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TiVo to Let Users Record Shows Via Cellphone
Carl Bialik writes "Verizon Wireless plans to offer a new service called TiVo Mobile that will allow its customers who also have TiVos in their homes to schedule TV shows for recording when they are on the go, the Wall Street Journal reports. ' A customer might use the service to impulsively schedule a sitcom for recording after the show is recommended by a friend at a party,' says the WSJ, adding, 'Verizon Wireless executives said the service, to begin this summer, is expected to cost less than $5 a month, in addition to normal cellphone-service charges and TiVo subscriber fees, which are $12.95 a month.'"
This is too expensive even after I give them the benefit of doubt and assume it can be managed online as well (unless being able to view the tivo'd or bought shows is possible).
.. few will buy in .. and then they'll say it failed "The market doesnt want such a thing"
Anyway, my point is they'll try this service
Then someone else (Apple?) will do it for free successfully and Tivo/Verizon will run around claiming they were first. No they wasn't. They did it all wrong.
This is what happens when you charge an exorbitant amount for something that's dirt cheap to provide.
I don't want to turn this into a "TiVo versus MythTV" argument, but I think it's worth noting that the MythWeb plugin that comes with MythTV allows you to schedule shows from any browser, anywhere. Because MythTV runs on a Linux box, you get a webserver and fileserver and all that out-of-the-box. So you can log into your Myth from anywhere that has internet, and schedule a show to record, on an impulse. You can even remotely (via SSH) transcode a show, and download it to your local computer for easy viewing.
There's no reason why you couldn't access your MythTV from any laptop or PDA that has some basic web access. I often, as the summary suggest, record a show on an impulse, when someone mentions it to me. This is an awesome feature that I'm sure TiVo users would love to have. However even at 5$/month it seems overpriced to me. This should be included for free as a "value added" that would encourage people to buy TiVo and and sign up for Verizon.
Last year in Japan they had a tivo-like device for the cell phone.... Not to record shows at home, though.... To record shows ON the damn phone since they all have sattelite receivers in them now...
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
For some time, I have had a media box set up at home (behind the couch) running Azureus. Combine that with Hamachi, Firefox, the ConQuery extension and the WebUI plugin for Azureus, and I am a right click away from downloading any torrent I want whereever my laptop is. Tivo's got me beat though, because I can't do it from my phone (yet...).
On the other hand, I've got Tivo beat because I can do what I want with the media I get this way.
and beyondtv and sagetv and any other pvr software with a web server. all you have to do is point your mobile web broser at it and schedule for free.
not to mention all of these packages get guide data for free rather than forcing you to lock in to a monthly plan.
personally i built an htpc and use beyondtv as a replacement to my series 2 tivo because
a) i want high resolution output
b) i don't want to pay monthly fees
I've had Tivo since 2000 and from Day One I thought this would be a great feature that I was always surprised didn't exist. Tivo has a phone jack, so it seems reasonable from a consumer's point of view to call the Tivo and schedule a recording. When they brought out web scheduling I thought it was a step in the right direction, but it's still far from perfect (mainly because it's not instant, Tivo doesn't get it's instructions until the next time it calls in). So this should be a good thing, except that it's a bunch of bullshit.
This should be a feature of Tivo, not something that's locked to ONE cell phone provider. And to charge extra for it? That's just insulting.
Although I have a Tivo and Verizon I'm definitely not going to use this service. I've got a shiny new CoreDuo Mac Mini sitting on top of my TV and between iTunes, podcasts, and BitTorrent it's going to get harder and harder for me to find reasons to use my Tivo and cable box. Amateurs are often putting out better content than the networks, and I can control the stuff on my Mini 100% (not counting DRM obviously).
I used to love Tivo and be a big fanboy, but lately every announcement they make just causes me to hate them more.
5/month - I know a few have mentioned that's a bit steep. Well, to bring in a valid comparison to just how steep this is - it's CHEAPER to buy the show on DVD than to pay for this service that allows you to tivo DRM'ed television.
On another note, I applaud people who have the audacity to turn off their tv and go out to a party thus living their life, but if the end result is that we're now spending more money to help us make sure we don't miss our tv programming, society has still taken a step backwards.
If any more signs of the apocolypse start happening, I'm going to say 'screw it' and eat all the bacon I want!
-THE END-
(Back before TV listings became available online for free, people used to spend $3/month for TV Guide just so they'd known what was on. Same idea, only more advanced.)
What bugs me is that they no longer allow you to buy lifetime service for a flat fee. I guess too many people realized that you came out ahead if you owned your TiVo more than 18 months. Though if you were unlucky (as I was) your TiVo died on you before the 18 months was up!
If I ever had cable TV again, I'd have to have a TiVo. I mean, what's the use of having 200 channels if you can't separate the few shows you want to watch from all the crap? But I'll probably never have cable again — at current prices, that's really for suckers.
I'm an avid Tivo fan, although I'm in the UK where Tivo has unfortunately long since left. My Tivo has been suitably modded, ethernet, 600gig storage. Frankly it is all good! With the open source tivowebplus project sitting comfortably on my little PVR not only can I search, schedule and watch programs using my webbrowser, but I can access the web interface via my WAP phone (HTML rather than WML) and have done for a long time... What is all the fuss about? Surely an broadband connection, dynamic DNS (where required) and tivowebplus means you can access your tivo from a WAP/Web-enabled phone? I thought being the UK with a pre-y2k Tivo meant we were still in the dark ages.. Myth is good, but my good old Tivo just works(tm)
Presumably tivowebplus will run on the tivos you are talking about?
I have an even better solution, but not as simple. I can control my ReplayTV and Tivo over WAP access through my cell phone. The WAP is provided by my FreeBSD box via Kannel. I then wrote a webapp that generates mobile pages from the already existing open source webapps: Personal ReplayGuide and Tivoweb. I have been able to schedule recordings via my cell phone for over a year now.
Dear editors.
Please check who is submitting an article before you post it. In this case the article was submitted by a guy using the e-mail "wsjarticles@wsj.com". When the article says "A customer might use the service to impulsively schedule a sitcom for recording after the show is recommended by a friend at a party,' says the WSJ, it's not exactly difficult to put two and two together.
Slashdot is being used as free PR for companies. People have started to complain about this and yet no one seems to take a bit of notice.
I like muppets.
If TiVo and cell phones were built on a truly open architecture, this service would be free... someone would write a couple of 100-line apps, one on the phone and one on the TiVo, and they'd be open source.
Just as we'd have had caller ID in 1970 if POTS was an open network architecture.
My bicyles
I thought the entire point of TiVo was that it learned what you liked to watch and automatically pulled content without asking for it. Why would I have to tell a TiVo that I want to watch a show, doesn't it already know?
I have no TV reception, just a big screen and a stack of DVDs but I always planned on getting HDTVoIP when Verizon rolls its Fiber service to my area as long as I could TiVo it.
That said, I do find their TiVo service at ~ $5/mo ridiculous. But: if they also offer it pay-as-you-go, then it' smuch better. Perhaps TFA simply neglected to mention the option.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
I still do not understand why this company ceases to recognize it is losing customers due to its lack of a high definition offering. I would more then happily choose Tivo over comcast, but they do not offer a box through anyone but dish networks. Heck, i'd even purchase the box out of pocket (for about 500 bucks)! Tivo's products are by far superior, plus more consumers are beginning to buy with a conscience, sometimes it's nice to support those who developed a trend setting idea (i.e. netflix vs blockbuster).
The target customer for a techie gadget like Tivo, is very likely to spend the money on a nice high definition TV. Until Tivo inc recognizes this, and the fact that they are dealing with individuals who are into the latest and greatest technology, they're doomed to fail.
Respectfully,
A true Tivo fan
sports fans who want to record the game they're attending. I know a lot of college sports followers that do that. It'd be cool if Verizon could get this up by next college football season if not March Madness time.