Interview with SONICblue's CEO

An anonymous reader writes "itvt.com has an interview with the current CEO of SONICblue Greg Ballard where he fields questions on subjects including: the future of the DVR, the current litigation with Hollywood and how he sees ReplayTV PVR stacking up against Tivo this upcoming holiday season."

Microsoft?

[Trusty Penfold]

My question to Greg Ballard would have been; how do you keep you work as CEO of Sonicblue and CEO of Microsoft seperate? It is becoming increasingly dangerous for an independent company to be associated with Microsoft since the anti-trust laws that Microsoft broke also extend to partners.

Replay vs. TiVo?

[FortKnox]

how he sees ReplayTV PVR stacking up against Tivo this upcoming holiday season

The only way ReplayTV can get a heads up over TiVo is to sell the software to digital cable companies to use it in their cable boxes.
TiVo has a bigger following, and a partnership with DirecTV. It just has a foothold over all other DVRs.

Re:Replay vs. TiVo?

[crow]

TiVo has the advantage of having better name recognition. Most of the numerical advantage TiVo has is due to their integration with satellite receivers. If you only look at the stand-alone units, TiVo and ReplayTV are much closer.

The real issue is advertising. The one message they've gotten out to consumers is "pause live TV." That's nice, but not something you pay hundreds of dollars for. Automatically skipping commercials is probably a better message, and one that TiVo won't have.

Ballard of 3dfx fame?

[/ASCII]

Is this the same Greg Ballard who used to be the CEO of 3dfx [fool.com]?
If so, isn't it the consensus that bad management drove 3dfx to the ground?

Re:There's one thing I want a DVR to do

[dabadab]

I may be totally off on the situation, but is seems to me that a T connector to which both the Tivo and your TV can connect would do it.

Near-baseless hatred of SonicBlue

[skryche]

"SONICBlue"

It's so meaningless and marketroid I can't stand it. Vague reference to music ("Sonic"), hip, yet relaxing color ("Blue"). You know there was a focus group involved. Not to mention the mixed CAPSlowercase. It sounds like a DRM technology company like LiquidAudio or some dead dot-com.

"Tivo" is much more cuddly.

Re:Replay vs. TiVo?

[danielobvt]

Take a look at the major investors in Tivo. This option will never be available from Tivo. However, it does make them on heck of a less likely target for lawsuits.

poor interview.. questions missing

[ayeco]

No questions about HDTV? what gives?