« Kicking it Old School Gaming in Vegas | Main | BBQ's Scan-o-mania »
VCR Killed the Tivo Star
What would you say if I told you that I have a set top box plugged into my TV that I use to record and play back video?
It has an easy to use wizard based interface and has great picture and sound quality. By using in-expensive and readily available storage units I can increase the recording buffer exponentially to ridiculous amounts. I can go online and check out a programming guide to find a show weeks at a time. It comes with an ergonomic remote control and is an indispensable part of my TV viewing. It allows me the freedom from having to be home at a certain time to watch a show and the ability to skip parts of the show and view in a non-linear format is indispensable. Now here is the incredible part. This device has no monthly subscription costs and it is less than a third the price of a Tivo. So what is this device? A 4-head stereo RCA VHS VCR.
Now don't get me wrong I think that Tivo and other Personal Digital Video Recorders are fine but they are too immature for me to take the chance and spend the amount of money for one. Thanks to constantly evolving technological developments the quality of VCRs have increased substantially and the cost of the units are at the lowest they have ever been.
Despite years of new standards, regulations and hyperbole there is almost no high definition TV shows on the air. I have been reading about high def since the late 80s and I actually got to see the competing Japanese HDTV standard in 1993. The next evolution in TV is not coming in the form of a sharper picture with more pixels playing the same old crap. The future of TV is all about access to the programming that you want when you want.
In the mid 90s I watched a presentation given by Larry Ellison of Oracle about Interactive TV and how that was supposed to be the next big thing that will enhance our TV addicted lives. In the early 90s digital video meant postage stamp size grainy short clips of Quicktime and MPEG-1. Larry Elision's vision of Interactive TV relied on non-existing streaming video networks, a set top computer box and most importantly thousands of very big and expensive Oracle mainframes cranking out millions of megabytes of digital video a second. It would have allowed anyone to watch what ever they wanted from vast archives of TV shows at any time for a price. But this vision of interactive TV faded away into the ether of of digital predictions and hyperbole. It was before the internet and everyone thought that the future of entertainment was set a converged set top box and multimedia CD-rom. It was Clinton-era grunge rock futurism that eventually faded with the dream of the totally paperless office.
Now there are some truth to the predictions of the early 90s. We now have DVDs, Playstation2 and $500 computers that allow almost anyone access to the Internet.
So who is the industry trade group that controls the world of TV. If music is run my the RIAA, movies are run by the MPAA who runs TV? The NAB or the National Association of Broadcasters. You see first they got the money, then they got the power, then they get the women. That is sort of how industry wide monopolies work. What ever shape the future of TV takes form you know that it must be kosher with the NAB.
So lets talk personal digital video options. What is out there today?
First and foremost is Tivo. It is a format created by a start up company that will lease it's technologies to other companies. Tivo is so popular that it's name is becoming synomous with the concept of a personal digital video recorder.
Tivo arrives in your house as a set top box around the size and shape of an analog VCR. It is a video digitalizing chip set, a CPU hard drive, Internet connection device and a Linux operating system. Unlike the VCR you must have a subscription to the Tivo service in order for it to work. This is on top of your ISP charge and TV service ( cable, dish, or whatever ).
Shows are recorded to a hard drive and cached for later viewing but the show can not be permanently saved with out the help of an analog VCR. Tivo can only record to it's 40 or 80 hour limit. The Tivo service will watch your viewing habits and suggest net shows that it thinks you will like. It will also take the initiative and record a show it thinks you might like to try and if you are not interested you can delete it. Tivo records the all important commercial messages with the show. You can fast forward through them but you can not edit them out. Tivo gives the public a good idea of what is possible from TV when it is presented in a digital non-linear non-destructive semi-interactive form.
Update : I guess Tivo is not marketed correctly. If I go into store there have the Tivo box but it is not signed up for the service so most people have never seen it working. Same thing with Xbox Live. It is really cool but you have to see it in action before you get an idea how it really is.
The only other competitor on the market right now is Microsoft Ultimate TV. It is very similar in concept to the Tivo and is from the same division of Microsoft that brought you the Xbox so you know it is going to be XXTRA Dope. Tivo is so far ahead in the market place that most consumers in the US are not even aware that there is competition. Like the Xbox it is interesting to see what Microsoft comes up with when they are a minority in a high tech market place.
Update : Microsoft shut down the Ultimate TV project today
Sony recently announced a device called the PSX that is a personal digital video recorder based on the Playstation 2 system. Not much is known except that the first wave early adopters are going to be all over it. It could be very cool and very expensive but then again it is by the same company that created Betamax.
Another way to get your Tivo fix is by adding personal digital video recording systems to computers
That is what Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition is all about. It is a standard of fairly powerful computers with a big hard drive and a great video card running a customized version of Windows XP. However Microsoft has bowed to the RIAA, MPAA and NAB at almost step of the way and have not included any controversial features that the powers that be might not like. It can not record from DVDs and it has radically limited networked media sharing capabilities. This is also the first major product out of Redmond that has DRM built in it's DNA. I doubt it will be the last.
There is several open source Linux based alternatives such as Frevo and some add on hardware for Macs and Windows PCs.
In the early 80s the supreme court ruled that the analog VCR was legal. Thanks Mr Rogers. However the legal books are not closed on commercial skipping, file trading and fair use. We still have a long way to go before the powers that be can hammer out what is legal, commercially viable and fair to both creators and consumers. The EFF have been doing a wonderful job of advocating the consumer in these court room encounters. These cases are important because they will set legal precedence for decades to come.
There is the sad tale of Sonic Blue. This start up company made an innovative digital video recorder that had commercial skipping and could trade recorded shows with other devices over the Internet. Hollywood was not pleased so they sued them over and over again. The EFF did their best but eventually the legal bills that Sonic Blue endured were to great and the company was forced to file for Chapter 11 and is on their way of going out of business.
Hollywood will sue to maintain control. The moral of the story is that innovation will be crushed if it makes the media establishments uncomfortable.
Who knows what the world of TV will look like five years from now? I sure the hell don't. It has been rumored that The PS3 will feature some form of TV recording and Bill Gates has said that recording digital video will be a part of Xbox2. So I will probably not invest in a personal digital video recorder until I get it as a part of a game system.
Until that time I am glad to press record on my analog tried and true VHS VCR.
Jake at June 27, 2003 
Stuff
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.8bitjoystick.com/cgi-bin/mtype/mt-tb.cgi/239
Comments
while i agree that a vcr basically makes more sense and all, i just don't watch enough tv to get either...i can live w/o seeing any of the garbage they have on tv...the only thing a vcr is good for, IMHO, is watching movies that have NOT come out on DVD yet (can you say Indiana Jones?? love Indy!! :D though i hear it's supposed to be coming out soon? i dunno, i never pay attn to these things) so, there ya go...my two cents...blah! :P
Posted by: Lilly at June 27, 2003 6:30 AM
I've got a Raedeon 9700 All-in-Wonder Pro, which does everything I need. If I get done watching a show and want to keep it, I just burn it to DVD after editing the commercials out with an MPEG editor. The computer industry needs to come up with display sizes that rival the TV industry before people will look to their PC for TV-like entertainment. Most people don't want to watch TV from their computer chair, they want to watch it on the couch. We need to get computers out of the bedrooms and into the living rooms as the focal point of the entertainment center. The possibilities once that happens are endless. Until that happens, we have to settle for specialized hardware. Although you should really look into all the TiVo hacks that are out there - people are doing some cool stuff.
Posted by: Jeff at June 27, 2003 7:05 AM
Glad someone mentioned the Tivo hacks. They are indeed doing some neat stuff. The most impressive was the guy who put in a few extra IDE controllers and expanded the storage of his Tivo to over a terabyte. There are also plenty of hacks that will allow you to put your Tivo on your LAN and then read out the mpeg files from the Tivo's hard drive(s), and from there, you could burn them to VCD/DVD/or just CD to watch them again later. These are all protected uses under the fair use ruling from the case Jake mentioned (well minus the DMCA issues in opening up the Tivo). But I definitely have to agree with you Jake, the DVR market is still too immature and there's still too many questions as to what they will and won't be allowed to do.
Posted by: Bob at June 27, 2003 7:20 AM
The problem with TiVo, is that if you don't own one, or haven't spent a good week with one, you can't appreciate it. Once you've seriously used one, you'll never (i mean NEVER) consider life without it.
I have a 30 hour TiVo I upgraded to 130 hours (which I've never filled to capacity) plus I also added in a network card so I can program it from work and extract video to back up on DVD. No VCR can ever hope to compete with that.
And as for the argument that you don't watch enough TV...that's only because you don't watch the *right* TV. In my experience, the best shows are on at strange hours, and as long as you have a TiVo to automatically record them, you don't have to worry about remembering to tape them.
Posted by: jason at June 27, 2003 7:24 AM
If you have digital cable, the new cable boxes do the same thing as TiVo.
Posted by: drek at June 27, 2003 9:39 AM
Really that is news to me. I would like to see a link on that.
Posted by: Jake at June 27, 2003 9:44 AM
Jake, good buddy, you are going to have to take this on faith.
Tivo is revolutionary in way you watch television. It is not a replacement for a VCR, it's a replacement for how you watch TV.
As stated above, you can't really understand how good it is until you use one.
Things you can't do with a VCR:
1) Pause live TV
2) Turn on your TV 20 minutes into a show and restart it from the beginning
3) Go on vacation and have every show recorded
4) Have every show by any actor/director/keyword you want recorded without planning
5) Have a choice of dozens of different programs to watch by only touching your remote
Go to a friends house that has a Tivo and give it a try. Ask them to show you how it works. You'll be hooked.
Posted by: Michael at June 27, 2003 9:52 AM
Tivo all the way, baby! Okay, I also like my Raedeon 9700 All-in-Wonder Pro...
Posted by: tyd at June 27, 2003 10:15 AM
TiVo doesn't run a proprietary operating system...it runs Linux. You can download the source here: http://www.tivo.com/linux/index.html
Posted by: carey at June 27, 2003 12:30 PM
Jake, here's a DVR FAQ provided by my local cable service company. I don't know anyone who has this unit, so I really can't comment on it... and it's still pretty new to Hawaii as it was just launched in March.
Posted by: dE at June 27, 2003 2:43 PM
until there is something actually *worthwhile to watch on tv, i don't see the point in recording any of it...:)
Posted by: Lilly at June 27, 2003 4:16 PM
You are so cool and smart. I am glad I link to you.
Posted by: rah at June 27, 2003 7:35 PM
Today I actually saw a satilite TV reciever with a built in Tivo. It was quite dope. They also had Ultimate TVs and Replay TVs in stock but they are both discontinued.
Posted by: Jake at June 27, 2003 9:24 PM
I have no problems using my VCR to record TV shows, and have used it to do just that in the past. However, what happens when a network decides to air every single episode of one of your favorite shows on a weekend when you are going out of town? 1 VHS tape can't record 2 full seasons even on the slowest setting.
I wish I had a Tivo right now, monthly charge and all.
Posted by: SteveB at June 29, 2003 7:41 PM
