Philips to produce a TiVo-like PVR?

[Milhouse]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070904/tc_pcworld/136715


Dutch consumer electronics manufacturer Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV is developing a personalized video recorder application that learns users' viewing tastes, and that could compete with TiVo.

Philips is demonstrating its prototype Personal TV Channel system, intended for PCs or set-top boxes, at the IFA international consumer electronics show in Berlin, which runs through Wednesday.


The PC version will be available early next year as a free download for users of computers running Windows Vista or, depending on the computer maker, can come already installed on machines, according to Cappendijk. The product will ship to makers of set-top boxes within a year, he said.

Philips hopes to make money from the product through its personalized advertising capability.

Ah... adverts. :(

Philips seem to be copying the TiVo "Suggestions" functionality... I'd have thought that was patented. Best of luck to Philips if they want to launch something in Europe which approximates to a TiVo when TiVo themselves are too chicken sh1t to come back here... :)

[Pete77]

Philips seem to be copying the TiVo "Suggestions" functionality... I'd have thought that was patented. Best of luck to Philips if they want to launch something in Europe which approximates to a TiVo when TiVo themselves are too chicken sh1t to come back here... :)

It won't break the patents as long as coming up with a program recommendation is done a sufficiently different way. So using +3 to -3 red and green thumbs will no doubt be out of the question. But you can't patent a concept such as recommending a program itself. You can only patent the technological method you have developed for making the Suggestions. I also don't believe you can trademark the word Suggestions as it is an old established English word.

Sounds as though Philips aims to supply this software third party to run on a PC or other set top boxes, which sounds rather a departure for them. They normally like to make the whole appliance.

Given that Tivo have already developed such a third party app for cable set top boxes and Virgin aren't interested then why will this software from Philips get any further unless it is much better priced than Tivo's cable box software offering perhaps is?

Sky only seems obsessed with making the maximum amount of money regardless of quality of professional pride, rather than making goods to a decent quality. Why else would they consider buying crap quality Sky box manufacturer Amstrad to be a sensible move???

[DeadKenny]

Given that Tivo have already developed such a third party app for cable set top boxes and Virgin aren't interested then why will this software from Philips get any further unless it is much better priced than Tivo's cable box software offering perhaps is?
I doubt they would be interested, but price and a well known brand name who has plenty of European presence (including UK based development facilities), and big marketing clout, financial stability, would be reasons alone to justify Philips over TiVo.

If Philips software is easier to integrate and can be 'branded' to Virgin's needs then that would be more attractive.

Though they'd have to break out of their existing contract with whoever supplies their current system.

[mini__me]

Pete77:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5475015#post5475015

[Automan]

Perhaps they are going to try and use guideplus - upgraded of couse, to run this new gadget....

http://www.europe.guideplus.com/

However such a device is no good on sky channels unless tuner intergrated due to pin number being required a lot of the time....

Same I suspect now on other platforms too...

Automan.

[JonMace]

It does say that it is going to run on Vista - Vista already does virtually everything that Tivo does with the exception of suggestions. Therefore I would think that it is just a small app to do so

[TCM2007]

Philips seem to be copying the TiVo "Suggestions" functionality... I'd have thought that was patented. Best of luck to Philips if they want to launch something in Europe which approximates to a TiVo when TiVo themselves are too chicken sh1t to come back here... :)

Surprisingly few interface features are patented, if you do a search of the US patent database.

Although in typical US style, they do seem to have ap atent for having menus which let you select TV programmes which if apllied could rule out pretty much all PVRs! :confused: :confused: :confused:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=12&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=tivo.ASNM.&OS=AN/tivo&RS=AN/tivo