SONICblue Hits the Auction Block 214
turkeywrap writes "Looks like there's no hope for SONICblue, makers of ReplayTV and Rio MP3 players. An agreement with D&M holdings (parent company of audio equipment makers Denon) fell through, so now a bankruptcy court will hold an auction for both of the main business units, ReplayTV and Rio, on April 15. Glad I bought my tivo."
I wish... (Score:1)
psxndc
Re:I wish... (Score:4, Interesting)
There's a few companies that are looking into purchasing Replay, one being D&M. All my experiences with them has been fine, and SonicBlue's customer support has always been a black spot on the Replays. The only problem the new owner may run into is the pending lawsuits over Commercial Advance (an awesome feature when it's working), but even if that ability has to be disabled, there's still a 30 second skip button on all the recent models.
So, to make a long post, even longer. If I were you I'd take a hard look at both systems and figure out exactly what out of a PVR. Replay users are not going to lose service, and we tend to be a fanatical bunch. I have three myself.
Re:I wish... (Score:3, Informative)
Weird. That's just what I do with my TiVos. It's an old troll to use this against TiVos. If you don't like suggestions, turn them off. But suggestions will *never* waste hard drive space or be recorded instead of something you *chose* to have recorded. Bah.
purchasing Replay, one being D&M
Did you not even read the article synopsis?
Re:I wish... (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, the D&M deal fell through. It may be that D&M picks up the assets at auction later this month, but until the auction happens things are still up in the air. Until then, we just have the word of ReplayTV that the guides will last until the end of this month. After that, it's completely up in the air.
That is, if we just stick with their service. I haven't done a single bit of hacking on my Replay, but I would imagine we'd be able to get some code written to get SOME sort of guide working.... does anyone have any idea if a project like that is underway?
BTW, the 30 second skip feature has been there since the beginning. Love that feature.
Regarding TiVO, a couple of things:
The TiVo only records on educated guesses using unused space on the device.
It has USB ports for ethernet (and other stuff, I would guess..haven't looked into that too much) so program guides can be set through the net. This was a great thing for me, because I have one of the original ReplayTVs and didn't have an mods for Ethernet.
The new 4.0 software upgrade will support wireless USB ethernet devices. The (cough) $99 HomeMedia option will allow streaming MP3s and pictures to be sent from your PC, and will allow sharing of programs between multiple TiVos in the house. The first upgrade costs $99, the upgrades for additional TiVos are $49 each.
Anyway to the original poster, bottom line, if you can wait, just wait until this Replay thing sorts itself out. It'll only be a couple of more weeks. If ReplayTV survives, find a friend with one and check it out. Find a friend with a TiVo and check that out too.
But whatever happens, get a PVR. These things are freakin' awesome.
Re:I wish... (Score:2, Interesting)
External guide data may actually be a boon for Replay users, the existing Rep
Re:I wish... (Score:2)
My educated guess is that if nobody is going to continue the service, existing ReplayTVs (and those that are still unsold) will be "locked open" so that at the very least the "manual record" function (standard timer recording as on a VCR) will still work, even without any authorization or gu
Re:I wish... (Score:2)
I'd be interested in hearing how people's experiences with building
WiFi on Series 1 (Score:2)
I have two Series 1 TiVos and both have 802.11b cards inside them. It's awesome, but WiFi is kind of slow and it takes about 3 hours to transfer 1 hour of video to my PC for burning to a VCD/SVCD.
It is not a difficult hack, but it is only compatible with Series 1 TiVos for now.
Anti-TiVo FUD (Score:4, Interesting)
The anti-suggestions bit is pure FUD. It's a zero-impact feature when on (ie, it _NEVER_ uses tuner or space that would otherwise be used by a program you specifically requested), and it can be turned off. I leave it on expressly because it's zero-impact, even tho I rarely watch suggested programs. Every once in a while I don't want to watch anything in the recorded list, and I'll find a gem in the suggestions (a movie I hadn't seen, or a syndicated rerun of Simpsons).
That said, I _love_ my TiVo. I considered a Replay, but the TiVo was a better choice for me, since I was also getting DirecTV at the same time. I like the Replay procuct, especially all the networking capabilities. It's a shame the company is struggling.
Re:Anti-TiVo FUD (Score:2)
I have two TiVo's, first series, non-satellite tuner. I must say that I have to slightly disagree with you than it is a zero-impact feature, although I will allow that it is a relatively low-impact one.
What would make the recording of suggestions feature better would be if they would simply put the tuner back on the
What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:2)
If Replay goes away - what happens to the TV guide provision? Great.....
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:3, Funny)
--
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:5, Insightful)
These companies have already whipped the toughest part -- establishing a regular system wherein the networks provide you with the info in a form you can manipulate -- so the rest should be gravy.
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:2)
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:2)
I think the argument before was that if Replay goes out of business, then the format of the schedule data would be worthless, but "some dumb judge would say that it's actually worth something." Well, I think the parent poster correctly points out that it *is* worth something, to these other companies, and they would be willing to buy the rights to it.
The replay's are hardcoded to specific addresses/phone numbers to get this info - alo
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:2)
With TiVo, you either pay after the fact -- either a monthly subscription fee ($10/month) or a larger one-time fee that covers the lifetime of the unit ($250).
With the ReplayTV units, the service is "free", but the retail price of the units are a few hundred dollars more expensive (or at least they were when I compared prices). So even though there's no e
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:2, Interesting)
Sorry your wrong...
Both have the same payment options. Either a one time lifetime fee, or a monthly payment.
Re:What about the ReplayTV users? (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know of any other way to receive program data, so I think we ReplayTV owners will be SOL for program guides. It'll still function as a VCR like device...I th
TiVo (Score:5, Insightful)
TiVo's now just as recognizable as "Xeroxing" a document, or buying some "Kleenex". Now that they've entered the lexicon for a large part of the world I think they will have tremendous staying power.
Also, they've treaded lightly in regard to their new "Home media option," which allows people to share TV shows across a home network, and play pictures and music on their TiVo's. A careful use of copyright protection has, so far, kept them out of the legal wranglings that SonicBlue had to face the minute that every major media company in the world sued them after the ReplayTV product announcement.
Re:TiVo (Score:2, Informative)
Re:TiVo (Score:5, Interesting)
I have to disagree. There's a fairly clear delination between the features that got Sonic Blue in trouble (automatic commercial skip; sharing shows with people over the internet) and the features that TiVo supports. Furthermore, TiVo's been fairly careful about both partnering with networks (through such features as the TiVo Showcase, which allows networks to advertise specific special shows) and limiting the ability of people to pull TV recordings off the device (as it's enough of a hassle that you're probably better off just using a separate TV capture card in your PC).
The most important thing is that what the TiVo does is generally no different (or even less powerful) than that of a VCR -- at least from the perspective of avoiding advertising and sharing shows. A VCR lets you timeshift programs and then fast-forward through the advertisements. Ditto for a TiVo. In contrast, ReplayTV let you make the commercials automatically disappear. A VCR lets you record a program and then pass that single copy on to friends. A TiVo doesn't even let you do that, though you can view that copy from anywhere in the house. In contrast, ReplayTV let you send out up to ~15(?) separate copies of the show while retaining the original.
So overall, I think you fears are unfounded. TiVo just doesn't have the risky exposure that Sonic Blue had with the Replay units. Even the suit against Sonic Blue was on shaky legal ground, so TiVo should be sitting high and dry.
(As a minor aside, I'd like to clarify my comparison between TiVo and a VCR above. Generally, when people refer to TiVo as a better version of a VCR, I have to correct them. TiVo is better than having a VCR, a couple dozen scrap tapes, a copy of TV Guide, and a trained monkey who knows how to change the tapes and record shows. It blows the entire VCR paradigm out of the water. However, with respect to the issues at hand -- avoiding commercials in television shows supported by advertising and the sharing shows with friends -- the VCR analogy is still fairly applicable.)
Re:TiVo (Score:2)
Re:TiVo (Score:2)
The 30 second skip is only available by a backdoor. Furthermore, the code to enable backdoors for the latest revision of the TiVo software is unknown -- thus enabling backdoors requires the user to actually login to the TiVo (over the serial port) and change the backdoor code to something that's known (as it's stored as an md5 hash that TiVo hackers were unable to brute-force).
Re:TiVo (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, right. 'cause my parents have heard of a TiVo.
TiVo is absolutely nowhere *near* as recognizable as Xerox, which is probably still even less recognizable than Kleenex.
Maybe, concievably, amongst 18-25 yo middle & upper class males you have 50% recognition of that term. Amongst the same group I bet you have 80% for Xerox and 90% for Kleenex.
Admittedly I pulled those numbers out of the air, but you've got a twisted sense of reality if you think TiVo is as recognizable of a brand as Xerox and Kleenex.
-Rob
Re:TiVo (Score:2)
Re:TiVo (Score:2, Informative)
google hits on "TiVo": 451,000
google hits on "Kleenex": 164,000
You lose
Re:TiVo (Score:3, Funny)
google hits on "TiVo": 451,000
google hits on "Kleenex": 164,000
google hits on "Bread": 5,470,000
google hits on "Internet": 143,000,000
Clearly more people eat internet than know what bread is.
And that probes what? (Score:2)
Fucking nerds.
Re:TiVo (Score:2, Informative)
wg
Re:TiVo (Score:2)
Re:TiVo (Score:2)
check www.tivocommunity.com for more info
What if... (Score:5, Interesting)
What if it was the other way around, and TiVO was going under? Obviously you wouldn't be too happy (of course), but the bigger question is: will SONICBlue release the specs of their service, so that others can now provide it ? Would TiVo release these specs if they were going under? Or will the bankruptcy court treat these as trade secrets, worth some monetary value to the creditors, and prevent the release?
I'm just wondering what the future holds for such fee-based services, where the fees are taken upfront. Will the people who forked over the $300 (or whatever) for "lifetime service" be considered creditors too? Shouldn't they be?
Re:What if... (Score:2)
You could do things like pausing and rewinding live TV and setting manual recordings, but nothing like "Season Passes" would be avaliable.
Re:What if... (Score:2)
Re:What if... (Score:5, Informative)
The TiVo community forum [tivocommunity.com] is a great resource for all thing TiVo. Having just got a Directv Tivo box (which is awesome, by the way), I intend to be spending alot of time there, learning as much as possible.
Re:What if... (Score:2)
Also, many TiVo staffers post there very frequently as conversations about TiVo and their policies arise on the forums.
Overall, a very open community
Re:What if... (Score:5, Insightful)
TiVo stated once upon a time that they'd do this. Fat chance. A judge will certainly rule that this is information of value and prohibit any official release of information.
That said, there are TiVo hackers that have figured it all out already, at least for Series1 boxes. The S2 boxes are locked down more tightly (although it's being cracked very, very slowly), so dunno about that yet. DirecTiVo's aren't even under the perview of TiVo anymore, so unless DirecTV went tits up you'd still have service on them.
Will the people who forked over the $300 (or whatever) for "lifetime service" be considered creditors too? Shouldn't they be?
They are considered creditors. Of the lowest class (which is pretty much where creditors are anyway in bankruptcy court). Most creditors are lucky to see ten cents on the dollar after bankruptcy court, so it may be that you'd get a few more months or weeks of service and that'd be it. Depends on how the judge rules... with the obvious issue that pissing off your customers is not a good way to get out of bankruptcy. Based on that I'd be surprised if any judge would invalidate the lifetime service option.
Oh, you mean what happens if the company went really and truely bankrupt? And nobody bought the assets? Well, then you're still being treated like a creditor. And you're getting the same thing any other creditor in your situation would get - absolutely nothing. The various bits of IP may be sold off, but that doesn't mean you'll get access to any of it - including things like how to download scheduling data.
I suggest you look into what happened to any one of the failed "Internet PC" companies to see what would happen to your hardware. Unless you hack it, you're going to wind up with a large doorstop.
Re:What if... (Score:5, Informative)
They are considered creditors.
Correct so far.
Of the lowest class (which is pretty much where creditors are anyway in bankruptcy court).
Wrong. Creditors come ahead of the equity owners of the company. Unsecured creditors, which is what the customers essentially are, are in a poor position, but they do not have the last tit -- that is reserved for the lucky, lucky investors (i.e. the people whose money was just pissed away). You might know them as "shareholders" or "the rich" or "pension plans" or "your 401(k)" or "mutual funds".
Most creditors are lucky to see ten cents on the dollar after bankruptcy court,
Depends on the company and the type of creditor, but secured creditors can do quite well in bankruptcy. Sometimes, it is groups of creditors that force a company's hand and put a firm (or individual) through an involuntary bankruptcy. While you may feel thoroughly evil when you do such a thing (I did this once), it can really save a creditor's bacon to shut down a company rather than letting it flounder under a shitty business plan or under shitty management.
so it may be that you'd get a few more months or weeks of service and that'd be it.
Probably right. Two types of bankruptcy exist for businesses -- Chapter 11 (reorg) and Chapter 7 (liquidation). Chapter 7 is death city. Sell it all, pay creditors according to a plan that the bankruptcy trustee devises and that the bankrutcy judge approves. Chapter 11 lets the company convert debt into equity (usually) and it lets the company shitcan some contracts that it has, reaffirm others, and basically try to salvage the cashflow positive business segments while jettisoning the shit. This tends to help out customers, employees, and creditors. Some suppliers and customers and equity owners get killed, but the net disruptive effect to the economy is much reduced versus killing off the whole company in a liquidation.
Depends on how the judge rules...
And what the trustee's plan is. Ans what the creditor's committee comes up with.
with the obvious issue that pissing off your customers is not a good way to get out of bankruptcy.
Au contraire. If you can jettison certain contracts, including money-losing ones with customers (which means throwing some consumers overboard) you might actually save the rest of the business. This results in a more stable foundation for serving your other customers in profitable segments, and increasing their willingness to do business with you. Businesses don't want every customer, they only want profitable customers. My business fires clients all the time and I note significantly that we are nowhere near bankruptcy. Sonicblue can do that in bankruptcy and help themselves out tremendously. There may be some blowback, but it will fade. Plus, blowback beats the hell out of destroying the company to try to keep an unprofitable business segment afloat.
Based on that I'd be surprised if any judge would invalidate the lifetime service option.
It's really not up to the judge. It is up to the trustee. The "lifetime service option" is just a contract. Sonic Blue will be able to determine which contracts it wants to void and which it must honor. I bet they toss the replay tv business. Then, the "value" of those services becomes an unsecured debt that goes to the end of the creditor line. The judge will then rule on a plan for sonic blue that the trustee comes up with, subject to input from the creditors (and it is unlikely that the replay tv people will collectively or individually have much say). I doubt that the replay tv people will get much love under these circumstances.
Don't get your hopes up -- you are likely looking at an unpleasant screwing and you won't even get a reach around. I'm not being a troll here, it's just that you need to be realistic about what is going to happen. Bankruptcy is not a place for rose-colored glasses.
GF.
assets (IANAL) (Score:3, Informative)
What went wrong? (Score:1)
Re:What went wrong? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm glad TiVo is playing it safe and not implementing features that piss off the networks (automatic commercial skip, sharing of recorded shows, etc). The ReplayTV had some great features that TiVo lacked, but it got the networks on their bad side.
In any case, I can already rip shows off of my TiVo and burn them easily to VCD or SVCD. The only real problem is my TiVo is WiFi-enabled so a 1 hour show takes like 3 hours to transfer. 100mbit would be better but I haven't run Cat5 all over the place.
Re:What went wrong? (Score:4, Insightful)
After they fixed that, the biggest problem was that they never got "mind share" (did I really use that phrase....shoot me now!) for the product the way TiVo did. Tell anyone about a ReplayTV, and they're more than likely to say "Oh, like a TiVo".
I don't think I've ever seen a ReplayTV commercial in all the time I've owned one.
They had been trying to OEM these things to other companies that do set-top boxes, but I think in the end, the companies decided to do it for themselves, rather than partner with SonicBlue.
It's a great device....and fun while it lasted.
Re:What went wrong? (Score:2)
I doubt that alone lead to their downfall but it certainly didn't help them in the brand recognition department.
Which business units? (Score:1)
Daniel
Re:Which business units? (Score:2, Informative)
Well, it's not like they've been busy... (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, SonicBlue never really supported any of these products. They bought a fantastic HD-based car MP3 player (empeg), and promptly killed it off -- even as major manufacturers were starting to integrate MP3 playback into cd players (and now, finally, cd-changers).
They started selling the Rio Receiver, but at too high a price point, and they never updated the software. And now, there are at least three other commercial MP3 receivers from "big companies" (onkyo, phillips, and motorola), but all of 'em are (get this) even MORE expensive than the Rio Reciever was. SonicBlue could have undercut the competition, released some software upgrades (there's a great open source movement on that front that they could have tapped into), and kicked major ass.
All in all, it's been a disappointing ride for customers like me. I'm really glad that the Receiver is so open (people have re-written just about every part of it except the HomePNA kernel module). At this point, I think the best thing that could happen would be for the original empeg/receiver engineers to buy the car and home receivers back and open-source the hardware. Get a flourescent screen, better CPU (for high-rate Ogg decoding), and even cooler open-source client/server software.
But probably some other company will buy the rights and bury them.
I remember when.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Rus
I really wanted an Empeg (Score:2)
I was all set to buy an Empeg, until I saw a posting on their web site (before they were bought) that said the next version due out would have a PCMCIA slot. That meant I could throw an Orinoco card in there. That meant I could hack up some scripts which would let it rsync up to my main server at my house once I pulled into the driveway. That meant I would have paid double what they were asking.
As soon as SonicBlue
Re:I really wanted an Empeg (Score:2)
-B
ReplayTVs are still selling on ebay right now (Score:3, Informative)
Can ReplayTVs be programmed like a VCR to record like TIVO does? I guess it's not a total loss. On ebay however, they're being advertised as LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION!
Re:ReplayTVs are still selling on ebay right now (Score:2, Informative)
Re:ReplayTVs are still selling on ebay right now (Score:2)
No, they don't care about pissing off their USER base. They care about pissing off their CUSTOMER base. If you paid SonicBlue for a lifetime subscription, then SonicBlue goes belly up, and sells thier customers off to someone else, the new company is only going to care about those people that will bring them in new revenue. A new company w
Re:ReplayTVs are still selling on ebay right now (Score:2)
Of course their main customers are likely to be people who have heard about how great a ReplayTV is from someone who owns one. If current owners are favourably disposed towards the new owner, then this makes them more likely to recommend their products. A happy user base leads to a large potential customer base. Oh, and don't forget that users may wish to buy upgrades, add-ons and even a second one fo
Don't forget GoVideo (Score:5, Informative)
GoVideo® D2730 Networked DVD [sonicblue.com] - World's First Networked DVD Player!
"The GoVideo Networked DVD Player is a high end, slim-line Progressive Scan DVD player, and is the first player of its kind to be able to stream video files through a wireless network to a consumer electronics component. The Networked DVD Player works with either a wired PCMCIA Ethernet Adapter (included) or an optional PCMCIA 802.11b Wireless Network Card. The D2730 can also stream MP3 and WMA audio files and JPEG image files, as well as MPEG1 and MPEG2 video files."
Yes, I can roll my own (even stylishly, with a Shuttle XPC [shuttle.com]. Yes, I can do so with a cool Linux distro (can't remember the couple I've examined off the top of my head - anyone? Bueller?). But I sure as hell can't do it for $250, which was the SRP for this unit.
Re:Don't forget GoVideo (Score:2)
According to their latest press release, they're selling their GoVideo assets to Opta Systems.
"In addition, SONICblue has entered into a definitive agreement with Opta Systems, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Carmco Investments, LLC, which is expected to acquire substantially all of the assets of SONICblue's GoVideo business unit for approximately $12.5 million. The terms of the sale of these business units will require the approval of the Bankruptcy Court."
What's interesting is the fact that Opta/C
Yet, somehow.... (Score:4, Interesting)
They're just changing the world differently now, by their absense.
SonicBlue invented many nifty products, including, obviously, the MP3 player (invented under its former name, Diamond), the audio set top box (they made the chipset in DELL's box), and many other innovations. They'll be missed.
Don't move to Oregon, we lost another employer. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Don't move to Oregon, we lost another employer. (Score:2)
Maybe someone was talking out of thier ass?
Re:Don't move to Oregon, we lost another employer. (Score:2)
Re:Don't move to Oregon, we lost another employer. (Score:2)
Please hold out until December... (Score:2)
Now if DirecTV committed to HMO, maybe I would, so I could move the DirecTivo Series 2 to the bedroom when HD Tivo
Propartory PVR's (Score:2)
This in itself does make me think that its the best solution as it does intergrate with Sky but I do pay for that privilige. For example TiVo's are no longer being solded in the UK so its a one horse race. What it does mean ho
Too Bad (Score:2, Informative)
ReplayTV not worthless (Score:3, Insightful)
IANAL, but I would think that any purchaser of the replay business unit would be responsible for honoring existing service contracts, including those lifetime subscriptions. If the contracts are breached by replay (e.g. by the buyer or even by replay simply folding), then the owners of the abandoned subscriptions would be due damages and/or part of the auction proceeds.
If the service is abandoned for any reason, it is pretty clear that the replay hacker community will no longer need to restrain themselves - people have been *very* supportive of replay and have tended to come down pretty hard on anyone looking to steal services. If we owners are abandoned, we'll be moving into reverse engineering mode bigtime!
Re:ReplayTV not worthless (Score:2)
Well, those lifetime subscriptions are a substantial liability, not an asset, and an obstacle to another company picking up the business unit as is. I suspect that the best that Replay TV owners can hope for is that somebody else will offer a replacement subscription service--at additional cost.
Re:ReplayTV not worthless (Score:2)
Re:ReplayTV not worthless (Score:2)
Unfortunately, SonicBlue is dead, and most likely your "lifetime subscription" is, too (bet you thought it was your lifetime, not theirs). Sadly, the most likely outcome is that ReplayTV owners will get stuck with a nearly useless piece of hardware (although hackers may figure out how to do something worthwhile with it). I had this happen to me with an
A good reason to buy Linux based appliances (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A good reason to buy Linux based appliances (Score:2)
Re:A good reason to buy Linux based appliances (Score:3, Informative)
I like to compare TiVo to the Apple Macintosh. Both are closed systems with a very large user dev/hack community. The fact that they have an underlying open source base doesn't change anything.
Re:A good reason to buy Linux based appliances (Score:2)
Re:A good reason to buy Linux based appliances (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:A good reason to buy Linux based appliances (Score:2)
Disclaimer: I have an
Greg Ballard Strikes Again (Score:4, Interesting)
Look, I understand that CEO is not an easy job, but how much accountability is this guy held to when investors are left holding the bag of his failures?
Re:Greg Ballard Strikes Again (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Greg Ballard Strikes Again (Score:2)
Sadly, I never knew SonicBlue. Never wanted or bought any of their products.
Re:Greg Ballard Strikes Again (Score:2)
Your concern is entirely understandable, but all it does is to create a kind of professional scapegoat CEO who goes from dying company to dying company turning off the lights. This can be lucrative, because they get paid CEO salaries, but don't actually have to fulfill any company ambitions.
Meanwhile, the person actually responsible walks off to a different executive job, obviously with a much more relaxing s
Interesting... (Score:4, Informative)
Mindset (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm of the mindset that likes to have a choice. So if I want my TiVo to do this, I'll turn the feature on. If I don't want it to do it, I'll switch it off.
Re:Mindset (Score:4, Interesting)
I've been careful to "thumbs up" on some manly programs, just so my Tivo doesn't think I'm gay ("not that there's anything wrong with that")
Re:Mindset (Score:2)
Empeg (Score:2)
In another year or two, we could see another serious attempt at automotive mp3 players.
Quit bashing TiVo... (Score:3, Insightful)
As a long-time ReplayTV user... (Score:3, Insightful)
Problem is that there is no way to set the clock or do manual recordings without Guide Data (unless you bought a Lifetime subscription on the 5000 series.) If the dial-up and Internet connections get shut down, these become bricks.
I guess I could always get TiVo units, but ReplayTV has always been my system of choice.
And that's not all (Score:3, Informative)
Diamond Multimedia [diamondmm.com], who was once one of the larger producers of mainstream video cards,
and S3 [s3.com], the unforgettable yet forgettable video chipset.
History repeats itself... (Score:2, Interesting)
ReplayTV --> Beta
We now know who won the PVR war.
Re:Tivo (Score:1)
Re:Tivo (Score:5, Informative)
Depends on if TiVo wants to continue existing or not.
Both Scientific American and Motorola are developing PVRs for cable set top box's. And these two companies have huge existing relationships with the cable companies (as in - they sell virtually everything the cable companies need to do business). If you have a cable STB right now take a look at it - it's almost certainly made by one of these two companies (General Instruments are OEM'd Motorola boxes).
AOL is also working on the Mystero box or whatever crappy name it has. Dish Network has their own PVR.
None of these are comparable to TiVo on a feature basis, and often they're missing really big features, but to a lot of people all that matters is price -- and all of them beat TiVo on that because the companies can afford to give the hardware away for free and charge an additional monthly service charge to pay it back as well as pay for providing service.
So yeah, TiVo does have reason to compete. Lots of them.
Re:Tivo (Score:2)
No the reason I don't have any of these PVR's is exactly this reason.
Someone release a Sonic Blue kind of device that works 100% without any damned service. I want to be able to enter a record time and a TEXT TAG FOR IT plus have the nice ethernet connection so I can add record events via the web or share the mpeg2 files to my other unit
Re:Tivo (Score:2)
For example purposes a $100 box with $60 yearly service = $1000 with no service fees when you can invest the difference in price at about 7%.
You might as well have a lawyer cutout to pay the monthly fee for you and let *them* get bombarded w
Re:Tivo (Score:2)
I dont want any company to have ANY control over my personal property.
That's why I'd pay $$$$ for it. but you cant, and I'm stuck with either the horribly over-compl
Re:Tivo (Score:2, Informative)
If either of these companies wished to build a true PVR, they'd do well to license Tivo software for the
Re:Tivo (Score:2)
I'd think so, you'd think so, but they don't think so. Why? I dunno. Licensing from either TiVo or Replay would've saved them years of development time (SciAtl has been having particular nightmares here), as well as remove some legal issues (like the fact that TiVo can probably sue them for patent violations).
What these companies are building are "thin client PVR's", where almost all the intel
Re:Tivo (Score:4, Informative)
Tivo really needs to compete since PVR functionality is being wrapped up in other services like satellite and digital cable. Why pay extra for Tivo when your media provider can just roll it up for you. They become another grease spot on the "Al Gore Memorial Information Super Highway".
Re:Tivo (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Tivo (Score:2, Informative)
I have a ReplayTV and it's great not to hear "...Honey, what's on this Tape?". Real Men Don't Use Labels!!! Now it's just check the menu and watch. The OnDemand part gives you one unit to connect and use just like the satellite solutions. The simpler the be
Re:Tivo (Score:4, Informative)
Actually you have it backwards. Echostar has far, far more 500-series receivers out there than there are DirecTiVo's.
Makes great sense since there's a kluge with an IR Blaster you need to do with Tivo
Not quite true. TiVo's have a serial port on them that can control DirecTV receivers (and some cable boxes - notably the Motorola DCT-2000 series) if the receiver has a "low speed data port".
Oh... and did you note the "DirecTiVo" bit above? Yup - the PVR capabilites for DirecTV are licensed from TiVo. At one point it the boxes were still controlled by TiVo, but it's flip flopped - all service and billing is now done directly through DirecTV and DTV pays TiVo a licensing fee for the hardware and software.
Re:Tivo (Score:2)