When are they going to start paying me royalties???
 

I basically wrote this article a year ago.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/24/tech...estor/hellweg/

Some of my favorite parts:

By far the biggest threat to TiVo's continued existence is the
confluence of two key factors. First is the commoditization of what
was once TiVo's bread and butter: the stand-alone DVR device.

"The stand-alone unit is dead," Kishore says. "There's no growth
opportunity there. TiVo needs to make its stand-alone box more than a
DVR and add more functions and features," much as Pioneer and Toshiba
are doing.

The second factor is that more and more cable operators are now
including DVR functionality in their digital-cable set-top boxes.

And one more favorite:

If good news doesn't materialize on those three fronts, TiVo may
become one of the first products to define its category in the minds
of consumers, only to disappear in the face of competition.

I couldn't have put it better myself, well actually that's not true. I
did put it better when I predicted that a few years from now TIVO will
be synonomous for a company that had a good product but ****ed it up.

Sort of like the Woody harrelson character in Kingpin.

And don't be concened about any "good news" coming in todays
conference call. DirectTV is not going to give up on their own product
and cable companies will continue to ignore TIVO.

Result: TIVO - Dead Company Walking

Sean

Sean wrote:
nothing important

I can't decide whose posts are more annoying: Yours or Bob Miller on the
alt.tv.tech.hdtv forum.

Frankly, I wish you both would shut up. I hope I'm not alone.


--
David G.

Standalone is dead? Huh?

Gee, I don't have Direct TV, so what Tivo am I supposed to use?

You are a 1 trick monkey.

"Sean" none wrote in message
...

I basically wrote this article a year ago.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/24/tech...estor/hellweg/

Some of my favorite parts:

By far the biggest threat to TiVo's continued existence is the
confluence of two key factors. First is the commoditization of what
was once TiVo's bread and butter: the stand-alone DVR device.

"The stand-alone unit is dead," Kishore says. "There's no growth
opportunity there. TiVo needs to make its stand-alone box more than a
DVR and add more functions and features," much as Pioneer and Toshiba
are doing.

The second factor is that more and more cable operators are now
including DVR functionality in their digital-cable set-top boxes.

And one more favorite:

If good news doesn't materialize on those three fronts, TiVo may
become one of the first products to define its category in the minds
of consumers, only to disappear in the face of competition.

I couldn't have put it better myself, well actually that's not true. I
did put it better when I predicted that a few years from now TIVO will
be synonomous for a company that had a good product but ****ed it up.

Sort of like the Woody harrelson character in Kingpin.

And don't be concened about any "good news" coming in todays
conference call. DirectTV is not going to give up on their own product
and cable companies will continue to ignore TIVO.

Result: TIVO - Dead Company Walking

Sean

On Tue, 25 May 2004 15:32:37 -0400, "John Poutre"
wrote:

Standalone is dead? Huh?

Gee, I don't have Direct TV, so what Tivo am I supposed to use?

You are a 1 trick monkey.


Use the one your cable company is about to give you. It will have HD
capability and you can get it replaced for free when new hardware
is developed.

Sean



"Sean" none wrote in message
.. .

I basically wrote this article a year ago.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/24/tech...estor/hellweg/

Some of my favorite parts:

By far the biggest threat to TiVo's continued existence is the
confluence of two key factors. First is the commoditization of what
was once TiVo's bread and butter: the stand-alone DVR device.

"The stand-alone unit is dead," Kishore says. "There's no growth
opportunity there. TiVo needs to make its stand-alone box more than a
DVR and add more functions and features," much as Pioneer and Toshiba
are doing.

The second factor is that more and more cable operators are now
including DVR functionality in their digital-cable set-top boxes.

And one more favorite:

If good news doesn't materialize on those three fronts, TiVo may
become one of the first products to define its category in the minds
of consumers, only to disappear in the face of competition.

I couldn't have put it better myself, well actually that's not true. I
did put it better when I predicted that a few years from now TIVO will
be synonomous for a company that had a good product but ****ed it up.

Sort of like the Woody harrelson character in Kingpin.

And don't be concened about any "good news" coming in todays
conference call. DirectTV is not going to give up on their own product
and cable companies will continue to ignore TIVO.

Result: TIVO - Dead Company Walking

Sean

Sean none shaped the electrons to say:
"The stand-alone unit is dead," Kishore says. "There's no growth
opportunity there. TiVo needs to make its stand-alone box more than a
DVR and add more functions and features," much as Pioneer and Toshiba
are doing.

You mean like the two additional Toshiba TiVO/DVD-R/RW units that were
just announced that do more and cost a LOT less than the Pioneer
units? Or the Humax TiVo/DVD-RW unit that is coming out later in the
year?

Why do you persist it ignoring any facts that disagree with your
predictions of death?

So they need to diversify - here's a clue, they *are*.

-MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

* Sean Wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:

Use the one your cable company is about to give you. It will have HD
capability and you can get it replaced for free when new hardware
is developed.

SPECULATION.............................

--
David

Sean none shaped the electrons to say:
Use the one your cable company is about to give you. It will have HD
capability and you can get it replaced for free when new hardware
is developed.

You couldn't *pay* me to switch to a SA8000. My parents have one, I'd
rather use my old high-end VCR than that piece of ****. And that's
what my cable company offers too. (Oh, and they don't have any HDTV
DVR yet - I know, the SA8000HD is supposed to be coming Real Soon
Now. Same sucky system with HD - yay.)

They've already had their SA8000 lose all the programming and
recordings once for no apparent reason. The interface is obtuse, and
the features non-existent.

My Pioneer 810H does a hell of a lot more, and it burns and plays DVDs.

Maybe Scientific Atlanta will pull their thumb out of their ass and
improve the SA8000 - but they haven't yet and until the come close to
doing what my TiVo does I'm not interested.

-MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

SINNER shaped the electrons to say:
* Sean Wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
Use the one your cable company is about to give you. It will have HD
capability and you can get it replaced for free when new hardware
is developed.
SPECULATION.............................

Yeah - cable companies replace their HW so very often. They have to
pay a lot for the units up front and they recoup very little each
month. There is no way in hell they're going to upgrade the units
until they have no only broken even, but made a decent profit on their
investment.

Plus cable companies are loathe to support too many different boxes at
the same time since it is a support nightmare. As long as they have
an installed base with one product they are less likely to adopt
another one until such time as it is *required* to provide some major
leap forward and they can upgrade the entire installed base.

-MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

"Sean" none wrote in message
...
On Tue, 25 May 2004 15:32:37 -0400, "John Poutre"
wrote:

Standalone is dead? Huh?

Gee, I don't have Direct TV, so what Tivo am I supposed to use?

You are a 1 trick monkey.


Use the one your cable company is about to give you. It will have HD
capability and you can get it replaced for free when new hardware
is developed.

Sean


You are kidding right? I have no need for HD and the cable co's boxes suck.

Next

David G. ) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
I can't decide whose posts are more annoying: Yours or Bob Miller on the
alt.tv.tech.hdtv forum.

Frankly, I wish you both would shut up. I hope I'm not alone.

You're not. Killfile them both, as I have.

--
Jeff Rife | "Wow, I've never seen you this
SPAM bait: | bitter...I like it."
|
| -- Richard Karinsky, "Caroline in the City"