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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3
1 edit | reply to gabmasterjcc
Re: Price said by gabmasterjcc:Why are they paying $16 a month to Tivo? Tivo's most expensive monthly price plan is currently $12.95. Either way, that's still an insane price to pay for a piece of hardware you have to buy/purchase yourself.. I think it's ridiculous that you're FORCED to pay a subscription fee to use THEIR guide in the first place.
Why can't a user simply purchase a Tivo and use it like a VCR? Why can't there be an option to simply set a start and stop time.. time shift live TV?
And, in the spirit of trying to force DSL to open their networks.. internet providers to be neutral, etc... why is Tivo allowed to close their guide data subscriptions to their own service? Guide data should be no different.. allow competition to the consumer.. Microsoft gives the guide data away for FREE when you use MediaCenter PCs... many other software based DVRs give you free guide data.. why in the world should Tivo feel they need to charge $12.95 a month for a TV Guide, essentially...? I can pick one up on the stands for $3.00 and that's PRINTED material..
Seriously... Tivo has been getting a cash-cow free-ride for some time now.. maybe it's time to focus the guns on them for their closed system.
I own a Tivo.. and having to BUY data is ridiculous.. my only other choice is to BRICK a $400 purchase unless I cough up the dough..
Had to add something:
Tivo cries that cable operators have, in the past, invalidated their Tivo hardware to some customers with the whole shift digital video.. seems to me that Tivo wants their cake and eat it too.. if Tivo wants an open platform for them, they need to open theirs as well.
I think they're loosing subs becuase they're the same price as cable and satellite (sometimes the providers are cheaper) and the hardware from the operators work seamless with their service.. Maybe Tivo needs to simply get a clue and get with the picture, or go away. | |
 joebarnhartPaxio evangelist
join:2005-12-15
Santa Clara, CA | said by fiberguy:Seriously... Tivo has been getting a cash-cow free-ride for some time now.. maybe it's time to focus the guns on them for their closed system. And yet, even after all those ridiculous overcharges and price-gouging, Tivo has never made a profit -- not even one single quarter.
Since they don't make the hardware themselves (contracted out) and make their income on the guide data, I wouldn't look for free or cheap alternatives there...
Maybe Tivo's business model just can't be successful. If so, that's too bad. The DVRs foisted off on cable/satellite users are pure cr@p. | |
| reply to fiberguy
why in the world should Tivo feel they need to charge $12.95 a month for a TV Guide, essentially
You can get the guide data for free, the same place that MythTV gets it from. However I know of no way to get the the Tivo to use it. The user forums may have some method to do it, but that's just a SWAG. Additionally, the part that you are really paying for is all the extra data scraping that goes into the guide (actors, genres, "first run only" type features, etc). For me though, the only part that really sucks is that the lifetime service has gotten so expensive. That's the main thing that's keeping me from getting a third Tivo at this point, $400 is just too much compared to what I paid for lifetime subscription for the first two. | |
| reply to fiberguy
Purchasing scheduling data You *can* use a Tivo like a VCR -- record by time and channel -- without paying for the service. But without the scheduling data, the device loses most of it's value in my opinion. | |
 dddane
join:2002-01-10
Chicago, IL
1 edit | reply to fiberguy
Re: Price said by fiberguy  Either way, that's still an insane price to pay for a piece of hardware you have to buy/purchase yourself.. I think it's ridiculous that you're FORCED to pay a subscription fee to use THEIR guide in the first place.
Why can't a user simply purchase a Tivo and use it like a VCR? Why can't there be an option to simply set a start and stop time.. time shift live TV?
..
I think they're loosing subs becuase they're the same price as cable and satellite (sometimes the providers are cheaper) and the hardware from the operators work seamless with their service.. Maybe Tivo needs to simply get a clue and get with the picture, or go away.
:
in short, because it's not the guide you're paying for. they're subsidizing the boxes up front (just as your cable company does...) in order to get your subscription fees. they didn't always operate on the heavy-subscription business model, they switched to this about two years ago when people started fleeing for cheaper alternatives.
if you ask me, the biggest weakness Tivo has right now is they *REQUIRE* you to get a cablecard if you want an HD box. cable companies are making cablecards difficult (though they're legally required to provide/allow them), and cablecards can't do "on demand" .. and satellite subscribers are completely left in the dark--you can't use an HD Tivo with Directv or Dish (unless it's a Dish or Directv issued DVR). that's a death sentence really if there ever was one.
there are other places where tivo *could* make up for the shortcomings of these issues.. they could have super-dooper built in DVD recorders, built-in gaming, web browsers, and the whole 9. but their features are really limited. they do have Netflix streaming, I'll give them that. but they stopped making the Tivos with built-in DVD burners. their only web interface to initiate recordings to your tivo is too asynchronous and clunky. my mythTV 8 years ago could do twice as much as what a Tivo in 2009 can do.
i still buy a few tivos here and there for work, simply because as a business comcast will NOT provide you their own branded DVR. which pretty much forces the hand to needing a Tivo. | | |
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