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Interview with TiVo legal head, and HBO clips your wings

The new WIRED magazine has a short interview with TiVo's head of legal, Matthew Zinn about their recent change to remove features from TiVo. Zinn claims it was a one-time deal to allow TiVos to auto-delete Pay Per View and Video On Demand movies, but the interviewer points out that it might just be a trojan horse of more things to come.

It sounds like TiVoToGo is the reason for the change, as content providers didn't want people to be able to transfer their shows to a PC that could burn them to DVD. I would have rather seen those high priced bits of content blocked from TTG functionality, than to see things get an auto-delete setting. If I buy Shrek 2 for four bucks via PPV tonight, and I keep it around on my TiVo, how likely am I to buy it all over again in a month or two if TiVo erases it automatically? If there's no way to remove Shrek 2 from my TiVo, why does it have to delete itself?

I'm siding with WIRED over Zinn on the issue of this being the first of many such "features" added to satisfy the content industries, as HBO has announced they'll be locking down all their content to make sure no one can make copies of their shows to watch on other devices.

Hopefully this HBO news isn't the first of many such annoucements, but I'm almost certain it will be.

October 27, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (38) | TrackBack

TiVo & NFL Agree on Content

Looks like the NFL has dropped it's beef with TiVo over TiVoToGo. The NFL's main concern was TiVo users being able to copy/rebroadcast or MarketShift NFL games recorded by TiVo while a game was being broadcast. Looks like TiVo proved to the NFL that the current technology in TiVoToGo will not allow that. It is designed for the consumer copy the protected content after the game airs.
-- William Higgins

October 27, 2004 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

G4 Tech TV Reviews Three New HDTV DVRs

G4techTV does a review of three of the new HDTV recorders. Noticeably absent is Microsoft's Media Center 2005. The Hughes HD 10-250 gets the highest marks and is the 'G4tech TV Lab Pick.'
-- Kevin Reynen

October 24, 2004 in Product Reviews | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

HDTiVo owners having upgrade problems

Andy Pennell is having trouble with a recent upgrade to his HDTV recording DirecTiVo box. Ever since the 3.1.5.d OS upgrade came out, HDTiVo owners are reporting locked up remotes, bad playback, and satellite connection problems.

There are at least a couple threads at the TiVo community about it, and everyone seems to be having the same problems.

I'm a little bit surprised DirecTV doesn't do more testing before deployment. They only support maybe a dozen different models of TiVo configuration, and it seems that having a bank of test boxes with maybe four of each model recording and playing back TV would be enough to catch most of these problems before the code gets deployed to customers. [thanks Andy!]

October 21, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Engadget Interviews Mike Ramsay, CEO of TiVo

Engadget has a terrific interview with the CEO of TiVo and he's refreshingly open about a lot of projects they're working on, and frank about the problems they've faced with the FCC and Hollywood. Sounds like they're going full steam ahead on TiVoToGo, Netflix downloads, and Internet video downloads.

Ramsay refers to a internet-connected TiVo with all these future features as a "set-top box" which is accurate, though I never really thought about it before. While everyone's been chasing after a pie-in-the-sky VOD and set-top box future, TiVo's been chugging all along and could easily slide into a leadership position by offering all the features others have been dreaming of for years.

October 18, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Issues with the new TiVo DVD-Rs (with update)

Just got this as a suggested post from Kevin Reynen:

TiVo need to put in GIANT RED LETTERS a disclaimer regarding using DVD-R TiVos and Home Media feature:

DISCLAIMER: While you can view content recorded on a standard Series2 TiVo on a TiVo with DVD burning functionality using the TiVo Home Media function, you CANNOT burn this content to a DVD.

I imagine that there are other people are going to purchase a DVDR enabled TiVo assuming that this would work. It doesn't and neither TiVo, Humax, or Pioneer have been very upfront about this. You can read more about my issues with this on my blog. -- Kevin

Pretty surprising that TiVo would bake DRM into their new DVD recorders like this. Even though you can freely record shows from your DVD-R that has TiVo, you can't record any shows transfered from another new TiVo in your house. Doesn't that seem odd? What if you wanted to backup your favorites from your old TiVo to your brand new DVD recording TiVo? Isn't that a perfectly legal and expected use for customers?

I have to concur wholeheartedly with Kevin here, I see no reason why TiVo tries to protect recordings from other TiVos in your very own house. That's like having two VCRs in your house that can't play tapes on each other. It's another stupid example of "attack of Digital Rights Management for your own good."

UPDATE: Megazone rightfully explains that this isn't due to DRM or studio issues, but is hardware related.

October 16, 2004 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBack

A bit of bad TiVoToGo news

My friend Lia attended the digital lifestyle show in NYC this week and I asked her to hit the TiVo booth to get some info.

She got to play with the Humax DVD burner with TiVo that they're selling for $399. Here's what the interface looks like when you select shows to burn. Apparently the play menu looks just like a TiVo screen as well.

But the big question on my mind (and the one I egged Lia into asking) was about TiVoToGo. While they didn't share an exact launch date, a TiVo rep did say definitively that when it gets released soon, it will not have support for sending shows to a mac. I figured as much when I posted the other day, due to them using Windows Media Player's DRM, which to my knowledge only works in windows. The TiVo rep added that support for the mac should come soon, but they'll need Apple's cooperation to build it, but it'd take a while.

Thanks again Lia for getting the info!

October 15, 2004 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBack

Can TiVo keep the sports dollars flowing?

CNN Money has an article about sports being "TiVo-proof", since folks are much more likely to watch it live, so networks can charge more money for advertisers.

That's all well and good, but the premise of the article is brain-dead to me. Networks still see DVR owners as "stealing" their broadcasts if they watch them as recordings, so watching live TV is more profitable to them. But that ignores the possibility that live sports are one of the best reasons to own a TiVo, and I wonder how sports fans live without them. While it's true I'll watch sports nearly live (sometimes I wait 30min for TiVo to record so I can skip the commercials and breaks), it also means I get to pick when I want to do an instant replay. I get to pause video to have arguments with friends whether a foot was in bounds or not, and I can watch a great touchdown pass as many times as I want. While I may skip a few commercials, I'll often watch good ones more than once, since the best commercials often come out during sporting events.

The other major obvious point that networks aren't getting is that a sports-loving DVR owner will watch more sports, not less. That means they're likely to even pay for it, as I'm sure DirecTV has found with their NFL Ticket. Perhaps networks need to dig deep and come up with better ideas than simple advertising, and stop thinking of ways to "TiVo-proof" their broadcasts.

October 15, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Copyfight: Senator McCain shows spine on IP; defends controlling your own TV/DVR

Good news over on Corante's Copyfight blog: Senator McCain shows spine on IP; defends controlling your own TV/DVR.

There have been a steady stream of bills coming out of Hollywood lately, aimed at stopping copyright violations by any means necessary. Few have met with any opposition (aside from the INDUCE act), but it's great to see a senator realize the obvious problems these overreaching bills often have.

October 14, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Gizmodo: A few more TiVoToGo Details

Everyone's dying to know when TiVoToGo is coming out, and the folks at Gizmodo also got to corner a TiVo rep and got a few answers.

The gist is that it'll be released sometime after November 1st, and you'll be able to transfer shows and burn DVDs, but with some DRM attached. Hopefully you'll get unencumbered DVDs that work on all players and hopefully it'll work on macs as well, but heavy windows media player DRM makes me think it'll be windows-only.

October 14, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Tivo 802.11g and Tivo to Go

While everyone waits for TiVo2Go to be released, Mark at Shiny Plastic realized Series 2 TiVos don't support 802.11g wireless adapters, which will make transfers quite slow. He cornered a TiVo rep at a recent show and got the lowdown that Tivo 802.11g support is definitely coming soon which is great to hear.

October 14, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Michael Gartenberg: Windows Media Center 2005 - The last missing piece

Michael Gartenberg from Jupiter Research has long been a fan of Microsoft's Media Center over TiVo. Today, he posted a lengthy piece explaining why the release of MCE 2005 is a milestone without peer:

MCE 2K5 is important. This OS will serve as the hub for Microsoft’s home strategy and is the cornerstone for a vision of allowing you have your content live in one central location but still have the flexibility to access that content in other rooms in your home on TV screens or stereos, take that content with you on your laptop, burn it to DVD or CD, use a portable media player to take audio and even video and pictures and with WM10 Mobile, take it on your PDA and Smartphone as well. No one else has this clear and articulate a message about the PC as a hub for the digital home for all content, including TV, Video and Pictures.

I must admit, with MCE 2005, Microsoft does have an entire digital lifestyle, end-to-end solution. My only worry is whether or not the market exists for such a device, as it seems people are only slowly adopting each new technology and aside from a few gadget freaks like myself, few would be able to take advantage of every available option in the new release.

PC World also has a first impression review.

October 12, 2004 in Windows Media Center XP | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Niveus adds HDTV/Media Center XP 2005 to Denali

Niveus Media announces High Definition Television support for the new Niveus “Denali” Media Center, featuring Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. The Denali Media Center is a pretty cool looking box, and it's fanless so it'll be quiet next to home theater components.

October 12, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Gateway kills the Connected DVD player?

One of my favorite devices and the source of hundreds of comments here and dozens of sales of the unit, may just be dead. The official Gateway DVD page no longer lists it for sale, even though it is mentioned in the page's title tag. Over the past few weeks, prices on the unit had fallen to just over $100, so it's not really too big a suprise to hear it's now gone from the page. They're now moving the DVD recorder at just $149.

If the change is permanent, it's a bummer to see it go, but hopefully they took it down to instead launch an updated unit (hey, I can dream, can't I?). If they combined the networking with a DVD player and recorder, I would jump at the chance to own one.

October 11, 2004 in Products | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

XP Media Center ver. 3.0

The New York Times goes into some detail, Microsoft’s Latest Plan for TV [nytimes.com], concerning the newest version, (3.0) of Microsoft's XP Media Center, which Redmond hopes will gain traction in the living room. Price points are dropping down to $1000 per unit, and new accessories from Cisco, Linksys and H-P include Media Center Extender, which uses wireless technology to send TV signals to additional TVs in your house.

The choice quote of the article is:

Still, it is an open question whether people want to watch television on their computers. "Convergence solves a problem consumers don't have," said Sean Baenen, a managing director of Odyssey, a consumer research firm. He said that simpler, single-purpose machines are easier to use.

Later in the article, the point is reinforced that it's clear that new consumer behavior takes time to change, especially in the mass market.

But research by both Microsoft and computer makers found that most of the initial users of the machines were using them on their computer monitors, presumably on their desks. Only a small minority use the highly promoted ability of the computers to link to TV sets and sound systems for use in family rooms. (The machines come with remote controls and software with very large type so that they can be used by people sitting on the couch across the room from a big TV set.)

One reason, perhaps, is that video-recording functions and picture quality have not been as good as on a device like TiVo. A survey by Forrester Research found that people who recorded video on their computers were less satisfied than users of specialized recorders.

The article touches upon Sony's VAIO line of computers and how many have TV tuners but haven't been XP Media Center. According to Sony, their customers would rather burn recorded media to DVD than play it directly from their machines. Does that seem accurate to you?

Hewlett-Packard is also investing heavily in this sector, building Media Center PCs that look like consumer audio devices to fit underneath your TV. It will be interesting to see what H-P will do to attack this sector. They don't have a strong consumer brand in consumer electronics per se, but their core technology is obviously their strength.

The "fight for the living room" is a really, really big deal in many sectors including consumer electronics, software, and entertainment, among others. Many prominent companies are spending large portions of their R&D and marketing budgets staking out claims, focusing on niches, and generally trying to divine what the consumer will need/want in the future for a home media server. The challenge is that, as with any new technology, there is significant complexity and adoption rates are thus slow.

My personal choice would lean towards Tivo-type devices which are more specialized and easier-to-use. I still believe there is a big difference in the interactive nature of computing vs. the more passive nature of traditional entertainment (music, movies, tv.) While the future certainly will be a hybridization of the two patters of behavior, old habits die hard and perhaps we have not yet seen the best interface or platform for that new hybrid entertainment (i.e. both passive and interactive.)

Microsoft’s Latest Plan for TV [nytimes.com; free registration required or use bugmenot.com]

October 11, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

New site: Ask PVRblog

After running PVRblog for the past year or so, I've gotten tons of email from folks asking for suggestions on what TiVo they should buy, and asking me loads of questions about all sorts of PVR-related things.

Instead of answering things one-on-one, I decided to instead launch a new question and answer forum, called Ask PVRblog. It's patterned after my Q&A section on MetaFilter, called Ask Metafilter, and anyone can ask a question, which once approved, everyone can also help answering.

Ask PVRblog should serve as a central place to post questions about anything related to the PVR landscape. You can submit questions here.

On the main PVRblog site front, I've also hacked together a way to suggest posts to PVRblog. If you hear about a new product, want to toss me a URL, or even work for a company making PVR stuff, feel free to drop me a line here.

October 9, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Snapstream launches BeyondTV 3.5, builds six-tuner monster PVR

Snapstream launched their new version of BeyondTV today (disclaimer: they are an advertiser here), and it also works with their new BeyondTV Link application, which lets you view shows over the network on other computers. With this configuration, you could have one box recording TV that could be watched through several other computers in the house, all over the network.

Snapstream also built a six-tuner monster rig as a proof of concept, dubbed Medusa. Using six PCI slots on an expanded motherboard, and just a single 40Gb hard drive, they can watch, stream, and store video from six different channels at once. Pretty impressive, though they do mention the tuner cards can generate some heat while encoding.

October 8, 2004 in News | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Rescuing TiVo IR remote codes

Nelson writes of his adventures fixing his IR blaster on his old TiVo. I've heard about lots of older TiVo losing their modems and hard drives before, but I've never heard of arbitrary channel loss on the IR blaster. But it turns out there is more than one way to enter the number 6: 10006.

October 7, 2004 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (3)

Microsoft Media Center 2005 reviewed

Thomas Hawk has a great, lengthy review of the new Microsoft Media Center 2005, which he expected a bit more from, but it does sound like Microsoft's making some progress on it.

Highlights from the review:

• It only does over-the-air HDTV, but that's not entirely MS' fault. The cable and satellite folks have their own proprietary encryption schemes they're not into sharing with anyone.
• MCE will be available for purchase as a standalone product for the first time, instead of requiring you to buy a new PC. Could be a support nightmare for MS, but good on them for expanding the availability for build-it-yourself geeks.
• They've added the ability to buy and use Napster music and Movielink movies, which is novel. The Movielink thing is pretty comparable to the upcoming Netflix-TiVo deal, but Thomas says the video quality is low compared to uncompressed satallite, which makes sense, as you would want moves to be well under a gig a piece, while unencrypted movies could run several Gb in size and take days to download.
• They've tried to integrate the web a bit, letting you read hotmail onscreen and pay (!!!) to read RSS feeds through Newsgator.
• Overall, everything sounds snappier, but I think Thomas was underwhelmed mostly over the HDTV thing.

October 6, 2004 in Product Reviews | Permalink | Comments (140) | TrackBack