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AOL's Mystro TV vs Tivo?
admiral2001 writes "Here is is a NYTimes story about AOL-Time-Warner's plans for a TiVo-killing 'Mystro TV' (nytimes annoying free registration required). They plan to begin rolling this out sometime in the next two years. Their major features are the simple pause, rewind, and fast forward that all PVRs have. However, they've taken the obvious stance to "let[s] networks set the parameters, dictating which shows users can reschedule, and it also creates ways for networks to insert commercials." The article even mentions how they could get an advantage in pushing their product because "viewers could try out Mystro TV by pushing a button on their remote"."
nytimes annoying free registration not required here.
AOL Is Planning a Fast-Forward Answer to TiVo
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Personal video recorders like TiVo mock everything a television network is about. The devices let viewers thumb their noses at program schedules and, even worse, fast-forward past commercials. To many at the networks and studios, it is a cruel joke that could drive them out of business.
AOL Time Warner, however, is trying to beat TiVo Inc. at its own game.
A secretive team of AOL Time Warner executives has begun talking with other major cable operators and media companies about speeding up and co-opting the potential revolution that TiVo kicked off. The company's system, called Mystro TV, is AOL Time Warner's gambit in an imminent battle over the future of the television business. Satellite services, cable systems and television manufacturers are all racing to promote their versions of the TiVo-like technologies that threaten to wreak havoc on networks and studios, and AOL Time Warner wants to put its own stamp on the evolution of the medium.
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Its plans will turn in part on whether the company can end two years of internal discord following AOL's acquisition of Time Warner. If the company's often antagonistic divisions can cooperate, their collective arms reach to all sides of the television business. The company's Turner Broadcasting and WB are the largest collection of networks. Warner Brothers is the largest television studio. And Time Warner Cable is the most technologically advanced and second-largest cable operator.
AOL Time Warner already has a track record of directing the technological course of the entertainment business, most recently by single-handledly forcing Hollywood to adopt the low-priced sale of DVD's. Now it has dedicated significant financial and personnel resources to Mystro TV. Two years ago, the company transferred Time Warner Cable's top executive, Joseph J. Collins, and top engineer, James A. Chiddix, to the secretive project full time. Meanwhile, the cable division has already implemented some elements of the technology. Viewers in New York and elsewhere can subscribe to an HBO on-demand channel, enabling them to watch "The Sopranos" and other offerings on their own schedule with fast-forward and rewind. Viewers in Hawaii can watch the nightly news and other programs whenever they want, and the cable system is testing new forms of targeted advertising there as well.
But as the company rushes to stay ahead of competing services from satellite and electronics companies, AOL Time Warner must also overcome questions about its technology. At the same time, Mystro TV needs to win the cooperation of networks, studios and the creators of shows. So far, most industry executives -- even some at AOL Time Warner's networks and studios -- say they are dubious about the feasibility of the idea.
The essence of AOL Time Warner's Mystro TV is a technology that uses a cable system itself to provide viewers capabilities similar to computerized personal video recorders like TiVo: watching programs on their own schedules, with fast-forward and rewind. But it also lets networks set the parameters, dictating which shows users can reschedule, and it also creates ways for networks to insert commercials.
Two senior AOL Time Warner executives said the company was hoping to begin rolling out service within two years. They said the company planned to sell the Mystro TV service to other competing cable operators, just as it sold HBO, potentially giving Mystro a central role as a gateway between television networks and viewers around the country.
For now, senior AOL Time Warner executives said the company is trying to keep its efforts under wraps, partly because details may still change. The company was also stung by excessive publicity surrounding a disappointing test of interactive TV technology in Orlando, Fla., in the mid-1990's. A spokeswoman for Mystro TV declined to comment.
A confidential CD-ROM demonstrating a prototype of the service depicts a viewer arriving home in the middle of "Friends," (produced by Warner Brothers and shown on NBC) and restarting it from the beginning. Another viewer pauses a broadcast of "Charmed" (produced by Warner Brothers and shown on WB). "Go ahead, answer the phone," the demo suggests, "Mystro TV allows you to pause what you are watching."
As with the current HBO on-demand service, viewers can scroll through an on-screen programming schedule to look backward and forward at available shows. They can watch "Sex and the City" while "The Sopranos" is on, or preview next week's episode of either. "Want to watch a show that aired last night or a few hours ago?" the demonstration asks, "Simply go backward in the guide and press `Play.' No advanced planning required."
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Those capabilities frighten many at the networks, studios and Hollywood talent agencies, all of whom control crucial rights to the use of their shows. Letting viewers reshuffle the TV schedule cripples the network's ability to build audiences for new shows by putting them on after hits. More troublesome, the easy fast-forwarding promises to deprive networks of revenue by decimating the audience for commercials.
But the demonstration also stresses that the Mystro TV system offers networks and studios considerable advantages over in-home personal video recorders such as TiVo or ReplayTV, which is made by Sonicblue. Not only can networks determine the availability of their shows, but Mystro TV prevents consumers from making, storing or sharing copies (something ReplayTV allows). Mystro also does not automatically skip commercials or even include a fast-forward button that leaps past one 30-second commercial at a time (another feature of ReplayTV.)
While a program is paused or rewinding, networks can insert new commercials during the process or display them around the periphery of the screen. On the CD-ROM demo, for example, a viewer pausing "Charmed" might see a commercial for Special K or Pizza Hut.
The demonstration also promises advertisers new ways to target viewers. A viewer watching a car commercial might be able to select an additional view of the interior or safety features. Or one household might see a commercial for a luxury car while another sees a pitch for an economy model. "Increase the effectiveness of advertising by sending different ads to different homes," the demonstration promises.
Unlike TiVo or other set-top appliances, the demonstration notes, viewers could try out Mystro TV by pushing a button on their remote, an enormous advantage to wooing customers. (Consumers would presumably pay a monthly fee for Mystro service.)
But the thrust of AOL Time Warner's pitch to networks and studios is an implicit threat that the personal video recorder technology is coming, with or without their permission. So far, only about 700,000 of the most avid television mavens have bought TiVo devices, which are cumbersome to install and cost $200 to $400 in addition to a monthly fee. But two major satellite TV companies, EchoStar Communications and the DirectTV business of the Hughes Electronics unit of General Motors, have recently begun promoting TiVo-like set-top boxes as part of their services. In the fall, Toshiba is expected to begin selling a television with a similar device already installed. Time Warner Cable itself is hedging its bets by investing in TiVo-style cable boxes. It included similar functions in about 60,000 of the set-top boxes it has already installed, with 200,000 more expected to be delivered by next year.
Still, rolling out Mystro TV will not be as easy as an engineer pushing a button, mainly because of the elaborate telecommunications capacity required. TiVo and similar other devices store recorded programs in a hard drive on top of the set; the Mystro TV system would store the programming in hubs of cable networks. For the cable company, each additional user would mean squeezing another stream of video content through its cables. Then the system requires software to play digital traffic cop, managing the flow of so many distinct transmissions at once.
Michael Ramsay, the chief executive of TiVo, said he doubted AOL Time Warner could handle the capacity. "We have never been able to figure how you could do that economically," he said. But for their part, Time Warner Cable engineers have told industry audiences that they have been building their capacity toward this goal for years, so they think they are ready to tackle the logistics.
The requisite deals are even more tangled. Unlike recording on a personal hard drive, storing programming at a central location entails reaching licensing agreements with the owners of the shows -- studios, networks, producers, and others.
Executives at the major networks declined to comment. Privately, many acknowledge that they fear the spread of personal video recorders could do to their business what Napster did to music. They also worry that letting viewers watch shows like "Friends" at any time might sap the lucrative demand for reruns in syndication. For now, some senior network executives say they are putting their faith in the couch potato factor: many consumers apparently prefer to sit in front of whatever happens to be on, including commercials.
For now, said Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research, the fear of personal video recorders is not potent enough to drive Hollywood into the arms of Mystro TV. But, he said, the idea behind Mystro TV was "the holy grail" of television -- a vast library of programming at the viewer's finger tips.
"If you could get the license to everything that was ever broadcast on television, could you create a tremendous video-on-demand service?," he said. "Oh yeah, then all the technical problems would be worth it. But its getting the licenses that is the problem."
NY Times Technology (no reg req): AOL Is Planning a Fast-Forward Answer to TiVo
CNN Money: AOL eyes TiVo-like offering
This sounds like iControl from Time Warner Cable on steroids. I have most of those features, but not with live programming. It's pretty neat in its current form, but, of course, the playlists are updated and rotated every so often, so you don't get to "save" a show if the network decides to give you a new episode.
Michael C. Hollinger
If this technology makes it's way into the standard cable network, then it's a sales feature for cable vs. satellite. TiVo becomes, in effect, the "premium option" for consumers, much as it is now.
If the cable companies want to charge more for it, though, then it may steal some sales from TiVo, but it's more likely that folks will avoid it entirely. I actually think that if some form of digital VCR/on demand technology makes it into the cable network by default, it'll be a bonus for TiVo.
Think about it. Right now, one of the toughest things for TiVo is just explaining it to people. If some TiVo-like capabilities become available by default to everyone, then TiVo actually has something to relate their product to. They can say, in essense, "Mystro isn't bad. But when you want the real thing, try TiVo". That has some potential.
By the way, I explain TiVo to folks by saying "I don't watch any particular network anymore. I watch the TiVo channel, and it knows what I want and shows it to me when I want it, automatically". It seems to work as an explanation.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Cheap commodity hardware? Says who? I have a Celeron 1.7Ghz/256MB RAM that I specifically put together as a "Media Center" PC, and doing a capture with the ATI TV Wonder PCI at a half decent resolution (I expect minimal degradation from broadcast quality: If it doesn't at least beat a $60 VCR then it hardly seems worthwhile) consumes 60%+ of the CPU. With a 5400RPM 30GB drive, it is IMPOSSIBLE to time shift (watching one part of the show while a later part records) as the machine simply doesn't have the power. In the end the quality is degraded from broadcast and usefulness is limited. I'd take a Tivo in a second if it were available in Canada. There is a Bell PVR that works with their satellite that is supposedly fantastic, however it obviously requires the satellite service, and currently as a cable modem user I don't have it.
Yes, mythTV is your friend. Mix one part MythTV, and one part Shuttle XPC and you have the ultimate Linux PVR.
--- witty signature
The problem is that despite having capable hardware, what you need are the program listings. That's essentailly what TiVo is selling you on a monthly basis, a list of times that the programs offered by the networks are being aired. While you could (theoretically) do this yourself, it makes you own PVR as about as useful as a VCR.
What will be interesting is the potential for another technology arms race. Right now TiVo cuts out commercials by sensing black frames that are inserted between prgramming and commercials. Based on the current technology, if the networks start getting fancy with the splices, (say green frames instead of black) Tivo is SOL, that is, atleast, until they upgrade your Tivo software; let the arms race begin.
All your base are belong to us!
Not true. XMLTV solves that problem by grabbing TV listings off the Web. This is what MythTV uses to schedule recordings.
--- witty signature
It has a very slim chance of being a success. Here's the way it can work: It's gotta be free. Free to buy (comes with cable, presumably), $5/month tops to use. I think they'd sell a lot more PPV this way. It's actually a great idea, but it won't kill TiVo.
Seriously, if the Mystro came bundled with cable TV and had varying levels of utility, it'd be great. Pause live TV (FF disabled) and PPV ordering (keeps shows up to 7 days) is free. Record shows by time, FF disabled, $5/month. Then the $10-13 charge for full TiVo-like service.
Divx was a great idea too, the problem was it was set up in opposition to DVDs. If it had been introduced much later (like now!), the response would be much better. And the studios, at this point, would not care kill off the cash cow that is DVD sales.
the problem with Mystro and Divx is that they are set up in opposition to the user-controlled experience, instead of an improvement over the content producer-controlled experience. Divx would be a lot better than renting DVDs at Blockbuster; Mystro will be great for a lot of people who just want the simple functions made possible (pause TV, record PPV for upcoming viewing), or made simpler (no need to return DVDs).
I own a DirecTiVo, and it's great. I won't give it up. But it doesn't mean there can't be other options.
I would think this product would entice people to go buy a TiVo instead... After they go home and tell the thing to record Law and Order so they can watch it later and it refuses... and they take the thing back and exchange it for a tivo...
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
The cost of a centralized system is much cheaper than putting a TIvo in each house. They can also roll out the service without having to change out the customer Set-Top Boxes - which would be a huge cost.
The cost/benefit rules get different when you are talking millions of customers.
The only difference regarding the 30 second skip between Replay and TiVo is that the TiVo function is not included in the documentation.
Activating 30 Second Skip on TiVo (works with 2.5 and later) -- while you are watching a recorded program (can't be Live TV), press the following in order:
Select
Play
Select
3
0
Select
You should hear three 'dings' when successful. This toggles the 'Skip to End' button on the remote from Skip to End to Skip 30 seconds. This is not a permanent switch -- if your machine reboots (power failure, OS update, manual reset), you need to re-toggle again.
I have that sequence stored as a macro on my remote, so I can switch back and forth between the two settings as desired.