Comments on: PC Magazine’s Dan Costa’s Advice To TiVo http://www.gizmolovers.com/2008/04/10/pc-magazines-dan-costas-advice-to-tivo/ TiVo, Slingbox, Android, Blu-ray Disc, and whatever other tech I feel like blogging about... Fri, 18 Sep 2020 20:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: Glennhttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2008/04/10/pc-magazines-dan-costas-advice-to-tivo/comment-page-1/#comment-23484 Glenn Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:53:49 +0000 http://www.gizmolovers.com/?p=2401#comment-23484 Is that the real list? Not impressed really.How about:1. Go directYou should be able to do everything you want directly from the Tivo. I really don't want to go to my PC and install some software and have it tied up transcoding things for my Tivo, or have to enter requests on my PC. I want to do everything direct from my Tivo.2. Embrace the webThey're already doing this to some degree of course, but not quite the way they should. As you suggest, the whole thing needs to be more social. See those recommendations and popularity ratings of podcasts in iTunes? Where is that in the Tivo interface? Why only podcasts, why not any web video, whether on youtube or hulu or wherever? Forget the SlingCatcher, why can't I do basic web browsing on the Tivo itself, and then watch video streaming from hulu or abc.com or whatever?3. Polish up your UIIts time Tivo. Seriously. I mean the interface is perfectly okay for most things, and I love the remote. But why aren't there ANY graphics in the Unbox ordering? Why are the TV show episodes out of order? Why is there so little information? Why isn't there a "order next episode" button? Why can't I browse through my music by album art? Where's the slideshow with music and so forth. Look at the Apple TV. Copy the nice stuff. How about an easy way to pull up a Wikipedia article?4. Stop with the walled gardenSure, Rhapsody is nice, but hey personally I hate Real and hope they burn in hell. So I won't be subscribing to that anytime soon. But I love Pandora, and would pay money to subscribe to it if I could get it through my Tivo since I'm not going to install a Squeezebox just for that purpose. Others like last.fm. Don't stop after Rhapsody. Don't stop after flickr. Do all of the top services. Embrace podcasts, web video sharing sites, etc. If your current hardware can't handle this because of codec issues or whatever, build something that can.5. Remove the FUDHD? No problem. SDV? No problem. Cable or Satellite or antenna or IPTV or ... No problem. Cablecards aren't the only way of hooking things up. Work something out with DirectTV and Dish. Build a box with that new component HD encoder chip if that's what is needed. Get the damn SDV dongle done already. Is that the real list? Not impressed really.

How about:

1. Go direct

You should be able to do everything you want directly from the Tivo. I really don’t want to go to my PC and install some software and have it tied up transcoding things for my Tivo, or have to enter requests on my PC. I want to do everything direct from my Tivo.

2. Embrace the web

They’re already doing this to some degree of course, but not quite the way they should. As you suggest, the whole thing needs to be more social. See those recommendations and popularity ratings of podcasts in iTunes? Where is that in the Tivo interface? Why only podcasts, why not any web video, whether on youtube or hulu or wherever? Forget the SlingCatcher, why can’t I do basic web browsing on the Tivo itself, and then watch video streaming from hulu or abc.com or whatever?

3. Polish up your UI

Its time Tivo. Seriously. I mean the interface is perfectly okay for most things, and I love the remote. But why aren’t there ANY graphics in the Unbox ordering? Why are the TV show episodes out of order? Why is there so little information? Why isn’t there a “order next episode” button? Why can’t I browse through my music by album art? Where’s the slideshow with music and so forth. Look at the Apple TV. Copy the nice stuff. How about an easy way to pull up a Wikipedia article?

4. Stop with the walled garden

Sure, Rhapsody is nice, but hey personally I hate Real and hope they burn in hell. So I won’t be subscribing to that anytime soon. But I love Pandora, and would pay money to subscribe to it if I could get it through my Tivo since I’m not going to install a Squeezebox just for that purpose. Others like last.fm. Don’t stop after Rhapsody. Don’t stop after flickr. Do all of the top services. Embrace podcasts, web video sharing sites, etc. If your current hardware can’t handle this because of codec issues or whatever, build something that can.

5. Remove the FUD

HD? No problem. SDV? No problem. Cable or Satellite or antenna or IPTV or … No problem. Cablecards aren’t the only way of hooking things up. Work something out with DirectTV and Dish. Build a box with that new component HD encoder chip if that’s what is needed. Get the damn SDV dongle done already.

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