New DirectTV Tivo on the way

I know this will make a lot of people here happy.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/03/hell-freezes-over-new-directv-hd-tivo-on-the-way/

Wow.

I wish they'd make a DirecTV receiver that would interface to my Series 3 via CableCard.

Aw, not until 2nd half 2009. Still... YAY!

Or how about adding support for the upcoming DirecTV USB tuner on a S3 or TiVoHD...

Still good to see this is happening!

Yeah, that would work, too.

!

hmm, something like this might tempt me back to subscription TV. Though I'd prefer Dish for their HD only package. Years back, a friend and I were trying to get ahold of the Dish Network PCI tuner for an HTPC. Very few exist, most relegated to some hotel TV systems after the deal with Gateway fell apart to include them in the old Destination TV systems.

If EyeTV for OS X adds support for it, I could then easily have a decent DVR solution that also allows me to move TV shows to my computer or iPhone.

Do you suppose it was MY resistance to sup from the DTV non-TIVO lineup of HD-DVRs that had something to do with this?

Yes. Definitely.

Thanks for holding out for the rest of us

Wow, that's a surprise, but this will be terrible, just like it was the last time. Everything was great at first, but then the software was never updated, and at the end the DirecTV users felt like they were living in the dark age compared to the standalone Tivo users. Oh, and I'll be amazed if DirecTV allows TTG.

They also just announced a new revision of their standalone HD box with the remote of the Series 3 and a lot more recording space. $600 plus subscription.

I have a strong feeling TiVo would have done a lot better had they advertised their product plainly as a tapeless VCR and skipped the subscription model.

They still have the cleanest and most consistent UI in the business, but that's not enough for me. There's no way I'm paying anyone a subscription for TV listings. If a small time player like SageTV can work the listings costs into their "for-sale" business model, so too can TiVo.

Well, I disagree that they could make it up elsewhere. And SageTV is only selling software, so I think it's a bit of an apples/oranges thing.

If my subscription keeps Tivo in the black (which it seems to barely be doing as it is), then I'm happy.

I was pretty surprised by the second hardware announcement as well. The whole reason for making the TivoHD was because the Series 3 had so many non-essential features like the remote and the cable.

I guess the main reason it surprises me is because you can get a TivoHD for $200, and add your own external hard drive. I just checked, and my Series 3 (which admittedly has more space than the TivoHD) with a 750GB drive gives me 131 hours of HD space (and 1244 of SD). You can get a 1TB drive and a very good enclosure for $200 on Newegg, and then you've saved $200.

I agree. I actually just replaced the internal drive on my TivoHD with a 750GB drive using WinMFS, costing me under $100, with over 100 hours of HD space.

It's a matter of business model. If you're going to sell hardware at cost, then you absolutely need to make revenue somewhere else. If you generate significant revenue from the hardware however, the subscription is just gouging. TiVo hasn't taken off because of their business model. Their marketshare is still crap and is likely to always remain crap.

I don't pretend to know how TiVo blows through its income, I'm only making educated guesses on why they're not everywhere.

I'm sure they have to pay a recurring fee to TMS for each seat for listing data.

The question is... Is Tivo perpetually in the red as a strategy of choice. There are many business's that do this to keep from paying income taxes.