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Maxtor's New Crippled External Hard Drive for DVRs

Ernest over at Corante has a great story on a new Maxtor DVR product: "Crippled External Hard Drive for DVRs." Turns out that Maxtor is producing a new external USB/firewire backup drive for DVR set-top boxes, but it won't be sold to customers but instead only to cable and satellite companies. Since you won't actually own the device, you won't have any rights to get at the data inside the drives, apart from your set-top box.

Sounds totally brain-dead and protectionist to me. Honest people that pay their cable bill are going to want a way to load the shows onto their laptops for travel or their PC for playback in other rooms and when they find out they can't, I'm sure there will be a PR disaster on the hands of any cable or satellite company that chooses to adopt these devices.

April 27, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

TiVo Faces Off With Flattering Clones (TechNews.com)

"TiVo Faces Off With Flattering Clones" is the tale of the classic battle of a company trying to maintain their branding and keep from becoming part of the lexicon. Xerox fought it tooth and nail (and lost miserably), Adobe is currently fighting the term "photoshopped" (and losing), I hear people call almost any personal mp3 player an iPod, and now it's TiVo's turn.

I had this happen to me last summer, when a Comcast cable installer came by and mentioned that they'd be offering TiVo in a few months. When I pressed him for more info, it turned out to be a generic DVR. It's not hard to hear people say they "Tivo'd that program" in interviews these days, though few of them actually own a TiVo instead of the DVRs many companies offer.

In the long run I don't think this will be bad for the company. They built a device that provided a fundamental shift in how we use a TV and they have attained the status of becoming a unique new word in our collective vocabulary as a result. I know that millions of people saying the word TiVo doesn't equate 1-to-1 with new customers and the company considers it brand confusion, but it certainly can't hurt if your brand and product recognition get to be so good that people use it as a term for the functionality. Everyone knows that to "TiVo" something you tape it on a hard drive based recorder. When they go into a shop looking to buy one, they'll only know one term to describe it, and that could equate to long term sales for the company, not confusion.

April 26, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

HD TiVOs Begin Shipping

It's official, the HD TiVOs have finally begun shipping. They're going to be priced at around a thousand bucks for now, but expect a new customer special in the next few months that should make it cheaper (I'm going to guess $399 or $499 with a year contract).

The demand for these units is through the roof. I know at least three friends with existing pre-orders and I have no idea if the current shipments will meet even the pre-order demand. Yesterday I heard that BestBuy put their first shipment of 200 units up on their website and sold out of them within a few hours.

Early reviews are already being posted to the TiVo Community forums, and they're already uncovering a whole range of problems with signal conversion. I'm a technogeek and I love gadgets, but I gotta admit HDTV can be insanely complicated with the different formats and up-conversion on both a TV and a HDTivo.

DirecTV has promised me a review unit soon, though I don't have a HDTV monitor yet and am debating buying a 30" tube set while I wait a year or two for LCDs to come down in price (I'm also open to review any HDTV sets here, if any company would like to offer that for me).

April 24, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack

TiVo Faces Off With Flattering Clones

We've been discussing this very topic for almost as long as this weblog has been in existence.

"The cable train has left without TiVo onboard, and I don't think they're coming back for TiVo," said Sean Badding, an analyst with The Carmel Group.

TiVo's code also is missing from Panasonic's combination DVD Recorder-DVR and Mitsubishi's upcoming HDTV receiver with a 120-gigabyte DVR. Sharp is building DVR capabilities directly into some of its LCD TVs, again without TiVo.

Then later in the article...

TiVo, based in Alviso, Calif., has knocked on the cable industry's doors for years — and admittedly changed its take-my-TiVo approach to now a more flexible tactic of designing its software around the cable industry's needs.

"It's a kinder, gentler TiVo now," said TiVo president Marty Yudkovitz. "It's about building what your customer wants."

But why should cable companies pay more to get TiVo's technology and brand name when they already have apparently good enough DVR features from their entrenched partners?

Too little, too late? And Marty, is your customer the TV viewer, or the cable companies?

TiVo Faces Off With Flattering Clones [AP]

April 24, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Lost Remote: Thumbs up for Media Center PCs

It's nice to see the folks at TV blog Lost Remote are singing the gospel for Media Center PCs. If it wasn't so costly to get into a Windows Media Center PC (officially you are supposed to buy a new pre-outfitted PC with it) and if it had better integration with my satellite system, I'd likely be using this over TiVo, for many of the features mentioned by the folks at Lost Remote.

April 22, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

TiVoFerkey

Hmm... interesting.

For TiVo owners who also have TiVoWeb installed, this unique app lets you control your TiVo from your Mac using an on-screen remote control. Unlike regular TiVoWeb, no browser is needed, so you can save screen real-estate and don't have to go hunting for the remote.

(Scroll to the bottom.)

The Resistance Software Group - TiVoFerkey

April 21, 2004 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

NBC, Turner downplay effect of TiVo

TelevisionWeek reports that a VP at Turner recently remarked how he wasn't afraid of changing business models due to widespread TiVo use. Apparently the impact to their bottom line has actually been positive in the wake of increased PVR use.

That's because TiVo has increased viewership of the Turner networks, he said. "Right now we don't have any big guns aimed at the TiVo world. We think it's been slightly positive because it increases viewership," he said. Mr. Chandler added that Turner expects the coming cable upfront to be positive for Turner.

Pretty surprising news coming from the company that once thought fast-fowarding a commercial or going to the bathroom during breaks was akin to stealing from them.

April 21, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Pro Hockey and DVRs

Wired News has a great story today on the use of DVR video tools by the San Jose Sharks pro hockey team. Using a combination of tablet PCs and a video server, a coach can call up video immediately recorded during a game, to review plays. The article is light on technical details but they point out similar products that sports-themed technology companies produce. It seems like this would be pretty easy to setup with a Windows Media Center server connected to a game feed, a wireless network at the game, and a laptop in the coach's hands.

April 20, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

DirecTV hacking is dead?

For the past few years DirecTV has employed a variety of encryption techniques to keep people from getting free service. Every level of protection DirecTV has used has been eventually hacked, but this week underground DirecTV hackers learned that their card hacks had died and the early prospects of hacking the newest technology isn't looking good. Their communities are currently freaking out (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16) but promising fixes someday. Time will tell if the underground satellite hacking community figures out a way to deconstruct it, I suspect someone, somewhere will figure out a way to break the security.

Personally, when I first got my DirecTiVo a couple years back I took a look at the satellite hacking underground to see what it was like. From what I saw, these guys put so much time and effort into it that it seemed pointless. I'm a big fan of opportunity cost, I'd rather just pay DirecTV $40 a month than tweak code for hours every night that also requires hundreds of dollars worth of shady electronics equipment.

April 16, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (79) | TrackBack

Cheaper TiVos

Reconditioned TiVos are $99 now, and they've also got a $129 special on a new 40hr model that they shared in the last promotional email I got from them.

At this rate, they'll eventually be free, following a cell-phone model where the monthly fee makes them cash over the years.

April 16, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

A trip down memory lane...

Andy sent me over a couple choice bits from the usenet archvie. Here's a discussion of digital video recorders before the launch of ReplayTV:

I love the idea of a tapeless VCR. Would the cost of Replay TV be lower if they produced a VCR-only type unit that did not have the complexity of "taping" while watching (already "taped") delayed TV?

And here's the first mention of ReplayTV or TiVo in usenet (ReplayTV was first):

ReplayTV will do for TV what the browser did for the Internet. It's the browser for TV.

-- Marc Andreesen

April 15, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Xbox media player for PC

The Xbox has become the premier console platform for many hardcore gamers which was Microsoft's goal a few years back, but despite their best efforts to secure the device people have found ways to make it do almost anything. The most popular hacked xbox addition is the Xbox media center software. With a hacked xbox, you can toss a big extra hard drive into your unit, and stream movies, music, and images to your TV.

In an unusual move that may mark the first time a console program has migrated to a PC, someone's ported xbox media center to the PC. It joins a handful of similar apps out there to turn your PC into a home theater, but is the only one that came from the gaming world.

April 14, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

The Glory of HDTV

As I sit here waiting for my HDTV DirecTiVo review unit, I looked longingly at a couple regular folks who recently got HDTV and are raving about the quality: HDTV baby and The Glory of HDTV.

But…perhaps I’m just more sensitive to picture quality because I spend so much time in front of a monitor. HDTV feels like I’m watching DVDs all the time. If HDTV were more expensive, I would pick and choose who to recommend it to. But $5 is a bargain for the extra-level of quality you receive, and easily affordable.

Man, I can't wait.

April 13, 2004 in Op-Ed | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

PVRs: satellite vs. cable

TVWeek has a piece looking at what cable TV companies are doing to fight the threat of DVRs that the satellite TV providers are winning customers with. The tactics the cable companies are using include:

- boosting video-on-demand (VOD) by working with the film distributors so that movies are available on VOD as soon as they are released to movie rental stores
- video-on-demand double features (essentially a two-movies-for-one-movie-price on a theme)
- "video magazines on niche topics such as yoga, cars and bird watching" (huh?!)
- promotions on the TV Guide Interactive channel

If this is all they are working on....

TelevisionWeek -- Cablers Start a Fire Under VOD Plans

April 12, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Step-By-Step: Turn Your PC Into a PVR

PC World's got a great article on turning your PC into a PVR.

It's a great way to dip your toe into the world of PVRs, since most modern PCs have plenty of horsepower to record TV. All you need is a TV tuner (and a lot of newer PCs come with them) and a little software. Unless you have a special setup, you'll likely run into the classic problem of how to comfortably watch TV on your PC, but it's a good cheap way to try out the technology before committing to a TiVo or ReplayTV unit.

April 12, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

new advertising tools?

There is news that SeaChange International's "Ad Placement System" (no link on purpose) will allow cable companies to serve more relevant TV advertising based on location and time of day (for video-on-demand content.) There is a part of me that would welcome more relevant ads in general, but the privacy issues are more prominent. How much data does my cable company share with advertisers currently? How much more will they be giving away in the future?

"We are addressing this issue in on-demand television... -- allowing advertising to become customized on a household by household basis to maximize relevance and impact. We want to enable the best possible experience for both the viewer and the advertiser."

Additionally, using "zip code plus four" precision, cable operators can theoretically craft ads that cater to regions and even neighborhoods, SeaChange said. The company offered the example of serving ads for a compact car to "downtown demos," while wealthier "uptown" neighborhoods see an ad for luxury car.

Somehow, I don't think that SeaChange has the best possible experience of the viewer ahead of the advertiser.

Fighting PVRs with Online Ad Techniques [clickz.com]

April 7, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Gateway Connected DVD for $87 at their fire sale

Tony posted a great tip in the old Gateway player thread. Gateway is closing all 188 stores on Friday of this week, and they're slashing prices on all their products in the store. I don't know if they'll have any cheap plasma screens, but they're selling the Gateway Connected DVD player (with free wireless g card!) for about $87.

If you've been thinking about getting this unit, remember the stores close Friday, so dump your zip into their locator and get to a store quick!

update: I just called a store and found out they're selling their plasma screens for 15% off, which would mean almost $500 off on a $3k model.

April 6, 2004 in Products | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBack

HD TiVo prototype photos

Over at the tivo community site, someone's gone and posted photographs of the HD DirecTiVo prototypes. They're set to reach stores in just a couple weeks, so it'll be interesting to see what differences there are between the production unit and this one. It'll also be fun to see how long it takes someone to come out with an additional hard drive bracket and installer package to take your HD TiVo to 500Gb or more.

I wonder if a Terrabyte TiVo is far off?

April 5, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Set-top boxes may put a lid on rewritable DVDs

The EE times has a great article up on how new PVRs that have DVD writers on them might be crippled by Hollywood.

It really astounds me that Hollywood copyright maximalists never learn from their own mistakes. They railed hard against the VCR, saying it would kill the movie business, and yet today DVD and VHS sales account for a huge chunk of their profit. Now people want to record movies and shows from their TV onto recordable DVD for playback later, and the studios are saying the same thing -- that people shouldn't be allowed to freely record shows. This time they want the playback to be limited to just that DVD drive that recorded it. So if your set-top box dies and you get a new one, or if you move, or change providers, those shows you recorded will be useless.

So we have customers that like TV and want to pay for digital cable. They would also like to "tape" things to DVD to save and share with family and friends. The cable companies are listening to their customers and want to provide exactly that. But Hollywood is getting in the way of what people want, seeing customers as criminals, and wanting to exert control of their content even in customer's homes.

April 5, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

The PVR Guides

The PVR Guides is a new site aimed at helping people setup PVR programs like MythTV and VDR. Most of these types of apps are giant linux distros that require quite a bit of expertise and tinkering to get right, and the PVR Guides site is currently hosting forums to help folks out. They grew from the unofficial mythtv user group, so they know their PVRs.

April 2, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

PC Magazine mention

It doesn't look like an April Fool's prank, but PC Magazine's April issue cover story is all about the 100 Best Undiscovered Websites, and I was surprised and happy to hear that PVRblog made the list in the consumer electronics category. Thanks PC Mag!

April 1, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack