TiVo

TiVo, Inc.
	TiVo's logo, a smiling television set.TiVo's logo, a smiling television set.
Company type	Public Nasdaq: TIVO
Industry	Video equipment
Founded	1997
Headquarters	Alviso, California
Key people	Michael Ramsay, Chairman; Thomas Rogers, President and CEO
Products	TiVo personal video recorders
Revenue	$172,055,000 31-Jan-05
Number of employees	343 (2005)
Website	www.tivo.com

TiVo (pronounced, in IPA, /tiː.vo/) is a popular brand of digital video recorder (DVR), a term synonymous with personal video recorder (PVR). It is a consumer video device which allows users to capture television programming to internal hard disk storage for later viewing (sometimes called "time shifting").

Operation

TiVo systems function similarly to VCRs, but use non-removable hard disk storage, and contain much more sophisticated software to record programs—not only those the user specifically requests, but also other material the user is likely to be interested in. Additionally, programs being watched "live" can be paused or "rewound" to repeat a sequence just watched. Unlike tape-based recorders, a program that is still being recorded can be viewed from the beginning.

DVR function

A TiVo DVR allows a user to specify which programs to record by time, by program title, and by specifying combinations of genre, actors, directors, etc. Based on a database of programs available to the user—based on his or her location and/or cable/satellite services he or she uses, and updated roughly once a day via phone or network connection to TiVo headquarters—it selects and records the desired programs. Programs may be stored until internal storage is filled, at which time the unit will dispose of older programs (unless flagged to be saved until manually deleted), to allow for new programs to be recorded. "Season passes" instruct the TiVo to record a show every time it comes on, regardless of what time the show runs, with the option of not recording reruns. The program information is supplied by Tribune Media Services.

In addition to recording programs specified by the users, a feature pioneered by TiVo is the recording of additional programs based on the viewing habits of the household. TiVo users can also rate programs favorably or unfavorably (ranging from three "thumbs up" to three "thumbs down"). These ratings, and the ratings of other TiVo subscribers, are used in a collaborative filtering based model to produce a recommendation score for unrated shows. This recommendation score is heavily based upon what other TiVo subscribers that have similar viewing habits watch. (Ali, Stam; http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs9318/notes/TiVo-sigkdd04.pdf) For example, imagine subscriber A has positive ratings for "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy", but no rating assigned for "Futurama." Additionally, subscriber B has positive ratings for all three of those shows. Subscriber A might then receive a recommendation for "Futurama" because, other than that show, A and B have identical viewing habits.

The TiVo unit constantly records the incoming television signal, allowing users to pause or rewind "live" TV within a short (generally 30 minute) buffer. Many viewers use this capability to watch "live" TV with limited interruption for commercials, starting to watch from the beginning of the program 10–15 minutes after it started, then fast-forwarding through commercials.

Another advantage over traditional tape-based recorders is that users can watch a recording from a TiVo unit as it records another program. In addition, unlike generic DVRs, TiVo Series2 units can be easily connected to a home network, which allows TiVo users to schedule recordings via a Web browser, transfer recordings from a TiVo unit to another TiVo unit or to a home computer, and use some other home networking features. The TiVo Series2 models can also view pictures and play music stored on home computers through a home network.

Hardware anatomy

The TiVo unit was designed by TiVo Inc., which currently provides the hardware design, Linux-based TiVo software, and operates a subscription dial-up service (without which some models of TiVo will not operate). TiVo units have been manufactured by various OEMs, including Philips and Sony, which license the software from TiVo Inc.

TiVo systems are based on PowerPC or MIPS processors, connected to MPEG-2 encoder/decoder chips and high-capacity IDE/ATA hard drives. Early TiVo units used one or two 13GB drives; typical units have a drive of 40–140GB in size. Although not supported by TiVo or equipment manufacturers, larger drives can be added.

Some recent models manufactured by Toshiba, Pioneer and Humax, under license from TiVo, contain DVD-R/RW drives. The models can transfer recordings from the built in hard drive to an industry standard DVD playable in most modern DVD drives.

Standalone TiVo systems can only record one channel at a time. Even with digital cable or satellite services that may provide multiple simultaneous signals, these units rely on an external convertor to select and decode digital signals. Most digital cable providers opted to provide their own DVR systems, integrated with their own cable boxes; unlike TiVo, these boxes do not require a hardware purchase, but are rented from the cable companies with service. Many of these boxes are capable of recording a HDTV program at full resolution.

Some TiVo systems are integrated with DirecTV receivers. These "DirecTiVo" recorders record the incoming satellite MPEG-2 digital stream directly to hard disk without conversion. Because of this and the fact that they have two tuners, DirecTiVos are able to record two programs at once. In addition, the lack of digital conversion allows recorded video to be of the same quality as live video. DirecTiVos have no MPEG encoder chip, and can only record DirecTV streams.

The latest DirecTiVo units (HR10-250) can also record HDTV to a 250 gigabyte hard drive, both from the DirecTV stream and over-the-air via a standard UHF- or VHF-capable antenna. They have four tuners (two DirecTV and two over-the-air) and, like the original DirecTiVo, can record two programs at once, and the program guide is integrated between OTA and DTV so that all programs can be recorded and viewed in the same manner.

TiVoToGo

TiVo has continued to expand their offerings as a media convergence device. January 2005 saw the release of TiVoToGo, a feature allowing the transfer of recorded shows from TiVo boxes to Windows PCs. TiVo partnered with Sonic in the release of MyDVD 6.1, a software program which allows for the editing and conversion of TiVoToGo files. Other means of manipulating files are described at the TiVoToGo Unleashed tutorial.

Tivo subsequenty rolled-out software in August 2005 that extended TivoToGo. Users can now transfer video files from their PC to their TiVo for playback by the DVR.

TiVo hacking

Many people and groups have organized to "hack" the TiVo box, some to improve the service and others to provide service in countries where the TiVo is not currently being sold. TiVo has generally remained on good terms with these projects, although it has lately tried to clamp down on many of the "back doors" in the software, citing threats to their corporate interests.

Many users have installed additional and/or larger hard drives in their TiVo boxes to increase their recording capacity. Others have designed and built Ethernet cards, a web interface, and figured out how to extract/insert or transfer video among their TiVo boxes.

Green Screen of Death

File:Gsod.jpg

The Green Screen of Death error message

The Green Screen of Death (GSoD) is an error message produced by TiVo machines. The causes of it vary, but it is generally regarded as a "good sign" despite its scary appearance. The message is displayed while the TiVo attempts to repair the data contents of its hard drive.

The GSoD text reads as follows:

A severe error has occurred.

Please leave the Receiver plugged in and connected to the phone line for the next three hours while the Receiver attempts to repair itself.

DO NOT UNPLUG OR RESTART THE RECEIVER.

If, after three hours, the Receiver does not restart itself, call Customer Care.

History

The device was created by TiVo, Inc. Nasdaq: TIVO, a company started by veterans of Silicon Graphics and Time Warner's Full Service Network digital video system. TiVo can also refer to that corporation, as well as to the TiVo service, which is the network that the recorder unit itself communicates with. There are several other brands of DVR currently available.

TiVo is sometimes used as a verb to describe the digital recording of a television program, regardless of whether the equipment is a TiVo-brand DVR (e.g. "Could you TiVo Star Trek for me tonight?"). The TiVo corporation discourages the use of TiVo in this way, for fear that it could cause the name to become a genericized trademark.

Service availability

The TiVo service is only available to the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada at present. TiVo does not sell boxes in Canada however, so Canadian residents must purchase boxes in the U.S. and import them. TiVo DVRs have also been modified by end users to work in Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and South Africa.

TiVo service was launched in the United Kingdom in the autumn of 2000. As in the U.S. it acquired a niche market position, selling about 35,000 units over the next 18 months with users reflecting the U.S. experience of not being able to imagine watching TV without it. However TiVo decided to cease production in the UK in early 2002. The TiVo service continues to be provided to existing customers, and the price of second-hand machines with lifetime subscriptions has soared on online auction sites above the original market price of £400.

Market share

Despite its innovative functionalities and ease of use, TiVo has had a difficult time penetrating consumer markets as well as traditional digital video recorders. Many TiVo adopters testify that they love TiVo so much that they cannot imagine watching TV without it. In contrast to other PVR companies, TiVo is well known for loyalty of its users. Still, TiVo has remained a niche product. Some argue that this is because consumers are unfamiliar with the benefits of a system like TiVo. It may take a few weeks of use to fully understand the magnitude of the change TiVo brings to television viewing. Consumers that are not comfortable with such technology thus tend to prefer cheaper, more familiar systems like traditional tape recorders.

Another factor is the cost of the monthly or lifetime subscription fees. TiVo's market share growth has also been slowed by the proliferation of Digital Video Recorders being offered by cable television operators. They are often touted as having no up front equipment costs and a lower subscription fee, as well as seamless compatibility with the cable television system.

While its main competitor, ReplayTV, has adopted a commercial-skip feature, TiVo has decided to avoid automatic implementation of that feature, fearing such a move might provoke backlash from the television industry.

Future

TiVo and cable television giant Comcast reached a nonexclusive distribution deal in March 2005 easing some investor concerns over TiVo's future. The companies announced that they would make TiVo's service available over Comcast's cable network, with the first co-developed products available by the end of 2006, using the TiVo brand.

In January 2005, TiVo announced a long-term strategy that includes support for HDTV recording, integrated tuning using CableCARD technology, the ability to download and view content from the Internet, and a program allowing third parties to develop applications for the platform. The company has stated that the first HD/CableCARD unit will ship in early 2006.

In January 2006, the Consumer Electronics Show brought the introduction of the TiVo Series 3. This latest revision represented an evolutionary step in the TiVo service, revolving around its capability to record high definition television and digital cable content utilizing CableCARD technology. The Series 3 stands apart from previous models by including six seperate video tuners: two digital cable tuners decrypted by CableCARD, two ATSC tuners for digital over-the-air content, and two NTSC tuners for standard over-the-air content. The Series 3 model also includes a 10/100 Ethernet connection port and an external SATA port. TiVo also reversed course with the introduction of the Series 3 model by supporting first- and third-party storage upgrades. TiVo has scheduled the Series 3 model for release in late 2006. A price point has yet to be revealed.

Controversies

Privacy concerns

Some users are concerned about TiVo's ability to collect usage data from units via the telephone line; TiVo stipulates that (currently) all usage data is aggregated by ZIP code, so that no information about individual viewing habits is being collected. In the United States, users can request that TiVo block the collection of Anonymous Viewing Information and Diagnostic Information from their TiVo DVR by calling 1-877-367-8486. Nielsen and TiVo have collaborated to track anonymous usage information.

Automatic software updates

TiVo, Inc. has always provided updates of the software that runs TiVo units, usually downloaded along with programming data. These updates have occasionally had flaws and even removed or disabled features available in the previous versions, which has resulted in criticism from many TiVo users. Early TiVo units were marketed as being capable of functioning (in a much more limited capacity) without a subscription to the TiVo service, and some customers who have had their older units remotely updated to versions of the software that does not offer this functionality maintain that TiVo is violating the original agreement.

Pop-up advertisements

In March 2005, TiVo began testing "pop-up" advertisements to select beta testers, to explore it as an alternative source of revenue. The concept is that, as users fast-forward through certain commercials of TiVo advertisers, they will also see a static image ad more suitable and effective than the broken video stream.

At its announcement, the concept of extra advertisements drew heavy criticism from TiVo's lifetime subscribers, who have historically been among the company's biggest supporters. Some were upset that they had already paid for a service based upon their previous ad-free experience, while others argued that they had purchased the service for the specific purpose of dodging advertisements.

Early testers complained that the pop-up detector was buggy, and would sometimes pop-up during unrelated commercials, or even during regular TV programming. They also state that the ads are aesthetically unpleasant, and take up a quarter of the screen. TiVo says that they are looking into these issues and will fix all of these problems before the advertising functions are rolled out to the public. It is unclear if these advertisements will be rolled out to TiVo enabled boxes with DirecTV and Comcast or just to their own standalone boxes.

Content flagging

In September 2005 a TiVo software upgrade added the ability for broadcasters to "flag" programs to be deleted after a certain date. Some customers had recordings deleted, or could not utilize their flagged recordings (transfer to a computer or burn to DVD), as they could with unflagged material. TiVo has stated this was a bug in the software. [1] In 2004 TiVo entered into an agreement with Macrovision to make TiVo machines copyright-protection flag aware, ostensibly to protect future pay-per-view and video-on-demand content.

Service Contracts

Also in September 2005 TiVo changed their customer agreement, instituting a one-year service contract for all new activations after September 6, 2005. Customers wishing to cancel the service early are subject to a $150 cancellation fee. TiVo has not commented officially on this change, but with their recent drive to attract new customers, as well as subsidizing new hardware through large mail-in rebates, the company could be looking for ways to discourage users from cancelling. [2]

Rebates

TiVo has been a heavy user of mail-in rebates. According to BusinessWeek, the company recognized $5,000,000 in additional revenue when nearly half of the 100,000 new subscribers to the service failed to successfully apply for a $100 rebate. While this rate of compliance is fairly typical in the rebate field, the company's heavy use of the promotional practice caused a large impact on its bottom line.

External links