All PVR

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.

Today at the CES 2007 show in Las Vegas, Tivo made a number of announcements. Some details:

Tivo partners With Comcast. The two companies announced that Tivo software will be available on Comcast DVRs for an additional fee. And better yet, no need to give up a day of work waiting for the cable guy to visit—the software can be deployed directly to the Comcast set-top boxes. But is the additional fee really worth all the Tivo features? Or will people be happy with Comcast’s existing DVR software? That’s the true question and if lots of people sign up, that’s a definite win for Tivo.

Tivo Teams with Roxio for Mac TivoToGo. Well, ok, it’s about time. But the real story is why team with Roxio? Is Tivo just giving up on providing extending functionality of its Tivo service? Or is this a cost-saving measure? It’s difficult to tell. Tivo Series 2 users must use Roxio’s Toast 8 Titanium which costs an additional $99.99!

Tivo Signs Deal with Music Choice to Deliver Music Videos. I hope that means you can watch any music video, at any time at all. That’d be like having a video jukebox at your disposal. I like to listen to Music Choice music stations on my cable, but watching is definitely an upgrade. Tivo users should expect to see Music Choice later this year.

Tivo Teams with RealNetworks’ Rhapsody Music Service. Tivo users will be able to over 3 million songs on demand right from TiVo .Series 2 Tivo’s already have the availability of podcasts and Live365 Internet radio stations. This is a nice step for Real, which is having a hard time gaining traction in the online music market compared to iTunes.

[Bonus Link: Story about the long road to the Mac TivoToGo.]

Walter Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about high-definition television and using a high-definition compatible DVR. He says that Tivo’s Series 3 HD box is very expensive (about $800 plus $12.95 monthly fee). But Comcast’s HD DVR doesn’t have all the features of Tivo. So what should you get?

Mossberg writes:

I’ve been testing the new TiVo and I like it a lot, but it’s hard to swallow that huge price, especially since the new Series3 model doesn’t include some nice features available on the much cheaper Series2 version, which doesn’t record in high definition.

He goes on to say that Comcat’s high-definition DVR is “just awful�?.

If cable boxes were sold at retail like consumer-electronics devices, the Comcast DVR I tested, built by Motorola, would get creamed by better competitors.

Mossberg says the user interface in Comast’s DVR isn’t as good as Tivos, plus notes that there’s a latency issue when issuing commands from the remote control.

He sums it up by saying “The Comcast high-definition DVR is a cheaper, but flawed product and the TiVo Series3 is an excellent, but overpriced one.�?

Bonus: See Mossberg’s video as he compares Tivo vs. Comcast’s DVR.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune gives a short but interesting overview of all the different options you have for getting a DVR. Steve Woodward writes that although Tivo is the “gold standard�? for DVRs, it isn’t the only show in town. Companies are now offering consumers excellent alternatives to Tivo such as:

Cable TV: (Like Comcast). These are great ways of getting introduced to DVRs since they have many of the same features as Tivo.

Satellite TV: (Like DirecTV). Another great option, but they don’t offer advanced features such as TivoToGo.

Freestanding DVRs: (Manufacturers like Panasonic, Toshiba, Sony and Phillips). The main differences will be the user-interface, and the electronic program guides. But oftentimes these freestanding devices come with extras like a DVD recorder for archiving shows. They can be more expensive, however, than other options.

PCs with DVR software: (Like Windows Media Center).Although a great feature, it’s not going to be popular for those not willing to use a PC as their method of watching TV. Great for geeks and other technies, however.

And the last one he mentions are DVR-capable TVs . These are TVs that can connect directly to external hard drives so you avoid buying a separate box altogether. They use the fancy new CableCARDs, as well. I’m not sure how handy these might be since they will likely not have an easy-to-use interface and you’ll still need to connect a hard drive close to the TV. But it’s still technology to keep an eye on.

Yet another category are the build your own or DIY personal video recorders, such as those powered by MythTV open source software. Anyone can now use a spare computer and build their own PC-based PVR, or buy a pre-built one such as the Monolith using MythTV.

Again, this is best for techies that are comfortable tinkering with PCs and Linux, but it’s yet another way people are looking for an all-in-one digital media experience with no monthly Tivo service fees.

Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that he has a love/hate relationship with his Comcast DVR. Why? For starters, it failed to record TV shows and claimed to be 100% full when it really wasn’t.

According to complaints that Owen received from readers is that shows are not recording consistently, not recording a show all the way, sluggish responses to commands using the remote, recording every episode of a series rather than just new ones, and well, lots more.

Owen says Comcast’s DVR is still very new and is experiencing these annoying hiccups which angers viewers. The response from Comcast?

“Tens of thousands of Comcast customers in the Pittsburgh area are currently enjoying their DVR services,” wrote Jody Doherty, vice president of public relations and community affairs for Comcast’s Three Rivers Region systems, in an e-mail. “With the ability to record shows and watch them whenever they want, DVR is quickly becoming one of our most popular product offerings. The issues the Post-Gazette has raised are isolated incidents. We are happy to reach out to the customers who contacted the Post-Gazette to address their individual needs.”

Where I live, I have Comcast, but they don’t offer a DVR. I would have liked to try Comcast’s DVR, but I guess I may have to wait.

If Comcast is serious about being a DVR contender, it must fix these problems and placate their customers quickly. It’s very easy to defect to more mature technologies like Tivo or satellite PVRs.