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TiVo Basic
Keith Russell writes "TiVo has announced a new TiVo Basic service. ( Press release here, CNet story here) The Basic service only offers a 3-day program grid, and doesn't include title searches, season passes, or wish lists. There's no subscription fees for Basic, however, and it can be upgraded to a full-on Series 2 unit by the usual payment options ($12.95/mo. or $299 lifetime). The first product to include it is a Toshiba DVD player with an 80 GB hard drive and progressive-scan output of both DVD and Tivo content."
...first one's free.
http://www.toshiba.com/tacp/dvd/current/RDX2.htm l
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Tivo will have to be careful that this doesn't hurt them. By removing a lot of the power of Tivo people might try it out, hate it, and leave.
They will have to make it clear what the added features will give you. (Perhaps a 30 day free trial of the upgraded service?) I know that once I saw the good stuff I would not willingly switch back.
I just want Tivo to be available in Canada damnit! Anyone know why the service hasn't been rolled out up here?
Considering that it is in the works to get Tivo declared illegal (you know, fast-forwarding those ads is STEALING!)~
...speaking of buying time, really what do you think the shelf-life of Tivo is at this point? By the time the cable companies/dish folks get into the game, along with the pending legalities, will Tivo even survive? I hope so.
Funny, I don't remember anyone buying my time from me...
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
And here I was thinking that somebody had written a BASIC interpreter/writer for the TiVo. That would have been really cool. Oh well... I'll be happy when Canadian service starts with tivo.
If I didn't already have my lifetime subscription -- and frankly, I'm watching too much TV with my existing 30-hour series 1 box -- I'd probably be happy with the 3-day limits.
It's certainly a lot less data. The only real loss is the ability to look ahead two weeks to see what episodes are running and picking up specific ones. I'd assume that all the subscriptions still work.
Vacation time could be a pain, because I wouldn't be able to prioritize over the full time I'm gone.
The primary things I use the two-week lookahead are for things such as 24, Monk and Dead Zone that run new(ish) eps on multiple networks: I don't subscribe 24 on both Fox and FX, so if I miss an ep on Fox, I scan for it on FX.
Hopefully, this will bring in more sales for TiVo.
Design for Use, not Construction!
joke yet? This place is going to the dogs ...
"And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman." "Hello." "Good boy."
As a DirecTiVo owner I love this.
It's an excellent way for TiVo to addict the masses to the glory that is the full TiVo. They probably should give people the ability to have maybe 2 or 3 season passes, but still, the concept is great.
The subscription requirement has always turned me off from getting Tivo. Why would I pay for a program guide and title searching when i have this inlcuded in my satellite/digicable service already. Basic sounds like a good idea for people who just want the hardware.
Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Troll=1, Redundant=1, Insightful=6, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=12. (not mine)
I've got three TiVo's myself, and I have just convinced my mother to go get one. To be quite honest, this scares me, because it could be a sign to things to come. But, with today's economy, people would rather be cheap than functional, so I'm guessing that they're going to come out with this, then try to keep afloat. Sure, Oprah et al. have given TiVo good coverage, however, I really don't want to admit that this may mean that my favorite home appliance could be going to the dust.
I just hope there's enough of the hacking community out there to support my addiction should TiVo ever fall in the dumps.
I disable sigs...do you?
I find it a little weird that the first such bundle is a DVD/Tivo box. Presumably it won't include the ability to make disk copies of DVDs! Without this feature, what the point of buying these two devices together?
The subscription is both the greatest feature and the worst shortcoming of the Tivo. The ability to easily specify what you want to watch, and even have the Tivo find similar shows for you, is beautiful beyond words. On the other hand, there's something to be said for the simplicity of the VCR.
The problem is that so many shows start early and/or end late. Often by just a few seconds, but enough to be irritating. Tivo lets you tweak this, but only at the risk of causing overlap. And when it detects overlap, the Tivo just refuses to record one show or the other -- even if both shows are on the same channel! It ought to be possible for the Tivo to act more like a VCR in this respect, but so far it hasn't happened.
The sooner the medium dies the better. It's crap. It's total and utter bullshit, designed to provide the minimum that'll leave us staring at the box so they can spring adverts on us.
I am not a robot. I have no desire to be programmed. The TV execs are welcome to provide me with an ad-free subscription or otherwise viewer-supported service (and no, $80/mo for HBO - which is what it is here after you pay for cable etc, isn't worth the money) providing a full range of quality programs, but until then they can go screw themselves. And TiVo, bless it, is little more than sand on the vomit that is modern TV. It may help remove the ads, but it doesn't make the programs any better.
Good god, sorry, did I post that? Sorry, I'm tired and cranky right now. That's what Javascript, shell scripts, and SQL do to you.
Thank goodness for DVD, and the evil minions of the RIAA, the latter of whom provide me with songs and symphonies and operas and ballets and all sorts of other forms of intelligent entertainment I'd not have a hope in hell of getting otherwise. Between Amazon and the new Apple iTunes store, and, for its faults, Fox on Sundays at about 8pm, I can do without having that box on 24/7, sucking the will to think from me.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Basically, the TiVo service comes in two forms:
1) Monthly payment of $12.95, or
2) Lifetime fee of $249.00.
Note: the lifetime fee applies to the unit, not the owner.
Subscribing to TiVo service lets you get the guide data, which is programming info up to two weeks out. This is what lets you do wishlists, season passes, etc.
New with series 2 is the "home media option", which is a upgrade available for $99.00
In any case, this is a good idea, and great for the consumer. I already anticipate answering my fiance's mother's 5,000 questions about TiVo once she buys a DVD player with limited TiVo features in it. I also begrudingly look forward to configuring it for her - every other day - for a year.
Someone really needs to start building Mini-ITX machines with Debian and MythTV preloaded en masse. I've been using my desktop as a MythTV machine since the early days, and it's just about surpassed Tivo anyway. Not to mention, no subscription fee.
A stripped down Tivo without season passes removes almost all of the usefulness of the device. MythTV has the same functionality, but it doesn't cost you anything but the hardware. I can't speak for the quality of the software versus Tivo, as I've never used a tivo, but I do find myself spouting the same "Changed the way I think about TV" rhetoric as every tivo user.
Either way, one thing I know MythTV has which Tivo does not have is automatic commercial detection. That's right. Download 0.8, play with it.
Restating the obvious since nineteen aught five.
I subscribe to Time Warner digital cable... Looks like their PVR will do season passes, along with the regular PVR stuff (pause live TV, record on a schedule).
More info here.
And if it's only $5 per month and I don't have to buy any hardware up front, how is Tivo going to stay in business?
If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
My cable company here in Central Florida will be offering free Tivo-like service for digital cable subscribers starting in June.
I guess I should have provided this link to any other Central Floridians who might be interested in getting this service when it's available.
This isn't a "TiVo box" as we usually know it, without all the subscription features. What it is, is a DVD-VCR. Without any subscription fees (a cause for hesitation among average consumers), it allows you to record shows and movies to the hard disk, then burn them at your leisure to a recordable DVD. Voila, all the functionality of a VCR with the advantages of digital media and commercial-free archiving.
It seems to me that TiVo's strategy is to make this a must-have device for those features alone -- which are all Toshiba's hard work, not theirs -- while including the TiVo subscription features as a kind of upgrade, which no doubt is advertised prominently at the bottom of the 3-day guide every time you use it.
It's a good strategy, and I think it will pay off -- not in the sense of 90% of all purchasers becoming subscribers, but in the sense of maybe 20% of all people who wouldn't buy a TiVo because of the subscription now buy it for the DVD-recording features. Like another poster suggested, I'm sure TiVo will offer AOL-like 30-day trial subscriptions for free somewhere along the line, once enough of these TiVo-capable recorders are out there being used. Because like broadband internet, once you learn to love it, there's no going back.
Interesting that the recorded video output is progressive, aside from the DVD output. Thats a great feature if the deinterlacing is done well. Deinterlacers in consumer RPTVs are notoriously AWFUL.
It isn't about watching more TV. Its about
watching the TV you WANT to watch.
http://jesus.everdense.com/
Move. To. The. US.
(Joke!)
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
And in the end you're not against Tivo; you're against television. As the preceding reply to your comment noted, Tivo has the opportunity to free up more "fresh air" time if your program viewing doesn't broaden after getting it.
And unless you're typing your comments on a laptop with wireless access, maybe you should get outside more often.
10 find pr0n;
20 display pr0n;
30 goto 10;
- passion
I've been looking for a good intro TiVo solution and I also need a DVD player for my Home Entertainment center. The only catch is that I'd like to be able to access the Hard Drive (in this case 80 GB) from my computer. That way I can manipulate video on my computer (burn, etc...) and I can use the 80 GB for a backup device.
Is this possible on this device? If not is there another device that is capable of doing this?
Where the Music Matters
Too funny.
I used to live in an appartment, and on a regular basis I would get one of those cable company sales person knocking on my door asking if I wanted cable. Invariably I would say: "yes, how much would it cost me to CBC + the learning channel + TV5 + discovery +...", and invariably they would x$ per month with package Z.
At this point I answer that I don't want any package, because I don't want any of my money to go to talk shows, reality shows, etc... The answer would always be, sorry we can't do that, until one day some sales guy told me they couldn't because of the CRTC.
I didn't believe him, so I checked into it, and it is true !! I pay taxes in order to pay people who decide what I am allowed to watch !!
At least when my parents were deciding what I could watch or not, I didn't have to pay them !!
Is this leading up to HDTV Tivo?
/sig
Whose lifetime mine or their's. I don't imagine their's to be more than a couple of years ... pretty steep anual fee.
The leftime of the electronics. If it dies in 1 year, you're screwed (unless you have an extended warranty, they honor them) I don't think the lifetime plan is a great deal myself, proved right for me when DirecTV took over mine and dropped the price to $5/month (ie 5years!)
That said, I love the idea of progressive scan output, this is definately something I'm looking for on my next DirecTiVo, along with HD (DirecTV and OTA)
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
According to the press release, if you upgrade it from Basic to full Series 2, you can add Home Media Option for the usual price: $99, one-time fee. That plays MP3s over your wireless network!
This sig intentionally left blank.
As far as I'm aware, all DVD players can do both PAL and NTSC.
Does this mean that this new device will be PAL capable too ?
If so, this would be the perfect thing for us poor Aussies who don't have a Tivo. Sounds like it would probably work without a subscription too. I'm assuming I can set it to record channel 7 at 8.30 every monday, like I can a normal VCR ?
Yippee ! I'm getting a Tivo......
TiVo's been advertising heavily in selected demographics. Mostly sports...
I've never thought their advertising did the service justice, but I heard from a TiVo marketing person two years ago that they cut back sharply on TV ads when Microsoft started hawking the Ultimate TV.
It turned out that the UTV commercials would get people to come to Circuit City, where they found they'd have to ditch their cable or satellite and get Dish Network to get to sue the UTV. When they got turned off on that idea, the salesperson would show them TiVo, which works equally well with satellite, cable, digital cable, or rabbit ears.
Every dollar Microsoft put into TV spots helped TiVo more than Microsoft. That's one of the reasons you don't see Ultimate TV advertised anymore. (Well, that and it sucked and is basically mothballed now).
TiVo does it right. Established companies are still partnering to make new hardware. You can't say that about webTV, U-TV, or ReplayTV.
Kevin Fox
I have to admit I wasn't much interested in a box that i had to pay to keep using. Also when you bring it up to other people they don't much like that idea either.
I also thing this kinda thing would be good for people who already have one Tivo, but want another (for say family one, and a personal one) and only need the subscription features for one of them (also makes the idea of using the tivo-to-tivo features much more attractive).
This is all I really need, I know when the shows I want are on, I hate having to do the damn tape shuffle, specially 10 mins before a show and i'm like "What has space on it? Looking at tapes with labeles I have ripped off and replaced, crossed out and relabeled and I have given up on the "labeling" system. I'm on the "overwrite whatever is on this, if i haven't watched it then at least I'll never know what this was"
Or I just tape over something old, i refuse to spend another dollar on tapes just because I was hoping that there would be some way to use a tivo without HAVING to pay the monthly fee or more frankly, that they would get legislated out of business, just go bust, or get bought and terminated, this was one of my main concerns.
Here's the thing, I have only been taping stuff that is on simultaneously to something else I want to watch on my big 4 channels of HDTV. I was really hoping that tivo was going to support HDTV like it said previously, but my guess is that that will be a pretty long time off, and I could get this tivo basic to use in the meantime and I won't be chained to paying for it if/when I get the HTDV version.
Here's hoping one of these Tivo Basic's come around soon, I'd buy it in a minute, especially if you could still upgrade the HD yourself.
Because, sometimes they just have to touch the stove.
-YY1
Frankly, season passes are what makes TiVos cool. Without them, they're just sort of neat gadgets. With them they become tremendously badass devices that change the way you interact with television and media.
TiVo Basic will be a failure. If they even allowed perpetual timeslot based recording (i.e. grab all episodes of Buffy on Tuesdays at 8:00), but didn't let me get things that air at multiple times on different days (i.e. grab all episodes of Good Eats that ever crop up on the Food Network), it would be a worthwhile service that would hook me, but ultimately make me want to upgrade.
But this is just too gimped to even convince people that the service is worthwhile, I think.
Philip Sandifer's academic website
Thompson made a Series 1 Tivo for the UK, but have recently stopped production, it has much better functionlity, plus it can be hacked to add a network card, and extra capacity.
For a comparison between Sky Plus and Tivo, see http://www.garysargent.co.uk/tivo/TIVOvsSKY.htm.
I have, and the Time Warner PVR simply sucks by comparison. Then again, I never was a fan of whatever crappy interface Time Warner uses for their regular program guide, and the PVR uses the same interface.
However, I have been steering people toward the TWPVR if they ask about my TiVo but bet turned off by the subscription fee. I am well aware of the fact that a TiVo subscription is a luxury that most can't afford. Maybe this basic service would encourage people to try it out! After all, the new basic service is more or less what you get in the TWPVR, with a better interface and (now) no monthly fee!
I know a title wishlist would have grabbed both of these, but it'd be nice if a season pass would follow channels
God no. I'd hate to have to filter out the bazillion Simpsons episodes being syndicated if I just want to record what's on Fox. Or Friends or any other popular show that's in syndication.
If you know a Wishlist would do it, then why don't you set one up and do it the right way?
Oddly, I have a Season Pass for Saturday Night Live and the local affialiate runs full-length re-reuns
Uh, because it's the same show on the same channel? If you don't want reruns, then set the SP for "First Run Only". If it's still picking up reruns then you'll have to email TiVo about it, who will contact Tribune, who will contact the station. Odds are, however, that the station won't do anything to fix their guide data -- which is what the root problem is (if and only if you've already got the SP set FRO).
This amounts to a nice little recording app for the DVD player(s) it's bundled with. It has little to do with TiVO other than that the company's smart enough to put its name on it to maybe get a lower-cost entry point for people to buy into its larger service. Seems shrewd, and I bet it didn't cost them much for the "branding" it gives them.
I'd definitely think of this as a deciding feature if I was in the market for a new DVD player. It'd set that model a notch up from the others at Best Buy, no doubt at all.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Progressive scan output will only benefit DVD presentation on a compatible television set. Because just as TiVo notes (when comparing the existing Series2 units to Replay), progressive output to a television won't benefit watching anything off the TiVo unit since analog cable boxes do not output a progressive signal. The only benefit would be leaving the S-Video and/or the compositve video jacks on the television available for other devices. While this would not benefit me as an existing Series2 owner, TiVo really needs to equip their units with MPEG4 decoder chips because they could get so many more recordable hours onto the same size hard drives they currently use. You'd be surprised how many more people will buy the units if magically you can get 80 hour recording at the existing price of the 30/40 hour units. Equipping the units with quieter fans and moving towards Serial ATA hard drives will both solve heat and noise issues currently effecting Series2 units in future releases...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
To my knowledge information on what season is what is not available from Tribune, which is who TiVo gets their guide data from.
Heck, TiVo has to make guesses on whether or not it's even a rerun, since not all shows have even that information (it bases it off of first air date, and occasionally gets it wrong because of this).
It's not a bad suggestion though - when www.tivocommunity.com is back up next week I'd recommend suggesting it in the Suggestions forum. TiVo does read them, and has implemented ideas on occasion.
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