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01:07 PM
12:55 PM
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11/27/09
While PCs have long been able to act as DVRs, for a scheduled event, if you're already doing something on your PC, you're going to drop frames capturing, and it will effectively make your PC unusable while recording. It would also fill up your hard disks very fast.
I just subscribe to a satellite provider that has the option of PVR receivers - that way I can record what I want when I want, even on 2 channels at once now, for no extra fee, and skip commercials instantly, pause and rewind live TV, etc... all the usual features.
...but as I watch less and less TV, I find the occasional Bittorrent download isn't exactly squashing my net connection either. It's often neccesary anyway as the networks love to play shell games with their broadcast slots.
11/27/09
The industry is moving from time-shifting to on-demand: being able to effectively circumvent what time a specific show aired by recording it has been replaced by not caring at all what the original show time was, since you can just get it on-demand. TiVo should have got itself into the on-demand business while its profits were high - imagine if Hulu was originally created by TiVo or if TiVo had made a deal to somehow get (over the TV line or the internet line) on-demand for it's service, i.e. "missed the show AND forgot to record? We still got it for you!"
But TiVo decided that the industry wasn't going to fundamentally change with the Internet so they decided to just refine their product - and now they're suffering for it.
11/27/09
11/26/09
I can understand being subjected to advertising for something that I get for free, but Tivo is already getting money from me AND from the marketing research companies they sell my viewing data to.
This is the main reason I am looking for an alternative when it comes time to upgrade.
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/27/09
Well, yes, that's true. But I don't have Comcast digital or a cable box, so I don't see Comcast ads at all.
I don't watch live TV, only Tivo, so the Tivo's UI is the most in my face. The ads during pausing lock the system for a few seconds while they load, and once there, cover about a third of the screen. Yes, I can clear them, but I shouldn't have to do that every time I hit pause.
The ads that pop up at the end of a recording also lock my system for about 10 seconds while loading.
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/26/09
The problem is the price. Tivo's cost an absolutely INSANE amount of money. You are really dumping money out. Tip: if it costs more than a a computer and ain't a computer, not that many peoples are gonna buy. Why? Cuz it's fucking ridiculous.
*Note, I was adding the unlimited subscription price to the price of the Tivo itself, an HD Tivo (which competes with the DVR that I have).
11/26/09
I thought about doing the whole media center PC, but the TiVo is just so much easier to use for the other people in my house.
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/26/09
11/26/09
I just hook my laptop up to my TV-- it's free and the quality is good for the most part. Then again, I only watch maybe 2 hours of TV a week, so I wouldn't call myself a dedicated TV viewer.
11/26/09