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TiVo Introduces Series2
KMFMS writes "Yesterday, TiVo introduced their Series2 line of TiVo DVRs. The TiVo web page for the Series2 states that it will have "2 USB expansion ports to connect to peripheral devices like... network adaptors..." " Presumably
this will mean Tivo will have Broadband support to compete with the new ReplayTV 4000's.
It also claims to support music and stuff too.
How much more expansion and networkability are the MPAA and TV networks going to "allow" in these sorts of things? I keep wondering when the "other shoe is going to drop" and Tivo is either sued out of existance or DRM'd out of usefulness...
The Free desktop that Just Works
I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know if there's going to be an upgrade program/discount for owners of the now old school original Tivo boxes?
:)
I guess now that the Series1 prices are going to probably go into a freefall soon I can pick up an extra and finally for the 100gig drive upgrade.
If I could get this thing with a DVD drive, so I have one unit on top of the TV, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. But as it stands, I just don't think I watch enough TV to justify the cost.
It's unclear on that little blurb whether it will have HDTV outputs... anyone have any more information on this? It would be great to have the outputs so that I could use the empty component in on my TV.
WWJD? JWRTFM!!!
...and add a 1394 firewire port to it. The first DVR vendor that does this will get my business.
---
IMHO, of course.
May the SOURCE be with you.
When I install a USB device usually I have to add some software driver of some sort. How will this work? It would be cool to be able to support things like webcams, the new creative labs sound system, PCTiVo cable and more. I use USB for most all of my stuff on my PC and would love to see this capability on a set top box.
"If you are on fire you can just stop, drop, and roll. If you fall into Lava you are just dead." - my 5yr old daughter
So if you plug in a USB modem/broadband adaptor, you'd then be able to stream Real content onto a TiVO. It all makes sense now...
-Corvidae
...and they're still going to charge ten clams a month for guide data that's freely available on the web? I'm willing to bet, the answer is yes.
This is the ONLY reason I'm not a Tivo user. Sure, the hardware is cool and it would be great to set something to record Battlebots, the Crocodile Hunter and a few other *special* shows... But for $119.88 a year for freely available data? I think not.
Oh well, maybe if the new features work without a subscription, I'll take a look.... But wait, didn't the release of extractstream (can't find link at the moment, I'll leave this up to you link-finders out there) make Tivo respond by saying the next version of the Tivo hardware would use millitary-grade crypto? So much for hackability.
---
Siggy, siggy, siggy, can't you see? Sometimes your puns just irritate me.
I can't wait to get my hands on one of these puppies.
As a Tivo owner, I've come to the conclusion that anybody who does any TV watching is an idiot not to have a Tivo.
BTW, that set of idiots included me for a long time, which I cannot, for the life of me, now understand...
Caution: Contents under pressure
The one thing I'd really like to see, aside from not having to pay for the TV listings monthy (or lifetime subscribtion for those big spenders out there), is to be able to download the TV listings weekly over the internet, rather than having to connect it to a phone line.
Not to mention have it download software updates via the internet as well.
Cire
It will have built in support for several types of USB devices. The kernel in the only "series 2" device out there (the AT&T Tivo, availble right now thru Tivo's web page) appears to have compiled-in support for a few types of USB ethernet adapters, but it may not be enabled as of yet. In any case, so software drivers will be required, you just have to use the list of "compatible hardware" that they give. That list will likely be long, as it's just a matter of having the unit detect and load the necessary kernel modules (it's running Linux 2.4.something).
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Why not firewire? It's a LOT faster, and besides, intel wants the market to move in this direction.
And, for god sakes, why not have ethernet, or wireless ethernet build in? My television is nowhere near a phone line, which is part of the reason for not getting a tivo. Although the prices for series one will probably drop now.
As a Tivo owner (and modifier), I can say that it's exciting that there will be an improved Tivo hitting the stores soon. I'm a little disappointed in a few things, though:
The announcement doesn't indicate what, if any, connectivity options they intend to use by default for the Tivo2. USB ports are great and everything, but if it still requires a modem line to get guide data and uses the USB network adapter for its "extended services"... Yuck.
And about the extended services: Why do I suspect that it'll be an extra charge for those?
I'm also a bit put out that Tivo isn't doing anything to announce improvements in the following areas:
- Show Send (a la ReplayTV)
- Archival of recorded shows to media or PC
- Show scheduling via Web page
- Management of recorded items via Web
- "Self-upgrade" capability via removable media
These, given the platform it's based on, would be simple to achieve. In fact, some of the same things are out there now that others outside of Tivo have created! Why not rely on the experiences of the power users, and be a truly hip company by adopting and supporting some of their work? Isn't that how the Open Source model is supposed to work -- the Adoption of What Works?
Or maybe I'm just mad that I spent all that time modifying my Tivo to add the above features and wish that I had the obviously superior Tivo2 hardware at the time.
:)
Will it support surround sound and all that cool stuff? After I invested all the money in all my surround sound equipment, to buy a TiVo that doesn't support 5.1 seems like a waste...
When is somebody going to get the brilliant idea to make a digital video recorder that does not require a phone line and does not have a monthly fee? That is a DVR I could like.
Andy Alexis Buy my CD: http://www.pineycreekweasels.net/cds.html Sacramento, CA. "The Pearl of the Central Valley"
I have had a TiVo for about a year now, and I love it! The only complaint I have about it is the inability to record two shows at once. Never have I said I would love to stream MP3s to my TiVo. Over and over I have cursed West Wing for overlaping with Enterprise, and Friends for coming on at the same time as Survivor. I want both! I know they already have this ability in the DirecTiVo, but not in the Stand Alone TiVos. This seems like the next logical evolution of their product, but alas TiVo is yet another company that has placed strategic partnerships above features.
If you're not in the know, Real and TiVo are in bed with one another which struck me as odd seeing as how Real isn't exactly known for being a champion of the Linux cause and that's TiVo's blood 'n guts.
At any rate, I'm glad to see that non-standard, non-open digital "rights" management fomats are no longer solely the domain of Windows *cough* WMA/V *cough*.
Easy does it!
This comment has been submitted already, 276865 hours , 59 minutes ago. No need to try again.
My main gripe about Tivo right now is that I can't record one program and watch another at the same time. UltimateTV and even DirecTivo have this capability, or alternately the ability to record two shows at the same time.
The specs for the new Tivo make no mention of this.
If it could do what the Turtle Beach Audiotron is doing and be my PVR too, that would be way cool. I view this with guarded optimism, they don't actually mention attaching broadband via USB. They just mention video on demand via broadband. Those could be seriously different things the the final shakedown. Still, its cool to see.
If you're going to have USB, why not provide the capability to use external storage? That would rock, but it doesn't sound like they are doing that. From the web page:
2 USB expansion ports to connect to peripheral devices like digital cameras, network adaptors, MP3 and CD players, etc.
Etc???
Light cup, beer drink, thin so chain, neck turtle fat, man I won't say it again
I've bought 3 TiVo's in the last year. One for me, one for my parents, and one for my brother. All three were the cheap 20-hour units, upgraded with a 3rd party hard-drive.
... it says they have a new graphics engine)
I sure as hell am not going through this again until they add HDTV support and dual tuners.
I would also love to see:
- 802.11b options, not only for downloading the updates via your local LAN, but also for streaming MPEG to other PC's and wireless devices on your LAN.
- Optical digital audio outputs (to go with the HDTV support).
- Newer video codecs with better quality (maybe they have added this in the latest release
- Firewire output would be nice, also.
Of course, my dream unit would be one that is integrated with TimeWarner's digital cable box, so that it can take advantage of the digital channels, much like DirecTiVo does. The integration with TW's channel guide alone would be awesome...
"And like that
The new features are all well and good, but I think the key to TiVo's long term success will continue to lie in its simplicity. Right now, it's something that your grandmother can use. It's simple, intuitive, and useful. While adding ports may up the "geek factor" to compete with ReplayTV, it really adds very little in the long run.
If you really want a whiz-bang system with home networking and other features built in, the way to get that NOW is to roll your own PC based system. There's plenty of software available.
If TiVo makes the mistake of over complicating their product and bogging it down with vaporware (see previous RealNetworks article), then they may have problems. Ask yourself what level of technology your non-technical friends and relatives are comfortable dealing with. Most can't even hook up their VCR correctly.
I love my TiVo. It's easy to use and simply works great. I don't ever see myself being without some sort of PVR.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
While it's true that for streaming over the internet directly from a Tivo it wouldn't matter, but it's pretty crazy to go around transferring full bitrate MPEG encoded movies - what most people want to be able to do is download video to their computer and re-encode or shrink it down to a reasonable archiveable size.
This sketches me out - I have a strange feeling that something is going on behind the scenes here - remember the flap over the ReplayTV that could "share movies with your friends". Tivo is a saavy company when it comes to placating the media world. I have a feeling there is a reason they are putting USB on it rather than ethernet directly. But it doesn't quite click to me what it could be - other than that this allows them to assess the industry response to it, and choose to release or not release official ethernet-USB support at a later date without endangering the product itself, and surely some hackers will make ethernet work anyway to appeal to the gear head crowd.
So I think this is a carefully considered business decision. I also know a lot of folks in the Tivo community and have no doubt that within weeks of these things hitting the stores all sorts of cool unintended uses for these USB ports will be thought up. I'll be first in line to buy one, as soon as the DirecTV-integrated version is out.
As a Computer/PC fan/freak/geek/. I've never bothered to take a closer look to things like the TiVo-thing nor do I belive I will. I'm just wondering what advantages such a device has got over a computer. Slap in a large HD, a TV-tuner-card and a graphiccard with a Composite connection and you'll have it all. Of course these things are cheaper, doesn't go out on date within the next 8 months and probably never crashes, but still modern man is separated from cows in three crucial points; opposing thumbs, speech and home-computers. Not many owns a computer today and those who don't doesn't really need a thing such as this. Some has probably never heard of the device either. But then again, what do I know? I'v never tried one.
Look a monkey!
After reading this article i think ill stick to alternative devices, im not into paying someone to sell my viewing habits to advertisers if they are strapped for cash,
im suprised so many pgp military encryption loving
Anyone see mention of audio improvements on this beast? I love my Tivo but the audio really sucks. Rear channels essentially disappear. I'm told this information is lost because the mpeg encoding algorithms see it as not being important.
One should not theorize before one has data. -Sherlock Holmes-
How long will it be before someone makes a USB CD writer mod and starts spreading near-perfect copies of TV programmes?
If that happened the $hit would hit the fan for TiVo, surely..
My life is one big siesta in which I'm dreaming I wished my life was one big siesta.
One feature I'd really like to see is the ability to decode digital cable.
"2 USB expansion ports to connect to peripheral devices like digital cameras, network adaptors, MP3 and CD players, etc."
Etc. could be a USB CD burner, perhaps? That popping sound was the MPAA's aneurism.
At least every other bullet point on the new features list has been complained about in at least one message on this article so far, so I thought I'd pick on the last remaining nitpickable item in the announcement.
They announced that the new device will be only 15" wide, rather than the standard 17". While seemingly inocuous, this means that any new TiVo I buy will look like a toy or a low-budget VCR in my equipment stack. And speaking of stacks, I currently have a 17" DVD player stacked on top of my TiVo, and this would no longer be possible with the new box.
Oh, well. My TiVo already does everything I want it to anyway. Until an HD-TiVo comes out I think I'll be doing all my upgrading with a Torx screwdriver rather than my wallet.
Justin
"Why would God give us a waist if we wasn't supposed to rest our pants on it?" - Rev. Roy McDaniels
One thing people seem to forget is that these don't necessarily have to be running Linux. Just because Series 1 Tivo's do, doesn't mean they have to use it for Series 2. Especially given the Realnetworks support. Kind of makes you wonder...
Anybody know if the DirectTV receivers with built-in Tivo will be offering the 2nd generation features as well?
The problem with the stand-alone unit having two tuners is that they may only have 1 data stream to record from.
I have digital cable. So I get a digital stream from my cable provider to their box, which then goes through my Tivo to my TV. The Tivo can't record 2 shows at once because my cable box will only stream 1 show to the Tivo box.
Maybe with analog cable Tivo could record 2 shows at once if it had two tuners, but analog cable is probably a dying technology anyway: the cable providers are pushing digital.
What I'd LOVE to see is an integrated digital cable box + Tivo unit, like what they did with Direct TV. That way they could pop 2 tuners in the box and record 2 shows at once. The compressing onto the tivo storage might even be better because they wouldn't be going digital -> analog -> digital like they do now.
Does anyone else think they might have been better off if they had included a firewire port?
USB is all fine and good, but unless it's v2 there isn't much bandwidth available for data transfers. I wouldn't want to wait hours...
Bah!
I know you. You're like this guy. Be careful not to fall off your pedestal.
This relationship was born more out of fellow feeling (the architecture of the Tivo is very hackerish) than of any practical value. But Tivo's business model is based on a close relationship with the Entertainment Industry. Not just to keep from getting sued, but to generate revenue by selling services to them. (Notice the "record this" option for some network promos. And I don't suppose logo insertion is free either.) That means they really can't afford to tolerate hacking, which will inevitably introduce features the Industry won't tolerate. Hence the disappearnce of backdoors. Expect Tivo to jump on the DMCA bandwagon soon.
I'm dying to know the answer to this:
ATT is advertising the first series TIVO with a $100 discount, but they'll never say if it'll cooperate with their digital tuner.
Is the TIVO smart enough to change channels with the digital tv reciever? Or does it contain the reciever?
My VCR wont change channels if the input is coming off the digital tuner. If the input isnt coming off the tuner, you can't see the premium channels.
Moxi presented their media center at the CES 2002 in Las Vegas on monday. Oh wait, it has already made slashdot headlines !
Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russel
In response to many comments on here, ReplayTV units already have an ethernet port, free guide data, arguably better interface than Tivo, and more storage (up to 320 hours)....
Take a look at http://www.replaytv.com
The system has been functioning perfectly well with the non-existent (in comparison!) bandwidth of Plain Old Telephone Modems; there's no reason for the product they're selling to need Firewire.
Doubtless the MPAA and related folks would be aghast at the thought of having fast interfacing to disk; that's just "piracy" asking to happen.
If they can get USB cheaply on the motherboard, and that allows hooking up a number of cheap USB devices, that's quite enough enhancement for now.
As for Ethernet, I agree that it would be pretty slick to throw that in. It would seem to me that dropping an Ethernet chip onto the motherboard and a port out the back would be a pretty good way to go, and would offer the merit that folks with ADSL or "cable modems" could then get their TV guide updates faster without needing the ISP service. (That saves TiVO some Actual Dollars, no doubt!)
However, there are some technical hurdles to get thru in supporting the Ethernet-to-Some-ISP-connection strategy; it means:
I'd be comfortable with all this, but then, I've got a hub, firewall, and have my own 10BaseT cable-building equipment. I'm hardly the "appliance user" they're mostly selling to.
Colour me unsurprised that they didn't want to just leap into that...
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
As I understand it, the subscription can be transferred only once, and only for warranty repair.
If I upgrade to a new TiVo, am I screwed out of my lifetime subscription?
At least Real releases Linux players. Can you say that for Quicktime or Windows Media?
What kind of bitrates does it support, what does it really save, what kind of quality, and why should I ever want to see anytyhing compressed with anything from real.*?\? And why can't I connect it to my computer and won't all nice satelite recievers have this from the beginning anyways?
The idea is really great, but we all knew that since before;)
I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a Tivo, WITH SERVICE. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Bell just introduced PVR capability in their satellite receivers, so get ahold of Rogers and put out a digital cable terminal with a tivo built in! PLEASE!
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Support for Canada!? You spend a little money getting the power supply and emissions approved and you get 30 million more customers.
I can't believe it was cheaper to go to the UK, even if they have twice as many people. The differences between the US and UK (regulatory, electronic, marketing, telephone) are incredible compared to the differences between the US and Canada.
If the problem is setting up local phone numbers, that's easy: LET THE TIVO CONNECT TO THE NET! Oh, wait, has that been suggested before?
I noticed that a few people were talking about how USB is so slow. What if they were including a USB 2.0 controller? Theoretical speeds for 2.0 are above that of IEE1394.
On the other hand, for the features that I'd love to see you may not need anything faster then 12Mbs. Personaly I would love to be able to use my cable modem connection to be able to update my show listings and maybe (I wish) be able to do some remote control from the Internet.
Looks like they are starting up some sort of developer program as well. You can sign up for it at the bottom of this page. Anybody know anything more about this program?
I am not a deveoper my self I am just curious what it is about.
Q.
Sounds funny, but in this case it is very true. Ultimate TV has dual tuners, USB, a printer port, and WebTV. With this and XBox, I think Microsoft has stepped up with some solid consumer offerings (and on their first version).
I read an interesting comment here some time ago. A person said he would never use UltimateTV because it didn't run Linux and therefore it couldn't be good. I think some peoples' irrational hatred of a company blinds them to some of the good products. Remember, Microsoft is composed of many semi-autonomous groups, some are better then others.
It's also interesting that this is a story on Slashdot. "Company introduces mundane technology on the heels of other competitors."
Etc. could be a USB CD burner, perhaps? That popping sound was the MPAA's aneurism.
No, it was the sound of my own as I die waiting for a USB burner to write even a 30 minute show.
But then you pointed out that among other things, you're another one of those Maxim readers. :)
Seriously though, I'm all for value-added services - but only when the value part is really valuable. I guess it depends largely on how valuable your TV watching is to you?
Myself, I find TV serves only as a temporary break in my schedule. Sometimes, I just want to be passively entertained for a little while, as I sit on my couch after work. Most often, I'd rather actively participate in something else (like maybe even Slashdot).
Even if TiVo does an outstanding job of locating TV content that's of interest to me - I'm not sure I care. I'd still prefer to actively seek out content that interests me using a resource like the web, as opposed to being spoon-fed the content on TV programs. TV caters to the lowest-common denominator most of the time.
(EG. Say I'm interested in cellphones, and want to buy a new one soon. My TiVo finds me several news stories on new cellphones, and a big program about the production of them. Fine, but it's still mostly marketing hype and watered-down facts that I have to now sit through 2+ hours of. In 10 minutes, I can go to the manufacturer web sites instead, and get complete technical specs on whatever new models they have out. Give me another hour, and I can read actual reviews from users of most of the choices to see which phones are best, and why.)
Au contraire!
I'd say Real Networks is one of the minority of companies that gives a nod to Linux on a regular basis. They had a streaming server that ran under Linux, and their player works in Linux.
As someone else said, compare this to any of their competitors (MS and Apple) and see what kind of Linux support you get for their media formats.
Tivo could set up something like an opt-in Nielson rating system where users can volunteer for Tivo to report what they watch, when they watch it, how many times, etc. This could be a moneymaker for Tivo as well as giving Tivo customers some input into their favorite shows.
man RTFM
No manual entry for RTFM.
...I care about disk-size and tuners. Wheny they make a 7 tuner model with hot-swappable 80 gig drives I will be ever so happy.
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
this link on CNN has a little more info on what will be "new" for Series2.
look for online games from the Jellyvision, maker of You Don't Know Jack and Smush.
also look for some sort of video on demand by Radiance Technologies Inc.
this is in addition to the Real Networks partnering and the USB support.
not quite the networking capability that i was hoping for but something nonetheless that might be interesting.
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
Read the linked article please before commenting !
the same people that complain about RealPlayer,doubleclick and spyware are the same people that own a TIVO, where do you draw the line ?
I'm as cynical as the next guy, but this is simply wrong. I have a brand new Sony SVR-2000 with the 2.5 code and it's fully hackable. Backdoors are on and I've enabled numerous hacks. For further info see Almost Complete Codes List. Now, what happens in the future is anybody's guess. However, based on the fact that the 30 sec. jump hack was removed in 2.0, then added back in 2.5, I'd say Tivo is still more sensitive to customer demand than anything else.
Understandably we have been spoiled with the 24x internal CD burners, but when you are backing up a 30 minute show on highest-quality settings (~450 megs) it would take a 4x external burner probabably 30 minutes top to burn that 30 minute show.
What's your hurry? I was in heaven when I got my 2x2x6 CDRW a couple years ago. Thirty minutes to record a 30 minute show is plenty acceptable.
Kids these days...
No wonder Tivo is dying. It's running a
dying operating system. If they would switch
to BSD, then they'd be like Apple in reviving
themselves. What a big mistake it was for Tivo
to run a GPL-infected wannabe of a Unix operating system.
The most important feature that Tivo needs to add is HDTV
support. I realize that it will take a ton of disk space, but it
is worth it. Is there any estimation on when this might
happen?
I will not purchase any HDTV equipment until Tivo supports
it.
I've been waiting to get a MP3 player for quite a while now because I want something that can hold a large collection, but not require me to navigate an 8 character display. It sounds like this new Tivo will one day have this feature.
I know it doesn't seem like much, but that kind of integration and ease of use is what made Tivo so popular in the first place. I could really see these things beating out game consoles as the first major entertainment "center piece".
Has anyone successfully had TIVO working in Canada with the proper listing for their Canadian cable service?
They are missing a large market of early adopter here.
---
This
Enabling Backdoor Mode
The Backdoor mode can be entered using the remote by doing a "Browse By Name" for "0v1t" (TiVo spelled backwards with zero and one instead of "O" and "I") followed by the "Thumbs-Up" key. The only known way of exiting Backdoor mode is to reboot the TiVo (see "C-E-C Fast-Forward" below).
The backdoor code for 2.0 systems is done the same way, except the code is "2 0 TCD". There is one space between the "2" and the "0", and another space between the 0 and the TCD".
The backdoor code for 2.5 systems is done the same way, except the code is "B D 2 5". There is one space between each character.
The backdoor code for V1.5.2 UK (latest) is: 10J0M (thats zeros and ones).
Almost Complete Codes List
I really doubt it. It would be nice, but when was the last time you heard of a DVD player or television coming with an upgrade discount.
As long as they keep providing service for the S1 TiVos, I don't see any reason to expect a discount on the new ones.
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
...and they're still going to charge ten clams a month for guide data that's freely available on the web? I'm willing to bet, the answer is yes.
Yeah yeah yeah. Call us when you've implemented a system that not only downloads that data into a regularized format for PVRs to read, but is smart enough to follow schedule changes on its own.
In the meantime, please look up the definition of "value-add" in your nearest Business 101 textbook.
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
If you have both a stand alone and a DirecTiVo, do you pay two TiVo fees, or just one? I have a SA right now, but am considering getting one of those cheap Hughes DirecTiVos. I searched deja for an hour once, but couldn't find clear answers on this. I realize I have to pay DirecTV the second-tuner tax, but what about TiVo?
-
It also claims to support music and stuff too.
Wow! I've always had problems getting stuff supported. I don't understand why more users haven't complained about their stuff not working under Linux and such. The fact that stuff is finally being considered by some of these big-shot manufacturers allows me to sleep better at night. I don't have to worry about moving wholesale to Microsoft-sponsored things.
"As with all TiVo standalone units, the TiVo DVR Series2 is compatible with and connects easily to virtually every television model available. It also works with VCRs, TV antennas, cable systems, and satellite systems."
Yeah, but can I hook it up to my other TiVo?
this is way off. but engineering-wise I never understood why Tivo needs to get the programming information using a modem. any DVB compliant stream is closed system in the sense that it contains the schedule information within the stream. I don't have a Tivo box and I'm wondering isn't this method more vulnerable to scheduling mistakes?
--just a thought
who says micros~1 standards are bad?
Gads man. Hack the data stream? You sure are out to slay a beast on this anti-corporate tantrum.
All condencension aside, I recommend you hack the file system. It'll be more fruitful than the data stream. Likely the communication to the main server is tokenized and you're not going to be able to easily concoct a mechanism that will fool the client (your tivo box) into thinking it's connecting to the server while in fact it's receiving data your tool culled from web sites.
Essentially you'll need to locate the data files on your Tivo box that store all the program listing info. Who knows what format it's in, but if you're ambitious enough to try to decode it in the 'data stream', you won't mind reverse engineering a likely proprietary database data file. Then you'll need to build your tool to get the program listings from free websites and write it in this DB file format that Tivo reads. You'll also need to find the spot where tivo tracks how much program data it has before its listings are out of date and you'll need to incr that. It could well be a deduction tivo makes reading the database file.
I wouldn't be so quick to label "The other TiVO hackers" as being "afraid of hacking this feature". It could be that they respect a company who has brought an innovative product to market, based it on linux technology, and been very mature about user modifications (keeping their hardware free of physical anti-mod devices). Perhaps these other TiVO hackers perceive the TiVO company as hackers themselves and don't want to tread on their revenue stream.
I support your right to customize the software that's running on the hardware you bought. I also agree that the 'lifetime' of a TiVO needs to be better clarified. After all, the boxes do have a hard drive and that's the only thing that's ever failed on ANY of my Macintoshes. I don't expect this device to last as long as my VCR or other applicances because of that, so I'd like to know what's to become of my 'lifetime' subscription. It's quite possible that the hard drive could fail one year and one day after the purchase of the device, and that lifetime subscription will have been the equivalent to a one-year-subscription.
This does not look much different than the '2nd-generation' Tivo that just came out - better known as the AT&T Tivo . This new Tivo also has USB ports, a smaller design. Although, it does only have 40 hours. I believe it's probably the same thing, though.
Now I'm just waiting to get my TV service, over my internet connection ;)
--Frank
"Neither life nor happiness can be acheived by the pursuit of irration whims." --Ayn Rand
I never watched TV before I got TiVo - when I had time, there was never anything interesting to me on, and I sure as hell am not going to make time for TV watching.
Once I got TiVo, I could watch what I want when I want - it gave me more control of that aspect of my liesure time. In addition to skipping commercials, it has made TV enjoyable for me.
is it usb2.0 or 1.0? Bandwidth is an important and I suspect there are two reasons the IPDroids have allowed usb ethernet connections. The fist being competition to the major networks through rapidly improving digital imaging, commodity hardware prices and free software for video editing along with improving p2p systems, the second being opendivx and ogg vorbis, LOL..
Don't you know they only cry monkey when doing the right thing doesn't put them in the right place in the market.. and this market is looking, well.. dry.
are about the same as the odds of me putting my hand in my pocket and buying a copy of WinXP.
If / when it finally does arrive, no doubt it will cost the same in pounds as you lot pay in dollars too. That sucks.
Tivo - do you hear me?
M