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Technology Stocks : Tivo (TIVO) Interactive TV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pyslent who wrote (1605)	3/27/2005 8:04:31 AM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 2093

although the Tivo looks great compared to normal crap DVRs distributed by cable companies, its functionality is not all that impressive by PC standards. so it is not surprising to me that MSFT throws in a Tivo substitute for free with its OS. also, it would be great to have just a single digital receiver from your cableco connected just to a single PC, instead of one for each TV--as well as a Tivo for each TV! MCE makes this happen with the Media Extenders. i think the long-term questions for MCE in competing against DVRs (and really killing the whole category--after all, who has a dedicated word processor these days? imo a dedicated DVR could seem just as anachronistic in a few years) are * whether they can work satisfactorily over standard WiFi (interest will be more limited if you need a wireline connection). obviously Linksys thinks so since they build WiFi into their Extender linked below. * whether they can get around having to disable Copy Protected programs like HBO. the latter issue is more a legal/procedural issue than a technical issue, but it is just as important. who would ditch their DVR and tuner if they can't get HBO? it will be interesting to see how MSFT and the Extender makers address these challenges. there are some good reviews from Version 1.0 guinea pigs here: amazon.com basic theme seems to be that they love the idea and the product is pretty good for a first version, but it's got a long way to go.