Is TIVO working on a centrally acting server?

[mohanman]

Hey guys,
I thought this was in the news a while back, but is Tivo working on something like atand t uverse with one centrally acting dvr, and the ability to watch/record those shows on "clients" throughout the home??

That would be sweet

Mo

[CuriousMark]

Hey guys,
I thought this was in the news a while back, but is Tivo working on something like atand t uverse with one centrally acting dvr, and the ability to watch/record those shows on "clients" throughout the home??

That would be sweet

I don't know if they are or aren't, but I do have some thoughts on the subject.

Simply buying TiVo DVRs for different TVs provides a more scalable solution than a central server does. For example the AT&T offering required each remote TV to have one of their receivers. The receiver's aren't DVRs, just set top boxes required to talk to the central DVR. Their system can handle a maximum of 4 rooms, after that there is no further expansion possible. With Two TiVos and two rooms that have computers in them, every feature of the AT&T offering can be matched using MRV and TiVo Desktop on the PCs. Add a third TiVo and you now have 5 rooms covered and the ability to record six things at once. AT&T is limited to 4 SD or 2HD recordings at once. So based on your home setup, currently two TiVos can out-scale the AT&T product.

That is the client point of view, now look at the server point of view. If you put TiVo Desktop on a PC or similar third party software on a windows home server, you can serve a virtually unlimited amount of content to as many TiVo DVRs as you want place in your home. This server can automatically fetch web video and using it each TiVo could be recording up to 3 or even 4 things at once (counting two tuners recording, tivocast downloads and desktop transfers).

So from my perspective, TiVo has already had all the pieces for a while now; whereas, AT&T just has a slick marketing campaign going.

[classicsat]

I think the most that is public, is Tom Rogers mentioning something about something like that somewhere.

Fundamentally though, TiVo is into selling subscriptions to their service though, and it would be in their interest to get as many boxes in your house, and with as many subscriptions as possible.

A central DVR with clients (especially if no sub is needed for them) would be counter to that.

[jlb]

And don't forget...with the AT&T solution, if the primary DVR fails, you cannot record anything on any of the devices. Whereas with a multi-TiVo solution, if one DVR fails, you can still schedule recordings on the other TiVo(s).

In my book, this is the primary reason to NOT use the AT&T solution.

[bryanb]

I don't know if they are or aren't, but I do have some thoughts on the subject.

Simply buying TiVo DVRs for different TVs provides a more scalable solution than a central server does. For example the AT&T offering required each remote TV to have one of their receivers. The receiver's aren't DVRs, just set top boxes required to talk to the central DVR. Their system can handle a maximum of 4 rooms, after that there is no further expansion possible. With Two TiVos and two rooms that have computers in them, every feature of the AT&T offering can be matched using MRV and TiVo Desktop on the PCs. Add a third TiVo and you now have 5 rooms covered and the ability to record six things at once. AT&T is limited to 4 SD or 2HD recordings at once. So based on your home setup, currently two TiVos can out-scale the AT&T product.

That is the client point of view, now look at the server point of view. If you put TiVo Desktop on a PC or similar third party software on a windows home server, you can serve a virtually unlimited amount of content to as many TiVo DVRs as you want place in your home. This server can automatically fetch web video and using it each TiVo could be recording up to 3 or even 4 things at once (counting two tuners recording, tivocast downloads and desktop transfers).

So from my perspective, TiVo has already had all the pieces for a while now; whereas, AT&T just has a slick marketing campaign going.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the TiVo model requires that you actually move content between boxes right? I believe this is also subject to copy restrictions, for example, HBO content may not be transferable to a PC (not sure about between Tivos). This is quite a bit less convenient than a central DVR with client boxes such as Windows Media Center + extenders, where you are able to instantly watch anything recorded, or even in progress, in any room.

[CuriousMark]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the TiVo model requires that you actually move content between boxes right? I believe this is also subject to copy restrictions, for example, HBO content may not be transferable to a PC (not sure about between Tivos). This is quite a bit less convenient than a central DVR with client boxes such as Windows Media Center + extenders, where you are able to instantly watch anything recorded, or even in progress, in any room.
Yes, you are correct about that. The copy restrictions are set by the content owner and/or cable provider, and where set too tightly would indeed pose a considerable inconvenience. Once you start such a transfer, where allowed, you can also watch it instantly, so that part is basically the same. it may be slightly more inconvenient to need to select delete when done watching, but that is only one extra remote click.

To the extent that streaming servers are not subject to the same copy restrictions transfers are, this dichotomy will persist. It will be especially inconvenient on services that overuse the copy protection flags, but many don't and it is not a failing of the TiVo, per se, to obey those flags.

The possibility exists that TiVo could implement a form of streaming MRV to deal with this or it is also possible that the content creators could realize that streaming is no more secure than transferring and lock down the media server alternatives you mentioned. No, it isn't likely.

So depending where you live the TiVo solution would be much less competitive.

[ZeoTiVo]

TiVo is now doing streaming with You Tube and MPEg4.
I think TiVo is well aware of how streaming eliminates copy issues.
I bet we will see more streaming of things to and from the series 3 models and beyond that can do mpeg4.



I would like to see a TiVo receiver for those places you do not want a full blown DVR or there is no cable hookup etc. I would buy one or two myself ifsubscriptionless. not holding my breath over that one though ;)