i knew doing a lifetime subscription was a bad idea.

oh well, i can always kick it to my grandparents so they can tivo football.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

RIP

(Reply to this) (Thread)

my mom always says that when you want something done over the phone, always ask for "the manager".
or, more specifically, "your manager".

of course, that's no help at all if you're dealing with fully automated services.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

This sucks - it sucked when Macrovision was announced last year -- it sucks that some network "outted" the error by mistake...it just sucks all around. While I totally think Tivo should have fought harder against Hollywood/the NFL -- I understand why they made the choice to add (if not implement) the Macrovision feature in the first place. When faced with pissing off savvy subscribers or losing your ability to function as a core business -- the business is going to win out. I don't agree with it, but since it hasn't affected me yet -- I'll deal.

Since your Tivo isn't even plugged in, it more than makes sense to cancel -- why pay if you aren't using it -- and you disapprove of the company policies. As for me, despite my aggrevation/fear over Macrovision, I'm simply too addicted/relient to Tivo now to spring out MORE money to build my own MythTV box. Plus, I'm a Tivo Beta-Tester and that has its own set of perks.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

$6.95? Tempting...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

How does the MythTV box compare to TiVo?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

I've just recently finished my MythTV. Lots of hoops to jump through to get it 'just right', but afterwards, it's the bomb.

And no monthlies. ;)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

MythTV is a pain in the neck to set up. A serious pain. Stock up on the pain-reliever of your choice before attempting. It also costs more than a tivo.

Once set up, its UI is mildly more difficult to use than Tivo's.

But it's vastly more powerful. Some examples:

• If you have two conflicting shows but one of them shows again later, it will do the Right Thing (unlike Tivo, which will always choose the highest-priority show).
• If you want a Simpsons episode or two to be stored for when you've run out of other stuff, you can tell it record four Simpsons shows and then wait for me to delete one (after watching it) before bothering to record more
• You can transfer HDTV to a DVD with no recompression
• And of course you can have multiple tuners, multiple playout machines, and watch from your PC or Mac if it's networked.

I decided to go the MythTV route instead of upgrading the Tivo when they announced they would show advertising during fast-forward. It just drove home the whole "you've paid actual money for a box that can be anti-upgraded whenever it suits the whims of tivo, and they appear to have no clue." I'm happy with the decision: since making it, Tivo have agreed to expire old shows upon content-provider demand, have added transfer-and-burn with DRM, and have chosen not to support my Mac for transfer-and-burn even though the Mac was an advertised feature when I bought the thing. I'm not ready to cancel like Brad yet, but there's no way I'd replace the box if it broke.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

If you want a Simpsons episode or two to be stored for when you've run out of other stuff, you can tell it record four Simpsons shows and then wait for me to delete one (after watching it) before bothering to record more

TiVo does this as well... If you set a season pass to "Save Until I Delete" and limit to x recordings....

MythTV still rules, though...

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

If you want a Simpsons episode or two to be stored for when you've run out of other stuff, you can tell it record four Simpsons shows and then wait for me to delete one (after watching it) before bothering to record more

Just to note, you can do this with TiVo too.

Tell it to record The Simpsons, tell it Keep At Most 4 Episodes and Keep Until I Delete. It records 4, can't keep any more, can't delete one of the 4, done.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Jesus! I _love_ my Tivo. I can't see me going to anything else until there's a decent competitor in the UK. But this shit is just ridiculous - what the hell do they lose by you saving the odd episode of King of the Hill???

(Reply to this) (Thread)

You're a smart dude, but still it took all that effort to deal with Tivo.

I should send you my resume' or somethin'.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

What total bullshit.

Sounds worse than when I tried to cancel my aunt's AOL...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

It seems like at some point, we're all going to have to make the "deal with stupid shit or stop consuming all commercial entertainment" decision.

You can moralize all you want about fair use and corporate media, but the truth is that it's pretty hard to exert a right to unrestricted entertainment content.

The only reason there are any alternatives to TiVo that aren't DRMed up the ass is because the entertainment cos and their purcahsed politicans haven't gotten that far yet. DRM software is expensive (also futile, but I digress), and I doubt anyone except TiVo has wanted it enough or been pressured enough to develop it.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

I agree in your assessment that we are all doomed -- I don't know how long it will take, though. That's why being a fatalist sucks -- and it will never stop sucking.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

...so the industry decides you can no longer keep a copy of your favourite TV show on your TiVo for as long as you want. At the same time, it wonders why BitTorrent trackers offering up TV episodes are so God damned popular...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

I just got off the phone with sales. I told them (quite truthfully) that I've been doing to research this last week to buy the right Tivo for myself. But now with this news, there's no way that'll happen. He took a moment to consult with someone nearby and came back and said it's a software bug that'll be fixed shortly.

God Damn! It's Lotus 1-2-3 copy-protected floppies all over again. When will they learn!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

A "bug" typed out the words on the screen..."this could be deleted anytime...policy of copyright holder..."???

huh???

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

This is a bug. The forementioned flag is only supposed to be allowed on on-demand and PPV shows. See:
http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2005/09/tivo_72_os_adds.html

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Don't care. Tivo didn't have to implement that feature, but they bent over.

Tivo may be Macrovision's bitch, but I'm not going to be Tivo's.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

I empathize; this really is lame. But my DVD player and VCR both use macrovision too; I'm not about to throw them out. Read the wired article with the tivo CE0; the macrovision stuff was only supposed to be implemented for PPV shows; not broadcast tv.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Yeah, still don't care. The point is it's a slippery slope and now that Tivo's bent over, there's nothing to stop them from bending over more. The analogy with the DVD and VCR fails because they do the same thing every day and I knew about the Macrovision when I bought them. I didn't buy the Tivo thinking it'd do this.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Just in case you hadn't seen this before, http://freevo.sourceforge.net/about.html

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Thanks.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

What's your cable provider? I dunno about DRM stuff with it, but I'm totally stoked with the DVR box I have with Time-Warner. 80 hours recording time for an extra $6 a month.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

(Reply to this) (Thread)