Another take on Tivo:
209.97.16.17
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Posted at 8:42 p.m. PDT Thursday, September 10, 1998
Smart TV recorders get another player
BY JON HEALEY
Mercury News Staff Writer
A second Silicon Valley company is speeding to market with a new, intelligent breed of TV recorder, one that searches for programs that match the viewer's tastes.
Officials at Replay Networks Inc. of Palo Alto say they will begin selling a high-end version of their recorder in November. Early next year, they plan to release a less expensive version that will compete head-to-head with a similar TV service from Sunnyvale-based TiVo Inc., which doesn't expect its service to reach the general public until next year.
The two companies have different business models, but their technology is remarkably similar. Both hope to change the way people experience TV by making it much easier to record programs, allowing viewers to adjust the networks' schedules to fit their own.
This concept is known in the TV industry as ''time shifting,'' and it was one of the factors behind the invention of the VCR. Although most households now have a VCR, few people actually use them to record programs -- in part because people have trouble programming them, in part because people like to watch popular shows at the same time their friends and co-workers do.
The ReplayTV box, like the TiVo Center, uses computer technology to make programming simple, even automatic. The two devices enable people to record programs by selecting them via remote control from an on-screen program guide, rather than having to set times and dates.
They also allow viewers to record every episode of a particular show, any show featuring a particular actor, or all shows falling into a specified category, such as westerns. Both companies plan to offer theme-based recording packages, too, such as movies recommended by well-known critics.
The devices store programs on a high-capacity computer disk that can play back as it records. This feature enables viewers to pause, rewind and play back live TV programs as if they were on tape.
The main difference between the two companies' approaches is that Replay wants to sell the public just an appliance, while TiVo wants to sell the box and a $10 monthly programming service.
The initial, full-featured Replay units are expected to sell for $2,000 to $3,000, chief executive Anthony Wood said, with the later models selling for around $500. The company may offer an optional, program-suggesting service for a monthly fee.
TiVo's service, on the other hand, will suggest programs each day to individual viewers based on what they've indicated in the past that they liked or disliked. With the viewers' consent, TiVo also will enable advertisers to tailor their pitches to specific homes. The revenues from monthly fees will help TiVo keep the price of their equipment around $300, which is in the range of a VCR.
Both companies are negotiating with consumer-electronics companies to make and sell their boxes to the masses. Replay also has worked closely with home-theater dealers to develop its product, while TiVo has concentrated more on programming and service partnerships with broadcast networks, satellite operators, cable companies and advertisers.
''We think we're more customer-focused,'' Replay's Wood said. TiVo Vice President of Marketing Edward MacBeth counters, ''We believe the service that we offer is the key to what makes this work.''
Two analysts familiar with both companies said that they did not care for TiVo's monthly fees, but they had some concerns about Replay's strategy, too.
''Like the concept; can't tolerate the price -- even for rich home-theater buffs,'' analyst Gary Arlen said of Replay. He added that Replay will be ''very vulnerable to others who could put cheap storage on set-top with a brand name,'' such as Microsoft's WebTV.
Seamus McAteer, an analyst with Jupiter Communications, said Replay's recorder may appeal only to a ''very select segment'' of the market unless the company expands the capabilities of its box.
''It could probably have a sizable market at a price of around $500, $600 if it integrated a DVD player and it didn't wed me to another bloody bill, thank you very much,'' he said.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
My thoughts, exactly. : ) |
