Comment Re:It doesn't have what I want. (Score 1) 212
Yes, these are nifty ideas, but...
The digital offload isn't going to happen because program providers are extremely paranoid about copyright issues. If you could export digital copies (even with the MPEG2-compression artifacts), they're going to be really unhappy. Why would TiVo/Philips care? They have strategic partnerships with many companies, including broadcasters, etc. So this isn't going to be provided by TiVo.
The 2nd idea of remote access is slick, but somewhat unnecessary. If you tell TiVo you want a Season Pass to Dawson's Creek, you'll get every episode where they break up, even if they time shift it to a different slot, or move it to another day (on that channel). Or, if you just gives it Thumbs Up (and you have some free space on the drive) it will record it automatically for you as a Suggestion.
Since TiVo has a 2-week lookahead guide (actually 12-ahead, plus today and yesterday), it's less likely that a program will "sneak up" on you (like it can on the mini-dish systems with ~48-hour guides.
If there was some compelling reason for providing remote control of your TiVo, they could implement a web page where you'd edit your settings, and they'd be downloaded to your unit the next time it "phoned home". Potentially, they could phone your TiVo at home immediately, but that raises some issues that would have to be resolved first (currently the only access is when _your_ TiVo calls them).
A lot of the discussions here about modification possibilities are of the nerd/tekHead variety (which I share). However, if you haven't seen/played with a TiVo unit, be aware that it's designed as a mass-market consumer-electronics appliance (and revenue-generating Service). It's not designed for you (or me) to add your own tweaks. Even adding your own HD isn't feasible, since the drive requires a custom firmware chip so TiVo will recognize it and use it. These are only available on drives OEM'ed (and custom manufactured) by Quantum for TiVo/Philips.
So they've got _all_ the control over the system. About all you can do is make suggestions, and hope that sometime in the next 6 months to a year they get around to implementing them. And cross your fingers that the next phone call doesn't load new software into your unit that changes the operation in a way that you _don't_ like.
This isn't necessarily bad, but you need to know what you're getting into before you lay down your $$$. Or just pick one up and try it out for 30 days. That should answer most of your questions.
The digital offload isn't going to happen because program providers are extremely paranoid about copyright issues. If you could export digital copies (even with the MPEG2-compression artifacts), they're going to be really unhappy. Why would TiVo/Philips care? They have strategic partnerships with many companies, including broadcasters, etc. So this isn't going to be provided by TiVo.
The 2nd idea of remote access is slick, but somewhat unnecessary. If you tell TiVo you want a Season Pass to Dawson's Creek, you'll get every episode where they break up, even if they time shift it to a different slot, or move it to another day (on that channel). Or, if you just gives it Thumbs Up (and you have some free space on the drive) it will record it automatically for you as a Suggestion.
Since TiVo has a 2-week lookahead guide (actually 12-ahead, plus today and yesterday), it's less likely that a program will "sneak up" on you (like it can on the mini-dish systems with ~48-hour guides.
If there was some compelling reason for providing remote control of your TiVo, they could implement a web page where you'd edit your settings, and they'd be downloaded to your unit the next time it "phoned home". Potentially, they could phone your TiVo at home immediately, but that raises some issues that would have to be resolved first (currently the only access is when _your_ TiVo calls them).
A lot of the discussions here about modification possibilities are of the nerd/tekHead variety (which I share). However, if you haven't seen/played with a TiVo unit, be aware that it's designed as a mass-market consumer-electronics appliance (and revenue-generating Service). It's not designed for you (or me) to add your own tweaks. Even adding your own HD isn't feasible, since the drive requires a custom firmware chip so TiVo will recognize it and use it. These are only available on drives OEM'ed (and custom manufactured) by Quantum for TiVo/Philips.
So they've got _all_ the control over the system. About all you can do is make suggestions, and hope that sometime in the next 6 months to a year they get around to implementing them. And cross your fingers that the next phone call doesn't load new software into your unit that changes the operation in a way that you _don't_ like.
This isn't necessarily bad, but you need to know what you're getting into before you lay down your $$$. Or just pick one up and try it out for 30 days. That should answer most of your questions.
