Wednesday, October 6, 2004
New TiVo Unit Competition Heats Up
Posted by James Fee in "HARDWARE" @ 04:00 PM
"When it comes to the whole digital video recorder revolution, I'm actually old school--vintage, even. As I mentioned in a previous column, I have the very first TiVo model, the original 10-hour version, built circa 1999, which I upgraded with a second 80GB hard drive a few years ago. I haven't felt the need to step up to a Series2 for a couple of reasons. For starters, I wanted to get the most out of my "lifetime" TiVo subscription, which is good only for the box it's assigned to. And secondly, the product I really want--at the price I want--hasn't hit stores yet.
It is getting closer, though. What I want is a modestly priced 80-hour TiVo (or ReplayTV) unit with a built-in DVD recorder that allows you to easily make hard copies of shows you've recorded on the hard drive. Now that prices for recordable DVD media have plummeted, you can make your own DVDs for less than 50 cents apiece--an appealing concept, especially for parents looking to save some bucks by not buying those Nickelodeon and Disney-type DVDs for their young kids."
Could this be the year TiVo finally breaks out? With cable and satellite providers using their own solutions, TiVo is focusing on DVD recording solutions. I can't imagine these being really successful unless the price is low enough, but that was always the problem for TiVo when they first released their product a couple years ago.
It is getting closer, though. What I want is a modestly priced 80-hour TiVo (or ReplayTV) unit with a built-in DVD recorder that allows you to easily make hard copies of shows you've recorded on the hard drive. Now that prices for recordable DVD media have plummeted, you can make your own DVDs for less than 50 cents apiece--an appealing concept, especially for parents looking to save some bucks by not buying those Nickelodeon and Disney-type DVDs for their young kids."
Could this be the year TiVo finally breaks out? With cable and satellite providers using their own solutions, TiVo is focusing on DVD recording solutions. I can't imagine these being really successful unless the price is low enough, but that was always the problem for TiVo when they first released their product a couple years ago.
