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TiVo Service Cost Rising
evil_one writes: "Shortly after the article on ReplayTV mods, comes this story about TiVo cost increases." A 30% increase in the cost of TiVo service will probably affect a lot of readers -- and might just make the hassle of a homebrewed PVR a little more attractive. Of course, TiVo service is what makes a TiVo more attractive than a plain recorder anyhow.
Well, I haven't heard of an entirely homemade version of a TiVo. It's a pretty complicated device -- MPEG compression isn't all that easy to do on a chip. Toms recently had an article describing a hard drive hack for it, which explains what a TiVo is pretty well in the introduction. This place also has a pretty good FAQ which answers a bunch of random questions that are likely to come up.
b) You simply cannot match the features (and AI) currently offered by the TiVo service by attempting to hack into various online listing databases..
These features of the "service" are in fact features of the software already on the box at time of purchase. All the TiVo "service" does is download the tv listing for your area and television service.
This is obvious with a DirecTiVo. An unhacked, never opened box fully subscribed can be unplugged from the phone line. After 30 days, it will complain that it hasn't verified your continued service and will shut off, but until that time you will have full guide data, which it gets off the dish, and the full scheduling service.
Furthermore, no hacking of "various online listing databases" is needed, you can purchase the data for between $20-30 a year. The only difficulty is getting the data into the TiVo itself. Of course that's only necessary with the standalone units.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
however, these are locked to the UNIT itself.
There is a website that will transfer the service from a pre-existing TiVo to a new one. Here is the direct link, they have other services as well, such as removing the nag screens (for people who don't want the service, such as myself), memory upgrades, harddrive upgrades, etc. Well worth bookmarking.
SealBeater
-- Its survival of the fittest...and we got the fucking guns!!!
Here is the orignal (informal) announcement with some Q and A:
. ph p?s=&threadid=47571
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread
That's an interesting point. I stole DirecTV when I was in college. Time passed. One day, I decided I wanted more TV than cable provided me. I got a DirecTV system, because that's what I had used in the past. Today, I don't have the time to deal with ECMs and stuff, but I have the money to pay for the service. So I do.
Of course, I know a lot of other people who could care less about the tech, and could pay for the service, but still steal it. "Steal." Such an ugly word.
http://gilder.com/americanSpectatorArticles/Lessi
The service is just the program guide data, downloaded periodically to the TiVo unit.
It's what the TiVo does with the guide data that makes it worthwhile. It lets you set up season passes (shows you want recorded every time they come on), wish lists (shows to keep a watch for), and of course you can view the program data about 99 different ways (by schedule, genre, actor, etc). The software is pretty smart. If a show changes time slot, it'll adjust the recording. If that episode has been recorded in the last 28 days, it'll skip it, and so on.
Although the TiVo runs on Linux, the applications that do all the work are not open source. In addition, the program data is in a proprietary format. You may be able to access and assemble your own guide data but I don't know of any way to get a TiVo to use it.
I'm not crazy about the price increase but will continue to subscribe as it's still easily worth the price. I don't watch much TV but am totally spoiled by TiVo now in that I can watch it whenever I want.
The service fee is related to paying for providing the TiVo dial-up services.
Technically this has five major parts:
- A TiVo provided Internet access dial-up point (which presently is done through UUnet)
- A TiVo provided NTP (Network Time Protocol) server to reset the time on the TiVo
- A web server which provides TiVo software updates
- A web server which provides almost *ALL* the data Zap2It has for the channels you recieve in a format approbate to TiVo (it also provides the TiVolution magazine data)
- A toll-free accessable technical support staff if any of the above does not work correctly
Of the five major items that make up the service, TiVo actually allows four to be used even if TiVo is not presently subscribing. The only piece they with-hold is the Zap2It data despite the fact that they need to still pay to provide the other four major pieces.
Figuring out how to rewrite the CGI scripts used to feed the data to the TiVo and the format of the data is not overly hard. Tridge from the Samba group has done it but has been "kind" enough not to provide details to the public at large. But probably any of the bnetd developers which cloned the Blizzard Battlenet server would also be able to figure out the data structures and protocol of TiVo guide data.
However, the hard part is getting ALL the data. Zap2It does not make everything easily available through their web interface. The TiVo makes use of not only the program names, length and descriptions but also other critical data effects it's functionality. The wish-list feature requires properily formated data of the actors and actresses for each show. The parental controls requires properily formated ratings of each of the shows.
Also, selling the service is a big portion of TiVo's business. Building and selling the hardware is largely Phillips and Sony's cut of the business. The service is the only thing TiVo sells itself to the consumer. Hence, alot of TiVo hackers, like Tridge, tend to avoid discussing attacking this portion of TiVo's business with fear that it will destroy the future of TiVo.
Questions I have however is:
- How much money is being made off TiVo service related advertizing such as the special Lexus menu item which appeared for a while? Why isn't the service advertizing help reduce the cost to subscribing?
- How much of the subscription ends up being payed over to UUnet? Can TiVo provide a discount to those that already have an alternative PPP/Internet dial-up account someplace else (or use TiVo Net through broadband)?
Remember, you aren't getting a dumb box that works the same way forever. You get the benifits of the software improvements Tivo develops. A priority queue for season passes, keyword wishlists that can auto-record, and VBR encoding have all been added since I bought my Tivo.
For quite some time I've wanted to make a homebrew PVR. In fact, I shelled out quite a bit attempting to make one. Here are the basic problems:
1) TIVO and ReplayTV technologies all have built in MPEG encoder/decoder cards. In the US, such cards simply do not exist. There are MPEG decoder cards, but they are barely supported in Linux.
2) TV-OUT technology simply doesn't exist in the US for Linux. The most promising technology is with the ATI-AIW card. I have heard some folks have mixed success using a framebuffer but in framebuffer mode, all video acceleration is lost.
3) It takes an _aweful_ lot of processor power to perform real-time MPEG-encoding. Larger processors also bring high heat and require more cooling and bigger cases.
4) Cost is just enormous. An ATI AIW is around $250 and then throw in another $250 for a HD, then throw in the cost of the other pieces and you end up with a solution costing well over 1K. CD-R only inflates that number.
As long as all manufactors are keeping the specs to their hardware closed, homebrewed PVRs are just not possible. Hardware is desperately needed to complete the solution.
ATI was working on a set-top motherboard but I do not know if it was targetted at consumers or OEMs. Maybe some enterprising hardware geek out there will whip up a custom StrongARM-based single board with built in S-Video out and MPEG encoding/decoding...
int func(int a);
func((b += 3, b));
ReplayTV doesn't have a subscription cost.
Not that I don't wonder about a company with no continuing revenue stream, but fwiw, there's no cost. (I have a Tivo.)
El Karma: excelente(principalmente la suma de moderación hecha a los comentarios de los usuarios)
Supposedly MS will be releasing XP SP1 by the end of the year, containing Freestyle software. Freestyle lets you control Windows from a remote control, presenting a special UI and features just for that. The features included DVD playback, etc, and also television recording, pausing, just like the TiVO. Basically, MS disbanded it's ultimate TV, and sent the developers to either the Freestyle camp or the XBox camp.
Tivo has to pay for the guide data, so they pass that cost on to the subscribers. Just because you (or any individual average Joe) can go collect TV guide information from any number of on-line sites to be feed into your tivo doesn't mean you can offer that data ("service") to everyone for free. Tivo certainly cannot do that. (The contents of those web sites are protected by copyright for which you have no right to redistribute.)
Basically, what you do with their data in the privacy of your own home for your personal amuzement is totally your business. However, what you do with their data in the privacy of someone else's home, is very much their business.