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Engadget plays with TiVo Desktop 2.1 Beta

Engadget has found their way to a beta version of TiVo Desktop 2.1 and they give it a once over.

The good stuff they find includes better support for TiVoToGo on portable devices and a TiVo-branded video player complete with the green playback bar and sounds we're all used to. They also are getting rid of the playback password, which sounds like good news, but...

They're also doing what they can to keep the TiVo files from being seen by unclean eyes software. They block certain programs from playing .tivo files, to keep programs from transcoding the files into a format without DRM.

So this "upgrade" removes my ability to strip the DRM on .tivo files so that I can watch my .tivo files on my mac laptop? Awesome, since I woke up this morning hoping that my stuff would be less useful!

Also, what's up with the UI? The TiVo remote works because my fingers can feel around the rewind/pause/fast-forward buttons. Great physical UIs don't make for great software UIs. Or maybe I'm just bitter over the whole DRM thing and taking it out on a poor, defenseless UI.

Update: Dave Zatz, who reviewed the software for Engadget, has instructions on how to downgrade from TiVo Desktop 2.1 to 2.0 if you installed 2.1 and want to restore your ability to put your media on a device of your choice.

March 31, 2005 in News, TiVo | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBack

"Icon" ads over commercials at TiVo

TiVo's support section has a new entry about the ads. The takeaway tip is that you can hit CLEAR to remove them from your screen.

I don't want to keep harping on this new feature, but I do want to return some nuance to this discussion by restating that I believe in all the screenshots I've seen, the ad is rough looking and obscuring too much of the screen. For the life of me, I can't figure out why TiVo would not put the ad down in a corner, perhaps taking up to 25% of the screen, wrapped around some TiVo OS chrome, so at least it looks like it should be there. The way the ads appear now, it almost looks like your TiVo has been hacked by an outsider. TiVo's UI and software engineers do some beautiful work, agonizing and testing each and every option, and customers are used to the friendly, eye-catching software, but this looks like something they were forbidden from working on.

Of all the screenshots I've seen, this one is my personal favorite for the worst possible interaction:

Nope, that doesn't obscure the show or degrade your ability to see what is going on at all. :)

Update: to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, I just took a photo of my TiVo during a blockbuster commercial, then mocked up a quick ad format from a screenshot of the blockbuster homepage. Compare this with the photo above and I hope you'll see what I'm trying to say about how these need to be integrated with TiVo's look and feel for customers not to feel they're being taken.

At least it looks like it was supposed to be there. Why won't TiVo at least make them look more like this?

March 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (80) | TrackBack

Tivo ads in the wild?

Last fall TiVo users (myself included) raised a bit of a ruckus over the reported beta test feature of ads superimposed and added by TiVo when you hit fast forward. I'm still not sure what became of that planned feature, but Jeff Sprankle wrote in with a report of something similar happening on his TiVo:

This morning, I started watching Ghostbusters 2 on Comedy Central and, as I always do, paused it for a while so I could FF through commercials.  At the first commercial, I used my trusty FF button only to see an ad for The Interpreter smack dab in the middle of the screen.  Seems Tivo has started placing ads on your TV when you FF or RW live TV.  To me, this is quite obnoxious because it takes up most of the TV screen!

There was no new message about a code update so this seems like a sneaky little add-on.  Looks like I'm going to have to send that letter to Mike Ramsey that I wrote when I first heard rumors about this!

Without some photos and screenshots, it's tough to tell if this is an isolated incident or the start of the feature getting out to users. Some folks on the TiVo Community boards are reporting the same thing, so I'll keep an eye out for any screenshots of this feature in action. Until then, consider it unverified, but I await anyone experiencing it to post a photo of it as proof.

March 26, 2005 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (38)

PSP PVR Plz

Sony's first handheld console, the PSP, is finally out in the US and people are doing whatever they can to cram whatever media they have on it. First up, Zatz Not Funny has updated their TiVo To Go guide with a guide to put .tivo files on a PSP. Short version: strip the DRM, convert it to MPEG4 and stuff it on a memory stick.

Then we have the case of PSP Video 9, which bills itself as "a free PSP video conversion and management application." Sort of like iTunes for PSP media. The cool thing is that when you combine it with Videora (previously mentioned on PVRblog) you can subscribe to BitTorrent feeds and automatically download videos to your PSP. Obviously the first priority for this amazing amalgam of technology is PSPr0n.

I don't have a Windows system or a PSP to test PSP Video 9 with (for some reason Sony forgot to send PVRblog a pre-release PSP to review) but since it handles all the transcoding for you, I wouldn't be surprised if it could also handle TiVoToGo files. Has anyone tried this out?

March 25, 2005 in Hacks, TiVo | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBack

American Idol sends TiVos into a tailspin, etc

I woke up today to find big schedule bending messages about American Idol, caused by a screwup in the live show on Tuesday that caused them to scrap the Wednesday night show. If you follow the show, be sure to double check your TiVo or just use this link to record tonight's special episode.

In other news, I've tweaked the layout to accomodate some advertisers that wanted to jump on board. Be sure to force a refresh to get the new stylesheet if the site's layout looks weird.

March 24, 2005 in News | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Interview with the Olivelink folks

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon the ingenious new service Olivelink. It's a person-to-person video broadcast service that allows you to either privately send video to one person, or publicly to anyone. The folks at Olivelink contacted me soon after to answer a few questions I raised in my original post, and I asked them to elaborate on a few more questions about how the service was developed and where they see it going. What follows is a short interview we did over email:

The service looks promising, was it developed from the start to be a 1-to-1 service or did you always plan on letting folks broadcast content to the public?

Originally we developed Olivelink as a 1-to-1 tool so we could share family stuff (like birthday party videos, etc). without the hassle of uploading to a web server or buring a DVD. However, it didn't take long to realize that it had great potential as a personal broadcasting medium.

What kinds of uses do you see typically? Is it all home video for grandma or are there other significant uses?

Initially it was a lot of home video stuff, but as we've gone along we're seeing a lot of different uses. While the video for grandma is still a big part, we're now seeing people doing "Wayne's World" type shows, funny little movies, and a lot of video blogging. Going forward we can see a lot of uses. Not just video hobbiests but independent film makers who want to distribute their work, schools that want to share lectures, people or companies who want to do "how-to" videos or public demonstrations, folks that want to setup their own mini-network, and so on. One of the more significant uses we can see is personal broadcast of breaking news like we saw with the Torrent feeds of the Tsunami a couple of months back. I'm sure we haven't scratched the surface as to all the things people will do with Olivelink. Our focus is to provide the freedom to distribute content, what people do with that will be limited only by their imaginations.

Is there any framework for listing public video, like a gallery or something at olivelink? Or is it up to people creating their video content to publicize it on their own sites?

A possibility for a public listing framework does exist, but we prefer that the community create that gallery/directory system. The idea is that if you want to share your video only with a few people, then your broadcast stays private. But if you want to create content and allow it to reach a far wider audience, you're free to promote your broadcast in any manner you see fit. Toward that end we have some upcoming features that will allow you to link your broadcasts directly to your website or blog, as well as video-on-demand option that will allow viewers to select one or more videos to watch from your library. We also have some additional privacy and "invitation only" features in the works.

Do you have any plans for passworded or paid streaming? I suspect someone could make their own show or video from an event, and then charge viewers a buck or two to watch it or get a password for it.

No doubt a lot of people will want to be able to charge for their content (e.g, for how-to video, remote learning, special content, etc.) As I mentioned we are working on an "invitation only" feature that will allow a broadcaster to limit his or her stream to specific viewers, so if an Olivelink broadcaster wanted to charge a fee to view content, they could do that. We give people the ability to distribute their content any way they want. If they want to quit their day job and make a living broadcasting from their basement, more power to them.

Do you see Olivelink becoming a "broadcaster of the people" someday? Imagine if many folks want to share their video you could have the internet equivalent of the largest public access cable network, all online for anyone to see.

Absolutely. I think if you look around you'll find that the most interesting and compelling content isn't coming from big movie studios or TV networks, it's coming from regular people. Whether it's Jib Jab's presidential spoofs, Rooster Teeth's Red Vs. Blue, home video of the Southeast Asian tsunami and other world events -- even audio-only podcasts, people are producing amazingly creative content and getting millions of viewers. I think in the near future you're going to see a revolution where viewers will no longer be limited to the content a few big businesses with a movie studio or a broadcast license want to produce. Forget 500 cable channels; get ready for 5 million. Now anybody with a camera, PC, broadband access and a little creativity will be able to get into broadcasting. The possibilities are very exciting and it's going to be very interesting to see what happens.

Thanks to the good folks at Olivelink for the interview!

March 23, 2005 in Interviews | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Social PVRs

Those wacky scientists are at it again. First they invented Pocky, then Men's Pocky (the Japanese snack that says "I'm a man and my Japanese snack knows it.") and now this: social TV software (via unmediated). Researchers at PARC are working on software that lets people watch television with each other when they aren't even in the same room.

Indeed, in many ways, Social TV will be similar to the Instant Messenger you already use on your computer. Only it will be more dynamic: Social TV software, located on a device like TiVo or even your TV set, might notice that your and your buddy’s yacking has gone well past the commercial break. The software would conclude that you are no longer watching the show and, perhaps, pause the program until you are ready to resume, says Nic Ducheneaut, member of PARC research staff.

The project is still in research stages, and lots of glitches are yet to be worked out. Last summer, PARC’s scientists placed two groups of people into separate living rooms and observed them as the subjects watched a TV program together. The rooms were equipped with microphones, so the group members could hear each other. The communication didn’t go too smoothly because the users missed out on each other’s body language. Here’s an example: When a commercial is over and you want your friend to stop talking, you’d normally turn your face toward the TV screen to indicate that you want to resume watching the show. The researchers are still looking for ways to enable the same with Social TV.

Wow, IM on a PVR, who'd have thought? Also, I'm going to have bad dreams about watching TV with the same kids playing online games: "lol n00b watches simpsons!! WTF HAX!!!!!"

Snark aside, the shared experience of live TV is one of the first casualties of PVRs. When a coworker asks if I saw last night's Daily Show I have to say that I'm not sure. I saw an episode of the Daily Show last night, but I've lost track of whether that was from last night, the night before or whenever (and them announcing the date at the start doesn't help either, I've lost track of that too).

PVR owners aren't the only ones to experience this disruption in the time/space continuum. Michael Sippey writes about his experience watching seasons 1-3 of Alias on DVD:

Watching the shows on DVD like this kills the water cooler effect. There's no one to talk to about what you're watching. My friends who are long-time Alias fans are most likely tiring of my emails to them asking about particular plot twists or characters -- depending on what episode I'm watching, we're two or three years out of sync. They're having trouble just remembering the episode, much less the scene that spurs the question.

I wonder if there's an opportunity here for subscription services like NetFlix or TiVo or for retail outlets like Amazon or Blockbuster to create micro-communities of episodic entertainment viewers. Folks who aren't watching the shows "as they happen," but who are catching up. Netflix knows who else is watching Alias Season Three; could those users be connected for some watercooler conversation? Because I'm dying to talk with someone -- anyone -- about Sydney's missing two years, while season four piles up on the TiVo...

Unfortunately the Social TV research at PARC isn't going to help Michael, they want to bring people together across three dimensions and he wants to bring people together across the fourth. There's also the positive social aspects of PVRs to consider, like being able to put The Big Game™ on hold until everyone gets to the TV or pausing a movie to fight with your spouse over the remote.

I do think that the social aspects of TV and PVRs have been overlooked though. I'd like a way to suggest recordings for TiVo owners I know, sort of like Netflix's friends feature. What other ways do social software and PVRs overlap?

Update: Tom Coats has some great thoughts on social television along with UI mockups like this:

March 23, 2005 in News | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Comcast Contrarians

Not everyone is singing the praises of the TiVo/Comcast deal announced last week.  Ed Bott is concerned that Tom Rogers championed the deal, and shows a host of bad deals Rogers has been involved in previously.

On the other hand, Alex Rowland sees a TiVo divided.  With Comcast throwing it's weight around TiVo will need to focus on carriers and advertisers ahead of consumers.  I'm not sure I buy his argument that consumers will come last; TiVo didn't stop innovating just because DirecTV didn't want the Home Media Option.  Also, letting the innovation slide will hurt TiVo's status as a premium brand.

Problems with business priorities have been a problem in the past.  Ex-president Marty Yudkovitz was seen as a supporter of media ties, while ex-CEO and current-Chairman Michael Ramsay is a champion of the technology.  The conflict between those goals has produced quite a bit of outcry from the community (and this site).  So is the Comcast deal good news for TiVo?  I'm still in the supporter camp, but there's certainly room for skepticism.

[Update: PVRblog pal Thomas Hawk sends along an interview with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts on the TiVo deal.  Obviously Mr Roberts is in the supporters camp, but questions starting with "this is a juggernaut that will change the fabric of television" leave me expecting Jeff Gannon to tell Lost Remote's Richard Warner to calm down a little.]

March 21, 2005 in Op-Ed, TiVo | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

TiVo's going to Japan

All we have now is a headline that reads "TiVo to launch in Japan by 2006 - report" and this short blurb:

TiVo Inc. is expected to launch its digital recording service in Japan as early as next year, according to a published report Sunday. The Alviso, Calif.-based company will form a Japanese unit and is looking to partner with local cable television networks and Internet providers as part of the deal, reported the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

We believe the headline to be an imperative statement, telling reporters to do their job and publish some details on this story; there's not a lot more in the new about this story yet. We'll update this post when new details (by which we mean any details) emerge. One question remains: do the Japanese even like gadgets?

March 20, 2005 in News, TiVo | Permalink | Comments (20) | TrackBack

Sony launches new PSX (PVR)

Switch's blog point's to Sony's new PSX (DESR-5700 and DESR-7700), a PVR which incorporates PS2 game functionality alongside the PVR functions. The new PSX really only has one new feature.  TV content that has been saved to the PSX can be moved over to your PSP (via your Memory Stick Duo) for viewing on-the-go. 

I'm disappointed though that Sony didn't add larger HDDs or other obvious upgrades.  This feels much more like a .1 update than a 2.0 release if you want my honest opinion.

If Sony had launched the PSX outside of Japan, what features would you want to see in a PVR that also had PlayStation2 built in?

PSX with PSP Support [a bloglines blog]

March 15, 2005 in Products | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Comcast and TiVo seal the deal

Following up on rumors this morning about the deal, Comcast and TiVo have officially announced that TiVo will supply a PVR system for Comcast subscribers. From TiVo's press release:

Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast and TiVo will work together to develop a version of the TiVo service that will be made available on Comcast's current primary DVR platform. New software will be developed by TiVo and will be incorporated into Comcast's existing network platforms. The new service will be marketed with the TiVo brand, and is expected to be available on Comcast's DVR products in a majority of Comcast markets in mid-to-late 2006.

This long-term, non-exclusive partnership will provide millions of Comcast customers with the opportunity to choose the TiVo service, including TiVo's award-winning user interface and features like Season Pass(TM) and WishList(TM), as an additional option. In addition, the service will showcase TiVo's home networking, multimedia, and broadband capabilities.

[...]

As an extension of the relationship, TiVo and Comcast will make TiVo's interactive advertising platform available across Comcast's customer base without interrupting the award-winning TiVo subscriber experience.

This sounds like really good news for TiVo, their stock is already on the up from this morning's rumors and the announcement. It also gives Comcast a premium PVR product that will be an asset in their competition against the satellites and other cable companies.

March 15, 2005 in News, TiVo | Permalink | Comments (37) | TrackBack

TiVo and Comcast in "advanced talks"

[Update: Looks like the rumors were true, Comcast and TiVo have announced their partnership. Also, it looks like the advanced features will be there, the press release specifically mentions the service will showcase TiVo's home networking, multimedia, and broadband capabilities.]

The latest news in the off-again, on-again relationship between TiVo and Comcast is that they are negotiating to provide TiVo service for Comcast subscribers. Just so you know that we aren't the only ones framing this in terms of sex, the News.com article says "the two companies have flirted before without consummating a deal."

For the part of the post where I start rumor-mongering, I'd like to speculate that (like DirecTV before it) Comcast wouldn't allow advanced features like TiVoToGo and HME because they pose a threat to Comcast's business. If people can get Netflix on their TiVo, what incentive do they have to subscribe to premium channels or use PPV?

I also think it's interesting that the media keeps getting these unnamed sources about ongoing Comcast negotiations. When TiVo wants to leak negotiation news they use their Chairman. I wonder if Comcast is playing the media and the blogosphere to push TiVo to accept worse terms than DirecTV's $1/customer.

March 15, 2005 in News, TiVo | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

TiVo deathwatch rebuttal

Frequent PVRblog commenter MegaZone has posted his response to rumors of TiVo's death (short version: they're greatly exaggerated). We've covered the TiVo deathwatch a little, and MegaZone makes some pretty good arguments that things are going to be OK.

On the financial situation:

Fiscal 2005 just ended, 2006 is to be about profitability. They will be cutting back on rebates and promotions (so you might want to buy now, before the current rebate program ends). They paid off their long term securities debts at an accelerated pace in 2005, leaving them without that burden for 2006 and beyond. They came out with the 'night light' S2 units in 2005, investing in engineering to reduce production costs of the HW.

On TiVo's lack of HDTV offerings:

So it is really the early adopters pissing and moaning that because TiVo isn't giving them what they want right away that they must be 'out of touch' and a dying company. Which is just asinine. If TiVo can deliver HD products in fiscal 2006, as they've said, that should be well in time to still catch the market on the start of the growth curve. In the meantime their SD products suit the vast majority of users just fine.

On DirecTV:

First of all, DirecTV has no plans to drop TiVo support. The existing agreement allows them to support users indefinitely, and they'd be stupid to turn off ~2million systems. They're not that dumb. Even if they did stop selling new units, and even that isn't clear - TiVo says that when/if the NDS units ship they will do what is needed to remain a competitor - TiVo gets revenue from the existing users. But even if they did lose that, DTV is less than 10% of their revenue. They may be nearly 2/3 of the total subscriber base, but TiVo gets just over $1 a month per user.

Frankly, the whole "TiVo-will-die" thing is getting a little old for me. I would like to see some dates from the critics about the estimated time of death; if they don't get their act together by 2006 they'll die? 2007? Tuesday?

Also, I assume the hacker community would come up with new guide data for the stand-alone units fairly quickly, so what would TiVo's death actually mean to me as a customer? The only thing I can think of is I'd have $13 more a month, so maybe I should be rooting for their demise...

March 12, 2005 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack

No new Windows Media Center in 2005 (sorta)

According to PCWorld.com, Microsoft won't be releasing a new version of Windows Media Center this year. Microsoft announced this at the German computer show CeBIT, but also said that they will be releasing an update for MCE 2005. According to Product Manager Tom Laememel, the update will be "bigger than your standard Windows update, but smaller than a Service Pack."

Versioning pedants in the audience will notice that the current version of the platform is officially titled "Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005," which one would assume was a new version for 2005. However, this was released in 2004, meaning the next version released in 2006 might be versioned 2007 for the fun of it.

Confused? Don't feel bad; even PCWorld used the phrase "Microsoft plans to offer an update to Media Center" in an article titled Microsoft Skips Media Center Update, so it's not like they're sure where to draw the line. And don't get me started on the Windows 95 -> 98 -> 98SE (released in 99!) -> ME upgrade path (and Windows 2000 on a separate branch than the other year-versioned OSs). Now you see why I'm looking out for the pedants: I feel their pain.

March 12, 2005 in News, Windows Media Center XP | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

TiVo's Q4 earnings

TiVo had their fourth quarter earnings report and as you would have seen if you had clicked the link, they laid out the good stuff in an easy-to-digest bulleted list:

• Total subscription base grows to over 3 million
• Service revenues 73% higher than Q4 of last year
• Operating cash flow increases by one-third to $17.8 million
• Company plans enhanced service offerings during the year

What the big print giveth, the fine print taketh away. Their revenues and subscriptions are up, but so are their costs.

In the year ended Jan. 31, the company lost $80 million, or 99 cents a share, on revenue of $172 million. In the previous year, it lost $32 million, or 48 cents a share, on revenue of $141.1 million.

The reason that losses are up is because TiVo has been more aggressive about rebates (which we covered earlier) and acquiring new customers. (Photo from rgusick)

Update: Reactions from the blogosphere:
Ars Technica: TiVo bullish on the future, "PC experience"

What really piqued my interest were brief comments about a TiVo-branded service on the PC. The company didn't say anything beyond the fact that they are looking into this, but it would fit well with their broadband plans.

Thomas Hawk: TiVo Pauses Company Costs and Growth

Ramsay stressed profitability by year-end as the single most important element for the company in the upcoming year. Expect to see less advertising, marketing and rebates.

Om Malik: TiVo: battered, bruised and bewildered

What the company needs is: open sourcing its entire platform, so that it can attract more developers. If it doesn’t its adios TiVo.

MegaZone: Random notes from the con-call

They talked up the Tahiiti effort as bringing more value to the service this year, and highlighted three main thrusts:
- Support, through TiVoToGo, for multiple portable media devices.
- a TiVo branded experience on the PC (Ed.Note: *THIS* has me very curious, but no details were presented.)
- Broadband content delivery

March 10, 2005 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Bruce Willis, self-proclaimed "devout fan" of TiVo

On tonight's Daily Show, Bruce Willis seemed a bit off kilter (drunk or high? both?) but spent a few lucid minutes proclaiming his love of TiVo, saying he's a huge fan of both the Daily Show and his TiVo that lets him catch the show.

Here's a 20Mb MPEG2 excerpt from the show.

March 10, 2005 in TiVo | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack

Lanovision Streaming video client and an interview with its creator

There's a new P2P video streaming client called Lanovision.  It works much the same ways that iTunes shared music libraries work, where you can view everyone's stuff on your network, but only for video. If you have videos on your desktop, you could stream them onto a laptop that was plugged into your TV and it also works great for sharing video in the college dorm. Yale Daily News has an article about it and the creator, Patrick Fitzsimmons, was kind enough to answer a few questions I had for him.

Matt Haughey, PVRblog: Lanovision sounds like a great idea, especially for a college campus. What's uptake been like at Yale? When you pop open Lanovision, how many servers do you see?

Patrick Fitzsimmons, Lanovision: So far there are a couple of dorm networks that are going strong, though not everyone knows about Lanovision yet, and some networks haven't hit critical mass.  People on the strong dorm networks love the program.  I've gotten emails such as, "This program is absolutely rediculous. I'm going to fail out of school because of you. Asshole." or "I just wanted to congratulate you on lanovision, which is, without doubt, the dopest thing that has ever happened to my suite."

On my medium-sized dorm network, there is an average of around 13 servers sharing about 150 gigabytes of video.

MH: I noticed that the program focuses on streaming, was that primarily to skirt issues that copyright holders might have on video file trading? Does it work well enough without having much ability to fast forward or rewind?

PF: Lanovision focuses on streaming for two reasons.  First, so that people can watch video instantly without waiting for long download times or using up hard drive space.  Second, to avoid copyright issues.  Just as iTunes music sharing tries to be the digital equivalent of listening to your friends music, Lanovision tries to be the digital equivalent of borrowing a friends movie.  For that reason, Lanovision does not allow users to download movies, only to stream.  The goal of Lanovision is to allow users to share their videos according to Fair Use (although what Fair Use consists of is often not that clear, and might depend on the number of people on the dorm network).

The lack of ability to rewind and fast forward has been a complaint, but Lanovision is still very useful without it.  Most people just watch videos straight through.

MH: Without being too specific, can you tell us the type of content you typically find ready to stream on yale networks? Is it mostly homemade video, or downloaded tv shows/movies, movie previews, or music videos?

PF: On my dorm's network there are some homemade videos, but it is mostly tv shows, movies, and music videos.

MH: Aside from providing a OS X client in the future, what else do you have planned for the future of Lanovision? Would you like to see features moved into applications like iMovie and Adobe's Premiere?

PF: The future depends on how popular Lanovision becomes.  If it starts to really catch, I would love to have it become a platform from which user created video gets distributed and watched.  I could integrate some bittorrent functionality and have algorithms to detect  which videos people like.  By caching videos on the same LAN, Lanovision could help get around some of the bandwidth problems that have prevented streaming video distribution from taking off.  It is likely that long tail effects and user created content are going to revolutionize the video world, just as blogs have revolutionized the written word.  I hope to be right in the middle of it :-)

MH: Thanks Patrick!

March 9, 2005 in News | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

TiVo to DVD via Mac OSX

Matt Kingston is a TiVo hacker from way back (I use his scripts to show what's on my TiVo) and recently wrote in:

Not finding any recent info on the web, I put together a guide on how to transfer video from a Series 1 TiVo to the Mac and edit/burn it to DVD (or VCD/SVCD).

http://www.hitormiss.org/2005/03/07/tivo-to-dvd-via-mac-osx/

There aren't many tools or guides for working with TiVo files on a mac, and Matt's tracked down all the tools that work on OS X and you can even use iMovie and iDVD at the end to edit and burn.

March 8, 2005 in Hacks, TiVo | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Olivelink's person-to-person video and audio streaming

Olivelink is a new product that looks pretty impressive. It's a bit of video server software that you can run from your computer (with a broadband connection) to any number of people you specify. This allows for a sort of podcasting of video, right from your desktop to outsiders.

What's most interesting is that this builds on technology like Sling Media, which allows you to watch TV  you have at home from anywhere, by letting you broadcast your own video out to anyone on earth, either to specific private users or to the world. What's also cool about this idea is that it uses your home broadband connection to transmit video, so instead of users having to upload huge video files and worry about their website bandwidth, they can provide the media from their unmetered home broadband connections.

I believe technology like this could really be the thing to give video blogging a shot in the arm and I can't wait to see what bloggers do with this technology. [via rootburn]

March 6, 2005 in News, Products | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Is Microsoft violating TiVo's patent?

I was reading through Ed Bott's comparison of TiVo, Windows Media Center and a cable PVR (via Thomas Hawk) when one of the feature descriptions caught my eye:

Built-in reaction time. When you're fast-forwarding through a show (or, more often, through commercial blocks), you're watching the video flickering by. And then you see the part you want to watch — and hit Play. Now, on a less intelligent machine, you'd be too late. You'd have missed the first 20 seconds of what you wanted, because the fast-forwarding had already blown past it.
But not on a TiVo. It compensates for your reaction time. When you hit Play, it doesn't begin playing from that point; it begins playing a few seconds before that, with uncanny "it knew what I wanted" accuracy.
MCE has this option as well. It's called Reaction Time Compensation, and it’s customizable using the TweakMCE PowerToy. SARA doesn’t do this, and the absence of this feature makes the experience of watching a recorded program annoying.

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of this feature.  I think that it should be on every PVR and DVD player.  However, TiVo recently announced that they had recently received several patents including one that appears to describe this feature.  From TiVo's press release:

The USPTO recently issued patent number 6,850,691 entitled Automatic Playback Overshoot Correction System to TiVo. Among other things, the patent describes a system that compensates for a user's reaction time when the user stops fast-forwarding or rewinding through program material.

I'm not a lawyer, and I'm really not a software patent lawyer, but it sounds like MCE's Reaction Time Compensation is doing what's covered in this patent.  You can read the full text of patent 6,850,691 online.

March 3, 2005 in Op-Ed, TiVo, Windows Media Center XP | Permalink | Comments (28) | TrackBack

EvolutionTV - Another Mac PVR

It looks like the EyeTV is going to get a run for its money. Miglia has announced EvolutionTV, another box to turn your Mac into a PVR.

It features onboard MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX hardware compression so your Mac can spend its processor cycles on more noble causes, like curing diseases. [While I haven't used the product, I hope that they quote this post in their marketing materials to make allusions that their product somehow cures diseases.]

The EvolutionTV has coax, composite and S-video in; USB out. Yes, it is odd that they chose USB over Firewire for a Mac product. It also supports NTSC and PAL, for our European friends. I can't find any size information on the site, which is important if you're planning to duct tape it to the back of your plasma TV next to your Mac Mini.

No HD support and no word on the software other than a mention the fact that it is inside the box. At $280 it's $20 cheaper than the EyeTV 200 and it ships March 15th. That's pretty soon, hopefully they'll replace their rendered picture with a picture of the actual product by then.

(Via Engadget.)

March 2, 2005 in Products | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Foxx speech most TiVo'd Oscar moment

I'm a huge Oscar and film fan so I was happy to see that CNN ran a quick article yesterday about how Jamie Foxx's speech was most TiVo'd Oscar moment. It was a nice moment and I would strongly suggest if you liked him and his role in Ray, and want to hear the entire backstory about the speech, catch the Inside The Actors Studio episode from a month ago that featured him. He spent the entire show talking about his grandmother, who had just passed away days before they filmed it. The episode was pretty much like Jamie's speech, but stretched out over an entire hour.

I would also venture to guess that there weren't any other interesting points worth replaying due to FCC pressure on "decency" of late. Everyone seemed to be on edge; making sure not to offend anyone with what they said or wore. Women's gowns went from the high neck all the way to the floor, and jokes were light-hearted and forgettable. Robin Williams couldn't even sing a jokey little tune.

This is what happens when you let the FCC tell us what we can and can't say on television: you get boring 3 hour award shows with no highlight moments, all so we don't offend a dozen prudes somewhere in the country.

March 2, 2005 in News | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack

CNET's guide to choosing a PVR

CNET has posted a guide to choosing PVRs. Their questions boil down to "Does your cable or satellite provider offer a free or discounted DVR?", "Do you need high-def recording?", "Are you willing to pay a premium for the real TiVo?" and "Do you want to archive your recordings to DVD?" I'm going to keep this link around for the next time someone asks me which PVR is right for them; copying and pasting is a lot easier on me than careful consideration of a person's unique needs.

March 2, 2005 in How-To, Product Reviews | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

EtiVo - TiVo add on for Windows Media Center

Maybe it's because I get 100% of my information about Microsoft from Slashdot, but one of the points that surprised me from Thomas Hawk's interview with Media Center bloggers was that plenty of Media Center people have TiVos too.

Charlie Owen: Also by the way, You might be surprised to hear me say this, but if you try and like a TiVo, buy a TiVo. If, on the other hand you want something with more power, flexibility, adaptability and upgradeability choose a Media Center PC.

However, and a big however, I don't believe this is a entirely a Media Center vs. TiVo choice -- I know lots of people with both in their homes, peacefully coexisting (including eHome team members). I believe the market is big enough for both to thrive.

That point is illustrated perfectly with EtiVo by Shahar Prish (via Matt Goyer). It's a program that takes video files off of a hacked Series 1 TiVo and turns them into WMV files. While it isn't a MCE app, it seems like it could be integrated pretty easily. You can already control EtiVo from a web interface or a WinCE PDA.

Maybe some enterprising hacker will build an MCE front-end to TiVoToGo for people with MCE and Series 2? Heck, while we're lazywebbing, how about a TiVoToGo interface for Xbox Media Center?

March 1, 2005 in Hacks, TiVo, Windows Media Center XP | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack