Pioneer To Release TiVo/DVD Burner Combo

TK-421 writes "According to an official Pioneer press release, 'Pioneer is revolutionizing home video recording with the introduction of the world's first DVD recorders featuring the TiVo service. These new recorders offer consumers the control provided by the easy-to-use TiVo service integrated with advanced DVD recording for the option of short-term storage on a hard drive or long-term archival of broadcast programming on DVD-R/RW discs.'" The options include both 80 and 120GB models, starting at a not-inexpensive $1199, and there's more information via a CNET News article.

Why is Tivo still a set top box?

[91degrees]

I'd have thought that by now people would have started building the thing into the actual sets. It somehow seems more logical to do it that way than combine it with a DVD player.

Great idea.. if implemented right

[Eric(b0mb)Dennis]

This is a great idea, but it really depends on how well the implement the DVD burning from the harddrive.. This will need to have editing options to cut out commercials.. and that will bringe a whole wave of trouble onto the makers... replay TV fiasco, anyone? The real ticket would be fully editable shows, networking capability (at least 1394... that would be neat.. would encourage people to buy this instead of just a stand alone DVD recorder) Transfering all those babylon 5 SVCDs to this then burning them would be pretty sweet...

Re:And, before the "I can make a tivo" people post

[Marlor]

I've seen the systems and they are pathetic in comparison to a £200 tivo. It's like buying a replica ferrari, it may look like a good idea but it doesn't have the performance.

Well, Tivos are not available in all countries, so systems like MythTV provide at least a subset of the functionality of a Tivo, which is better than nothing at all.

Personally, I'm fairly happy with MythTV. It is certainly much more convenient than a VCR for recording (just select the show from the EPG), and the ability to pause live is a great bonus as well.

When Tivos are released in Australia, I will ceratinly consider getting one. But until then, MythTV is good enough for me.

TiVo for Radio Stations?

[leoaugust]

Just a thought ...

What would it take to have a TiVo-like service for radio stations, that could be programmed to record all songs by a certain artist, or from an album, or one DJ'd by someone ... (analogous to Kazaalite choice of Song, Album, and User)

Could we then burn these songs on a DVD or CD from there ....

Many radio stations could release the playlist in advance to help in the recordings (aka TV listings) and in addition to the Clear Channel (go to hell) stations there could be many many many (maybe millions like kazaalite, or thousands like iTunes) of radio broadcasters ... broadcasting all the songs all the time ...

just a thought ....

Macrovision?

[Henry Stern]

Both units are equipped to transfer old videotapes to longer-lasting DVD-R or DVD-RW discs for more permanent storage. By connecting a VCR via analog inputs to the DVD recorder, transferring content becomes a snap. Unlike videotape, DVD will not degrade over time when exposed to heat and humidity. Transferring home movies from tape to disc will preserve them for future generations. DVD-R discs are best for archiving because they are write-once discs (like CD-R) and cannot be accidentally erased. Once a consumer has transferred their videotape collection to DVD, the VCR is obsolete.

I wonder what they're doing about Macrovision with this feature. It would hardly be an improvement to copy a VHS casette to a DVD if there were messed up colours and wavy lines.

Somebody actually wants my money.

[Bartab]

Instead of pandering to the MPAA, and watching sales never really take off, Pioneer has decided to submit a potentially profitable piece of hardware to the market.

Now if it had 30sec forward, I'd actually buy it.

TiVo in the UK - homebrew PVR instead?

[Mr_Silver]

Since the original hardware manufacturers (Thompson) for TiVo in the UK have pulled out of the market and you can now only get them on eBay - is it actually worth purchasing TiVo if you live on our little island?

Alternativily I was thinking about purchasing a silent PC (such as the one at Tranquil PC [tranquilpc.co.uk]) and installing MythTV on it, but I don't know how well it would work given that it's a hell of a lot more expensive than TiVo off eBay.

Also just looking at mini-itx.com [mini-itx.com] I see something called OneBox [oneboxmc.com]. It looks to be running Windows but apparantly it allows you to run MAME on it too.

So, ignoring the waffle above - what i'm saying is

1. Is TiVo still a viable option in the UK despite the fact there is no hardware manfacturers? (ie. could they just pull out at any time)
2. Would a homebrew PVR be better? (it would have to be substantially given that it costs twice as much and requires work from me)
3. Would the tranquil PC or other box mentioned in the preview /. article be any good as a PVR? (processor power, graphics, IR, to name three things to think about)
4. Would something like a onebox be better?

I like Linux and I use it, but I'm loath to spend lots of money on a homebrew kit only to spend several hours tearing my hair out and not getting anywhere. If it's going to be that, I'd rather just pay more and have it work.

Format for DVD-R/RW storage?

[Anonymous Coward]

Will this use TiVo's own closed file format or will disk created with TiVo/DVD Burner be playable with standard DVD-players?

Re:TiVo in the UK - homebrew PVR instead?

[Qube]

Short answer: yes. A proper TiVo is worth getting.

I believe it is a viable service in the UK. They have around 35,000 subscribers, all either having paid the 200ukp lifetime or 10ukp a month. The guide data (listings, descriptions, etc) is prepared by Tribune and will cost them significantly less than the subscriber cost. Add on a little overhead for running 0800 numbers, their own servers and a few staff and you're still making a fortune. Customer service is handled by Sky, but could be outsourced anywhere if Sky dropped them. I just don't see why they'd cut off a source of revenue (albeit a small one) and effectively shut the door on their return to the UK.

Homebrew - they're "better" in the sense that you can do other things with them. Run MAME, get your email, play DVDs and MP3s and other nifty stuff. I'm still not impressed by the actual TV recording and playback. I like things that have one task and do it very well - TiVo is in that category. I have consoles to play games on, and if I want to check my email in front of the TV I'll just grab my laptop.

I was really quite skeptical about the monthly subscription, but thought I'd give it a go for a couple of months. It's hard to get across how convenient it is to just forget about TV schedules and just have a box that gets the programmes you like whenever they're on and has them ready for when you feel like watching. That is what really separates the proper PVRs from the homebrew ones, that require far more checking, faffing about and general irritation.

If mine blew up tomorrow and it cost me twice as much to replace it, I would. It's worth every penny.

here is the ultimate set-top-box

[jonwil]

Someone should make a set-top-box thats a cross between:
A PC
A Games machine (perhaps)
A PVR
A DVD player/burner

Basicly, it would be a quiet-design, small-size PC with reasonable hardware and in a box that works well with your home entertainment box. Give it a USB thingo with a keyboard and trackball to use as input. And make it so you can plug in things like digital cameras, gamepads etc.
Then build in a ethernet port for network access and TV in/out for display and input of stuff.
And give it a big disk to store stuff
Also put in a DVD drive (perhaps with a DVD burner or one of those DVD drive/CD buruner combo) as options.
Build it around linux (because its free & its open, make all the software for this thing open) and bundle:
PVR software to make it work like a PVR
DVD player/burner software
Multimedia software so you can play audio, video and so on (by downloading it over the ethernet port or from CDs/DVDs containing audio or video data e.g. audio CDs, VCDs or whatever else the multimedia player supports.

So, basicly, this box would be usefull to:
1.record shows from the TV
2.play back the recorded shows
3.transfer the recorded shows over the ethernet link
4.burn the recorded shows to optical media (if you get the burner option)
5.watch DVDs, VCDs and whatever other video CD formats you want to install players for
6.watch video files in any format you have a player for
7.listen to Audio CDs and audio files in any format (being based on linux, supporting OGG for example would be dead simple)

You could also run anything else the hardware could support on it (for example, games or emulators).

Basicly, it would be a ready-made PC in a box designed to fit with an existing stereo, TV, VCR etc and capable of doing multimedia things. Would come with the software preinstalled and a nice GUI interface for the non-technical but those that know how could run anything from MAME to quake on it (if the hardware is up to it).

Why spend the cash when.....

[Ride-My-Rocket]

... you can download the ISOs of your favorite TV programs (from any number of websites or P2P networks), burn it to CD with your existing burner (VCD format), then toss it in your fairly-new DVD player and watch it on TV? Savings: $1200.

Granted, the biggest issue here is sophistication: you need to know how to convert the media to VCD or whatever, how to burn files to CD-R, where to go to get the ISOs, etc. But as with all things, Linux especially, the more technically savvy you are, the less dependent you are on commercial software.

Full Tivo or the newly announced Tivo Lite?

[swb]

There have been some stories about Tivo licensing their software in a 'lite' version which lops off some of the functionality (wishlists, season passes and only 3 days of guide data) to electronics manufacturers but doesn't cost anything.

I wonder if the Pioneer device is using FULL Tivo software or if its just the lite version. I would think that Tivo would find life a little hot under the collar if they started offering more automated archival options for programming under the full Tivo banner.

Or have Tivo decided to do something to counteract this by using nonstandard disk formats, ultra-low bitrates, no a/b editing, or even CSS encryption or other gimmicks to make the DVD copies less than desirable?

TV huh?

[TheRaven64]

You know, most of us with cable TV / cable broadband have enough bandwidth to download TV shows from the 'net. I'm really surprised that the cable company hasn't worked this out yet. If they were to implement a pay-per-program service, using something like bittorrent in the cable box, I would be one of the first to subscribe.

If I like the simpsons, I should be able to select 'simpsons' from a menu of this season's TV and have it downloaded to my box whenever a new one is released.

By using sensible proxying, relaying etc they would not need much more bandwidth than they already use for TV. If they ran it on a closed hardware platform then they wouldn't have any of the concerns associated with putting the shows on the 'net, since it would be a private network only accessible by their hardware much as the current cable system is (okay, so you can crack the cable TV system and get free movies, but how many people actually bother, as a percentage?)

Re:hm

[ncc74656]

not-inexpensive? I know slashdot editors aim for obscurity, but what's wrong with "expensive"?

Read this [catb.org] for enlightenment.