The whole story
Feb 01 '02
The Bottom Line In the end because of the dual tuners and 99$ price tag, I choose TiVo.
I wasn’t around for the invention of the wheel, the Industrial Revolution, or the Lunar Landing. Perhaps the most significant and rapid leaps in technology, in my lifetime, have come in the capability of CPU processors and increase in Hard Drive space. The robust applications of these technologies have also been revolutionary.
In this review I want to focus on one such application, and that is the PVR/ DVR. Digital Video Recorders sprung into the general marketplace toward the end of 1999.
The Marketplace
The main players then were WebTV, Replay Networks, TiVo, and Dish Network. Web TV was really the first foray that integrated a hard drive with a cable receiver. Though a subsidiary of Microsoft, Web TV was really the baby of Steve Perlman (Now President and CEO of Moxi Media). Web TV was great for people who did not like using a computer or wanted to add functionality to their TV. Nobody counted on how many people did want to add functionality, or how much would be possible. Soon Microsoft’s competitors (and others) would back Replay TV, a company that built on to this technology and added content based filtering and compression that would allow Replay equipment to add on to almost any kind of cable or satellite. Replay TV was recently acquired by SonicBlue (a technology company famous for MP3 player technology). TiVo would also improve on Web TV’s basic functionality, as well as offering content filtering and AI. TiVo has also been a close technology partner with Direct TV. TiVo has even developed a Direct TiVo receiver specifically for DTV subscribers. Dish Network has worked with JVC and pushed a couple of lower end models of PVR's to work with Dish Network feeds. The more advanced version of Web TV is Ultimate TV. Ultimate offers much of the same functionality of TiVo. The Ultimate TV software differs in some key areas such as PIP functionality.
Why are all of these, so much better than a VCR
The VCR is a crude means of dispersing images and sound. Without explaining exactly how it works. The tape itself is passing two types of info in an analog signal to your TV. For this thing to work right, the tape must be stretched and pass through the heads of the VCR at a certain speed and angle. The video signal must pass through much quicker than that of the audio. This delicate system has many critical points at which it can break. Plus the data about what is on the tape is never passed to the VCR (it doesn’t know what it is playing). On top of that, the entire communication is analog, until finally a second analog signal reaches your TV set. After the VCRs came satellite TV and digital video and audio equipment. These PVRs or DVRs are really computers. Satellites can pass a digital signal right to the receivers ideally. Lets use the Direct TV TiVo box as an example. Direct TV is sending out digital picture and sound in MPEGII compression, plus the satellite sends descriptions along with shows and guides. Your Direct Tivo simply records and databases info and shows if you choose, without reproducing or recompressing the signal. In this case, there is no reason for any degradation of the picture. Plus you have all the pertinent info to sort by category, genre, actor…etc. Limits are boundless; they just depend on the software.
TiVo versus Replay TV
The core differences between these services are:
*TiVo has the ability to monitor what you watch, record, and rate. Based on this info, TiVo will suggest programs and record them in the space that you don’t fill up with things you told it to record. Replay’s unit doesn’t care what you watch and has no rating system. This could be a strength or weakness depending on whom you ask. People who like TiVo, like me, enjoy the suggestions and even discover new shows. Replay fans site privacy concerns.
*When you purchase a Replay TV receiver you are done paying for the service, whereas TiVo is $9.99/ month or $250.00 for a lifetime sub for the equipment.
*Replay TV supports operating the unit remotely via www.myreplay.com , TiVo does not support anything like this, but the product can be hacked and modified to act as a web server.
Both TiVo and replay store various amounts of shows on the hard drive. They download (1 week for Replay, 2 for TiVo) several days’ worth of data and store it in a database. This allows you to search for shows using a keyword, actor, director…etc. Both Replay and TiVo are smart enough to allow you to tape a full season of a show (even if it moves) and keep only a certain amount if you wish.
Currently Replay does not make anything but standalone units. This means that you can add Replay on to your system but it will not replace your receiver. This is good, because you can change systems. But, this also means the digital signal must be recompressed and that is bad for quality and hd space. TiVo makes both standalone and integrated receivers (for Direct TV). A standalone knows what kind of signal is coming and does not recompress it, this saves space and improves quality. Also the Direct TiVo has 2 tuners, and that means you watch live TV while taping something else. In the case of a standalone, you must sacrifice space for quality. See my TiVo and Replay TV reviews for more details:
http://www.epinions.com/content_46814957188
http://www.epinions.com/content_46566903428
I have since purchased 3 TiVo’s (DSR6000)
Where does Ultimate TV fit into all of this
Before TiVo enabled dual-tuner technology, Ultimate could hang this over their heads. The problem for Ultimate is that the Direct TiVo now has dual tuners and costs half as much. So how is Ultimate different from TiVo? Here is what Microsoft wants you to know: http://ultimatetv.com/productcomp.asp
Really the only difference is that Ultimate has a better FF control and many Internet access features. Also Ultimate has picture in picture. Unfortunately, Microsoft has realized that they are losing the war against TiVo here and they are abandoning this sinking ship. I am still not sure why this didn’t take off, but I suspect people just like the TiVo software better. I know I do. I hope TiVo hires these guys if Ultimate folds!
Why Dish Network PVRs do not belong in this comparison
Although you may get a pretty good picture from your PVR501 if you have Dish Network, the software doesn’t really do anything…such as searching for shows. What’s more, there really isn’t a service that you are using for simply scheduling recordings. Since there are not integrated Dish PVR’s made by TiVo or Replay, StandAlone units will have to recompress the signals that Dish sends. What I am saying here is, if you are a Dish subscriber than the Dish PVR’s offer you the best possible picture. Also the 35 hours of record time is pretty good. These, for now, are simply digital VCRs, see my review of the PVR501.
http://www.epinions.com/content_46645874308
Which should you get?
If you are lucky enough to have Direct TV and don’t mind running a few more wires in, the Direct TiVo is the way to go.
The Future of DVR’s
I am not Madam Cleo, so I cannot for sure tell you the future. However, this is going to be the way we all watch TV in the future. As far as technology, these machines seem to be heading the direction of the family computer (they do everything). For example, the new replay unit RTV 4000 wants to be the center of your high-speed home network. It will connect to other RTV’s and share shows across the network and Internet. Moxi Media has made a high-speed modem, MP3 player, and PVR in one. Soon these will record to DVD.
As far as the financial stability of the companies, who can say? My guess is that some will not stick around. I think that Microsoft will be canning Ultimate TV. One thing that would negatively effect PVR owners would be the proposed merger between Echostar and Direct TV (especially if they use Echostars’ horrible platform).
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Epinions.com ID:
daperlman
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Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
Mission: Find recipe for Nabisco Space Foodsticks. Foil conspiracy responsible for disappearance of Foodsticks.
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