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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."

33 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. How can that be? by JonTurner · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...against Tivo this upcoming holiday season."
    I don't understand. Microsoft, uh, I mean Slate, told me that TiVO was dead.

  2. Replay vs. TiVo? by FortKnox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    how he sees ReplayTV PVR stacking up against Tivo this upcoming holiday season

    The only way ReplayTV can get a heads up over TiVo is to sell the software to digital cable companies to use it in their cable boxes.
    TiVo has a bigger following, and a partnership with DirecTV. It just has a foothold over all other DVRs.

    --
    Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
    1. Re:Replay vs. TiVo? by crow · · Score: 5, Insightful

      TiVo has the advantage of having better name recognition. Most of the numerical advantage TiVo has is due to their integration with satellite receivers. If you only look at the stand-alone units, TiVo and ReplayTV are much closer.

      The real issue is advertising. The one message they've gotten out to consumers is "pause live TV." That's nice, but not something you pay hundreds of dollars for. Automatically skipping commercials is probably a better message, and one that TiVo won't have.

    2. Re:Replay vs. TiVo? by troc · · Score: 3, Informative

      TiVo can add that feature to their software whenever they want to - it's actually quite a common hack amongst TiVo hackers.

      So unless ReplayTV have a patent on one button ad. skipping......... *smirk*

      Troc

      --
      Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
    3. Re:Replay vs. TiVo? by Pii · · Score: 3, Informative
      It's hardly a hack, which implies (in the Tivo community) the addition or modification of software on the system.

      Tivo 30 Second Skip

      • Press Select
      • Press Play (Not the Yellow Play/Pause button)
      • Press Select
      • Press "3" and then "0"
      • Press Select
      Three Tivo tones indicates that the feature has been enabled.
      --
      For those that would die defending it, Freedom
      has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
    4. Re:Replay vs. TiVo? by jacklf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Current ReplayTV boxes automagically skip the commercials--no button pressing is required.

    5. Re:Replay vs. TiVo? by Pii · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Which is why ReplyTV is catching more flack from content providers, and Tivo is catching almost none.

      --
      For those that would die defending it, Freedom
      has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
    6. Re:Replay vs. TiVo? by dubiousmike · · Score: 3, Informative
      At a certain point, both PVRs have emulated each other pretty closely. I think the parent positing is a bit of a Troll.

      Tivo has a heads up over Replay because it had more marketing dollars (by initially charging their customers a monthly or one time fee). Tivo is also owned by Phillips.

      Tivo willfully shares your Tivo data with others.

      Tivo has violated their privacy agreement with you a number of times. They changed their privacy policy to allow them to share your data without notifying their customers. The link they provided in their manual still made you click through on about 3 or 4 links before actually getting to the policy. I know of many Tivo owners who were concerned about their privacy were in an absolute uproar about this.

      Replay TV refused to share your private information and were almost forced to do so. They paid lawyers to keep my information to themselves.

      Though Replay now charges a monthly fee like Tivo on NEW units, I have a unit that did not have this charge. I paid $300 for a 20 hour Replay TV and have never spent a dime since.

      Replay TV has allowed for me to access my Replay TV from anywhere with an internet connection. I have heard that Tivo has also adopted this. Not sure though.

      Replay TV gave me the 30 second skip so that I can easily bypass commercials. I believe Tivo has also snagged this feature as well?

      One thing that Tivo has over Replay is that it was the first to let you can hack it to add larger drives. (1, 2, 3)
      ReplayTV does now too. (1, 2) Tivo has historically been easier to do so, but I'm not sure about these days.

      Overall, features on both are very similar, though the methodology to record shows is a little different. Replay gives you more pause time as it isn't just recording things it THINKS you MIGHT like. Replay makes you be specific about what you want to record, though they have theme recording channels. Tivo is programed to make certain assumptions about what you want it to record in addition to what you specifically specify.

      I know folks who own one or the other. Regardless of brand, they are both extremely happy with their new options for watching TV. For those of you who say, I barely watch TV, its likely because you think there's too much crap on. There is, but with one of these units, you will only be watching exactly what you want, without commercials. Iron Chef, Battlebots, Simpsons (I have archived almost 2/3s of all episodes), Southpark, West Wing, 24, shows for your kids/infants (ON DEMAND!!!) and both can wait for shows that aren't even in the programming guide yet.

      Though Tivo is on better financial ground right now, Replay TV isn't and hasn't historically been as shady about your privacy.

      Bottom, line, do the math and find yourself the best deal. Even if one or both went out of business, we'd make a hack to grab the programing information anyway.

    7. Re:Replay vs. TiVo? by danielobvt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Take a look at the major investors in Tivo. This option will never be available from Tivo. However, it does make them on heck of a less likely target for lawsuits.

    8. Re:Replay vs. TiVo? by Lightn · · Score: 3, Informative

      Ok, there is a good amount of misinformation and ignorance in this post, I feel the need to respond.

      Tivo is also owned by Phillips.
      I'm pretty sure that is not the case. A few companies had large stakes in Tivo, but no one owns them.

      Tivo willfully shares your Tivo data with others.
      That is a pretty small story you linked to. And if you had read the full story you would know that customers have to specifically agree to be part of the Neilson program.

      Tivo has violated their privacy agreement with you a number of times. They changed their privacy policy to allow them to share your data without notifying their customers. The link they provided in their manual still made you click through on about 3 or 4 links before actually getting to the policy. I know of many Tivo owners who were concerned about their privacy were in an absolute uproar about this.
      There has been a number debates about Tivo's privacy policy, but I believe they have done a very good job. I don't know what event you are refering to, but I don't believe it to be true. If you could provide a link I could make an intelligent responce.

      Replay TV refused to share your private information and were almost forced to do so. They paid lawyers to keep my information to themselves.
      Yes, good for them. But to my knowledge Tivo has never shared personal viewing information with anyone. They do share aggregate data, and have always been up front about this.

      Replay TV has allowed for me to access my Replay TV from anywhere with an internet connection. I have heard that Tivo has also adopted this. Not sure though.
      Tivo currently doesn't provide this feature, but it looks like they are planning to do this in the future. However if you hack your Tivo, you can get TivoWeb, which I imagine has more capabilities than myreplaytv simply because of how it works.

      Replay TV gave me the 30 second skip so that I can easily bypass commercials. I believe Tivo has also snagged this feature as well?
      Yes, but you have to press a few buttons to active a backdoor to get this feature.

      One thing that Tivo has over Replay is that it was the first to let you can hack it to add larger drives.
      Yes, and a lot of other hacks too. ReplayTV does now too.

      Overall, features on both are very similar, though the methodology to record shows is a little different. Replay gives you more pause time as it isn't just recording things it THINKS you MIGHT like. Replay makes you be specific about what you want to record, though they have theme recording channels. Tivo is programed to make certain assumptions about what you want it to record in addition to what you specifically specify.
      This is a rather misleading statement. You have full control over what your tivo records. Although you can argue the merits of the different systems. The suggestions that tivo finds, only records to any extra space you have, and will never delete or preempt anything you have told it to record. And you can turn off suggestions if you want.

      Bottom, line, do the math and find yourself the best deal. Even if one or both went out of business, we'd make a hack to grab the programing information anyway.
      Agreed

  3. 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.
  4. 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.

    1. Re:There's one thing I want a DVR to do by crow · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's not too hard to do if you have the tuner integrated into the system. I believe you can do that with the DirecTiVo. With a stand-alone box, though, it's pretty pointless to bother setting up that feature, as most people are using cable boxes that only decode one channel at a time.

      What I want is to see addressable converters become something that you can buy instead of rent from your cable company. I want to see them integrated with VCRs, TVs, and PVRs in the same way that cable-ready tuners are ubiquitous today. Once you eliminate the need for an independent tuner, there's no reason you can't sell several models of ReplayTV with different numbers of tuners.

      In the meantime, people who are far more serious about TV than I am will set up two or three ReplayTV units, each with their own cable box. (Really, people do that; I'm glad I don't watch that much TV.)

    2. Re:There's one thing I want a DVR to do by Pii · · Score: 3, Informative
      For cable TV, yes, this would work just fine (Using a splitter).

      For Satellite, it's far more complicated. Each input needs to be able to arbitrarily tune in even or odd transponders, and cannot do both simultaneously. You have to use multiswitches, and other assorted voo-doo to make it all go.

      For detailed information, go to here.

      --
      For those that would die defending it, Freedom
      has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
    3. Re:There's one thing I want a DVR to do by Pii · · Score: 3, Informative
      Ummm... No.

      It's true that adding an additional tuner to the standalone Tivo would add cost. Aside from the tuners themselves, which are actually fairly inexpensive (what does a vanilla cable box cost? $30), the real cost lies in the MPEG encoding hardware. That's why you don't see such a product today.

      However, all of the DirecTivo models (Sony, Phillips, and Hughes) have dual tuners built-in. DirecTivos don't need MPEG encoding hardware, because it's an MPEG digital stream coming down from the bird. DirecTivos simply record this stream directly to the unit's hard drive.

      I routinely record two shows simulateously while viewing a third that I'd previously recorded.

      --
      For those that would die defending it, Freedom
      has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
  5. How they stack up... by Alsee · · Score: 5, Funny

    how he sees ReplayTV PVR stacking up against Tivo this upcoming holiday season

    Well, they are both packaged in rectangular boxes of about the same size. I'd say they'd stack up against each other pretty evenly.

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  6. Whatever, man. by Emmettfish · · Score: 4, Interesting
    There are a lot of people out there mailing hardware manufacturers to let them know about Ogg Vorbis, asking about Vorbis support, etc. Here's an excerpt from a customer service mail from SonicBLUE that was passed to me last week:

    Information for future upgrades to newer formats is not available at this time. Please continue to check our website for further information.

    Please note that almost all current Rio players support the WMA format, this codec that will provide digital quality sound at 64k encoding rates. The newest WMA codec WMA9 is by far the best audio compression codec in the world and is supported in all of our players that offer WMA support.

    In the words of the Filthy Critic: "Hey, whore! How's the whoring?"

    Emmett

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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
  10. Ballard of 3dfx fame? by /ASCII · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is this the same Greg Ballard who used to be the CEO of 3dfx?
    If so, isn't it the consensus that bad management drove 3dfx to the ground?

    --
    Try out fish, the friendly interactive shell.
  11. Duh. by crow · · Score: 3, Informative

    Greg Ballard is the CEO of SonicBlue. I believe he is the former CEO of 3dfx.

    Steve Balmer is the CEO of Microsoft.

  12. 3 Interesting Comments by mbourgon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    1) Portable device to watch shows on, downloaded from the ReplayTV
    2) "we'll use whatever DRM system [Hollywood] ultimately certify"
    3) Heavily marketing the Commercial Skip this winter

    --
    "Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
  13. 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
    1. Re:TV... by damiangerous · · Score: 5, Funny
      I guess I'm out of sync with the general public but IMHO TV programming by and large is worthless.

      No, it's still pretty trendy here on Slashdot to speak condescendingly of the "idiot box" and brag about how you only have a television set because you're forced to for some byzantine reason and you really wouldn't watch the awful thing if you could possibly avoid it. I'd say you're quite in sync with the arrogant prick crowd, if that's what you're aiming for.

  14. Replay TV-- Ya Gotta Love It! by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 5, Informative

    Bought one over a Tivo specifically for the "commercial advance" feature. It's brilliant! But, uh, yeah, I can see the advertisers and the networks who take the advertisers' money getting their noses out of joint. (Note to SonicBlue: This feature works approx. 90% of the time. I'm guessing it looks for a 7.5 IRE black signal which it recognizes as the start of a break. Some cartoons, and a few of the more arty/Gothic shows (e.g., Buffy) seem to incorporate this pure black into some transitions.)

    Interestingly, the purchase of the Box caused me to order more channels from DirecTV. Prior to owning one, "there was never anything good on" when I watched TV (which was usually when I was feeding a child or performing some other paternal act). Now -- a veritable virtual library of programs culled from the recently ordered History International, Discovery Science, DIY -- all the next-tier networks I thought sounded "cool" before but that I knew I would never have time to watch.

    PVR's will simply crush the market for pre-school tape vids from networks like Noggin, 'Toon, and PBSKids. I got my own (Commercial Free!) kids channel now.

    Seriously thinking of getting another box for the bedroom and/or office...

    No, I'm not a SonicBlue employee or affiliated with them in anyway, but, I am enjoying being able to sing a product's praises for once instead of ripping it to shreds.

  15. Re:Subscription (slightly OT)? by Erasmus+Darwin · · Score: 3, Informative
    "What exactly is the subcription for?"

    The subscription is to the service that provides you with scheduling information, so that the unit knows what shows are on when. This lets it automatically record shows that have changed timeslots, and it lets you pick shows to record by browing show listings rather than requiring you to enter an actual time.

    Also, with the ReplayTV units, the price of the service is just included in the unit price as a one-time fee. If you don't want to go the subscription route, Tivo offers a similar deal for $250, which gives you the service for the lifetime of your Tivo. So it's really just that Tivo is giving you more payment options for the service.

  16. TiVo Price Drop by Evanrude · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think if TiVo did something crazy like - cut their prices in ... half? or one quarter off. Something drastic (either for the unit itself or the subscription price...or both!) They would attract a broader market who could actually afford the device. If they did something like this around the holiday season, TiVo could be the "big gift" this year.

    --

    ~.Evanrude
    1. Re:TiVo Price Drop by Pii · · Score: 3, Informative
      How much cheaper do you want them to make it?

      The standalone units require expensive MPEG encoding hardware... That's why they are more expensive than DirecTivo combp units.

      I bought my first DirecTivo last year, new, at Best Buy, for $119.00. (Practically free)

      My new Series 2 DirecTivo only cost me $199.00 (I've pre-oredered it... It hasn't yet arrived).

      The manufacturers (Sony, Phillips, Hughes) get a kick back (subsidy) from Tivo that already keeps the price down to where it is today. Tivo really can't afford to subsidize them any further. With the subscription, it already takes a while to make up the cost of the subsidy, and still longer to hit the break even point.

      A person that bought a unit, and bought the lifetime subscription at the time of purchase, represented a loss for Tivo.

      I don't know where that stands today, but I can't imagine it changed that much. That's why the lifetime subscriptions are going away.

      --
      For those that would die defending it, Freedom
      has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
  17. Near-baseless hatred of SonicBlue by skryche · · Score: 3, Insightful
    "SONICBlue"

    It's so meaningless and marketroid I can't stand it. Vague reference to music ("Sonic"), hip, yet relaxing color ("Blue"). You know there was a focus group involved. Not to mention the mixed CAPSlowercase. It sounds like a DRM technology company like LiquidAudio or some dead dot-com.

    "Tivo" is much more cuddly.

  18. Because as usual most people won't read it by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here are the pertinent issues:

    • SONICblue claim that most people are only using the Send Show feature within their house, not to distribute content to friends, families and <insert current boogieman enemy of truth, justice and distributor profits>.
    • SONICblue already have their own DRM that stops further propagation of recorded content after one transfer, and will adopt any studio suggested DRM standard as soon as it's decided.
    • They're going to lay off more staff, but probably not a lot (this is what "We don't have anything planned" usually means)
    • He has no idea how to eat into TiVo's market lead (stating that you're aiming for 30-40% of the market means you think you'll get 10%)
    • Sorry, one idea. They're going to go hog wild pushing the Commercial Skip feature, and damn the lawyers. And he's not bothered about working with the content pushers to come up with an alternative, as he says that the product has too small a market share to make a difference.
    • To put all of this into context though, he admits to being a lawyer and wanting to go into politics. So, translating, this means that ReplayTV is used only to send premium content to North Korea and Iraq, that they've already laid off all of their staff and will be suing them to recover past salaries, and that he personally will kill ReplayTV in return for a suitcase full of small non-sequential unmarked bills, a goldfish bowl full of crack, and a nekkid wrasslin' match with a roofied Britney Spears. Or perhaps I'm just reading too much between the lines.
    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  19. Re:Subscription (slightly OT)? by damiangerous · · Score: 3, Informative
    TiVo has recently discontinued the Lifetime Service offering.

    Umm, no, they have not. They discontinued yearly service sometime last year. As of two days ago Lifetime was an available option, and there have been no announcements of any upcoming changes. Can you produce one?

  20. Scientific Atlanta may beat both TiVo and ReplayTV by ny_cable_guy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The standalone PVR could soon be a thing of the past.

    TiVo and Replay are both trying with mixed results to enter the cable set top box market. The cable companies don't want to give another company revenue if they can keep it for themselves.

    " Scientific Atlanta which makes the digital set top boxes for Time Warner cable and others has recently started shipping the Explorer 8000 which has PVR capabilities.

    Among other things, it allows you to record two programs while watching a third from the hard disk.

    The cable companies will much rather keep the $10-15 per month extra that they could charge for this box, rather than share it with Replay or TiVo. And the customer will not have to shell out $400-$500 upfront to get it. Look for the SciAtl box to gain significant marketshare as PVRs gain more household penetration.