Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Tivo 2 Features On the Horizon

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the boop-beep-ding dept.

Lemuel writes "Tivo has finally pre-announced its music and photo pictures for the Tivo 2. Users will be able to play MP3s and view photos that come from their computer. It will also be possible to program the Tivo via a web site. An official announcement is due in January. There will be revenue associated with these items. Only the remote programming sounds interesting to me, but I'm glad for anything that would keep Tivo afloat."

9 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. But can you... by swg101 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    move files onto the computer for archiving/storage? The article talks about playing mp3's/video from the computer as well as "home networking", but there are no real details. Any other info?

    --
    Like pi? Try 10,000 digits.
  2. Tracking viewing habits by Trane+Francks · · Score: 5, Interesting
    and without my viewing habits being tracked
    This is something that I've been puzzling over. Since we have cable-modem technology, what's to stop a cable tuner from calling home and reporting to the cable operator what channel you're viewing at any given moment? I'm not saying that this is actually being done, but I can think of no reason why such a thing couldn't be implemented. And if I were a cable operator, this would certainly be the sort of information that I'd be very, very interested in seeing.
    --
    ...a FreeDOS contributor: http://www.freedos.org/
  3. What if I don't have a land line phone? by malarkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It doesn't look like they've allowed for updated Tivo over broadband yet. I dropped my land line for a cell phone and broadband (had the cellphone already anyway). Tivo looks great, but is un-usable.

  4. Tivo 1 Owners already have a FREE web interface... by sk3tch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    http://tivo.lightn.org/

    No add'l streams of revenue off us Tivo 1-model hackers. Heh heh heh. :)

    Yeah...we can't view photos (boo hoo) and listen to MP3s (Apex DVD player anyone?) but we can extract shows, FTP, telnet, etc. into our Tivos...

    Wonder if Tivo will now be disabling this "ability" with a new round of hacker "thwarts"?

  5. mp3s AND digital photos? WOW! by USC-MBA · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Sarcasm aside, it has to be said that there are better uses for a television, especially the home-theater setups many Tivo users prefer, than as a slideshow screen or jukebox.

    I refer of course to using the television as a medium for viewing video clips saved in formats such as wmv, mpeg, divx, avi, etc. If users could transfer porn^H^H^H^H educational videos and the like directly to the Tivo box from their computers, it would be a great increase in convenience, and might just be the app that secures in the customer bade Tivo needs.

  6. Re:Meanwhile by tswinzig · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have the freedom of recording whatever I want on my pc with my video capture card

    Yes, you do. On the contrary, I have the freedom to enjoy using my extremely user-friendly, feature-filled TiVo. Of giving programs thumbs-up and having it record similar programs. Of easily setting up Season Passes for all my favorite shows. For setting up wishlists based on favorite actors, directors, and keywords, and having any matching programs automatically record. And this all comes in a nice-looking black box that blends in with the rest of my home stereo equipment.

    without paying a fee

    I don't "pay a fee." That implies I'm getting nothing in return. I buy a service. I could also fork out $250 and get that service for the lifetime of my TiVo. If you had a TiVo, you wouldn't be complaining about $15 a month. I'd pay 2-3x that for what TiVo does.

    without my viewing habits being tracked

    This is the worst mud you can come up with to sling at TiVo?

    Yes, horrors, TiVo aggregately tracks your viewing habits. I like this. I would prefer future content be tailored to what I like to watch. I like the idea that maybe my viewing preference information will make its way back to the bigwigs... maybe more West Wings, and Sopranos, and Six Feet Unders, and Andy Richters will show up on TV then!

    I wonder what kind of nasty stuff they have cooked up in this Tivo 2 of theirs....

    Sigh... You're the stereotypical slashdotter. I bet you get all hot and bothered with every "Your Rights Online" post they make here, don't you?

    I am willing to trade a little meaningless privacy for a lot of added value.

    Yes, that's right, it is MEANINGLESS to me if "they" know what I watch on TV! If I want to watch something deviant, I'll buy it on DVD like the rest of the world.

    --

    "And like that ... he's gone."
  7. Re:what's a pre-announcement? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Now - can anyone tell me how it is that they're still losing money with half a million *paying* customers?

    You're not even counting the fact that Tivo owns the patents for practically everything PVR-related that is patentable, and is licensing them to it's few competitors...

    Unless PVRs aren't nearly as popular as it would seem, I'm not sure how a company that controls so much of it's market (either directly or through patents) can still be losing money.

  8. More than the story tells by Quikah · · Score: 3, Interesting

    According to an "unofficial" post by a TiVo marketing rep there is much more to this than just mp3 and picture viewing.

    My guess: Originally when series 2 was announced they mentioned that they would have some deal with Real. I am guessing that you will be getting some of the premium Real content with this.

    --
    Q.
  9. Re:Meanwhile by mcowger · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually, snapstream has all the features you mention...TV output, Season Passes (incl all or just new epsiodes) category search, and a pretty damn good TV full screen interface. That and it does streaming too over the web. Unfortunately, its windows & WMP only at the moment (DivX is on alpha)...but still a neat product. Not affiliated, just a happy customer.