# Has TiVo just dangled the carrot in front of the British Donkey?



## andyjenkins (Jul 29, 2001)

Has TiVo just dangled the carrot in front of the British Donkey?

Take a listen to the TiVo webcast that happened last week. You'll need to register, but probably worth it. Details at http://investor.tivo.com/calendar-detail.cfm?EventID=26837

Anyway - what was said? Basically it appears that TiVo are going to drive big time, the sale of their software to _existing_ generic PVRs out there.

Whilst it's not a clear indicator that TiVo are likely to look at the UK market again, but its at least _something_.

Anyone else listen to the cast ?


----------



## GarySargent (Oct 27, 2000)

How would TiVo's software designed to run on custom hardware work in existing generic PVR's? In fact what is a generic PVR?! There is no such thing.


----------



## andyjenkins (Jul 29, 2001)

I thought that too, so I'm thinking "TiVo Lite" or something.

I'm sure a port of the existing TiVo software could be designed around a 'standard' PVR architecture. Now whether there are any standards or similarities in PVR design remain to be seen.


----------



## mjk (Mar 13, 2002)

Listening to what they are saying, I guess that they are talking about separating the TiVo user experience from the recording/playback mechanism. They talk about being "a software upgrade for generic DVRs". This could only be an upgrade performed as part of manufacture. It sounds to me that they are architecting something that would allow a manufacturer to take the TiVo UI and EPG database and marry it with their record/playback hardware capabilities. How much of the TiVo internals (file formats, etc) would survive this could be an interesting question. Might not be good news for many aspects of the traditional hackability of TiVos, but could be a (relatively) simple way to replace the lousy user interface on most existing DVRs. 

Now if only Sky+ would take up the idea ......


----------



## Jo.Cassady (Jul 21, 2002)

As Leo Laporte said in a recent podcast (TWiT), nothing is easier to use than TiVo

I have sony hdd recorder. 

It has a million features, a cluttered remote control , endless menus and submenus to do simple things - it annoys the hell out of me (as I used tivo for 3 years prior to this)

It would be great to see this

clearly tivo's partnership with thomson is no more


analogy: tivo vs generic pvr

like: macintosh vs dell windows machine


the sheer ease of use, simplicity, realiability .


----------



## dmdeane (Apr 17, 2000)

GarySargent said:


> How would TiVo's software designed to run on custom hardware work in existing generic PVR's? In fact what is a generic PVR?! There is no such thing.


My wild guess is that "generic PVR" means whatever their cable/satellite providers are using. My assumption is that they are talking about a British equivalent of the TiVo/Comcast deal, where TiVo writes a version of their software to run on the cable or satellite PVR....hence "generic" PVR....."generic" in this context means generic to the cable or satellite provider, not what is generic to the general public. This really does not sound any different to what TiVo is already doing for Comcast, IMO; the only question is who TiVo might be talking to in the UK.


----------



## Raisltin Majere (Mar 13, 2004)

Surely this idea for having a standard feature set for freeview PVRs would warrant the term generic?


----------



## iankb (Oct 9, 2000)

I assume that some of these 'generic' DVRs are also based upon Linux. Whilst the manufacturers may need to upgrade their hardware to meet the demands of a TiVo system, hardware is much easier to develop and modify (especially internal hardware) than it is to develop a robust EPG-based software system. Just look at the number of DVR systems out there that are still full of bugs and struggling to stay ahead of the pack, and do not have the infrastructure in place to support advanced PVR functionality. I suppose TiVo thinks that manufacturers who have already attempted to build and sell a PVR will now have a better understanding of why changing to the TiVo model may not be a bad idea.

However, whatever way TiVo like to phrase it, they are still asking the manufacturers to build and sell a TiVo system, and for those manufacturers and their customers to accept the subscription model.


----------



## ndunlavey (Jun 4, 2002)

It occurs to me that they might mean a smarter TiVo-like UI to front-end, for example, the 4TV listings data. AIUI, for the PVRs that use that, it comes as not only data, but also client-side libraries which provide the PVR's own s/ware with an API to call, which is why the 4TV-based EPGs all provide pretty much the same functionality. I can see that TiVo could make some software to plug into that, to give only TiVo-like searching, but possible also wishlists and season passes, if they could get the right tags put into the data.


----------



## Heedyheed (Jan 17, 2004)

I haven't looked at the webcast yet, but maybe this is more about licencing use of the TiVo copyrighted features of the UI, rather than trying to sell software to other PVR manufacturers?

Mike


----------



## aerialplug (Oct 20, 2000)

Would the Topfield boxes be capable of running TiVo software?

I've heard that they're extremely configurable and even stand the Doom test (it has been ported to the box and runs).

I asked Topfield a good few months if they were working with TiVo to get a Topfield/TiVo product on the market and the answer then was no - but a lot can change in 6 months.


----------



## andyjenkins (Jul 29, 2001)

Found a transcript of the webcast. Here's what was specifically said.



> When it comes to our mass distribution business, we have unshackled our growth by eliminating the need for dedicated hardware. With Comcast and other cable operators we are looking to sign up, we are a software upgrade that transforms the generic DVR into TiVo.
> 
> Because of that, we are actually very excited by the number of generic DVRs the cable industry is looking to roll out, because each of those boxes, as additional cable deals are done, becomes a potential TiVo home with both a subscriber and advertising revenue elements. This creates a powerful business model, beyond the one that exists for our standalone retail business.


Suddenly, it doesnt sound as good as I thought it did "in the moment" when I heard it first. It now sounds very US centric.

Full transcript


----------



## pgogborn (Nov 11, 2002)

TiVo can do this in the US with cable because the Federal Communications Commission mandated that cable box smart cards should in part be open standard (unlike, for example, Sky boxes, which are in effect a Sky monopoly).


----------

