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Tivo To Also Offer Ads Your Way
FangVT writes "InfoWorld is reporting that in mid-2006 Tivo will begin allowing subscribers use keyword searches to look for information on specific products or services. The article does not contain much information but ultimately says 'Throwing in lots of hedge words to soften the idea of advertising once again mingling with TV content, TiVo described the service as non-intrusive, relevant, interactive advertising on an opt-in basis.' Tivo's own press release says, 'For the first time, advertisers will have the ability to deliver television advertising, on demand and targeted to consumers, without the limitations of traditional television media placement.'"
TiVo has always had the Showcases menu which was mostly supplied with paid-for content from broadcasters and sponsors, and could even contain video clips that were sent over a Discovery Channel late-night infomercial. The only thing here is that a search is being added, as if there's going to be more content than makes sense for a menu now.
Own a pre-Series2 unit. No-updates comes standard with its service these days.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I've had my TiVo for over 4 years now. I love it to death. I think that TiVo did a hell of a lot of things right. Some quick examples:
1. Unlike, say, Microsoft, they never discouraged their users from hacking their boxes. As a result, a huge community of TiVo hackers emerged (see http://www.tivocommunity.com/). I upgraded my TiVo's 30 gig hard drive to two 120's, and installed a cachecard/network card combo from 9th Tee, which means I can do fun tricks like scheduling shows and season passes from the road, or watching shows in my bedroom on my XBOX.
2. Really great support. I've only had to call TiVo a couple of times, both for channel lineup issues, but they were always extremely friendly and helpful over the phone. For example, after I moved into my new house, I realized that Adelphia had just upgraded the cable in my area, and TiVo didn't have the lineup yet. So I called support, and the next day, TiVo called me back to tell me that my lineup was added. Simply awesome.
3. Choosing Linux. When I telnet into my TiVo, I get a bash shell. I've installed an ftp server, web server (TiVoWeb), and even installed cron. How cool is that? Plus, this excellent decision has led to new software being developed exclusively for the TiVo (such as a caller id display that uses the TiVo's built-in modem, so you can see who's calling without getting up off the couch). Simply brilliant.
4. The interface. They obviously put a ton of work into it, and it really shows. It just kicks so much ass.
Now obviously, they dropped the ball in a couple of areas. The Comcast merger was just a more recent one. I think these are the two biggies:
1. I think that their biggest problem has always been slow adoption; as long as I've had the thing, I've been seeing ads pop up on TiVo Central giving me hot deals on new TiVo units, which I'm supposed to share with my friends and family. Great, I can save Dad $50 on his new unit. But if they really expect me to convince Dad that he can't live without a season pass on those Seinfeld reruns he loves so much, then they should be giving me the 50 smackers. I'd probably have 10 people signed up under me right now if I got some sort of compensation for it. (By the way, click here [freeminimacs.com] to get a free Mini Mac!):-)
2. Too expensive. The hardware and service together really do cost too much, unless you got in early like I did (back when lifetime service was $200). They should do what my damn cell phone company does: Knock the hardware down to like $99, and make me pay a very affordable $9.95 a month. If I try to cancel before 2 years are up, hit me with some obscene early termination fee. Yes, I hate it when cell phone companies do this, but that's how they stay in business. Besides, it's not like I'd be foolish enough to cancel my TiVo service anyway. TiVo is heroin. So far, I've paid $499 for TiVo and lifetime service, so TiVo won't make any more money off of me. If they were using my above plan, I would have paid in $589 so far, with more coming in every month.
I would really hate to see TiVo go. I hope they don't. But I suspect that even if the service dies, thanks to the openness of their hardware platform, someone (maybe me) will figure out how to write a script to pull show data off of Yahoo! TV or something. And with Microsoft and MythTV and several others entering the PVR market, there's no question that TiVo's invention is here to stay.
It is really great that TiVo is going to offer ads our way, thats the way it should work, and ultimately, lead to better advertising.
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If it was just listings then I'd be with you on this. But it is an indexed list of (pretty much) every show that is TV in your local area. Not only can you have it record all your favorite "Friends" episodes, but it can also find every Jennifer Anniston movie that is on and record it for you. Or maybe you prefer shows about monkeys, there you go. And on and on.
And no one has ever been forced to watch any ad that was downloaded to a Tivo. The "Showcases" are stored in an area of the disk that we users can't access anyway. And you won't be forced to watch any of these new ads either. And another thing. If you have TivoWeb installed, then just go into the ToDo list and delete the Teleworld (etc) recordings every day. That is where most of the Showcase ads come from.
I know this is Slashdot and Advertising == The Devil, but let's get real folks.
Oddly enough for me, I have seen more commercials now that I have TiVo. Before TiVo, I watched about 2-3 hours (Buffy, Angel, misc) of TV a week because 1) I had to know about a show and its time slot and 2) I had to be willing to adjust my schedule to see it.
With TiVo, I can pick shows and pick when I want to watch them. The result is that I watch more TV, perhaps about 10 hours a week. (It's somewhat lower because both Buffy and Angel are off the air now.)
So, while watching about 5 times more TV, I see 5 times more commercials. Though I fast-forward through them, I still see several frames of each commercial, and that's all the brain needs to see what product they are advertising.
Hmm.... drills....
[menu]
down down -> adverts -> [select]
down down -> tools -> [select]
down left down down left left -> [select]
I have 2 (DirecTV)Tivos. 1 HD one SD. The only way I can see a use for this is if the Tivo cut/splice the ad OUT of the show (so I dont have to fast forward) and then throw them in a menu somewhere so I can ignore them and flush occasionally.
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No 30 second skip removal on my DTivo. Select Play Select 30 Select
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Sorry to reply to my own post, but if you don't already know...you have to do that while watching a show you've previously recorded. Steps: ====== Start playing something previously recorded Select Play Select 30 Select
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