New features launching December 1

[sydtom1]

Hi all,

I was on the Tivo support site and spotted this:

"...we are making way for a raft of exciting new features coming 1 December"

Does anyone have any information on what these features might be?

[petestrash]

You could have just looked though the Australian TiVo HD forum (http://forums.oztivo.net/forumdisplay.php?f=33) for recent posts ;).

TiVo Genie service starts Dec 1st (beta online now) (http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=2251).

Peter.

[Madimoo]

I think you'll find it's a bit more than just Genie.. ;)

[pepitovfr]

I hope its the YouTube access they promised at least a year ago ;)

[petestrash]

I think you'll find it's a bit more than just Genie.. ;)

Yes, but these are the only one's that we have been allowed to discuss so far ;)


I hope its the YouTube access they promised at least a year ago ;)

No, YouTube have denied Hybrids request for Australian access despite it being available in the US.

Peter.

[Darren King]

I'm sorry, but the "new feature" is a complete wank. Great for people that have fast broadband but for the rest of us it is worthless.

Basically for those that missed the Sunrise segment it is promoting "broadband on your TV" but the promotion was presented in Tasmania pushing - you guessed it - the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Great if you have that but to be brutually honest by the time the majority of Australia has NBN the TiVo will be a distant memory obsolete product.

Once again it is a product that was originally designed for USA being driven by a USA derived company that does not quite fit in Australia which at this point in time does not possess the connectivity for anyone outside the capital cities or those lucky enough to be on the NBN trial.

[petestrash]

A bit grumpy today Darren?

[Darren King]

No not really. While I understand that TiVo is a device capable of more than just recording FTA channels what annoys me is that the people pushing latest technology (and it is not just Hybrid at fault with this) assumes everyone has high speed broadband access which is clearly not the case in Australia.

On a personal example I can have at best a 1.5Mbps ADSL1 service and I am even in an outer suburb of Melbourne. Mind you because of a phone system that was mapped in the 1960's we are not in the Melbourne Metro area code, pay STD rates to call Melbourne CBD, and our Internet gets backhauled to a country town and therefore we are classed in a "Regional" area. But actually I consider myself very fortunate as a lot of residents here cannot even have that due to a very fast urban growth area and a very stretched copper phone network. I'm tipping that my locale is not unique either due to "urban growth".

What gets me going is when people like Robbee who sounds like an ex-USA resident used to fast internet access and due to her corporate involvement has probably had super fast broadband wherever she goes gets on TV and spruik how good this new service will be on what appears to be nothing more than an infomercial more geared to how great the NBN is rather than the online features TiVo can offer. Only problem is that the NBN is a trial for select residents in Tasmania and maybe I am getting cynical in my old age but I won't be holing my breath for any real "fast broadband" in my area or the majority of Australian households outside of the CBD or these "select" NBN install areas.

And articles like this don't help: http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/327647/tasmania_ramps_up_nbn_awareness?fp=16&fpid=1


“Many people do not understand what the NBN is – let alone the impact it will have in our own home,” Hybrid TV CEO, Robbee Minicola, said in a statement. “Our aim is to demystify what the NBN means, remove technological jargon from the equation and enable Australians to understand how a product such as a TiVo can be turbo-charged by an Internet speed up to 200 times faster than the average Internet connection.”

Or this: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/161338,tassie-fibre-testers-get-free-tivo.aspx


CEO of Hybrid TV, Robbee Minicola, told iTnews the company approached the Tasmanian Government to ask it if it could demonstrate the potential of fibre-connected homes versus copper-connected homes. "What we did was we met with the State Government and said 'you know what we'd like to do? We'd like to demonstrate how fibre-connected homes are different to copper-connected homes and how that increased speed in capacity will drive more services and entertainment into the television versus just the computer, which is typically where Australians are right now with broadband," Minicola said.

Yeah, great. For those that can get those speeds.

Don't get me wrong. TiVo and what it can offer is great and I am all for technology moving ahead. Just that Hybrid need to remember that Government spin on NBN is in overdrive for a network that is still yet to be rolled out - or even fully mapped and planned yet. And what services that may work great in the USA won't easily migrate (yet - now and the forseeable future) to suit everyone over here.

[petestrash]

TiVo has jumped on board with the Tasmanian Govt and NBN. It should give them some free publicity and I see this as nothing more.

But really all the features that TiVo are likely to have in the near future will work fine with your 1.5mbps connection.

The only issue may be with your monthly allowance, TiVo already has partnerships in place with some ISP's so their bandwidth is not counted. And if you have an ISP that does not count content from the various IX around the country chances are it would be free also.

TiVo cannot survive here purely by selling boxes alone. They need to sell service to make them financially viable. I have no problem with that as long as TiVo does the basic's it was designed for, for free.

How it is delivered and what bandwidth is available to individual users is out of TiVo's hands.

Peter.