The set-top sage knows all, sees all

Television set-top boxes, which began as simple cable descramblers, are evolving into tools of the digital future.
The New York Times

The story "The set-top sage knows all, sees all" published November 17, 2005 at 5:52 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[Adam Lenio]

DRM and Formats

It will be interesting to see what Motorola does with their <br />optimization for smaller devices. Bigger questions arise though <br />when you start entering factors such as DRM and stream formats <br />- think MPEG2 to MPEG4 transition. Until these are answered <br />(determined), the consumer will remain in limbo as to the <br />longevity of their devices.

[albrown]

TIVO is the best I've used

After years of using a TIVO and I've tried most all of the DVRs to find the one I like the best.<br /><br />I hated the one that Time Warner delivered to us so that my daughters could use it on their TV because they liked my TIVO so well. They even gave it to us to try for free. The girls hated it as well. Perhaps one day Scientific Atlanta will do the right thing and license the TIVO software and have a good product. I had to buy another TIVO to satisfy the other people in the house. <br /><br />Once you have used a TIVO the others just aren't good enough.

[just_some_guy]

I tried TiVo

I didn't like that it was not integrated with my satellite receiver. Sometimes TiVo would think it had changed the channel, but the receiver didn't change, so TiVo would record the wrong channel.<br /><br />I am much happier with a DVR integrated with my receiver. I don't miss shows anymore.