TiVo may give away free set-top boxes

CEO says company is close to offering a range of pricing options, including one plan with a cost-free box.

The story "TiVo may give away free set-top boxes" published February 27, 2006 at 10:35 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from Reuters expires after 30 days.

[capfan12]

Movie Ticket Ability makes it superior?

Why the heck do I want to buy movie tickets from on my tivo?

1) I can do it in person
2) I can do it on my computer
3) I can do it at kiosks at the theater

I bet hardly anyone has used that feature or many of the others recently added. How about they add 802.11G capabilities with WPA instead of this garbage.

[just_some_guy]

Agreed.

Tivo is falling behind the technology curve. Do they even sell HDTV recorders, yet? I couldn't find one on their website. The one from DirecTV does not have the the Series 2 features.

[BattleAce7101]

Wrong

I keep hearing that they have already failed because they do not carry HDTV.
Come on!
Most poeple do not even have HDTV yet.
I think they are on schedule and once they do add HDTV along with the other services they already have then they may win. I think that they should have an advertising model instead of fee based. Unless they can move away from a fee based model, then that may be the nail in the coffin. They also need to make sure that they cater to a community based service. They need to allow people to exchange pictures, home videos share maps such as google maps for discussion among family mebers about travel etc. Different conferencing type features. This could make them the Google/MySpace Kings of TV.

[capfan12]

Movie Ticket Ability makes it superior?

Why the heck do I want to buy movie tickets from on my tivo?

1) I can do it in person
2) I can do it on my computer
3) I can do it at kiosks at the theater

I bet hardly anyone has used that feature or many of the others recently added. How about they add 802.11G capabilities with WPA instead of this garbage.

[just_some_guy]

Agreed.

Tivo is falling behind the technology curve. Do they even sell HDTV recorders, yet? I couldn't find one on their website. The one from DirecTV does not have the the Series 2 features.

[BattleAce7101]

Wrong

I keep hearing that they have already failed because they do not carry HDTV.
Come on!
Most poeple do not even have HDTV yet.
I think they are on schedule and once they do add HDTV along with the other services they already have then they may win. I think that they should have an advertising model instead of fee based. Unless they can move away from a fee based model, then that may be the nail in the coffin. They also need to make sure that they cater to a community based service. They need to allow people to exchange pictures, home videos share maps such as google maps for discussion among family mebers about travel etc. Different conferencing type features. This could make them the Google/MySpace Kings of TV.

[bommai]

Series 3 still missing in action

The growth of HDTV is probably the nail in the coffin for Tivo, unless it gets bought out by a cable company or inks a deal. With analog TV, they were able to get the analog input into Tivo and their onboard MPEG2 encoder could digitize the video and encode into MPEG2 for later playback. However, with HDTV, the game totally changes because of cable and satellite companies. Personally, I think the best HD content right now is over the airwaves, but many people want HD stations from cable/satellite and may not want to put up OTA antenna. In these cases, the cable company/satellite company's DVRs have an upper hand over Tivo. I heard Tivo has a deal with comcast but not yet in force. The series 3 Tivo is still missing in action. It is supposed to have cable card support, etc. However, cable companies try to dissuade people from getting cable card since it cannot do VOD, PPV, etc.

[bommai]

Series 3 still missing in action

The growth of HDTV is probably the nail in the coffin for Tivo, unless it gets bought out by a cable company or inks a deal. With analog TV, they were able to get the analog input into Tivo and their onboard MPEG2 encoder could digitize the video and encode into MPEG2 for later playback. However, with HDTV, the game totally changes because of cable and satellite companies. Personally, I think the best HD content right now is over the airwaves, but many people want HD stations from cable/satellite and may not want to put up OTA antenna. In these cases, the cable company/satellite company's DVRs have an upper hand over Tivo. I heard Tivo has a deal with comcast but not yet in force. The series 3 Tivo is still missing in action. It is supposed to have cable card support, etc. However, cable companies try to dissuade people from getting cable card since it cannot do VOD, PPV, etc.

[cohaver]

why Tivo will fail in future

Tivo problem is it fee base service. over 1000 ways to make money to it customers.Target ad services is one way.Most of Tivo Features could be added to DVD RECORDERS, Set top boxs Smart TV with a hard drive and any smart device. Software in chip. Tivo Should been a hosting service selling space to XM Radio and other services making it the Google of the TV. Digital cable came out it rented millions boxs to but after time it leveled out.

[cohaver]

why Tivo will fail in future

Tivo problem is it fee base service. over 1000 ways to make money to it customers.Target ad services is one way.Most of Tivo Features could be added to DVD RECORDERS, Set top boxs Smart TV with a hard drive and any smart device. Software in chip. Tivo Should been a hosting service selling space to XM Radio and other services making it the Google of the TV. Digital cable came out it rented millions boxs to but after time it leveled out.

I threw out my TIVO a long time ago...

That linux driven P.O.C. TIVO caused me more grief than you can imagine! I replaced it with a Replay T.V. with commercial skip over two years ago and have 100% service($9.95 a month) since then.

TIVO was hyped surreptiously by Time Warner and the studios, not to mention Linux fanatics.

I threw out my TIVO a long time ago...

That linux driven P.O.C. TIVO caused me more grief than you can imagine! I replaced it with a Replay T.V. with commercial skip over two years ago and have 100% service($9.95 a month) since then.

TIVO was hyped surreptiously by Time Warner and the studios, not to mention Linux fanatics.