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Replacing Your Tired Old DVR 121

Posted by Zonk from the still-like-my-tivo dept.
An anonymous reader wrote to mention a C|Net article about a possible replacement for the DVR. Called RS-DVR, it allows customers to record shows on centrally located business-owned servers. From the article: "One uncertainty is reaction to Cablevision's service by programming networks, which have bristled at some of the cable industry's previous attempts to record shows on their systems before negotiating new broadcasting rights. Cablevision argues nothing will be recorded on its network unless the viewer orders it from the remote control--an important difference from other failed experiments. Earlier controversies had centered on Time Warner Cable's aborted Maestro service, which had proposed to automatically store programs on its network so viewers could order up just about any show that had been previously broadcasted." There are a number of possible media ownership issues here, I think. Personally, I'm happy having the shows right here on a hard drive in my home.
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Replacing Your Tired Old DVR More

Replacing Your Tired Old DVR

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  • Very strange (Score:5, Funny)

    by endrue ( 927487 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:29AM (#15034064)
    I was looking for "Google" in that post and didn't see it anywhere!

    - Andrew
    • You didn't look hard enough:

      An anonymous reader wrote to mention a C|Net article about a possible replacement for the DVR [CC]. Called RS-DVR, it allows customers to record shows on centrally located business-owned servers. From the article: "One uncertainty is reaction to Cablevision's service by programminG netwOrks, which have bristled at sOme of the cable industry's previous attempts to record shows on their systems before neGotiatinG new broadcasting rights. CabL Evision argues nothing will be recor

  • No way (Score:5, Insightful)

    by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:29AM (#15034065)
    I already pay a monthly fee to the cable company for the programming. No more monthly fees. I'm perfectly happy to record it myself and not get jerked around by another 'service provider.'

    • Re:No way (Score:3, Interesting)

      by bondsbw ( 888959 )
      Agreed. If I move or my service otherwise expires, I should be able to pull up previously recorded programs any time I wish. I doubt any cable provider will let me plug up to their service after I disconnect and freely watch my recorded movies or shows.
      • Depends. Say you use a web client for your e-mail, and keep all the messages on the ISP's server. Would you expect that you would still be able to access your messages if you switch ISPs? I think you're balancing that against the possibility of calling up any show broadcast (say) within the last month without having to explicitly record it. As long as there is the capability to record whatever you order (even if it's still hosted on a server somewhere), it's OK (IMHO).

        • Re:No way (Score:3, Insightful)

          by mrpeebles ( 853978 )
          From the article, and the summary of the article, Cablevision argues nothing will be recorded on its network unless the viewer orders it from the remote control. So unless I misunderstand what you are saying, you will still have to explicity record shows. However, I would guess that you could in principle record as many simultaneously as you wanted to? Whether the companies would actually let you do this is another issue entirely, though.

        • Re:No way (Score:2, Insightful)

          by intangible ( 252848 )
          Before you change ISPs, you could download a copy of all your stuff... will your 'DVR Service Provider' allow such a thing?
    • I was about to go into a tirade about cable companies, but said rant was going to go off into about 12 different directions. So I'll leave it at this: I agree. :-)
    • Well, I disagree...
      I would be happy to store the TV shows online away from my hard disk. Space I can use for something more useful.

      Frankly, I don't care if the shows are stored locally here or online as long as I can pull it up and view it on the devices I like. If some of them needs special hardware due to copyrights, I'm fine with that. I couldn't care less if I can't store Friends or South Park for several years or make copies of it, I only watch the show once anyway.

      If you want to own a movie or sh

  • 'Tired Old DVR' (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MattGWU ( 86623 ) * on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:29AM (#15034068)
    "This is better! NO! Trust us...it's better!"

    • Re:'Tired Old DVR' (Score:5, Funny)

      by 1u3hr ( 530656 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @12:03PM (#15034324)
      I'm still using a "tired old VCR", you insensitive clod.
      • Mandatory BETAMAX reference satisfied.

        You insensitive clod.
      • Exactly, I mean how 'Tired' and 'Old' can your DVR be? Like 5 years at the most

        I have a VCR which I still use and it's about 15(ish) years old (I borrowed it from my parents a while ago...). The head is a bit worn so recording is a bit crap (but if I really want to watch something and I'm out, it is bearable) but play-back is fine. Why do we have to replace everything so quickly these days?

        My parents have still got a TV which is older than me (I'm 22), and it works brilliantly. They had to replace it
  • Can you order without ads, or can you FF through them?
    • Apparently, according to information in some of the local newspapers (sorry, no link), it will act very similar to an "in-home" DVR, which means that you can fast-forward, rewind, etc. The current DVR doesn't have a "skip 30 seconds" button, but you can fast-forward at speeds up to 128x normal speed.

      One question that is a bit up in the air is whether HD recording will be supported. Cablevision currently supplies a Scientific Atlanta (er, Cisco?) 8300HD box for users with HD sets, which has dual tuners. It

  • My DVR is MythTV (Score:5, Informative)

    by drewzhrodague ( 606182 ) <drew@nOsPaM.zhrodague.net> on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:32AM (#15034092) Homepage Journal
    My DVR is KnopMyth [mysettopbox.tv], a MythTV [www.mythtv] Knoppix distro. Why would I want to replace it? No DRM, works great, and I can burn shows I like onto DVD. I recommend this to everyone interested in a DVR.
    • I've been thinking about doing this. What specs are necessary for the processor/memory, and what's the best TV Tuner card to get. In terms of easiest to setup, no dropped frames, and best bang for your buck.
      • Looking back, I wish I got the PVR-500 -- or whichever model it was that has two cable tuners on the one card. THis would have been better -- imagine watching a show while two others are recording... I managed to get a PVR-150, an old 750Mhz machine, and an NVidia card with TV out (which was a low-end card, not a nice one). The PVR-150 came with a remote control, which took prolly half an hour to figure out how to setup with lirc. Otherwise, I've been just psyched to be able to watch old ST:TNG reruns when
      • I just ordered a Hauppauge PVR-150MCE card from PC Alchemy [pcalchemy.com] last week (arrived yesterday - great service!). These seem to be the best option, as they do MPEG2 encoding in hardware and apparently have good support in MythTV. I ordered an OEM card (no FM tuner) for 50 bucks, but it doesn't look like they have that anymore. As another poster mentioned, you may want to step up to the PVR-500, which is basically a dual-tuner version of the 150.

      • http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-3.html#s s3.1

        • Re:My DVR is MythTV (Score:2, Informative)

          by fatray ( 160258 )
          oops! I clicked Submit instead of preview. Anyway that's the link to the myth hardware page ( http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-3.html#ss 3.1 [mythtv.org]). I would suggest going to at least 512M and to get a faster processor than you really think you need to allow for growth, addition of HDTV, etc. You will also probably want to reformat some of your recordings and that is happier on a faster processor. I use a athlon xp 2800+ and it is OK.

          I think most people will want 2 capture devices--watching one thing an

          • I think most people will want 2 capture devices--watching one thing and recording another is normal, right?

            You don't need two capture devices to watch one thing while recording another. You need two capture devices to record two shows that are on at the same time. Since you watch only stuff that's already been recorded, you can do that anytime, regardless of what the tuners are doing. Next Tuesday, for instance, Overhaulin' [overhaulin.com] and The Unit [cbs.com] are on at the same time. Overhaulin' gets recorded on one of th

    • Re:My DVR is MythTV (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Quarters ( 18322 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:57AM (#15034274)
      You do understand that the set of people containing the target audience for Cablevision's service and the set of people that know what KnopMyth is, let alone have the desire to build a box and set it up, have no union, right?

      • Re:My DVR is MythTV (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        They actually have very large union. What they lack is intersect.
      • It is actually pretty easy to setup. Once you do, it just runs until your disks die. Insert the CD, press enter a bunch of times, I think there are a couple of questions. It is easier than installing Windows, IMHO -- no function keys needed. When you're done, you've got a DVR which can start working instantly.

        As a side note, my folks bought a Panasonic DVR thingy. It has a DVD writer, SD slot, and 100G hard disk. Apparently, you have to let it sit on for a week before it picks up the lineup, and still mis
      • ok then... look at it this way....

        My DVR is ReplayTV. Why would I want to replace it? No DRM, works great, and I can burn shows I like onto DVD. I recommend this to everyone interested in a DVR.

        that product IS geared towards the General Tv drooling moron. and yet it gives me the same abilities with a very simply program called DVarchive on my local PC. plus I get a 30 second skip button that all cabletv pvrs are intentionally missing.

        Fast Forewarding through commercials sucks horribly. Pressing a button
    • My DVR is BitTorrent. My only problem is that I do have a hard time finding shows that aren't either very popular or have a cult audience.
    • I've got a Series 1 TiVo and I'm really starting to itch for some dual tuner action (without dropping $16/month in subscriber dues). My only concern with Myth is the guide data. Where do you get the guide data for Myth and is it accurate and up to date? Any URLs?
      • http://labs.zap2it.com [zap2it.com] has the guide information. I think they might have a document. They make you login every other month, so that you can maintain your account. This is how they getcha, they ask you a bunch of marketing questions. They're prolly watching what you watch, too. Then again, who cares? Queue up a whole bunch of Happy Days.

      • I've got a Series 1 TiVo and I'm really starting to itch for some dual tuner action (without dropping $16/month in subscriber dues). My only concern with Myth is the guide data. Where do you get the guide data for Myth and is it accurate and up to date?

        The same place TiVo gets its guide data. Tribune Media Services [tribune.com] (which is what TiVo uses) runs Zap2it Labs [zap2it.com], a free service for open-source and free-as-in-beer PVR projects that provides about two weeks' worth of listings. I've been using MythTV for mayb

    • I just read a little about knoppmyth... And it sounds cool and all, and IF I had a few thousand bucks burning a hole in my pocket it would be a fun project...

      Until then however, when I want a Linux based DVR, I'll just use TiVo... Works great, cheaper... Hackable (if I feel like it, as opposed to knoppmyth)...

          td

      • Re:My DVR is MythTV (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        A few thousand dollars? For PVR running MythTV? WTF?

        Building your own DVR using free scftware should not cost you more than a couple hundred dollars. Be creative and it will cost even less.

        Here is the recipe (assumes you have analog cable or OTA antenna and a internet provider)

        1. Pentium 400 MHz or faster w/128MB RAM or more, a HD 8GB or larger, a decent video card (nvidia or one that supports Xv), and an ethernet NIC.

        Cost: probably free if you reuse an old PC but no more than $100 if you shop on eBay.

        2.
    • Why would I want to replace it? No DRM, works great, and I can burn shows I like onto DVD.

      While it is very cool that you built a PVR, not everyone (like me) really wants to. There probably is no reason for you to ditch the PVR for a service. I have thought about building one myself, might be fun, but then I have to manage it. :-p But I would love to have a service where I could go back and watch shows when I want. I don't care about commercials. The break is a good time to talk to the wife, kick the
    • A) How kludgy is the interface between this and your satellite or cable TV receiver - or do you just get the over-the-air stations?

      B) How well do you support HD? Or do you only do so with over-the-air stations again?
    • I recommend this to everyone interested in a DVR. ...who has an in depth knowledge of computer assembly, Linux installation, and Linux hardware compatibility and drivers.

  • Privacy (Score:4, Funny)

    by Kohath ( 38547 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:32AM (#15034093)
    And if the cable company has your shows, they can be subpeonaed (by the Department of Education, for a stupidity law case). And then everyone will know you stored 10 episodes of Ricki Lake. Scary.

  • DRM? No Way! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mac123 ( 25118 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:33AM (#15034100)
    Right...and have Comcast enforce content DRM by deciding how, when and how many times I get to watch something I 'recorded'?

    No thanks!
    • Yes this system is fine until the provider decides or is pressured to change their storage policy, then all your recorded programs get deleted with you unable to back them up because of DRM. Even if the network was the provider this could happen if someone threatened action like the Scientologists over South Park.

  • pricing (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:34AM (#15034109)
    I saw no mention of how much they're going to charge for this service. Knowing how these guys work, I'm guessing it's not going to be a flat monthly fee, but rather a per usage fee. Or, of course, they could combine the two and charge a monthly fee for the ability to use the service, and then throw a small per use/recording charge on top of that. After all, they gotta find some way to maximize the profitability of this thing.
    • Apparently the fee is going to be similar to that for "renting" a physical DVR from them today, and is going to be a monthly charge, not a per-use fee. This is not "official", but is what I heard mentioned on a local news broadcast. It didn't sound like they were planning to charge a per-use fee, but of course until it's actually deployed, we won't know for sure.
      • One article I read this morning suggested the price would be less than the current $9.95 standalone DVR fee. They are positioning this as a cost saving move; easier to manage a central data center that does all the work than to deliver, install, repair and replace individual DVR boxes at customer locations. Customers wouldn't stand for them saying they are cutting their costs while at the same time increasing costs for customers.

  • On my own hard drive - exactly... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by maillemaker ( 924053 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:36AM (#15034130)
    >Personally, I'm happy having the shows right here on a hard drive in my home.

    Exactly. As I've said before, I've never cottoned to having my email stored on someone else's server, either.

    Just give me the PIPE, man! I don't need, want, or trust any of your "services" to manage the data for me. I can do that myself, thank you very much.

    Steve

  • mp3.com (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CheeseTroll ( 696413 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:37AM (#15034136)
    Isn't this the kind of thing that got mp3.com into hot water a couple years ago?

    • Re:mp3.com (Score:3, Informative)

      by matthewd ( 59896 )
      IIRC, my.mp3.com gave subscibers access to a library of CDs that they had ripped after you "showed" them that you had that CD. Somewhat like a music storage locker where you didn't need to rip and upload the content. On their system, there was one copy of each song. "Oh, you've got that CD? We'll let you stream it from our server." You put your CDs in your computer and their app identified them and granted you access. At least one of the legal issues IIRC was that mp3.com's ripping of the CDs was not c
  • I like being able to edit out commercials, run noise reduction, upconversion, de-interlacing, and other post processing on the shows and then burn to DVD's if I feal like it. Too bad no set-top-box DVR will ever allow that kind of function, but my home built HTPC does.
    • I like all that too. I'm a long time MythTV user. What bothers me, as someone dedicating my life to technological progress, is the masses "don't" have access to these kind of features, and this level of technology. Why not? All the functionality in MythTV that you've described is perfectly legal, and already exists. It bothers me that people are wasting millions of dollars buying DVDs with TV shows on them that were freely broadcast over the air. The only thing stopping some company from mass producing My
  • This is so NOT a good thing.
    First, I don't want comcast to be storing my shows. I cannot imagine the cable companies will ever NOT impose more strict usage guidelines upon me... because they can.

    Second, I've never modded my DVR, I've never even made copies from my DVR or TV to a computer. 95% of the time my usage of the DVR is using the "WTF did they just say button" and the article,

    Cablevision argues nothing will be recorded on its network unless the viewer orders it from the remote control--an important

  • Sorry, I like my "has-been" TiVo (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Overzeetop ( 214511 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:39AM (#15034152) Journal
    It's hacked, so I suck the shows off that I like and recode (actually, just re-parse - no recoding required, but sans extra fluff sections) to mpeg2. That gets stored on my Firewire hard drive tower. Some get burned for on-the-road use. Some go onto my MiVX box. Others are just stored for future reference.

    (BTW, before you suggest Myth - Myth won't work for me - I have DirecTV and HD. DirecTV has already massivly compressed the shows, I've got 2 tuners in one box, and there is no full rate HD input card in my price range)

  • Sigh... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by 787style ( 816008 )
    Giving the customer less than they want, one technology at a time.
    • This is more than they ever imagined for the 11 other members of my immediate family, who still call me whenever they need to hook or unhook a (VCR|DVD|CD) player.

  • What about my Betamax? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ranger ( 1783 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:41AM (#15034167) Homepage
    I'm still waiting for a replacement for my old tired Betamax and 8-track, though my 78 RPM record player is still going strong. I've found a really nifty way to make my black & white television look like it has color. It's a transparent sheet that's clear in the center section, the top part is blue to simulate sky and the bottom part is green to simulate grass.

  • Why would I do this? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by spxero ( 782496 )

    So the content providers can choose how long I have to watch something I want to record? And how is this better than having a DVR and on-demand tv?
    Unless they somehow offer this 'feature' as a free service, count me out.

  • There are so many reasons this is Not a Good Thing, but I'm a bit surprised the industry didn't pick up on it and push it through sooner. In their eyes, it'd be harder for someone to make a torrent or othe P2P of a recording not stored on their own servers. Thing is, though, it would put them in a technical position not too far from the illegal file sharers, and that might blow holes in their standard anti-piracy arguments.

    "You're breaking the law with your saving and redistributing that copyrighted cont

    • Re:Good for them, bad for us. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by geoffspear ( 692508 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:55AM (#15034262) Homepage
      "the industry" is not a monolithic figure.

      The cable company doesn't care if you record and redistribute content. It's not hypocritical for them to do it themselves.

      On the other hand, you can bet the owners of the content are going to have a problem with the cable companies time-shifting their content and getting paid for it, unless they're getting a cut of the fees and they're convinced it will make it more difficult for the end users to record, redistribute, and skip commercials. I'm sure they'd love to see the cable companies take as much DVR functionality away from the customers as they can get away with.

    • The industry didn't pick up on it sooner because they are out of touch with their customers. I know that's rather harsh, but it took an outside company (TiVo) to force change. Had they done this within their companies, they might have come up with a scheme like this. The industry is playing catch-up to what the consumers want. In part it is because they are trying to figure out the best way to allow customers to view content, while at the same time restricting the content from being viewed in a way they dee

  • Please, No! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This is the worst idea in ages. Not only that, but as others have stated, recording shows at the cable company facilities is a little different than the legal test that was applied to an end-consumer recording video on their own VCR years ago.

    Its scarey, but I forsee a time where a TV is a thin-client- basically an mpeg decoder with a remote proxy tied back to the cable company. And I do not want this. I'm very happy with my dual tuner Motorola HD PVR. (ok, I could be happier if Insight Communication hadn
    • Its scarey, but I forsee a time where a TV is a thin-client- basically an mpeg decoder with a remote proxy tied back to the cable company.

      you have not been paying attention to CATV lately have you.

      Comcast and others are going to ALL digital setups with tiny little "thin client" boxes that have MPEG2 stream capability. your TV will haveto have a CableCARD to recieve it or use the box. no analog signals, no unscrambled Digital signals. you have to use the cable company's tuner/descrambler gear or not recie

  • Questions: (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @11:53AM (#15034246)
    1. Can you skip ads?
    2. Will it still be there when the network loses the "right" to broadcast it?
    3. Will it still be there in case government (or someone else) doesn't like the idea of its existance?
    4. Will it be free of extra charge?
    5. Will it allow "unlimited" recordings?
    6. Will I be able to make local copies?

    If one of those queries return "no", my answer is "no" as well and I stay with my means of recording.
    • The ironic thing about Apple's iTMS is that all those answers are "yes", for $1.99 a show.

      As soon as the library opens up and pricing structure catches up to inflation, I really do believe that the iTMS will "kill" PVRs. All Apple would have to do is release some kind of monthly subscription, $100 a month gets you 100 episodes of any and every show a month.
      • The ironic thing about Apple's iTMS is that all those answers are "yes", for $1.99 a show.

        Not really. Any OS update could disable the ability to play your files, and there's no escape hatch of burning and re-ripping like with iTMS music.

        All Apple would have to do is release some kind of monthly subscription, $100 a month gets you 100 episodes of any and every show a month.

        Now that's interesting. I wouldn't do $100, but with 50 for $50 I'd happily cancel my cable service. Assuming the resolution becomes adeq
    • 3. Will it still be there in case government (or someone else) doesn't like the idea of its existance?

      Hey, what happened to my recording of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction"?

      • Or "Read my lips: no new taxes" or "I did not have sex with that woman Monica Lewinski" or "This war is about oi- er, Weapons of Mass Destruction"

        Last week chocolate rations were lowered from 60g to 40g.

        Orwell's DoubleThink can be enforced with a centralized recording system like this. Granted, we're already dangerously close to that as it is with existing DRM schemes and with media owners being able to buy multiple outlets (print, TV and radio stations) within the same given market.

        By the way: Chocolate ra
  • Here in the uk for radio we have a lience where the radio station can play XXX songs from YYY record lables, and then the artist are paid royalities (at least im guessing thats how it works.).

    Why can't something like this apply to tv channels? They pay their money and then they can broastcast the shows they have rights to whenever they like. Also this means their customers can view what ever shows when they like.

    I mean, we could just record it on vhs and swap tapes...

  • Industry's next big idea (Score:3, Funny)

    by dwandy ( 907337 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @12:18PM (#15034455) Homepage Journal
    As a media exec, it's my job to stay on the cutting edge, and come up with new and innovative ways to get content out to my subscribers.

    My first big idea of 2006? Peer to Peer networks! I'll call them p2p for short, I'm sure they will be a big success. We could charge a fee for encumbered media that only works the way we want, and expect our customers to help distribute to boot.... errr, what? p2p exists and people use it freely already to obtain unencumbered media. damn! I thought I was onto a brand new idea here.
    ok; my next big idea is to record TV shows for people, and store them on my server. Then people can tell me what they want recorded and watch it later. I'm sure this one will fly! ...errr, what? people have been recording TV just fine without me for more than 20yrs? and they've been recording them digitially using a PVR for the better half of a decade?

    dammit! why does the market always beat me to the punch?? there must be some way I can extort more money out of people for useless services.

  • Overreacting a bit, I think (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Eccles ( 932 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @12:25PM (#15034507) Journal
    I have a DVR myself, and use it all the time and love it, but it wasn't cheap. If a server-side "recorder" is a cheaper option, even if it's less flexible, why is that so horrible? Providing this doesn't mean the cable companies are going to come into your house and steal your Myth box, you still have that option.

    Ok, kvetch about possible cost -- though it might be cheaper than roll your own -- and limitations, but it's sounding too much like conspiracy theory here. For Joe Average who missed last night's "American Idol", this could be very handy.
    • It's the typical flaw of taking Slashdot too seriously. The people who post here, by and large, do not represent anything near the mainstream. Reading this site makes it easy to forget that for most people, a 'fire-and-forget' system that someone else maintains is ideal. Your typical consumer doesn't want to spend six hours editing, transcoding, burning, and maintaining the storage for one show. They don't want to do research for a month to figure out how to build something they can just pay $10 a month
    • I dunno, my DVR was free with a 2-year satellite committment, which has since run out, so it's all mine.

      And if I wished to torture myself with last night's episode of American Idol, and for some reason I hadn't programmed my own DVR (or told my cable company to record it for me), I'd look for it on iTunes for just $2 once, not pay $10 a month.

  • Lag? (Score:2)

    by dfj225 ( 587560 )
    While it might be nice to have unlimited space to save shows on, I'm wondering how bad the lag between input and reaction would be in a system like this. I've played around with Comcast's OnDemand and I can tell you that it is very hard to pause or fastforward or rewind a show. There is a few second lag time between when I press a button and there is any response by the system. Also, a system like this seems ripe for enforcement of artifical viewing policies. Personally, I don't see what this service could
  • How can you replace a tired old DVR with another tired old DVR?

    I just received my new 40gb PVR-700 [archos.com] and now I can go anywhere and have DVR functions.

    I can copy the files I DVR onto my hard drive via the USB cable and do all my editing there.

    I can bring my PVR to my friend's house and show off the cool ass viral video I downloaded.

    I can plug it into my video card's s-video output and use it to record those hard to convert MKV and other wrapper video files.

    You wanna get un-tired, you should check this device o

  • Replace? they mean downgrade. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @12:35PM (#15034571) Homepage
    Let's see between a mythTV box or a ReplayTV or a hacked or paying the additional fees for your Tivo you can extract the recording to other machines for use on portable video devices. What they are talking about will downgrade me to no longer have that ability.

    and that is only the start, I can not see ANY advantages of their proposed setup. Right now I can record and play back perfectly without my internet connection, theirs CANT.

    unless it is going to be $1.25 a month it cant even begin to offset the loss in features (30 second skip is missing from the Comcast PVR and that is why I will not touch it.)
  • Talk about the new society of 'throwaway'.. Geesh.
  • RS? Poorly coined phrase. I think the original submitter meant Network Video Recorder (NVR). IPTV as an industry is growing, then everything will be on demand. Why would you bother recording shows (and all of the scheduling hassle that comes with it) when you can just watch whatever you want whenever you want? (Yeah, commercials, but free on demand is worth something!) That convenience, done right, will really replace a DVR, and this service is an early-beta-idea-version and probably is a bit ahead of its t
  • Who's still using VCR/VHS here? and why?
  • Why not just use video on demand? How is this any different than that?
  • This seems like just another way for Cablevision to try to force its worthless iO digital service down subscribers' throats. I would be shocked if they don't somehow tie this in to iO. It cost them so much money to implement and nobody wants it. They market it VERY aggressively. I've actually had Cablevision telephone reps outright lie to me and tell me that iO was required even for basic cable. They charge you $9.95 a month, PLUS equipment rental fees for the digital box AND the remote control. And all you
  • Old Wine in new bottles. This is the same on-demand junk cable companies have been trying to shove down our throats forever.

    My SageTV box plugs along flawlessly, recordin all the shows I want, streaming DRM free video to my entire network. I can easily burn the results to DVD or transcode to my PSP or GameBoy PlayYan. Why would I want to pay extra for less capability?

    The fun part is that my tired old homemade DVR keeps gaining functionality over time from upgrades and synergy with my new toys

    The continuous
  • I'm sure that's what the electronics industry would love for consumers to believe.. that after a period of time your consumer electronics get tired and old. Let the poor things retire, get a brand new HDTV, DVD player, blah blah blah.

    This is how (IMHO), new DRM-laden technology will sneak its way into our living rooms one day.
  • A company trying (remember the networks are not too fond of this) to offer a service many customers would like and use is not a bad thing. Given the nice high-speed video feed they have into millions of homes, why shouldn't they look to provide a more user flexible service that would attract and keep customers.

    This is the essence of competitive innovation

    Nobody is saying that you can't keep your DVR and the extra features it affords you, but please don't begrudge those that would love to see DVR like f

  • Plan to get from here to all pay per view (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sprior ( 249994 ) on Friday March 31, 2006 @02:04PM (#15035417) Homepage
    Step 1. Soften up Tivo's market share by offering your own DVR.
    Step 2. Kill off Tivo entirely by moving the hard drive out of the consumers home.
    Step 3. Charge $1.99 to watch a timeshifted show (*cough* itunes *cough*).
  • Now I realize that this is Slashdot, and the majority of us here have the capability of building a homebrew MythTV or other home DVR setup, but keep in mind that your average Joe Lawyer or Suzie McCashier don't have that option. That's why the cable system I work for has about 900 DVR's out in the field in customer's homes. I think Cablevision is on the right track here, because with a simple update to the cable box software, every digital customer can have DVR access. Instant market penetration.

    I can't spe
  • I read a WSJ article about this last week. Cablevision et al are tired of fixing DVRs that break down every 1.28 seconds; they want the ability to provide customers with less failure-prone parts and handle storage in-house to minimize cost.

    If you don't want it, build your own mythTV box or buy a TiVO or something! AFAIK there is nothing to stop you from doing so. I'm sure that cable cos are fine with any product you use provided they don't have to offer support for it or pay to keep it in working order.

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