Tivo OT?

Chet Hayes wrote:
|| I've found PVR's to be hard to explain to folks and that's probably
|| why they are still slow to be accepted. But once you try one, there
|| is no way you will want to watch TV without one. Just the ability to
|| pause TV realtime for up to 30 mins while you take a call, etc is
|| super. And then you quickly catch up again by blowing through
|| commercials. I have one of the original Tivos and have been very
|| happy with it. Also, you can avoid the monthly fees for the
|| programming info by paying a onetime charge, I think it's $250 now,

The raised the one-time fee to $300.

|| which covers the service for the life on the unit. Note however,
|| this
|| is the life of the unit, so if it blows up, you want one with more
|| storage, etc, you have to pay again. Still, I think it's the best
|| deal.

The unit can be repaired. Also, if it is a matter of the HD going bad
(probably more most likely) it can be replaced if you make an image of the
original HD.

||
|| Another issue to be aware of for new buyers is HDTV. The only PVR
|| I'm
|| aware of that will handle HD is the Tivo unit offered through
|| DirectTV
|| and I think it lists for $1000. And the long term impact of all
|| these
|| units to the broadcasting industry may well force a change in how
|| revenue is generated, ending the model that has endured since the
|| 50's. That's because with PVRs, most commercials wind up being
|| skipped and become ineffective.

I think Dish makes a HD PVR unit too.

"Sprgtime" wrote in message ...
Tivo spys on you. It spys on what the family watches, and that information
is given to marketing companies who make money from it.

It's only agregated data. So they can tell for example that X% of
people watched this show, but they can't tell which show you watched
specifically. There's nothing to stop them from doing this in the
future though, but that would be really bad PR.


I would be okay
with that, expect for the fact that they're making money off you AND
charging you every month for it. Not to mention the cost of the thing
itself.

Tivo has a very tight business model. They're not making huge amounts
of cash. Anything they can do to stay in business while keeping my
costs low is ok with me.

brian

"Sprgtime" wrote in message ...
Tivo spys on you. It spys on what the family watches, and that information
is given to marketing companies who make money from it.

It's only agregated data. So they can tell for example that X% of
people watched this show, but they can't tell which show you watched
specifically. There's nothing to stop them from doing this in the
future though, but that would be really bad PR.


I would be okay
with that, expect for the fact that they're making money off you AND
charging you every month for it. Not to mention the cost of the thing
itself.

Tivo has a very tight business model. They're not making huge amounts
of cash. Anything they can do to stay in business while keeping my
costs low is ok with me.

brian

"Sprgtime" wrote in message ...
Tivo spys on you. It spys on what the family watches, and that information
is given to marketing companies who make money from it.

It's only agregated data. So they can tell for example that X% of
people watched this show, but they can't tell which show you watched
specifically. There's nothing to stop them from doing this in the
future though, but that would be really bad PR.


I would be okay
with that, expect for the fact that they're making money off you AND
charging you every month for it. Not to mention the cost of the thing
itself.

Tivo has a very tight business model. They're not making huge amounts
of cash. Anything they can do to stay in business while keeping my
costs low is ok with me.

brian

(Chet Hayes) wrote in message . com...
That's because with PVRs, most commercials wind up being
skipped and become ineffective.

One of the things I've noticed is that since I'm blowing through
commercials instead of skipping them entirely, I do still sort of
watch them. Sometimes I see something interesting and stop to watch
the commercial. This is the sort of info that can be easily tracked
by the tivo and would be priceless to advertising companies. It means
I can watch commercials about things I'm really interested in, or
commercials that are really entertaining while avoiding mind-numbing
jingle torture. I think it will definitly change things.

brian

(Chet Hayes) wrote in message . com...
That's because with PVRs, most commercials wind up being
skipped and become ineffective.

One of the things I've noticed is that since I'm blowing through
commercials instead of skipping them entirely, I do still sort of
watch them. Sometimes I see something interesting and stop to watch
the commercial. This is the sort of info that can be easily tracked
by the tivo and would be priceless to advertising companies. It means
I can watch commercials about things I'm really interested in, or
commercials that are really entertaining while avoiding mind-numbing
jingle torture. I think it will definitly change things.

brian