I think there will always be a place for a low end DVR (supplied by cable and satellite companies
no doubt there is always a low end. but the problem i see is that they cost too much in the monthly fees. probably in the early years of telephones, you had to rent the phone from the phone co. but that's no longer the case.
why should people pay $15 a month to the cable co (or Tivo) for each TV they want a receiver/DVR on? it gets expensive quickly.
i think a successful implementation of MCE could save consumers a lot in monthly fees.
I think TiVo needs to focus on properly segmenting the market or limiting their focu
my impression is that Tivo makes much less money on customers owned by DirecTV than it does on its "owned" customers. OTOH, they can reach a lot more customers through the MSOs. i don't know whether the OEM route offers the kind of return investors expect, though.
hey are expensive. Mediacenter version of the OS isn't free.
apparently MCE is going to be wrapped into the next OS version (Longhorn). so it's just a temporary segmentation.
MS won't sell it direct to consumer
actually, MCE 05 is being sold as a separate product--http://www.softwaresurplus.com/Guaranteed/Low.Prices?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=5114&ovchn=GGL&ovcpn=MS+Windows+XP+Media+Center&ovcrn=windows+xp+media+center&ovtac=PPC
but, who would pay $150 for this product standalone when you can get it in a new Dell PC for $400.
While extenders work fine over 802.11g wireless, they too are very expensive ($300 each).
actually, that Linksys box i showed you from Amazon is $249, and there are cheaper ones as well. you can get an add-on for the X-box for like $61.
but, i think the stuff out there now is strictly bleeding edge. prices can come down a lot. after all, it is basically a relay with a remote. it doesn't contain a hard drive and all the components of a DVR, so the parts list has got to be cheaper. at perhaps $50-75 a pop, in a third generation in a couple years, combined with Longhorn, i think this could be a very popular product.
* They are (currently) big and ugly (for the most part).
you mean the standalone XP media centers designed specifically for entertainment. these, i agree, are very expensive and not of much use except to gamers, etc. alienware has models ranging from $1500-1800. that's not a mainstream market at all.
what really impresses me are the supporting survices
thanks for your input on those things. i was unaware of Orb.
cheers, |
