Can they disable all TiVos one day?

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No you can't separate personal preferences from inherent attributes of the underlying ease and economics of a technology.

 

It's NOT fact. Convenience is in the hand of the user. We are each entitled to our own personal conveniences.

 

Using a TiVo
1) Turn on TV
2) Press the TiVo button
3) Scroll to one of my favorite shows
4) Hit Play
or
1) Turn on TV
2) Tune to desired channel (either by number or one of the 6 tuners).

In either case I'm dealing with a very responsive interface that FFs and Rewinds instantly with full video in view.

Streaming

1) Turn on TV
2) change input to a streaming service
3 wait for streaming service to boot up
4) scroll through and find a show, often taking me 5 to 10 minutes.
5) on certain services discover that this program will cost me $5 to $15 more.
6 realize I can't find anything on that service I want to watch
7) rinse and repeat the whole process till I find something
8) deal with an unresponsive interface that sucks at rewinding to the point I want to review for any number of reason.
and in many cases, I have to sit through commercials.

We all watch TV differently... you may know exactly what program you want to watch, and what service it lives on. If streaming works for you, fine. To me, it's a second option after TiVo.

Sorry, but for me, the TiVo is much more convenient.

 

Sorry but the discussion is not about you.

a service like Netflix is the same thing as Tivo without all the maintenance.

 

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In your opinion. And if you put a conversation here, it's fair game for everyone.

 

unlike you, i'm not talking about me. I'm talking about the technology itself.

And anyone that can separate themselves for a minute from their own personal use can see that a streaming service (the technology) is just a dvr without the management.


And everyone who can do simple math can see the massive cost difference between a cable Tivo with lifetime vs cost of streaming equipment, which these days, comes free with a new tv.

And, from this, make a strong conclusion as to where the pay tv market is slowly headed.

 

The premise for saving money is that the person desires to consume large quantities of TV shows and movies. An OTA DVR allows you to download large quantities of content over the airwaves for free. A person might need two DVR's to cover all six networks in primetime.

Someone without a DVR who desires to consume large quantities of media would have to pay for Broadband and stream free content which is more expensive, because the DVR cost can be amortized over the years and the cost approaches a few dollars per month plus the cost of a low mobile data plan which can be had for $10 per month and includes phone service and light browsing.

The broadband costs are at best fixed but probably will increase. Maybe the person without a DVR could stream all free content, but more than likely they would pay for one or more streaming services which would also have the same cost effect as Broadband. Even the cheapest Broadband service would likely cost ~$40 per month and that cost would pay for an OTA DVR after a year and then the DVR cost could be amortized over 5 years and come out to about $7 per month.

I'm not seeing where your option of not buying a DVR is an option to save more money for someone who wants to consume large quantities of media since they would have to pay for broadband which would cost much more per month over a 5 year period.

 

Sigh... I pine for a good ol' TE3 vs TE4 flame war.

 

Not having commercials is even better than "easily" forwarding over them.

 

you're preaching to the choir about the cost of OTA and a Tivo and only a $10/mo mobile plan.

Again I agree if all you want is OTA and a Tivo and a $10/mo mobile plan then you save money vs nearly anything else except OTA with no Tivo or no tv and no phone.

But I think the appeal is very limited. Also I would consider OTA and a person who wants to consume large quantities of media to be opposites.

 

Not every streaming service is commercial free. I've taken that into consideration.

Again, everyone's experiences and needs are different.

FYI, My TiVo costs have been minimal since I'm still using my $200 lifetime I purchased in 1999. Sure my cable costs are through the roof, but had I been TiVo with OTA, I'd be watching TV for free right now.

Convenience is not just about the technology, it's about how you desire to use it.

 

If I'm complaining about the drudgery of skipping over ads, I'm certainly not going to use a streaming service that has commercials that I won't even be able to skip!

So for me, that is not a consideration.

 

Fixed

 

Not able to skip ads & no QuickMode...whether using streaming services or the cable company's own DVR.

 

Streaming is better is what I said, streaming is better is what I meant.

In any case, the writing is on the wall; TiVo's days are numbered. I would feel sad about this if they hadn't betrayed us by selling out with pre-roll ads and the removal of downloads in TE4.

 

You can't even download from TE4, anymore? Or did you mean uploads? Or just transfer controls w/in the UI?

 

Sorry about hurting anyone's feelings. I should have remembered what it felt like back when I cared about TiVo. (When we didn't have anything better.)

 

Yes, your personal preference. Your 'facts' don't change that.

 

Denial is the first step. You are on your way to recovery.