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Comments on news posted 2009-11-25 08:31:55: TiVo's deals with cable operators and their recent DVR patent wins haven't done much to keep TiVo customers around. The company just suffered their worst quarter ever, losing 314,000 customers in three months. TiVo's market share (2. ..
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  NOCManMacChatterPremium
join:2004-09-30
Colorado Springs, CO | What I can do with TIVO that cablco dvr cant I can transfer it to my pc and burn to dvd
I can transfer it to my portable media devices
I can transfer it between rooms (Some provide this).
To me that's worth the price. | |
|  joebarnhartPaxio evangelist
join:2005-12-15
Santa Clara, CA | The real evil here is DRM Why are our choices so restricted? Remember the days when you could get a VCR and connect it to ANY source -- OTA, cable, satellite -- and program it to record a show when you were away? We complained about the complexity of programming, but we now live in a world where our very ability to record anything is in jeopardy.
What choices do we have? If all you're interested in is over-the-air programming, you can get a MythTv box -- an open-source platform that will record ATSC content and even offers its own co-op subscription service for about $15/YEAR.
MythTv is expandable to any size and configuration of disks -- it even supports "backend" (recording) servers and "frontend" (player) boxes in any mix'n'match configuration. It not only records TV shows but allows you to rip your DVDs, play your music library, etc. all from one interface.
Now let's add cable. Oops! Cable now encrypts the digital signals. You can't just record them like you used to with a VCR. How about that special "firewire" port that the FCC mandated just for recording? Turns out it only works with "approved" recorders. Guess what? There aren't any you can buy. Linux platforms, by definition, can never be "approved" so no open-source recorder for you.
OK, screw that, lets get satellite. Oh dear. No recordable output of any kind. No firewire, no access to the demodulated digital signal.
We can't buy a card to record DVI or HDMI, so that's out. We can get a box that will let us record the component video of a high-def signal, exploiting the "analog hole". It's pricey, at about $200/channel, but there's only one maker (Hauppage) so they can charge what they want.
Now the content czars want to close the analog hole -- closing off the one last way you might time-shift a show on your open-source platform. And the lap dog FCC will probably cave in.
When they finally illegalize home recording and time-shifting out of existence I'll save a huge amount of time because I won't bother watching any of the cr@p-o-rama they're pushing.
I'll read a good book. | |
| | | | | joebarnhartPaxio evangelist
join:2005-12-15
Santa Clara, CA | Re: The real evil here is DRM Your choice is one possibility. You have chosen to limit your content to what you can get from bittorrent (pirates). Trouble is, the pirates don't get everything. In fact, they only get a tiny fraction of what's available via cable or satellite. And as the technology improves and the penalties get more stringent you'll find less pirating.
Legal downloads, like Hulu, will either switch to a paid model or go away. Again, they offer only a tiny fraction of what's on. Netflix streaming content is probably less than 1% of their DVD offerings, and it only offers 720p instead of true 1080 HD. (Important to me because my set can't use a 720P signal but can use 1080i.)
The worst part of downloading is that the playing of the content is cumbersome. Connect the computer to the TV, get it talking, fix the overscan (or reduce the size of the image). Use 18 different websites to find your streaming content. Put up with players that only work with a mouse and keyboard instead of a remote.
Only single people with no life can make online sources work as their only source of TV! 
P.S. Bandwidth is no problem for me -- I've used every download and streaming site there is, I just don't find them satisfactory.
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| | | |  aaronwtPremium
join:2004-11-07
Woodbridge, VA
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Re: The real evil here is DRM said by joebarnhart:Your choice is one possibility. You have chosen to limit your content to what you can get from bittorrent (pirates). Trouble is, the pirates don't get everything. In fact, they only get a tiny fraction of what's available via cable or satellite. And as the technology improves and the penalties get more stringent you'll find less pirating. Legal downloads, like Hulu, will either switch to a paid model or go away. Again, they offer only a tiny fraction of what's on. Netflix streaming content is probably less than 1% of their DVD offerings, and it only offers 720p instead of true 1080 HD. (Important to me because my set can't use a 720P signal but can use 1080i.) The worst part of downloading is that the playing of the content is cumbersome. Connect the computer to the TV, get it talking, fix the overscan (or reduce the size of the image). Use 18 different websites to find your streaming content. Put up with players that only work with a mouse and keyboard instead of a remote. Only single people with no life can make online sources work as their only source of TV! P.S. Bandwidth is no problem for me -- I've used every download and streaming site there is, I just don't find them satisfactory. If you use netflix streaming from the TiVo you would just set the output resolution to 1080i. The same goes for the Xbox 360, and the LG BD390. And I'm pretty sure with the PS3 too. | |
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 ·Comcast
1 edit | said by joebarnhart:Your choice is one possibility. You have chosen to limit your content to what you can get from bittorrent (pirates). I don't really use torrents.. hell you couldn't get divx rips off torrents 9 years ago.. lol! 
said by joebarnhart:The worst part of downloading is that the playing of the content is cumbersome. Connect the computer to the TV, get it talking, fix the overscan (or reduce the size of the image). Use 18 different websites to find your streaming content. Put up with players that only work with a mouse and keyboard instead of a remote. Only single people with no life can make online sources work as their only source of TV! B.S. I've been collecting data for 9 years or more.. and it's only gotten easier not harder.. it used to be a lot more work it started getting simpler and simpler for the method I use starting in 2004 and simplified completely by 2006-2007
Today I can download a 8-14 Gb blueray x264 in about a hour.. and that only takes 5-10 minutes to find (that's finding it/like browsing the video story isle time not anything else) if I knew the name of the movie it would only take 1 second to que it up.. | |
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| | rcn deal maybe their recent rcn deal will help tivo....NOT!!!! | |
| Reviews:
·Cox HSI
| DirecTiVo I really liked my DirecTV DVR w/ Tivo. Its interface seemed much more responsive than my new DirecTV HD DVR. I also liked the more robust live TV cache - being able to pause one tuner, switch to another tuner, and switch back to the other tuner and having it still be paused. With either device, the monthly DVR fee was $5.95/month as I recall.
I think TiVo had the right idea with the lifetime subscription idea, but I'd, honestly, jump on something like a no-fee ad-supported HD DirecTiVo: e.g. banner ads appearing while fast-forwarding through conventional commercials. | |
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