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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.'"
Seriously, are there TV shows that important one needs this service to ensure they don't miss them
Media Center, and I'm sure the linux htpcs too, have been able to this for ages. And we dont have to pay a monthly fee.
Why should I pay $5 more a month for a service that I already have for free? Why not just go to the Tivo web site on a web-enabled phone and do your remote scheduling there?
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And use the tv.yahoo's tivo scheduling.
Wow... $5 a month?
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This is too expensive even after I give them the benefit of doubt and assume it can be managed online as well (unless being able to view the tivo'd or bought shows is possible).
.. few will buy in .. and then they'll say it failed "The market doesnt want such a thing"
Anyway, my point is they'll try this service
Then someone else (Apple?) will do it for free successfully and Tivo/Verizon will run around claiming they were first. No they wasn't. They did it all wrong.
This is what happens when you charge an exorbitant amount for something that's dirt cheap to provide.
I don't want to turn this into a "TiVo versus MythTV" argument, but I think it's worth noting that the MythWeb plugin that comes with MythTV allows you to schedule shows from any browser, anywhere. Because MythTV runs on a Linux box, you get a webserver and fileserver and all that out-of-the-box. So you can log into your Myth from anywhere that has internet, and schedule a show to record, on an impulse. You can even remotely (via SSH) transcode a show, and download it to your local computer for easy viewing.
There's no reason why you couldn't access your MythTV from any laptop or PDA that has some basic web access. I often, as the summary suggest, record a show on an impulse, when someone mentions it to me. This is an awesome feature that I'm sure TiVo users would love to have. However even at 5$/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 have Verizon service. I have TiVO service. I can't imagine how this add-on could be worth $60 a year to me. That's the same price as Verizon web access. The arrogance of these two to just assume people will pay whatever they ask! Can't wait till advancing technology and the free market make both of them a memory.
You can mod me down, but you cannot call me a coward.
You can do this for free with MythTV via MythWeb.
You can also do it for free at tivo.com
Totally ridiculous.
I just realized that I got to see an ad for Verizon Wireless early because I saw an ad for Verizon Wireless...
Am I open minded towards open source, or closed minded towards closed source?
Even better, just call someone that can connect to Tivo's website using a PC. You know, like a parent, spouse, girlfriend, regular friend, kid, etc.
Why pay to have a cell phone do yet one more thing.
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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-
$5 a month for something you will probably use a couple times a year (at most)?
on top of your verizon plan, on top of the tivo monthly fee, on top of the broadband connection...
(this won't work if your tivo still works on dial-up)
Never mind (as 50 other posts mentioned) the free alternatives...
Just doesn't make financial sense.
http://www.theMediaBunker.com
I recently scheduled the oscars to record from a web enabled phone by going to online tivo scheduling.
WTFITBD?
The hell I'm going to pay for a specialized app on a phone that has internet access already.
Standards are there for a reason, if a phone can access normal web pages it can do hundreds of things, if it has a bunch of nickle and dime apps that raises your bill it's a POS and your provider is screwing you.
If your phone can only view "mobile pages" there are scripts that you can run on your own webserver that'll strip everything but the actual info and serve you that.
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) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
(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.
And considering every cellphone that will have the ability to use this feature will also most likely already include at least a WAP browser (if not a full HTML browser).... what was your point again?
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
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?
Tsk, tsk! Read before you reply! He wasn't talking about cell phones at all; he was talking about CEL phones. Completely different thing.
You can actually do without the service if you don't mind entering all your start and top times by hand.
This hasn't been true for years; in fact, it stopped being true back in the days of the Series 1. Later Series 1 models and nearly all Series 2 models are doorstops without a TiVo service subscription.
(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.)
$3 a month for TV Guide? Maybe in 1962. The cover price of TV Guide has been almost $2 for several years now, and I can't count the number of people I knew (my parents included) who just grabbed a Guide at the checkstand every week during grocery shopping.
Up until TV Guide quit doing TV listings, TiVo was pretty price competitive with newsstand purchase of weekly issues.
What bugs me is that they no longer allow you to buy lifetime service for a flat fee.
This is untrue. Lifetime service is still available, and is still $299.
They also still offer the ability to buy an annual subscription if you prefer.
Though if you were unlucky (as I was) your TiVo died on you before the 18 months was up!
If your TiVo dies on you out of warranty and you have a lifetime subscription, you simply send it to TiVo for a standard flat-fee repair. If your unit is repaired, your subscription will keep working when you hook it back up. If your unit is replaced by TiVo, they will transfer the lifetime to the replacement unit. This is not a new policy; it's been active for years.
I am currently a Verizon customer. I am switching phone companies once I am no longer their bitch (contract is up in a year or so). What really pisses me off is how they charge you for every little small thing. Is it not enough that I am a current paying customer? That I paid that much more for a phone that could run a couple of apps? Nope. You have to pay for every single thing you put on your phone. And if something happens to your phone, it's a major hassle. Something happening can include replacing your phone, because their service sucks in your area. Somehow it's impossible for them to copy everything over.
So it's no surprising at all that they want to charge for this service. As many people have noted it's easily done already. But Verizon can sell it as a 'select' service you can get, to lure you into getting a 10-year contract. They won't mention the cost, until it is too late. They might also leave off needing a TIVO subscription on top of that. Until you get your bill, and realize how stupid it is.
They do that with their web phones. On some phones (like mine) you can actually change the gateway such that you can surf the net for free, until you realize exactly how painful it is to do with a cell phone, and give up.
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
...for just a few ip packets. Uhh, I hope the way Verizon runs their cellular business is not an indication of how they'll treat us under tiered internet, but who am I kidding?
Anyone who has compared developing applications for Verizon phones vs. Sprint/Nextel vs. Cingular knows that Verizon is simply not an option unless you have $$$ and enough clout to negotiate access. No feature that Verizon thinks they can get an extra fee for is left unlocked. DRM is built in and all applications are signed so as to grant just the permissions that have been paid for.
Compare this to Cingular and international gsm providers, who have no DRM and allow access to the phone hardware (bluetooth, gps, ringtones, other content)and the network via java. You own the hardware, you pay for network access, and use it as you will. No getting billed for every single permutation of features like with this Tivo app.
Verizon considers each application a billable "feature" in and of itself, while more open providers bill for network access and leave applications to open hardware and software.
The later architecture allows anyone to get in on the game, while the former restricts access to those that pay up. You can bet that development companies who pony up for access will need to make a return asap, and so will be pushed towards making applications that maximize return quickly. This will only lead to fewer experimental ideas attempted, and fewer niche applications being developed.
If \.'ers want to support more open cell standards I'd suggest looking into Cingular, who at first advertised themselves years ago as "the company the support self expression" - of course no one got it. I hear their network has gotten much wider since the AT&T merger so they are worth a shot.
I'm a sucker? No. Like I've said in other stories where this inevitably comes up, I pay not to have to deal with the bullshit. I fight with computers every day because it is my job, and because it is a hobby. Yet, I don't want to have to mess with kernels or libraries or dependencies or drivers or modules or the latest bug in mythTV or lousy hardware or whatever other problem there might be with running a typical PC. MythTV has its uses, and some people swear by it. Maybe you like it when your video card craps out on you. Maybe you're the type that walks/swims 8 miles to work instead of paying the bridge toll (haha sucker - I live under my desk!). I have no idea.
I pay 13$/month because I don't want to screw with my television (+DVR), I just want it to work. TiVo obviously provides me a service for this - the most obvious being the guide data. It is a small price to pay, imho, for the (nearly) worry-free joy that is my TiVo. If the series3 isn't vaporware, I'm all about it.
There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong.
i am a long time tivo user and advocate. the idea that someone would pay $5 / month for the ability to schedule shows from their verizon phone is absurd. i can say, since i've had access to the web-based equivalent (free) service (about 1.5 years), i've used it probably twice, and once was just to see how it works. it's just not the typical tivo use case.
this is like every other service offered on cell phones. cell phone companies are trying to build a proprietary internet for cell phones only and nickel and dime us to death with fees. you pay for bandwidth, and you pay again for the content! well, it's not working. proof is the state of the celluar web today. nothing but toy content that you try once and then can't believe you actually paid for it.
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.
I've been doing that for years -- even before I got a DVR. I call home and ask my wife to record the show.
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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.
Huh, the idea that I should PAY to schedule recordings on my own box is not going to drag me away from TV via BitTorrent any time soon.