Tivo threat (1 Viewer)

[Andrew P]

I dont believe that is part of the Tivo service. We disagree with this aspect. Tivo is walking a fine line. I love Tivo, but this is wrong.

Andy

 

[Todd Hochard]

Hey, Replay doesn't do this. I've been enjoying mine for quite some time.
Todd
P.S. Yet.

 

[Dave F]

This court ruling against Sonicblue and ReplayTV is far more disturbing, in my opinion.
-Dave

 

[Michael Reuben]

It's not really a ruling against them. It's a highly unusual situation involving pretrial discovery, and it's not likely to recur.
M.

 

[DeborahK]

NPR did an interesting and in depth piece on the Sonic Blue suit a week or two ago -- in their evening news show, All Things Considered. You can probably find it in their archives at npr.org if you are interested in hearing it.

Part of the suit involves the ability of this recorder/player to skip commercials. According to the suit, this in and of itself is a copyright infringement (I think I am remembering this correctly), because the advertisers are the ones who have paid for the programming and have thus bought the right to have their ads included with the programming. So, watching (and sending) commercial free shows to others amounts to copyright infringement and theft. Further, people who have subscriptions to pay stations such as HBO are possibly
having their material stolen as well when the show is forwarded to others who have not bought HBO services. It seems to me you could make the same argument for the sharing of video tapes of pay station shows, but this is a little dicier because the ability to endlessly replicate and send shows is clearly much stronger with the Replay device. While I don't think Sonic Blue should be forced to violate the privacy of their customers, I am not so sure that the networks/pay stations don't have a valid case against them.

For what it is worth,

Deborah

 

[Michael Reuben]

Thread drift, I'm afraid. The Sonic Blue lawsuit raises a very different set of issues than those involved in TiVo's sending of specialized broadcasts.

M.

 

[Daniel Swartz]

I agree that this is a large intrusion regardless of whether or not consent was implied in any service contract. The "you don't have to watch it" argument simply doesn't justify the invasion of privacy/freedom.

I'm glad I own 2 ReplayTVs. Hopefully, this backlash will send a message to TiVo. Just because they can doesn't mean they should....

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I don't have a problem with it.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

How can this infringe upon either my privacy or my freedom?

 

[Reece]

I have a problem with it as well!

I also own 2 Replays and I have found that when I freeze the screen for longer than a min it displays an ad for the new showstopper. Previously it had shown an ad for Pepsi or Coke (I can't remember which). So clearly these companys are heading in the same direction.

I understand that advertisements are paying for a lot of free content (tv,web,etc), but I have a choice when it comes to that content and it is "free". However when I pay for a product like Tivo for example(SA=$400, life sub=$250)I feel I should have certain ownership rights and not be subjected to ads that I never asked for or can't get rid of by a click of a button.
If Tivo offered a unit with no ads for slightly more money I would pay for it. I bought this thing to be free of any type of "control"...I guess that was wishful thinking.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

However when I pay for a product like Tivo for example(SA=$400, life sub=$250)I feel I should have certain ownership rights and not be subjected to ads that I never asked for or can't get rid of by a click of a button.

You don't have to watch the show on Tivo, it is just listed in your menu. You can ignore it just like a million shows that appear on your on-screen program listings; shows that you don't want to watch.

 

[MickeS]

Like has been mentioned, the shows/avdertisements/whatever that TiVo lets their business partners put on the machine are stored on a SEPARATE section of the HD that is NOT used for anything else. It doesn't take up space from your recordings. It doesn't interfere with your recordings. It doesn't force you to watch it. It just sits there. It's like a printed ad in a newspaper, you can just turn the page if you don't want to read it. And you still have to pay for the newspaper, right?

In fact, I long for the day when ALL TV advertising could be done like this, instead of interrupting the shows I'm watching all the time.

Just think if every channel had, say 60 minutes of ad space devoted to it on a HD (assuming the hard drives can store several hundred hours of material, like the top of the line models today). NBC could just put their ads in that space, and every time you flipped over to NBC, there would be a small indicator saying there's a new ad. If you want to watch it, do it, if not, skip it. The shows are all uninterrupted.

It works for newspapers and magazines. I am 100% it would work for TV too. People (including me) LIKE ads, we just don't want them to interrupt our shows. This way, the ads could also be more geared towards the individual viewers, and they could be more of the info-variety than the marketing variety.

So if TiVo could bring this on with their current strategy of having reserved ad space on their machines, I'm all for it.

/Mike

 

[Rachael B]

?????????

Why are my Tivos changing channels by themselves, usually late sunday nite/ monday morn to the Discovery Channel? This didn't used to happen. I've had Tivo for over two years. It happened with one of them on a weekday recently too. What intrest does Tivo have in Discovey? I don't like this a bit. At the end of the day I usually leave one of the Tivos tuned to the Weather Channel so I can quickly scan to a forecast the next morn. I want to do all the channel switching all by myself. I've had the Tivo recordig suggestions turned off from day one. Anybody know what's up with this?

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Rachael,

Are you sure it isn't your cable box? My 'scientific atlanta' box turns to some illogical channel every time there is a power outage or they update the box with new data (channel lineups).

 

[Michael Reuben]

My 'scientific atlanta' box turns to some illogical channel every time there is a power outage or they update the box with new data (channel lineups).

Mine too.

The easiest way to tell whether it's the box or TiVo that's changing channels is to bring up the TiVo listing for what's currently playing. If Rachael's box is playing the Discovery Channel but TiVo still thinks it's on the Weather Channel, then it was the box that made the change.

M.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Why are my Tivos changing channels by themselves, usually late sunday nite/ monday morn to the Discovery Channel?

That's how TiVo gets its Showcase video clips (such as the Sheryl Crow video). TiVo buys 30 minutes of paid programming (I think it's called TeleWorld Paid Programming in the program guide) in the wee hours of the morning on Discovery Channel and your TiVo box automatically records it to the reserved area (if it isn't busy recording something you requested). The TiVo software has the capability to parse out individual video clips within the program. TiVo chose Discovery Channel because just about every cable system has Discovery Channel.

 

[Matthew McGuire]

I don't have a problem with it. If you agree to the service contract how can you complain.

 

[Michael Reuben]

The passivity of most Americans towards blatant invasions of their personal lives baffles me frankly.

I could respond, but then I'd have to censure myself for a rule violation. Let's not go there, shall we?


M.

 

[Andrew P]

I think this is a great article discussing Tivo and the issue above. I finally agree with something ZDNET says:
Tivo article
Andy

 

[Rachael B]

Wayne, your explanation must be it because I don't have a cable box. I get basic cable without a box. I wish my Tivos would switch back when they're done. This has only happened in the past 4 to 6 weeks. It's all of not much use to me since I never look at any of the showcases. Best wishes!