Slashdot Mirror
TiVo Unveils Series3 HDTV DVR
MegaZone writes "TiVo unveiled their new Series3 unit at CES yesterday. The Series3 is a digital cable ready box, capable of recording two programs simultaneously. It supports cable and antenna input, and it can handle digital or analog cable, digital ATSC, or analog NTSC broadcasts. CableCARD is used for digital cable, and it can utilize a single multi-stream card, or two single-stream cards. The system also sports 2 USB ports, 10/100baseT Ethernet, and an E-SATA port for external storage expansion. Video output is HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite, and audio is optical digital or RCA stereo."
Finally I can get rid of the two piece of garbage Comcast DVRs. I still have to use my old series 2 tivo to guarantee that I can get a show recorded. With 2 comcast DVRs it is crap shoot as to if they actually record. I have been waiting for this.
About freakin' time TiVo!!!!
I love my series 2 and all, but honestly i've really been itching for the cable card based series 3 units since i've heard about them.
Hooray for dual tuners in a non-dtivo! hooray for easy expantion too! i just hope these badboys don't cost as much as the hd dtivos...
I have a Tivo, and while I know I could build a MythTV I like the "near idiot proof" nature of the little box so I can let my wife use it to tape her shows (American Idol) while I tape my shows (MythBusters) and our shows and then had to hunt for a USB compatible network device, all I could think was "WTF? Why not spend $10 on Ethernet?"
The other thing I'm very pleased about is the inclusion of the Cablecard option - this gives Tivo a chance to complete with cable boxes - though local Cox has let people know that while you can use the cablecard, it won't be able to get movies on demand.
Ah, and I was so hoping to see "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo". Somehow, I think I'll survive. WIth the ability to plug in external drives, this has seriously upset my plans to convert my spare PC into a Tivo replacement once the service on the current box runs out in October.
Of course, there's always the possibility Apple will introduce something - but if they do introduce a PVR/Media device, I'm going to expect it to have the same capabilities down to the cablecard that this new Tivo does before I consider it.
Eh - I'm patient. I have 10 months to wait and see.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
As I recall, Tivo unveiled their first prototype of a cablecard enabled, HDTV capable DVR at CES 2 years ago. I would have been ready to buy such a creature at the time.
Obviously, the current model looks leaps and bounds ahead of what they originally put forth. I love the display on the front that shows what both tuners are recording. (Although no more sneaking recordings of shows my wife doesn't know I watch, and doesn't think I have time for.) However, I can't help but think that they missed out on a significant piece of the market as people have resigned themselves to using cable company provided DVRs for HDTV. It doesn't help that cablecard implementation at most cable companies is still pretty buggy, and not used widely enough to get debugged thoroughly too quickly.
My bet is that this unit will succeed or fail (and the company with it) depending on how much marketing muscle Comcast puts behind it as part of their alliance with Tivo. Of course, I'm still likely to buy one, as the HD-DVR Time Warner provides for me is horribly buggy...
-JMP
Your kidding yourself right? Have you ever had a TiVo? They are wonderful and their userbase is extremly loyal. With the addition of easy storage expansion and digital cable these are going to sell like hotcakes.
Unfortunatly for TiVo this doesn't nessesarily mean more money as they sell their boxes fo little profit and make the money on subscription fees, meaning existing loyalties won't make them much money. On the other hand existing tivo users might be inclinded to give their tivos to friends and family and possibly pay for a few months of service long enough to get them hooked.
It's nice that it has Ethernet, but can you do anything useful with it or will it be heavily DRM'ed?
What about the data on the USB disk--is it encrypted or is it readable and usable MPEG files?
It's been fun dabbling with Tivo's HME. Getting Google Maps on my Tivo via my desktop PC, playing with newsfeeds, etc. This site has some interesting HME Apps listed, http://hme.pvrblog.com/
Now, with the new Series 3 Tivo, what will developers really be able to do with a new HME...or does Tivo have little interest in opening up more to the developer community?
Does this allow you to record two HD shows at once, only to have to delete them after 90 minutes?
I do have a mythtv box that I love to death. The price is right, and it's not larded with DRM, etc. That suits my needs.
For other people who are not so concerned, why would I go to the expense of purchasing this + subscription fee when the cable company will give me one that (as far as Joe User knows / cares) does the same thing for $3.50 per month. Tivo can not compete, they are as good as dead.
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
That's what I hope to see...a trade-in program. I'd happily turn in my 2 Series 2 DVRs for a discount on 2 Series 3. Sure, TiVo can't reuse the parts but maybe they can sell them in 3rd world countries where even cable TV is a gift from the gods. Or since the TiVo is just a Linux box they can change the software a little to make them educational and donate them as a tax write off. Who wants a $100 laptop when you can get a TiVo plus "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing" (though it may be difficult to master with the peanut shaped remote)?
I'm not quite sure what your point is. I have a series 1 Tivo (Sony unit from the year 2000). It has 100BaseT ethernet. I bought the ethernet card and plugged it in. No problems.
Incidentally - why does everybody feel the need to list the TV programmes they like to record? It's like music stories - with those people always seem to like to post the "artists" they like. Why? It's a waste of space.
Now I'm using Cox DVR. While the interface isn't as nice as TiVo, I have the ability to record two shows at once. Which comes in handy for my wife. And like you said, its only $3.50 month without taking up any more space.
Comcast and TiVo has a deal that starts mid-2006 to market TiVo DVRs to Comcast customers.
http://news.com.com/TiVo,+Comcast+reach+DVR+deal/2 100-1041_3-5616961.html
Any markets support CableCard yet?
I guess its just living in Canada, which sometimes sits in the stoneage when it comes to certain technology. TIVO has never been available up here, only what the monopolies Rogers (Cable) and Bell(Phone/Satellite) see fit to offer us Canucks.
While Rogers PVR features 2 input recording and is mostly a decent device (the Acientific Atlanta Explorer 8300), I really wish for more competition in the PVR/Digital Cable box market, allowing me to select more robust solutions like DVD/HDD recorders with support for digital cable and HDTV content.
Sony was, I believe, the first to offer CableCard support in their televisions, but I think that Rogers or Bell are so far way from releasing their tight grip of control of digital cable that Canada won't see a cable card solution for at least another decade. In the meantime, some dumb Canadian is paying $1000 more for a Sony TV with a feature they will never use. We are still waiting for even a TIVO like solution where we can subscribe to a third party service for cable recording.
I hope this new Tivo product is hugely successful in the US (as I am sure it will be). Given how much US technology and television market influences Canadians, perhaps if the CRTC (Central Repression of Technology for Canadians) starts getting more complaints about the anti-competitive behaviour of Rogers and Bell and the fact TIVO has never gotten a foothold in Canada, I am sure huge success of a CableCard supported device like this new TIVO will drive Canada to adopt the technology and open up the market sooner rather then later.
In the meantime, after paing $400 for a featurless Rogers PVR and $5/mth to support PVR capabilities on the device, I guess I have to be a good Canadian and ignore my repression and apologize for my bitching.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
You people just don't realize that the draw of TiVo is really their value-added stuff that even the cable-company DVRs don't have. Also, once you get used to the TiVo, you feel like you're *missing something* on other offerings.
First, TiVo *just works*, and it works well for everything it is supposed to do. No tweaking required.
Second, the cable-company DVRs don't support home networking (while MythTV would, of course), and it is very nice to have TiVos in multiple rooms, or be able to play MP3s on TiVo, transfer stuff around, or use other value-added Internet-enabled "stuff" they're constantly adding.
Third, other options only record "exactly what you tell them to", and nothing more. While this may seem ok, one gets very easily addicted to TiVo's tendency to also record things it thinks you might want to watch (and sometimes do), but havn't explicitly told it to record.
Oh, and you can also do nifty things like schedule recordings over the internet, and even check the available recording list on your TiVo remotely.
(Ok, MythTV can do some of these things, but from the demos I saw, it required far too much "tweaking" for me to feel comfortable "trusting" it to always get my shows reliably recorded, and recorded without reruns and such. I actually do also have a MythTV box, but I use it for playing computer-stored video files and running game emulators.)
I just hope the new Comcast DVR's are basically Series 3 Tivo's with a Comcast label. Then it would be worth paying Comcast $5-$10 a month for a DVR.
After 4 or 5 restarts we wanted to smash the thing into little bits and pieces, Office Space style.
I can explanate how to administrate your network. You must configurate and segmentate it, so it can computate.
Incidentally - why does everybody feel the need to list the TV programmes they like to record You know I always wondered about that too. You don't see me running around telling you what kind of toilet paper I use (Charmin) or anti-perspirant I use (Arid). Maybe there should be a study done on this kind of behavior. But I have a feeling they have no friends and are trying to make some on the net by spouting out shows that seem to be popular with all the other losers.
My HR10-250 is getting installed tomorrow. But I hate how DirecTV is stripping all the cool HME options from their Tivo-powered boxes. So to me this upcoming series 3 Tivo powered by DirecTV would be a killer TV product.
By the way, $600 is NOT the going price for the DirecTV HDTivo if you are a good DirecTV customer, see this thread for details on getting that price down. My cost was more like $200 after rebates and service credits. I'm fully expecting this device to be obsolete within a year, but to me it is worth it for $200.
slashsearch.org - slashdot search. powered by google.
That they will shell out $DOLLARS for one of these behemoths? So you can record the Superbowl and Desparate Housewives at the same time? So you can wire it into your home network, and have instant access to all of the DVDs and CDs that you bought and carefully ripped to your home terabyte SAN? Do people no longer read books, play Uno, or throw frisbee with their dogs? Go to neighborhood bars to watch sports games?
I don't see it. Of course the geek factor is high, so it will likely be talked up much on Slashdot and in some circles, and eventually, Joe Walmart will buy them when they have to upgrade their TVs else they fall behind, but is there really a compelling reason for this? We're SWIMMING in media these days, barraged by content, and look at the results - dumbing down of everything, even the Discovery Channel, kids with no reading or writing skills, no attention span, etc. etc.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
...is the blasted latency.
I was lucky enough to be given a TiVO(forgot the series), hacked to 80 gigs, and Ethernet,etc. While it is nice to be able to pause live tv, the only thing I didn't like was the latency with pressing buttons on the cable box.
You try to punch in 040 and you get 0 4 2 seconds later showing up on the TV. I would say 60% of my channel changes were unsuccesful due to the cable box's timeouts. I thought the batteries were bad in my remote control. So I bypassed the tivo entirely, and it switched channels just fine, nice & fast.
Is there a way to turn off "pausable tv" and just push the video straight through? I can live without it. I just wish when I did a plain(ie not scheduled) recording it didn't stop after a half hour. BTW I have no tiVo service. Just using it as a VCR.
You insensitive clod, I use Secret.
I just took the plunge to HDTV the other day. In setting all this up, I would like to pass along what I have learned thus far. It has been an interesting trip, to say the least and I have learned that there is a LOT of hype around HDTV that is probably not quite warranted yet.
I subscribe to basic extended analog cable. I get locals plus standard cable content (Comedy central, lifetime, etc). No premium channels. I have this cable feed running through my Series 1 Tivo and from the Tivo, into my A/V receiver - which outputs the picture only to my TV. In this mode, the TV is essentially a monitor.
I also have a PC w/ Meedio hooked up to this. I used to use the S-video to an old analog TV and that worked ok. Once I hooked it up to my HDTV (TV has PC/VGA in), words can not describe how much of an improvement that makes. The PC has a Soundblaster Live! on it and digital optical out to the A/V receiver....more on that piece later.
The 3rd device I have is a DVD player (Philips DVP-642). Audio is coax digital. Video is components. Both Audio and video feed into my A/V receiver. My receiver has components in and out to the HDTV.
Now that you have an idea of the setup I use, let me lay out some issues I have run into that the Tivo3 may simplify.
1. Of all the devices I have hooked up, my PC w/ Meedio looks the best. And so do all of my downloaded movies and shows. Most of the rips I have are in HDTV and that seems to be the standard nowadays. Why is this important? Because the old "downloaded videos sacrifice quality" no longer holds true. It may not be as good as upscaled DVD's but it is MORE than reasonable.
2. My soundcard sucks. The optical out only outputs stereo sound. I think it will pass through Dolby and DTS but who cares -- that's what my DVD is for. THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL IF YOU WANT SURROUND SOUND out of your PC. Get a card that can output 5.1 on the fly. As I understand it, most Creative products ONLY output stereo through the digital out. (note: they may "pass thru" DTS/DD but that is different). I wound up ordering a Turtle Beach Montego. Haven't set it up yet.
3. There is very limited HDTV content available. Over-the-Air (antennas), I can pick up all the major networks. Another alternative is to go w/ DirecTV -- but if you subscribe to them, you only get about 2-3 extra channels (I don't count preview channels, etc) more than an antenna. For Dish, its a little bit better -- you get about 4-5 extra channels. Same with Cable. The Point: Each of the above costs an extra $10-$15/mo. And for that, you get at most, 4-5 extra "real" channels that you couldn't get by just sticking an antenna behind your TV.
4. I just ordered a CableCard from my provider (Cox). This allows me to keep my standard "analog" cable that feeds my Tivo while at the same time, allowing me to view the 5-8 HDTV channels that are available. If I had a Tivo3, I could just slap that card into my Tivo3 instead of using my Tivo 1 (for analog) + HDTV tuner on TV set. The Tivo 3 will record whatever you throw at it (HDTV, standard digital, analog, etc) in one nice, neat, little box.
I hope this is helpful to people. There is a lot to think about on how to set things up and these are the major issues that I ran into. I think the biggest disappointment I see is the lack of HDTV content. Just go look at the HD offerings from Dish or DirecTV and you will see that it is very minimal. Perhaps that will change with time but I definitely have that "pay more for less" feeling with respect to my cable/sat bill.
So, if you want to record HDTV, you have the following options:
a) Build a PC w/ HDTV card and use an antenna (unless your HDTV capture card supports CableCard)
b) Build a PC w/ HDTV capture card and use the cable company's Cable box to tune. Note: consider the remote control implications if you choose this. Changing channels = change channels on Cable box.
c) Use the cable companies HDTV DVR (@ $15/mo from Cox. YMMV)
d) USE A TIVO3 w/ CableCard (simplest, easiest, hopefully cheapest)
Hope this helps others who decide to take the plunge.
Tivos still ship with the comercial skip. My Series 2 has the 30 second skip and you just need to enter select, play, select, 30, select. On many Tivos you can change 30 to whatever you want (60 is nicer, but my Series 2 won't allow that sadly).
Two questions:
(1) Does it still require a landline telephone connection? I have a cable modem for Net access, useful for remote programming, but like many others have dropped the (otherwise) unnecessary landline.
(2) Does it offer, either plainly or through a simple hack, the 30-second commercial skip? The DVR from my cable company allows dual recording while I'm watching another recording, so foregoing the 30-second commercial skip seemed a small cost.
But if the Series 3 drops the landline requirement and offers the commercial skip, as well as records two programs as noted in the posting, it might make sense to get when I upgrade to HDTV.
No, you can watch them with WMP, but you supposedly need Sonic MyDVD to burn them . As someone else pointed out, you can use freely available utilities to "unwrap" the .tivo files into straight mpeg that you can then do with as you please.
e goryID=85>
n tainero ntainer&Container=%2FNowPlaying
Maybe you are thinking of TiVo Desktop -- the app they provide to let you download the shows from your TiVo? You don't even really need this (though it is nice), you can download through your browser if you find out the url.
<i><url:http://bryan.daneman.org/default.aspx?cat
TiVoToGo Webserver Url's
Here are some of the known Url's for accessing content on your TiVo. (This only applies to TiVo's with the TiVoToGo update.):
https://<TIVO-IP-ADDR>/nowplaying/index.html (username:tivo password:<your media access key>)
http://<TIVO-IP-ADDR>/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryCo
https://<TIVO-IP-ADDR>/TiVoConnect?Command=QueryC
</i>
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
t's nice that it has Ethernet, but can you do anything useful with it or will it be heavily DRM'ed?
With current S2 TiVos you can do quite a bit with the ethernet -- play MP3s, slideshows, get weather/traffic/movie times and tickets/etc (the interface is open and extensible), transfer recordings to a PC and back (PC includes Windows, Mac, and Linux; although for the latter two you probably need to run Galleon), transfer MPEG2 video to the TiVo (and maybe MPEG4/H.264 w/ the Series3? It's not clear yet), and various other stuff.
As far as the video that's exported goes -- it's in a ".tivo" format which is a loosely containered MPEG2 video. It's completely trivial to strip off the outer layer and get to the real data beneath it. And it looks like the new TiVo Desktop software will even offer transcoding to a number of alternate (DRM'd) formats as well. But really, it's a joke to take off the TiVo DRM, or to just play it from a standard MPEG2 capable video player (it's designed to allow you to do that). Yes, you can play it in mplayer.
What about the data on the USB disk--is it encrypted or is it readable and usable MPEG files?
It's SATA, not USB, but that's a minor nit. The data is not in straight MPEG files -- it's on TiVo's proprietary FS. That was figured out long ago. But if you can simply download the stream to your PC, there's little reason to futz around with the drive -- especially since you cannot be assured that the entire video is stored on the external drive (it may be, but it may also cross drives; the article states this).
My dream setup: two CableCARDs into a Series 3 Tivo, and one simple non-DVR box from Time Warner. That way I can keep my OnDemand stuff and I can record two channels at the same time on Tivo. I wonder, though, how much I will pay TWC for triplicating the service for me. The CableCARDs are $1.75/piece/month (here in NYC).
This thread proves once again that Slashdot needs a (-1, Cheapskate that won't ever buy anything their mommies don't give them the money for, but will whine endlessly for it to be free anyway) rating.
Ahem. I bought a Series 1 TiVo box in June 2000, later upgraded it myself to 200GB (the absolute most space available at the time), and happily bought a lifetime subscription. (The sort of idiots here who whine and complain about the horrible, awful TiVo subscription fee has always been around and always will; please ignore them.) However, five years later my box sits in the closet. In part it's because a drive died, but it's mostly because, yes, I built a MythTV box.
I *didn't* built a MythTV box because of:
* The subscription fee. See above. I always felt I got way more than my money's worth from TiVo; heck, were I to sell my box on eBay it'd still be worth a few hundred dollars due to the lifetime subscription.
* A desire to export TiVo recordings to elsewhere. I never quite understood the fascination people had and have with decrypting TiVo's file system and exporting programs to elsewhere. If anything I wanted my TiVo to act as the portal through which I could view my video library.
I built a MythTV box because I wanted to:
* Bring programs *into* the box, not out of it. MythTV lets me view all my videos and DVD images in a nice, neat, format that resembles the directory hierarchy they are stored in.
* Record HDTV programs. Thanks to two cable boxes and two FireWire cables, I can today record two HD programs simultaneously.
* Have plenty of storage space. MPEG-2 HD programs take 7GB/hour. about 10 times more than TiVo's about 700MB/GB on the lowest-quality standard. With MythTV I can use NFS (or, in my case due to mysterious performance issues, Samba) to put all the recordings I want on my 2.8TB RAID 5 array. From the description it sounds like the Series 3 TiVo will have an Ethernet jack, but a) it's likely to be 100Mbps--likely to be problematic in real-life conditions when recording two HD programs and watching a third at the same time--and b) who knows what type of external storage the box will ever support in practice.
That's it. No, I really don't care about MythTV's themability (Why, oh why, do people focus on themes in free software so much? Don't they realize that 99% of them look eye-meltingly awful--Kids, raytracing is, like, *so* 1995--and don't do a thing to fix any underlying usability issues with the application?), MythWeather, MythGame, MythPhone, etc., etc. Hey, they're nice, but I'd give them up in a flash to fix the last niggling bugs in mythfrontend (Geez, folks, what *is* up with the "displaying OSD in some recordings consistently crashes mythfrontend" bug in 0.18.1? Linus used to call such issues "brown bag" bugs, as in bugs in Linux kernel releases so showstoppingly bad he wanted to wear a brown bag for letting it loose into the world.) and the annoyances (some pretty colossal) in MythVideo's Video Manager module. If TiVo Series 3 manages to robustly support external filesystems (I have *no* problems with some sort of encryption scheme here) *and* let me view my preexisting videos through the elegant TiVo interface, I'm there. (Especially if TiVo kindly offers us longtime lifetime-subscription owners free upgrades.) I am, however, not waiting for these things to occur; there's TV to watch, and record, today.
Series2 units still have the 30 second skip. And, it rocks, if I may say.
You do have to hit Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select after your TiVo reboots due to a service update. This happens to us about 2-4 times a YEAR so it is no problem.
If you are having issues with power you should really get a UPS for your Tivo (and likely the rest of your AV equiptment). It will save you a lot of money in the long term as power dips, drops, and spikes will fry a computer rather quickly.
-D
And what proprietary app? Haven't you figured out the https server running on each TiVo series 2 yet?
I'm with the grandparent. Elgato devices ship with software called "EyeTV" that is about as easy to use as a Tivo, but has a lot more functionality. I've used both systems and I went with the Elgato paired with an old mac when I had to choose for a number of reasons. I like to archive shows. EyeTV exports to dozens of formats, including presets for burning to DVD and to fit on iPod Videos. It also includes a simple editor, that even my girlfriend figured out in minutes, that makes it easy to edit out commercials and anything before or after the show. Adding more storage is as easy as adding drives (internal or external) to the mac and there is no DRM. I never have to worry that the provider will decide I can't keep a a show (unlike Tivos). I can just copy my files to my laptop for trips and use any player I feel like. I can edit out pieces of them to include in my own videos, or for presentations because it is all in open formats, like mpeg-4. The remote actually has the skip ahead button working by default (and skip ahead and back are configurable). Finally, With the Elgato solution I can pick my choice of scheduling providers. Instead of paying $14 a month, I just use a free, ad banner supported service and if I'm unhappy with them I can switch, because I'm not locked into on provider.
I like a number of features of the Tivo and having it all in one box is a great feature. The UI is nice, and using it is fairly easy. I don't, however, like all the proprietary lock-ins, lack of choices, and I just don't trust the company. They have made more and more choices that seem to benefit the cable providers more than the end users. That makes sense for them, as a business, since the cable companies are their biggest customers these days. It also means I can't trust them to do what is in my best interests as an individual customer. I chose an Elgato device and have not regretted it. Several of my friends who use Tivo have expressed their jealousy for the functionality they are missing.
Maybe if they started shipping these units today they would have a chance at saving themselves. But they're not going to have them ready for another 6 months at least?
They announced HDTV support for early 2006 at last years CES, and that was insanity. How can it take one year, much less two, to develop HD TiVo when the capability is (was) already available through DirecTV. By the time this box ships, the DVR market is already going to be firmly in the hands of the cable companies. Most of the market is going to accept a lesser box for $5.95 a month rather than wait around for the privilege of owning an HD TiVo for $12.95 a month. And thats assuming you believe the TiVo will actually be available this year. Last time we heard from TiVo (they haven't said a word about HD for a year), the HD box was supposed to be available *now*.
I bought TiVo when they first came out, and I've given half a dozen as gifts. At this point I won't waste another dime on them.
My 2006 prediction, TiVo will be bought at an extreme discount by a CATV company, the technology cherry picked for their own products and the TiVo name taken, but otherwise the TiVo will be gone.
Incidentally - why does everybody feel the need to list the TV programmes they like to record? It's like music stories - with those people always seem to like to post the "artists" they like. Why? It's a waste of space.
/. praising it that I thought I would give it a try and loved it.
Sometimes to get grass root efforts going to support the shows/music they like. I never saw "Firefly" when it first came out, but I saw enough people on
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
> I bought the ethernet card and plugged it in. No problems.
I have the same setup, but enough of the "no problems" already. For your average non-techie consumer wanting Ethernet there ARE problems galore with the SA1: willingness to void warranty by opening the unit, obtaining the right size Torx screw driver (which not exactly a common household item like a Philips driver), cutting the right-sized hole into the back of the unit to snap in an RJ45 socket and obtaining said socket and wiring it to a patch cable stub (or just drilling a hole into the back and running a patch cable straight from the card to the outside and having it all look like shite and be prone to having the cable pulled too hard and unplugged or unseating the card), obtaining and installing the necessary Linux software to serve up shows from the box, editing the init script to start it all up, and hoping that after all this the box still works right.
Yeah, no problems at all for your average Best Buy customer.
FYI, commercial skip and 30 second skip ahead are not the same thing. On tries to detect commercials and auto skip them. The other skips ahead 30 seconds or whatever. Incidentally, Tivo hiding the 30 second skip as an easter egg was a major sign to me they they are more interested in what cable companies want than what end users want. Implementation of the broadcast flag and several other decisions since have convinced me to avoid their product and service.
Not necessarily that I want to be swimming in media, but that I want to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it.
I haven't seen a commercial in about a year (thank you 30 second skip), and I just tell TiVo what shows I like, and when I visit it, they're on there. Who knows when the shows play; I don't care.
I watch more shows now than I used to, but spend a lot less time doing it. Win-win, I say.
As to whether I'd let my children spend hours a day getting a media addition in front of a TV: No, and parenting skills haven't really changed since the advent of TV. Bad parents will still be bad parents.
Hmmmm... Cable.... Cards.... Cable... Cards... Cable..Cards.. Cable.Cards.
CableCards?
I wonder why the word Cable would be in there?
And no, they won't ever support CableCards
I used to think the same thing, and then in 2000 I won a free 14-hour unit in some online contest back in the crazy days of the web. I didn't even have cable, and it was still the greatest thing since sliced bread.
seen
I still haven't found the right way to explain it to somebody who (like me in 2000) doesn't get it. I think the difficulty of explaining the box is hurting their sales, too.
Suffice it to say it's more reliable than a VCR, 100x easier to program and use, and it's the only piece of my home theatre that my fiancee doesn't think was designed by antisocial engineers specifically to torture her.
I worry about the DRM a bit, but so far, I've never run into it. I understand the flap we saw earlier this year was over a bug-- only PPV shows are supposed to disappear. Because, you know, you have to pay... per... view.
So let's address your concerns, as a non-subscriber and someone who has never owned a Tivo box, right??
.tivo format files for MPEG transfer.
> 1. You still have a subscription fee (not a concern for some / major >concern for others)
Gosh...you mean you have to actually PAY for a service? Cable is free after all. So is internet access and phone service too for that matter.
I know there are free options out there (Myth etc) but Tivo doesn't exactly hide the fact from users that in order to use their product you need to buy the service. As a bonus, I found in the past that the updated schedules Tivo gets are more often even more correct than the program guide on my digital cable receiver.
> 2. You still have Tivo the company in the mix, which in the past has:
> * Erased user-recorded content
I had Tivo service for 4 years and never once had a problem with this. Maybe there have been a few fluke situations where this happens, but every deletion I ever saw on my box followed the rules I set up when recording the program (Delete after X days, when I run out of space, options like that)
> * Recorded programs that Tivo wanted you to see, without >asking your permission (which in addition to being very annoying, also >used your precious disk space)
There's a simple little option to turn off the suggestions, even my parents could figure out how to turn this feature off on their own. And for what it's worth, the software is designed such that any suggested programs are the first programs deleted when disk space starts to become an issue. So unless having empty drive space sitting there unused makes you feel better this isn't really a problem. If it is, then turn off suggestions.
> * Limited the duration you have for watching recorded content
I can't really argue with this other than mentioning that the only shows I'm aware of this actually coming up on after the initial bugs are PPV shows and other content that if you REALLY want to keep it, you could find another way to record. See the other threads about stripping the DRM off of the
> * Not guaranteed any of Tivos features - They can remove them >as they see fit (conversely, they can also add features, but who's going >to complain about that?)
Again, not going to argue with you about the loss of features, but I don't really recall anything like that having happened. And like you said, you certainly don't complain when they give you bonus features you never thought you'd see like file transfer and network connectivity.
> * Made very questionable deals about subscriber privacy >(selling demographical information, regional data, etc)
Every user of Tivo agrees to have non-identifiable information shared when they sign up for the service. There's no privacy issue here as it's specifically mentioned that there is no tie between the information shared and the specific machine it comes from. Put your tinfoil hat back on.
> 3. And this Tivo box, as with all other Tivo models, is still limited >in what it can do, NOT in terms of hardware and potential, but in what >Tivo will let you do with the hardware you're purchasing.
I'm sorry, but if you compare Tivo to any other commercial DVR out there, it's the most hacker friendly unit out there. While they may shake their fingers and warn that you will void your warranty, it's not like they're Microsoft barring you from XBox Live as soon as they see a modified system connecting to their network.
All this from someone who dumped their Tivo for the Comcast DVR because I wanted HD recording. If/when the series 3 hits the shelves I may just be one of the first in line to get my quality service back.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.