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TiVo To Support RealNetwork Formats
rtphokie writes: "The flurry of announcements coming form the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas has started with
RealNetworks ' anouncement that it had struck deals to include its technology in an array of microchips and devices, including TiVo PVRs. This is the latest move in an effort to expand from the desktop to consumer devices."
Standards, standards, we only want standards implemented in hardware!
Please, PLEASE, TiVo, stay with MPEG! The video on my TiVo looks excellent. I challenge ANYONE to show me a Real video that looks even remotely acceptable. I have never seen one. Seriously.
Justin
"Why would God give us a waist if we wasn't supposed to rest our pants on it?" - Rev. Roy McDaniels
Now when you set up your new RealTiVo and you forget to uncheck ALL the boxes, its going to make it your default toaster and blender too.
Adversive
My cat's breath smells like cat food.
Am I the only one who remembers when RealNetworks was Progressive Networks, and Rob Glazer was helping to support liberal politicsl causes?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Sounds like those of us who already own a Tivo would have to buy a "second generation box" to take advantage of this deal with RealNetworks.
For me to shell out more money for a new box, they better be offering some real compelling content. The Tivo already records more stuff than I could possibly find time to watch.
** The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employers - past, present, or future**
Great, now we can watch "BUFFERING" on TV now, and have it solicit your email address for special offers!
I dunno, but even on broadband connections I have never viewed an acceptable video stream based on a RealNetworks codec. I keep giving them a chance, downloading the new required viewer every other month, click 'No, cancel, no, exit' every time their viewer loads and prompts me to register. But their codecs suck.
On the exact same connection I can get near VHS quality streams (BBC online is a great example with their 300 Kbps feed) using windows media. I've tried many different Real feeds that claim the same bandwidth targets, and I've yet to see one that is watchable. I wish Real were better, but it not even in the same ballpark.
I think Real has done more to give streaming video a band name, than any other company out there.
Perhaps TiVO can figure out what's wrong.
-josh
With Tivo's stock price in the toilet and analysts wondering about Tivo's "business plan and future," it only makes sense that they would try to bring something to the table as far as "on-demand video" goes.
.rm files and display them on my Sony WEGA TV, blocks and all. Give me something a little better by sticking with MPEG and upping the connection speed. I'd pay for it.
Tivo is hamstrung in that it has -- for most consumers who don't specifically modify the device -- only a 56K modem to get video into the device. Tivo's got to come up with something else, and darned if RealNetworks doesn't already have ready-made code that can run on Linux. What else would they choose? Microsoft's Media format?
Seems to me that Tivo needs to take a page from SonicBlue's playbook and start making broadband-capable Tivos ASAP. You might as well forget about asking me to download
I can't say I much like realmedia formats -- while the compression is decent, the resulting quality is not necessarily the best for the bang. Combine that with RealNetworks's history of installing spyware with realplayer, and I've never been a big fan.
Nevertheless, I'm still rooting for RealNetworks, inasmuch as they're still giving Microsoft a run for their money. It's not that I especially hate Microsoft, although I do; it's that the last thing this industry is yet another concentration of formats in the control of one corporation. Windows Media is no more or less proprietary than realmedia, but when there are two competing crappy proprietary formats, at least they're more likely to keep each other honest that way.
And thankfully, this is just another sign that RealNetworks has what it takes to continue leading in this sector. Back in April, RealNetworks negotiated a deal with AOL to bundle their software with AOL's, putting them at #1. I'm certainly not a fan of AOL, for what it's worth, but that's probably the second easiest/best way to get one's software on the desktop of millions of ordinary users, next to bundling it with Windows itself.
Now if only TiVo would stay solvent long enough for all this to make some sort of difference....
it is "spyware"
it is non-secure: that is, use of it injects data into your system that you don't have the control over to save, copy, or do what you want.
Unless you are careful, it splatters itself all over your desktop
If you are a real idiot, you get spammed if you enter your e-mail address during set-up.
Unless you are careful, it keeps nagging you to upgrade to a version that is less secure and works worse than the previous version.
It doesn't say anywhere in the article that the codec is going to be compatible with RealPlayer. Furthermore, the TiVo implementation may have rights management built into it. If you transfer video from the TiVo to your computer, it may not play on your PC even if it is the same codec.
On a lighter note, maybe I can now watch flash movies on my TV. Hyakugojuuichi!
Ah, great... now as soon as you power on your Tivo, Real Player will prompt you to register with your e-mail address, install itself as the startup screen, add itself as a favorite recording, and make itself the default for everything else.
What's that you say? Not yet.
Fuck.
I love TiVo, I really do. I have two of them and it's hard to watch TV without them..but...
For my next one I want HDTV support. Right now I have to switch in and out of TiVo to watch HD shows.
I want broadband support. My monthly service for TiVo is effectively doubled since I have to keep a phoneline around for it. I guess I could hack in TivoNet...but I don't have time right now. I want to totally switch to my cell phone.
I want the ability to move shows to other recorders..or better yet, have one master box and several slaves on other TVs similar to that new one that was just announced.
a little consolidation in the home media market in the near future... Maybe Sony buying Tivo, incorporating it's technology into a future version of the Playstation, along with the ability to play Real Media files. You know XBox will have this capability with Windows Media files in the future. Then you also have companies such as AOL/TW who could become a player. I'm sure there are others too.
I Heart Sorting Networks
It's people like you who put Netscape where it is today. While MS was improving IE, you and your ilk were sitting around saying, "Hey, it's okay that Netscape munges tables and needs to reload everything if I *gasp* resize the page -- everyone should support them because they're not Microsoft!" Keep supporting screw-ups just because you hate their enemy and you'll ensure that they always remain screw-ups, because the only thing they need to do to retain that particular business model for a while is to not be bought out by said enemy -- that is, until they finally go out of business because people couldn't take the crappiness anymore.
Oh, and this is coming from someone who prefers Windows Media Player 8, hates all versions of QuickTime, and is happy enough with Real to be a GoldPass subscriber ('though not a Real One subscriber, although that's the player I use for Real now). And call me crazy, but I let them bill me every month because the service they provide is worth it to me, not because they ain't Microsoft.
The point of an open source PVR is not to make a cheaper or a 100% cost-free PVR. It is to promote open standards, and to create features that you don't see in common PVRs. Like, say, MPEG-4 video. There are lots of opportunities in an open source PVR. But cost avoidance isn't one of them.
I can finally watch streaming video on TV!
err. wait. That's what tv is.