Comments on: We Like TiVo, Just Don’t Want To Buy It

By: Doug G

Doug G — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

As both an owner of a TIVO box and a user of two boxes from a cable provider, there are several reasons for using the cable box instead of the TIVO box.
First, cost. The price tag when I was purchasing TIVO was about $250.00 and I paid for the programming for an additional $250.00. The cable box costs an additional $6.95 per month on my cable bill. The net present value of a series of $6.95 payments once a month for two years is in the neighborhood of $135.00, much less than the price I paid for TIVO.
Second, flexibility. TIVO can only handle one channel. As a result, you can either watch live, or record but not both. You can watch a recorded show while you are recording another show. With the cable box you have access to two channels at the same time. Therefore you can watch one show live while recording a second show, record two shows while watching a third recorded show, etc. If I decide to add more boxes, it costs just $6.95 per month per box. I could add a box for a special month, such as the ACC basketball tournament, etc and then return it when the tournament is over.
Third, reliability. If my TIVO fails, I would have to send it back to TIVO for repairs. Once outside the warranty, I get to pay for it myself. For the cable box, I just take the box back to the cable company and get a new one.
TIVO does have some advantages. My family really likes the remote and the interface for finding and recording programs. TIVO is coming out with an ability to download a TV program to your home computer. With the network interface, there are all kinds of possibilities on that front.

Bottom line for me, the cost, flexibility and reliability advantages of the cable box significantly outweigh the TIVO advantages. If I had waited a few months, I would have never bought the TIVO.

By: David Galbraith

David Galbraith — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

The G(r)eek Tragedy of Tivo

What happens when you have a product that is designed for the masses but remains with the minority? Nobody could…

COMMENT: AUTHOR: Aswath Rao

Almost a year back (http://www.mocaedu.com/mt/archives/000030.html) I wrote that TiVo model of under charging for the hardware, but recovering by charging a monthly fee is faulty. I still beleive so. Subsequently I bought HW/SW costing about $200 to do the same thing. The cable companies have done one better by charging almost the same amount (assuming 2 year lifetime for a consumer product), but distributing over the period.

This holds a lesson for VoIP service providers in that apart from PSTN connectivity the only service they offer is directory service, which can not inherently generate much revenue. So do not rejoice that PSTN is dying/dead; along with it VoIP service business is also gone. (Got to get that in ad nasum. )

COMMENT: AUTHOR: Sagacious Copycat

A better reason for DIY PVR is to avoid draconian restrictions like the proposed, inane FLAG system that will retard the functionality of commercial DVRs. I’ll record what I want, when I want, thank you.

By: PVRblog

PVRblog — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

early adopters do not a market make

Om Malik has a bunch of links to new survey data that supports information we have known for quite some time. A lot of people laughed at Steve Jobs when he introduced a hard-drive based music player nearly three years

By: Eufreka!

Eufreka! — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Nega-Spin, Indeed! The Study Never Even Mentions Tivo!

What a terribly flawed (or limited) study on which to base such a provocative–and negative–headline: We Like TiVo, Just Don’t Want To Buy It! So inflammatory, I don’t even know where to begin…..