TiVo VP Jim Denney talks Desktop 2.3
Engadget has a good interview with TiVo VP Jim Denney talking about TiVo Desktop 2.3. Sounds like TiVo is really walking the tightrope between what customers want (easily dump last night's shows to my iPod/PSP so I can watch it on the subway in the morning) and what the networks want (no chance of TV shows easily moving from a TiVo to a computer and then online for sharing).
When TiVo first announced the plans to export content to iPods and PSPs, NBC came back immediately with lawsuit threats. It sounds like the threats subsided but that TiVo crippled their desktop app enough by introducing watermarks and down scaling video to make the networks happy. I suspect in the future TiVo will always have to walk this thin line.
The new software has an upgrade price for the first time ever, and the interview explains why. Hopefully TiVo can continue to release useful software without crippling their products too much or getting into further legal hot water (also, release a client for OS X already!)
i can understand why the nets don't like the idea of moving their crap from the tv to a device of the consumer's choosing BUT why can't tivo let me watch Youtube or Google Video or any other damn internet video on my tv?
I like rocketboom, but c'mon. 4 mins a day? I want to pull down the vids I want and watch them through my tivo. what's so frickin' hard about that?
Posted by: Rich | June 23, 2006 at 11:20 AM
Yeah, I would love to hear of a YouTube/TiVo partnership someday, or even just a YouTube/Google Video browsing client for the Home Media Engine.
Posted by: Matt Haughey | June 23, 2006 at 11:44 AM
Please. Screw Mac support. I watch on my PC, right next to my Mini.
Why would TiVo put so much effort into 1.9% of computer owners - and who knows what percent of them have a TiVo? It's absurd.
For Apple to gain market share, they have to outsell all other PC manufacturers. Not an easy task, folks. The PC is a commodity and pricing certainly proves that. This is not the case with Apple.
Curiously, most new Mac owners will continue to be *dual users* and not switchers - something people seem to forget. I've yet to meet a single person who swore off their PC for the Mac.
Let Apple go that last 5% and create their own PVR. TiVo doesn't have the time or money to spare...
Posted by: Brent | June 23, 2006 at 06:18 PM
I really wish they'd stop all this development bullcrap and release a versionof their software for the Mac already. It's been TWO friggin years and still no TTG for the Mac. Enough already! Get it workin!
Posted by: Nyx | June 23, 2006 at 06:21 PM
... to add, Mac users make up 19% of Tivo's customer base. This statistic was released two years ago by Tivo's CEO in an interview with MacWorld magazine. Mac users make up a good portion of their customer base. And I have completely sworn off PC as have others I know. Stop making assumptions just because YOU haven't sworn off the PC. Not everyone is like you.
Posted by: Nyx | June 23, 2006 at 06:25 PM
Nyx,
If that 19% was from two years ago, that was before TiVo's largest period of growth. Since the majority of households are Windows, I would expect the Mac using share of TiVo owners to have dropped over the past two years as Tivo's userbase exploded.
Rich/Matt - don't hold your breath. Video from YouTube and Google Video only plays in their proprietary flash players. They haven't opened content up to anyone else, TiVo or otherwise. On top of that, all TiVo hardware to date can only decode MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video. Very little online video uses those codecs. It is mostly WMV, MPEG-4/H.264, or QuickTime.
If you have other video blogs and the like that aren't locked into specific players, you can use programs like Galleon to pull them to your PC, transcode them to MPEG-2, and make them available to watch on the TiVo.
Posted by: MegaZone | June 23, 2006 at 06:55 PM
I'm making assumptions based on people I know. I'll refrain, for the moment, about making assumptions regarding how well some people read.
Apple market share has dropped (further) over the past two years. According to Gartner, it's been halved since Jobs returned.
You go where the users are. For TiVo, this is, and will continue to be, a predominately Windows world.
It's always amusing how Mac users can still feign surprise and outrage for these types of delays...
Posted by: Brent | June 23, 2006 at 08:37 PM
Brent -- why does it enrage you so that other people, paying the same monthly fee as you, have the nerve to insist that they be treated as paying customers?
Posted by: d.w. | June 24, 2006 at 08:45 AM
Enraged? Try amused. You might be getting emotional.
You're not paying for TivoToGo, friend. Read your contract. You don't have the right to insist on anything of the sort.
Check your premise.
Posted by: Brent | June 26, 2006 at 07:28 AM
Apparently, it's a heated conversation here. As a Mac user, I concede that I live in a Windows world. But, I have a right to be disappointed at TiVo's choice to delay their software production for Macs. TiVo has a great product; however, I would jump ship if Apple was to come out with something comparable (and I believe they will).
Posted by: Quinn | June 26, 2006 at 04:04 PM
I'm a Mac user and a DirecTV customer, so even if I had a full client for the Mac, I'm still getting hosed by DTV...
Posted by: Mike | July 07, 2006 at 07:40 AM
My gut feeling is that amongst TiVo users there is a much higher than average Mac-user base.
I know you Windows-lovers may not believe this, but among people I know who have TiVo (not some knockoff from their cable company, etc) the vast majority are Mac users. I think the "personality" and interface of the TiVo is very Mac-ish and also Mac users tend to be early adopters of technology.
Posted by: Becky | July 10, 2006 at 08:48 PM