Slashdot Mirror
The Challenges of A DVR Service
ChelleChelle writes "'The two burdens that are probably most annoying to the user are a complex and difficult control interface and lack of reliability.' So says TiVo cofounder Jim Burton as he describes the challenges of designing and delivering an easy-to-use yet highly effective and reliable DVR service. The article is quite broad in focus, providing information on the design aspects of TiVo (hardware, security, source code, etc) yet also taking into consideration the human element, with a large section devoted to service design principles. Overall, a good read for anyone interested in purpose-built systems." Update: 04/21 18:54 GMT by Z : Tim Burton no longer cofounding Tivo.
You'll get my TiVo boxen when you pry them from my cold, dead hands. Just sayin'.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
I love my DVR... when it is working. I have learned the controls (they are byzantine) but I haven't learned on what days I need to sacrifice a chicken to avoid a crash. If it was a Windows Media Center, at least I would understand why it crashes so often, but it is silver box that sits there, pretending to record shows.
I am willing to work around its quirks because of all the upside (it doesn't crash *that* often), but I suspect a less geeky user would simply drop kick the thing out the door. Reliability needs to be the number one concern when creating a device that works in the background like DVRs do. It is very annoying to find the programs you thought you recorded missing because it locked up Wednesday night...
Automatically detecting when my cable company reassings the stations would be nice too.
Sig under construction since 1998.
...its hard to build an HDTV unit as well. Meanwhile, back in the rest of the world, us poor cable customers have to suffer with our crappy Scientific Atlanta and Motorola HDTV DVRs that have crappy interfaces, terrible support, and an even worse reliability record.
:-/
I had Tivo for 4 years and Tivo was relevant to me up to about 1 year ago. And, unfortunately for them and me, that window closed (because I upgraded to HDTV) and they just aren't anymore since I would have to "turn back time" to go back to them. The lack of HDTV support was, in simple terms, a deal-breaker.
Maybe that new Series3 will change things. When is it shipping again?
No, no. I think you misunderstood me. I didn't say "announce" or "pass tests". I said shipping.
>it isn't possible to build a MythTV HD-DVR without getting Un-encrypted HD signals via COAX
It is possible to get HD content into myth-TV if you have the DirectTV Tivo. I have done this by hand, with a hacked tivo, and the usb-Eithernet adapter, then used mencoder to put it into a divx format and mythTV to re-stream it.
I have seen plugins designed to automate Tivo -> mythTV, but since my PC wasn't doing a very strong job of sending HD content reliably through mythTV, mythTV is shelved at my house, until I have more time to waste on it anyway.