PVR Wire

We laughed about it not so long ago, but today TiVo launches its new service offering on-demand commercials for subscribers. Called Product Watch, TiVo has lined up about 70 advertisers, including Ford and GM. Kraft will offer users 20 cooking videos that use its food items. The most interesting of the commercials could be one-minute ads that feature Penn & Teller doing magic tricks on a golf course.

You can search for commericials in various categories like lifestyles, personal finance and travel, according to The Wall Street Journal article that describes the new service. TiVo CEO Tom Rogers suggested that consumers will use the service like they do the web to research products and other information. "Now the medium they spend the most time sitting in front of gives them the opportunity to do that," he's quoted as saying in the WSJ.

I looked on my TiVo much earlier today (I've been up all night and morning) and I didn't see this new service on my TiVo. Admittedly, it doesn't sound that bad -- especially the Penn & Teller bits. I'll bet I watch all of these Ford commercials just to be entertained by the two magicians. And there may be other commercials I'll watch, too, though I doubt that the Kraft commercial that shows me how to make a cantaloupe-and-Jell-O dessert will be one of them.

UPDATE: Series 2 TiVo owners can sign up for the Product Watch priority list on TiVo's web site. It'll put you at the head of the line for the software upgrade necessary for you to watch on-demand commercials.

A thoughtful piece in today's New York Times is about the future of television and who pays for it. The article's impetus is the recent patent application filed by Philips Electronics that would prevent fast-forwarding through commercials -- unless you paid a fee to the broadcaster. (Philips says it has no plans to use the technology in its products.) The primary focus is on TiVo (as you can see from the NYT illustration, above) and other PVRs.

Written by Silicon Valley historian and author Randall Stross, the article discusses a technology I had not heard of before: M.H.P., or multimedia home standard. The TV industry could use M.H.P. to insert broadcast flags in programming to essentially turn off the remote control during commericals. For sure, the TV manufacturers would need to cooperate in this ridiculous scheme. Why would they, since their customers are the consumers and not the broadcasters? But who knows what Congress could force them to do, given enough momentum and lobbying monies.

The article also suggests that 1984's Supreme Court decision Sony Corporation v. Universal City Studios Inc. over the "fair use" of making home recordings on VCRs could have been decided differently in today's climate of downloadable iTunes TV programming and TiVo's 30-second commercial skipping hack. Back then, there was little fear that VCRs, which most people could barely operate, had much commercial impact on broadcasters. But TiVo makes it much, much easier to zip through ads -- and that's something that eventually could fuel a revolt by broadcasters. The day they turn off my remote control is the day that I learn how to program so I can hack those broadcast flags.

Overwhelmingly, voters in our recent poll on whether they plan to buy a dual-tuner TiVo -- the Series 2 DT -- said they had no plans to purchase one. By 68 percent, they said they were either content with their current TiVo or other PVR or simply weren't interested in a dual-tuner TiVo. Some of you hedged your bets, with 19 percent saying they "maybe" would buy a Series 2 DT. Only 12 percent said they were planning to buy TiVo's latest model.

Does this mean TiVo has a bomb on its hands? Maybe. Or maybe not. It could just mean that dual-tuner units aren't that big of a deal to most users, despite hype to the contrary. Or it could mean many TiVo and other PVR users are waiting for the Series 3, which will provide a dual tuner while also allowing you to record HDTV programming (yes, we know that we should have seen this about a year ago, but not much can be done about that). In any case, you have spoken. We should learn in TiVo's next quarterly financial report whether the dual-tuner unit is a success or not.

If you haven't heard already, TiVo has quietly released an universal binary version of its TiVo Desktop for Mac software. Universal binary means the software now will run on Intel Macs. Still, the software only works with digital music and photos. It doesn't yet do TiVoToGo transfers, although TiVo has promised to incorporate this capability into its Mac software. But if you own one of the new Macs (and, clearly, I'm jealous of you) you now have TiVo software that will let you view photos and listen to music through your TiVo and home-entertainment system, which I find very useful.

You should have had a day and a half so far to find a dual-tuner TiVo at major electronics retailers and directly from TiVo and Amazon.com. Have you had any problems finding a Series 2 DT unit? We'd like to hear about it if you have. Let us know in the comments section if your local Best Buy or Circuit City was already out of them (or never got them) when you went to buy. I managed to find the 80-hour dual-tuner unit on Amazon. It's also available on TiVo's web site, albeit with a $30 "upgrade fee." Also let us know in the comments section if you had any problems ordering the DT from either online store.

Today's the day that TiVo officially releases its Series 2 DT dual-tuner unit. Now you can record two bad shows simultaneously, instead of just one. Ain't technology great? It also means that TiVo is somewhat matching technological features head-to-head with many satellite and cable TV companies, although the company still doesn't have a dual-tuner HDTV unit.

Anyway, we want to know whether you're going to buy one of these new 80- or 180-hour dual-tuner TiVo's. Maybe you have a tax refund check burning a giant hole in your britches and this would be just the thing to patch things up. Or maybe you're like me and can't manage your money. In either case, TiVo is happy to take your cash. So . . . are you going to purchase one or more dual-tuner units? Please answer below in our official poll doodad. Look for a follow-up post soon revealing the poll results.

Will you buy a dual-tuner TiVo?
	Yes
	No
	Maybe

It didn't take the third-party upgraders very long to come up with upgrade kits for the new dual-tuner TiVo, which is officially available starting tomorrow at Circuit City, Best Buy, Amazon.com and at www.tivo.com. For example, WeaKnees is offering four upgrade kits. They come in 160 GB, 250 GB, 400 GB and 500 GB hard drive sizes. That means you can record anywhere from 180 hours to 560 hours in basic recording mode on the new TiVo units. Prices range from $159 to $499 with free shipping. You can let WeaKnees do the dirty work for you from between $49 and $79, in addition to the upgrade kit's price.

The Series2 DT comes in 80- and 180-hour sizes. For my money, and I don't have much of it, the 180-hour unit would be more than enough, even with two tuners. I'm comfortable with my 80-hour unit that I currently own (albeit with a single tuner) and I always record at the highest recording level. But to each his/her own. If you want 560 hours of basic-quality recordings, go for it. I would like one of those 500 GB hard drives in my desktop PC, though!

If you haven't already, check out Engadget's hands-on review of the Series 2 DT unit that was published last week. It pretty much says that the unit isn't any different than a single-tuner TiVo except for the dual-tuner functions and a built-in Ethernet port. And it suggests that you look at things like the Microsoft Media Center PC if you want to fill the gap before the TiVo Series 3, in all its HDTV glory, arrives.

It's time to catch up on a few PVR-related news items from the past week or so that I didn't get to until now. So here they are:

• Engadget reports that the patent-infringement battle between TiVo and Echostar is hardly over. Rather, it predicts, the legal proceedings over TiVo's recent $74 million judgment that Echostar has been using some of TiVo's technology will continue for a long time. EchoStar has called the jury's verdict "the first step in a very long process" and suggested that "the decision will be reversed either through post-trial motions or on appeal." Many believe that Echostar should leave the judgment alone and instead incorporate TiVo's technology into its existing set-top boxes. As someone who has used both the Dish and TiVo boxes, I can attest to the fact that Echostar would be doing itself -- and its PVR customers -- a favor by following that advice.

• TiVo sent out a message to subscribers alerting them to changes in the company's privacy policy. The changes are mostly to acccommodate two new services: KidZone and Guru Guides. We knew about KidZone, but the Guru Guides was a mystery until TiVo explained it on a support page: It's a "feature that allows you to receive and record recommended viewing programs from another brand, celebrity, entity, or individual that you trust." Hmm. Could be interesting, though I like to pick my own programming, thank you. Still, exchanging recommendations with friends and relatives would be interesting. I really don't need a celebrity to tell me what to watch, though. TiVo explained why the privacy policy changes were needed: "Some collection of your Personally Identifiable Viewing Information is necessary for you to use these services, so that TiVo can synchronize your viewer choices with the settings on your DVR. In addition, for these services to work effectively, TiVo needs to coordinate your expressed preferences with any decision to offer you further material and recommendations on a customized basis. TiVo will not use or disclose your Personally Identifiable Viewing Information to Third Parties without your consent."

The word over at TiVo Community is that new Series 2 TiVo boxes will be available this week (the photo to the right was posted on the TiVo Community boards), although Amazon.com says you'll need to wait a couple months for one. The units will record simultaneously from two basic cable channels or one basic channel and one digital channel. They'll be available in 80- and 180-hour sizes and will have both USB and Ethernet ports.

Amazon's listing for the 180-hour unit doesn't have a price but does have an availability date: May 15. "The world's first, best, and easiest-to-use digital video recorder just got better," the listing reads. "Now, record two shows at once!" You can't preorder the 180-hour box; I didn't see the 80-hour unit listed on Amazon.

Why TiVo is focusing on another Series 2 box when everyone is waiting for an HDTV unit is beyond me. But at least we'll have a dual tuner box now. Maybe the HDTV units will be so prohibitively expensive that TiVo is trying to avoid some of the potential future backlash by making available these two dual-tuner units that are more affordable to the masses.

Cable TV provider Cablevision Systems plans to test a new type of PVR that uses existing digital set-top boxes but stores the recorded programming in a remote location. USA Today is reporting that the new technology, dubbed "remote storage digital video recorder," or RS-DVR, is available today and will be tested on Long Island, N.Y., in the second quarter. It then will be rolled out to many of the company's subscribers.

RS-DVR gives each subscriber 80 GB of programming space -- time enough for about 45 hours of recordings -- and lets them record two programs simultaneously. Cablevision expects to charge less for the new technology than it does for current PVRs, which cost $9.95 a month.

Subscribers can skip commercials with RS-DVR. Cablevision says the technology doesn't violate copyright laws. "Consumers have well-established rights to 'time-shift' television programming by making copies for personal, in-home viewing," the company said in a statement to USA Today. "This new technology merely enables consumers to exercise their time-shifting rights in the same manner as with traditional DVRs, but at less cost."

I love the new undelete and recover features on TiVo. I find myself recovering episodes of shows I've already watched and viewing them again (i.e., Cops). But the supposedly new and improved suggestions need some work. My TiVo is recording programs that I've never watched and likely will never watch. For example, the Clemson Spring Preview Show. What's that? Or how about Storybook Knits?

And I've caught my TiVo at least once recording an informercial. An informercial? For the most part, though, my list of suggested programming is currently filled up with news talk shows and sports programming -- things I've watched while I've owned my TiVo. More than anything, the new suggestions upgrade is more aggressive in its recording of programs, whether you like what it's recording or not. It's recording about five times more shows than it used to record. This can be good or bad, depending on what it thinks you'd like to watch.

Like it or not, TiVo has rolled out its new pricing plans on its Web site. Gone are the old days of paying $12.95 a month for service and purchasing your TiVo box separately. Now, you get an 80-hour box for an amount that depends on how many years you want to rent it. You can rent it by the month or prepay. The lifetime service option is gone, as we reported in our story last week. You can read the fine print of the new plans, updated yesterday, here.

I woke up today to a new version of TiVo's software, version 7.2.2. It adds one-button delete, an undelete function and better suggestions. The one-button delete feature eliminates the confirmation screen when you delete shows from the Now Playing list. You just press the Clear button once to send the program to the new "Recently Deleted" folder.



That folder lets you recover shows you wished you hadn't deleted. The folder sits at the bottom of the Now Playing list. Its contents are the first to go if TiVo needs more space for recording. As for suggestions, TiVo says the new software "is better than ever at suggesting shows you might like." Only time will tell whether that new feature is a good one.

The upgrade also has renamed the "Music, Photos & More" section to "Music, Photos, Products, & More." I didn't see any other changes from the upgrade, which occurs in the early morning hours and requires a reboot (don't forget to reset your 30-second commercial skip hack after the upgrade!). Reportedly, the upgrade also includes updated network drivers. My upgrade came about two days after entering my unit's serial number on TiVo's site, where you can request to be placed on the priority list for the software update.

SnapStream Media has released a little brother to its Firefly remote control, the Firefly Mini PC Remote. With fewer buttons, the remote is smaller than the original and uses infrared technology that makes it easier to work with universal remotes and existing home theater systems, including SnapStream's own Beyond TV and Beyond Media software.

There are no drivers, so users can plug the accompanying USB PC remote receiver into a PC and instantly start using the remote control. In addition to the company's own software, the new remote also works with Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition software. Selling for $29.99, the mini remote is available at SnapStream's Web site and soon will be available at some online stores.

TiVo today reported a net loss of $34.4 million and a net loss per share of 41 cents for fiscal year 2006, compared to 2005's net loss of $79.8 million and a net loss per share of 99 cents per share. For the fourth quarter, the company reported a net loss of $19.5 million and a net loss of 23 cents per share, compared to the year-ago period's $33.7 million net loss and a net loss of 42 cents per share.

Overall, the net losses for fiscal year 2006 fell as total subscriptions rose 45 percent, to about 4.4 million subscribers.

Separately, TiVo said it's eliminating its current pricing strategy and will roll out new plans next week. You can read about the new plans here. It also said that RadioShack is now a TiVo distributor.