TiVo's Jim Denney responds to Engadget!
By Nilay Patel 
posted Apr 29th 2009 1:00PM
posted Apr 29th 2009 1:00PM
We can't say we were expecting any sort of response to our state-of-TiVo piece yesterday, but we just got a note from VP of Product Marketing Jim Denney. It's not long, but he says that TiVo takes comments like ours "very seriously," and that TiVo's always looking to build on customer feedback. Sure, uh, we're glad to help, but we'll be even happier to write about a new TiVo that actually changes the game -- let us know, won't you? Full letter after the break. Hello Nilay and Engadget readers.
I wanted to quickly thank you and your readers for the input - it is vital in how we develop our offerings. Feedback like this was instrumental when we brought back product Lifetime service, when we developed TiVoToGo, and when we integrated Netflix into our library. Further, our TiVo Search beta is focused on explicitly asking for feedback. In short, we take commentary like this very seriously.
Frankly, TiVo has changed a lot in the past few years. TiVo has gone from being a time-shifting device to being a converged entertainment device. We've gone from being available only in the living room to now accessible from a PC or cell phone. We've gone increased capacity from 14 hours of SD to 150 hours of HD. And the whole time we've stayed true to our roots, bringing simple, easy to use, and elegant design to discerning entertainment lovers.
In the end, we just wanted you all to know we're listening and we appreciate your comments. Keep 'em coming.
Best –
Jim Denney & the TiVo team
I wanted to quickly thank you and your readers for the input - it is vital in how we develop our offerings. Feedback like this was instrumental when we brought back product Lifetime service, when we developed TiVoToGo, and when we integrated Netflix into our library. Further, our TiVo Search beta is focused on explicitly asking for feedback. In short, we take commentary like this very seriously.
Frankly, TiVo has changed a lot in the past few years. TiVo has gone from being a time-shifting device to being a converged entertainment device. We've gone from being available only in the living room to now accessible from a PC or cell phone. We've gone increased capacity from 14 hours of SD to 150 hours of HD. And the whole time we've stayed true to our roots, bringing simple, easy to use, and elegant design to discerning entertainment lovers.
In the end, we just wanted you all to know we're listening and we appreciate your comments. Keep 'em coming.
Best –
Jim Denney & the TiVo team
I appreciate Jim responding to the feedback, but throwing in a netflix integration app and TivoToGo isn't exactly a paradigm shift. Just do exactly what Nilay says, and I will be on board.
agreed. almost all of nilay's points in that piece yesterday were spot on. here's to seeing it all happen, jim!
+1
100% agreed. I love my Tivo HD but as it stands now, there's no way I can convince others to rationalize the huge expense. If they were to implement what Nilay suggests (ALL of which is spot on), I'd finally have a chance of spreading the gospel.
I agree. Nice to see a company jump in every once and awhile.
While I have been a Tivo user for years and love the service I have often wondered why they don't dominate the world.
Part of it is they sell a commodity of sorts (at least from a cable/satellite company perspective) and part of it is the shitty deals they strike in other countries, like Australia - you guys are so going to fail there with that model as most people don't want to pay for TV AND there are only 6 channels of shitty US reject TV to watch.
However, rant aside (sorry Oz, I love yaz all), I think they need to focus on one or two things that will really drive adoption. The activities that have been adding are sweet (as in cute) but seem to be ad hoc reactions to events or even serendipitous and without any clear goal in mind. Many of Nilay's suggestions sound cool, but I hope they ask themselves....does it fit into our strategy and where is the business case.
After all I don't want to end up having to use a shitty Comcast DVR.
A few major points about the TiVo that NEED to happen.
1.) With a paid monthly fee, No Ads, no exceptions.
2.) 16:9 HD interface
3.) Ability to use *ANY* eSATA DVR-capable HDD. Don't lock us into the overpriced WD ones.
4.) Ability to view what your TiVo is set to record from any PC (so I can make sure its not already being recording before I set it to record)
5.) No More Ads
6.) No More Ads
7.) No More Ads
8.) If you ignore everything else, at least pay attention to 1,3,5,6 & 7
@MadMike: outside of the "concept" of ads themselves, what about the TiVo ads on the devices bother you?Personally, I don't find them intrusive, they don't take away from the functionality of the device.
agreed. as it stand right now, i have absolutely NO reason to purchase a tivo... my uverse dvr offers me more in the way of usable features (like being able to set it to record from the road, see whats recorded, etc), and is free. paying $500 plus a monthly fee is out of the question without some serious incentive. i already get netflix on my xbox and roku... there really isnt a lot more to the tivo than that at the moment. so add the features that make me WANT to buy a tivo... features i cant live without (like what was listed). until then, i will happily keep my $500 + $12/month in my pocket.
@coyotej: Poorly targeted and they are really poorly thought out and placed. It's more than just the principal of the matter, but principal is part of it. Take a look at Gmail. Gmail has ads, but they do not bother me at all. 1 - yes, Gmail is a free service and 2 - 99.999% of the time I don't even notice them. So it's more than just the fact that they have ads, but I disagree with the entire principal as well. I pay a monthly fee, I shouldn't have to see ads. Actually, I think I should be refunded my monthly service fee for all the months that I have been a member and had to suffer through advertising.
This is really a reply to MadMike... My AT&T Uverse DVR SUCKS. Compared to Tivo the interface simply blows. I switched to AT&T because I was tired of ComCast. I think my broadband is generally better, but the TV... I get HD dropouts all the time - and trying to watch a recorded HD show last night, it was so bad it was unwatchable. Although you can watch shows recorded on the DVR from another STB, you can't add/edit/delete recordings from the non-DVR unit. I am seriously thinking about going back to a ComCast/Tivo combination, except I don't want ANOTHER monthly fee... at least the AT&T offering records HD and the unit is $10 per month. It's gonna take a lot of months of that to cover a Tivo Series 3 or 4...
Completely agree with you Michmar. Well said.
Ads? What ads? If there are ads, they're so unobtrusive that I've basically blocked them out.
Turn on TV.
Hit TiVo button.
Select 'Now Playing List'
Scroll to desired program and enter select
Enter select to play program
Program ends and prompts for save/delete response
Up arrow (to delete option), and hit select
Return to 'Now Playing List'
OK, where's the ads?
Yeah. Big props to them for responding, but I think listing "bigger hard drives" as an improvement makes their case weaker rather than stronger.
Why does Engadget always sound shocked when somebody takes their comments seriously? It gives your site a sense of small community which is nice but lets be honest, Engadget is huge and owned by AOL.
AOL?! Get the hell out of here! :-)
To indicate how big Engadget is; the "E" was a logo on the Optimus Maximus keyboard :)
...What?
Its hard to believe Engadget is owned by by what I once thought of as the great evil in the internet world. I hated the old AOL minutes per month thing back in ye olde 14.4k days. Alas sometimes companies do change.
WHAT???? TiVo nows come with Lifetime??? I hate that channel!!
True, but apparently the Series4 will be able to censor out depressing content, so the channel will basically be black except for some commercials ... which you'll be able to skip.
No, it will be nothing but commercials and 5 minutes of "Touched By an Angel" before the top of every hour.
Well lifetime has 1 use, Mondays from 6-7 is how i met your mother hour.
@MadMike:
Even though I agree with you, you're going to have to throw out the entire management team at TiVo in order for advertising to disappear. They have made it clear -- more and more every year -- that ad revenue was going to be part of their business model and they are going to find more ways at every turn to integrate it wherever it was profitable.
The reality is, if you don't want advertising, then you might as well get rid of your TiVo (if you have one). You really might want to just build yourself a home in the hills with just books. That's the only place you'll avoid it. It's here to stay until such a time as TiVo's board of directors sees fit for a clean sweep of management and makes it an absolute rule that advertising is not going to be used.
I cannot think of a single thing that I subscribe to (from my iPhone service, cable, magazines, etc.) where advertising is not a part of their revenue, to varying degrees. Obviously some items have advertising as a large source, while others may have it as a small revenue source. It's everywhere. It's going to become more pervasive and appear in places you and I can't even dream of now. Heck, you might even find someone selling a service just so you can hide from advertising for a period of time. In all reality, think of somethink akin to the movie "Minority Report." It's at simple as that.
In the market we have now, whether we like it or not (and I DON'T to be absolutely clear), businesses are looking for ways to compliment their revenue in any way possible in order to remain going concerns (and not filing bankruptcy). Advertising is one of those simple methods to add to their bottom line.
@Sully - I fear "Minority Report". However, I do have a TiVo and I don't like to lose. So, lets just say I will make myself the biggest pain in the ass to tne ENTIRE TiVO board if I have to, to get no ads on TiVo. I also plan on getting a Moxi soon. Once Moxi matures, I may just drop TiVo. So, that right there, even though I am 1, person - there are many more like me and when a competitor arises, TiVo will need to compete. So, even though the TiVo board may be part of the Illuminati to bombard us humans with countless ads for life, they may need to forfeit that.
Also, there are a lot of apps on the iPhone that do not have ads. Again, like Gmail it's free and it has ads - but I'm fine with Gmail. If I pay for it and they show ads? I take exception to that. Like my Comcast cable box, started to show ads. I wrote a few letters and spoke with executive support. Not more than a few weeks later, the ads stopped showing up on my cable box. So it CAN be done, if you complain enough.
Engadget has ultimate power, they can make companies kneel before them.
It seems it works quite the opposite way, when it comes to Apple, though...
@loocas:
Bringing Apple into a TiVO-related post? What are you, a mac fanboy?
cool
thats a good one! hope theyre seriously taking costumers critics serious! i think thats what makes a company sucessfull... in entertainment-industry more than anywhere else! but sadly a lot oh those companies seems like theyve forgotten that point.
yea... keep 'em coming!
awesome!
Dude looks like Hugh Laurie's little bro.
lol, thats crazy, i never noticed that until you mentioned it, its kinda uncanny
I wonder if he's seeing dead double chins too.
I think he looks like Andy Dick's twin. You know, the guy from NewsRadio. Ugh, nevermind.
For some awesome Hugh Laurie TV, check out the Jeeves & Wooster miniseries.
Weird, I was thinking he looked like Dana Carvey.
Talk is cheap, Jim Denney. But I love you guys.
Hi,
Bring a Tivo style service to Holland and I'll be pleased :P
Also, how do we know the letter is real. We just have to take your word? What about the letter being scanned and showing the real deal. Did he also send you his picture?
dude both of your comments on this thread are idiotic. give me a fricken break.
@ ham: Idiotic or not, they both got responses... and for the first one... very funny!!!
You failed to point out that Jim Denney politely corrected you for not checking your facts that the lifetime subscription that you ranted about has been available for sometime now.
We get no-frills HD DVR service from Comcast for $5 a month, don't have to buy the box upfront. I'd gladly pay more for TiVo but the $200 minimum for equipment on top of the $130 a year is a little much. Either come up with something super-innovative (again) or find some way to drop the price...or at least structure it to make it SEEM like you've dropped the price.
I agree that the initial cost seems prohibitive for most ...
But TiVo doesn't require you to have any specific service package. Comcast wouldn't provide DVR service to use with my basic cable package ($19 per month.) Instead, I had to pay $11 for the box monthly, and HAD to subscribe to the $65 dollar per month digital starter package. So to compare:
-$179 (hardware) + $130 (TiVo subscription) + $228 ($19 basic cable, monthly x 12)= $537 TiVo first-year cost
-{$11 (hardware, monthly) + $46 (difference, basic cable v. digital starter, monthly)} x12 = $672 annual cost w/ Comcast
Savings of $135 the first year with TiVo
Also, since I own the hardware, the cost drops $179 after the first year. My savings versus Comcast's DVR after the year one: $314
I love TiVo.
From what I remember, TiVo was much easier to use than DTV. Maybe setting up exclusive contracts with the cable companies would be a good start?
Why is there a picture of Andy Dick attached to this article?
Why is there a picture of Dana Carvey attached to this article?
Seriously, keep going. You'll eventually say something funny..
Why is there a picture of Poop attached to everything you say? Oh, yeah...
It all comes down to price. You want me to pay $13 a month (monthly rate) for something that a cable co will deliver for $8 a month. And that's after an up-front box purchasing fee of $200. A cable-co doesn't have any up-front fees. Worse yet, I have to worry about the box I now own from becoming obsolete before I get return on my investment.
What exactly are they providing me for a monthly fee? Program guide data? SchedulesDirect delivers that for $20 a year.
That's a tough sell, regardless of feature set. Tivo must find a way to get rid of their monthly fees, or they will not survive.
What world are you living in? Maybe your non-asshole cable company wants $8/mo for a DVR, but here in Comcast land they want $15/mo. That's up from $10/mo a year ago.
TiVo for me is $10.83/mo plus $1.50 for two S-cards. That's $12.33/mo total, or $2.67/mo cheaper than the Comcast DVR.
Yeah, the box (TiVo HD) was $180 (refurb) up-front. Considering that I would have paid $99 for the Netflix/Roku box anyway, the TiVo cost me $80 net. And while I'm not going to break even for another year and a half, I think it's worth it to not have the Comcast POS DVR.
If you're paying $8 for your cable company DVR and like it, more power to you. But TiVo is far, far ahead of Comcast's POS DVR, and it's cheaper per month too.
Cmon guys - let's give them some credit for responding.
Here's hoping they implement a lot from that article yesterday. It was a fantastic write-up.
Dude, who cares? -Look at him! He's Gorgeous!
Sorry guys, (READER COMMENTS)
I can not go with you on this one, I think it was dam nice of this Denney guy to take time out
to respond to a commentery that was spot on by Engedget, I love Tivo, but agree thay have a
long way to go. Anyway that's my two cents, TRUELIGHT!
Hi Thad. You are so right. Quite a ways to go. Peace. Johnese McKinney.
I agree with all the things Nilay said in his post. If Netflix did those things and did them fast, they would be in a HUGE lead.
TiVo needs to listed AND respond accordingly.
People still have cable these days?
Clearly by this response TiVo is going down in flames in the next 3 years. This is letter is full of BS and excuses. Where as if you recall Engadget did one of these for palm and the way they responded was totally different saying they would try and implement every suggestion and look what happen we got the palm pre. TiVo is run by a bunch of managers where back in the day it was run by Engineers and that was what made the product so great.
TiVo is improving, but too slowly. Focus on keeping up!
been a TiVo user since day 1.
some things they can do to be better...
1) open up the wifi. having to pay $100 for a freaking USB network adapter is kinda ridiculous. that should not be proprietary.
2) if i have satellite, i only have the option of the oldest model. No newer HD Tivo means no Netflix or any of the bells & whistles at all.
3) open up TiVo to stream content from our home computers (mac or pc). boxee does a great job...
TiVo should be a leader with the home networking and isn't. i have a lot of other ideas, but since i pay a lot for the service and am not a paid consultant... i'll let the people getting paid try and think their way out. hehe
Okay, I really just don't understand this post.
First, the Tivo wireless adapter is $30 from most outlets, and $50 from Tivo. Not $100. And it contains circuitry to speed up transfers, so it's not just a wireless adapter. So yeah, they can build in wifi, but its not going to break you to make the add-on work for now.
Second, Tivo doesn't control access to the satellite boxes, the satellite companies do. To work with satellite, the HD Tivo would have to operate as an HD capture box, recording the output signal from the satellite box's HDMI or Component out. That is obviously not going to fly with ANY content owner, particularly the cable companies. And well, wouldn't you know it, Cable Labs' sign off is crucial to using the Tivo on a digital cable system (don't give me OTA or QAM is enough, because I love my premium and extended cable content in HD, and that would clearly not compete with the cable company's offerings). So the mere idea of one box to work on satellite and cable is dead in the water and technically infeasible. Not to mention the fact that DirecTV and Echostar both have proprietary access systems, so Tivo would need licensing, and, oh well, would you look at that, Tivo and Echostar have been at each other's thoats in court for 5 years because of ES's patent infringement. So Tivo would need to develop a separate box just for satellite, and license the access -- oh wait, that's what they're doing with DirecTV...(google it)
Third, well, I agree with you there.
http://pytivo.armooo.net/
Stream pretty much anything to your tivo. And its dead easy.
I use pyTivo to stream all kinds of content from my Debian Linux box to both of my Series 3s and it works great. h264 encoded stuff takes a while to transfer, but looks absolutely beautiful on both of my HDTVs and xvid stuff is pretty much instant and the quality is acceptable.
Hey Jim!
How about you talk with the other muckity mucks over at TiVo and get off EchoStar's ass? License the technology or whatever you need to do so I don't have to give up my DVR.
This is awesome. I'm glad companies like TiVo actually listen to people when they make product decisions. And sure, they might not have made the best decisions in the past few years, but they're willing to improve because of consumer input. If only some other companies *cough* AT&T *cough* did the same.
Not sure if it's different in other places or what, but it costs more than $5 or $8 to rent an HD DVR from Comcast here. I believe it is $15.95 or $16.95 a month. I think Tivo is competitive with that, espeically considering the superior service.
I looked at what I was paying for the Cable Company box and Tivo was only $3 dollars more a month. The few months that I had the CC's DVR, I hated it. The fast forward would skid like 30 seconds or so into the program so you always had to back up and several times it recorded programs but, they just wouldn't play. I agree that Tivo has a lot of room to grow:
1. Enabling external eSATA storage to any HD, not just Western Digital
2. Streaming content to your computer for playback without having to transfer it
3. Playback of AAC files on Tivo music player
4. A simple way to convert Tivo transfers to Quicktime files
But, I think it says a lot that they responded to the post. They didn't have to.
Comcast is a slug! I rent my HD DVR from DirecTV for $5/mo.
I agree spot on. TWC charges you $10 for DVR service, and it charges you additional $6.50 for receiver and remote control.
This adds up to $198 a year. So each year you pay this amount of money to TWC or at least I did.
I got my TIVO box on ebay and same goes for my Lifetime Subscription, my total was $550.
It will pay for itself within 2.5 years. Also when a newer box comes out from TIVO I can sell it back on eBay for about $450 or so.
Yes I also have to Cable Cards which cost me $2.75 each for a total of $5.50 but my Franchise Fees and Taxes are lower by $1. So my cost is $4.50 a month now and it was $16.50 before. I get a lot more out of my Tivo then I ever did from my stupid cable box. Any software improvement Tivo make just adds to a value of my box and keep in mind that I am not renting it (like I did with my box from TWC) I actually own it.
I'm a current series 3 owner and my 3 year contract is up next spring. Yes, I paid a butt load for hardware to be an early adopter and I paid $300 for 3 years of service since the lifetime didn't exist back then.
What does TiVo need to do to keep me from ditching them when my contract is up? I'm certainly not going to pay for a lifetime on my box after dishing out $300 in service fees and since my S3 doesn't work with one M-card (I'm still bitter about that). But I digress.
TiVo really, REALLY needs to release a series 4 box that offers tru2way. If TiVo does this and keeps the lifetime at $299 for existing customers, I'm sold. If they don't get their shit together by next spring at the latest, I'm gone.
Some things they can do to really make themselves more attractive:
-Becoming a "converged entertainment device". How about actually being a true media player? Play DivX, Xvid files, WMVs, MKVs. The PS3 is more of a converged entertainment device than TiVo is right now.
-Improve the interface for HD displays and speed up the menus
-Actually offer decent web scheduling. It's very lackluster right now
I'm a big TiVo fan (own three of them) and I take advantage of most of the services they offer (PC, cellphone, portable player, Netflix, Amazon) but Nilay hit a bullseye.
I was recently having a discussion with my wife about what I'd like our home entertainment setup to accomplish and the main thing that was lacking, for me anyway, was format support and connectivity with 3rd party devices. I think getting onboard with more formats natively without conversion software is the key. I am reading up on Media Center PC's (Windows 7 onward) because of the depth of their functionality and integration.
It used to be these types of machines (media center PC's) were cost prohibitive, but that's not really the situation anymore. Couple this fact with the Windows Home Server (which is rumored to be incorporating more robust media capabilities) add a few Media Center PC's and suddenly our home enetertainment center becomes really entertaining.
The one thing TiVo does retain to their advantage is their high level of simplicity. But that will become a mute point over time IMHOP.
I agree, sure the TivoToGO and the HD stuff are cool, but a paradigm shift does not make because people were going ahead and doing similar things with their Tivo boxes before they went official with that functionality.
On the money making front, Tivo could potentially tie something in between the TV show recording, Netflix, and Amazon MoD (HD too). Say if you're recording a particular show on a season pass; you could get some money knocked off getting the DVD set from Amazon. Or renting a movie off Netflix for a discount because you're watching a TV show based on that movie.
Again, just thoughts and ideas.
One thing that I'm amazed that hasn't come about is some kind of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter integration. Say I'm watching the new episode of 24. My Tivo could automatically update my status to something along that effect. And I jump on my cell phone (or laptop as a recent study placed quite a few adults using their laptops on the internet while watching TV), and give a quick comment/tweet on what they just saw. People already do it on their own, might as well let the Tivo help out.
Or say when the commercials roll, an applet comes on on the bottom of the screen wanting to know if you'd like to comment on what just happened (Jack exposed to virus, Tony's a bad guy, smoking hot redheaded FBI agent - with maybe an accompanying screencap). Tivo would, under your current 'Watching 24" status, add in a comment "Jack's got the preon virus!!". Letting you and your other peeps comment on that too.
Gigabit ethernet for transfers and wireless-N please!!
Tivo guy: Can we have MORE ads sprinkled through Tivo's menus? I think there are still some available pixels.
-d
If Andy Dick and Hugh Laurie made a baby it would be Jim Denney.
What an offensive and skillful marketing post from TiVo.
Same Ol' TiVo, different people at the helm.
You guys are still paternalistic and don't listen to customers. Are we allowed at this point to post COMPLAINTS in the TiVo forums? I seem to remember doing this a few times, only to have the TiVo cheerleaders remove them as non-essential and irrelevant under the posting guidelines.
Have you guys lowered the telephone wait times since my last phone call?
Luckily, I have other options. I think the idea of time shift recording is excellent, but your patronizing and non-responsive interactions with customers is repugnant.
Keep up the fine work.
Are you talking about the Tivo help forum? Or Tivocommunity? Because TivoCommunity is not owned by or affiliated with Tivo, so bitching to Tivo that TCF'ers removed a complaint post is like bitching to your neighbor that your dog shat on the carpet.
And if you mean the Tivo forum, then I'm guessing you were less than civil. I see complaints posted in that forum all the time that are constructive and intended to improve the product, not just bitch and moan and threaten (like most "complaints" on most internet forums). So try posting your feedback like "I think the Tivo should do X," and not "Why on EARTH does Tivo not X!?!?! WTF??? I paid how much for this? How can Tivo expect to compete...blah blah blah... without X? It's a RIPOFF. I WANT MY MONEY BACK. WAA WAA WAA"
Listen to this then...
get your fucking ads of my lifetime paid sub.
That is all.
My key feature request:
1 - Place Shifting: they should make the system more robust in streaming media between the multiple TiVo's in a home, and between the PC/MAC.
2 - DirecTV HD integration - come on guys - you announced this 2 years ago and we're still waiting. The DirecTV DVR sucks and anyone would gladly switch over.
3 - Connectivity with XBox360/PS3
4 - Built in wireless
Andy dick works for Tivo?
@TIVO: Just copy everything Moxi has done in their latest release. You'll double your subscriber base instantly.
1. DVD/HD/Blu-Ray/whatever player built in. That USES the remote buttons in exactly the same fashion as regular shows
2. optionally recording to writable media - the issue of copyright is obviously already dealt with with the ability to record to VCR.
3. WiFi built in. Use N
4. In the 'to do' list also indicate which suggestions are to be recorded.
5. If there are more than one TiVo on the same LAN, add software so that if a recording will conflict on one of them, that the other one will automatically record instead. This is a virtual dual-tuner device...
To the folks insulting him... How much more likely does it make it that he will listen if you are making snide remarks about him? I think your clue meter had bottomed out.
sorry- $69.99 - Best Buy (i think i paid $79.99 for it... so closer to $90 with tax)
my old TiVo 2 could use a certain Linsys USB adapter back in the day, but not the newer ones with the latest firmware.
the 2nd complaint was more along the lines of I want all the bells and whistles like Netflix on my non HD Tivo. since i can't purchase one to work on my tv that gets satellite, then the extra features should still be available on the models that *do* work on satellite systems... especially since i'm using their proprietary Network adapter on their latest firmware. so that should hopefully make sense.
my tivo works great with my dish for standard def... they should be able to make a version that can do the same for HD. if that's too hard or impossible, then they will be missing a lot of boats in the future. the theory of how it all works should be the same for HD content as well.
Tivo2Go/TivoDesktop Plus really needs to be standard software for all Tivo subscribers. I'd really sell the fact that you can put your TV shows on your iPhone, iPod, or PSP as a major, major plus.
Also, offer lots of support for CableCard users (+1 being that 50% of CableCards are misprogrammed, so ask your cable provider to bring several) - and make testing of CableCards much MUCH faster than it currently is. It took me weeks to get everything working right, and it takes about an hour to run through setup to ensure your cablecard is working. Add a new CableCard testing screen without requiring customers to go through all the hoops only to discover one or two bad channels.
OnDemand support... yes please.
And for the love of CHRIST stop plastering ads all over my Tivo UI. I pay for your service already, I don't expect to be bombarded with new ads on top of the regular service fees.
And also... built-in 802.11b/g/n support on all future Tivo units... and an iPhone app for remotely managing your Tivo would be nice, too.
I've had a Tivo for about 9 years. I bought the lifetime service, and Tivo is way better than the piece of crap HD DVRs (2, actually) I have in my house now. I would have bought at least 1 from Tivo, but they gave me almost no discount for "upgrading" - it would have saved me ~$200 at most, but cost me something like $700 for a lifetime HD. Back when I bought the Tivo, it was reasonably priced, and the lifetime subscription paid for itself in 18 months. The problem for Tivo is their method of making profit. Selling boxes no longer works because there are knock-offs one can rent (as I do) for ~$10/mo (which is less than the Tivo service alone). Their service is also expensive, when compared to a cable company. So, what to do? Well, they could either consider renting like cable companies do, or, as the article stated, they can make it into a must-have entertainment center that makes $700 a worthwhile investment for something most people don't consider a necessity.
In addition, Tivo tech support has to be full of the least technical people I've ever encountered. My hard drive crapped, and I called the other night. The guy I got told me (while carrying on a personal conversation with a co-worker), that there was "really nothing I could do," and I'd have to buy a new Tivo - great sales job. 10 minutes later, after a search on the internet, my Tivo was fixed after I ran some basic diag. The last genius I spoke to at Tivo was convinced the Tivo had died due to a power surge (not to the software upgrade that was installed the night before and was widely reported to be causing problems), even though I told him at least 5 times I had not had a power surge, and that all other electronics were working! After an hour of wasting my time with his theories and worthless attempts at fixing the problem, I asked to be transferred up. Problem was solved in 10 minutes.
As for the letter from the Marketing Head, that's all it is, marketing. No, he didn't need to write it, but I can assure you he's not designing the next version.
Having said all that, Tivo is still a great product. In fact, it is the best. But being the best means little if "good enough" is a lot less $$. So, you either match price (which never works), or you make the product better (and keep making it better so competitors are always trying to keep up). Otherwise, Tivo will be another name for BetaMax.
It was great for TiVo to respond. Just to add a couple things to the list from Engadget...
1#) The pop-up "Pause" ads/banners NEED TO GO...or at least let me turn them off PERMANENTLY in the Messages and Settings. I've paid my lifetime fees and monthly fees...I don't want ads there!
2#) Easy, swappable INTERNAL drives to upgrade! Like the PS3. The WD extenders are noisy, take up space, and you can't turn off the damn 'circle' light!
Thanks for listening.
Tivo no longer makes any sense in this market. None. I tried to remain loyal, but there was so little to keep me paying for it. And when Switch Video happened Tivo had such a lazy response, it was the final straw for me. Not going back.
See, that's just ignorant. Tivo was powerless to do anything about SDV. All it could do was what it did -- harass CableLabs and the FCC to force the development of a product that could integrate into any of the 5 different SDV systems out there. Oh, and make it available for FREE to customers. MAYBE Tivo could have sped things up by footing the bill to develop and distribute the product themselves. But that would hardly have been fair or made economic sense because it was the cable companies who were required to fully support CableCard open access -- why should Tivo have had to pay to rectify the Cable companies' attempts to skirt the law?
And that we got that product in 2008, and not 2010 as some speculated, shows that Tivo hardly bungled or was "lazy" about their response, considering that SDV was active in almost no markets at the end of 2007.
awesome. Cool to get some honest feedback from companies.
Now, bring forth the Series 4's!
This marketing clown is the epitome of what's wrong with TiVo.
As one of TiVo's accomplishments he says: "We've gone increased capacity from 14 hours of SD to 150 hours of HD."
Really? That's an accomplishment? They selected a newer disk drive and dropped in a more modern Linux kernel that could address more blocks than the kernel they started with in 1997?
Hey TiVo.... Ever heard of MythTV? It'll knock your socks off. Why don't you use their interface and add some of your closed-source mindedness to create a cable card plugin.
How's that for convergence!!!
I have a Series 2 with DVD burner integrated into the unit and software. You can't get that anymore. The company is moving backwards. It is nice to be able to easily put content on a DVD whenever you want.
If Tivo wants to inovate they need to copy ReplayTV. Go buy some of the ReplayTV patents from DNNA (or whoever owns them now) and implement commercial skip. If that function were avaialble to the masses again then Tivo would have something to crow about.
I own two TiVo's. The largest request for me is simple: get the ads out of my UI. I bought the hardware and I am paying you for the service. I can assure you that the few cents you earn from showing me ads does NOT make up for the negative image I have for your company each time I notice an ad in one of the menus. The ads that appear when I pause a show are particularly infuriating.
At this point, I don't recommend TiVo to others even though I really enjoy mine simple because I don't think its right to pay so much for hardware, pay for scheduling data, and still be force-fed the very thing I bought a DVR to avoid: ads.
How about a free TiVo?
I just want an HD Tivo around $300 without a monthly fee. Please.
I guess I dont know how the Tivo with the cable card thing works and what I say to my Cable provider. Do you call them and say we dont need their cable box because we use Tivo now? So the Tivo device is the new cable box?
As a previous Tivo owner/member (I canceled about 2 years ago), I can say one thing. How can Tivo take any sort of credit for increasing capacity? The only one deserving credit for that is hdd manufacturers who have increased hdd density and reduced pricing. That's hardly a Tivo accomplishment.
The other minor feature improvements are hardly even that. Programming on the PC or phone is absolutely a requirement for the platform now, and btw, all other DVR makers support this too! Claiming to support HD is kinda a joke too. HD is available only if you buy a cable card from your cable vendor. Frankly, who subscribes to cable anymore? I've been a satellite customer for going on 10 years and have no intent to switch to an inferior cable product just so I can meet Tivo's requirements of "HD".
Good luck in the future HD. I do miss the peanut remote, but I can even get one of those from logitech now. You used to have a unique product, but those days are over now. Innovate or resume dying.
Here's the question to put to TiVo...
When is TiVo coming back to the UK?
And the answer better be - this year.
We love Tivo and have had two of them since they first came on the market -- we even have lifetime subs on both of them. The HUGE limiting factor is that they are so hard, to impossible, to use with Dish Network. The HD units, all of 'em, will not work at all with Dish. The series two Tivos, which we upgraded to a few years ago (from the Philips Series 1) just barely work with a very few limited Dish Network Sat Boxes.
We'd love to upgrade to HD Tivo's -- but can't. Period. Never without getting rid of Dish Network. We've had DN for 10+ years and are not about to switch to something else now.
Tivo needs to figure out how to fix this compatibility problem.
My TiVo wish: Lifetime subscription owners should be able to opt out of the ads.
Yes. Pytivo is awesome. My series 3 with Pytivo is the best thing out there for getting HD from your PC to HDTV right now. The one additional thing I would ask for is being able to remap channel info in the programming guide. The problem I have right now is that the programming for all of my HD channels that come in over QAM are mapped to channels that don't exist, so I have to view HD programming on channels that have no guide info.
Oh, and I'd also like Hulu. that would be great!
Ok Tivo, lets make some money while adding the new features that people want. Ready?
Nilay’s points are valid so the trick is to execute some or all without scarifying simplicity. Here are some other suggestions to build on Nilay’s great list of items:
1. Yes we understand that you need a subscription to survive but how about TENURED DISCOUNTS in addition to lifetime? (ex: 3 year subscriber gets X reduction in fee).
2. Yes the banner type ads are not overly obstructive but give some of us the option to PAY MORE MONTHLY for little to no ads or pay less to no monthly fee for full on ad bars even during FF/REW.
3. I would even bet that some would PAY DOUBLE THE MONTHLY FEE if there was “commercial advance” like Replay TV had (for the n00bs, it skipped commercials automatically).
4. Give us the ability to easily share certain content with our friends TiVo’s. Downloading and converting is, well, just too cumbersome.
5. Improve Tivo Desktop. We should be able to see, manage, delete, schedule programs from a “PAID FOR APP”/piece of software.
6. Use the mobile phone model by subsidizing the upfront equipment cost (i.e. free Tivo HD in exchange for a 2 year contract). You can then allow the cost to be rolled up in the MRC (monthly reoccurring change). It has worked wonders for the US cellular carriers since the late 80’s.
7. Lastly, WATCH YOUR BACK. Keep an eye on the douche network guys who are hell bent on your demise. They have just “invaded your space” with the T2200S so strike back by creating/adding a “FOR SALE” piece of software that achieves the same thing as Sling (i.e. viewing via portable devices).
We love your stuff and usually someone that has used Tivo stick with it except when forced to take the cable/or sat box because of missing things like true2way or cutting back on finances…
PS Before closing, here is a scenario that can get you even financially strapped customers in these hard economic times. (a) Got a Tivo HD subsidized (paid “$0”) in exchange for a 2 year contract. (b) After the 2 year contract expired (you, Tivo would have already recouped the cost of the box and then some), customer switched to the “$0” monthly ALL ads, ALL access, ALL offers, rate plan. On the surface it looks like a revenue dog but it is not if you understand the deeper potential, and there are many.
NOW LET’S GO MAKE SOME $$$$!
Better yet, hire me and I will give you even more nuggets some even patentable ;^)...