All PVR

On Monday, Tivo announced that media planning company Starcom USA was its first customer of its subscription DVR ratings service called “TiVo Stop||Watch�?.

Clearly Tivo’s strength is in their level of detail about what users are watching.

Tivo says it can do “comprehensive second-by-second program and commercial ratings�? to get a better idea of what DVR users are actually doing. But in an AdWeek article, one media buyer says that second-by-second breakdown are “sort of overkill�? and that ads are not relevant for each and every second.

Another AdWeek quote:

“We think that’s a little more granular than our clients want,” a Nielsen representative said. (Nielsen is owned by Adweek parent, The Nielsen Company).

Tivo is definitely trying to take on Nielsen’s TV ratings service, and is differentiating itself by the granularlity and getting access to the viewing habits of coveted 4.5 million subscribers.

In December 2006, Nielsen announced that it was starting a rating service that would include +5 days, in order to capture DVR users who watch shows 5 days later. In January, Nielsen released its first DVR ratings, however it only has 60 DVR users, compared to Tivo’s random sample of 20,000 users.

The new service includes monthly reports of program and commercial viewership by a variety of categories including network, daypart, genre and pod position.

Tivo says that the data is collected from “daily, random, anonymous, stratified sample of 20,000 TiVo units.�? From there, ad agencies can extrapolate data for the estimated 15 million homes that own DVRs.

Tivo, DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, personal video recorder, Nielsen, TV, ratings, Stop watch

A bit of shocking news. AOL, the parent company of the Weblogs network, has decided to retire PVRWire on January 31st.

As a relative newcomer to the world of PVR/DVR blogging, I’m a bit shocked and saddened to hear that AOL doesn’t want to keep PVRWire open. I wonder what the “overlords” are thinking. Do they believe PVRs aren’t interesting anymore? Or are they planning on starting a brand new blog that encompasses other technologies along with PVRs/DVRs?

PVRWire has been around a long time and it will be sad to see it shut down.

As usual, I’ll keep you up-to-date not just on PVRWire, but about all things PVR/DVR.

Update: There’s a story at ValleyWag back on January 19th, that says AOL is shutting down a few blogs due to “budget cuts”.

“AOL is closing down a slew of smaller blogs it bought from entrepreneur-provocateur and Valleywag staple, Jason Calacanis, in 2005. The bulk of AOL’s ad revenues from its blog network, running at more than $1m a month according to Calacanis, come from a few star brands such as Engadget, Autoblog and Joystiq. They’re in traditional broad categories: consumer electronics, autos and video games. The Time Warner internet unit has told editors of smaller and unprofitable sites that they will be shuttered at the end of the month. So far, we’re hearing lesser-known titles such as BBHub, Divester, DV Guru and PVR Wire…”

And a comment at ValleyWag by Calacanis says:

“..my plan when running Weblogs Inc. was always to shut down blogs that were not at 1M pages a month (or on their way to 1M pages a month)…My guess is they would consolidate DVGuru and PVRWire into Engadget and EngadgetHD, BBHUB into EngadgetMobile, and Divester into Gadling.”

Apparently AOL is closing them down and merging them into other Weblogs properties.

I’ll keep looking into this story.

Why not take your video from your TV to the computer, says Mark Cuban in his blog.

Cuban is the owner of the HDNet channel which only has HD programming, and recently hired Dan Rather for a news show. He argues that using your DVR as a computer is the best way to go since the DVR already sorts, saves and shows TV programming.

He says DVR users should be able to subscribe to Internet content, like YouTube or Google videos, and have them delivered directly to the DVRs, so that people can watch content in high quality using their TVs.

But one DVR already does that. Currently Tivo has TivoCast, which delivers Internet content like Heavy, Cnet video, Rocketboom and New York Times video. It’s nice content, but my main complaint is: Not Enough Content! But there are two things wrong with TivoCast.

1. TivoCast content is not updated very often. Sometimes I notice that there hasn’t been new content in a few days. That’s way too long in Internet time. I’ve seen the same New York Times and Cnet videos on TiVoCast for the last few weeks.

2. Limited TivoCast content. There are limited choices for content. Other than Heavy, Cnet, RocketBoom and New York Times, I don’t subscribe to anything else. I need the freedom to pick my own content from the Internet. For example why not be able to watch YouTube videos? Heck, why not let me surf the Internet or check my e-mail?

I guess I’ll have build my own DVR if I want these added Internet features.

Tivo, DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, Mark Cuban, Tivocast

Are you looking forward to the Apple TV? Can’t wait to get your hands on the new Apple TV? Want to see it in action? Are you tired of my questions yet?

MacDailyNews posted a video (shown below) that gives you a nice virtual demo of Apple TV. You can see how to navigate around the menu, how to listen to music, watch movies, listen to podcasts and browse your digital photos. Check it out!

Bonus for reading this far: MacDailyNews also says that Apple TV is outselling iPods on the Apple store.

Since it’s Super Bowl time once again, it makes sense that everyone is talking about…advertising! Tivo announced yesterday that it had signed a deal with CBS to promote the Super Bowl and other CBS shows in a two week campaign.

Tivo calls this a “Gold Star Sponsorship” which will feature the ability to record the entire Monday night CBS line-up with a Season Pass. That’s a first, and it’s kind of cool, since you usually have to record every show individually.

(Think Tivo heard about how the Yankee Group thought it would be extinct in its current form by 2010? )

Tivo will embed interactive tags in programming, plus give CBS its commercial audience measurement to see how the TV viewers interact and record the TV programs.

“We know TiVo subscribers rewind, rather than fast-forward commercials, when watching the Super Bowl, and CBS is taking advantage of TiVo’s award-winning interactive advertising features to encourage this behavior,” said Davina Kent, Vice President, National Advertising Sales at TiVo, in a statement. “We are excited to help CBS take advantage of the popularity of the Super Bowl to drive viewers to exclusive content and ultimately schedule recordings of their
new programming.”

Last night when watching TV, I noticed that my Tivo was already displaying advertising on Tivo Central for the Super Bowl. Tivo offers up a short preview clip of a new CBS show called “Rules of Engagement” starring David Spade, as well as a clip of “Criminal Minds”.

Tivo, CBS, dvr, pvr, digital video recorder, personal video recorder, Super Bowl, advertising

David Zatz (of ZatzNotFunny) is raising money for the James Kim Memorial Fund, named after the CNET editor that tragically died in Oregon last year trying to help his family after being trapped in a snowstorm.

So David approached someone from Tivo and they agreed to raffle off a Tivo Toaster for everyone that sends in $10 to David through January 31st. The toaster, is well, an actual toaster that forms the image of the Tivo logo on a side of bread. From ZatzNotFunny:

Each entry will receive a number and the winning entry will be randomly selected. I will pick up the cost of the TiVo Toaster and all PayPal fees. At the conclusion of the raffle, I will send a check to CNET for the total amount donated plus ZNF’s Google Adsense income for the month of December.

As a subscriber and fan of CNet’s TivoCast, I often saw James Kim reviewing products on my Tivo, and was saddened to hear of his death.

If you’re not interested in the charity raffle, you can donate directly to the James Kim Memorial Fund. Donations for Kim’s two daughters are also available through a college savings accounts.

Photo Link: Check out PVRWire’s pictures of the Tivo Toaster with bread!

NewsChannel 9 in Syracuse (New York) posted a story that said Time Warner had no more HD DVR boxes for customers. Apparently, there’s a shortage of HD DVRs because the company that makes the boxes have been “overwhelmed by requests for them”. Time Warner says that new boxes should arrive in two to three weeks.

NewsChannel 9 says that customers can still watch TV shows–like the upcoming Super Bowl–in HD because they have “plenty of regular high-definition boxes, without the DVR capabilities.”

I believe there are four reasons for this: 1) Super Bowl Sunday 2) a deluge of new HDTV sets purchased during the the holiday season, 3) the increasing popularity of DVRs and 4) the high price of the Tivo Series 3 HD DVR.

Customers that have a choice of HD cable boxes, prefer those with a DVR. That makes sense. Why not upgrade to a DVR after shelling out over $1,000 on a fancy new HDTV?

But buying a Tivo Series 3 for $800 (plus additional monthly fees) is out of the question.

So people want a Tivo but settle for their cable or satellite HD DVR. Something’s gotta give!

Bonus Story: The MercuryNews.com’s Action Line investigative report says readers are frustrated by Comcast’s DVR.

Bonus Story #2: TV Predictions wrote a story that North Carolina Time Warner is running out of HD cable tuners. The story didn’t mention DVRs, however.

ReplayTV announced a deal for its ReplayTV PC Edition, its newly released DVR software (sorry Macs, PC only). Originally $99.99, ReplayTV is offering the software for 20% by February 27th. Simply use the coupon code RTVJAN0720 at checkout.

The bad news? You must pay an annual fee of $19.95 for the electronic program guide service (the first year is included in the price). Doesn’t that seem kind of lame? Especially when you can get rival software, like BeyondTV without the annual fee.

It also comes with a 30-day free trial, if you’d just like to sample it before buying.

And if you need a tuner card, there’s also a rebate for $20 from Hauppauge–the WinTV-PVR 150 or WinTV-PVR USB2. Just buy either model by January 31st and get a $20 rebate direct from Hauppauge.

If you just bought a new HDTV this holiday season, you may be in the market for an HD DVR. After all, you probably want to record what you watch, especially in HD format.

But is it better to do-it-yourself and build your own HD DVR or suck it up and buy a Tivo Series 3 DVR for $800? Tim Coyle compares the two. He prices out a DIY system from Dell for $700, which is pretty comparable to Tivo.

He also lists out the Advantages and Disadvantages to buying vs. building. His conclusion? Build it yourself, since you can upgrade and fine-tune your own DVR.

Tivo, DIY, DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, personal video recorder

DVRPlayground reviewed the Pinnacle PCTV To Go and said the remote control interface was “unfinished” and that it needs support for more devices using the IR Blaster.

Shawn Kent wrote a pretty detailed article about his quest to build his own DVR. He describes all the prices, has great links and plenty of pictures. So if you’re interested in (or are thinking about) building your own DVR, this is yet another great take.

He uses an old Pentium 3 computer, a 250 GB hard drive, a DVD-RW drive, Windows XP and Beyond TV.

Overall, he said he spent $800, which is kind of pricey. But then again he won’t have to pay monthly fees, like with cable or Tivo, so it can pay for itself after a few months. Still, $800 for a Series 3 Tivo will give lots more space and HD capability.

Tivo, DIY, DVR, PVR, digital video recorder, personal video recoder, BeyondTV

Looking for an HD DVR with lots of storage? DVRUpgrade is selling the Tivo Series 3, with an upgraded hard drive. It’s the largest capacity I’ve seen: 98-hours of HD recording and over 900 hours of standard recording.

That’s three times what Tivo gets you for just $500 more. Tivo’s storage is just 300 hours of standard TV and 32 hours of HD.

Plus, if you already bought a Series 3, DVR Upgrade sells upgrade kits. DVRUpgrade is in the business of selling upgraded Tivos and other DVRs. For this monster, DVRUpgrade installs a Seagate DB35 750GB hard drive. And it comes with DVRUpgrade’s warranty.

Some other options are a 32-hour ($699), 51-hour ($899), 65-hours ($1,149) and the big one, 98 hours.

But I wonder…Is 98 hours of HD content enough?

The Yankee Group released a report saying that the “standalone DVR product category will cease to exist by 2010, and its dissolution will result in the end of TiVo as we know it.”

Although 2010 is just a few years away, it is conceivable. I believe that Tivo will switch from a subscription-based model, into an advertising revenue model. It’s inevitable. Tivo subscriptions are slowing, despite the popularity of DVRs.

Tivo Must Differentiate Itself.

Currently, Tivo’s advantage in the marketplace is its brand. In recent months, Tivo has run advertising to ensure that people know what a Tivo is and to accept no substitutes. That’s pretty tough work, when anyone with a few hundred dollars can build their own out of a spare computer.

But will stand-alone DVRs, as the Yankee Group reports, cease to exist? DVRs are popular today, in some part, but hasn’t reached mainstream acceptance. Many people I talk to, still have no idea what a DVR or Tivo is. Or they don’t own one. Simply put, DVRs offers just one functionality, and they must be more than DVRs and more like a media center.

I see DVRs morphing into media centers, that can play DVDs, connects to your cable or satellite provider and where you can watch photos and listen to your music library. I’m tired of having a separate cable box, DVD player, and DVR. I want an all-in-one device!

Already DVRs are becoming commonplace and Tivo is not the only option anymore. Customers can choose from a wide variety of DVRs–from their cable/satellite provider, non-Tivo standalone models, and PC-based DVRs. They all do the same thing: record TV shows, pause, rewind and store your media. Can Tivo provide something else?

Most people love the Tivo user interface which is a strong market advantage. That’s why it’s trying to build its brand even more. If customers clamor for the UI or features (Season Pass, Thumbs Up/Down), then Tivo can succeed. Witness the deal announced during CES, where Tivo will provide software for Comcast’s DVR. This can be Tivo’s future.

Tivo Must Switch To An Advertising Business Model.

Perhaps this is a shock to some people but Tivo is an advertising company more than a DVR. It serves up ads on its main menu, within TV commercials and by delivering advertising content from partners. Tivo also tracks what people watch, when they watch it and if they rewind–in aggregate form, of course. That’s a goldmine for advertising.

Now that the 30-second commercial is nearing the end of its usefulness, Tivo must capitalize on new forms of advertising. The Yankee Group report says that the future of DVR technology includes “time relevant advertising, location relevant advertising, ad telescoping, product placement and interactive advertisements.”

Don’t forget, Microsoft filed a patent last month, for changing advertising on saved DVR programs. That way, it can switch old advertisements for newer, more relevant ones. Tivo should step up R&D on how to maximize advertising revenues for the next version of Tivo.

If Tivo wants to survive, it must change.

Tivo, DVR , PVR, digital video recorder, personal video recorder, HTPC

Gear Live has a fascinating video of the TivoToGo software for the Mac that was being demonstrated at CES.

Andru Edwards asks the questions on the CES expo floor.

Some of the screen shots are hard to see since it isn’t close-up, but it’s a great way to experience TivoToGo before you buy it.

tivo, roxio, toast, pvr, dvr, digital video recorder, CES, CES 2007

SageTV announced on Thursday that it has released the SageTV Media Center Version 6 for Linspire Linux desktops, which comes with PVR functions.

“SageTV Media Center for Linspire and Freespire users broadens our support for desktop Linux and extends our reach into the rapidly growing desktop Linux market for the first time,” said SageTV CEO Mike Machado, in a statement. “This is a strong partnership that gives users access to an affordable, full-featured PVR, online video, music and photo solution for all their TVs and PCs at home and as well as away from home.”

The SageTV software (version 6) is available for download for $79.95, or with the Placeshifter for $99.95.

It comes with an electronic program guide (for U.S., Canada and Europe), and the ability to view video, photos and play music. SageTV can also place-shift, for viewing TV shows from any Internet-connected computer.

Also available is the $109.95 wired Media Extender as well as $159.95 for the wireless Media Extender.