Apple + TiVo partnership?

[mevsthem]

Hello.
Will Apple work with TiVo? thats what all the rumour website's are saying.
I hope this is True TiVo is like the Google of TV.

[onlyafterdark]

Which rumor websites?

[pscates2.0]

I was just going to ask that too...WHICH "rumor sites"? :confused:

Seriously, that's about the ONLY rumor not being tossed around lately! :err:

I've not heard anything about this.

[mevsthem]

What are you guy[s] its even talked about on this forum, the speculation that the $500 iMac is gonna be TV based that you can connect it to the TV and use it and it will come with TiVo services aswell.

[hyperb0le]

What are you guy[s] its even talked about on this forum, the speculation that the $500 iMac is gonna be TV based that you can connect it to the TV and use it and it will come with TiVo services aswell.

I don't think a TiVo partnership was ever suggested. If Apple releases a PVR-type device, I'm fairly sure it will run an operating system that was coded in-house.

[pscates2.0]

I'm sorry.

I don't automatically connect/associate "talked on this forum" to "rumor sites". I thought you meant somewhere like ThinkSecret or AppleInsider, a full, actual story from "sources" and so forth.

Is that what you were talking about? :confused:

I'm not being difficult, just genuinely asking so I know. I've truly not seen/heard this talked about, EXCEPT for the thread you mention (and even there, it was kinda brief and only a few times).

Don't be coy...IS there a particular site you're aware of, or know, that has a story on this (I'd like to read it if so). I usually follow only the two from above, so I very well might've missed it if it was on powerpage.org, Macbidoullebidoobydoo, MacuserUK, etc.

[Jay]

The only one I've seen lately was a thread over at AI in their insanity ward. I think that was just a joke or something. :confused:


edit: I think I know what you are getting at. You are seeing the cheapMac rumors as more of a DVR than a typical computer. To clarify, it's primarily going to be a cheap computer for switchers, just some of us Mac geeks around here want to turn it into their own DVR with 3rd party stuff.

So basically you are asking if this cheapMac will evolve into a TiVo and Apple will eventually work with them. Correct?

[jccbin]

I started the Tivo thread over at AI. As the title implies "Just Insane - Apple Buys Tivo," the thread was designed to further the wild insanity being spewed from the members.

I also said Apple would partner with Vonage and make the new headless mac the home phone center.

Then there were the accusations of smoking illegal substances.

Could Apple team up with TiVo and Vonage? Sure. Will they? Who Knows.

:devil:

[Eugene]

Hughes/DirecTV has already partnered with TiVo to be the sole service with HDTiVo...

[jccbin]

Ahhh, but TiVo and DirecTV are on the outs lately. Nothing that is threatening the joint ventures yet, but DTV is wanting to severely limit the TiVo units, turning off functions like they did the USB ports on last year's DirecTiVos.

Since News Corp bought out Hughes from GM, there is change in the air.

[eurokrn]

Umm... TiVo obviously has no benefit in terms of hardware -- it's off the shelf stuff. In fact, the "other" DVRs like the Comcast/Motorola unit and the Dish network unit are far superior hardware-wise when compared to the TiVo units as these "other" DVRs already have HD support and multiple tuners.

TiVo obviously has no benefit in terms of operating system -- it runs on Linux and therefore would provide no advantage.

TiVo obviously has no benefit in terms of intellectual property -- there's a gazillion DVRs out there now even ones that are not appliance-based such as Microsoft's Media Center and the open source MythTV.

The ONLY thing TiVo has going for itself is its innovative user interface which is clearly much better than anything else out there.

So how can anyone suggest that Apple would partner with TiVo when the only thing TiVo has going for itself (the user interface) would be the first thing that Apple would want to design themselves?

[Benton]

Remember former SVP Tim Bucher Mac Systems Development left Apple mid November 2004? He founded Mirra Inc in 2002 and is showing Mirra Personal Server at CES. Maybe conflict of interest? Maybe "headless mac" competitor?

[Messiahtosh]

I think www.macminute.com might have something about TivoToGo working for the Mac, but that's about all.

[Philth]

The ONLY thing TiVo has going for itself is its innovative user interface which is clearly much better than anything else out there.

So how can anyone suggest that Apple would partner with TiVo when the only thing TiVo has going for itself (the user interface) would be the first thing that Apple would want to design themselves?

Well, Tivo pretty much holds all the patents to everything DVR. All their competitors are filling Tivos coffers... In anycase, I think if Apple did want to go this route, Tivo would be a strong partner, and the only way they could break into the market. Boxes like the Moxi and such are still lightyears behind the Tivo it isn't even funny. They are entirely unusable to the point of wanting to smash them into pieces. Much like the iPod towers above the rest of the MP3 market; they're quite a like.

Would be nice, but I doubt Apple would ever go this direction. Ever. It isn't a huge money maker, and there are too many DRM wars to contend with.

[eurokrn]

Boxes like the Moxi and such are still lightyears behind the Tivo it isn't even funny. They are entirely unusable to the point of wanting to smash them into pieces.

I don't think you've seen the latest crop of DVRs including the newest Motorola, the 6412, which beats the TiVo hands down in terms of raw user-desired features such as dual tuners, HDTV support, and full digital channel support and it even includes Season Pass and full search just like TiVo does. I mean damn, even ATI's newest cards all come with DVR software. :)

There's been tons of discussions in TiVo forums (for example www.tivocommunity.com) about how the copycat DVRs have caught up feature-wise and how the only reason they're not switching is TiVo's user interface.

With regards to their patents, they won't hold up in court. Their main patent covers taking a video stream, encoding it into MPEG2 for storage on media, and decoding it again for viewing. There's prior art for this using other codecs way before TiVo existed. And they were very stupid to specifically mention MPEG2.

Like I said, the only thing TiVo has going for it is its interface. And Apple's in the business of designing better user interfaces. OS X is stock unix with a superior UI on top. If Apple gets into this business, they might as well take any of the numerous open source DVR projects and stick a superior Apple user interface on top.

BTW, I'm not flaming you. :D Just posting comments as a developer who's looked into writing his own personal DVR to get some features that the commercial ones don't have.

Oh, and let me add that these comments reflect a "partnership" with TiVo. An acquisition is an entirely different story.

[Henriok]

Since TiVo have officially partnered up with AMD to deliver their next generation platform (today they are using IBM PowerPC 405s) I find it highly unlikey for them to partner with Apple too.

[Eugene]

TiVo will say otherwise, but service providers like DirecTV (which they are currently partnered with) and Comcast are going to completely shut third-party DVRs out of most US households eventually.

I have Comcast and as much as I don't want to use their HD-DVR product, it would be even more pointless for me to use something else (if it were even possible). Coincidentally I'm getting one delivered this Monday. DirecTV eventually plans to use its own in-house hardware/software as well.

[morningstarrising]

Well Microsoft announces Tivo agreement (http://hardware.silicon.com/desktops/0,39024645,39126877,00.htm)


And Tivo is doing Cablecards (http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzshow0106,0,2203854.story?coll=ny-business-utility)

[Eugene]

Well Microsoft announces Tivo agreement (http://hardware.silicon.com/desktops/0,39024645,39126877,00.htm)


And Tivo is doing Cablecards (http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzshow0106,0,2203854.story?coll=ny-business-utility)
That is even worse for them. CableCard will lead people in the desire to eliminate set-top boxes altogether. TiVo will have to prance around shoving partnerships at all the major TV makers. And any partnership with Microsoft is shady. Considering Microsoft has its own DVR software it's peddling to other providers for their homegrown DVRs...

[artguy]

It seems to me to be within the realm of possibility that Apple would partner in some way with TiVo - I'm sure TiVo has been courting partners - even this recent Bill Gates media announcement with Conan O'Brien shows that clearly.

I clearly remember Microsoft's Ultimate TV competing with TiVo as they tried to grind TiVo into the dirt. Seems a bit like dealing with the devil to have TiVo and Microsoft working together now.

Anyway, deals are in the works behind the scenes - that much is obvious.

[RBR]

TiVo's new box as shown at CES will not be available for at least one year. That is a very long time for people to wait when HDTV boxes are available from their cable provider now (even though many of them have serious deficiencies). By the time that TiVo actually delivers this product, if they ever do, it will be out of date unless redesigned.

TiVo seems to be pumping their subscription service with a slew of low priced units (how heavily subsidized they are is a matter of speculation). How long this will keep them afloat is anyone's guess.

HDTV boxes are going to be a serious problem as the year progresses because of the FCC mandated 'broadcast flags' that will have to be incorporated into hardware in the latter half of the year which will restrict the resolution at which the content can be viewed.

[morningstarrising]

A year later.....

TiVo repeated its assurance that its TiVoToGo service would be coming to the Macintosh in mid-2006. Claiming that the company had some difficulty working with QuickTime’s implementation of MPEG-2, TiVo’s engineers have made enough progress to have a demo of the system working on a Mac.

http://playlistmag.com/news/2006/01/05/digitalexperience/index.php

Yea! No more going to the PC to download video and convert it to MPEG then take it to the Mac and covert it to DV and then import it into iMovie and then burn it in iDVD....:smokey:

Maybe they show something at MWSF...

[yoda_four]

Tivo did cancel their press release at CES. Could they be waiting until after MacWorld? Tivo was apparently set to at least show their Cablecard HD box once again.