Why would TiVo possibly be opposed to (or be less than neutral about) video extraction?
It doesn't have any negative impact on their business model... with one critical
exception: Legal fees!
ReplayTV was sunk because they were sued repeatedly, and TiVo hardly wants
to spend its precious money on lawyers! Larry Lessig may be a great professor
and scholar, and he might like little guys who want to publish copywritten books,
but I don't see him supporting TiVo when they get sued by every media giant
under the sun.
If and when the courts catch up with the this technology, and if the decisions
come down like the betamax decision did, then I'm sure TiVo will be more than
willing to add features and DVD recorders into the mix... but if they decided
to be at the forefront, they'd get slaughtered.
It is for this reason that the larger tivo
upgrade companies don't rock this boat... TiVo was brilliant to embrace
(or at least not shun) the hacker community with respect to adding hours, and
even built many nifty features that empowered the hackers to do cool stuff....
and we in turn respect that by not doing thinks to get them into legal hot water.
Yes, the lifetime service is tied to the TIVO's serial number...so it would transfer.
With the new Series2 TiVos, if you don't have the service, the unit is a boat anchor... so if you don't want the TiVo service, then ebay may be the way to go.
With all of the TiVo's I've seen, if you are recording something (other than a 'TiVo Suggestion'), there IS a warning if you want to change the channel. Sounds like something very strange is going on with your TiVo.
Not worth $150+$12/mo? If you can afford it, you might consider just throwing down the $299 for lifetime service. The cost of the service continues to rise, and if and when you're through with your TiVo, you should be able to sell it for at least the $299 you paid for the service.
Funny how AOL can't seem to find any product lines that are actually *profitable*.
TiVo is an amazing gadget, but even TiVo, Inc. is struggling to find a way to make it a profitable service. Doesn't look like AOL is doing anything unique.
As soon as someone figures out how to get these digital TVs to send shows from one TV to another (and from one home to another), Hollywood will do to this what it did to ReplayTV and SonicBlue... crush them with legal fees.
So what's wrong with extracting video? Is that sort of like the crime of making a VHS copy and putting it on the shelf? Or is it more like the real horror of sharing that tape with my friends? God help the fan club! I'm not buying things from people who treat me like a criminal. They can rot if that's their attitude.
The problem, I think, is that the same people that brought Replay down with lawsuits and legal fees would do the same thing to TiVo. Until the issue is resolved in court or Congress, TiVo won't touch it... it's just too expensive for them to be at the legal forefront.
Actually, the DirecTV/TiVo units pull the guide data from the satellite. The guide data is from DirecTV, not TiVo, but the TiVos still have to dial in to TiVo.
If TiVo were in trouble, DirecTV would no doubt have a way to avoid the dial-in issue. I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the DirecTV/TiVo contract now.
The REAL story is TiVo+DVD recorder.
The current DVD recorders are for the techies, while a TiVo+DVD recorder would be for the masses and could really gain traction.
We are certainly hopeful (for many reasons) that TiVo will endure, and we suspect that if for some reason TiVo does not, then there will be an acquisition. Interestingly, though, it is DirecTV that is heavily relying on the TiVo service. Unlike the other manufacturers (Philips & Hughes) that have announced Series2 TiVo boxes, Sony has not (yet). So while the Sony SVR-3000 is a great-looking box that seems to have been designed from scratch, Sony has not yet committed to a next-generation DirecTV box (to our knowledge). Overall, I'm just not sure that Sony is the right partner. TiVo as a company has no desire to be a hardware company...they want to focus on the TiVo service and let someone else manufacture the hardware. Seems to me that, given this, it is more likely going to be a content provider (cable or satellite-type company) that is a better match if TiVo sells or is acquired.
OK - I *like* getting a new number when I get a new phone. Granted, I've had some good numbers, and now I have a lame one. But I lose all those people who I don't want to hear from anymore - it takes them a while to find me again. Not too bad.
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Why would TiVo possibly be opposed to (or be less than neutral about) video extraction? It doesn't have any negative impact on their business model... with one critical exception: Legal fees!
ReplayTV was sunk because they were sued repeatedly, and TiVo hardly wants to spend its precious money on lawyers! Larry Lessig may be a great professor and scholar, and he might like little guys who want to publish copywritten books, but I don't see him supporting TiVo when they get sued by every media giant under the sun.
If and when the courts catch up with the this technology, and if the decisions come down like the betamax decision did, then I'm sure TiVo will be more than willing to add features and DVD recorders into the mix... but if they decided to be at the forefront, they'd get slaughtered.
It is for this reason that the larger tivo upgrade companies don't rock this boat... TiVo was brilliant to embrace (or at least not shun) the hacker community with respect to adding hours, and even built many nifty features that empowered the hackers to do cool stuff.... and we in turn respect that by not doing thinks to get them into legal hot water.
...but will it recognize drive sizes >137gb?
There's always the "Bill Gates is tracking this email" nonsense, but I think the best long-term one is the hunt for the fortune or Sir Francis Drake.
Here's more info:
article at Salon
I'm sure Microsoft wanted America to have UltimateTV, but look what happened there.
Sure, Microsoft has the power to back up their desire, but AOL, like Microsoft, has shareholders to whom they (supposedly) answser.
Yes, the lifetime service is tied to the TIVO's serial number...so it would transfer.
With the new Series2 TiVos, if you don't have the service, the unit is a boat anchor... so if you don't want the TiVo service, then ebay may be the way to go.
With all of the TiVo's I've seen, if you are recording something (other than a 'TiVo Suggestion'), there IS a warning if you want to change the channel. Sounds like something very strange is going on with your TiVo.
Not worth $150+$12/mo? If you can afford it, you might consider just throwing down the $299 for lifetime service. The cost of the service continues to rise, and if and when you're through with your TiVo, you should be able to sell it for at least the $299 you paid for the service.
This will go the way of UltimateTV and ReplayTV.
Funny how AOL can't seem to find any product lines that are actually *profitable*.
TiVo is an amazing gadget, but even TiVo, Inc. is struggling to find a way to make it a profitable service. Doesn't look like AOL is doing anything unique.
As soon as someone figures out how to get these digital TVs to send shows from one TV to another (and from one home to another), Hollywood will do to this what it did to ReplayTV and SonicBlue... crush them with legal fees.
The problem, I think, is that the same people that brought Replay down with lawsuits and legal fees would do the same thing to TiVo. Until the issue is resolved in court or Congress, TiVo won't touch it... it's just too expensive for them to be at the legal forefront.
Actually, the DirecTV/TiVo units pull the guide data from the satellite. The guide data is from DirecTV, not TiVo, but the TiVos still have to dial in to TiVo. If TiVo were in trouble, DirecTV would no doubt have a way to avoid the dial-in issue. I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the DirecTV/TiVo contract now.
The REAL story is TiVo+DVD recorder. The current DVD recorders are for the techies, while a TiVo+DVD recorder would be for the masses and could really gain traction.
We are certainly hopeful (for many reasons) that TiVo will endure, and we suspect that if for some reason TiVo does not, then there will be an acquisition. Interestingly, though, it is DirecTV that is heavily relying on the TiVo service. Unlike the other manufacturers (Philips & Hughes) that have announced Series2 TiVo boxes, Sony has not (yet). So while the Sony SVR-3000 is a great-looking box that seems to have been designed from scratch, Sony has not yet committed to a next-generation DirecTV box (to our knowledge). Overall, I'm just not sure that Sony is the right partner. TiVo as a company has no desire to be a hardware company...they want to focus on the TiVo service and let someone else manufacture the hardware. Seems to me that, given this, it is more likely going to be a content provider (cable or satellite-type company) that is a better match if TiVo sells or is acquired.
"...largest virus yet discovered may have been found..."
Could not possibly be very big if they don't know whether they've found it.
OK - I *like* getting a new number when I get a new phone. Granted, I've had some good numbers, and now I have a lame one. But I lose all those people who I don't want to hear from anymore - it takes them a while to find me again. Not too bad.
The problem is that the TiVo has 3 different FF speeds.... it'd have to be one insanely clever commercial.