Slashdot Mirror
Sonicblue files for Chap 11
An anonymous reader writes "ReplayTV and Rio maker Sonicblue is a goner, filing for bankruptcy and selling their assets to D&M, the Japanese parent company of Denon and Marantz.
No word what will happen to all those Replay users out there -- that $140 deal on Amazon isn't looking so hot now, is it?"
Hopefully Tivo won't go the same route. Fortunately, if it did, the active Tivo hackers community would probably provide some solutions for replacing the discontinued service portion of the Tivo product.
** The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employers - past, present, or future**
So, what kind of opportunities does this present to the home user? Presumably we're going to see lots of these units showing up on eBay - can't you just use it as a standalone PVR without the service???
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
I wished Matsushita Electric (the parent company of Panasonic) had bought out SonicBlue at least a couple of years ago.
Panasonic could have kept the ReplayTV PVR and Rio players as a viable line of products or at least incorporated its technology into Panasonic products.
This is why I think TiVo will be purchased by Sony fairly soon, given that Sony already is committed to using Linux for consumer product development and also Sony is a TiVo licensee. Given Sony's name recognition, TiVo products could really become popular under Sony's stewardship.
I'm kind of curious why Diamond and its offshoots have such a tough time staying afloat in today's market. Diamond made really good video cards, then got bought S3 (and hasn't been seen since). Now Sonicblue (Diamond Rio) has gone under. I really want to know if they just weren't as popular a brand as I thought or if they were very poorly managed.
I bought the original Rio, I bought the RIO mp3-cd player, and I even had bought stock. I was hoping that they would turn it around after seeing their advisory a few months ago. It's too bad that SonicBlue didn't capture the digital media market, they entered too early.
I guess when the big coporations started selling their mp3 players it was all over. Damn.
--------
Free your mind.
I don't ReplayTV is going to disappear anytime soon. The company may be liquidating it's assets but anything(ReplayTV subscriptions) that has a steady revenue stream is bound to be of interest to someone.
After much research I bought my ReplayTV a month ago. I love the thing. With the commercial skip and the quick advance, I actually enjoy my favorite shows now.
I wonder if D&M will try to maintain the unique value that ReplayTV presents. It is a hackers paradise. I also paid my $299 for lifetime activation. I also got an e-mail asking about a future product that was just a ReplayTV player that would stream video from your recorder to the player in another room. I was really excited about that as well...
SonicBlue did such a great job buying up all these cool gadgets, I wonder what really went to their demise?
D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M.
I think it would benefit the customers if they were to make Replay Open Source. The vast experience and technical know-how of the Open Source developer community would allow the natural evolution of Replay which would introduce a lot of new functionality.
It would be a shame not allow the Open Source developer community complete access to Replay.
Only when we provide a simple way of cracking encrypted PayTV channels can we wrest control away from HBO.
Which is nice.
Wearing pants should always be optional.
This is no surprise. I saw this coming months ago. In early December of 2002, I purchased a Sonicblue ReplayTV 5040 as an early Christmas present for myself. I set it up three weeks later, the week of Christmas. It worked fine for about a month, no problems. However, suddenly, while watching a recorded episode of "Enterprise" on Sunday, January 19th, about halfway through the episode, the ReplayTV got stuck, with no movement whatsoever. The unit failed to respond to any remote control-issued commands. I then turned the power off and back on, and it was stuck at the boot-up screen. I tried unplugging it altogether, replugging it, but got the same thing. I called Sonicblue technical support a few days later, and they agreed that the machine was broke, and asked me to send it in and I'd get a new ReplayTV 5040 unit in return ASAP.
:(
I shipped out my broken ReplayTV 5040 unit, waited about two weeks, and did not hear or receive anything from Sonicblue, and noticed that my credit card was still being charged the monthly service fee. I called Sonicblue back up, and asked what was going on, and they said they were out of ReplayTV 5040s, and asked me to be patient while I wait to get mine. I noticed the last week of February, that I was charged another monthly service fee. I called Sonicblue back up for a third time, and they said they would suspend my account temporarily until I got my new ReplayTV, but they would not refund me the two months of service charges that I got no service for. When I asked what the status was of my new ReplayTV 5040 unit, I was told they still have not received any new units, and asked me to continue being patient and wait.
Well, it's a month later, two months after I sent my broken ReplayTV 5040 unit into Sonicblue, and I still haven't received a new or repaired unit. At this point, I doubt I ever will. Oh well, that was $320 wasted.
From what I hear, TiVo has been having similar trouble. It's a shame, DVR was a fantastic idea, but it doesn't appear to have really caught on with the consumers, and being fought by Hollywood and television executives didn't help any. I guess I should just go back to using a VCR and buy a Super VHS VCR in the meantime, heh.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde
(sigh) Another fine US electronics company bites the dust... When are American companies going to learn that overhyping, overmarketing, underdeveloping products just doesn't work? I'm so tired of buying products that look they were beta tested by chimps. Look at the Motorola T720 cell phone released by Verizon... This one passed through Verizon's supposedly rigorous testing process. The software on the first release was so buggy that Verizon actually recalled the hardware, even though a simple software upgrade would've sufficed. The lastest firmware versions aren't much better. It took me five minutes to realize that the software was sh*t, due to the screen being garbled by going through menus.
Even the company that makes Chia pets recently filed for bankruptcy. Apparently there was too much money being spent on "Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia" ads and not enough on quality control. Rumor has it that over 50% of the Chia pets that made it to store shelves were cracked or broken. Of the remaining good ones, 4% had missing seed packets (!) and 8% had dud seeds. Depressing.
In my personal opinion, the only way TiVo will continue to survive is to merge with a larger company.
That company is Sony Corporation. There are two good reasons for this: 1) Sony already has experience using Linux for consumer products, so developing for TiVo will not require a new learning curve for their engineers, and 2) Sony already is a licensee of TiVo technology.
With the recognition of one of the best-known brands in the world and Sony's powerful marketing muscle, Sony could incorporate TiVo technology into HDTV tuner boxes (cable, over-air, and DBS) and even onto projection TV units. It's even possible that Sony could even merge TiVo technology into products derived from the successor to the PlayStation 2.
TiVO shouldn't have any more problems with lawsuits than it has right now. By not having a few key features that ReplayTV had, TiVO has successfully skirted a lot of those issues. Commerical skipping and program sharing were two biggies that would likely bring down the thunder, but TiVO has smartly avoided that. Yes, I know TiVO has a secret code for 30-second skip, but I tried it and it sucked. I like the fast-forward much better.
The TiVO hacking community has been careful about allowing program sharing for these reasons as well. None of us want to see TiVO go down for some dumb lawsuit.
I think this is probably good for TiVO in some respects, but the uncertainty it will cast for PVRs in general will probably overshadow the good bits. Man, double metaphor. What do I win?
Now, there's no competition and anyone who is addicted to PVR functionality is basically stuck with TiVo. (MythTV not withstanding.) And TiVo now has little reason to fear the loss of customers, so they have less reason to actually improve the product.
I love my TiVo, but this I think this is a bad thing.
Key to financial independence: Spend less than you earn. Save and invest the difference. Do it for a long time.
These companies have TOP NOTCH "consumer" digital equipment from receivers, dvd players to high end display devices.
I personally think this is a *GOOD* thing as i can't wait to see what comes up and out of this!!
Read it here (free registration required, yadda, yadda):
Mass Rollout of DVR Technology Stuck on 'Pause'
So, what will this mean for those of us who get ReplayTV guide service from SonicBlue? Will we find our service vanish suddenly soon and our money sucked into the blackhole of SonicBlue's chapter 11, or will the buying company continue the service transparently for current subscribers?
For those too young to remember, sonic blue used to be Diamond Multimedia. Some of the best graphics cards around with the Diamond Stealth line, my first performance card after I got off the triton. Long before the Monster line of products.
This was a failure from the very start. its very reminiscent of the 3dfx take over. For me, this was CEOs of a dying company buying another company so they could live another day. The company that bought diamond was already failing and they bought themselves probably 4-5 years with the purchase. Im sure it was devastating to share holders. Diamond was a SOLID company before the purchase.
Diamond was the #1 seller of video cards and they did not make their own chips. Sad.
Just like 3dfx was bought out by CEOs who also sought to extend their CEO life at the expence of the end users and shareholders.
Just plain ugly.