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Technology Entertainment

Intel and Tivo Partner Up 119

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the viiva-la-tivo dept.
yapplejax writes "Intel and Tivo are partnering on a PC platform in hopes to standardize the platform. From the Associated Press: 'The goal of the Viiv label, he said, is to avoid consumer confusion and questions over interoperability. It also will ensure the products will work when the PC is being controlled from a distance via a remote control.'"
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Intel and Tivo Partner Up More

Intel and Tivo Partner Up

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  • What about Apple? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by CyricZ ( 887944 )
    What about the rumours that Intel-based Mac Minis, possibly available as early as January, will offer similar capabilities?

    • Re:What about Apple? (Score:5, Informative)

      by eshefer ( 12336 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:59PM (#14149347) Homepage Journal
      intel is not talking about that for obvious reasons (obvious to anyone who follows apple, annyway)

      actually the article disscusses this, or in other words..

      you didn't RTFA! nya nya nya!

      "Corbett declined to comment on whether Apple Computer Inc. is participating in Viiv. Earlier this year, Apple announced that it would start using Intel microprocessors in its Macintosh computers, and it also has released entertainment PC-like software for its latest iMacs."

      that was a direct quote from the article you didn't bother to read, for shame!
      • Why on earth would he RTFA? It would only deny him an opportunity to get the article's first reply!

      • Duh (Score:1)

        by SFalcon ( 809084 )
        There's no time to RTFA when you're in a race for the first post! You know this.

      • Re:What about Apple? (Score:2, Informative)

        by doughrama ( 172715 )
        Well, I certainly feel a little sheepish as I didn't RTFA. But I just read the one over at wired.com.

        "Viiv owners will be able to put their PCs in a standby state with the press of a button and reawaken it instantly the same way."

        Didn't Apple just purchase or sign agreements to purchase an insane amount Flash memory? So much that it seemed obvious that it was going to be used for something other than iPods. And wasn't the speculation that it would be used for instant or virtually instant on PC's?

        Beyond that

    • Re:What about Apple? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by doughrama ( 172715 )
      Are you possibly suggesting a Tivo/Intel/Apple partnership? Or just that Intel may be hedging their bets by working with both Apple and Tivo... Or something altogether different.

      I think a Tivo/Intel/Apple partnership plausible, though unlikely. Apple doesn't gain much by partnering with Tivo, in fact I think Apple loses by partnering with Tivo.

      Intel of course wins either way, both companies still need chips etc...

      Tivo is obviously in trouble, might they be trying to pretty themselves up for a buyout from Ap
      • "Apple doesn't need Tivo, but Apple might need to keep Tivo away from a competitor."

        and that my friend, is the reason your post should get +5 insightfull.

        this is an interesting point most people don't see with regards to the apple-tivo rumors.

        however, looking at past apple aquisitions, this is NOT a tactic apple uses (it's more microsofts style) - of all the aquisitions apple made that I know of the've all been to gain a software or hardware technology they wanted for products FAST - for example, they didn'

  • The future as I'd want it (early adopter) (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dada21 ( 163177 ) * <adam.dada@gmail.com> on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:48PM (#14149215) Homepage Journal
    Tivo is in a world of hurt, from what I can tell. As one of the first Tivo users, my Tivo units just sit in the closet for the past few years.

    Everything I see is pointing to the fact that people want on demand video more and more. The Pirate Bay's top downloads are consistently TV shows! Maybe it is because these shows are not available in Europe? Either way, people want TV when they want it, and they're willing to wait for a download of a show with no commercials and no price.

    The profitability for a video provider is taking that 12-72 hour free download and turn it into a fast (real time?) download for the consumer when they want it. I'm not sure how we'll see this happen in the far future, but in the near future, it could just be On Demand from Comcast (which is actually pretty amazing) or Microsoft IPTV style downloads.

    Tivo is wise to try to connect with Intel on selling their name as the "Video as you want it when you want it" brand. As an early adopter in almost everything, I can tell you my biggest complaints about Tv shows and movies are the following:

    1. If I download a show, it is always in a codec that I can't view easily. AVC doesn't run well on any of my platforms (I mostly have 1.8Ghz P4s). XViD seems better, but I get odd pixelization on occasion. Intel has the power to combine with Tivo and offer a codec that is specific to their hardware platform, whereas illegal torrents aren't really targetted at anyone. I would gladly pay for that consistency. So would most adults.

    2. I want it quick. Yesterday I had to redownload Quicktime and I was watching the download at aroun 850K/s. That's damn fast (I'm testing a new broadband provider right now). My neighbor's comcast cable was getting consistent 400K/s downloads. BitTorrent and other P2P systems halt at about 50K for me (with and without NAT). If I want to download a file, I want it near real time or faster.

    3. I want to be able to pause, fast forward and rewind. I'm sick of getting movies that I have to re-encode beause someone screwed up and prevented me from skipping data.

    4. I want it to look good at 720p and 1080i. There is nothing worse that trying to watch cable at 110" and seeing crap. I can watch DVDs from 6 years ago upcoverted to 1080i and they look great. There is no reason for bad quality images, even at reduced resolutions.

    5. I want to be able to store it for the future or be able to redownload it at a cheaper price.

    6. Rather that reconverting my shows for various watching formats (PDA, SDTV, HDTV or whatever) I should just have the option of redownloading it. I am currently converting an AVC to WMV for my PDA and it seriously says it will take 90 hours. Ouch.

    7. I should be able to select my price to pay versus what I am willing to give up. In some situations I wouldn't mind paying less and be forced to watch ads. In other cases, I don't mind reporting what I fast forwarded past and rewound to review. It depends on what it is. I'd love to be able to say "I'll pay full price if I can keep it forever, never watch an ad, pause it as I'd like and rewind all I want" and also say "I'll pay zero but I will accept not being able to skip ads."

    My fear is that Intel's VIIV and Microsoft's MCE are both looking to try to capitulate to a dying industry. I use Microsoft's MCE and absolutely love it but I won't upgrade to the latest patches that involve DRM. I am not against DRM, but I am against DRM that doesn't offer something to the end user.

    Once a consumer tastes the sweetness of a new feature (even if illegal), there is NO way to back out of it. Instead, the market has been permanently changed and the suppliers need to modify their product to offer what the consumer is looking for.

    • Re:The future as I'd want it (early adopter) (Score:5, Interesting)

      by b0r1s ( 170449 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:52PM (#14149264) Homepage

      Everything I see is pointing to the fact that people want on demand video more and more


      This move is just yet another step in the line towards TV-over-IP. The big providers are already lining up, and the startups are hoping onboard. Guys like ManiaTV [maniatv.com] are going for the traditional route (centalized programming), while Vobbo [vobbo.com] and others are starting to look towards the amateur video broadcasting (public access TV for the internet - even easier, when you don't need a studio, just a webcam).

      The big players will roll out their offerings in the next year or so, I believe. You'll start seeing 'interactive tv' first, until the ball starts rolling...

      • Re:The future as I'd want it (early adopter) (Score:4, Interesting)

        by dada21 ( 163177 ) * <adam.dada@gmail.com> on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:58PM (#14149343) Homepage Journal
        I agree, and I think it will be a very bright and intersting future for smaller producers as well. I'm thinking of doing a video-style podcast shortly, in fact.

        For me, the big "scare" for any mass market video or audio producer is the idea of massively available wireless broadband. For an anarchocapitalist such as myself, it is the opposite: not a scare in the least. The availability of information when we want it without being tied to our home or our business will really increase the destruction of the highly regulated and mercantilistic market that we cann the mass media.
      • This move is just yet another step in the line towards TV-over-IP. The big providers are already lining up, and the startups are hoping onboard.

        I agree but can the Internet and ISPs handle the bandwidth load? They already cap bandwidth for some customers. Some ISPs offer different levels of DSL.

        So when will TV-over-IP be affordable and at an acceptable quality for the average consumer?
        • My ISP currently gives me 2Mb/s downloads with a 30GB/month cap. Next year this will be 10Mb/s with a 75GB/month cap. Now, it's just about fast enough for video, if you've got a decent server. Grabbing video from the ISP's mirrors of popular content can be done in realtime. Next year it will be more than adequate. The other end of the scale is a different matter - the download server is going to need a few hundred to a few thousand times the bandwidth each user has - at the very least - in order to be
          • What happens when *most* of your ISP's customers really start using the bandwidth up to the limitations. I suspect the ISPs are going to have to rething pricing and policies ... or both.

            I do agree that the content providers on the other end are going to have a rude awakening unless they start embracing some other distribution methods (i.e. torrents).

            • This year they have been doing serious upgrading work to their network. Next year, they are moving everyone to 10Mbit (currently they offer 1-3Mbit), and changing their pricing model to charge people based on usage, rather than maximum speed. I think that their new pricing model is quite sensible...
    • Tivo is in a world of hurt, from what I can tell. As one of the first Tivo users, my Tivo units just sit in the closet for the past few years.

      I could see in the past year or so but not before that. My DirecTivo works just fine (and is inexpensive) as I (would normally) pay for it as part of my service. I think it's $5/mo? Their recent mistakes have caused me to leave the standalone Tivo boxes and not recommend them to my parents but that doesn't mean they should sit in the closet if you already have one.
      • Then you are misconfigured at your router or you have some other problem. I routinely have torrents hitting my bandwidth limits. Especially ones with a lot of people on them (recent concert releases, etc).

        Bittorrent generally gives you the a dowload rate proportional to your upload rate. If your upload rate. If you are on an asymmetric connection, you might not saturate your downstream.

        The second problem is that if you don't throttle your uploads slightly, they will saturate your upstream pipe and th

        • Bittorrent generally gives you the a dowload rate proportional to your upload rate. If your upload rate. If you are on an asymmetric connection, you might not saturate your downstream.

          It gives you a percentage of your upstream. If you're giving 0kB/s it's likely you won't get anything downstream (thus the misconfigured router statement). I routinely limit my upstream to 15 to 20kB/s and max my downstream.
    • it could just be On Demand from Comcast
       
      On Demand is about 2.5 mbps

    • Fight You to Keep My TiVO (Score:5, Interesting)

      by queenb**ch ( 446380 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:23PM (#14149529) Homepage Journal
      1. Frankly, I love my TiVO. I can watch MORE TV with it since I can skip the commercials. If you know the right things to push on the remote, you don't have to watch the ads. A "60" minute show becomes something more like 40 real minutes of programming. That means that in the same 2 hour time period, I can watch 3 shows instead of two.

      2. Codecs really aren't a problem for my TiVO. If there's a show or movie coming on, I can TiVO and watch it at my leisure any time later. I even have the option to burn it to DVD, complete with the ever-so-user friendly TiVO interface.

      3. While I am dependent on what is offered, I have sattelite and have such a wide selection of channels, I don't really feel the need for "on demand" anything.

      4. Your problems with resolution, pause/fast forward, and speed aren't one of my issues. My TiVo encodes everything perfectly and it manages to do most of its work either while I'm at work or asleep.

      5. My ISP recently upgraded our service. We now have a 7MB/sec connection complete with fiber coming into our home. Our price for this - $36/month. We have plenty of bandwidth to download anything we want. Again, with 500+ channels to choose from and a TiVO to catch whatever I want whenever it's shown, I don't really feel the need for it.

      6. I would like to be able to take the things I TiVO and load them on to my laptop. TiVO says that the hold up on this is not them, not technology, but the MPAA. Given that, I doubt you'll be seeing this any time soon from anyone. It would certainly make for a more intersting commute to and from work.

      7. I agree that you should be able to balance price vs. features to what ever you are comfortable with, can afford, etc.

      If this joint venture with Intel can make the thing I've come to adore better, than I'm all for it. If they're looking to add a bunch more DRM crap to my TiVO, I'm going to be fighting mad.

      2 cents,

      Queen B
      • " I can watch MORE TV with it since I can skip the commercials. "

        exactly the kind of viewer they don't give a crap about.
        It'sd like saying "I go to resurant X because ther soda is free." If all you do is drink the free soda, they really don't want your ass there.

        also, they make TiVo with DVD burners. So I doubt the hold up is the MPAA.

        TiVo can only record what goes through your TV, it can't find stuff that isn't broadcast. So no downloaded shows for TiVo.

        • exactly the kind of viewer they don't give a crap about.
          It'sd like saying "I go to resurant X because ther soda is free." If all you do is drink the free soda, they really don't want your ass there.

          That's not really an accurate analysis. You imply that the GP is getting something for nothing, in this case free tv with no commercials. In reality, it's not free TV. For example, say you are a directv subscriber who has a tivo: you are paying both directv and tivo (by proxy) to use the service. This i

      • 6. I would like to be able to take the things I TiVO and load them on to my laptop. TiVO says that the hold up on this is not them, not technology, but the MPAA. Given that, I doubt you'll be seeing this any time soon from anyone. It would certainly make for a more intersting commute to and from work.

        While I've not personally tried it, I'm pretty sure there are scripts for MythTV that allow for a recorded show to be converted into other video formats. While I'm sure it's not nearly as easy to set up as Ti

      • 6. I would like to be able to take the things I TiVO and load them on to my laptop. TiVO says that the hold up on this is not them, not technology, but the MPAA. Given that, I doubt you'll be seeing this any time soon from anyone. It would certainly make for a more intersting commute to and from work.

        Can't really tell if you have a stand alone TiVo or not, but if you do what is stopping you from loading this on your laptop? As long as you have Tivo Desktop 2.x, the proper codecs, and you set your media acc

      • I can watch MORE TV with it since I can skip the commercials. If you know the right things to push on the remote, you don't have to watch the ads.

        Last time I tested a Tivo there was no 30 second skip ahead, or 20 second skip back function available without a hack. Is this still the case? My mother isn't going to hack anything. I'm still looking for an out of the box component that she can us that will let her easily skip commercials.

        Codecs really aren't a problem for my TiVO. If there's a show or movie

        • Last time I tested a Tivo there was no 30 second skip ahead, or 20 second skip back function available without a hack. Is this still the case? My mother isn't going to hack anything. I'm still looking for an out of the box component that she can us that will let her easily skip commercials

          There is an undocumented 30 second skip, but I don't use it myself, and I don't remember off the top of my head how to do it. I usually just FF past the commercials, and Tivo's FF is much faster than ye olde VCR's, and ju

    • Re:The future as I'd want it (early adopter) (Score:4, Insightful)

      by petsounds ( 593538 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:37PM (#14149642)
      Tivo is in a world of hurt, from what I can tell. As one of the first Tivo users, my Tivo units just sit in the closet for the past few years.

      TiVo is in a world of hurt, but it's not because of some groundswell of demand for IP TV. They just couldn't hold onto their market. Their software is still better than anyone else's, but that doesn't always matter (betamax). I use TiVo with DirecTV every day, and why not? It's superb at what it does. I don't watch videos on my PC; I watch them on my TV. I also have little desire to watch video on a portable format. Video podcasting would probably be the only thing worth watching in that format.

      I have downloaded video content and watched it via Xbox Media Center, but you know what? It's a pain in the ass. Nothing is streamlined or automated, there's no subscription features, and you never know what quality level you'll get. So, I agree that a better content distribution network should be in place, and I should be able to download a show from any channel/country I want without having to pay some premium for a channel subscription. However, I don't think the bell tolls for TiVo because of IP TV. I think most of America wouldn't even understand what the hell you're talking about.

      The basic problem is though, it seems that the movie industry has turned out to be more greedy than the record labels. They don't want to get tied into an iTunes kind of deal where they feel like they have no bargaining power. But the fracturing of video content that we're already seeing, with various movie studios making deals with different "video-on-demand" services, is going to really impede any kind of progress in the short term. Add to that the fact that IP TV would totally change the face of cable television, and I just don't see anything like what you want happening (soon). There are far more entrenched interests in the world of video than the world of records.
      • Nevermind Tivo. PVR is old news. Software control of DVD jukeboxes is close at hand. When this happens you will have easy and cheap access to 10's of terrabytes of video content. Nevermind cable, you'll be able to have your own custom TV station. Just spend what you would on cable on DVD's.

                Buy used and out of walmart bargain bins and you can have more legimate content than you will know what to do with.
    • I think a cool idea is to have the commercial come on and have a little thing on the side that says pay $0.25 to skip these commercials. That way, you could start out free, but toward the end when things are getting really tight, you click and pay to skip the commercial. You can watch the commercials at the beginning when you aren't so attached (and pay for part of the show through ads), and then you wont get killed when they break for commercials at the climax of the show. That's what kills me, is the comm

  • "Viiv" rhymes with "five". (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CyricZ ( 887944 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:50PM (#14149234)
    For those wondering how to pronounce "Viiv", the article states that it rhymes with "five".

    I can see that name causing much confusion. Imagine a granny at an electronics boutique asking how much one of these "Veevee" systems costs. The salespeople may very well not understand what she's asking about.

    • I guess you've never worked retail. You learn to speak "customer" pretty quick. All you have to do is forget everything you know about what you're selling and you're on the same boat they are.
      • That's okay, most places that sell shit like that (for example, circuit shitty or worst buy) hire salesdroids who don't care enough to learn jack shit about anything they're selling anyway. I don't know how many times I've gone to a place like that and had to explan to employees what certain connections are called on the backs of TVs.
    • Now that you have cleared that up, how do you pronounce 'Zndovzny?'

      /. minds think alike (see my post below)
    • For those wondering how to pronounce "Viiv", the article states that it rhymes with "five". I can see that name causing much confusion. Imagine a granny at an electronics boutique asking how much one of these "Veevee" systems costs. The salespeople may very well not understand what she's asking about

      I'll bet you are to young to remember when Nike first hit the market?
      • Actually, I was probably about 45 or so when Nike started getting big.

        Indeed, there was much confusion regarding their name. That's why it's usually pronounced like "Neyekee" in America, while in Britain (where I am) we pronounce it as if it rhymes with "Like".

  • But, but, but... (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by eno2001 ( 527078 )
    ...what about Microsoft? Microsoft and Intel have done soooo much to make the PC a standard already. How much more standard can you get without being fascists like Apple?
    • Read the article where it says:

      All will run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Center operating system
      • You actually chose that Slashdot UID of your own free will? ;P

        OK. Time to change my tune [record selector arm drops a new 45]. But, but, but... wasn't Tivo a Linux company or something? What happened? Are they going to turn their backs on their alliance with the Linux corporation and stab them in the back by joining with Microsoft and Intel???? What's going to happen to all the open source stuff that Tivo was making like MythTV and Freevo? Oh woe is me!!!

  • I will never give up my Shuttle/SageTv combination because I have no monthly fees and it works the way I want it to. There's a huge community support and it's more powerful than a Tivo. Lose the monthly fees Tivo and work with Intel to make transferring media to/from it easier. When you've done that, maybe I'll give it the time of day.

    gasmonso http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]

  • Standardized DRM? (Score:3, Informative)

    by CyricZ ( 887944 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:52PM (#14149267)
    Is this more just an effort to create a standardized DRM platform?

    Indeed, the financial benefits for both TiVo and Intel could be significant, especially if the entertainment industry gets on board.

    • Re:Standardized DRM? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by OzPhIsH ( 560038 )
      Is this more just an effort to create a standardized DRM platform?

      No. This is 100% about DRM for the coming convergence of the internet/PCs and television. To think it is really about anything else is foolhardy.

  • Wha? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Volanin ( 935080 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:53PM (#14149274)
    From the article:

    - It also will ensure the products will work[...]

    - All will run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Center operating system.

    Hmmm... something feels really paradoxical here...
    • I know it's not a popular truth, but the fact of the matter is that the Windows NT-based releases are quite stable. They're nothing like the completely unstable and, quite truthfully, horrible Windows 95, 98 and ME releases.

      Windows XP Media Center Edition is, as the name suggests, based off of Windows XP, which is a derivative of Windows NT.

      • I know it's not a popular truth, but the fact of the matter is that the Windows NT-based releases are quite stable.

        Quite frankly, I don't know if what you're saying is necessarily true:

        "The problems with Media Center Edition continue to be the same ones that have plagued it all of its short lived life: 1) cost, and 2) stability."
        http://www.anandtech.com/multimedia/showdoc.aspx?i =2240&p=17 [anandtech.com]
        • The best bet is to control the stability as much as possible through the use of MCE certified drivers, MCE certified hardware, and avoiding things like aggressive memory timings and most definitely overclocking.

          If this is what the author considers unacceptable standards (to use certified drivers/hardware and avoid overclocking), then I would not give much thought to the rest of his article.

          You can buy a nice MCE machine for less than $900, with specs comparable to a computer that would cost about $800+ to

  • Good graphic (Score:3, Funny)

    by OYAHHH ( 322809 ) * on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:54PM (#14149295)
    Good graphic,

    The Register has a good graphic per this announcement. See it at the bottom if the following page:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/30/tivo_backs _intel_viiv/ [theregister.co.uk]

  • Corbett is an idiot (Score:4, Funny)

    by LanMan04 ( 790429 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @02:55PM (#14149300)
    From TFA: "We basically accelerated the heck out of Wi-Fi," Corbett said. "We plan to do the same thing around digital entertainment."

    Oh yeah, without Intel hardly anyone would be using Wi-fi! Thank you Centrino for making such a huge difference in the Wi-fi marketplace!

    What an ass.

    • From TFA: "We basically accelerated the heck out of Wi-Fi," Corbett said. "We plan to do the same thing around digital entertainment."

      Oh yeah, without Intel hardly anyone would be using Wi-fi! Thank you Centrino for making such a huge difference in the Wi-fi marketplace!

      What an ass.

      To echo this sentiment, here is the OpenBSD WiFi recommendations: [openbsd.org]

      Note that in order to use the Intel-based cards, you will need to acquire the firmware files, which Intel refuses to allow free distribution of, so they

      • "Note that in order to use the Intel-based cards, you will need to acquire the firmware files"

        Intel has released centrino drivers under GPL http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net] Firmware is freely also downloadable. Do you want them to release firmware also as open-source?

        Some people just have to complain. Stop cribbing.
  • given the fact the everyone's favorite monopoly, Microsoft, has just recently partnered with CableLabs to produce a CableCard capture device for watching and capturing HDTV on a Windows based PC. The question remains on how this will impact the Tivo/Intel deal, given that Tivo is Linux based. Will the next generation (or future generations) need a set-top-box in addition to the Intel/Tivo (InTivo?) just to get HD content? If there is a standard for PC/DVRs, what would prevent MS from slapping on Windows

  • Avoid confusion? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The goal of the Viiv label, he said, is to avoid consumer confusion

    I'm confused by how to even pronounce Viiv.

  • fine, now where is my hd tivo? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by asv108 ( 141455 ) <asv@nOspam.ivoss.com> on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:03PM (#14149385) Homepage Journal
    I've been waiting for standalone hdtv tivo since I purchased my series2 three years ago. How can a technology company not release a major product revision in nearly three years? Instead of releasing new products, Tivo seems to be worrying a lot more about partnering, catering to content companies(DRM), fiddling with the pricing model, and minor software updates rather than producing any real innovations.

  • Which one? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Volanin ( 935080 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:05PM (#14149408)
    So... which one is better?

    viiv or emacsscame?

    No flamewar intentions.
    Karma burn mode on!

  • What does this do fot Tivo anyway? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jdehnert ( 84375 ) * <jdehnert@@@dehnert...com> on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:07PM (#14149426) Homepage
    This could be OK for Tivo.


    Like one of the previous posters I am an early Tivo adopter too, but unlike him, I have 2 units (series 1 and 2) that i use every day.


    I still like Tivo better that the alternatives, but I have to admit that the alternatives are getting better all the time and Tivo is making it easier for them to catch up and doing themselves no favors in the process.


    I'm not sure what the partnership with Intel is going to buy them though. Are they switching to intel CPU's?


    I have Tivo2Go on both my Mac's and PC's and it works fine in both cases, so what does Viiv get me as a consumer?


    Personally, I'm looking forward to an Apple PVR, especially if that integrate an iTunes server into the package (and perhaps an iPhoto server as well).


    Besides, DRM is probably going to cripple all of this anyway, and like most people, if I have to jump through to many hoops to watch things the way I wana watch them, I'm just not going to do it.


    Contrary to what the MPAA, RIAA, and TV execs believe, I am not going to change my habits to mesh with their wishes. If I can't have it my way, I'll just do something else all-together.


    Add this to the FCC Cable a-la-carte news.


    Perhaps I can cut my cable bill in half soon when I dump this stupid ass package I HAD to get just to get Speed TV to watch the F-1 races. Gimme basic cable at 1/2 what I'm paying now and Speed for an additional $2/month.

  • Oil and Water (Score:3, Interesting)

    by overshoot ( 39700 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:07PM (#14149428)
    Oh, this just gets better all the time.

    Aside from the fact that the South Fork team is still revising their project architecture, at least so far it's all been so completely Microsoft-based that the team was shocked to find out that Apple wasn't MS-based.

    Now they're trying to sweep TiVO (Linux) and Apple (BSD) into the Borg Collective at the same time that it's supposed to go gold next month.

    I can understand why long-time Intel employees call it "East Fucked."

  • From TFA... "Viiv, which rhymes with 'five'..."

    No. No, it doesn't. Why would it? If they wanted it to rhyme with "five", they should have spelled it "Vive". I can only come to the conclusion that marketing droids have finally fully exhausted the English language...sorry, no more words exist to define your brilliant new concept. But, that's OK, because they're creative. They just start making up new combinations of letters, deciding how they want them pronounced, and voila! a new word.

    I'll go back unde

    • It does rhyme with five.

      if it were "viv" it would rhyme with "Liv" or "give". (short vowel)

      if it were "viiv" it would have the long vowel sound, like "leet" or "street" hence souding like "five" which also has a long vowel sound. Two different methods of making that long vowel sound.

      -everphilski-
  • Reuters has a bit on this as well: Intel working with companies in entertainment push [reuters.com]

  • Wrong and right (Score:5, Interesting)

    by esconsult1 ( 203878 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:16PM (#14149493) Homepage Journal
    As long as you have broadcast TV, Cable and Satellite, (all tv on the producer's schedule), then you'll need a box like Tivo to timeshift and commercial skip. Sure, Tivo is getting ready for the future, and they're in a good place (so long as they prepare a new box with high speed connections and streaming capability). But to say that Tivo's dead is just a little shortsighted.

    Consumers are in two camps. Passive and Active. We're active consumers of media so its no big deal for us, but Joe six loves what Tivo and his sisters do for him. Enough six packs (about 90%) don't have PVR's and just passively consume media. This is where content producers shift eyeballs to advertisers. And the way how they get paid to produce content too. There too much politics, jobs, infrastructure and inertia piled up for an overnight shift.

    Right now there ain't enough of us actives out there to pay enough for production of our favourite content by subscriptions. Believe me, I want everything that the first poster said too, but at least I am realistic in the short term.

    • This is where content producers shift eyeballs to advertisers. And the way how they get paid to produce content too.

      You think of this the wrong way around: content producers get paid to deliver commercials; they produce content designed to achieve this goal. They're not artists who need to find some way to make a living from their creativity, they're packaging engineers who find the cheapest but most appealing superficial wrapper around the real payload of advertisements.

    • Joe six loves what Tivo and his sisters do for him

      Does Joe Six come from rural West Virginia or Arkansas or something? That's sick...
  • I guess someone else believes the mac mini-as-dvr rumours then too. Personally, I've been jonesing for a mini since they came out and the dvr/media centre functionality ought to do it - never mind tivo and it's singular focus.
    • Yeah, right, with a 32MB proprietary video card? *Shrug* I'm sure you'll get greaaat resolution out of that.

      2 cents,

      Queen B

      PS: There is a heavily upgraded mini at my house. About the only thing you can't upgrade fairly simply is the video card.

  • another reason for me to go the MythTV route (Score:3, Interesting)

    by fak3r ( 917687 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:27PM (#14149565) Homepage
    I don't want to get locked into anything, even if they're talking about 'interlopability'. Every self respecting geek should run a MythTV box first, and then go the Tivo route *if* it does more than you need via MythTV. I would prefer to see a home grown solution as an option always. (sorry, I can't validate paying fees for what purports to be an online tv guide while they determing how often I can view the content after I record it).

  • Just great. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Sierpinski ( 266120 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:32PM (#14149606)
    It also will ensure the products will work when the PC is being controlled from a distance via a remote control.'"

    So my jerk neighbor can fill my hard drive up with HGTV while I'm away on vacation because he bought one of those programmable universal remotes or something similar? I might lose all my episodes of Golden Girls and Designing Women! Oh the horror!

  • Slashdot predictions (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Goaway ( 82658 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2005 @03:44PM (#14149697) Homepage
    Now you can evaluate Slashdot's predictive ability:

    New Intel Trademark Filed [slashdot.org] - An article trying to guess what this trademark was referring to.
  • ...That the Series3 TiVo set-top boxes will sport Intel chipsets (like a StrongARM or something beefier) instead of the current 200Mhz MIPS chips that are currently in the Series2 units (or the 50Mhz PowerPC chips in the Series1 units). It would benefit the set top boxes greatly to have more raw power to deal with HDTV and interactive options.

    Might this also be a path towards an Apple buyout of TiVo (that many of us want)?

  • "avoid consumer confusion and questions over interoperability."

    And these letters "Viiv", are supposed to avoid confusion how exacltly?

  • I don't trust either of them...

    Intel, a corporation formerly known for engineering and now basically just a bunch of marketing nazis selling re-branded AMDs at twice the price and twice the temperature.

    And Tivo, the people who say "pay us forever" for a spam-filled TV Guide that cripples hardware as a bonus.

    I want no part of this "VIIV"...

    • Intel, a corporation formerly known for engineering and now basically just a bunch of marketing nazis selling re-branded AMDs

      Seriously.. do you really think this? Granted, AMD is (rightfully) beating down Intel on desktops and servers right now... but where do you get this from? Rebranded AMDs... on an x86 archetecture that Intel created?! Plus all of that MMX and SSE crap that AMD also uses.. About the only technology Intel has copied from AMD are the 64 bit extensions. That's not even close to warran
  • intel has dropped its media server engine (interopability) from the initial release. Its basically just a MCE box with a standardised hardware and some preloaded programs. We were told to drop all the content server stuff from our apps.
    June is when all the content sharing stuff comes out. Read this as; they're completely rewriting it.

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