TiVo Basic 288
Keith Russell writes "TiVo has announced a new TiVo Basic service. ( Press release here, CNet story here) The Basic service only offers a 3-day program grid, and doesn't include title searches, season passes, or wish lists. There's no subscription fees for Basic, however, and it can be upgraded to a full-on Series 2 unit by the usual payment options ($12.95/mo. or $299 lifetime). The first product to include it is a Toshiba DVD player with an 80 GB hard drive and progressive-scan output of both DVD and Tivo content."
But can it play MP3s (Score:1, Interesting)
Canada (Score:5, Interesting)
Itsn't it a moot point? (Score:4, Interesting)
Funny, I don't remember anyone buying my time from me...
Sounds reasonable (Score:5, Interesting)
It's certainly a lot less data. The only real loss is the ability to look ahead two weeks to see what episodes are running and picking up specific ones. I'd assume that all the subscriptions still work.
Vacation time could be a pain, because I wouldn't be able to prioritize over the full time I'm gone.
The primary things I use the two-week lookahead are for things such as 24, Monk and Dead Zone that run new(ish) eps on multiple networks: I don't subscribe 24 on both Fox and FX, so if I miss an ep on Fox, I scan for it on FX.
Hopefully, this will bring in more sales for TiVo.
Wonderful! (Score:4, Interesting)
It's an excellent way for TiVo to addict the masses to the glory that is the full TiVo. They probably should give people the ability to have maybe 2 or 3 season passes, but still, the concept is great.
A good idea (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm scared now (Score:5, Interesting)
I just hope there's enough of the hacking community out there to support my addiction should TiVo ever fall in the dumps.
Strictly a bundled concept (Score:5, Interesting)
I find it a little weird that the first such bundle is a DVD/Tivo box. Presumably it won't include the ability to make disk copies of DVDs! Without this feature, what the point of buying these two devices together?
The subscription is both the greatest feature and the worst shortcoming of the Tivo. The ability to easily specify what you want to watch, and even have the Tivo find similar shows for you, is beautiful beyond words. On the other hand, there's something to be said for the simplicity of the VCR.
The problem is that so many shows start early and/or end late. Often by just a few seconds, but enough to be irritating. Tivo lets you tweak this, but only at the risk of causing overlap. And when it detects overlap, the Tivo just refuses to record one show or the other -- even if both shows are on the same channel! It ought to be possible for the Tivo to act more like a VCR in this respect, but so far it hasn't happened.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The Toshiba Box: RD-X2 (Score:5, Interesting)
From HDD to DVD-R Yeah! This has been when TiVo hackers have been trying to get accomplished for years.
Re:Cable company competition (Score:3, Interesting)
More info here [timewarnerwi.com].
And if it's only $5 per month and I don't have to buy any hardware up front, how is Tivo going to stay in business?
Re:MythTV... (Score:5, Interesting)
Wait a minute! Doesn't a stripped-down Tivo only cost the cost of the hardware too? Because if I read the article correctly, the basic service is free. And MythTV has the same function then, as you mentioned.
So, MythTV = cost of hardware. Tivo = Cost of hardware. But Tivo means I go to Best Buy, use my Best Buy card and plug it in. MythTV means that I piece together a PC, install MythTV, get it working and then plug it in. So I'm still way ahead with Tivo.
-BrentProgressive out for cable? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Canada (Score:1, Interesting)
Here is a good article: CanCon_rules [media-awareness.ca]
Apparently there is a set of quotas (~20%) for the amount of "Canadian made" channels that must be carried compared to "non-Canadian" channels.
Until this law is changed, Directv will never offer service to Canada.
That being said... the number of Canadians reported to be using black market equipment to receive Directv is around 400,000.
What I've been looking for? (Score:3, Interesting)
Is this possible on this device? If not is there another device that is capable of doing this?
Re:Can you spell CRTC ;-) (Score:2, Interesting)
I used to live in an appartment, and on a regular basis I would get one of those cable company sales person knocking on my door asking if I wanted cable. Invariably I would say: "yes, how much would it cost me to CBC + the learning channel + TV5 + discovery +...", and invariably they would x$ per month with package Z.
At this point I answer that I don't want any package, because I don't want any of my money to go to talk shows, reality shows, etc... The answer would always be, sorry we can't do that, until one day some sales guy told me they couldn't because of the CRTC.
I didn't believe him, so I checked into it, and it is true !! I pay taxes in order to pay people who decide what I am allowed to watch !!
At least when my parents were deciding what I could watch or not, I didn't have to pay them !!
Progressive Scan output? (Score:2, Interesting)
Is it PAL and NTSC ? (Score:2, Interesting)
Does this mean that this new device will be PAL capable too ?
If so, this would be the perfect thing for us poor Aussies who don't have a Tivo. Sounds like it would probably work without a subscription too. I'm assuming I can set it to record channel 7 at 8.30 every monday, like I can a normal VCR ?
Yippee ! I'm getting a Tivo......
Yes they have advertised. (Score:5, Interesting)
I've never thought their advertising did the service justice, but I heard from a TiVo marketing person two years ago that they cut back sharply on TV ads when Microsoft started hawking the Ultimate TV.
It turned out that the UTV commercials would get people to come to Circuit City, where they found they'd have to ditch their cable or satellite and get Dish Network to get to sue the UTV. When they got turned off on that idea, the salesperson would show them TiVo, which works equally well with satellite, cable, digital cable, or rabbit ears.
Every dollar Microsoft put into TV spots helped TiVo more than Microsoft. That's one of the reasons you don't see Ultimate TV advertised anymore. (Well, that and it sucked and is basically mothballed now).
TiVo does it right. Established companies are still partnering to make new hardware. You can't say that about webTV, U-TV, or ReplayTV.
Re:What I've been looking for? (Score:4, Interesting)
$200 xbox (new, you can find used ones cheaper)
$50 modchip (or try your luck with the 007 agent under fire hack, I've heard it's risky though)
$80 new stereo tuner card (or get a mono or used one)
You can pretty much do everything short of capture with the xbox, and you get to have fun hacking stuff together.
Wouldn't recomend it to my mom though...
Re:Marketing mantra (Score:3, Interesting)
Personally, I think it's an excellent idea. Sure, some of us geeks may still enjoy rolling our own, especially if we already have TV tuners or whatever, but for the majority of the population, it's good for Tivo to offer an entry level solution to start getting people used to the idea of a PVR.
Yep -- it's DVD-Plus, as in VCR-Plus (Score:3, Interesting)
This amounts to a nice little recording app for the DVD player(s) it's bundled with. It has little to do with TiVO other than that the company's smart enough to put its name on it to maybe get a lower-cost entry point for people to buy into its larger service. Seems shrewd, and I bet it didn't cost them much for the "branding" it gives them.
I'd definitely think of this as a deciding feature if I was in the market for a new DVD player. It'd set that model a notch up from the others at Best Buy, no doubt at all.
Re:Marketing mantra (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Marketing mantra (Score:3, Interesting)