Let the CES RumorMongering begin!

Justin Thyme · 12-28-2005, 04:15 PM

Maybe we need a thread for the wild and not so wild rumors flying about before the consumer electronics show.

Here's one story today- Tivo partnering with DirecTv and Dish to provide portable video content.

http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/12/28/ce...p_mobilemedia/

I can see them maybe agree on standards making it easier to get stuff onto a Portable device from their own proprietary dvrs, but would you call this partnering? Whatever. I checked around and I don't see this rumor on other web sites. AVSforum just points to the same article.

Anyone see this one, or read of other rumors to add to the heap?

Justin Thyme · 12-28-2005, 04:53 PM

Maybe they got it all fouled up from the story on DaveZatz's site-

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2005-12/...v-goes-mobile/

Which only mentions that direcTv will announce a new partnership so they can do portable video too, not that there is any sort of broader partnership between the satellite carriers and Tivo. I suppose the folks at tgdaily get paid more to write than to read though.

dt_dc · 12-28-2005, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Thyme

Maybe they got it all fouled up from the story on DaveZatz's site

Yes ... it looks like someone grossly misunderstood DaveZatz's use of the term "join".

megazone · 12-28-2005, 05:42 PM

Heh, I was thinking the same thing. Dave reported that DirecTV will be 'joining' Dish and TiVo in offering a mobile solution. He meant just that they'd be joining the market, not that there would be a partnership. Then PVRWire picked up the store from him. I suspect those are the 'several' sites.

rainwater · 12-28-2005, 06:19 PM

I'm guessing the confusion comes from the following in Dave's article:

Quote:

DirecTV is joining TiVo and Dish in the portable media market. Next week they’ll be announcing a new partnership as part of this mobile content initiative.

It should be obvious that the partnership will not be with TiVo or Dish, but I could see how someone might misunderstand.

raianoat · 12-28-2005, 11:56 PM

Isn't it great how other people repost content without fully understanding what somebody is trying to say

.

davezatz · 12-29-2005, 06:10 AM

Wow, I didn't even stop to think my poor writing initiated that rumor. Doh! I guess this is one of those cases where it's OK the site didn't credit me with the info.

I assume the parternetship will be similar to Dish/Archos or TiVo/Intel VIIV... definitely not DISH/DirecTV/TiVo - ha! CES should be real interesting next week on many levels.

(I'm thinking I'll have more fun sitting back and reading the coverage than immersing myself in the frantic data overload. I was naive when I registered and didn't think that my email and cell phone number would be provided to each of the 2500 vendors - I've been inundated with product announcements and meeting requests via email AND phone.)

lajohn27 · 12-29-2005, 08:47 AM

Dave:

Yeah, I learned that the hard way two years ago.

J

JoeBarbs · 12-29-2005, 09:35 AM

I am thinking we are going to be hearing a lot about two things and two things only.

1) Cable Card HD TiVo

2) iPod/PSP functionality

davezatz · 12-29-2005, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeBarbs

I am thinking we are going to be hearing a lot about two things and two things only.

1) Cable Card HD TiVo
2) iPod/PSP functionality

What we don't hear will be equally telling.

I'd like to know more about the Comcast initiative, but that may be Comcast's baby to unveil. I'd like to find out if these next gen TiVo's are going to have Bluray drives. Are S2 devices going to get the ethernet support the Chinese boxes have? What sort of VOD is in the works?

The iPod/PSP software will probably get a lot of press, but from my perspective it isn't a huge deal and any sort of conversion features through TiVo Desktop are overdue. The'll probably have the new adapter on display... again not a huge deal, but pretty interesting to see hardware other than TiVo boxes being produced, packaged, and sold.

The anti-TiVo news also interests me... what sort of portable does DTV have in the works?? And is Apple (after CES at MacWorld) really announcing some sort of media center PC (very possible - a good way to sell more shows and then movies) and will it offer PVR features (doubt it).

Anyone else catch the stock story from yesterday? Some firm changed their rating from Hold to Sell saying nothing in 2006 excites them. Weird, guess they didn't hear about China, Comcast, and HD. (Yes, I know stock talk is banned, that's why I'm being brief.

)

ZeoTiVo · 12-29-2005, 09:51 AM

The iPod/PSP compatability is part of a larger TiVo desktop initiative. Don't forget the watermarking and later in the year Mac compatibility.

also here is hoping rocketboom is just a teaser and they have more video download partnerships (diggination anyone) to announce at CES.

PS - I love how the internet spawns these reports. Everybody in a rush and no one looks to even find two independent sources anymore to make sure they read the first one right.

davezatz · 12-29-2005, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZeoTiVo

The iPod/PSP compatability is part of a larger TiVo desktop initiative. Don't forget the watermarking and later in the year Mac compatibility.

The watermarking IS interesting... at least to a dozen of us on the board.

I wonder if that gets communicated at CES? If not to the press, to the NBCs of the world who might want to sue?

Quote:

PS - I love how the internet spawns these reports. Everybody in a rush and no one looks to even find two independent sources anymore to make sure they read the first one right.

I guess since I've reported legit stuff before, some sites are more likely to take me at face value these days? Granted, I've never heard of TGDaily before but they are crawled by Googles News or Yahoo News so it might continue to spread. (Again, good thing they didn't give me credit!) The silly thing is, my secret source was one of those CES spam emailings - theoreticly quite a few people got the same message (at least one Engadget writer I know also got it) and could confirm or reject as neeed. Anyhow, I changed a few words on my original post for the sake of clarity but there's no turning back. Ah well!

EDIT: Looks like PVRWire misunderstood first. What I wrote made perfect sense to me!

ZeoTiVo · 12-29-2005, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davezatz

The watermarking IS interesting... at least to a dozen of us on the board.

I wonder if that gets communicated at CES? If not to the press, to the NBCs of the world who might want to sue?

wondering of the watermarking is a way to drop the DRM or is a response to how easy it is to break the DRM on a .tivo file? and what kind of DRM will be done on a Mac ? Will it just be a quicktime plugin and thus even easier to "break" since with quicktime you can just dump it to an mpeg without needing to add in any extra software. Will this mean that Macs get predominance at handling TiVo video?

But the Cable Card TiVo - if they show a working model complete with ethernet - will be such a big deal that other things take a small seat to the side. Of course portbale Video players can generate some good buzz, I would expect multiple companies to be reporting on that again. Be nice to hear Intel or AMD has a chipset that is actually going to be used in marketable devices

Kanyon71 · 12-29-2005, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davezatz

The watermarking IS interesting... at least to a dozen of us on the board.

I wonder if that gets communicated at CES? If not to the press, to the NBCs of the world who might want to sue?

I guess since I've reported legit stuff before, some sites are more likely to take me at face value these days? Granted, I've never heard of TGDaily before but they are crawled by Googles News or Yahoo News so it might continue to spread. (Again, good thing they didn't give me credit!) The silly thing is, my secret source was one of those CES spam emailings - theoreticly quite a few people got the same message (at least one Engadget writer I know also got it) and could confirm or reject as neeed. Anyhow, I changed a few words on my original post for the sake of clarity but there's no turning back. Ah well!

EDIT: Looks like PVRWire misunderstood first. What I wrote made perfect sense to me!

TGDaily is part of TomsHardware which is a very popular hardware review and news site. I have been a frequent visitor of it for many years. I am quite surprised that they didn't quote you on their article as it's very much out of the norm for them. Anyway they are usually a pretty good site.

davezatz · 12-29-2005, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kanyon71

TGDaily is part of TomsHardware which is a very popular hardware review and news site. I have been a frequent visitor of it for many years. I am quite surprised that they didn't quote you on their article as it's very much out of the norm for them. Anyway they are usually a pretty good site.

Ah... I know Tom's Hardware - good stuff! Maybe they saw it elsewhere or maybe because the details were sketchy they didn't say which web sites. I know PVRWire and Engadget ran with it too... there could be others. Either way, I prefer not to be mentioned in connection with misinformation.

I'm not perfect but I try to get it right and cite other sites when applicable.

megazone · 12-29-2005, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davezatz

(I'm thinking I'll have more fun sitting back and reading the coverage than immersing myself in the frantic data overload. I was naive when I registered and didn't think that my email and cell phone number would be provided to each of the 2500 vendors - I've been inundated with product announcements and meeting requests via email AND phone.)

Odd - no phone calls for me. I get plenty of email, but I setup a dedicated email address so it all stays in its own box.

So, does that mean you're going or not?

megazone · 12-29-2005, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZeoTiVo

PS - I love how the internet spawns these reports. Everybody in a rush and no one looks to even find two independent sources anymore to make sure they read the first one right.

I always try to take things back to a primary source. Whenever I see a report on another blog, even those I trust, I look for them to link to the source and/or I search for other sources that coroborate the information. If anything is shaky I'll either not repeat it in TiVo Lovers, or I'll qualify it as a rumor. I've seen too many 'facts' spread around over the years.

davezatz · 12-29-2005, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megazone

Odd - no phone calls for me. I get plenty of email, but I setup a dedicated email address so it all stays in its own box.

So, does that mean you're going or not?

Normally I don't answer my phone when I don't recognize the numbers, but one was NYC and figured it was the Engadget guys. Turns out Samsung wants show me some stuff at CES... unless they're showing me a LCD HDTV that I can take home, I'm not so interested.

Netgear sent me an invite to a party in the private House of Blues nightclub on the top of Mandalay Bay which was amusing. Hanging out with the Netgear executive staff doesn't sound very stimulating though the view looks impressive and who am I to turn down free food/drinks.

I'm most likely not going at this point. If I went with Engadget I'd be "working" the whole thing, and I waited too long to book a hotel on my dime. Also I used most of my work leave relocating my mom - her car was totalled (she should get the insurance check next week) and she had to move into a hotel for a few weeks followed by another apartment after Wilma thrashed her part of South Florida. So at the moment I have 4.91 hours of leave and get 6.67 more 1/1/06 which is close enough to the 16 hours I'll need. If a great deal shows up on Priceline or somewhere it's still possible, though unlikely. I'm thinking I'll have more fun reading about it all rather than dealing with the feeding frenzy myself. (I do have a new camera, the Panasonic Lumix FX9, with builtin image stablization that I'm looking forward to trying out though...)

I think Alex of TiVoBlog is going. Haven't heard anything from PVRWire or PVRBlog and assume they aren't covering it in person. So will TiVoLovers be represented?

ZeoTiVo · 12-29-2005, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megazone

I always try to take things back to a primary source. Whenever I see a report on another blog, even those I trust, I look for them to link to the source and/or I search for other sources that coroborate the information. If anything is shaky I'll either not repeat it in TiVo Lovers, or I'll qualify it as a rumor. I've seen too many 'facts' spread around over the years.

Yes, that is the right way to do it and I think you and Dave are usually looking more for solid info or interesting rumor than just the outright scoop so should not have been so all inclusive. I also am surprised that Tom's Guide daily would have jumped on such an odd "idea" of TiVo and DirectTV entering an agreement on portable Video.

megazone · 12-30-2005, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davezatz

I think Alex of TiVoBlog is going. Haven't heard anything from PVRWire or PVRBlog and assume they aren't covering it in person. So will TiVoLovers be represented?

Yeah, this'll be my 3rd year going to CES. The first year I was ill-prepared and overwhelmed. Last year went more smoothly.

smak · 12-30-2005, 01:36 AM

Dave, if you find a good price on a strip hotel let me know.

I always go to CES, and i was going to stay with Mr Purple, but then my two other IT work mates decided to go, which is very cool, but they needed a room, and it was by far too late.

Everything is sold out, or $400-$600 bucks a night. Seeing Excalibur at $475 for a Thursday night is pretty funny.

We're staying way off the strip for $200 a night, which is ok with me, but it would be easier to find something closer.

-smak-

DCIFRTHS · 12-30-2005, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZeoTiVo

..... But the Cable Card TiVo - if they show a working model complete with ethernet - will be such a big deal that other things take a small seat to the side. .....

As far as I'm concerned, all of the other things could take a ride in the trunk (and stay there) if the HD dual tuner TiVo shows itself. Can you guess what I wanted for Christmas 2004?

megazone · 12-30-2005, 03:05 PM

You know they showed a working dual-tuner CableCARD box, with integrated 10/100 Ethernet, at CES2005! They had two in the booth - one rotating under glass, and one running on the other side of the room. It had 2 CC1.0 slots, since that's all that existed at the time. I, and others, posted pictures back in January. ;-)

Remember, just showing a box at CES, working or not, doesn't always mean something is about to ship. For the previous 2 years they also had a standalone ATSC TiVo reference design box.

TK421 · 12-30-2005, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megazone

You know they showed a working dual-tuner CableCARD box, with integrated 10/100 Ethernet, at CES2005! They had two in the booth - one rotating under glass, and one running on the other side of the room. It had 2 CC1.0 slots, since that's all that existed at the time. I, and others, posted pictures back in January. ;-)

Remember, just showing a box at CES, working or not, doesn't always mean something is about to ship. For the previous 2 years they also had a standalone ATSC TiVo reference design box.

Yup...I think for most people "working model" == deal with a manufacturer to produce and target release timeframe.

rainwater · 12-30-2005, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by megazone

You know they showed a working dual-tuner CableCARD box, with integrated 10/100 Ethernet, at CES2005! They had two in the booth - one rotating under glass, and one running on the other side of the room. It had 2 CC1.0 slots, since that's all that existed at the time. I, and others, posted pictures back in January. ;-)

Remember, just showing a box at CES, working or not, doesn't always mean something is about to ship. For the previous 2 years they also had a standalone ATSC TiVo reference design box.

I believe TiVo also hinted that that box wasn't really viable because of the cost. Plus, they didn't want to have to invest in 2 cable card 1.0 slots since they will be outdated with multistream ones eventually.

Bierboy · 12-30-2005, 03:31 PM

...and I would HAVE to believe nest week at CES they will announce ship dates on this unit. I don't think we would stand for anything less after being teased with it since one year ago.

megazone · 12-30-2005, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bierboy

...and I would HAVE to believe nest week at CES they will announce ship dates on this unit. I don't think we would stand for anything less after being teased with it since one year ago.

Actually, I very much doubt it. At best there will be a range, like 'second half of the year', 'third quarter' or 'fall'. We know it isn't going to be before mid-year at best, and when products are that far out too much can change so companies tend to give broad ranges which will narrow as the release draws closer. Better to give a wide range and target the start of the range than to give a narrow range and then miss it and have to deal with the 'missed date' press.

Bierboy · 12-30-2005, 04:00 PM

Yeah, I agree. That's actually what I meant, not a specific date, but a narrower range than "2006". Pony has already said that, as they did one year ago at CES.

davezatz · 12-30-2005, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TK421

Yup...I think for most people "working model" == deal with a manufacturer to produce and target release timeframe.

Yup - last year Humax showed off a 26" LCD TV with TiVo built-in. Looked sweet. But they said they were looking for hardware manufacturers (and who knows the extent of their relationship/licensing with TiVo) and the unit hasn't shown up yet. Sure would have made a nice bedroom TV!

(There are current rumblings it will make a reappearance - not sure if it will be running some other DVR software or TiVo stuff. Maybe we'll learn more next week!)

megazone · 12-30-2005, 06:17 PM

Humax went further - they announced the model number of the TV and said it would be out in 2005 (more specific than that, but I'd have to look up my posts from January in TiVo Lovers for the details). And it just faded. the DRT2500 also never shipped AFAIK.