In article ,
"Ted" writes:

"Rod Smith" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Ted" writes:

So why does DTV charge 5 dollars more for a dtivo then it does for any other
reciever?

Because DirecTV is paying TiVo for the TiVo software and TiVo-specific
services (such as Showcases).
....
Charging DirecTiVo subscribers is a logical and fair way to do it.

I am unfamilar with the showcases and how it is a service and not some
feature of the hardware / software.

It's an item available from the TiVo menu that provides pointers to
content on particular networks and by various categories. You can go in
and find "recommended" (by whom isn't clear) movies by genre, for
instance. It can be handy if you want to locate movies that are playing
in the next couple of weeks, for instance.

Licenseing fees for TIVO should be paid when buying it.

First, you might prefer, as a consumer, to pay for the software and
service up-front; however, the marketing folks have obviously decided to
do it via monthly fees. Your preferences don't invalidate the answer that
the fee goes to pay TiVo.

Second, a single up-front fee won't pay for ongoing software development
and upgrades. TiVo/DirecTV has just sent one out (albeit a minor bug-fix
release). I can't speak to when (or even if) future upgrades will appear,
but there certainly have been upgrades in the past, and future upgrades
aren't out of the question. Licensing models that require regular
(monthly or yearly) payments with regular software updates are not
unheard-of in the computer world, although they are rare in consumer
software.

In sum, this licensing model is reasonable and has precedent from an
economic perspective. If you prefer to pay another way, you can do so,
but you'll need to abandon DirecTiVo and perhaps DirecTV to do so. Such
is capitalism.

--
Rod Smith,
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

In article ,
Ted wrote:
While I agree that the unit itself is great. The product is great. But the
service is just a scam. What service is provided? What extra service is
provided by using a tivo rather than a normal reciever. Sure it can do extra
stuff but that is all hardware.

There are many hardware only DVRs out there now, often bundled with a
dvd burner. Guess what - they all seem to suck, and have not matched what
tivo was giving 3 years ago. It is the software. If it were merely
hardware, we'd have lots of great choices by now. And btw, those
dvd/dvr solutions run you 500 and up - 200 + $5/mo seems pretty reasonable
in comparison.

And just to save us all time, would you like to explain why you are posting
from Berlin if you care about a US service? Smells a little trollish.

--
Jason O'Rourke www.jor.com

"Jason O'Rourke" wrote in message ...
In article ,
Ted wrote:
While I agree that the unit itself is great. The product is great. But the
service is just a scam. What service is provided? What extra service is
provided by using a tivo rather than a normal reciever. Sure it can do extra
stuff but that is all hardware.
....
And just to save us all time, would you like to explain why you are posting
from Berlin if you care about a US service? Smells a little trollish.

Probably because Ted (obvious fake address) doesn't want
to pay for a news service. IIRC, news.uni-berlin.de is a no charge service.

Ted seems to be posting from the US Central time zone.

You are wrong saying that DirecTV does not support the Home Media Option
with TiVo based receivers.I watched an ad for it at 2 AM on the
Discovery Home Network,which appears to be the off air channel they use
for such ads.It would appear though that the HMO can only be used by
SERIES 2 type receivers.I have a SERIES 1 type,so obviously it is not
available to me even presupposing I wanted to hook up a PC to my DVR
receiver.

wrote in message ...
You are wrong saying that DirecTV does not support the Home Media Option
with TiVo based receivers.I watched an ad for it at 2 AM on the
Discovery Home Network,which appears to be the off air channel they use
for such ads.It would appear though that the HMO can only be used by
SERIES 2 type receivers.I have a SERIES 1 type,so obviously it is not
available to me even presupposing I wanted to hook up a PC to my DVR
receiver.


TiVo standalone recorders get Showcase items from the Discovery channel
when connected to a DirecTV receiver or a cable box. DirecTV doesn't
control content for TiVo Showcases. DirecTV uses channel 582 for downloads
exclusive to a DirecTV DVR, both *first* and *next* generation DVRs.

BTW, there is no such thing as a Series 1 or Series 2 DirecTV DVR, in spite
of what some online dealers call the DirecTV DVR with TiVo. TiVo
and DirecTV call the machine a "first" or "next" generation DirecTV DVR.

Semantics,semantics,semantics.......in the ad for the Home Media Option
I watched they SPECIFICALLY mentioned "Series 2" as a SERIES 2 receiver
(complete with a logo as to this fact).Now whether a "first generation"
is actually a SERIES 1 type "officially" I do not know;but I hardly
think it matters.And,yes they were talking about a SERIES 2 DirecTV/DVR
(TiVo) unit with respect to the Home Media Option.In the SAME AD they
also referred to the same service with stand alone units.Obviously it is
available for both types.

wrote in message

Semantics,semantics,semantics.......in the ad for the
Home Media Option I watched they SPECIFICALLY mentioned
"Series 2" as a SERIES 2 receiver (complete with a logo
as to this fact).Now whether a "first generation" is
actually a SERIES 1 type "officially" I do not know;but I
hardly think it matters.And,yes they were talking about a
SERIES 2 DirecTV/DVR (TiVo) unit with respect to the Home
Media Option.In the SAME AD they also referred to the
same service with stand alone units.Obviously it is
available for both types.

The commercial you watched, regardless of what equipment you watched it on,
WAS NOT TALKING ABOUT ANY DIRECTIVO. Clear?

While I don't share Jack's "pet peeve" regarding people referring to the 2nd
Gen DirecTivos as Series 2 units, he is correct in saying that any ad you
saw, mentioning "Series 2" WAS NOT referring to your DirecTivo.

HMO is still unavailable (officially) for any DirecTiVo. Will this change
in the future, hopefully as it is an often requested feature.

All I can report on is what I SAW.......as I DO NOT have a "second
generation" or SERIES 2 receiver,or a stand alone,I cannot say for sure
what is or is not true or possible.If you say it is not currently
possible,I can only go with that,I guess.......but the ad did refer to a
SERIES 2 receiver,OF THAT I AM CERTAIN.Whether this was a stand alone
system it could have been as I did not watch all of it,(only half) as it
was rather late and I did have to sleep.It featured this red-haired
actress I know I have seen before,but cannot recall where.It was the
same actress who talks about DirecWay PC service for DirecTV.And she was
talking about the Home Media Option using the TiVo software controlled
by way of access to a home PC.I did not understand all of it,I will
admit.COULD THIS POSSIBLY be something NEW and recently just adopted?

wrote in message

All I can report on is what I SAW.......as I DO NOT
have a "second generation" or SERIES 2 receiver,or a
stand alone,I cannot say for sure what is or is not true
or possible.If you say it is not currently possible,I can
only go with that,I guess.......but the ad did refer to a
SERIES 2 receiver,OF THAT I AM CERTAIN.Whether this was a
stand alone system it could have been as I did not watch
all of it,(only half) as it was rather late and I did
have to sleep.It featured this red-haired actress I know
I have seen before,but cannot recall where.It was the
same actress who talks about DirecWay PC service for
DirecTV.And she was talking about the Home Media Option
using the TiVo software controlled by way of access to a
home PC.I did not understand all of it,I will admit.COULD
THIS POSSIBLY be something NEW and recently just adopted?

You saw it "live", not what your TiVo edited for you based on the data it
also get's saying who sees what part of the process.

On my HDVR2, there is no portion of the HMO section of the video broadcast
available. Only the portions "targetted" for a machine of my type.

That broadcast is sent to all Discovery channel subscribers. The TiVo unit
itself will keep or throw out portions of it based on instructions from the
"mother ship".

"jawilljr" wrote in message


Well the hughes HDVR2 and Philips DSR7000 technically is
a Series 2 Tivo. What seperates them is a the processor

Once again, to Jack's point, it isn't. I know many of us (including myself)
often think of and refer to it this way, but it isn't. Nowhere in any
"official" documentation is it called that, not even by TiVo and DirecTV,
the authorities that count.

and the USB ports in the back. The Series 1 Tivo uses
the PPC processor while Series 2 uses the MIPS processor
and has USB ports on the back. True there is currently
no HMO option for the DirectTivo... but DirecTV can
always add the feature in at a later time. it just
requires software.

Yes, and I said that. It is not currently "officially" available for any
DirecTiVo, 1st or 2nd Gen.

There are some people out there that have transfered a SA
series 2 software to the DSR7000 and have somewhat gotten
the HMO option to work on the DirecTivo. See this link.

Which still falls under my statement "HMO is still unavailable (officially)
for any DirecTiVo. Will this change in the future, hopefully as it is an
often requested feature."

http://makeashorterlink.com/?J30342966

Jerry