Tivo Finally Coming To Oz

[hobotivo]

Yes, but then he just gets a bit silly:

[my emphasis]

Yep, I'm as hard-core a TiVo fan as you could find, and even I find that ridiculous!

Cheers

Ron

[ozdoc]

I think he meant to say:

TiVo has 20-30 times the full forward..

(compared with just the once only skip other PVRs offer.. )

[GregA1503560021]

You're suggesting that the Tivo would strip out ads (based on markers provided by seven?) and do this for a subscription or one off cost? Technologically that would be quite possible however it would be quite a hard sell IMO. Its difficult enough to get people to spend $1.50 a week for an EPG and remote auto scheduling technology. Given the free Tivo already makes bypassing most ads pretty simple I'd only imagine people paying for pristine versions of shows on the very odd occasion.

Yes, in some ways it would be a hard sell. Perhaps few people would buy it. But to pay 50c to watch Lost without regular ads or popups... sometimes I'd hit the "pay it" button. I think that charge is low enough - and as I understand it it's similar to what the TV networks earn via commercials per 2 viewers in an hour (though I've had difficulty confirming that).

$1 for older movies.. seems like a weekly at the video store, but half price.

But perhaps you are right.

And you've added a problem to my question without an answer .

It's technically possible to do it - but is Seven permitted to do it anyway?

On the flip side, I suspect advertisers would possibly get a bit pissed if the networks started making moves to cut them out of the equation (even if they were only very small moves in effect) - cutting ads out of broadcasts would seem to be sending the wrong message.

Naturally if the ratings show 1.3 million are watching, but 50,000 people paid 50c.... then the ad costs would be based on the lower ad viewer numbers of 1.25 million. But yeah.... it might be sending a strange signal to the advertisers.

Hey is it here or the US where they don't count time-delayed viewers in their ratings anyway?

[pgdownload]

But to pay 50c to watch Lost without regular ads or popups...

I suspect you'll see this being offered by a few alternative outlets in the year or two to come. Downloading a movie (fairly easily and legally) is just about here and of course there's talk of 'television' becoming a much more bit sized medium (so each episode is say 10 minutes long only and you catch them when you can (eg on the train on your mobile phone))

And you've added a problem to my question without an answer . It's technically possible to do it - but is Seven permitted to do it anyway?

In the scenario you're suggesting 7 aren't actually changing their FTA broadcast. They're just offering value added features via a seperate platform (ie the Tivo). So I can't see any problem with them doing this. However, I don't see how they could provide the facility over the current FTA setup. The only viable way is to offer some sort of box that accepts signals from the broadcast and as mentioned that seems fine. They'd only run into problems I suspect if they tried to encrypt their broadcast and force people to have a box to decode it with. I don't know if their broadcasting licence specifically requires that they actually broadcast anything, but they pay huge fees for the privilege and you can imagine the financial penalty/outcry if they suddenly 'turned off ch 7 and started charging'

Regards

Peter Gillespie

[tonymy01]

There seems to be a few twits on this thread that want something for nothing. Maybe ask your Mum& Dad for some more pocket money or something? :-)

A decent HD-PVR will set you back over $800, so how anyone can say that $700 is too expensive is beyond me? I paid $1100 for my Topfield SD-PVR, and still don't regret this purchase, it has changed the way I have watched TV since November 2003. I justified the cost back then as "it is equivalent to 2 SD-STB=2x$280=$560 + a very decent SVHS VCR=$800, but rolled into one box and with digital quality recording, and you can add your own user applications too!" (only the strong 5290 and the recently released 5390 were available then, and you all know the dramas people were having with those two dodgy boxes).

Now the Beyonwiz is the main beast in my setup, so I have 4 tuners all chugging along, again, the Beyonwiz is very good value for money in my books.

HD aint cheap (yet). Mind you, with Beyonwiz reducing the DP-H1 single tuner STB that can have a HDD added to make it a PVR to $300, this is pretty cheap in my books, not much dearer than a normal HD STB!

Regards

[kscope1503560222]

Check out TiVoCommunity.com They have a UK section. I wonder if they would add a AU section? The link provided is for the TiVos you are getting, the Series3 model known as the TiVo HD.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=51

I already wrote and suggested that to them - the reply was that there wasn't enough interest in it to establish an Aussie section.

[Kjay]

Just out of interest..

Does anyone know when the NDA finishes?

When the unit is released/announced/available/never?

It would be interesting to hear from a beta tester some of the pros and cons...

Or do we have to wait for someone to take review one for the team.....

cheers..

[Cliffs]

Has anyone actually been in the Beta testing I applied but didn't make the cut

[JPP]

Has anyone actually been in the Beta testing I applied but didn't make the cut

You have to learn to read between the lines . There are several posters in this thread who are beta testers.

[theslydog]

There seems to be a few twits on this thread that want something for nothing. Maybe ask your Mum& Dad for some more pocket money or something? :-)

A decent HD-PVR will set you back over $800, so how anyone can say that $700 is too expensive is beyond me? I paid $1100 for my Topfield SD-PVR, and still don't regret this purchase, it has changed the way I have watched TV since November 2003. I justified the cost back then as "it is equivalent to 2 SD-STB=2x$280=$560 + a very decent SVHS VCR=$800, but rolled into one box and with digital quality recording, and you can add your own user applications too!" (only the strong 5290 and the recently released 5390 were available then, and you all know the dramas people were having with those two dodgy boxes).

Now the Beyonwiz is the main beast in my setup, so I have 4 tuners all chugging along, again, the Beyonwiz is very good value for money in my books.

HD aint cheap (yet). Mind you, with Beyonwiz reducing the DP-H1 single tuner STB that can have a HDD added to make it a PVR to $300, this is pretty cheap in my books, not much dearer than a normal HD STB!

Regards

Yeah the new Sharp Japanese PVR street price is about $1700 but then again it does have 7 tuners (satellite and terrestrial), 1 TB HD, ethernet, and a Bluray burner not to mention they have a very nice 1 month interactive EPG.

New Sharp bd-hdw30

[mtchamp]

Hi there mtchamp

I for one know tivocommunity very well. If you check my ID there (Aussie) you'll see I've been a member there since 2001, when community members (in the "undergound" section) were very helpful to me when I was hacking my first S1 TiVo to work in Aus. BTW, I used to have well over 500 posts, not the few I have showing now, my post count got reset during some site problems back in 2004/5 or thereabouts!

I haven't used it much recently I admit, except to get some clarifications about things like what sort of "in-TiVo" advertising models are in use, in order to better answer questions on this forum.

I might see if David Bott (if he still runs it?) will allow an AU forum. We've got an Aussie one here already, but it's more about Series 1 hacking.

Cheers, and thanks for dropping by!

Ron

Cool, I just noticed your thread in the Coffee House section. TiVo is going to be fun. Comcast Cable and TiVo are introducing a Comcast version of TiVo that has far less abilities than your Seven partnership with TiVo has produced. That's why most people who want a real TiVo buy a TiVo HD and rent cable cards and give the cable company back their STB.

I think you have a good thing going with a simple one time purchase of the box with the free subscription. To be truly successful, I hope Seven doen't charge much for add ons, but it looks like a lot better experience than Comcast is doing with TiVo. TiVo here once charged $99 for networking the TiVos for muti-room viewing, then it became free. Early adopters will probably pay more as usual.

You guys know your market and many say TiVo will fail in comments I've read attached to news stories. Marketing TiVo's features and benefits and long term lower cost over competitors will be crucial. There will need to be long form commercials to demostrate the difference from generic DVR's. Retailers will need to pass out TiVos to their salespeople. You can't evangelize the benefits of TiVo without first owning one and using it. It's something that grows on you that you find you can't live without.

I hope everything learned from failed marketing in the US will be used in AU. I like that I see the word free often. That usually works. If so many as 70% of Australians are used to FTA as reported in the news and want to keep it that way, a TiVo will make it seem like you have so much more to watch for free.

Almost everybody in the US with a generic DVR provided by cable or satellite, thinks they have a TiVo like Kleenex is to tissue paper and Xerox is to copying machines. A 30 day money back guarantee would be good. A free trial if you will. This will only work if the TiVos launched in AU have no nasty bugs at the onset.

I have cable and it cost $70 a month. I'm seriouly considering dropping it for FTA except from previous experience, my reception was poor in my location, but I'm ready to try again and accept the loss of some channels. I have more than a 100 channels and use maybe only a dozen. My TiVo records only the good stuff for me 24/7 and I watch it when I want. I actually watch less TV and very little live TV over the years, don't watch commercials except if I want to, watch more niche programs through TiVoCast and some Amazon Unbox downloads.

[mtchamp]

Over here in the US, when we connect an antenna into our TiVo HD for free network broadcasts, we normally call it OTA or over the air, when you say FTA or free to air as I understand it, is that the same thing as OTA and are they land based transmission of signals that can be lost on distance and topography. If's it's the same, we should call it FTA over here so more people understand it's FREE and you could divorce yourself from the high cost of cable or satellite. You would get plenty of relevant channels and record tons of content 24/7 and much get an unlimted aoumt of content over the internet for free or pay as you consume.

[Brtttt]

Over here in the US, when we connect an antenna into our TiVo HD for free network broadcasts, we normally call it OTA or over the air, when you say FTA or free to air as I understand it, is that the same thing as OTA and are they land based transmission of signals that can be lost on distance and topography. If's it's the same, we should call it FTA over here so more people understand it's FREE and you could divorce yourself from the high cost of cable or satellite. You would get plenty of relevant channels and record tons of content 24/7 and much get an unlimted aoumt of content over the internet for free or pay as you consume.

FTA, is the transmission picked up by our antenna's, so same as OTA it would seem. Does get affected by topography, although digital signals are much clearer.

[hobotivo]

The Aussie TiVo Website is updated, but only a little bit. The ancient media items have been replaced with a couple of recent Press Releases.

This make me unhappy however...

There is no complicated wiring or connection – simply plug your aerial into the back of your TiVo HD box and connect your TiVo HD box to your television…then presto you have digital television

Excuse me, but what about the networking?

If anything scares me about TiVo, as implemented here, it is the fact that it must connect to a network. I've said previously that the internal modem should have been retained for this very purpose. Good heavens, I'm an IT Pro and tinkering with my network even makes me a bit nervous.

I strongly suspect that most of the TiVo target market, if they have broadband at all, will have some clunky USB ADSL Modem supplied by their ISP, quite probably without any ethernet ports at all. I know the original unit supplied to me by ozemail didn't have one, although that was a few years ago. Anybody know what they're handing out these days?

Cheers

Ron

Edited July 5, 2008 by hobotivo

[djOS]

The Aussie TiVo Website is updated, but only a little bit. The ancient media items have been replaced with a couple of recent Press Releases.

This make me unhappy however...

Excuse me, but what about the networking?

If anything scares me about TiVo, as implemented here, it is the fact that it must connect to a network. I've said previously that the internal modem should have been retained for this very purpose. Good heavens, I'm an IT Pro and tinkering with my network even makes me a bit nervous.

I strongly suspect that most of the TiVo target market, if the have broadband at all, will have some clunky USB ADSL Modem supplied by their ISP, quite probably without any ethernet ports at all. I know the original unit supplied to me by ozemail didn't have one, although that was a few years ago. Anybody know what they're handing out these days?

Cheers

Ron

Most ISP's are giving customers the option of an integrated wireless modem/router and apparently the takeup is high (according to my father who works for SmallPuddle) - This leads me to the conclusion that the WiFi adapter (@$59) will have very high attach Rates as this is the most user friendly option. In fact I saw a comment from and Aussie Tivo rep somewhere that the WiFi is as easy to configure as a Wii (and that is very easy).

[swordfish805]

The Aussie TiVo Website is updated, but only a little bit. The ancient media items have been replaced with a couple of recent Press Releases.

This make me unhappy however...

Excuse me, but what about the networking?

If anything scares me about TiVo, as implemented here, it is the fact that it must connect to a network. I've said previously that the internal modem should have been retained for this very purpose. Good heavens, I'm an IT Pro and tinkering with my network even makes me a bit nervous.

I strongly suspect that most of the TiVo target market, if they have broadband at all, will have some clunky USB ADSL Modem supplied by their ISP, quite probably without any ethernet ports at all. I know the original unit supplied to me by ozemail didn't have one, although that was a few years ago. Anybody know what they're handing out these days?

Cheers

Ron

I think we'll see tivos bundled with an Unwired subscription and an Unwired modem - maybe in future models the Unwired modem will be in the tivo itself. Seven didn't buy unwired just for the fun of it - it was to add value to their tv strategy (and tivo would seem to fit fairly across both).

[DrP]

Unwired's coverage can hardly be called stellar, while it will undoubtedly play a part, don't expect it to be a 'core' role.

[hobotivo]

I think we'll see tivos bundled with an Unwired subscription and an Unwired modem - maybe in future models the Unwired modem will be in the tivo itself. Seven didn't buy unwired just for the fun of it - it was to add value to their tv strategy (and tivo would seem to fit fairly across both).

This what I expected from the beginning, but there has never been a mention of it from any official source. Another problem is the very limited coverage of unwired so far, isn't it just Sydney, and Melbourne? No doubt with a capital injection from seven they could roll out further coverage pretty quickly but it'll never cover everywhere though, so I doubt the modem will ever go inside the box.

Also, I think the box we're getting will be used for all DVB-T countries, and unless unwired go global it wouldn't be any good anywhere else.

Darn good idea though, use the desire for TiVo as a way to drive broadband penetration into non-broadband homes...

I wish I was a fly on the wall in Kerry Stokes' office

Cheers

Ron

[hobotivo]

Unwired's coverage can hardly be called stellar, while it will undoubtedly play a part, don't expect it to be a 'core' role.

Ah, ya beat me

Cheers

Ron

[crippstor]

The Aussie TiVo Website is updated, but only a little bit. The ancient media items have been replaced with a couple of recent Press Releases.

This make me unhappy however...

Excuse me, but what about the networking?

If anything scares me about TiVo, as implemented here, it is the fact that it must connect to a network. I've said previously that the internal modem should have been retained for this very purpose. Good heavens, I'm an IT Pro and tinkering with my network even makes me a bit nervous.

I strongly suspect that most of the TiVo target market, if they have broadband at all, will have some clunky USB ADSL Modem supplied by their ISP, quite probably without any ethernet ports at all. I know the original unit supplied to me by ozemail didn't have one, although that was a few years ago. Anybody know what they're handing out these days?

Most mum and dad adsl connections get a single ethernet port router still, unless you pay more to upgrade at the time of application. I've said before this is where some issues may occur within the target market. Not everyone is as tech savvy as those on this forum, and if people have to buy new wireless routers and a wireless adapter suddenly the $700 has now become $800 plus.

Seems from what I can gather that without an internet connection there's no epg and hence it becomes a very expensive competitor to a DP-H1.

As far as Unwired goes, look at the price of their plans. Bundled with Tivo or not no one is going to fork out that kind of cash in addition to their existing broadband connection just to get an epg and some quota free movies

Edited July 5, 2008 by crippstor

[hobotivo]

Seems from what I can gather that without an internet connection there's no epg and hence it becomes a very expensive competitor to a DP-H1.

As far as Unwired goes, look at the price of their plans. Bundled with Tivo or not no one is going to fork out that kind of cash in addition to their existing braodband connection just to get an epg and some quota free movies

If it works like the US TiVos then you must connect to the TiVo servers even to set it up. You have to go through a process called "Guided Setup" before you can do anything at all. Might be different here of course since we won't have to pay for the EPG, but I doubt it. If there's no broadband and hence no EPG then all the hyped functionality like season passes and wishlists won't work and the advertising would be fraudulent.

The unwired prices are dear, but they might be very different in a TiVo bundle. Nobody knows. One thing I do know is that Seven didn't buy unwired for fun, there's a plan here somewhere.

Everybody knows I love TiVo but this launch is all messed up.

Cheers

Ron

[jamie-w]

question what is this tivo i'am buying a pvr in two weeks time a beyond or topfield is there an advantage with tivo they don't say much about the box eg hd size no of tuners any help will be good are these as good as the ones i'am lookng at

thanks jamie

[hobotivo]

question what is this tivo i'am buying a pvr in two weeks time a beyond or topfield is there an advantage with tivo they don't say much about the box eg hd size no of tuners any help will be good are these as good as the ones i'am lookng at

thanks jamie

What is important to you? If you're not all that "technical" and you want a superlative TV recorder with a high quality free EPG which still has the promise of lots more features to come, and you're not immediately worried about streaming other stuff around then I'd say buy a TiVo. (But then I would, wouldn't I? )

On the the other hand, if you're an uber-geek (can't figure out how to do an umlaut, sorry) who wants total control over everything get yourself a MythTV box.

If you fall somewhere in between I fancy the Beyonwiz over the Toppie, but I'll let others argue of the relative merits of each. I'm not an expert on either.

I can tell you that the TiVo's HD size is 160GB, which is small, but we expect it to be easily upgradeable, and a 500GB external drive will be available in 2009. It has 2 tuners, so you can record two programs and watch a third, pre-recorded program.

Good luck.

Ron

[pgdownload]

Everybody knows I love TiVo but this launch is all messed up.

Don't get too concerned just yet. Every PVR launch seems to be thrashed in these forums. Conjecture runs rife and and before you know it, it all seems to be a huge mess (and the poor manufacturer hasn't even got to put a single machine in store yet)

If a household doesn't have broadband then IMO its unlikely to be signing up for cutting edge $700 TV recording devices. Priorities. The Tivo will be sold with a cheap wireless option and will no doubt be pretty easy to set up in house. Wait till some advertising (Lots of billboards would seem a really good approach) pops up and word of mouth starts kicking in

Regards

Peter Gillespie

[ozdoc]

If a household doesn't have broadband then IMO its unlikely to be signing up for cutting edge $700 TV recording devices.

This is not a bad thing IMO. If a household has the smarts to run broadband, then there is a good likelihood of having no problems setting up and operating the TiVo. This will reduce demand on support help lines.