# CEO Tivo Questions



## Davyburns (Jan 7, 2004)

I Just found this



> Tom Rogers, president and CEO of TiVo, is appearing at the Wall Street Journal's "D: AllThingsDigital" tech conference next week.
> 
> We have a special event feature this year -- folks can submit text or video questions for speakers. If selected by the Journal's Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, the question will be asked live, onstage.
> 
> ...


Dont know if they will take questions from the UK, but if you dont try.....


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## TrainManG (Apr 21, 2003)

Submit a TiVo question to Tom Rogers here:
http://allthingsd.com/d/ask-a-question/

Suggest everybody tries this. I've just done it. The more they get from the UK the less likely they will ignore them, after all it's NOT TiVo's own people asking the questions. The Americans don't like poor service and if they see the US being dragged through the mud by a financially targeted management team they may well react in our favour - I hope!

Still got 3 not working. Heigh-Ho!


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## Davyburns (Jan 7, 2004)

Might be a good idea to post our questions here as well. That way we can see if we have all relevent points covered.
Cant remember my exact wording, but I asked if there were any plans in the forthcomming year, to escalate business in the UK, and to support series 2 and series 3 Tivos. was a bit longer than that, but that was the jist.
Davy


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## nyc_tivo (Oct 18, 2005)

I asked whay the UK had been left in limbo for so long and requested action to either develop the service or release it to another operator to develop. Why had he failed to do this thus far.


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## Glen (May 9, 2004)

nice! Thanks nyc_tivo. Its nice to have support from the other side of the water aswell. I said about our tivos being very very basic in functionality compared to others and please would he confirm anything regarding the UK.


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## gadgetguy (May 26, 2002)

I notice Rupert Murdoch will be present. There is no chance he will allow any questions on Tivo in the UK.


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## Glen (May 9, 2004)

theres not a lot he can do, short of shouting at tom to shut up. The problem is, with Murdoch there, if Tom did say anything murdoch would hear it and would no doubt attempt some sort of counter move by Sky


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## Davyburns (Jan 7, 2004)

Its really about weight of numbers, if only a handful of people write questions referencing the UK market, it will probably be ignored anyway, but if they were inundated, they would see the depth of feeling here.

Its in all of our interests to get as many questions in as possible

davy


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## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

nyc_tivo said:


> I asked whay the UK had been left in limbo for so long and requested action to either develop the service or release it to another operator to develop. Why had he failed to do this thus far.


The impression that I've always got is that it isn't so much TiVo's reluctance as the reluctance of the manufacturers.

I don't think they see any opportunity for a subscription-based Tivo against the might of Sky satellite, Windows MCE, or the various other solutions with free EPG's.

I suspect Thomson made quite a loss on the Series 1.


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## Andy Leitch (Apr 30, 2005)

iankb said:


> The impression that I've always got is that it isn't so much TiVo's reluctance as the reluctance of the manufacturers.
> 
> I don't think they see any opportunity for a subscription-based Tivo against the might of Sky satellite, Windows MCE, or the various other solutions with free EPG's.
> 
> I suspect Thomson made quite a loss on the Series 1.


That may well explain the lack of new hardware...but where are the software updates for the existing hardware?

How many updates has the S1 Tivo had since launch? Where are the offical updates and bug-fixes?


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## mesaka (Sep 27, 2002)

I asked about UK strategy, in particular regarding new hardware.

I hope enough ask a question in order to get some kind of response from Tom Rogers!


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## djb2002 (May 1, 2006)

I've asked a question too


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## sfalvey (Feb 26, 2004)

http://d6.allthingsd.com/20080529/rogers/



> When is TiVo going to launch in U.K.? Im hopeful that we can soon, Rogers says.


Soon eh! Well that narrows it down a little......


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

From the TiVo results for the quarter:-


> There is strong interest in other geographies for TiVo and we expect a number of international broadcasters, cable companies, satellite companies, and/or telecom companies looking to customize a DVR solution for their market will turn to TiVo, the only brand name available to them.





> On the broadband front, what continues to set us apart is our approach to become a comprehensive video solution - one box, one remote, one user interface and all content from all sources. We continue to add more content choice to our offering and recently announced content deals with Disney and YouTube. These content deals, which are all expected to be become available in the next few months, build on the 30,000 movies and television shows from Amazon and the four million songs from Rhapsody, connecting TiVo users with entertainment possibilities in a way no other company can.


This could be what sets TiVo apart in the UK, and may be the marketable 'extra' compared to other Freeview and Freesat recorders that would persuade people to pay a small subscription for the service, even though we all know it's worth the sub for the TiVo alone :up:


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## laurence (Jun 17, 2007)

I asked a question too!


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## ColinYounger (Aug 9, 2006)

Sorry to be pessimistic, but that's a fluff answer from Tom Rogers. Keeps us hoping, promises nothing.


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## nyc_tivo (Oct 18, 2005)

> When is TiVo going to launch in U.K.? I'm hopeful that we can soon, Rogers says.


Ignoring (or was he forgetting) that it had already previously launched in UK, i take that as a 'Never'


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## k2010 (Nov 16, 2008)

I have two Tivo's they both went out about a week apart, Frozen on start up; technician says time to buy another one, I do not have 300.00 floating around could use at least one Tivo box though for now, I see refurbs for 79.95 but I can not use my existing plan they say, why not ?? one year has to start all over again? I have been paying on time for the past 4 years; Why can't I buy one and add it to my current plan? scrap the other ones, techs say the drives are fried; can someone at a high level flip a swicth, pull the trigger and let me me buy a Tivo box so I can use it with my existing 12.95 a month plan unless anyone has any ideas I am open for suggestions, who is the top guru I can call e-mail and or send letters to and or is there a simple way and don't say ebay or weakness; I can only afford around $80.00 or can someone takes these two large paper weights and trade them in series 2 40GB the older 2005 models, Thanks e-mail me at [email protected] my name is Kevin and need some tivo help please.


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## martink0646 (Feb 8, 2005)

Hi Kevin,

You have posted on the UK forum. Whilst it's a pleasure to hear from our cousins across the pond we can't offer you any help I'm afraid.

Martin


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

Kevin,

As a UK customer with a Series 1 I don't know that much about the Series 2 machines and hard drive replacement.

However I believe all you need is a new hard drive of whatever size you want to use and a copy of the CD at www.mfslive.org and you should then be able to get both machines up and running again at very modest cost if you can wield a screwdriver and unplug and replug a hard drive lead or two and attach the new drive to your PC to format it. You might also possibly need a CD with an image of an original US Series 2 drive as well. I'm sure this can be found somewhere on the US side of the forum.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

Pete77 said:


> Kevin,
> 
> As a UK customer with a Series 1 I don't know that much about the Series 2 machines and hard drive replacement.
> 
> However I believe all you need is a new hard drive of whatever size you want to use and a copy of the CD at www.mfslive.org and you should then be able to get both machines up and running again at very modest cost if you can wield a screwdriver and unplug and replug a hard drive lead or two and attach the new drive to your PC to format it. You might also possibly need a CD with an image of an original US Series 2 drive as well. I'm sure this can be found somewhere on the US side of the forum.


Pete's first sentence is correct; his second much less so. I strongly recommend you ask on a US forum where they know about the extra issues surrounding Series 2s.


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## nickf (Oct 12, 2001)

TCM2007 said:


> Pete's first sentence is correct; his second much less so. I strongly recommend you ask on a US forum where they know about the extra issues surrounding Series 2s.


If you look at k2010's other posts, you'll see he's done this (to be precise, he's posted the same text in 3 other threads in various forums).


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

nickf said:


> If you look at k2010's other posts, you'll see he's done this (to be precise, he's posted the same text in 3 other threads in various forums).


And I answered him here but it looks like he's vanished. Darn Yanks!


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## DeadKenny (Nov 9, 2002)

Andy Leitch said:


> That may well explain the lack of new hardware...but where are the software updates for the existing hardware?
> 
> How many updates has the S1 Tivo had since launch? Where are the offical updates and bug-fixes?


Simple to answer with another question... who pays for it?

Yeah, I know there's the monthly sub, but not everyone pays a monthly sub, and I suspect most of that goes towards the EPG listings.

The problem is the development cost in supporting old hardware and software, especially if developers have all moved on to the latest stuff. Worse if the original developers don't work for them any more (speaking as a software developer myself, I know the cost and complexity of having to go back and look at old code for old products that barely anyone uses any more. It's far cheaper to just cut off support entirely. Bearing in mind how much I cost, a bunch of £10's a month would barely pay for my lunches ).


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## Andy Leitch (Apr 30, 2005)

DeadKenny said:


> Simple to answer with another question... who pays for it?
> 
> Yeah, I know there's the monthly sub, but not everyone pays a monthly sub, and I suspect most of that goes towards the EPG listings.
> 
> The problem is the development cost in supporting old hardware and software, especially if developers have all moved on to the latest stuff. Worse if the original developers don't work for them any more (speaking as a software developer myself, I know the cost and complexity of having to go back and look at old code for old products that barely anyone uses any more. It's far cheaper to just cut off support entirely. Bearing in mind how much I cost, a bunch of £10's a month would barely pay for my lunches ).


And also speaking as a software developer, the excuse that code is old so it has to be dropped is a sign of a lazy coder. 

I've been coding on AMiGA for over 20 years, currently using DE, I've ported my stuff across to OS4.0, which is easily done as I don't hit the metal.


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## DeadKenny (Nov 9, 2002)

Andy Leitch said:


> And also speaking as a software developer, the excuse that code is old so it has to be dropped is a sign of a lazy coder.
> 
> I've been coding on AMiGA for over 20 years, currently using DE, I've ported my stuff across to OS4.0, which is easily done as I don't hit the metal.


That's fine if you wrote the code. Problem is (as I often find), developers move on and then new developers who have no idea about the old platform, are asked to maintain some old code they have no idea about. Natural reaction is to say that's a mad idea and go to the manager involved with a bunch of estimates on how long it will take to even just learn the old software. Soon enough the cost is far too high, and then you can get back to doing some decent exciting new software instead of supporting old rubbish 

Though I'm a contractor now, so the attitude changes a little. It just depends how much an hour they want to pay me to do the job


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## Ian_m (Jan 9, 2001)

DeadKenny said:


> That's fine if you wrote the code. Problem is (as I often find), developers move on and then new developers who have no idea about the old platform, are asked to maintain some old code they have no idea about. Natural reaction is to say that's a mad idea and go to the manager involved with a bunch of estimates on how long it will take to even just learn the old software. Soon enough the cost is far too high, and then you can get back to doing some decent exciting new software instead of supporting old rubbish
> 
> Though I'm a contractor now, so the attitude changes a little. It just depends how much an hour they want to pay me to do the job


Oh how true with legacy software. I spent about 2 months modifying some 'C' code running on a VME system, originally written in 1992, and variously uncontrolled added to since then, that in 2008 a customer found a bug of it hanging on the bus in certain circumstances. First issue was resurrecting the development system, luckily we still had the C compiler installation floppies and managed to get it working under DOS box running XP in Virtual PC. So I managed to get the code to compile with same binary checksum as that in 1992. This took long enough as we couldn't locate DOS installation disks to try DOS under virtual PC and out of the box a DOS box on XP didn't work.

The original source code, written by someone long since left, had virtually no documentation apart from a one line comments what each procedure/function did. I had to infer the rest of the operation from variable names and insertion of printf statements etc.

Finally after two months fixed it, bug due to the equivalent of an OR statement rather than AND. Looked like someone had added an extra IF statement to catch some issue or another but had not realised the unintended consequence. Removing the 2nd if, modifying the first fixed the issue, but took two months to locate a very simple edit.


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