Craig Froehle of Gearbits does a good job explaning why there won’t be a standalone high-definition TiVo anytime soon:
First, tuning ATSC (over-the-air digital programming) and over-the-air HD would fairly easy for a TiVo unit to do, but the number of people who rely on OTA signals for their HD content is pretty small. And as cable and satellite providers add more HD content, those folks will continue to diminish as a percentage of all HD consumers. Instead, TiVo would have to produce a box that can either tune/record satellite broadcasted content or tune/record QAM (cable) content. Neither of those is trivial because of proprietariness and/or controls enforced by the carriers (TWC, Comcast, DiSH, etc.). Plus, with new initiatives like OpenCable on the way, introducing an expensive new product based on today’s cable standards might be a strategic mistake.
Partnering, such as what TiVo has done with DirecTV, will be necessary. But, it does not appear that TiVo has had much success so far partnering with any cable TV companies (e.g., Time Warner Cable and Comcast). Why these cable companies insist on using these schlocky DVRs is beyond me, but I suspect it gets down to minimizing their costs. Scientific Atlanta makes tons of low-priced set-top boxes and makes their software barely work. TiVo, in comparison, puts loads of work into enhancing the user interface and the whole user experience…and it shows. But this also makes their products more expensive. This might be a good example of “you get what you pay for.”
