NewTeeVee has an entry from Liane Cassavoy, who recently switched from a Series2 TiVo for an HD DVR from Verizon FiOS, and she calls out five areas where Verizon, and other DVRs, could take a lesson from the “trusty, user-friendly TiVo”. Of course, they could just cut to the chase and license TiVo’s software to provide their users with the best of breed DVR. I like Liane’s closing paragraph:
Of the 26 million DVRs in the U.S., only 1.7 million of them are from TiVo. I understand completely why so many people opt for a DVR from their cable company rather than purchasing one from TiVo. After all, it’s cheaper (about $15 per month, as opposed to spending $300 on an HD TiVo and $13 per month for the service) and it’s convenient. I just wish that all of those people didn’t have to settle for a DVR that can be too hard to use and simply not as good.
I won’t quibble over her pricing, there are less expensive options for TiVo hardware and subscriptions, but she’s right on about settling for a lesser product. TiVo is worth the cost because it is a better experience, that’s my opinion anyway.
Of course both Dave Zatz and myself left comments pointing out that you can use a TiVo Series3 or TiVo HD with Verizon FiOS, as they support CableCARD.
