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Television Media

TiVo Basic 288

Posted by timothy from the overdue dept.
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."
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TiVo Basic More

TiVo Basic

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  • Marketing mantra (Score:5, Insightful)

    by djupedal ( 584558 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:14PM (#5915803)
    ...first one's free.

    • Re:Marketing mantra (Score:5, Informative)

      by Sivar ( 316343 ) <charlesnburns[@]gmail . c om> on Friday May 09, 2003 @01:30AM (#5916808)
      A no-fee basic system does sound nice (and will probably entice people to get the full service), but $12.95 seems like quite a rip-off when the DirecTV DVR service (another name for Tivo service) is $4.99/mo. Of course, that only works with DirecTV Tivos, but they are better anyway (no re-compressing of video, dual tuners, "purchase and record" pay-per-views, etc.)

      • Re:Marketing mantra (Score:3, Informative)

        by hymie3 ( 187934 )
        In theory, part of the DirecTiVo monthly fee is paid for by your DirecTV subscription. DirecTV already gives you TV listings for all of the channels. TiVo just extends that service (for an additional $4.95)

  • The Toshiba Box: RD-X2 (Score:5, Informative)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:15PM (#5915808) Homepage
    Near as I can tell, here [toshiba.com] is the Toshiba box that the story talks about. The URL is also below:

    http://www.toshiba.com/tacp/dvd/current/RDX2.htm l

  • will have to be carful (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pres ( 34668 ) * on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:16PM (#5915810)

    Tivo will have to be careful that this doesn't hurt them. By removing a lot of the power of Tivo people might try it out, hate it, and leave.
    They will have to make it clear what the added features will give you. (Perhaps a 30 day free trial of the upgraded service?) I know that once I saw the good stuff I would not willingly switch back.

    • Re:will have to be carful (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ryanvm ( 247662 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:32PM (#5915883)
      Good point. I think they should make an extra effort to make sure that people understand the usefullness of "season passes".

      Perhaps Tivo Basic should allow up to 3 season passes. Otherwise many people are likely to just think, "whoopee - it's a two-week version of TV Guide."

      • Re:will have to be carful (Score:5, Funny)

        by Blahbbs ( 587167 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @10:35PM (#5916188)
        I've found that Season Passes aren't very helpful *IF THE NETWORKS KEEP CANCELLING THE SHOWS YOU LIKE*

        Looking at my list of season passes reads like a TV obituary... Firefly, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, The Tick, The Job.... sigh.

        • What I find odd is that Season Passes don't cover a show if it jumps channels. I've had two experiences with this: Robbery Homicide, which was on Saturdays on CBS jumped to Monday Night on USA, and Rockford Files switched from TVLAND to WGN. Same thing with Curb Your Enthusiasm -- it was on one of the alternative HBOs (HBO-Comedy or something) and not on HBO Prime, but it didn't record.

          I know a title wishlist would have grabbed both of these, but it'd be nice if a season pass would follow channels, espe

          • Re:Season Pass anomolies (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Zathrus ( 232140 ) on Friday May 09, 2003 @07:44AM (#5917763) Homepage
            I know a title wishlist would have grabbed both of these, but it'd be nice if a season pass would follow channels

            God no. I'd hate to have to filter out the bazillion Simpsons episodes being syndicated if I just want to record what's on Fox. Or Friends or any other popular show that's in syndication.

            If you know a Wishlist would do it, then why don't you set one up and do it the right way?

            Oddly, I have a Season Pass for Saturday Night Live and the local affialiate runs full-length re-reuns

            Uh, because it's the same show on the same channel? If you don't want reruns, then set the SP for "First Run Only". If it's still picking up reruns then you'll have to email TiVo about it, who will contact Tribune, who will contact the station. Odds are, however, that the station won't do anything to fix their guide data -- which is what the root problem is (if and only if you've already got the SP set FRO).
    • To be even more blunt, if you can't record the same show at the same time over and over again (ignoring for the moment the anti-rerun and other capabilities of the Season Pass feature), it will be all but worthless. You might indeed just as well use a VCR and a TV guide on paper.

  • Canada (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mondoterrifico ( 317567 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:16PM (#5915811) Journal
    I just want Tivo to be available in Canada damnit! Anyone know why the service hasn't been rolled out up here?

    • Re:Canada (Score:4, Insightful)

      by John Paul Jones ( 151355 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:18PM (#5915821)

      Considering that TiVo hasn't advertised at all in three years, and seems to be living hand-to-mouth at the moment, the addition of another country might have to wait until there's a viable bottom line.

      As a TiVo devotee for the past 1.5 years, though, I can only hope they make it... <crosses fingers>

      • Re:Canada (Score:4, Informative)

        by ePhil_One ( 634771 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @10:34PM (#5916182) Journal
        Considering that TiVo hasn't advertised at all in three years, and seems to be living hand-to-mouth at the moment, the addition of another country might have to wait until there's a viable bottom line.

        Well, their stock is up, so the markets thinking positive things about them. And while they haven't paid for the standard 30 second spots, NBC has done several placements in their TV series (Friends, Scrubs, Will & Grace). Not sure if they're paying for it or NBC's throwing it in as part of their investment.

        Besides, the word of mouth advertising they get is pretty strong, and is a damned site better than lame TV spots.

        Funny thing is, Tivo is hugely popular with the whole entertainment industry, outside of everyones favorite mad dog, Jack Valenti.

      • Yes they have advertised. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by KFury ( 19522 ) * on Thursday May 08, 2003 @11:37PM (#5916472) Homepage
        TiVo's been advertising heavily in selected demographics. Mostly sports...

        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.
    • I want one too.

      Must. Have. Season. Pass. :)

  • Itsn't it a moot point? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by L0stb0Y ( 108220 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:17PM (#5915817) Journal
    Considering that it is in the works to get Tivo declared illegal (you know, fast-forwarding those ads is STEALING!)~

    Funny, I don't remember anyone buying my time from me... ...speaking of buying time, really what do you think the shelf-life of Tivo is at this point? By the time the cable companies/dish folks get into the game, along with the pending legalities, will Tivo even survive? I hope so.

    • Re:Itsn't it a moot point? (Score:4, Informative)

      by localghost ( 659616 ) <dleblanc@gmail.com> on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:37PM (#5915905)
      I recently switched to Dish Network from digital cable. Aside from the much better picture quality and customer service, one big advantage is that there's a PVR built into some of the boxes. Previously, I had a Tivo with a lifetime subscription. That's now on the second TV with the first one having the built-in one. I could easily see this becoming standard in both cable and satellite boxes. If the cable companies and satellite companies are supporting it, I don't see it being made illegal any time soon. However, I do foresee the end for Tivo, with PVR functionality becoming standard in set-top boxes.

      • Re:Itsn't it a moot point? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by moosesocks ( 264553 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @10:46PM (#5916237) Homepage
        Actually, I still see TiVo as a great solution to turn to for a software solution. Every person I've ever met (including myself) who has used both the Dish PVRs and the TiVo perferred the TiVo hands down.

        The Dish PVRs are simply too un-intuitive. They should have licensed the Tivo software as DirecTV did.
        • I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, but I like the Dish one better. It's so much simpler, and it's got a much cleaner interface. Some of the behaviour is a little weird after having used a Tivo for a year, but it doesn't take long to get used to.
      • I have owned a Tivo for several years. 2 years ago instead of trying to convince my parents what was so special about Tivo I just simply bought them one for there 30 year wedding anniversery.

        Niether of my Parents want to leave a Tivo-less existence now.

        I have a close friend that just got the Dish network with built in PVR.

        I checked it out.

        Bleh. I mean it, bleh, bleh and bleh.
        I don't like it at all. I won't tell her that though. It is not as user friendly, doesn't have the thumbs up and thumbs down b
        • The nice thing however, is that when you're receiving a signal through the dish network PVR (or Bell ExpressVu in Canada), the PVR is recording the raw MPEG stream directly - there's no recompression as in TIVO, so you're seeing exactly the same quality picture as if you were watching it live.

          But I agree that the user interface could use some work. The biggest flaw (IMHO) is that the unit doesn't allow you to set auto-recording mode based on a search (ie: record everything where "simpsons" appears in the

          • Re:Itsn't it a moot point? (Score:4, Informative)

            by Andy Dodd ( 701 ) <atd7@c[ ]ell.edu ['orn' in gap]> on Friday May 09, 2003 @08:25AM (#5918019) Homepage
            " The nice thing however, is that when you're receiving a signal through the dish network PVR (or Bell ExpressVu in Canada), the PVR is recording the raw MPEG stream directly - there's no recompression as in TIVO, so you're seeing exactly the same quality picture as if you were watching it live."

            It's the same case for DirecTiVo

            Either way, no satellite for me. $1200+ in tree removal in the way. And two of the trees in question are not on my property. :(
    • By the time the cable companies/dish folks get into the game, along with the pending legalities, will Tivo even survive?

      Licensing

      DirecTV licenses Tivo to power their DirecTV boxes, together they make a killer app limited mostly by the need for Dishes. DirecTV is all Digital, which plays VERY well with Tivo.

      I suspect its only a matter of time before the cable companies give up on their central office based PVR systems. I tried one last weekend on Comcast, it was awful compared to the reponsiveness and

    • ...to make Tivo illegal...

    • Re:Itsn't it a moot point? (Score:5, Funny)

      by jandrese ( 485 ) * <kensama@vt.edu> on Thursday May 08, 2003 @11:38PM (#5916477) Homepage Journal
      I always thought Tivo should make a 30 second TV spot with a very annoying background noise and jarring images, then in the last few seconds say: If you had Tivo you could have fast forwarded this.

      • Carrot Top (Score:3, Funny)

        by meehawl ( 73285 )
        I always thought Tivo should make a 30 second TV spot with a very annoying background noise and jarring images, then in the last few seconds say: If you had Tivo you could have fast forwarded this.
        Outstanding idea. Use Carrot Top and it's a winner.

  • tivo BASIC (Score:5, Funny)

    by mrseigen ( 518390 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:17PM (#5915818) Homepage Journal
    And here I was thinking that somebody had written a BASIC interpreter/writer for the TiVo. That would have been really cool. Oh well... I'll be happy when Canadian service starts with tivo.
    • don't give anyone any ideas...

      (i work as a software tester on compiled BASIC medical apps. they keep trying to make it do more and more fancy stuff, all I need now is for someone to suggest slapping a TiVo into the pulmonary function testing software so that the subjects don't get bored during long serial testing days and I might just go postal...)

  • Sounds reasonable (Score:5, Interesting)

    by unfortunateson ( 527551 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:17PM (#5915819) Journal
    If I didn't already have my lifetime subscription -- and frankly, I'm watching too much TV with my existing 30-hour series 1 box -- I'd probably be happy with the 3-day limits.

    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.

  • What?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by DogIsMyCoprocessor ( 642655 ) <{dogismycoprocessor} {at} {yahoo.com}> on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:19PM (#5915823) Homepage
    12 posts and no

    1. Give away free subscription
    2. ????
    3. Profit!!

    joke yet? This place is going to the dogs ...

  • Wonderful! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Robert Hayden ( 58313 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:19PM (#5915824) Homepage
    As a DirecTiVo owner I love this.

    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)

    by emkman ( 467368 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:22PM (#5915835)
    The subscription requirement has always turned me off from getting Tivo. Why would I pay for a program guide and title searching when i have this inlcuded in my satellite/digicable service already. Basic sounds like a good idea for people who just want the hardware.

    • Re:A good idea (Score:2, Informative)

      by thoth ( 7907 )
      There is no subscription requirement. You can program the TiVo like a VCR (i.e. you specify what channel, what time, what duration to record for). You don't need the guide data or any of that stuff for it to work.

      I'm currently not subscribing to the TiVo service, as explained in a previous [slashdot.org] TiVo posting ;)

      • Re:A good idea (Score:3, Informative)

        by Wordplay ( 54438 )
        That's only for the initially released models, because the original license agreement didn't say that you had to subscribe. They grandfathered VCR-like capabilities for those so as not to screw their customers. Anything from later batches of Series 1 or all of the Series 2 (i.e. the ones sold with the updated license agreement) requires a subscription, otherwise it stops working in any useful manner after an introductory period of time.
    • Why would I pay for a program guide and title searching when i have this inlcuded in my satellite/digicable service already?

      Well, DirecTV's DVR service is from Tivo, and the service only costs $4.99/month, instead of the usual $12.95. It uses the built-in DirecTV program data, so that $5 pretty much subsidizes Tivo directly.

    • I've always wondered why they don't allow plain-old clock-based timed recording.

      Hey, if people want the TV-guide feature, more power to them, but I don't. Not only that, I'm far too (justifiably) paranoid to hook up any equipment of mine to a telephone line, or internet connection... That goes double for something like Tivo, which we all know gives them full root access to the machines.

    • Re:A good idea (Score:3, Informative)

      by wurp ( 51446 )
      Why would I pay for a program guide and title searching when i have this inlcuded in my satellite/digicable service already.

      Uh, so you can just tell the Tivo what programs you like and then forget about when they come on, essentially ending up with a video on demand?

    • Re:A good idea (Score:3, Insightful)

      by HotSIag ( 564942 )
      My friends are always impressed when I show them the power of TiVo, but inevitably they flinch at the $12/mo subscription. Why would I pay for TV guide data, they ask. At which point I ask how much they pay for TV data(cable) in the first place. If you already pay $40/mo just to watch cable, why not pay 25% more for a clearly superior way of viewing it. For as many times as I see them sitting in front of the TV 'wasting' time surfing because nothing is on, the $12 makes the $40 worth so much more.
  • I know what Tivo is and how it works but can someone please post a price structure? I've never subscribed and would like to understand what I get for what I pay.

    • Re:Could someone please... (Score:4, Informative)

      by thoth ( 7907 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:32PM (#5915884) Journal
      Basically, the TiVo service comes in two forms:

      1) Monthly payment of $12.95, or
      2) Lifetime fee of $249.00.

      Note: the lifetime fee applies to the unit, not the owner.

      Subscribing to TiVo service lets you get the guide data, which is programming info up to two weeks out. This is what lets you do wishlists, season passes, etc.

      New with series 2 is the "home media option", which is a upgrade available for $99.00

  • I'm scared now (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ONU CS Geek ( 323473 ) * <ian.m.wilson@gma i l .com> on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:24PM (#5915846) Homepage
    I've got three TiVo's myself, and I have just convinced my mother to go get one. To be quite honest, this scares me, because it could be a sign to things to come. But, with today's economy, people would rather be cheap than functional, so I'm guessing that they're going to come out with this, then try to keep afloat. Sure, Oprah et al. have given TiVo good coverage, however, I really don't want to admit that this may mean that my favorite home appliance could be going to the dust.

    I just hope there's enough of the hacking community out there to support my addiction should TiVo ever fall in the dumps.

    • Re:I'm scared now (Score:3, Informative)

      by aligas ( 167845 )
      TiVo has what they call a "dead man switch" ready for if the company ever goes out of business. Its not anything new - its existed since day one.

      The main idea is if something happens they throw this switch, the boxes update, and they avoid becoming totally useless boat anchors.

  • tivo modems (Score:2, Funny)

    by flacco ( 324089 )
    i got one of the early tivo's cheap off ebay, but the piece of crap modem died on me. the tivo service just didn't offer enough for me to deal with replacing the modem, so it's been just a pvr for me since then.

    which is fine, but the goddamn internal clock keeps drifting.

    i wonder how many subscriptions they've lost due to dead modems?

  • Strictly a bundled concept (Score:5, Interesting)

    by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:28PM (#5915864) Homepage Journal
    It's always been my understanding that Tivo can't make money on the bare hardware, and has to sell subscriptions. Unless I'm wrong about that, they'll never sell this subscription-free Tivo, except as part of a bundle.

    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.

    • 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?

      I'd really like a DVD player that uses the TiVo remote. I've become used to the skip back button, and not having it is irritating.

      Probably not a significant enough feature to sell the unit though.
  • My cable company is advertising PVRs that they say start at $4.95/month, including the hardware. They're looking for pre-registration, and I'm not sure what you get, or if the price will hold once the service goes beyond the vapor stage.

    • I subscribe to Time Warner digital cable... Looks like their PVR will do season passes, along with the regular PVR stuff (pause live TV, record on a schedule).

      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?
      • Have you looked at a TiVo and a Time Warner PVR side by side?

        I have, and the Time Warner PVR simply sucks by comparison. Then again, I never was a fan of whatever crappy interface Time Warner uses for their regular program guide, and the PVR uses the same interface.

        However, I have been steering people toward the TWPVR if they ask about my TiVo but bet turned off by the subscription fee. I am well aware of the fact that a TiVo subscription is a luxury that most can't afford. Maybe this basic service would

  • This is to compete with self made PVRs? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mao che minh ( 611166 ) * on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:35PM (#5915896) Journal
    Is this a subtle move to compete with self made PVRs? Let me spin a theory: In addition to exposing potential customers to the benefit of a TiVo, TiVo will also offer "techies" TiVo features embedded in other devices (or a soon to be released cheap and limited TiVo's) in order to dissude them from avoiding the TiVo exposure all together by building their own PVRs.

    In any case, this is a good idea, and great for the consumer. I already anticipate answering my fiance's mother's 5,000 questions about TiVo once she buys a DVD player with limited TiVo features in it. I also begrudingly look forward to configuring it for her - every other day - for a year.

  • My cable company here in Central Florida will be offering free Tivo-like service for digital cable subscribers starting in June. I've wanted Tivo since I first heard about it in 1999 but wasn't willing to shell out money for the box AND pay a monthly fee on top of that.

    One or the other, but not both. I'll buy the box if the service is free, or I'll pay a small monthly fee if the box is provided for me for free and is replaced for free in the event of failure or obsoletion. Given the rapid growth of techn
    • My cable company here in Central Florida will be offering free Tivo-like service for digital cable subscribers starting in June.

      I guess I should have provided this link [mybrighthouse.com] to any other Central Floridians who might be interested in getting this service when it's available.

  • MythTV... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Yebyen ( 59663 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:42PM (#5915925) Homepage
    Someone really needs to start building Mini-ITX machines with Debian and MythTV preloaded en masse. I've been using my desktop as a MythTV machine since the early days, and it's just about surpassed Tivo anyway. Not to mention, no subscription fee.

    A stripped down Tivo without season passes removes almost all of the usefulness of the device. MythTV has the same functionality, but it doesn't cost you anything but the hardware. I can't speak for the quality of the software versus Tivo, as I've never used a tivo, but I do find myself spouting the same "Changed the way I think about TV" rhetoric as every tivo user.

    Either way, one thing I know MythTV has which Tivo does not have is automatic commercial detection. That's right. Download 0.8, play with it.
    • badda bing

      myth tv [mythtv.org]

    • Re:MythTV... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by bmetzler ( 12546 ) * <bmetzler@noSpAm.live.com> on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:51PM (#5915963) Homepage Journal
      A stripped down Tivo without season passes removes almost all of the usefulness of the device. MythTV has the same functionality, but it doesn't cost you anything but the hardware.

      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.

      -Brent

      • Re:MythTV... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Friday May 09, 2003 @03:27AM (#5917100)
        You forgot one very important detail, and that's the fact that with MythTV, you are actually in control of the device recording TV shows for you.

        Currently, for example, I have some John Howe [ifrance.com] as the menu background on my MythTV box. But that's minor compared to the fact that my box doesn't record programs that advertisers think I want to see.
    • I tried to do that, and PC hardware (with Linux drivers) for TV-out STILL SUCKS!

      I thought I'd try an All-in-Wonder, since there are open source drivers, but also because the TV-out picture is hailed as near DVD-player quality output...

      Guess what? Fearing legal problems (which I happen to find baseless myself) the Gatos team stopped all work on TV-out for ATI videocards, which means I'm rather well screwed.

      But back on the subject, computers, unfortunately, just weren't designed for TV-out, and the curren

  • Forget everything you know about TiVo (Score:5, Informative)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @09:58PM (#5916001)
    This isn't a "TiVo box" as we usually know it, without all the subscription features. What it is, is a DVD-VCR. Without any subscription fees (a cause for hesitation among average consumers), it allows you to record shows and movies to the hard disk, then burn them at your leisure to a recordable DVD. Voila, all the functionality of a VCR with the advantages of digital media and commercial-free archiving.

    It seems to me that TiVo's strategy is to make this a must-have device for those features alone -- which are all Toshiba's hard work, not theirs -- while including the TiVo subscription features as a kind of upgrade, which no doubt is advertised prominently at the bottom of the 3-day guide every time you use it.

    It's a good strategy, and I think it will pay off -- not in the sense of 90% of all purchasers becoming subscribers, but in the sense of maybe 20% of all people who wouldn't buy a TiVo because of the subscription now buy it for the DVD-recording features. Like another poster suggested, I'm sure TiVo will offer AOL-like 30-day trial subscriptions for free somewhere along the line, once enough of these TiVo-capable recorders are out there being used. Because like broadband internet, once you learn to love it, there's no going back.
    • You didn't RTFA, did you? It can't burn DVDs.
    • Absolutely. This is basically about where your old VCR that had "VCR-Plus" put you, only you're not entering codes from the paper and carefully leaving a tape in the player and the power off and all that.

      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 m

  • Interesting that the recorded video output is progressive, aside from the DVD output. Thats a great feature if the deinterlacing is done well. Deinterlacers in consumer RPTVs are notoriously AWFUL.

  • TiVo BASIC? (Score:5, Funny)

    by passion ( 84900 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @10:18PM (#5916109)
    10 find pr0n;
    20 display pr0n;
    30 goto 10;

  • What I've been looking for? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by aSiTiC ( 519647 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @10:22PM (#5916124) Homepage
    I've been looking for a good intro TiVo solution and I also need a DVD player for my Home Entertainment center. The only catch is that I'd like to be able to access the Hard Drive (in this case 80 GB) from my computer. That way I can manipulate video on my computer (burn, etc...) and I can use the 80 GB for a backup device.

    Is this possible on this device? If not is there another device that is capable of doing this?
    • replay tv [replaytv.com] can do what you want with an open source pc program called dvarchive [sourceforge.net] over fast ethernet (wireless or wired).

      there's no info in the article as to whether this device does it or not. but if it has a modem (and not ethernet) as most stock tivo's, it wouldn't be fast enough to transfer any video.

    • Re:What I've been looking for? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Klaruz ( 734 ) on Thursday May 08, 2003 @11:54PM (#5916531)
      I'm considering using linux on xbox for a front end to mythtv, with the back end capture/storage on my main linux machine. Not exactly what you're looking for, but it is versitle (tivos are cool, but will never be versitle enough for a geek) and cheap, provided you have a linux machine allready.

      $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. :) Add a new hd to your main linux box if you need to. I have 250gig online right now, once I archive some stuff I'll have enough space to get by for a bit.

      Wouldn't recomend it to my mom though...
    • Get a ReplayTv [sonicblue.com] , connect it to your home network, and then load up DVArchive [sourceforge.net].

      There, even stream the video files from the computer to the ReplayTV in real time.
  • Is this leading up to HDTV Tivo?

  • Is it PAL and NTSC ? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by gibodean ( 224873 )
    As far as I'm aware, all DVD players can do both PAL and NTSC.

    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......
  • I have to admit I wasn't much interested in a box that i had to pay to keep using. Also when you bring it up to other people they don't much like that idea either.

    I also thing this kinda thing would be good for people who already have one Tivo, but want another (for say family one, and a personal one) and only need the subscription features for one of them (also makes the idea of using the tivo-to-tivo features much more attractive).

    This is all I really need, I know when the shows I want are on, I hat

  • No Season Passes? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Snowspinner ( 627098 ) <philsand AT ufl DOT edu> on Friday May 09, 2003 @01:15AM (#5916790) Homepage
    Frankly, season passes are what makes TiVos cool. Without them, they're just sort of neat gadgets. With them they become tremendously badass devices that change the way you interact with television and media.

    TiVo Basic will be a failure. If they even allowed perpetual timeslot based recording (i.e. grab all episodes of Buffy on Tuesdays at 8:00), but didn't let me get things that air at multiple times on different days (i.e. grab all episodes of Good Eats that ever crop up on the Food Network), it would be a worthwhile service that would hook me, but ultimately make me want to upgrade.

    But this is just too gimped to even convince people that the service is worthwhile, I think.
  • Hey, your Playstation 3 is in my TiVo!

    Get your TiVo outa my Playstation 3!

    Seriously though, I think it would be really great to combine my (future) PS3 and TiVo. After all it already functions as my CD & DVD player why not add live TV functionality. Throw in a DVD-R drive and a FireWire port and I'm in heaven!!!

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