Yesterday’s and today’s news that TiVo is going to offer downloadable content over the internet made me wonder; is the company concentrating on the wrong set of features? Are people really interested in getting video over the internet or should TiVo concentrate on developing a dual-tuner HD DVR? I know that there has been news about a dual-tuner DVR for quite some time now however, it would be nice to see TiVo come out with an “official” launch date. Can you imagine how much excitement this would create? I know that I would start saving my pennies if I knew a dual-tuner DVR was coming out soon.
Now don’t get me wrong, one of the best things about TiVo is that they innovate and create features that other DVR units just don’t have. Take for example HMO and HME. That being said I’m concerned that the company isn’t concentrating on what they should be. After all, is the general public really ready for TV over the internet?
Today’s news suggests that several other people think the same as me. Right now TiVo’s biggest competition is the cable company DVR. In order to stay in step with what the cable companies are offering, TiVo needs to get a dual-tuner DVR out the door soon. As I said in a previous post, a dual-tuner DVR is a must for the majority of people who just want to be able to record their favorite shows without having to worry about which shows conflict with one another. Without this, TiVo is going to loose more and more customers to those horrible cable company DVRs. After all, how many people do you hear saying that they are going to buy a TiVo just because you can get 15 minute reviews from c|net?
What do you think? Would you rather see TiVo announce that a dual-tuner DVR is coming soon or would you like to see more announcements about downloadable shows over the internet? I know that TiVo can work more then one thing at a time however, it just seems like they are putting a lot of emphasis on the downloadable content….
I agree completly! I could care less about downloadable shows over the internet. Tivo needs an 80hr HD DVR on the market ASAP. Dual Tuner would rock too!
I love my Tivo, but they need to be ahead of the game, not playing catch up…
It isn’t a zero-sum game. It isn’t like the fact that they are working with partners on offering other features means they aren’t working on new hardware. And announcing a unit due in mid-2006 (nothing has changed there – and it is unlikely to, since the timeframe is influenced by things out of TiVo’s hands) now would be a very *bad* thing. Because, like you said, people would start saving their pennies. It is ‘The Osborne Effect’ – people would be less likely to buy a unit this fall if they think they can wait six months for an HD unit. TiVo isn’t going to sink their own sales this holiday season by announcing products now.
On top of that, they’re publically traded, and they have to be careful about what they talk about ahead of time. Anything they announce too far in advance gives the competition a heads up and dilutes the buzz. Launching a new product is a well choreographed dance. Most likely details will start to come out at CES in January since that is a prime press event and it will get them a lot more bang for the buck than announcing it now would.
Even if they had an HD DVR, they need to compete on features. You know that people are going to say “Why should I pay for an HD TiVo when I can get one free from my cable company and pay less per month?” That’s where all of the content deals come in, getting the brand out, offering things the other DVRs don’t do, etc. If TiVo sat on their laurels and didn’t keep adding features and lining up partners, an HD model wouldn’t keep them going.
Building OTA dual tuner DVR’s are cost prohibitive due to the need for two video encoders.
Building an OTA HD dual tuner is likely cost prohibitive in the same way plus the market for such an item would be VERY small.
Building a cable or satellite HD DVR would be fine but they’d still pale to the dual-tuner ones from cable companies.
Building a cable or satellite HD dual tuner DVR would reuqire the use of TWO cable boxes / sat receivers… that makes the product extremely unattractive from box-rental costs, setup, and ease-of-use UI.
So let’s get around the need for cable boxes… use CableCARD. Except CableCARDs are still not readily available, still cost $$ to be rented from a cable co, and still don’t offer two-way support (meaning no VOD for cable subscribers).
So? Partner with a satellite company? Dish doesn’t want ‘em and DirecTV’s dropping ‘em.
So? Partner with a cable company? They’ve partnered already with Comcast and some smaller ones. Who else is left? Time Warner and Cox. (Adelphia will be gone shortly)
So… pretty much all other avenues other than partnering with a cable company are either market or cost prohibitive or the technology isn’t ready yet. That leaves them with one option – partner with a cable company.
And so far they’ve done so with 1 of the 3 major companies in the country.
TiVo’s got a bunch of really sh!tty options… they’re doing the best they can. There just might not be a feasible market for their product.
PS I’m a huge fan of TiVo (I have two) but I’m just being realistic.
The way I see it, in order for TiVo to be a viable long-term company, they have to come out with an HD product. That being said, as far as cable companies, TiVo (combined with the handful of HD TVs) could be the catalyst for CableCard prices to decrease.
As far as dual tuners being cost prohibitive…why that’s just bull puckey…:-)
I would happily shell out an extra $75-$100 for the “dual tuner option”. As I’m sure othe stand alone TiVo owners would.
I think MegaZone has it nearly right on the money. TiVo can’t very well announce a CableCard based HD box until they have CableCards to use in them. Sure CableCards are available for rental from some (or most) cable companies but they are limited to one stream and no VOD. Personally I’d be fine with having to get two CableCards from my cable operator, the are only $1 each per month to rent and I could care less about VOD, but apparently most people really like VOD.
I think TiVo is making good use of its time while waiting for the CableCard multi-stream spec testing and rollout. The Internet download of clips and full length features is a really cool thing to have on a DVR. TiVo currently doesn’t have any very interesting content to pull down, and I don’t know that they will ever get TV show episodes or anything like that now that each major network is doing this via VOD, but I could see this technology being used for things like video podcasting, local news, etc. That could do for TV what podcasting has done for radio.
RareSanity:
Even if a dual-tuner unit could be done for just $75 or $100 more at retail how would one control two tuners?
Would TiVo expect a user to rent and hookup TWO cable boxes? And then build IR forts so the two IR blasters wouldn’t interfere with each other?
Or only use one cable box and have the other tuner be allowed to only record analog cable. Then try explaining that to Joe Average consumer.
A dual-tuner TiVo without cable or sat integration or without CableCARD just doesn’t make sense in any real-world example.
From the strategic view of a small company, TiVo’s best-case scenario is broadband content delivery. It frees them from being dependent upon middlemen, and allows them to focus on the content creators that they’ve been busy placating the last few years.
If they can land a deal like Apple did for iPod video, then I’ve essentially got two tuners already.
MegaZone,
Thanks for the comment. I always enjoy reading you comments because you put a lot of thought into it. Ok, enough with the a$$ kissing…. I understand where you are coming from when you say that TiVo doesn’t want to ruin their holiday sales by re-announcing the fact that they are going to come out with a hd tivo. Your right, why would people purchase a “basic” TiVo for Christmas when a hd dual-tuner dvr is in the work. That being said, I just feel as though TiVo has put a lot of emphasis on the IPTV thing at the expense of developing a dual-tuner DVR. I understand that they’re working on more then one thing at once however, it just seems like all we are hearing about is IPTV. I guess it is a double edged sword. If they highlight the fact that they are going to come out with a hd dual-tuner dvr then they run the risk that holiday sales may be destroyed. On the other hand, if they don’t highlight this then they run the risk that they may loose more subscribers to the cable-company dvr. Understand where I am coming from?
“all we are hearing about is IPTV”? For what? The past 48 hours?
It’s not like TiVo’s been out screaming how awesome they are because they have Cnet and that stupid movie.
Did they make announcements? Sure. But are they treating it like the second coming for their company? Nope.
Did the media report the new developments? Sure. Did they treat it like it was TiVo’s sole gambit to save their company? Maybe a bit. But that’s the media’s fault, not TiVo’s.
Which isn’t new… the media has always mis-represented TiVo and TiVo’s PR dept has always done a completely horrible job of correcting such things or preventing them in the first place.
These are some cool new features that grew out of the pretty-much-now-dead Netflix deal. I say kudos to TiVo for giving us something new and not letting all that Netflix stuff completely go to waste.
The work they did or didnt do on IPTV very likely had no impact whatsoever on TiVo’s decisions to make new hardware, timeframe to come out with said new hardware or even when they’d want to announce said new hardware.
They’re two seperate things.
Interesting news today… Windows Media Center edition is bringing one-way (and I believe only single-tuner but I’m not sure) CableCARD HD DVR features to market… for the holiday season NEXT year.
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2005-11/hd-cablecard-for-windows-mce/
Good news? I guess. But still not the holy grail, still way expensive (a MCE PC, that is) and still a ways off.
chris:
The only viable way in integrate two tuners is they would:
a.) Have to be CableCard/Cable Box (selectable) tuners; and
b.) Work as a “pool” of tuners.
Meaning if I am watching live tv and there is a show needing to be recorded, the second tuner records the show. If there are two shows at the same time that need to be recorded the two tuners get assigned a show and record them.
So as far the user is concerned, it would be transparent. For example, let’s say that when you get home from work, th TiVo is already recording a show on tuner 1. You want to watch the news live, when you flip on the TV and press the channel number for the news station, the second tuner handles it. The user is not “aware” that there are two tuners.
The issues with VOD are valid, but I think that if you are able to select the input type of each tuner (Cable Box/CableCard) you can have one tuner setup with a cable box (for two way communications) and the other setup with a CableCard for the 2nd tuner recording purposes.
So unless you are trying to record two VOD items at the same time, there is no problem. The cable box tuner can handle anything with viewing/recording VOD, and the CableCard tuner can handle anything else, including watching/recording a different non-VOD show while recording a VOD show. Or vice-versa.
Just my two cents…
I think this misses the point. A dual tuner TiVo would certainly be great. But will that save TiVo? Not a chance. Unfortunately, basic PVR functionality is rapidly becoming commoditized. TiVo must add dual-tuner and HD support, certainly. But that just keeps them in line with standard offerings from SA and Moto. The only way TiVo can ensure their future is to offer services that their competitors are unable or unwilling to provide. Internet video support is just such a service. While of limited value today, Internet video is going to rapidly become a highly valuable service. SA and Moto will not provide such a service because it erodes the value of cable service. It is undoubtedly the most important thing for TiVo to focus on.
Can someone here help me? I am on the fence between a 50″ plasma screen and a 50″ LCD screen for my living room.
some reports have said Tivo looks bad on plasma because it only recirds in Standard definition. Since only about 15 channels broadcast in Hi-Def on my cable box, what is the point?
Most things I watch are Tivoed. And I don’t want the picture quality to suffer. Can someone recommend a good site, or a good discussion on this topic? Thanks
Ronan
ronanspam@yahoo.com
Tivo is done, done, DONE. I was an early Tivo evangelist– I owned a heavily modified Series 1 and a less-modified Series 2. But my Windows Media Center box, in the 2005 edition, is far ahead of Tivo in every area (recording quality, features, speed, etcetera) except for suggestions.
And the suggestions alone aren’t enough to make up for the lack of innovation in the Tivo platform over the last 2 years. It reminds me of the Palm handhelds– they were incredible in 1996 when they were released, but 4 years later the competition was nipping at their feet, and they had no momentum on the platform at all. It just wasn’t evolving.
My wife and I ran MCE and TivoS2 literally side by side for a year, and now we’re completely comfortable giving up the Series 2.
My super-silent 240gb Series 2 is now up for auction on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5833024520
Oh, and I have the hauppauge dual tuner card for my Windows MCE box:
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr500mce.html
I really wish Tivo was keeping up, because the series 2 has been a solid box.. but I can’t justify two boxes in my living room when one is clearly outperforming the other.