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Tivo and Netflix Partner For DVDs on Demand 229

Posted by CmdrTaco from the here's-hoping-it-pans-out dept.
Tonetheman writes "The details are not really there yet, but it looks like Tivo and Netflix are going to team up! This is great for those who watch a lot of DVD's. You will be able to order a DVD and have it appear sometime later on the Tivo. Blockbuster will not be far behind with your favorite cable company."
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Tivo and Netflix Partner For DVDs on Demand More

Tivo and Netflix Partner For DVDs on Demand

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  • This will be.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:47PM (#10171032)
    ...hacked in 5...4..3...2..1...

  • Awesome idea (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tabacco ( 145317 ) * on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:48PM (#10171038)
    I like the sound of it. One of my biggest complaints about Netflix was that you couldn't just say "Oh man, I really want to see !" and go get it to watch that night. Admittedly, their shipping service is fast, but it's still not the same when you have to wait a day or two to get it. But if I could download it (or at least get it streaming) instantly or within a couple of hours, that'd be pretty darn cool :)

    • Re:Awesome idea (Score:5, Interesting)

      by mrpuffypants ( 444598 ) * <mrpuffypants@@@gmail...com> on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:55PM (#10171109)
      I think a more revolutionary solution would be to allow remote queuing/renting of movies. Think of it this way:

      You're at work and you hear about this really funny new Zombie movie called "Shaun of the Dead". You check Netflix and they have it for DVD in 3 days or TiVo delivery that evening.

      The netflix website interfaces directly with the TiVo network and you schedule a download of the movie.

      When you get home it's completely downloaded to your TiVo (or darn close to it) and you can enjoy the movie without waiting.

      It'd be something that I know I'll look into, for sure.

      • Oh, sure. (Score:3, Funny)

        by gstoddart ( 321705 )
        The netflix website interfaces directly with the TiVo network and you schedule a download of the movie.


        When you get home it's completely downloaded to your TiVo (or darn close to it) and you can enjoy the movie without waiting.


        Until the whole system gets hacked and you come home to 37 hours of gay midget porn all conveniently already billed to your account. =)

      • Re:Awesome idea (Score:3, Interesting)

        by BurritoWarrior ( 90481 )
        You can already remotely schedule programs on your TiVo through the tivo.com web site. I would think that this "on demand" service would also be added to the remote scheduling options.

    • Re:Awesome idea (Score:4, Interesting)

      by accelleron ( 790268 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @04:08PM (#10171207)
      It is an interesting concept, but take a look at this:

      - Cable/Sattellite companies have the capability to stream high-res content to your TV
      - Cable/Sat companies have thecapability to have different people watching different channels
      - Cable/Sat companies have vast amounts of storage space and proccessing power.

      What, therefore, stops them from ripping all of the DVD's in, say, NetFlix's library into their format, storing it on their server, and putting up a request system.

      Then, any time someone would want to watch a movie, they'd simply have to hit a button, and the movie would be queued from the provider's central server, and streamed immediately and directly to the user's channel using a server/client setup. Considering the amount of processing power needed to play/stream a DVD is a nominal 500-700MHz, and these people's server power, I think this is more than possible. Question is, where the hell is it.
      • Then, any time someone would want to watch a movie, they'd simply have to hit a button, and the movie would be queued from the provider's central server, and streamed immediately and directly to the user's channel using a server/client setup. Considering the amount of processing power needed to play/stream a DVD is a nominal 500-700MHz, and these people's server power, I think this is more than possible. Question is, where the hell is it.

        Unless I've misunderstood something, you've just described Video on

      • Re:Awesome idea (Score:3, Informative)

        by fiddlesticks ( 457600 )
        > What, therefore, stops them from ripping all of the DVD's in, say, NetFlix's library into their format, storing it on their server, and putting up a request system.

        Bandwidth does. On demand is obviously the Holy Grail for cable- and sat- operators, but even a million (conservative estimate) boxes all requesting different programmes presents a real challenge

        Clearly with 20,000 films there'd be a maximum of 20000 streams, but the capacity to deliver that, combined with the fact that people would want t

      • Re:Awesome idea (Score:3, Interesting)

        by dpletche ( 207193 )
        What, therefore, stops [Cable/Sat companies] from ripping all of the DVD's in, say, NetFlix's library into their format, storing it on their server, and putting up a request system.

        Answer: you're talking about the cable companies, not the most innovative or customer-focused industry.

        The satellite providers show more promise, but I doubt it's feasible until/unless receiver boxes have PVR capabilities. I strongly doubt that satellites have infinite bandwidth to support pointcasting to thousands of distin

    • Re:Awesome idea (Score:3, Informative)

      by oneiron ( 716313 )
      Blockbuster's new netflix clone fixes that problem. In addition to the 3 movie-at-a-time-by-mail allowance, they also allow you 3 free in-store rentals as a part of the plan for the same price as netflix.
    • What's even worse is when the friggin movie gets lost between their inventory and your mailbox, and they blame you and request an investigation with the post office that is never resolved. After having my account locked a number of times, I said screw it and went with Blockbuster's Freedom Pass. Same deal as Netflix, only I do get to go to the store when the whim hits me for a certain movie and rent it right away without worrying about shipping times. I can drop off the previous night's movie at the same
  • Thankfully, they will continue to implement their rip-offs in such a fashion that the service will be too difficult for Average Joe, sub-mediocre, and still not satisfy anybody's needs.

    My name is Ryan, and I'm a Netflix fan. Still need to get on the Tivo bandwagon, though. :)

  • Bandwidth (Score:4, Insightful)

    by neotuli ( 797361 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#10171082)
    Where do they plan on finding super-high bandwidth connections for home users? For me at least, it is and would remain much faster to to spend five minutes walking the two blocks to the video rental shop and just get one there, rather than waiting a couple hours for the movie to download.

    • Re:Bandwidth (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jandrese ( 485 ) * <kensama@vt.edu> on Monday September 06, 2004 @04:06PM (#10171191) Homepage Journal
      You must be lucky, my local video stores (all Blockbusters and locally ownd foreign-language-only places) completely blow for selection. Blockbuster in particular never seems to carry anything I'd actually want to watch. Netflix on the other hand has been like a gift from God. I've been able to watch dozens of old movies that I missed in the theatres years ago and cult classics. I have yet to hear someone talking about a film that I couldn't find on Netflix. Plus, Blockbuster seems to do everything possible to stick you with late fees, even if their storefront is blocked by construction preventing you from getting the DVD back in the slot until 5 minutes past noon. They still send me an occasional coupon for free movie rentals and I throw them away, why should I drive out to the store to rent some movie I didn't really want to see, even if it is free?

      • Re:Bandwidth (Score:2, Insightful)

        by crywolf ( 445243 )
        The problem could be that Blockbuster has a policy (as I've heard it from a relative that manages a store) that if it hasn't been rented within the past 6 months, it gets tossed. Doesn't leave much room for selection.

      • Re:Bandwidth (Score:3, Interesting)

        by hazem ( 472289 )
        Try checking the local library. There's a good chance they're linked with other libraries and can offer quite a large selection of movies for free.

        I was recently living in a rural coastal region and through my local library, I had access to the dvd/video selection of about 12 other libraries. I saved a fortune in rental fees and my non-subscription to cable.

        The only real downside was waiting for particular movies. I couldn't plan to watch a certain movie at a certain time because the only copy might be
    • For me that would be a 10 minute (one way) ride out in the cold and/or rain (or whatever) only to find that the movie I wanted isn't available because either all DVDs are already rented out or they have stopped carrying that one because it's too old.
    • What does it matter if it takes a couple of hours to download a movie that is a couple of hours long? If Tivo holds true to their current UI, you will be able to watch the movie before you have the whole thing doenloaded...

      I mean, it currently takes me an hour to 'download' an hour long show on my Tivo via normal recording mechanisms.

      People who love NetFlix don't seem to mind that they may have to wait DAYS to get the movies they asked for by mail... a few hours seems like an improvement to me.

      Sign me

  • Comcast already does this... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by stubear ( 130454 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#10171084)
    "...Blockbuster will not be far behind with your favorite cable company."

    Comcast already offers movies through their OnDemand service and I don't have to wait for them to download before I watch them. The service unblocks access to the movie I want for 24 hours so I can watch it anytime I want before the time's up.
    • That's just for movies though. This is basically the DVD (minus the disc). It sounds like you get all the menus, all the extras, and anything else on the DVD. AFAIK, most digital cable companies offer the movies, as you'd see on HBO, in the theater, etc, but they don't offer an actual DVD version.
    • While I don't have OnDemand (I'd rather have a TiVo that can change channels accurately than a digital cable box and IR blaster) it looks like you can only pick from a selection of pre-chosen movies. How many movies can you pick from? Netflix currently claims to have over 25,000 to choose from.
      • Comcast digital boxes have a plug in the back that can make a direct connection to TiVo's IR blaster. Until a few months ago, they disabled this feature, but sometime around June, they sent a firmware update to my box that re-enabled it.

        I now have HDTV digital cable and error-free TiVo channel selection.
        • Some of my friends in my area had theirs unlocked a year and a half ago, but all my calls to Comcast ended in frustration. I finally just told them to take their digital box back because they couldn't support my setup. Since then, the TiVo has caught more TV than I can watch anyway, so I don't feel the need to add more channels.

    • Re:Comcast already does this... (Score:4, Informative)

      by bob65 ( 590395 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @04:12PM (#10171235)
      OnDemand seems to be lower quality (picture wise and sound wise) than most DVDs though. Particularly if the digital cable box is not hooked up for 5.1 channel dolby digital output.

      • OnDemand seems to be lower quality (picture wise and sound wise) than most DVDs though

        Absolutely true. Content encoded for a standard-definition DVD is constrained to a maximum bit rate of 10 Mbps, and the typical bit rate is around 5-6 Mbps. Content encoded for delivery over digital cable typically runs at a relatively constant rate in the range of 1-3.5 Mbps, depending mostly on what kind of service it is (low-end digital-tier channels get the lowest rates; premium content like HBO gets the higher

    • You'd be complaining if you had a high-def TV. From what I've seen, OnDemand looks blocky and pixelated on a high-def television. However, OnDemand also has other problems. The interface is clunky and unresponsive. In all, it really pails in comparison to the pleasure of a high-def TiVo.

  • Strangeberry (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BigHungryJoe ( 737554 ) * on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#10171089) Homepage
    Strangeberry software, codeveloped by one of the writers of Sun's Java programming language, allows users to plug a DSL or cable modem into the back of the TiVo device and draw digital content like music and movies off the Internet.

    TiVo can already use your broadband connection to download their programming info. Does anyone know exactly what Strangeberry does? The TiVo press release just described it as "protocols and tools for delivery of broadband."

    I'm also wondering if this is going to be an update to your existing TiVo software, or if it'll be another $100 add-on, like Home Media Option.

    -bhj
    • AFAIK, the Home Media Option is free for all Series 2 units. At least... I never paid for it and it's available on both of my TiVos.
      • But, sadly, not the DirecTiVo Series 2 boxes. Because the DirecTV folks are too paranoid... My box is already hacked, what have they got to lose?
      • Hmm - I paid $99 for it and it d/l'ed from TiVo's website. I wonder if it was made free after I purchased it, or if it is free with all new TiVos. I've got a series 2 also - the TCD240080, and HMO was definitely not free.

        bhj

  • al a carte!!!! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BWJones ( 18351 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:53PM (#10171093) Homepage Journal
    Hey, fix the damn al a carte system first! I don't want to order my cable with the existing packages, but would rather only pay for the channels (and services) I prefer. No damned shopping channels and such, just give me news channels, History channel, TLC, Discovery, BBC, Speedvision, ESPN, TCM and broadband cable, with the OPTION of being able to order specific movies or events ON DEMAND when I want them.

    • Re:al a carte!!!! (Score:3, Informative)

      by doormat ( 63648 )
      No damned shopping channels and such, just give me news channels, History channel, TLC, Discovery, BBC, Speedvision, ESPN, TCM and broadband cable, with the OPTION of being able to order specific movies or events ON DEMAND when I want them.

      Your cable bill would be the same. The economics work like this: most cable companies have to pay the provider (ESPN) so much $ per sub per month - ESPN is actually the #1 reason your bills go up so much. Shopping channels give your cable or satellite provider so much $

      • Re:al a carte!!!! (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jandrese ( 485 ) *
        This is the biggest reason I want an a la carte system! I don't want ESPN, but I know a big chunk of my monthly bill is going towards this channel. The home shopping channels I can live with, but I'm really looking to maximize my enjoyment per dollar.

        The biggest problem is that many media companies bundle their channels together, so if you want Comedy Central and Sci Fi you are also forced to take Oxygen, FX, Animal Planet, and a bunch of other stations that you don't care about. This setup is not like
      • I just watched an FCC hearing on CSPAN on this very topic. (yeah, yeah, I know. Too much time on my hands).

        You'll never guess who was opposed to this--

        The smaller cable channels. There were quite a few passionate pleas to the FCC to NOT use this model, including one very emotional one by the founder of Nickelodeon TV (and the creator of Oxygen). The reasoning is that it's very hard if not impossible to start a new smaller-market cable channel (like some of your favorites-- History channel, TLC, Discove
    • This idea is long overdue as far as I'm concerned. Given the delivery method of most cable services now, there's no reason for it not to happen. Well, I take that back: The reason is, if people are allowed to do this, the cable companies would make less money. So that's probably why it hasn't happened yet. But I live in New York and deal with Time-Warner Cable, paying $50/month for expanded basic service, which gives me some 60-70 channels, of which I regularly watch maybe 15. Hopefully the cable comp
    • With the NetFlix/TiVo pairing you'd be off to a good start. There are a lot of series I would like to watch, that I have not yet (like BBC's The Office) - but with this I could rent the series DVD at my leisure. You can easily imaging a future where you pay a bit more to rent series episodes alone the day of release - making channels themselves a relic!

  • This could be huge (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jskiff ( 746548 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:54PM (#10171095) Homepage
    As an avid Netflix subscriber and recent TiVo purchaser, this sounds great. Being able to add a movie to my queue and then watch it within hours, as opposed to ~2 days would be quite cool.

    Of course I haven't R'dTFA, but I wonder what the disk space requirements are for this? The 40 hour units don't exactly have a ton of space.

    I also wonder how the MPAA is going to agree to this; it's already fairly trivial to telnet or FTP to a TiVo, pull the programs off, and burn them to a DVD (or so I hear). You'd think that this thing will be h4xx0r3d pretty quick.
    • how is it better then driving to the movie rental place, renting it, taking it home and watch it then?
      • The main advantage I see, as a current netflix customer, is no late fees. I am notorious for racking up huge late fees at the video rental places and at libraries. Netflix helps me avoid this.
    • Why would the disk space requirements be any different? An hour of video is an hour of video. In fact, since they wouldn't have to compress the stream in real time, they may be able to optimize it a little better than Tivo does in real-time.

      I agree, the MPAA will probably freak, but how is this *really* any different then recording a movie off of HBO onto my Tivo? I could rip that if I really wanted to.

      From my perspective, the only difference is the protocol used to get the video onto my Tivo... I mea

  • So how legal is this? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) * on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:55PM (#10171106)
    I wonder if they are going to get in trouble, or if they have permission for such a plan. I could see them saying each TiVo copy is linked to a physical DVD - but MP3.com tried that long ago to disasterous effect by letting you listen to streamed music of a CD that you identified you owned.

    It sounds great though and would be the thing that would finally have me buy a TiVo box. Plus, if you think about it, it could almost make the HDVD spec moot if you could download HD media to your TIVO from Netflix (perhaps in conjuction with HDNet as per the recent story, though they want to ship out physical drives to customers!).

    Sounds like a great idea to keep both Netflix and TiVo ahead of rivals.

  • Exactly what needed to happen (Score:4, Interesting)

    by doormat ( 63648 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @03:55PM (#10171108) Homepage Journal
    This is an excellent move. I've got a netflix subscription, and I want to get a tivo. The idea of being able to get DVDs on demand over my Tivo (and watch x many times or y hours) is sweet. The only issue is bandwidth. I've got a 3mbit/s connection, and it would be nice to watch it in real time (a well compressed 3mbit/s strem can look nice - DirecTV's channels are a little less than 3mbit/s by comparison). Still, its wonderful to hear this.

    About damn time.
    • You don't really need it to start in real time. Even if you have a decent cable/dsl connection and give it an hour head start*, you should be able to watch it all the way through.

      * Warning: I pulled this calculation out of my ass.
      • Yea, basically its just the ratio between your download speeds and the bitrate of the movie. If the movie bitrate was 4.5mbit/s and your download speeds were 3mbit/s you would need to wait til you had about 1/3 downloaded (say 40 minutes - about as long as it takes to cook and eat dinner, then a romantic movie). Plus a lot of cable companies are starting to up speeds, my cable company (Cox) already raised speeds around the country to 4/512 and 5/768; 5mbit/s down is enough to watch a very high quality movie

  • Take this into account. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by drseuss9311 ( 789400 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @04:04PM (#10171177) Homepage Journal
    To me it seems like blockbuster and netflix and the like are probably feeling the squeeze from all this tivo/dvr/video-on-demand and need to partner w/ these companies that get into the home each and every day.

    When I worked with my local cable provider in tech support for the highspeed clients the cable provider was beta testing the inDemand features in new cable boxes. The employees who wanted to help were the beta testers. I enjoyed the sneak peek at the near future, but on to my main point...

    One day i was helping the guy who was deploying the inDemand systems and I was asking him about the technical details and scaling the systems. At the end of the conversation he put it this way:

    "They're basically gunning to put blockbuster out of business.."

    that's not the exact quote but close... and of course it was only his opinion, but who knows... blockbuster will soon be at the knees of these cable companies with on-demand movies because they can get it to the home.

    mod me down if u must
    • I can't wait for Blockbuster to go out of business. Their refusal to carry NC-17 movies (do they allow unrated) means studios have to chop movies down for the "public good". And they want six bucks for a movie rental. The thing is, I hate cable companies as much as I hate Blockbuster, so I'm SOL. I love Netflix, although they delay my movies because I turn them over too fast. I want a good guy to appear in this media blitz, bit I don't see it happening.

  • Or only the movie?

  • Twice the suckitude (Score:3, Insightful)

    by poptones ( 653660 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @04:11PM (#10171228) Journal
    I had a direcTV sub and I let it lapse because the quality was so bad the rips I was getting of my favorite tv shows were of MUCH lower quality than what I could download off usenet for free. West Wing, Dark Angel - my gawd, the FOX stations on DirecTV had TERRIBLE quality.

    So how are they going to do this? Are they really going to deliver you the 6GB DVD stream of "Signs" or "Moulin Rouge?" I can see networks of DSLams from coast to coast grinding to a halt now. More likely it will be some shit quality rip made by machines in a "ripping factory" - if you have broadband you could ALREADY get anything they have to offer from usenet or bittorrent, in higher quality than they are likely to offer, and get it before these folks get around to "licensing" the content for broadcast from ho-town.

    Jack had it wrong all along, and it's sad to see how his antiquated notions have crippled the potential of an entire industry. So long as Hollywood continues to deny broadcasters the ability to compete by offering high quality and convenience in one package, "piracy" is going to grow in the mainstream.

    It's not about competing with free, Jack - it's about competing with quality.

    • "I had a direcTV sub and I let it lapse because the quality was so bad the rips I was getting of my favorite tv shows were of MUCH lower quality than what I could download off usenet for free. "

      Where the hell are you finding these rips?

      I know that DirecTV's quality leaves quite a bit to be desired, but it's far superior to the 600MB DIVX rips you normally get online.

      Perhaps you've found a source of decent DIVX rips, but 95% of the stuff online is poorly compressed 320x240 crap.

      If I want to watch a show
      • Watch it live? Dunno where you live, but where I live West Wing has been on hiatus for.. I dunno. Six months it seems. And when it comes back from hiatus it's unlikely I'll be able to rent the show on DVD the day after it airs. The NBC affiliate in my rural area still doesn't have an HD plan, but I can get a high quality, straight from HD, 480p MPEG2 encoded rip within 48 hours of the show's first air.

        And yes, it's of substantially higher quality than anything DirecTV had to offer when I was a subscriber.

  • TIVO vs. Comcast (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TapestryDude ( 631153 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @04:13PM (#10171256) Homepage
    I'm nervous, on Tivo's behalf, on this subject.
    • Broadband is presumably required to download the DVD content
    • This will likely be broadband over cable in most areas
    • My provider, Comcast, offers a competing on-demand service
    • Comcast is known to terminate service for anyone who actually uses their unlimited broadband
    • Sign up, start downloading ... then go begging to get your Internet restored?
    I suspect that other large cable/broadband providers will do the same (terminate, interrupt, or otherwise impede service), perhaps regardless of whether they provide on-demand services that directly compete with this Tivo/Netflicks offering.

    • Re:TIVO vs. Comcast (Score:3, Interesting)

      by silentbozo ( 542534 )
      If they cut people off, then end-users will have to choose: keep cable, but forgo Tivo/Netflix, or switch to DSL and get rid of cable. If I were a DSL provider, I'd be offering promo packages to capture cable subscribers that were put into that position - boosting my own subscriber numbers, and putting the hurt on my competition (the local cable monopoly.)

      Personally, I'd drop cable - you get a fat pipe down, but it doesn't mean much if you're not allowed to max it out. And who actually watches all 500 c
    • Comcast is known to terminate service for anyone who actually uses their unlimited broadband

      Well, yeah, I think that was a poor marketing decision in the beginning. They should have been up-front that unlimited meant always-on in terms of there's no hour count, not unlimited being that you are trying to lug down the connection 100% all the time.

      Some other slashdotter was complaining that his ISP only allowed 90 gigabytes downloaded per month. I'm thinking that is a lot of data to be pulling down. That

  • shaw does this in BC (Score:2, Interesting)

    by null-sRc ( 593143 )
    with this one you don't have to wait, it's instant...

    only thing is I believe there's only a limited selection but i'm not sure...

    https://secure.shaw.ca/sod/home.asp/ [secure.shaw.ca]

    The movie should immediately start playing on your TV. Sit back and enjoy the show! Remember that you can stop, pause, rewind or jump forward at any time using your remote control.

  • Download time (Score:4, Informative)

    by mapinguari ( 110030 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @04:18PM (#10171284)
    "The downloads will likely take several hours."
    No shit. A single layer DVD is what, 6GB?
    The Matrix clocks in at 7.8GB.
    At 1 Mb/s, that's close to a day.

    Or by "DVD", maybe they mean a low quality copy of the movie you might rent on DVD, with none of the extras, bells or whistles.

  • Favorite Cable Company (Score:2, Insightful)

    by nfg05 ( 638727 )
    My favorite cable company? Hell, I've only got one choice and it's a bit of a stretch to call it my favorite...

  • TiVo = open source (Score:3, Informative)

    by KB1GHC ( 800065 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @04:41PM (#10171443)
    TiVo's OS is Linux based, you can download the source code: http://tivo.com/linux/linux.asp

    I'm not sure about all TiVo's but mine has a USB port in the back (and most of the new ones do) but there are several books and online guides (one book that i know of "Hacking the TiVo")

    But you can pull the MPEG2's right off the TiVo and on to your hard drive, and then it's onto the DVD burner from there.

    However, I don't know if this NetFlix thing is actually going to send the entire DVD to your TiVo (with the menus and deleted scenes and stuff) or if it's just going to be movies only.

    I have DirecTV and TiVo, and they already have "Starz on demand" where you choose what movie you want.

    If you order pay per view, or record something on Starz, you can record it onto a DVD, but it might not have the deleted scenes and stuff.

    Also with a TiVo, there is something called the "showcase" and if you go into the "showcase" menu it has a few short video clips, (all junk like commercials and stuff)

    But I'm not sure if this is real big news, there have been all kinds of movie services in the past. (Pay-Per-View, Starz, HBO, ShowTime, On-Demand) (KaZaA)

    But if this new service is going to send the entire DVD, (deleted scenes and all), it will be pretty cool.

    • Re:TiVo = open source (Score:2, Interesting)

      by drawfour ( 791912 )

      TiVo's OS is Linux based, you can download the source code: http://tivo.com/linux/linux.asp

      Thanks for the link to the source. Does this contain only the enhancements they made to the kernel, or does it contain the TiVo application as well? For example, the rules engine for schedules and conflict resolution? I know they have to release their kernel enhancements, but unless their application is put into the kernel itself, they may not release the source for it.

      I'm not sure about all TiVo's but mine h

  • This is what cable companies are doing with VOD (video on demand). I Have have had this service (no extra cost) for a good 1 1/2 - 2 years with TimeWarner/Brighthouse. I just turn to channel 1 and can scroll through the movies available. The cost per movie is about the same as Blockbuster. I hit play and the movie starts right away. I can stop/rewind/FF/Play as much as I want for 24 hours. The only thing that currently sucks about the service is the poor movie selection. Maybe 100-150 movies. Now, i
  • You will be able to order a DVD and have it appear sometime later on the Tivo.

    I already enjoy this slow pseudo-VOD service with TV shows (and whatever DVDs people have stored on their RTVs) using ReplayTV [leavensfamily.com] and Poopli [avsforum.com]. It's like Napster for video.

  • How about High Definition (Score:3, Informative)

    by tgibbs ( 83782 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @05:47PM (#10172012)
    Being able to download DVDs to my TiVo is something I'd probably do occasionally when the video shop a couple of blocks from my home doesn't have what I want. On the other hand, if I could download better-than-DVDs to my high-definition TiVo, I'd probably go to my TiVo first, and check the video store if TiVo couldn't get it.
  • Sounds pretty cool, but what about those movies with DTS sound and higher quality? Is all that stuff going to be lost in the download? Netflix for me takes about a day or two to get a new movie (return it Tuesday, it's received Wednesday, get new one on Thursday), and for certain movies I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice my sound or quality just to get it somewhat quicker.

  • What's the big deal? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kaldaien ( 676190 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @06:25PM (#10172295)
    It sounds nice in theory that you can download a
    "DVD" to your TiVo and watch it, but there are
    some serious cons to such a system (on TiVo
    hardware)...

    For one thing, TiVo doesn't have component
    outputs, so you're stuck with SVIDEO. The DVD
    video will be compressed even more than normal so
    you lose picture quality even before the picture
    goes over SVIDEO.

    TiVo doesn't have S/PDIF out, so you can say
    goodbye to Dolby Digital or DTS sound (most
    importantly a discrete LFE channel). The audio
    too, will be compressed more than normal. So even
    without Dolby Digital or DTS you're still getting
    much lower quality than the actual DVD.

    And finally, nobody (I know anyway) has enough
    free space on their TiVo to store these movies...
    We're all too busy hoarding episodes of shows
    we've been meaning to burn to DVD for months :)

    ReplayTV's more suited to address the first two
    issues (since they have S/PDIF and Component Video
    outputs). Certain TiVo models have built-in DVD
    burners, which only solves the 3rd problem...

    Personally, if I wanted something on demand, I'd
    use my cable company's VOD service. (Which DOES
    have Dolby Digital soundtracks, but no DTS :-\)
    and my cable box has component out. And there's
    also HD VOD (something renting or owning the
    actual DVD can't even offer :P)...

    I'm equally surprised at the success of iTunes.
    The music you download is noticably lossy, and
    they don't offer lossless copies of anything you
    buy (40+ Mb would be perfectly acceptable for this
    audiophile :)).

    I suppose there are those who will always like
    their thrills cheap and easy, making up the
    majority of the customer base for online music
    services right now. It remains unclear what will
    happen to these service's customer bases once
    HDTV sets and Dolby Digital / DTS home theatre
    equipment becomes more mainstream.

    TiVo would do much better if it were to upgrade
    its "Home Media" option to allow PC -> TiVo video
    x'fers and other services that ReplayTV offers.
    I understand why they're hesitant to implement 1st
    party video extraction. But injection of external
    MPEG2 files would make a lot of people happy,
    especially those folks with the DVD burner models.
    I'd more willingly fork over a few extra bucks a
    month for that than renting a DVD over TiVo.

  • 5.1 Channel Sound? Component Video? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Quarters ( 18322 ) on Monday September 06, 2004 @06:47PM (#10172437)
    A TiVO S2 doesn't have seperate RGB outputs, progressive scan, or 5.1 optical audio output. Granted some DirecTiVo S2s and some of the high-end licensed TiVO S2 boxes have RGB and 5.1. I don't think any of them have progressive scan, though. Well, maybe the HD DirecTivo does, I've never seen one of those.

    For the majority of TiVo users this will not be equivilant to a DVD. It will be lower bitrate, 2-channel audio, interlaced, and S-Video output at best. It's a neat idea, but acutally renting or buying a DVD will still be better.

  • You will be able to order a DVD and have it appear sometime later on the Tivo.

    Holy Crap!!
    Tivo now has a built in Teleporter!!!
    Oh, you meant a MOVIE/MOTION PICTURE.... nevermind...
    I've been labouring under the assumption that a DVD was just the media that held the movie.....

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