TiVo prepping a "mass appeal" HD DVR priced below Series 3
By Ken Fisher | Published: May 31, 2007 - 11:06AM CT
Everyone knows that true DVR nirvana requires support for sweet, sweet HD video. Yet while the cost of HDTVs has dropped sharply in the last 5 years, the cost of getting an HD TiVo up and running has not. The much-anticipated Series 3 debuted at $799, and the previous DirecTiVo HR 10-250 debuted at over $1,000. This situation is particularly bad for TiVo, as several cable and satellite operators now offer their own HD DVRs—often for as little as $10 per month. Many consumers aren't interested in paying the major price premium that TiVo requires, even if they believe that TiVo provides both a superior product and experience (a belief I completely agree with).
In its first quarter earnings call yesterday, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers complained that the high price of the Series 3 meant that the company has "not been able to meaningfully participate in the HD wave in retail," but indicated there is hope on the horizon. TiVo will have "a mass appeal priced HD unit... later this year," according to Rogers. He did not expand beyond those comments.
If we gaze into our crystal ball, we see a fourth quarter "Series 3 Lite" coming with a reduced feature set. To get the cost down significantly, TiVo will likely have to eliminate the ability to record two shows at once, and some of the other niceties like the OLED display and external SATA may also be cut. Or, TiVo could keep dual tuners but cut the OTA (over the air) tuners. This is just speculation, of course, but something significant will have to be chopped to bring that price down below $399, which is where we suspect TiVo is aiming...
arstechnica.com |
