Best Buy to offer TVs with TiVo interface starting 7/31

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I was in my local Best Buy yesterday. They had the 32" all in boxes (4 or 5 of them) but they didn't have one on display. They hadn't gotten any of the 42" sets yet. The salesman I spoke with (nice fellow) didn't know much about them and said he had to do more research on them.

 

I checked at two local Best Buy stores yesterday. The first store knew nothing about these TVs until I had them look on their intranet. They had none in the store. The second store salesman also knew nothing, found on the intranet, and found one 32" in stock, in the box on an overhead shelf with overstock items. He was not interested in putting it on display so I could have a look.

I wonder why they don't sell any?

 

These TVs are still not available in large quantities. In the Pittsburgh region (17 BB stores) there are only 7 stores that have 1-2 of them. The local warehouse has 30 of them. No one has them on display.

They will probably increase and be featured in the next few weeks.

 

Yeah, that's how Insignia's product management described it to me -- they'd take some time to get inventory out and then make a push.

 

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maybe they will be on sale for Labor day.

 

Right the value here is putting it in a kitchen or somewhere without a Tivo unit right?

 

...if it included streaming from another TiVo in the house, sure. Without it, no thanks. Sounds like it just has some internet apps and a menu system that's styled by TiVo. I'd want access to my DVR'ed shows.

 

At 32" or 42" I would think that these televisions are way too large for a kitchen...unless your surname happens to be Carrington.

 

and they are way to small for the living room. Guess they are only targeting the bedroom

 

Only if you're thinking of putting it on a counter like an old-style TV set.

If I were to put a TV in my kitchen the most likely place would be on the blank piece of end wall. That's five or six feet away from the most-used piece of work surface (which faces that end wall), and about ten feet away from the furthest spot you can stand in the kitchen.

Either of those sizes should work OK, although I'd probably go for the 32"

 

This is from the Motley Fool: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/08/05/this-weeks-5-dumbest-stock-moves.aspx

Guess which one is number one on the list and you only need one guess. I agree with the writer this TV set(s) should have included a DVR and cable card slot. TiVo and Best Buy should have agree on lifetime DVR service to be included with the price of the set(s) even it made them cost more. Once people understood what they were buying it would sell real well. As it stands now I think people who buy this set will end returning it once they find out there no DVR in it.

 

This. If it can't stream from my Tivo I have NO interest at all.

 

Don't agree at all, a DVR should not be integrated into a TV set. Streaming from other Tivos yes, a DVR which has a drive that could fail and crash your TV, no.

Cablecard slots are dead in TVs, and have been for years. Nobody wanted to pay extra for them, and the cableCos screwed everyone over with CCs anyway.

Agree on the main premise, which is that there's little point to Tivo-branding the set if it doesn't remotely resemble a Tivo (and it doesn't). Having the UI is pointless when every other set has internet apps now, and Tivo's UI has never been its strong suit anyway (especially with HD).

 

If this TV streamed from a Tivo, would they just allow it to stream from any Tivo without regard to the account? If the TV is not limited to a specific Tivo account, then you could access any Tivo as long as you could connect the TV to the corresponding network. One person could effectively broadcast video to other homes or apartments. I don't think this would be legal.

 

And having it's Media Access Key linked to your TiVo.com account.

 

Or that, sure. I'm sure TiVo would get it worked out that you can't just stream to anyone.

 

Would Tivo be willing to do that for free? There is no subscription fee for the TV. This would allow a customer to buy the TV instead of a second Tivo.

 

Does any of this matter? The TVs are not going to stream from other Tivos, so it's pointless to speculate how it would work.