Slashdot Mirror
TiVo, MS, and the War for the Living Room
r-blo writes "Hot off his in-depth comparison of TiVo vs. Microsoft Media Center, Engadget has Thomas Hawk following up with ten things each that TiVo and Microsoft need to do to win the War for the Living Room. It won't be easy (like TiVo offering their OS as software for the PC. Not going to happen.) but I've got a feeling they might be better off listening up. Especially TiVo, since we're all rooting for them anyway."
Good article. It's amazing what happens when you actually read it!
However, the article makes it seem as if there is only TiVo and MS Media Center. I rent a box from my cable company that records two high def channels at once. However, I wish it had more features listed in the article.
It would be nice to be able to burn TV shows to DVD, for example. My wife keeps recording shows that she is never going to watch and keeps them on the HDD forever (You've Got mail, Down With Love, etc). I'd like some way of backing these up to free up the drive space.
I will not purchase a TiVo because you have to pay for the unit and then pay for the service (right?). That's bogus in my opinion. If I'm going to pay a monthly fee, then I should have the box provided. Also, I'd want the DVD burning ability that TiVo will not provide me.
I won't buy TiVo nor Media Center because I don't know if they are 100% with my digital cable. Will I be able to record two shows at once or record oneand watch another? Not if it has to change the channel on my existing cable box. Will it be able to change the channel on the cable box? Can I throw my cable box out and just use the TiVo unit or Media Center CPU in it's place? I can't find answers to these questions and won't spend the money on either of these units until I know for sure that they will be an improvement over my existing PVR unit.
Finally, the radio idea sounded great. I could record the radio stuff I miss because I do stupid things like work and watch TV.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
If anyone RTFA (I know it's early in the discussion), the man is insane! He wants both companies to pretty much allow copying and sharing of files....I bet Jack Valenti and Hillary Rosen both shit a brick after hearing this guy.
/.) of DRM, he doesn't mention it anywhere in TFA. Sharing/fair use seems to be encouraged...
:)
Examples -
"Create a "My Radio" option and a "My Radio" guide....These files should be saved to MP3 and be portable. "
Heh..."should be saved to mp3 and portable"...Might as well give a big middle finger to the RIAA.
"Provide Ethernet connectivity to their HDTV unit and include the ability to share recorded files with a Windows-based PC. "
While this doesn't run entirely afoul (see previous TiVo sharing articles of yore on
Two more -
"Provide a DVD burner with all units. Copying should be as simple as selecting a program and pressing "Burn to disc" on a menu."
and
"Provide the ability to connect external hard drives."
The RIAA/MPAA/AAA would be up in arms over this....It will never happen - They'd rather eat their own sh!t than allow for fair use and sharing to actually occur...The man has valid (and good) points, but none of them will ever happen in corporate-controlled America.......
But a geek's wet dream if you ask me
My MythTV HowTo
I've used Windows Media Center, Tivo, and a ReplayTV extensively, and while Tivo has the nicest looking interface, I've settled on the ReplayTV.
First off, (in medium quality), the ReplayTV records in MPEG-2, at a bitrate and resolution that (usually) follow the DVD spec. Sometimes the bitrate goes a little out of spec, but that's not too hard to do. No DRM, and the files can be streamed over the network. Having an ethernet port come standard was a good idea.
Automatic Commercial Skip, and Internet sharing are very nice features, trivial to re-enable. Also, adding a second hard drive took less than 5 minutes, only needing a Y power adapter, an IDE cable, and RTVpatch.
Also, the MyReplayTV site lets me change which shows are recorded while I'm on the road.
I got the RTV a month ago, and I'd seen people raving on about the Replay for quite some time. Now I can see why. While Tivo and Windows Media Center can record shows, neither offers quite the features the ReplayTV does. Activation sucks, but that's what ebay is for.
You can pick up a 40gb for $150 (+ $300 activation), and throw in 2 big hard drives. Not bad for something that actually made watching TV worthwile again. Before, I watched TV when I had a continuous block of time, and hoped something decent was on. Now, I watch TV when I have time, and have a choice of which episode I want to watch, of what show I want to watch.
... cable and satellite companies.
Most of the cable companies provide their own PVR hardware to users, with the twin advantage of being a few dollars cheaper and coming from the people who provide you with the service.
Sure, we here know that their hardware is generally rather simplistic in their features compared to TiVo, but your average person doesn't realize that TiVo is more than just a glorified digital VCR, so the three dollars they save a month seems like a good deal.
Now that DirecTV has plans to switch to one of TiVo's competitors in the form of NDS Group Plc, I fear we're going to see the same happen in the world of satellite as well.
So, in the future, TiVo and Microsoft will be competing against products provided by the people who bring them their cable/dish service, who will have the home-field advantage.
I installed myth on a spare pc and got everything up and running in less than an hour.
I don't know what you're bitching about, the Myth tv installation boots from CD, has a few questions for you and Presto it's been working since. And all I had to give up is 1000Mhz duron and a 200G HD.
Add a RF wireless keyboard and RF A/V sender receiver to connect the TV's and you've got mean ass PVR system.
Add to that fact that tivo doesn't exist in europe and you've got 100% of the market for Mythtv in this neck of the world.