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TiVo Series 5 Coming This Fall

Posted by timothy on from the are-there-even-six-bladed-razors-yet? dept.

WebGangsta writes "The rumor mill continues to grow closer and closer to reality, as The Verge is reporting the upcoming SERIES 5 TiVo will have 6 tuners, support OTA recording (an old TiVo feature being brought back), storage beyond the 2TB limit, and more. While some would say that TiVo today is nothing more than a Patent Holder (albeit a successful one), there's still a market for a cable box that doubles as a streaming player. Is hardware the future of TiVo, or should they go and just license their software to all? And don't get us started on those 'TiVo Buying Hulu' or 'Apple/Google buying TiVo' rumors... that's a different story for a different day."

14 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. "Patent Holder"?! by bradgoodman · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I kind of resent the statement (I have no affiliation with Tivo except that of a loyal customer). I've tried everything - Myth, Roku, Windows Media, Cable DVRs, including those with the Tivo firmware.

    I've always gone back to Tivo - every single time. I won't say that it's "perfect" - but it all comes down to User Experience - and though each of those had nice characteristics about it - Tivo was the one that always worked - was always responsive - and reliable.

    You can say what you want about them - but to refer to them as nothing but a Patent Troll is pretty insulting.

    1. Re:"Patent Holder"?! by Trimaxion · · Score: 5, Insightful

      TiVo makes a good product and I am happy to have my Premiere. About two years ago we kicked my cable company's TV service and DVR to the curb, installed a large OTA antenna in my attic, and bought the TiVo. 1080p broadcasts are beautiful.

      The one-time buy in for TiVo's "lifetime" service was painful, but I recouped the cost in savings on my cable bill within a year and have long since broken even on the whole deal.

      Check out antennaweb and tvfool to see how far you are from your local broadcast stations.

      You will give up the major network channels (such as Comedy Central and ESPN) when you make the move, but I haven't missed them. Your monthly savings from ditching cable can pay for a lot of streaming services or amazon streaming/itunes/etc purchases.

    2. Re:"Patent Holder"?! by Golddess · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To me, that's an obvious idea and should not be patentable.

      Two things.
      1) That isn't the message that "TiVo today is nothing more than a Patent Holder" sends.
      2) While a fair argument, you should be going after the government for enabling such patentability in the first place, not TiVo for holding the patent (and actually making a product that uses it, unlike actual patent trolls).

      --
      "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
  2. Re:Great, now I just need 6 cablecards by fruity_pebbles · · Score: 5, Informative

    "M" CableCards can decode 6 streams. You'll need only one for a Tivo with 6 tuners.

  3. Re:I guess I'm confused but... by rjr162 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ah okay I figured it out.. they mean ONLY digital connections on the unit its self, NOT just OTA digital only (so no RCA connectors etc). I think the line I quoted above could have been stated that a little better

  4. Missing Innovation by Striikerr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Adding additional tuners is a good thing, Increased storage is a must as well (to accommodate all of those tuners) but what they really need to do is to show some innovative changes to move them ahead of the pack. Simplifying the cable card piece, streamlining their controller and interface and adding some cool new features would compel more people to ditch the archaic dinosaurs that cable companies currently shovel out their doors to customers. I'm not talking about adding voice control or arm gestures which everyone seems to think is the next big thing for using TV's either. We can all agree that the user interface is horrible. They seem to be cramming more buttons on the remote control (3/4 of which I seldom have ever used) and finding content you want has been a horrible experience.
    TiVo should look to integrate with other services too (via the internet) and pre cache content you'd like to watch, perhaps downloading during non-peak times to ease internet load. Get some truly-def content this way all lined up to watch later instead of dealing with reduced quality streams. This would require working out deals with the various providers but that's part of what they need to innovate. Say what you will about Steve jobs, he was able to push, pull and shove companies reluctantly along so that all pieces of his vision for a product were lined up.

  5. The solution to cable by IorDMUX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The summary describes TiVo as kind of a glorified cable box. However I believe (from personal experience) that TiVo's greatest feature is that it lets you cut the cable altogether. TiVo can act as a DVR for your antenna -- a feature that is a reason many stay with cable nowadays -- and supplements free, local programming with thousands of on-demand shows over the internet. I am over 25 miles from the nearest TV transmitter and I can still receive dozens of local channels with excellent quality and better reliability than satellite.

    I no longer pay outrageous cable or satellite bills. I installed a rooftop antenna that, including amplifier, antenna, and mounting hardware, cost less than a once month subscription to my satellite provider. If you are dissatisfied with cable/satellite pricing, programs, and paying to be advertised to, then stop paying them!

    --
    >> Standing on head makes smile of frown, but rest of face also upside down.
  6. Re:this just in by Monoman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That is awesome but MythTV isn't something I could give to my parents (or grand parents)

    --
    Keep the Classic Slashdot.
  7. Re:this just in by Holi · · Score: 3, Informative

    This just in, you can't get a 6 tuner card for your MythTV Box. Hell good luck getting the Ceton 4 tuner card working at all.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  8. Re:this just in by dead_user · · Score: 3, Informative

    Tell me. I have a Ceton 4 USB sitting in the box because COX decided to turn the Copy Never flag on for EVERYTHING. Fuckers.

  9. It will take more than a new box by no_such_user · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dear Tivo,

    1) Lower your damn prices already! You'd have people beating down the doors if you'd lower your monthly fee to $5/month, and you'd still be making good money to boot!
    2) Stop treating your old customers as second-class citizens! The old Tivos work just fine, so why aren't you porting new features to these units? Even UI/UX improvements which take negligible CPU or memory usage are never implemented. Sure, there are a lot of lifetime account holders, but you're still collecting monthly fees on some of these, right?
    3) Integrate the "tuning adapter" for switched digital video to inside the Tivo. The fact that I need such a thing in the first place is ridiculous.
    4) Lower your damn prices already! $60 for a wireless G dongle? $90 for an N wireless bridge?! C'mon!
    5) What's the deal with CableCard, anyway? Are cable companies going to continue to support this? What about users of IP-based services, like AT&T's U-verse?
    6) Don't get me started on copy-protection...
    7) Lower your damn prices already! $5/mo -- it's worth repeating!

    Thanks,
    Me

    1. Re:It will take more than a new box by evilviper · · Score: 3, Informative

      5) What's the deal with CableCard, anyway? Are cable companies going to continue to support this?

      The Federal Government and FCC says they will. So... yes they will.

      See the 1996 Telecom law, Section 629.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  10. Re:Great, now I just need 6 cablecards by porges · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My experience with Comcast from last year: before I got my newest TiVo I picked up an M-card from my local office. It came in a sleeve with a paper listing the procedure for getting it working in the TiVo, including the step "and now call us at this dedicated number where we have people who actually know what to do with a cable card." So I did, and it worked perfectly first time. Moral: sometimes, things do work.

  11. Wow just in time for the medium's decline. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd sure love 6 tuners to catch all the TV I never watch!

    I like entertaining shows. There are even some left on TV. TV, as a whole, is abhorrent.
    I didn't consciously cut the cable, but realized sometime last year that I have not watched actual TV for, well years now. The few gems available are not worth the trouble. Stuff you find on youtube is honestly much more entertaining than 99% content that gets blasted over the airwaves.

    Whenever I visit a household that has traditional TV going it's.. Really disturbing. I don't know how to describe it. The whole medium seems designed to manipulate viewer's thoughts and behaviors in an orchestrated barrage of crap and nonsense. (Yes, this is compared to some of the acid tripping strangeness that can be found on youtube. Ex - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iw1EnLvm88 *Warning* This video is an honest to goodness cognetohazard. It's so bad and yet so.. Bad)

    We all like to laugh at Fox News, but the show really is reality manipulator for it's viewers. The show has honest to fucking goodness /music cues/. That's right. Music will start playing, and reach a dramatic flare as a "reporter" is making a point.