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Television Media Microsoft

Microsoft Takes on TiVo 295

Posted by michael from the wake-up-call dept.
CatsCradle writes "The Seattle Times has an article about Microsoft's Foundation and their new partnership with Comcast to provide a TiVo-like service."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Microsoft Takes on TiVo More

Microsoft Takes on TiVo

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  • Goodbye Tivo (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:44PM (#10769240)
    It was nice knowing you.

    • Re:Goodbye Tivo (Score:5, Insightful)

      by calibanDNS ( 32250 ) <(brad_staton) (at) (hotmail.com)> on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:48PM (#10769305)
      Hardly. Tivo has name recognition in the DVR market (so much so that many people don't know what a DVR is, but certainly know what a Tivo is). Tivo's been in the market for years and has a large installed userbase. Microsoft will have to fight hard to catch up to this. In my opinion, this is similar to Microsoft entering the console market with the XBox. The XBox sells decently in the US, but it can't compare to PS2 sales in any market. Why? Sony has name recognition and beat MS to market in the current generation of consoles. I think that MS is going to have a very difficult time unseating Tivo as the King of DVRs.

      • Name recognition is a liability here (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:49PM (#10769329)
        Everyone who has a DVR (that I know) calls it TiVo, or says they'll "TiVo it" even though it's not a TiVo. They don't care where the product comes from, and that's Microsoft's entry point. They can take a loss on their product and beat out the competitors.

      • Re:Goodbye Tivo (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Gr8Apes ( 679165 )
        With a deal with Comcast that places their box directly into homes without the specter of competition, MS is a shoe in for a large percentage of homes if this is exclusive. If people have to pay extra for it, MS may not "win". Comcast does already have a DVR offering at the moment, after all.

        • Re:Goodbye Tivo (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) *
          The problem is the cable companies are bitches about this. They don't want to share profits with anybody - neither does Microsoft, really, for that matter. Tivo apparently tried to negotiate deals with cable companies to bundle Tivo systems built into cable boxes, but Tivo wanted too much money for software that the cablecos figured they could get Scientific Atlanta and the other shitty settop cable box manufacturers to clone for much cheaper.

          Of course the result of such cheapness is that the packaged ca

      • Re:Goodbye Tivo (Score:5, Insightful)

        by a_nonamiss ( 743253 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:07PM (#10769536)
        OK, TiVo has a huge share in the DVR (or PVR, as my Cable company calls it) market, but didn't Netscape used to have like 92% of the browser market? Name recognition means crap when competing against Microsoft. Sorry, but unless TiVo partners up with cable box makers YESTERDAY, then they're done.

        Hey TiVo, you need to call someone over at Motorola. I have a Motorola cable/PVR/HDTV box and it SUCKS. Bad. I've had TiVo for three years, and I love it. The Motorola box crashes all the time, the controls suck, the program guide sucks. Looks like it was programmed in the 80's.

        • Re:Goodbye Tivo (Score:3, Insightful)

          by gad_zuki! ( 70830 )
          >Netscape used to have like 92% of the browser market?

          End user: Why pay for Netscape when this IE thing is free!

          *months later*

          Netscape: We're free too now.

          End user: Too late. I already have things setup the way I like.

          Unless there's some severe price-breaks and bundling involved I wouldn't write off Tivo just yet.

        • You're a few years late on your predictions of Doom and Gloom. Would have been more believable a couple of years ago when MS launched their first version of UltimateTV (whatever it was called then). So far it hasn't exactly been a stunning success.

          As for the new service? Well, from what I can tell every non TiVo/ReplayTV licensed DVR box put out by the cable companies has been woefully short on features. About the only thing cable DVRs have going for them are video on demand. I'm not exactly holding m
        • Comparing this to the browser wars is a little misleading, unless Comcast is giving out the MS box as the standard set top box. Microsoft was able to gain a large share of the browser market by bundling IE with windows, which Netscape just couldn't compete with. And eventually, people started to realize that IE wasn't necessarily the best option, which is why Firefox's share of the market is increasing even though users have to actively seek it out.

        • Excellent comparison (Score:3, Interesting)

          by cuberat ( 549657 )
          Part of TiVo's problem is that they are a subscription service. I got a PVR as part of my satellite setup, inluded in the base price. Cable companies are starting to do the same thing, and I've seen third-party PVRs for sale on a regular basis.

          Why pay a monthly fee if you don't have to? Their business model is what will kill TiVo, not just Microsoft.


      • Microsoft will have to fight hard to catch up to this.

        Why do they need to fight?

        Wouldn't it be a lot easier to for them to buy TiVo outright? They could buy 100 companies of TiVo's size using petty cash!

        And, just like hotmail service that originally ran fine on BSDying, they could slowly "upgrade" the TiVo users to MS-Whatever, once it's ported to PPC, once the call center's been warned about the fanatics calling in about how their 9th-Tee Ethernet card doesn't work anymore, etc.

        OK, nevermind.

      • Second try at a Microsoft PVR (Score:4, Interesting)

        by tgibbs ( 83782 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:25PM (#10769763)
        This is Microsoft's second attempt to crack this market. The first one, Ultimate TV [microsoft.com] went nowhere. But the reports I've heard from Ultimate TV owners have been pretty positive. So Microsoft isn't exactly going into this from scratch.

      • Re:Goodbye Tivo (Score:5, Insightful)

        by cens0r ( 655208 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:53PM (#10770105) Homepage
        The difference is that the cable company is packaging this. If I am a comcast digital customer and want to use my Tivo, I'm stuck with two incompatibal guides. I'm forced to have Tivo using an IR blaster of some sort to change the channel on my cable box. I'm forced to purchase a second cable box if I want to watch and record something at the same time. This service builds all that in. Plus it's cheaper. With this service there is no compelling reason for a comcast customer to get tivo.

  • This will be fun. (Score:5, Funny)

    by wooby ( 786765 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:45PM (#10769249) Journal
    I've never seen a BSOD on a TV before. Hopefully through the deal Comcast will supply the NTLDR.

    • And there's also.... (Score:5, Funny)

      by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:48PM (#10769299)
      There's also the fun of when some kid in Hong Kong gains control of your TV through an unsecure port and starts to change the channels on you.

    • Re:This will be fun. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 )
      I haven't seen a BSOD on a TV either (although I have some pictures of some, at airports no less) but I have seen the prevue guide (when they were self-owned) meditate, as in a Guru Meditation. To think, if they had just bought (or warezed) GOMF they could have bypassed that problem entirely, one way or another. Having prevue guide crashed for several hours, blinking a rectangle at you, is kind of surreal, especially when you're practically the last Amigan in your town.
    • I'm hoping they do something creative, like sub in the "Indian Head" screen test.

    • Re:This will be fun. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by chochos ( 700687 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:29PM (#10769800) Homepage Journal
      I've never seen a BSOD on a TV before

      Come to Mexico City and watch Cablevision for a while, you can see the BSOD on their programming guide instead of the previews. This happens often, since they switched to "microsoft tv" and are starting to switch from everything they had to all-Microsoft for their infrastructure.

      The satellite TV service Sky is about to do the same thing next year (it's owned by basically the same people). And DirecTV is closing shop in Mexico, so once again there is a monopoly here, this time on satellite TV. And Microsoft is in on it.

  • Ultimate TV??? (Score:5, Informative)

    by RudyG13 ( 793574 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:45PM (#10769262)
    Didnt' they already try this?

    Yup thought so [toddverbeek.com]
    • I'm not sure what was contained in various previous offerings, but currently HP has begun offering a home media center running Microsofts offering. It seems to be the DVR + everything but the kitchen sink.

      Here is a link [hp.com] to the offering from HP. Seems a little expensive, but I haven't seen one in person to know exactly how powerful it is.

      I've talked with friends about building a simple linux system to do all this and interface it with a home LAN, and we all agree that you could do it for a lot less t

  • Foundation (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:45PM (#10769264)
    Oh, so this is Bill Gates' "Foundation" I keep hearing about!

    </joke>

  • I thought it was called Ulitmate TV (Score:3, Funny)

    by dbfruth ( 707400 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:45PM (#10769267)
    Oh well I it will be fun to watch them fail yet again.

  • Blue screen (Score:5, Funny)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:46PM (#10769271)
    There is nothing like seeing a Blue Screen of Death on a 50 inch plasma screen. And there's nothing like having the "URKEL32" teleworm wipe out your Simpsons recording collection.
    • Especially when after wiping out you simpsons it gives Nelson's "Ha Ha", and when it gets to your Star Trek collection it emit's Bone's "He's dead Jim."

  • Seems like the natural stepping stone... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by PornMaster ( 749461 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:46PM (#10769272) Homepage
    If MS wants to have Windows Media Center infiltrate the living rooms of America, this is a logical step. It also follows that they want to get their DRM involved at this side of things, both for encoding saved shows, and if there are Windows Media decoders at the set-top, perhaps on the production/encoding side of the cable.
    • This is all available now with Windows XP Media Center Edition. Once the price drops down to $500 for a VCR like unit, I think we'll all have them.

      Not a huge Microsoft fan, but I'm developing a channel for this system, and I gotta tell you, it's pretty slick.
    • I wonder if they combine XBox2 with this? Think of it if you try to mod it you will without a doubt be breaking the law since you do not own it. Microsoft can offer. Pay per play video games to your set top and could introduce a windows ONLY broadband service using the Set top box as your cable modem. Say good buy to having more than on computer on the network without paying extra.
      I would love to see a P2P tivo like settop box. Some small cable company could setup all the settop boxes to act as one giant p2

  • This is good news (Score:5, Funny)

    by nysus ( 162232 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:47PM (#10769288)
    Just one virus and I'll get free porn for life.

  • sad company culture (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Brigadier ( 12956 )


    Why does it always seem that Microsft instead of trully being innovative ( ala apple) they always have to buy themselves into an existing market, then try to bull rush it with thier tremendous capital.
    • Why does it always seem that Microsft instead of trully being innovative ( ala apple) they always have to buy themselves into an existing market, then try to bull rush it with thier tremendous capital.

      Apple [apple.com] has never [apple.com] bought its way [apple.com] into an existing markets [apple.com] ? (I'm sure there are other examples.)

      I'm as big an Apple Zealot as any. I drink my koolaid first thing every morning. However, I do prefer a discussion that relies on facts, not misperceptions.

  • Will it include Binky, the Helpful Paperclip (Score:5, Funny)

    by CharonX ( 522492 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:48PM (#10769300) Journal
    Hmmm....
    I wonder if it will include Binky, the Helpful Paperclip...
    "Hi Buddy, looks like you are watching Porn - do you want me to inform all people you know?
    Press [YES] to confirm or [YES] to continue

  • MCE2005 vs. SageTV vs. MythTV? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hkb ( 777908 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:49PM (#10769319)
    Is there anyone who can offer genuine non-zealous commentary on Microsoft's MCE2005?

    I'm currently running SageTV (http://www.sage.tv) for my PVR needs. Before that I was running MythTV which I really liked, however it was really flakey.

    I wonder how MCE2005 compares to either or both of the two.

    TIA

  • "Control", eh (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Megaweapon ( 25185 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:49PM (#10769325) Homepage
    "Control and customize your viewers' experience.

    With Microsoft TV Foundation Edition's new UI Customizer tool, you can make changes to the viewer's user interface, preview the changes, and then almost instantaneously publish them to the viewer's set-top box."

    Gee, thanks Redmond, I was looking for an outside corporation to control my "experience" (there's that damned word again from the dot-com era). I like how they'll just have the vendor just make bulk changes then push them to my set-top box without asking me if I want an update or not. I suppose that's part of the agreement, though. Looks like another MS service I'll be ignoring.
    • My Tivo automatigically calls home and downloads updates and has been doing this since day one years ago. DirectTv has already changed the logo that used to say Philips Tivo to Direct TV. They've made updates to the UI which were (thankfully) an improvement. So what's new?

  • Comcast + MS? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gad_zuki! ( 70830 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:50PM (#10769332)
    Wow, now there's a losing combination. Here in Chicago Comcast is long running corporate joke. Very poor service both in their TV and Cable modem divisions and a broadband network they can't seem to keep up for very long.

    I switched to DirecTV w/ Tivo long ago and will probably give that up eventually as more shows become available on bitorrent. Considering I only watch perhaps three shows regularly, its overkill. Also, Rupert-Owned DirecTV with DirecTivo does have its downsides. [everythingisnt.com]

    Then again, never underestimate the power of bundling services.

    • Comcast (Score:3, Insightful)

      by truthsearch ( 249536 )
      Comcast, who I also dislike, is the biggest cable service provider in the US. Just like Microsoft they have a bad reputation, and just like Microsoft they're dominant in the market.

      I think TimeWarner + AOL turned out to be a bigger joke. But that's because they didn't capitalize on their partnership at all. They had a huge opportunity and they blew it.

  • Great. Just great. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Spencerian ( 465343 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:50PM (#10769343) Homepage Journal
    Not that I worry much about Microsoft. I worry more about Comcast. They control more of my life, in the format in which I receive my home internet connection and cable television, than any other entity right now.

    What if, in their infinite wisdom, that Comcast requires that you use a Windows box to take advantage of "special features" of their device that MS creates propriatarily? In simpler language, I am used to Microsoft making things that don't fully integrate with my Mac OS arrangement (and generally, I usually don't care since I have plenty of alternatives with my platform). However, Comcast loves to charge its customers for things they don't or can't use, and it's hard enough to know exactly how they are sticking it to me as it is.

    On the plus side, they may be a company that I worry about, but my cable internet from Comcast is 2.5MBits and whomps my office connection easily.

  • Channel choices (Score:5, Funny)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:53PM (#10769370)
    Don't forget all the channel choices on Microsoft TV:

    MSNBC

    MSCBS

    MSABC

    MSFOX

    The History Channel (sample show: Microsoft invents the GUI with Windows 1.0)

    EA-SPN. (the sports network where you get to watch guys play sports videogames)

    Animal Planet. (featuring the microsoft mouse)

    Lifetime (featuring details of how long the Microsoft EULA binds you)

    MTV (featuring Ballmer Beach Dance Blast!)

    • And here I was looking forward to the Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour.

    • Re:Channel choices (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Eberlin ( 570874 )
      MS-TechTV: First off, we don't need anyone mentioning G4 in it to imply a Macintosh connection. X-Play will now be known as XP. There will no longer be any mention of alternative operating systems on The ScreenSavers. The show, by the way, will be renamed to Dot-SCR. Martin Sargeant will change the show's name to MS-PowerPoint.

      Game consoles other than the X-Box will not be recognized. There will be Halo 2 marathons, nothing else. Microsoft staff will be interviewing and studying Tallarico in order t

  • (just about) anything is an improvement for cc (Score:5, Informative)

    by LinuxHam ( 52232 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:54PM (#10769377) Homepage Journal
    I have Comcast's current HDTV/PVR offering, and it pales in comparison to my series 1 standalone TiVO. To get a season pass, you search by title, and individually record each episode that shows up in the search results.

    Just about everything you like about the TiVO ain't there yet for "Com-assed". The one big thing the box has going for it is direct firewire access to the current video stream including on demand content, hdtv, and stuff from the dvr library. Of course, once MS gets loaded on the box, you know they're going to lock it down.
    • Betcha Tivo has a patent on season passes. You know why they didn't use the familiar grid layout when it first came out? TV Guide had a patent on displaying and selecting shows in the grid format. Either tivo licensed it or it got thrown out of court for being too trivial (I'd check which but I can't really be bothered.)

      One huge advantage Tivo has over anyone else entering the market is that since they were there first, they got all the patents. It will be difficult to make a commercial offering as user f

    • I just got it as well, and my first impression was that the people who designed it had not used any other DVR on the market, and are like "Tivo-what?" The UI has a lot to be desired, but I still use it for the ability to tape my shows.

      That being said, they also "upgraded" me from my old AT&T plan to the new Comcast equivalent when they put in my DVR without telling me, which means I have to pay $8 more per month and I lost the STARZ package. So to get that back, I gotta pay another $10/month. So my
  • There used to be an ad for some kind of MSN TV device that could (gasp!) record two shows at once. Whatever hapened to that. It was called something like "MSN New TV" or something like that.

  • They tried this already (Score:5, Interesting)

    by signe ( 64498 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:56PM (#10769401) Homepage
    Microsoft was responsible for the software that runs on the Dish Network Dishplayer (7200-series). And they sucked at it too. The thing crashed constantly. At least now that Dish is responsible for the software directly, it works a little better, but they're still dealing with the horrible base that MS laid.

    I don't think TiVO has a thing to worry about.

    -Todd

  • Awesome! (Score:5, Funny)

    by I'm Spartacus! ( 238085 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @03:59PM (#10769446)
    CatsCradle writes "The Seattle Times has an article about Microsoft's Foundation and their new partnership with Comcast to provide a TIVO like service."

    Thanks for that link to the Microsoft homepage! I've been looking for that.

    Slashdot comes through again!!!
  • Perhaps the 900lb gorilla can force the "entertainment industry" into allowing such features as commercial-skip or other previously frowned upon features to become standard fare for Tivo-like devices?

    Dlugar

  • Competition is good (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jfried ( 122648 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:01PM (#10769464) Homepage
    Tivo has name, and proven track record.
    Microsoft has money and can buy name and track record.

    That aside, competition is most aways a good thing it drives up inovation. The more brands availible the better off we are as consumers.

    But look at other comcast products, G4, after the merger of G4 and techtv, they took one crapy network and one decent network(Techtv), and produced a crapy network.

    Now i can use my comcast DVR to make sure i dont ever have to see a retarded G4 show again :)

  • DVR supports HDTV (Score:5, Interesting)

    by piser ( 122882 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:02PM (#10769474)
    People are missing the point here. Now with comcast you can get an affordable HDTV DVR (as opposed to the $1000 diretivo model).

    Check it out:
    http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/dct6412.as p

    That's pretty good for $10/month.
  • Knowning Microsofts take on DRM im sure this will be a brilliant advance on current PVRs: Won't let you skip adverts, will only let you record selected programs, will delete recordings after 3 days or less, won't let you give recordings to anyone else or take them off the unit, and will phone home to give your viewing habbits to the FBI for analysis in the War on Terror(r).
  • I think MythTV is the best solution :)

  • Example MS TV BSOD: (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:04PM (#10769493)
    STOP: 0x0000000A (0x0000015a, 0x0000001c, 0x00000000, 0x80116bf4)
    WHAT_CHU_TALKIN_BOUT_WILLIS?

    Please enjoy viewing this Gary Colman bitmap while the dump file is being created...

  • Three tries to get it right? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Drakino ( 10965 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:10PM (#10769571) Journal
    Lets see:

    Microsoft + Echostar = DishPlayer
    Microsoft + DirecTV = Ultimate TV
    Microsoft + Comcast = ?

    I actually owned a DishPlayer. The problems with it to me wern't horrible, but it did cause a class action lawsuit to be brought against Echostar. Their new PVRs never matched the features of the DishPlayer, but they at least were stable.

  • Thoughts in response (Score:4, Insightful)

    by deemzzzz_k ( 826129 ) * on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:11PM (#10769585)
    Tivo's stock price has dropped 4% from yesterday's close on the announcement and over 6% from earlier this week... People are in a state of panic and for good reason. TiVo has been building up their Tivo to go services and working out rights management details with the NFL and other interested parties. They're also rumored to be including full Netflix movie download services in their next box. Tivo has been network agnostic while the MS box is geared towards comcast customers. This gives MS both a leg up and a problem. The advantage is in being able to offer specific PPV/pay per download movie choices while keeping it under the cable company's control may be a weakness. Also note that this is one cable company taking on the new box. Unless we start hearing that these boxes are also broadband web browsers and offer new features bundled in with comcast's cable modem or that other cable companies are joining on, Tivo is in good shape. They still have DirectTv and retail space that MS would have a while to catch up in. My final thought is Microsoft's trump card. If they somehow manage to integrate control of the set top box into the OS (do I smell anti trust case?) they could very well be able to kill off Tivo.

  • Forget skipping commericals... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anita Coney ( 648748 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:13PM (#10769611) Homepage
    According to the article you'll be able to "pause and rewind live television broadcasts" and record shows. There is no mention of any ability to fastforward or skip commericals. Thus it is highly unlikely that any such feature exists.

    Tivo was a huge giant step forward for consumers, Microsoft's taking us a couple steps back.

    • According to the article you'll be able to "pause and rewind live television broadcasts" and record shows. There is no mention of any ability to fastforward or skip commericals. Thus it is highly unlikely that any such feature exists.

      How do you propose to "fast forward" over live television?

      If there were any issues with it not being able to fast forward over recorded commercials, somone at AVSForum would surely say something. Nobody has yet. [avsforum.com]

      • It's a hard concept to understand, so sit down, stop chewing any gum, and let me explain. Once you "pause" live TV it's no longer "live." For example, on my homebuilt PVR, after I'm done pausing I can skip forward until I catch up with "real-time" programming. I'll use this feature for sports. I'll pause and go rake some leaves. Come back and be able to skip boring parts (e.g., injuries or commercials) until I catch up again.

        Furthermore, I pointed out all the alleged features of the device. And none
  • This is why you don't buy a lifetime subscription from anyone that Microsoft might ever want to try to compete with.

  • Beware the Broadcast Flag (Score:5, Interesting)

    by EvanKai ( 218260 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:17PM (#10769672) Homepage
    Putting Microsoft between you and your content seems like a mistake... even if the hardware is cheap. You have 233 day and counting [eff.org] to get your broadcast flag free capture cards.

    TiVo needs to position themselves as the Google of DVRs and adopt the "Do No Evil" policy.

  • I've lost my thunder (Score:5, Funny)

    by OverflowingBitBucket ( 464177 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:20PM (#10769707) Homepage Journal
    Here I was thinking I could make some quip about this new service recording and inserting additional ads into your recorded content, and tag a fast "5:Funny". Something like this:

    "I hear Microsoft plan to go for an untapped market niche neglected by the TiVo. This new recorder records just the ads around the program, as well as inserting a few of its own."

    Surefire positive moderation and reassurance for my meaningless existence centered around Slashdot karma right? Well, it seems the comedians at Microsoft have already stolen my thunder. From the Microsoft Foundation page...

    Sell and secure HDTV homes.
    Promote offerings with targeted ads and recommendations.
    Insert ads and promotions...
    Control and customize your viewers' experience.

    It seems that they have they thought of all my best gags and implemented them as actual features. Dammit. What a sad day when a monolithic company can spent thousands on marketing a product whose primary purpose is to deny a Slashdotter the simple pleasure of a two-line quip. *runs and cries*
  • Now, doesn't everyone's channel selection need to be embraced and extended?
  • They have a loyal following of users. TiVo will be smart enough to keep on reinventing themselves. It's a heck of lot easier to set up a TiVo than a Windows Media Center. With TiVo you can get someone on the line for Tech Support pretty quickly and toll-free. For Microsoft...don't even get me started... TiVo won't suffer from the need for constant security patches. Imagine how much hacking will go on with WIndows Media Centers vs. a TiVo?
  • Offered by Comcast or Microsoft, but a join effort between both these companies? Thats a recipe for a very bad product. Speaking of Comcast, last weekend I went down to stay at friend's in Philly. They did not set their newly arrived Comcast cable modem yet, so i offered to hook it up.

    So with the three different cable modem providers I had in the past, you simply hook up the cable modem and go, but not Comcast. Once you open your browser for the first time, you are directed to some setup page. But the pa

  • This was a hanging breaking ball, right down the center of the plate. I could have knocked it out of the park. BSOD, tried it, ultimate, Media Edition, Green Screen, man, there were just so may easy +5 jokes. Alas, first post was not to be.
  • Plus it heats my home ;)

    Any day now.

  • What they are keeping quiet about.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by zmollusc ( 763634 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:41PM (#10769945)
    .... is the DRM face recognition facility that deletes all your files if anyone else tries to watch.

  • Why I will switch from Tivo when this is available (Score:3, Interesting)

    by essell ( 446524 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:58PM (#10770166)
    I love my standalone series 2 Tivo. I like the menu system, the ability to add additional storage, and the overall functionality. Sadly, Tivo will fall behind because it has committed too much time and too many resources to DirecTV. DirecTV will undoutably chew them up and spit them out at some point in favor of their own in-house developed DVR. DirecTV has no loyalties, including to its own customer base, with its record of extortion and threats for those customers who have shown interest in smartcard development. I wish very much that Tivo could survive without DirecTV, and focus its efforts elsewhere. Sadly, it doesn't look like Tivo is moving this direction.

    First and foremost, Tivo has made no commitment to their customer base to offer a standalone or CableCard HD recorder. This is discouraging, at least... and it spells out the beginning of the end for this well-meaning company.

    Secondly, when considering current digital cable content, the stream is sourced digitally, decoded to analog, and reencoded by Tivo. This result is less-than-optimal video quality. In fact, it's quite poor, even at the highest quality setting. I want higher quality recordings, even without consideration of HD.

    So, I cannot record HD, do not have dual tuner support, and cannot access VOD content directly through Tivo. Even if Tivo WERE to develop an HD standlone record with CableCard support, it would be unable to access VOD and PPV content, based on CableCard specification.

    Perhaps this isn't Tivo's fault. Maybe they did try to partner with cable providers and were beat out by a better MS offer. I want to give Tivo the benefit of the doubt here, but they are failing first on several other fronts which are only problems of Tivo itself.

  • *tink-tink* (Score:3, Funny)

    by shumacher ( 199043 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @10:41PM (#10773437)
    *tink-tink*
    Hi! It looks like you're trying to watch friends. Would you like some assistance?

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