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The Secret Origins of TiVo

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the trust-no-one dept.

Davis Freeberg writes "TiVo is probably better known for their ad zapping technology than their television advertisements. In fact, other then a few lousy infomercials and a commercial that was rumored to be banned by the networks, TiVo has never really had much in the way of TV advertisements. Apparently though, one of TiVo's more rabid fans did some sleuthing and discovered a hidden easter egg video buried deep within TiVo's own website. The video itself exposes the true origins of TiVo's technology and how they got their hands on that ad zapping photon remote to begin with."

11 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Don't like TiVo, huh? by sdo1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Linking to a 40 meg file hosted on TiVo's servers on the front page of Slashdot? Not nice.

    --
    --- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
    1. Re:Don't like TiVo, huh? by Hassman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Uhhh... Wha? This isn't a real ftp link. Something tells me this is a bit planned for.

      --
      -Mark
      Dovie'andi se tovya sagain.
    2. Re:Don't like TiVo, huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not nice, like taking open source code and then locking it in hardware that prevents people from modifying it?

      Not nice, like sueing companies for having the gall to implement playback and recording at the same time? Or sueing companies for making it so that pressing "play" after fast forwarding/rewinding causes playback to resume slightly before the button was pressed?

      Not nice, like removing the commercial skip feature due to pressure from TV studios?

      I wonder what TiVo could possibly have done to make people hate them. Other than acting like complete asshats, of course. The GPLv3 rewrite is, in part, to prevent other companies from closing up open source code in the same way TiVo did.

    3. Re:Don't like TiVo, huh? by Ph33r+th3+g(O)at · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What? TiVo is a commercial enterprise, and bandwidth is a cost of doing business. It's not as if they linked to a 40 MB file on the Dalai Lama's website-in-exile or something.

      --
      I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
  2. Then then then... than? by dsanfte · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "TiVo is probably better known for their ad zapping technology then their televison advertisements"


    And then their television advertisements what? Did they do something after that? Oh, hehe, no, you're trying to make a comparison! For that we use "than". I know they've devolved to homophones in certain english dialects but that's still no excuse. This is such a commonly made and silly mistake that it bears pointing out when it appears on the front page of Slashdot, for heaven's sake.
    --
    occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
    1. Re:Then then then... than? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
      bears pointing out when it appears on the front page of Slashdot,


      Well, better on Slashdot front page then New York Times.

  3. Re:Wonder what this is promoting? by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of course it's viral marketiong -- it costs money and takes talent to make a movie like that, not to mention hosting a 40 MB file. Rather (deliberately) reminsicent of the Dharma Initiative training film found in the show Lost, as well as many other influences.

  4. Re:mirror, youtube by Goaway · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Thank you for doing TiVo's marketing work for them, and turning friendly conversation into ad space little by little.

  5. Re:Zap Ads? by Aadain2001 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    MythTV can do that because they are not an entity that can be sued by TV networks (or at least not view as enough of a threat). I love OSS and Linux, but MythTV is not easy to setup. And don't forget the hardware cost. You don't want to do a sub-par MythTV box. Usually you'd want a very large hardrive (or four), a good TV tuner (or two), and enough processing power to encode a show or two and still watch TV. TiVo is a good option when you don't want to fork over $1k+ and want it to just work. Of course, once I get my hands on enough funds and time, I plan on making a kick-ass MythTV box. Until then, I'll enjoy my TiVo.

    --
    Space for rent, inquire within
  6. Cómo se dice "Viral Marketing?" by C10H14N2 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is hardly an "easter egg" someone randomly found... this is an advertising campaign.

    When it's been on /. for 12 hours and I'm pulling 5.1Mb/s from their site...it ain't no accident.

  7. Re:Zap Ads? by Bastian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Well, for one, I said years, as in plural. Computer hardware up to the task cost more in 2003.

    Second, I didn't havethe luxury of being able to just upgrade an existing 'puter, I tend to use outdated laptops.

    I didn't realize that Tivo no longer does the lifetime sub. I was just pointing out that for a lot of folks out there MythTV is not the lower-cost option. I'd say if it weren't for that this would still be the case - most folks I know use laptops that they cart around fairly often, and I'd assume that after you're done buying CPU, mobo, power supply, case, tuner card, RAM, hard drive, etc. to build a MythTV box from scratch, you're doing pretty good if you can keep the price down around $500.