Seems there was a big fancy launch for the coming of TiVo to Australia (in ’08), and Giz wasn’t invited. Yeah, that happens. But that’s okay, because from what we’re seeing, it is going to suck like a Dyson.
If you haven’t heard: TiVo in 2008; distributed by Engin (the VoIP crew); all backed locally by Seven Media Group. Yes, that’s Channel Seven.
As soon as I heard Channel Seven is heavily involved, a long time advocate of treating EPGs with prejudice, things started to stink. Even if it wasn’t them – shouldn’t networks hate this stuff? It can skip their ads! At least, that’s what we hope, right?The good news out of all this is the claim there is agreement now on a universal EPG. BUT… even at that, it sounds like this ‘universal’ guide won’t be universally accessible! So Seven / Ten still want to shut out Foxtel from their stuff, and Nine still probably wants to kick IceTV for ‘copyright infringement’ (could that be one of the most awful actions in the history of home entertainment?) These protectionist attitudes to program guides are disgusting! Do you want people to watch your channel or not? I watch all my TV off a PVR (I love Foxtel iQ) because I’m too busy to watch when they want me to. Apart from one or two absolute must watch shows on Seven and Ten, I never see anything they have to offer because of their refusal to participate in the Foxtel EPG. Seriously, what do they have to gain other than the growing ire of TV fans? That shit is what pushes people toward torrents, not back onto the couch at prime time.
Great quote from Foxtel on the announcement in the Fairfax coverage:
Foxtel said it “welcomes Seven to the 21st Century, finally dipping their toe into the water of digital television”.
Word on ‘the street’ suggests a low monthly fee rather than a purchase price. And with David Leckie, CEO of Seven, saying that:
Through TiVo, Seven will leverage our broadcast television and publishing businesses, [and]deliver new advertising and marketing solutions.
This is going to have all kinds of ‘new advertising opportunities’ built into your box – so . With so many good PVRs now available, and new media centre computers and other high featured (and networked) devices on the way, isn’t TiVo something of an anachronism? It led the charge in the US, but surely the future is all about choosing the box that suits you, and hooking into a universal EPG?
What do you think? Does it suck or just blow?
Official Site [MyTiVo]
Pre-doctored doctored image from Nyquist Capital
Mike
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 10:34 AMWhy Australia is the way it is with all kinds of digital media, we will NEVER adopt latest technology. They just need to get rid of some of the neanderthols that run these TV stations etc.
DrJimbo
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 10:39 AM> Foxtel said it “welcomes Seven to the 21st Century, finally dipping
> their toe into the water of digital television”.”
That’s rich from foxtel, whose “digital television” is worse than standard-definition quality. Seven have finally bumped up their high-definition offerings to 1080i, which is nice.
But yes, this Seven-Engin-Tivo partnership is baffling, and it’s hard to see the appeal over say a beyonwiz or mce/vista box and an icetv subscription.
Adz
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 11:00 AMJust bought an old xBox and modded it for Media Center.
When will the local networks work out that they need to show OS content ASAP. Without downloads, how else do I convince the wife to not browse the web about her favourite shows.
Seamus
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 11:19 AMTo me, this just proves the ‘big boys’ still don’t get it.
And yes, you are right, DrJimbo. Foxtel aren’t exactly pushing the envelope on the quality frontier. And Foxtel on NextG is a joke.
Steve
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 12:21 PMAgree entirely with the sentiments re: watching shows on Seven and Ten.
Seriously, how much must the (real) ratings suffer as everyone with Foxtel brushes the content they offer? With satellite you dont even get transmission of those stations at all so you have to switch over to your regular tuner. And having no EPG makes the IQ a waste of time for those stations.
Personally, I never watch them because it isn’t worth the hassle. I couldn’t even tell you what shows Seven and Ten have.
Richard
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 1:24 PMSeamus – it’s a pity you didn’t get invited to this launch. The local Gizmoids could have primed you with some terrific questions.
And the most obvious question is one you effectively posed for yourself: will Tivo in Australia be Tivo as known in North America? Or will it be crippled such that it just becomes a TV time-shifter without the ability to skip the ads?
Or here’s one for the conspiracy theorists: will the Tivo7 have ad-skip ability on all channels EXCEPT 7??
Seriously folks, if you want to enjoy free to air TV more than you have in he past, get out there and buy a Topfield or Beyonwiz, and get an ICE subscription. TV with HDD-based ad skip (even if you have to do the skipping yourself) is a liberating experience!
Penguinister
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 1:41 PMI hardly watch TV anymore, between Youtube/Liveleak and Democracy TV and the now and again DVD purchase or rental who has the time and Im not even mentioning on-line gaming.
Mikie
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 2:06 PMThere’s a very good reason Australia accounts for the majority of TV torrent traffic. The shows available over FTA generally suck to begin with. Why tivo/pvr something that’s 3 year old hand me down from the states when fresh fast torrents appear hours after the original broadcast.
Funky J
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 5:29 PMI’m confused.
I’m POSITIVE I saw my friends watching Football on Ch 10 through their foxtel IQ.
I thought that meant you can record Ch 10 on the unit, just have to do it manually… is that true?
But as Mikie says – FTA in Australia is really poor and torrents are the way to go for the moment.
Me
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 8:10 PMThis is old news…. try reading Whirlpool once in a while mate….
Mike
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 8:48 PMTV HD is great (in the US) and with the possiblity of adding a cable card (ok that is never gonna happen her in Oz) it can be an all in one box….BUT !!!! Seven/Yahoo are gonna cripple the shit out of this thing and make it useless… beware 7…for once you unleash the Tivo in Oz we will hack it back to functionality!! ;)
stevodude
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 8:37 AMI NEVER watch a show live on air with 7 or 10 , as the advertising is far too intrusive , and puts me off watching the actual show. Thats why I have 2 tuners and a java tv scheduler running in the background, and I can sit down sunday arvo and catchup on all my weekly shows ,and skip the annoying %60 of every hr is adds program… I seem to watch more and more sbs these days :-)
DrTerror
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 11:47 AMAmen to channels 7 to 10 not having anything decent to watch in the first place. Except Cops on Monday night- But we have the CI channel for that. How good is Cops hey.
Mr Buddy
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 11:49 AMA question for all!
If 7 and 10 did happen to give Foxtel their data, would Foxtel reciprocate for the TiVo, if there was a way of getting the signal from a Foxtel STB into the TiVo units that will come to Oz??
timeshifter!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007 at 9:36 AM“if there was a way of getting the signal from a Foxtel STB into the TiVo units that will come to Oz??”
There might not be, but if there *is* a way, you’ll still be in manual-record land… which is painfully annoying.
IceTV and a Beyonwiz or a media center all the way. Even if TiVo is as good as the US, it’s still only just as good as IceTV… or worse.
Head to head shoot out:
http://www.icetv.com.au/features.shtml
OCM
Wednesday, August 1, 2007 at 10:15 AMBringing tivo to australia isnt going to fix the bigger problems. If anything it could make them worse. The networks screwed australian tv along time ago.
I’ve had Austar for over a year now and even though i have to wait longer for some shows i get to see lots of really good shows that the major networks ignore and most of the time there are less ad’s on austar and the ads are much less annoying aswell.
Until networks start improving ads and showing more good content (reality tv i’m looking at you) tivo really wont make much difference.
As for tivo hardware….. 3 years ago maybe they had some good stuff but these days there hardware is basically inferior compared to what else is available. Beyonwiz have some awesome pvr’s on the market right now that make tivo’s look pretty average. Even a mac mini + EyeTV + IceTV setup is better then a tivo in my opinion (i use that setup)
JAmes
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 12:02 AMHi Folks
I am stuck on an Eyeland in the gulf, we have Austar on TV in our rooms…BUT since I work every night I seem to see just the usual rubbish.Can someone tell me if I can buy a gizmo to record shows onto my new IMac…????
shucks
Friday, May 8, 2009 at 9:17 AMI agree, Tivo in OZ does suck a major 1. Way over rated no tech support not enough or wrong info from sales people need I go on! Should I also mention its way over priced for no more then what it does, I mean a regular set top box could do the same thing. I recon 7 and all other involved in bringing tivo to oz should get their fingers out pull their heads in and sort this shit right out.