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Television Media

Engadget Interviews TiVo CEO 134

Posted by michael from the thumbs-up dept.
r-blo writes "We've got an interview of Mike Ramsay, CEO of TiVo, by Engadget correspondent J.D. Lasica. He's rather candid in his thoughts on Hollywood, Netflix, the FCC, the INDUCE act, their competition, and their latest technology, TiVo ToGo, which lets you take your TiVo-recorded shows with you on your laptop (or PC, as it were)."
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Engadget Interviews TiVo CEO More

Engadget Interviews TiVo CEO

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  • TiVo Rocks (Score:5, Insightful)

    by metlin ( 258108 ) * on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:36PM (#10570202) Journal
    My favourite part -

    We developed a security mechanism around that, submitted it to the FCC under the broadcast flag initiative, and the Motion Picture Association and the NFL went ballistic and lobbied incredibly hard. But guess what? It got approved. The FCC supported our technology.

    Should the FCC be in the business of regulating new technologies like this one?

    Definitely not. It's scary when you feel that you have to go to the FCC for permission to do something. So we're not very comfortable with that. I think the broadcast flag stuff is less onerous than some other things, like the INDUCE Act. That we're much more concerned with because that could lead to prosecution of individuals who induce copyright infringement. That just opens up a whole can of worms. If you upset consumers enough, they'll become pirates, and that law has the potential to do that.

    You'll notice that everything on the table in Washington being pushed by the media companies doesn't target regular television. It's targeted at things like ripping DVDs, how long you can keep movies pay-per-view movies, and so on.

    Yay! I'm glad that atleast there are _some_ companies out there who feel this way.

    Yes, if you upset the consumers enough, we'll all become pirates -- and what do you do when every one out there is a pirate by the **AA's definition?

    It's about bloody time that the rest of the media companies out there realize this -- what're they going to do, arrest everyone? Stupidity.

    I'm surprised at the resistance that the corporate world is showing in this regard -- they seem to be simply unwilling to adapt to new technologies and new media, and those that do (such as TiVo) actually do well.

    I've always liked TiVo, but after the way TiVo handled the recent DRM troubles [boingboing.net], I've really begun to respect them a real lot.

    Way to go, guys. Goodluck, and may you continue kicking ass ;)

    • Re:TiVo Rocks (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Sc00ter ( 99550 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:39PM (#10570226) Homepage
      But what's nice is.. They don't like it, they don't support it. But rather then going off and doing whatever on their own and get sued they got what they wanted by the FCC first so they covered their ass. This is why TiVo is a smart company.

      • Re:TiVo Rocks (Score:5, Informative)

        by LostCluster ( 625375 ) * on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:58PM (#10570367)
        It should be pointed out that on the semi-offical TiVoCommunity.com boards, any form of getting video out of a TiVo other than playing back the file and recording that is a verbotten topic. Digital video extraction from a TiVo is possible, but it requires modifying the TiVo software to remove intentional encryption that's being applied.

        TiVo doesn't support moving files to your computer yet, and it's highly likely that TiVo-To-Go will permit storing and watching of files but nothing more.

        Bottom line... if you want to get unrestricted MPEG files out of your TiVo, you can, but you have to go a long way to make it work, and you end up no longer being officially supported. TiVo's ass is covered.
        • I can't understand why anyone would want a TiVo 2 Go. They plan on charging a subscription fee for each dongle. Sorry, I would not pay $300 (or any monthly fee) just to watch TiVoed content on a PC.
        • Bottom line... if you want to get unrestricted MPEG files out of your TiVo, you can, but you have to go a long way to make it work, and you end up no longer being officially supported.

          ... Or you could buy one with a built-in DVD recoder.

    • A probably unoriginal analogy for the INDUCE Act: what if GM and Ford got sued because their vehicles can go faster than the speed limit?

    • Re:TiVo Rocks (Score:5, Insightful)

      by molo ( 94384 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @06:26PM (#10570570) Journal
      what're they going to do, arrest everyone? Stupidity.

      No. They will just arrest you when you stick your neck out and speak up. If everyone's a criminal, selective prosecution against your political enemies becomes easy (whether they be the enemies of the RIAA or the Republicrats).

      See also: war on drugs, 3rd party candidates arrested at the presidental debates, etc.

      -molo

    • It should be obvious (Score:5, Insightful)

      by microbox ( 704317 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @10:49PM (#10572288)
      Yay! I'm glad that atleast there are _some_ companies out there who feel this way.

      Yes, if you upset the consumers enough, we'll all become pirates -- and what do you do when every one out there is a pirate by the **AA's definition?

      That hits the nail on the head, but why isn't it obvious to everybody? We live in a _democracy_, and can make any rules we want. That is the theory of how the system is meant to work...

      Thus, if the majority of people feel a certain way, about any issue, then the rules should reflect that.

      The real question is _why_ most people break the law. If, in the long run, their breaking of the that law isn't harmful to society, then the law is broken. If you determine that that law is required for the long-term sustainability of something valuable, then the legal framework and technologies should be designed so that the average person isn't in the dysfunctional position of supporting a law that makes them a criminal. Anything else indicates a break in the system.

      Are rich people gaming the system for their own benefit... and forming a legal framework to support their interests, or do people feel that copyright laws and systems are fair and that they are compulsive infringers.

      When you put it that way, it seems that the former is happening and the (democratic) system is broken, and some people are more equal than others. I don't think anybody disputes that (in general), but I'd like to see someone acknowledge that fact, and _then_ frame laws to protect IP content producers. That would give the system credability.

      I feel that we can continue to expect the IP cartels to extend their assets and rights - they have the only incentive they need: money.

      I welcome our new IP overlords. Please give me a job, I am also chasing money, it's very instinctive.
      • I welcome our new IP overlords. Please give me a job, I am also chasing money, it's very instinctive.

        Atleast you're honest about it :)

        What sucks is when the need for IP is being touted as something else while the real plain and simple reason it exists is for the sake of monetary benefits and nothing more. Protection of intellectual property is a long-gone plight, does not even happen much anymore.

  • PVR Newbie Questions (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lukewarmfusion ( 726141 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:37PM (#10570214) Homepage Journal
    The story summary didn't have any editorial comments... I need Slashdot to help me decide if TiVo (or Mr. Ramsay) is an evil company (tm) or a good company.

    Seriously, though - I'm not a TiVo customer, I don't know anyone with a TiVo, and all I know about them is from the media (mostly Slashdot). I've thought about getting this kind of product/service - but with free software alternatives that I can put on my own hardware, here are my questions:

    Is TiVo a company that I should support with my dollars? When I decide to plunk down some coin for a PVR, should I pay for it? If I should pay for it, is TiVo the best choice?

    • Re:PVR Newbie Questions (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Vengeance ( 46019 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:41PM (#10570240)
      I don't know if I can truly answer your question, but:

      *I have a TiVo (DirecTiVo to be precise)
      *TiVo runs Linux, and the GPL is one of the appendices in the owner's manual
      *It's an awesome little box that makes TV watching a much nicer experience
      *At 100 dollars (as an existing DirecTV customer) I couldn't possibly match the price with a home-brewed PC-based PVR.
      *My wife is entirely capable of operating it.
      • Not only that, as a new DirecTV customer I just got a DirecTiVo (35hr), a reciver for my other room (non-tivo), the dish, and install for $20 after rebate. Can't beat that!

      • Does the manual include a copy of the source code, or an address I can write to to get the source code for all GPL'd parts?

        With direcTiVo, do you pay a monthly/yearly service rate, or is the serivce rate included in your DirectTV bill?

        My wife is entirely capable of operating it.
        That settles it, I need one!!!

        --
        Now how can I modify my Amiga to be a PVR....
        Oh well, I guess I need a DPS-PAR card.

        • Re:PVR Newbie Questions (Score:5, Informative)

          by strabo ( 58457 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:59PM (#10570368) Homepage
          Does the manual include a copy of the source code, or an address I can write to to get the source code for all GPL'd parts?

          http://www.tivo.com/linux/ [tivo.com]

          Quote from the site:

          In compliance with the GPL, we are pleased to provide our modifications to the Linux PowerPC Kernel, as well as a few new commands, and some tools to get you into the code.

          Additionally, if you would like a CD-R of our modifications you may send a written request to:

          TiVo Inc.
          2160 Gold St.
          Alviso CA 95002-2160
          Attention: Customer Care - GNU/Linux Source Code Request.

          You will be charged a $15 fee for reproduction, shipping and handling costs, as allowed by the GPL. Make sure that you include a bank certified check for $15.00. Otherwise, you can download the code for free from below:

        • No source is included in the manual, nor did it come with a CDROM. To be honest, I haven't dug deeply enough into it to actually say whether or not there's actually an address to write to for the source, although I kind of assume there would be. I basically just noted the GPL and moved on from there.

          As to monthly fees, it is ordinarily a five dollar a month charge (like adding a receiver) but if you have a high enough level of service (I get most of the channels, Premium something it's called) then you h

      • Re:PVR Newbie Questions (Score:3, Informative)

        by James_G ( 71902 )
        At 100 dollars (as an existing DirecTV customer)

        $100 new for a 40 hour series 2 Tivo right now (with mail in rebate). See here [tivo.com] for details.

        We had two series 1 Tivos, and we just updated to 2 series 2 Tivos. The cool thing about the series 2 is, they support ethernet (or wireless) out of the box (with a USB ethernet/wireless adaptor). You hook the two up, and then you can use the Remote viewing [tivo.com] feature to transfer shows between the two.

        Oh, and if that's not enough, you can even schedule recordings onli [tivo.com]

        • I need to give that a try... My DirecTiVo has a USB port on the back, and I definitely intend to hook it up to my network.

          One of these days I'm gonna take that fluid-bearing 250 GB drive out of the closet and install it in the TiVo, too. If the TiVo won't work as-is on a network, I know I can modify the software before sticking the new disk in.
          • . If the TiVo won't work as-is on a network, I know I can modify the software before sticking the new disk in.

            Be careful, though. TiVo voids your warranty if you modify the software of your own (i.e. a non-TiVo upate).
          • DirecTiVo doesn't support the cool home media option stuff. no network support.
          • DirecTiVo does not support networking, HMO, TiVo-to-go, or any of the other cool features of the 4.0 software on the standalone TiVo models. The USB ports are not even activated.

            The boxes are perfectly capable of these features, but DirecTV is unwilling to activate them.

      • *My wife is entirely capable of operating it.

        Not only is she able to operate it, she took complete control of it. ;-)

        Once you start using a PVR (TIVO or something similar) you will never look at TV the same way again.
        Life is way too short to spend time watching commercials, or programming that you don't really care for but there was nothing else on.
        With Tivo I no longer zap between channels looking for something to watch, instead I just select from already recorded programs.

        The ability to watch TV while
        • Not only is she able to operate it, she took complete control of it. ;-)

          Tell me about it, my girlfriend is slowly taking over my TiVO. At first she thought it was way to expensive and couldn't understand why I bought it. Now she complains that I record too many of my shows; she hasn't seen me watch 'Mythbusters' in a while so I should remove its Season Pass so her 'The Appretice' has more room. Women.

          • Amen brother, amen!

            I'm now being told that my shows occupy too much space on the TIVO even though there's plenty of space left... oh and that my recorded programs are boring!

            Certain shows programs would mysteriously disappear, but I got that solved once I showed her a menu that displays information like "someone in your household delete this program at date/time", confronted with this information and a comment from me like "hmmm... I wonder who was home alone at this time" the programs no longer mysteriou
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • I mean that question in the way that Google is a company I support. They do good work, they have policies that have earned my trust, and I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt as a result.

        Before I buy a product, I try to research that product. But with a service (which is integral to the TiVo product's appeal to me) I prefer to research the company. If I have options, I try to pick the best one.
    • TiVo most definitely beats the homebrew options for working with DirecTV because by being in the same box, the unit never slips over a channel-change command because there's no need to go through infrared signal emulation.

      Additionally Tribune Media Service's data feed isn't free. (Neither is TV Guide / Gemstar's data.) That's what really can hold a homebrew project back... a last-minute lineup change has a chance of being caught by TiVo, your homebrew project will end up recording based on the time instead
      • Of course, homebrew units and normal DirecTV boxes wouldn't miss a channel change anyway if the software/hardware were less buggy. The problem is that the software sending out the code can get preempted midway through sending a button press command. The result is that the button press gets dropped.

        This could be solved trivially by putting the button press code in the kernel and disabling interrupts for the couple of milliseconds needed to send a button press command. This could also be trivially solved

    • I've had my TiVo for 3 years. Never had any problems, works the way it should. Never had any problems with the service or billing.

      The most important thing is ... it does what it is suppose to do without me having to ticker with it.

      The only thing I regret is not buying the one time service fee.
      • I've had my DirecTiVo for over three years now. No hiccups, no problems, all has been great. It's nice having one piece of technology in the house that I can trust and rely on without having to tinker.

    • Re:PVR Newbie Questions (Score:4, Informative)

      by Algan ( 20532 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:50PM (#10570309)
      Is TiVo a company that I should support with my dollars?

      I recently got a Tivo and my feeling is that yes, this is a company that deserves my support. If you decide you need a PVR, then Tivo is an excellent product, with an easy interface and backed by a company that is not just a bunch of asshats.
      Of course you can also roll over your own solution based on the free software that floats around th net (MythTV). You will probably have a lot of fun and a lot of headaches with it. On the short term it will cost you more, but you will avoid the monthly payment ($12.95). In my case, I just wanted to have something I could just plug in and enjoy.

      • Re:PVR Newbie Questions (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @06:29PM (#10570598) Homepage
        "On the short term it will cost you more, but you will avoid the monthly payment ($12.95). In my case, I just wanted to have something I could just plug in and enjoy."

        I'd like to comment on this. About a year ago (maybe more) I messed around with MythTV on an old (and too slow) Linux box. It was fun and I learned a lot by reading the mailing lists (they were trying to figure out how to block commercials at the time). I love messing with things, and I would love to be able to hack MythTV. After a while I gave up for two reasons: hardware (mine was too slow, didn't want to pay for better hardware at that time for a little side project) and interest (it was fun, but after a while I lost interest).

        Later that year (about one year ago now) I got a DirecTiVo. I don't like monthly payments, because often I feel like I'm getting ripped off. I have to say that the $5 a month I pay for my DirecTiVo (yep, cheaper than stand alone) is well worth it. I'd pay $20, easy. One of the reasons that I went with a TiVo was the "plug in and enjoy" factor. At the end of the day, I had stuff to do and I just wanted a tool I could use without having to tweek all the time. Even if you LIKE constantly tinkering with your stuff (as I do in some circumstances, like my PC), you owe it to yourself to get a TiVo over a MythTV box. The interface is just so perfect. It works just so well. It's not just something that does what it should (like a VCR), it doesn't it's job amazingly well. I don't think I've ever had a product that went so high above my expectations. And if you considder that my brother already had a TiVo (same house as me, so I've used it) and I had read all the great stuff here on Slashdot, I didn't know that was possible. It IS that good.

        Note that while a TiVo may be great, a DirecTiVo is to die for. Just like a TiVo (same interface, technology, etc), except that you have TWO tuners, so you can record TWO shows at once (take that NBC who wants to start shows 1 minute off the hour to screw up TiVos, I can record your shows ANYWAYS). It's fantastic. Not only that, but it's all pure digital (straight off the sat) so all the channels look just like they would if you used a normal sat box, and EVERYTHING gets recorded with the signal (that means it stores the Dolby Digital tracks from movies on Showtime and such) which is great.

        I have owned many consumer electronic devices, some work great (my VCRs are all fine), but some are terrible. I owned a Digital Cable box from my cable company (Comcrud) and it was terrible. Slow to change channels, slow to show the guide, slow to do anything, and it would crash. Best of all not only did I have to pay extra to rent the box, THEY PUT ADS ALL OVER THE USER INTERFACE FOR IT. It seems that as technology gets more complex, it gets harder to make things "just work". TiVo has got it right. Please support them and try out an awesome product (you have no idea how much your chained to TV schedules untill you don't have to care anymore).

        • A quick note to add to this, in response to the grandparent as well: do NOT get the monthly plan, Buy the life time service. Buying the lifetime service paid for itself already, and I'm way into the black compar4ed to where I'd be if I'd been paying every month
          • I can understand that. If you get multiple PVRs, you might want to go with DirecTV. There is a fee for having a DirecTiVo, but it is only applied to the account once. So if I added 3 more DirecTiVos to my account, it would cost the same per month as if I added 3 normal DirecTV recievers. After the first one, the additional DirecTiVos are essentially "free".

            That said, I don't think there is a lifetime service option for the DirecTiVo.

            • And it wouldn't be worth paying $300 for a lifetime with DirecTV. 300/5=60 months payback at 0% interest. I have no illusions that a TiVo won't die beyond repair in 5 years, on average. (I'm 15 months in and the drive fubar'd last week. I had to d/l a virgin image off eMule and replace the drive to get it running again). You get the second+ receiver at the extra-receiver charge (a cmopletely bogus charge, btw), so the service is "free" on extra receivers.
          • The problem with buying the lifetime service is that it means the the life of the device. This means that if the device is screwed up after the warranty is over and you have to buy a new one, you're SOL. Also, if you want to buy a newer device, again, you have to get a new plan. Now the lifetime subscription pays for itself in about two years, but I'm pretty sure that by 2006 HDTV will be much more prevalent and I'll want to get a HDTV Tivo box. They already have them for DirecTivo...
    • I have 1 regular tivo.

      1. My wife loves it. We no longer schedule anything in our lives around tv.
      2. There is always something to watch on tv
      3. my toddlers love it beacause the few shows they are allowed to watch are always thier. They dont understand at thier grandparents house why thier shows arn't on.
      4. I rolled my own first but was constantly having to patch this and that. With tivo It is automagicly handled. No updates or rolling needed.
      5. I can take my shows to our vacation place that gets NO tv recep
    • When it comes down to it TiVo is the best thing that has ever happened to my tv watcing experience. We have a directivo so we are able to record two shows at once unlike the cable versions. You cannot touch the quality of the UI on this box with the homebrew setup. We recently upgraded ours and now it holds all the movies we record and all the pay per view movies we purchase. Some of my friends have got the DVR that their cable company offers and its UI is nothing compared to the TiVo. After they use t
    • Look to REPLAY.

      100BaseT built-in
      DVArchive to download to PC or back
      Also Linux
      Wife loves it.

      MythTV is a good PC choice.
      • I agree that ReplayTV is more of a "hacker's" option. Being able to easily upgrade the hard drive and copy shows, along with the built-in Ethernet, is great. You can also link them up without having to pay extra (unlike TiVo). You can also share programs with other ReplayTV users over the net.

        There's no season pass, but you can tell it to record based on time slots (definitely helps avoid repeats), and specify the number of episodes to retain. Older units (like the 4xxx and 50xx series) will allow you to a
    • I love my TiVo.... but... I like the control and freedom to move content around without any drm sillyness...

      I know somoone praised automagic patching by tivo as a positive... I'd argue it can be a negative... like if they implement a feature or restriction you don't agree with you are powerless (well without delving into grey/black arts) to do anything about it... ask the time warner customers in NY who's DVR update fux0red their DVRs

      (actually in the past didn't directtv sent an update that went awry and
    • Is TiVo a company that I should support with my dollars?

      A lot of people have answered in this thread regarding the value you get for the price, the usability, and similar. I'd like to chime in briefly with some kudos for their support people.

      I got my Tivo a few months ago, and the one I got worked for about two days, then began locking. It would boot, work for about 30 seconds, and then crash.

      So, I called the support number, sat on the line for about 20 minutes, and got someone. He seemed genuinely i

  • Didn't ask about copyright issues (Score:4, Interesting)

    by erick99 ( 743982 ) <homerun@gmail.com> on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:38PM (#10570218)
    I was surprised that the interviewer listened to this response:

    Well, today one of the exciting things is the marriage of DVD recorders and TiVo.

    Without asking about copyright, digital rights, copy protection, etc. It's a very big and contentious issue. It would have been great to hear his answer.

    • I need to clarify a bit, they did touch on the FCC regulating some copyright issues but I was hoping that the interviewer would ask him about what TIVO is building into their units now, and it the near future, specifically to meet the MPAA (among others) demands.
    • It's probably because Tivo has kowtowed to the corporate overlords and received their blessing.

      That's the good and bad about Tivo.. They work with Big Media to avoid litigation, allowing them some cool features. But, to get the buy-in from Big Media, they must agree to restrictive terms - and NOT bring many more cool features.

      As was mentioned in the article, ReplayTV was litigated into a smoking hole in the ground after pissing off Big Media.

  • TiVo walks a tight-rope... (Score:5, Informative)

    by LostCluster ( 625375 ) * on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:41PM (#10570238)
    From the interview...

    How are you negotiating your relationship with Hollywood after they essentially put your main competitor out of business?

    Our role is to create a great experience for people who want to watch television. ReplayTV crossed a line, and they kind of asked for it, and they were put out of business.

    The Hollywood industry never really liked the Betamax VCR, so they certainly must be scared of DVRs. The features that got ReplayTV into trouble was "Show sharing" accross the Internet, and a semi-automatic skipping of commercials it could detect.

    TiVo of course has never offered such features, and TiVo-to-Go will be based on a USB dongle to tie recordings to the user who recorded them and try to stand in the way of user-to-user sharing.

    It's a strange world they live in... loved by consumers, but being careful to keep the Hollywood megacorps from crushing them.
  • What line did ReplayTV cross? How did that put them out of business -- aren't they still IN business?

    I totally don't follow DVR stuff, so I have no idea what he's talking about. Little help?
    • Here you go . . .

      Hollywood is claiming that SONICblue is guilty of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. Hollywood's argument is that SONICblue is not violating copyrights itself, but encouraging and assisting others in doing so. In order to make this argument stick, Hollywood must argue that using ReplayTV is itself a crime. Unsurprisingly, the claim is clear in the original complaint:

      Use of the ReplayTV 4000 to copy and distribute plaintiffs copyrighted works without authorization is

    • Re:ReplayTV (Score:4, Informative)

      by LostCluster ( 625375 ) * on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:50PM (#10570305)
      Replay got beaten into submission by lawsuits over their ability to share shows over the Internet and their automatic commercial skipping. They eventually removed both features from their products, even the ones already sold, via a software update. Both of those features are things TiVo never had.

      As a result, they're now a total also-ran being dwarfed by TiVo's market share. They still exists... but you might as well be compatible with the rest of the world and get a TiVo. ReplayTV just lacks any features that makes them stand out since they got thrown off the anti-Hollywood wagon.
      • ...even the ones already sold, via a software update.

        For what my anecdotal evidence is worth. My Replay TV still skips commercials, and that's the only reason I keep it. Compared to TiVo, the interface bites, and it comes across as stupid. My biggest complaint, it can't seem to follow a TV show consistently if it changes broadcast time.

      • They eventually removed both features from their products, even the ones already sold, via a software update.

        That is not true. The features were removed from the 5000 series. All 4000 series ReplayTVs still have these features. Commercial Advance was replaced by Show|Nav in the 5500 series. Basically the same as Commercial Advance, but you have to press the button on the remote first.

        ReplayTV just lacks any features that makes them stand out

        Can a TiVo do this:
        Resume a Show Anywhere: Start watching

        • I'll second that. The 4504 I've got still skips commercials, though it seems to be getting less effective over time. Whereas I used to be able to skip about 95% of ads, it now nails about 60%.

          One thing that people can keep in mind regarding the ReplayTV, though... I got a call from them a couple months ago, and they were offering to sell me a refurbed 4504 for something like 70-80 bucks. If it wasn't for the fact that I've already built a homebrew PV aside from my 4504, I'd have gotten it. Solid unit,

      • Re:ReplayTV (Score:3, Insightful)

        by WIAKywbfatw ( 307557 )
        In other words, Replay did exactly what 99.9 percent of Slashdotters claim that they want companies to do - give customers what they want and not kowtow to big businesses - and yet you're slamming them for it and recommending their competitors because of that very fact?

        Wow. There's no pleasing some people.
      • > removed both features from their products, even the ones already sold

        Not correct. The 4500 and 5000 series have internet sharing and automatic commercial advance, and will continue to have them for the foreseeable future.

        The 5500 models lacked these features; some owners hacked them to behave like 5000s but the configurations reverted after a software update. Perhaps this is what you were thinking of.
    • After the spate of Hollywood lawsuits, sonicBLUE went belly up. Its ReplayTV and Rio MP3 business units were purchased [com.com] by a Japanese consortium, D&M Holdings, which removed all the really cool features (like the share a show feature between up to 10 households) from the new ReplayTV units.

      So, the old units are much more capable than the new boxes.

      -- jd lasica (the Engadget article's author)

    • Well, Replay is essentially dead. D&M Holding's plans for it are to sell out the current inventory, combine with Escient, continue with premium branded products (Denon) and seek to license the software. At least this was their plan from 5/20/04, it may have changed since then. You can read their forecast here [dm-holdings.com].

  • interesting (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anubis350 ( 772791 )
    High definition will become more commonplace. Five years from now, you'll be able to get television content over broadband, whether it's over satellite or cable, and it will be the start of some new and interesting sources of content which has not been available to people to date. And five years from now, the idea of electronic delivery of video rentals will be real. Blockbuster will still be in business, but the idea of getting your video rental over broadband will have started to happen.
    this is an inter

  • Video on demand (Score:3, Interesting)

    by fiannaFailMan ( 702447 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:44PM (#10570258) Journal
    Instead of going to the video store or getting your Netflix in the mail, it's going to show up in your TiVo. It's a natural. It doesn't matter if it takes a day to get there, because Netflix takes a day anyway. People will get used to having a pipeline where content drips through. The transition to electronic distribution will be complete and we won't be dealing with physical media.
    I've been hearing about the impending explosion of video on demand for about five years now. Video seems extraordinarily stubbornly stuck to physical media.

    Suppose you download a video from the future TiVo/Netflix service and it takes the best part of a day. What if your local copy has been corrupted along the way? They'd better make sure and get their technology right and make it possible to download the screwed-up part alone -- I'd be a bit pissed if I had to retry a whole download from scratch if it took that long.

    • Video on demand as a technology is here and works just fine over cable TV systems. What's tying video to physical media isn't technical, it's political. Hollywood's scared of people being able to download HDTV broadcasts and store them, because there'd be nothing left to sell on the DVD if people are able to burn their own recordings to DVD...
    • "They'd better make sure and get their technology right and make it possible to download the screwed-up part alone -- I'd be a bit pissed if I had to retry a whole download from scratch if it took that long."

      Seeing as how that tech is already available for binary newsgroups, I suspect that Tivo could get their hands on it.
    • I am surprised this has not been brought up more frequently on slashdot. Here in Canada, one of our largest cable companies (Shaw) has a movie on demand service, and has had one for over a year. Granted the selection has went from "slim", to "not bad". It is prohibitive in some cases because you must have there high-speed service, with there digital cable, but the quality of the picture and sound is surprisingly good, and it starts immediately, not tomorrow. https://secure.shaw.ca/sod/home.asp [secure.shaw.ca] Shaw on dem
    • Well, it doesn't necessarily work like that.

      DirecTV is already using this functionality in their STARZ! package, called "STARZ! on Demand." Basically, it automatically downloads movies to your DVR via the satellite. You have the benefit of relatively fast downloads (compared to dial-up, anyway), and the movies just show up. The downside is you don't get to pick what movie you get, but since it's on the DVR you can start the movie anytime you want.

      Nathan
    • It exists, and the market is growing quite nicely. I work for a company (Myrio - see http://www.myrio.com ) that makes IPTV products. TIVO like capabilities, Video on Demand, etc... What features do YOU want in the box?

  • Oh man I need this (Score:5, Funny)

    by graveyhead ( 210996 ) <fletch AT fletchtronics DOT net> on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @05:45PM (#10570267)
    I have a first-gen Tivo with 9 hour capacity. My wife has taken it over. On any given day, I can expect to find one or more episodes of:
    • Judging Amy
    • Gillmore Girls
    • Everybody Loves Raymond
    With this new gadget, I could consign her to watching these terrible shows on her Mac, preferably with headphones on and a small tent around her desk.

    Damn, who am I kidding? I'll be the one in the tent watching 12 hours of LoTR :(

  • Brilliant!!! (Score:1, Troll)

    by zasos ( 688522 )
    What is it?
    Its a box that lets you record and time shift live TV!
    Time shift and record?! Brilliant!!!

    And the best part we know what people watch

    We know what they watch!? Brilliant!!!
    ... Brilliant!!!


    -- P.S. Is it already obligatory brilliant bit or it hasnt caught up yet?
  • I have had TiVo now for years. I wish the interviewer had asked Mr. TiVo President why they NEVER improve their interface. It always is the same. Many many clicks to get common tasks done, long pauses waiting for poorly implemented algorithms to finish, lack of customizability. As much as I love TiVo, I wish they would make it more configurable and flexible. For example, I wish I could set up arbitrary filters, instead of choosing from their sets. Also, I wish I could use wildcards. And I wish I coul
    • I think the interface is near perfect as is. What you want are these navigation shortcuts [com.com] (warning: annoying flash audio ad)
    • The feature I want is as follows. Suppose you're channel surfing and come across an interesting show. You'd like to record it, but from the beginning so you see the part you missed. I want to be able to have an option after pressing Record worded like, "Record next rebroadcast in its entirety"

      What you have to do now is go back to the Pick Programs to Record screen, search by title, "type" the title, select it, see if the show is being rebroadcast in the near future, and pick one. All the steps are ann

      • Already (almost) there (Score:3, Informative)

        by Gorimek ( 61128 )
        There is not that exact feature, but you can get to see if the show is being rebroadcast soon much easier.

        If you actually press record, you can select Season Pass and other options. And in the following screen you can select View upcomning episodes. Done!

  • but when is the standalone HD Tivo coming? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 3gg_ch3n ( 706712 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @06:11PM (#10570451)
    I wish there was something in there about plans/dates for release of a NON DirecTV HD Tivo. I just got HD service from my cable company and would like to get a Tivo that can record HD braodcasts...afaik -- there's no such animal from Tivo.
    • Im having the same problem. Since HD braodcasting will apparently be everywhere soon, i cant really justify getting tivo and getting another pvr in a few years. My cable company (Cablevision) plans to offer a pvr soon so an HD version will probably follow sometime after. So it looks like im going to just have to keep waiting.
    • Google is your friend... [google.com]

      Seems there's a helpful FAQ [tivocommunity.com] on just this, and it begins with:

      In 2003, TiVo introduced a standalone HD TiVo prototype with two Over-the-Air (OTA 8VSB) ATSC tuners. The unit was capable of receiving, recording and performing all TiVo functions on local digital/HDTV broadcasts received through an antenna.

      TiVo mentioned in their Winter 2004 pre-CES conference call that the lack of interest from any electronics companies to build such a TiVo is the reason why none have been built.

      • ...if they really wanted to sell those things, they could just get up to speed with a pricing contract for a set wholesale amount from a fabber/jobber, then advertise them and take pre-orders, and once the magic number was hit start production and then on to delivery. They could even make it almost painless for existing customers who show an interest, just have them tack on a dollar a month to the subscription perhaps as part of a pre-order.
      • who needs Google when you have 'maggard'!?
  • I think this quote was really interesting:

    Nobody can stop us. You do the deals and you get distribution. You don't have to get carriage in the traditional sense. Anyone can buy bandwidth and deliver their content, and that will have a large impact on the cable and satellite industry over the next 10 years.

    That's one thing I was wondering about the future of Tivo before. It seems like what they really do is take broadcast media and transform it to digital media, that we all know and love for the flexibi
    • This, to my mind, is the most important media issue before us during the coming decade.

      Not media consolidation. Not FCC rules over capping media cross-ownership. But this:

      Will the average American (not the typical /.er, but Joe and Jane Public) be given access to Internet media in their living rooms? Or will the corporate giants continue to impose a chokehold over the content coming through those pipes? (Yes, 500 cable channels are nice, until you discover that an entire range of commentary and visual

      • Even if somehow you could stop Tivo (which I am not sure you can as they have too much mindshare - I think Tivo is sort of the next iPod, if it's not already) there is no stopping that trend.

        All it takes is someone selling a box, and providing content to taht box over users broadband. Eventually someone with a box will have enough interesting things you can view that more people will want that than cable. Then will come the real pressure to provide cheaper broadband-only connections.

  • Yeah, but where is HD TiVo for the rest of us? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ErikTheRed ( 162431 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @06:31PM (#10570616) Homepage
    I love the comment about the excitement over HD TiVo, followed by the mention you can only get it with evil DirecTV. Even if DirecTV wasn't evil, there's no way in hell I can hit their satellites from my home (my patio directly abuts the neighboring building, and I have an extremely narrow view of the sky from there).

    Right now I use a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000HD (HD DVR provided by my cable company) which has to be the most under-powered (CPU-wise) piece of consumer electronics ever produced. Press a button (wait 3 seconds), press another button. Keypress caching is intermittent and unpredictable, so you get into situations where your device becomes unresponsive for a minute because you accidentally held down a button. Directly entering a channel from the remote can take 5 attempts. It crashes regularly and takes 10 minutes to recover from a crash. It's a complete piece of shit that I pay $10/month to use because for all of the hassle, being able to record in HD is pretty sweet.

    So TiVo needs to hurry up and release an HD-capable device for the rest of us so I can tell my cable company where they can stick this stupid box. Can you hear me TiVo? I want to give you money!!!
    • Seems there's a helpful FAQ [tivocommunity.com] on just this, and it begins with:

      In 2003, TiVo introduced a standalone HD TiVo prototype with two Over-the-Air (OTA 8VSB) ATSC tuners. The unit was capable of receiving, recording and performing all TiVo functions on local digital/HDTV broadcasts received through an antenna.

      TiVo mentioned in their Winter 2004 pre-CES conference call that the lack of interest from any electronics companies to build such a TiVo is the reason why none have been built.

      TiVo.com now includes the

  • Full disclosure please (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SethJohnson ( 112166 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @06:36PM (#10570644) Homepage Journal


    r-blo (ryan block) is the editor of Engadget and also the submitter of this story. I would prefer he disclose this [slashdot.org] when submitting stories to slashdot in order to hype his own site. Which, by the way, are the only story submissions [slashdot.org] he makes to Slashdot and he never discloses his connection to Engadget when submitting them..

  • ReplayTV crossed a line, and they kind of asked for it, and they were put out of business.

    That really wasn't how it happened was it?

    I have a ReplayTv, labelled as such, it still works fine, skips commercials and I can still buy one just like it. Thanks to DNNA, who bought out the subscriber base of RTV users. They even off excellent CS.

  • Tivo is a rip-off (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bahamat ( 187909 ) on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @07:47PM (#10571187) Homepage
    I like the idea of Tivo, and you have to give them credit for being first to market. But the problem with both Tivo and ReplayTV is that they're greedy.

    Here's what I mean. Both Tivo and ReplayTV set-top boxes cost somewhere between $100 and $300. You also have to subscribe $13/month in order to make full use of it. Otherwise it's just a glorified VCR (and not very glorified at that). The other option to bypass the $13/mo charge is to pay a "lifetime of the unit" fee of $300. Then you'll finally get the good stuff like "record all episodes of this show" (called Season Pass by Tivo).

    On the other hand, most cable companies offer a DVR service for only $10/mo. I got one from Cox, and it's practically identical to the Tivo, except all those features you don't get unless you pay the subscription for with the Tivo, I get for only $10 with my DVR.

    To break it down:
    Tivo/Replay
    box ~ $250
    service = $13/mo

    Cable Co
    box = $0
    service = $10

    And, you get all of the worthwhile features. Of course, my cable company doesn't let me program my DVR over the Internet, but I'm not sure that feature is quite worth shelling out several hundred bucks right off the bat and an extra $3/month.

    The moral of the story: why the hell would anyone want a Tivo when your cable company gives you a better deal? I posed exactly this question to both Tivo and ReplayTV. Tivo never responded, and ReplayTV apologized and offered me two months free service. I'm not sure they understand English.

    • Re:Tivo is a rip-off (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Tuesday October 19, 2004 @09:01PM (#10571588) Homepage
      Wrong wrong wrong. You obviously never used a TiVo.

      Where to start. How 'bout the box. I OWN my box. I can upgrade it if I want. Second is the UI. The TiVo UI is beautiful. Easily the best I've ever used on a consumer electronics device. Second is the fee. $13 a month? I pay $5 for my DirecTiVo. And I can record two shows at once, digital quality, Dolby Digital tracks and all. I can't program mine over the internet either, but there are other features.

      How do you schedule recordings? Do you tell it to record every Saturday at 6 for an hour? Or do you tell it to record CSI (just an example)? I can tell it to do EITHER. I can also tell it to record any programs with the world "Moose" in the title, or anything with Andy Dick or any other actor. Can you have yours record only new episodes? I can. I can set mine to record any special one time event that comes on TV (and I can combine that with other thigns like the actor, series, or title filters). I can tell my TiVo to record Law and Order, new episodes, on ANY channel. So if I can't get it off NBC (due to scheduling conflicts, rare thanks to two tuners), it will pick it up off USA.

      How 'bout suggestions? Mine lears what I like to watch and suggests things. It's not always perfect, but it works. It's found specials on things that I didn't know were comming on that I liked. It has introduced me to some series. Does it keep the drive full of programs? My TiVo tries to keep the drive full with programs that I like or that it thinks I liked (based on thumb ratings). Lots of great stuff on my TiVo. And the new ones hold 37 hours of programming. And because I own the box I can expand that... a TON (up to 240 hours). How many hours does yours hold?

      And in the future, they are working on TiVo2Go so you can watch your programs that have been recorded on your PC or your PDA. They are partnered with Netflix so you will be able to have the movies you want to see downloaded to your TiVo for you, no need to wait for the mail. Cool stuff.

      Are there ads on your box? When I got digital cable from my cable co (which I cancled because the boxes were terrible, not that their service was ever any better) were filled with little ads. Yet I still got to pay them for the privilage of using the box. No ads all over my TiVo, just one off a link on the "home" screen that you never have to visit (and they are cool ads too, video and you can push a button to have literature deleiverd straight to your house if you want).

      Last of all, cost? You complain about cost? Ignoring how much cable costs and how they like to raise their rates, a DirecTiVo is superior to a generic cable company PVR and is cheaper. If you are a new customer, you can get a three room system including one TiVo for FREE. Box cost, $0. The DVR Charge on the bill is $7, no matter how many TiVos you have. Not $7 per box, $7 total. Don't want a DirecTiVo? You can get a TiVo for $50, not the $250 you say (that would be a top of the line box with hundreds of hours of space). Let's review.

      DirecTiVo (possibly best of all SD TiVos):
      box = $0 (plus 2 free DirecTV recievers, worth about $100 total)
      service = $7/mo

      Cable Co
      box = $0
      service = $10

      $3 cheaper per month (and I'm guess you pay $10 PER BOX, so if you got more than one it's even better). The box costs the same. You OWN the box. The UI rules. Record TWO SHOWS AT ONCE.

      It's not greed. If you had used a TiVo for a month (free trial dude, give it a try) you would be more than willing to pay them that fee. They are not being greedy. I bet most people with TiVos would gladly pay more (I know I'd pay over $20).

      Your right. My TiVo is cheaper, I OWN it, almost certanly better UI, I can record two things at once, and more. Why the hell would anyone want a TiVo when your cable company gives you a worse deal?

      • How do you schedule recordings? Do you tell it to record every Saturday at 6 for an hour? Or do you tell it to record CSI (just an example)?


        I tell it to record Enterprise. It does the rest. And I don't quite get how the interface can be easier than pressing the record button and then selecting "one show" or "all instances of this show".

        And you're the second person who mentioned DirecTivo. See the comments I made to him.

        Sattalite sucks.
        • While the gp is certainly a TiVo fan, I'll reiterate the features which make TiVo worth the extra $5, plus the $99 to buy the box (I just got a 40h TiVo for my father-in-law, and my total cost, after rebate, was $99.00).

          The "suggestions" make the TiVo worthwhile to me. I asked TiVo to record the Va Tech vs NC State football game a few weeks ago. Two weeks later, I was looking through the suggestions it had recorded, and it had the next Va Tech game recorded. I had actually intended to record that game, b

    • ...why the hell would anyone want a Tivo when your cable company gives you a better deal?

      I upgraded my tivo to stivo (super-tivo) and added a wireless network card and a 120 GB drive. Recently, I moved from an apartment with TV Max to a house with Time Warner. I was able to take all of my settings (season passes, preferences, shown/hidden channels, and morning news manual records) and all of my recorded shows to a new location and new cable company.

      That's why.

    • Re:Tivo is a rip-off (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Bleck ( 203017 ) *
      The answer is really pretty simple -- it's a question of where the merchant is able to get their money.

      As others have pointed out, you can purchase a DirecTivo for $50 as an existing customer, with a $5.00 per month charge -- and there are various deals around to make that cheaper.

      The reason DirecTV can do that, and that cable companies can offer similar deals on their DVRs, is that they're getting you to commit to their service. They can afford to take a loss on the single sale, knowing that you're payi
  • In the interview, the interviewer alludes to Hollywood suing ReplayTV into the ground. I hadn't heard of this. Could someone please summarise for me what happened? What was it that ReplayTV did that incurred the wrath of the RIAA et all?

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