Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Interview with SONICblue's CEO

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the don't-envy-this-guy dept.

An anonymous reader writes "itvt.com has an interview with the current CEO of SONICblue Greg Ballard where he fields questions on subjects including: the future of the DVR, the current litigation with Hollywood and how he sees ReplayTV PVR stacking up against Tivo this upcoming holiday season."

6 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Screw inovation, what I want is good price by ferratus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here in Canada (at least where I live), the only way to get PVR functionnality is to get the satellite dish with the high-end receiver with pvr integrated.

    As far as I know, this is the only way to get at. At 600$ canadian (ok, so it's about 25$ US) it's quite pricey and I hate to encourage a monopoly.

    Hopefully this stuff will have lower prices soon...

    --
    IP Therefore I am.
  2. There's one thing I want a DVR to do by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Record one show on one channel while allowing me to watch another on another channel.

    Sky+ does this, but I'd rather have a device that isn't quite so tightly tied to the broadcast organisation since I'd rather have someone a little more neutral making decisions about what it will and will not record. TiVO will allow me to watch a previously recorded show while recording, which is nice, but not what I want.

  3. Their biggest problem by jerrytcow · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I've always seen poor customer service and poor product quality as sonicblue/rio's biggest problem. I've heard from many people that until these are fixed they will never buy a sonicblue product.

    My girlfriend and I each bought a Rio500 about 2 years ago. Both stopped working and were returned to the online store. She got a refund, but I had it replaced. I had to send it in twice within a year to have it repaired. Their customer service was no help - each time they made it a huge hassle to send it in. The second time they had it for 4 or 5 months before they returned it. I was browsing online forums during this time to try to find out what was wrong and found many people with the same problems/complaints.

    Someone pointed me to this BBB link which basically says
    Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau.Specifically, our records show a pattern of non-response to consumer complaints brought to its attention by the Bureau.

    The BBB has two ratings: satisfactory and unsatisfactory, and it very difficult to receive the latter.

  4. Get it on Wal-Mart shelves by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In the TiVo vs. Replay war, the one who will win will be the first one to get their boxes on all Wal-Mart shelves well before Christmas. That giant retailer could do more for either PVR company than any cable box deal this season.

  5. ReplayTV 4500 by sfbanutt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We just got a replayTV 4500 and I love it. The commercial advance is pretty amazing, I've not seen it skip over programming yet, but it skips at least 75% of the commercials automatically and on some shows, it gets 'em all. It'll also allow you to record from DVD or VHS sources as well as saving recorded shows to a VCR. We bought it initially because they were out of TiVos at the store, but now I'm glad we did.

    jim

    --
    I've wrestled with reality for 35 years and I'm happy to say, I finally won out - Elwood P. Dowd
  6. TV... by ekephart · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm sorry, but I don't care how high-tech TV gets I still won't pay for it. I get a few channels by default with my cable modem. And I mean a few, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, UPN, WB, Discovery. I basically only watch the WB and FOX for the Simpsons and once in a while the Discovery channel just for those cool forensics shows. I guess I'm out of sync with the general public but IMHO TV programming by and large is worthless.

    Go mods go, flaimbait, offtopic, troll.

    --
    sig