don't think its unfair to say that they require somewhat different skills from those required for closed licenses.

Generally, PPU (closed) licenses have legal terms, while open-source licenses often have technical-legal mixed terms. A lawyer doesn't generally do to well at understanding the concept of linking, at least not without additional study, while most lawyers have no problem at all with typical closed license terms.

Can you say TiVo? :)

--Nick

I was an early TiVo owner. I paid for Cable. I upgraded my TiVo's HD, and got DirectTV... Then I got a DirectTiVo...
But one day, I realized that I was paying too much for the limited number of shows on TV I watching... so I stopped paying at all, because the net is a good source of all media now.

Now, I download my favorite TV shows from the net. Within hours of the Simpsons airing on 'free tv', I can download a DivX of it, watching it on my MythTV box, which outputs to my 60 inch TV, with no commercials either. Looks as good as Cable or DirectTV ever did. HBO shows like the Sopranos? CBS/ABC/Fox/NBC? The same thing. Pretty much all of the 'good' tv programs, I can download right away, thanks to Bittorrent.

Mixing Mythtv, RSS and Bitorrent is the killer app for media. It's coming soon... I'll just subscribe to shows, and they will just appear on my box... And every other Myth-style Box out there will help spread them. Even better than Tivo, since I can trust someone to manage an good RSS feed and I'll get everything they think I'd like... Or I'll pick 2 feeds, or 3 feeds, or a dozen... Or run one of my own for friends, etc etc.

We are already seeing things like this:
Michael Badnarik (the 2004 Libertarian Presidential Candidate) using Bittorrent: He's put his entire Constitution Class on downloadable video, for free over the Internet, using BitTorrent. 7 parts, each one hour long.
What would buying Primetime TV for this sort of exposure cost? And who would watch it, all 7 hours, if they did? But this way, grassroot politics, simply by bypassing traditional media! Watch on demand... Educate people... Expose people to ideas they aren't getting on Mass Media.
I want to see this man in a debate with Bush and Kerry now...

Death of traditional Media, due to Growth of Net, predicted, Film at 11.com