It's been a long, messy road, but now that TiVo's
beaten a victory out of EchoStar in that
seemingly-endless DVR patent lawsuit it sounds like the company is trying to exert some muscle -- it's already in talks to bring its service to Time Warner Cable, and sources have told
Bloomberg the ultimate plan is to eventually collect royalties from every pay-TV provider in the US. That might sound bullying and even a little trollish, but keep in mind these patents have
withstood pretty much
every legal challenge EchoStar could throw at them, so TiVo's operating from a position of some certainty here -- especially since it's got license agreements with huge players like Comcast and DirecTV to use as leverage in negotiations as well. Of course, none of this solves any of
TiVo's actual problems with its products, and the company's topsy-turvy balance sheet has some analysts thinking its ripe for a buyout by one of the bigs, so things could change dramatically at any minute, but for right now it sounds like your chances of getting the TiVo interface on your cable or satellite company DVR just went up, and that's almost certainly a good thing.
posted June 22nd 2009 1:46PM
TiVo UI sucks big time compared to what Dish has on their latest units. Ability to create custom folders, move shows around and what not. I can record 4 HD shows at a time (2 from Dish, 2 from OTA tuner), while watching a recorded one. No lag in changing channels, single box feeding signal to 3 tvs in different rooms without any additional fee. Try beating that with a TiVo. My Series 2 has been sitting idle for months now. TiVo got contented with what they had and never tried to improve. Dish has added a fair amount of value to the DVR space. It hurts to see them getting fined for their efforts! I just wish I dont have to go back to their CRAPPY UI.
Good. I have a TiVo. My roommates have a Time Warner DVR. What a POS the Time Warner box is. It's slow, unresponsive, and ugly in comparison. TiVo on the other hand is very snappy, easy to figure out, and all around more fun - especially considering all the free content you can download. Yeah they both do the same basic function, but until you've used TiVo you have no idea how crappy your cable company DVR is.
HD DirecTivo would be reason enough for me to switch back to DirecTV. But I will never consider going back to comcast even with HD tivo service.
Recently went from the Comcast HD DVR ( http://www.comcast.com/MediaLibrary/1/1/Explore/ProductPages/DC/DVR_top.jpg )
to the TivoHD in Washington DC. to say the upgrade was immense would be an insult to the Tivo box.
I have yet to lose a recording that I've scheduled (a daily event with the comcast box) or have something mysteriously disappear that I've set to "remove when I delete" (a weekly even with the comcast box). The guide is better, the channels change faster and the built-in ASTC tuner is great.
Now if comcast offers a Tivo-Tivo instead of a generic box with "tivo" branding and added bloop sounds i'd consider it, until then i'll stick with my multistream cable card.
I need some help out there. I am SICK of paying to Time Warner. I keep thinking of going to something like TiVo, but what about the phone and internet access. Is it more costly to purchase each separately? Here's what I want:
Internet/email access
TV access: HD not needed - but capturing films and series is
Phone