TiVo Gets Announced… Does Anybody Care?
We knew it was happening, but Channel 7 today officially launched the Australian version of TiVo. We weren’t there, but we’ve grabbed a copy of the press release and had a read of Asher Moses’ piece on SMH, and have to say that we’re not inspired.
For a start, the press release is full of smacktalk. Now, I know Channel 7 enjoys the smacktalk, but in a press release? Have a read for your self:
“The TiVo HD DVR brings you all the features, and more, that until now were only available to pay television customers. Why pay monthly fees for pay television when 56% of pay television viewing is on the free channels anyway?”
But the real disappointment isn’t in the press release. It’s in the details. Like the fact that some of TiVo’s core features will be gimped at launch, only to be switched on at a later date for a fee in the “tens of dollars”.
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Comments
Fail
This thing is expensive, but I played with one in america and its amazing. I wish we had it sooner. Paying one time with no monthly fees makes it much simpler I agree. I hope it is as great as the american version or I will be very disappointed.
Epic Fail
If consumers actually bought product launches instead of products, then you can’t imagine many punters lining up after today’s underwhelming launch.
As it was, Tivo picked a bad month to launch down under.
Launching the Tivo within days or weeks of the Apple iPhone’s launch in Australia is a little like holding your birthday party on Christmas Day. If you’re lucky, people might remember your birthday but don’t expect them to turn up for the party.
There won’t be a hotter, sexier, more in demand consumer electronics device released this year and possibly the next. I’m not suggesting for one minute that Tivo and the iPhone compete against each other. We’re talking two clearly different product categories, but in the battle for newspaper inches, broadcast bites, and the ultimate competition for your hard earned money, Tivo just lost.
Over at http://incompletegamer.com you can find Ten reasons to Skip Tivo’s Aussie Launch. And in the interest of fairness (or perhaps we’re just fickle) we’ve also come up with Ten Reasons to be First in Line.
Agreed- Fail
Any news on when the ps3 dvr attachment is to come out in Australia? that should look like a bargin in comparison. PS3 the gift that keeps on giving!
Not just fail, epic fail.
Most people would be like “who the hell is tivo? Ive got foxtel, why would i want this tivo”
Foxtel iQ2 for the win!
Absolute Epic Fail
I don’t Care
I dont know anything about the tivo, never been interested since it wasnt available here. But if it has two full hd tuners for 700 I would get one. Id rather watch tv on 1080p than download it which is what im doing. But if I cant skip ads then no way
You are better off investing some of this cash when you are upgrading your PC and getting a dual HD Tuner card and Windows Media Centre or Myth TV (or one of the other variants) and beef up the HD space. The problem with off the shelf PVR’s is they really shaft you on the HD storage.
You can get a 500Gb drive to add to your PC for $79 or 1Tb for $184.
So i was thinking “tivo or beyonwiz”…. an easy decision now! bup-boynnnne
yeah FAIL!
I would buy it if they can confirm the fee’s now!
if I am going to buy it want the full set of features otherwise cut the price in half!
i can live with the ads but not a monthly fee!
i wont be getting this without a major harvey norman price reduction
I cared up to the point where they said they would be crippled. Shame on you Seven. Although I’m sure those internet boffins will help me crack that shell open…
I paid around $500 to import a Series 1 and jam it full of hard drive platters, so a dual HD tuner box at $700 seems *almost* fair…
I wont be buying it from Hardly Normal…
Very disappointing. I can’t understand how the boffins at Tivo and Ch7 can’t see that they have to pull out ALL the stops for this product to work. Instead it looks like they phoned this one in. Releasing an extremely expensive (lets face it), featureless product like this just puts you straight into the also-ran category and these days that doesn’t cut it.
Think about how you get this thing to sell: You have to appeal to the technologically savvy and early adopters. Get them excited, they buy them and recommend it to all their friends. You have to get noticed otherwise you end up on the bargin shelf along with all the other me-too DVRs. Appealing to the ‘recommenders’ crowd is vital and I can’t see too many queuing up for this one on July 29th (if there even is a queue).
And another thing: I have to believe Tivo is hugely popular in the states because of its interface and its ability to sift through the vast amounts of programming and figure out what you might want to watch. With a grand total of 5 FTA channels (forgetting the arguably carbon copy HD channels for a second) this really isn’t a draw card. If it hooked up to Foxtel, perhaps but with only the FTA channels the predictive recording features are pretty close to useless (For me anyway). Thats one of its biggest features rendered almost moot.
So I agree with Simon, this one is definitely a Fail.
yup. fail.
I’ve used a hacked version of TiVo for ages (cost me about $399 2 years ago). This new one is a massive rip off, even more so if they hobble it. Buy a PS3 and you get much much more for the same price. In September Sony are releasing PlayTV for the PS3, which effectively turns the PS3 into PVR exactly like TiVo but without the amputations. Don’t let them rip you off! It’s not worth the price. Even with the PS3 option, there are other unrestricted PS3s out there. Punish Channel Seven for their hubris!They’re only a TV station after all, certainly not an electronics company.
wow thats so sad, I have a series 1 and love it, but at $700 no way am I going to pay for a crippled ti
Wow, I feel like what I’m about to say is sacrilege, however…
I’m sold.
$700 for a box that’ll do everything a MCE will do. It’s cheaper (I recently priced a media centre at over $1000) and it’s more (retard) user-friendly.
Plus we get screwed here in Perth, Foxtel doesn’t re-broadcast 7, 9 or 10 so I still have a gap in the recording department.
So sign me up, I’ll take two.
$700 seems like a lot, but if you look at the other “smart” HD PVRs on the market in Australia it’s about as cheap as it gets. The Topfield TF7100HDPVRt is supposed to be RRP $899, and the Beyonwiz units are over $1000.
Why is everyone playing this down so much?
Think of the soccer mums and grandmas out there. This is a viable product for people who don’t know how to plug in their VCR.
TiVo was never intended for the tech-minded on a gadget website.
1. There has been NO indication of add-skipping being blocked except for one rumor early on in a questionable report. They’ve mentioned fast forwarding repeatedly, there is no reason to believe fast-forwarding would be blocked during ads.
2. Even without the networking features the TiVo still has more features than the Foxtel iQ2 and other competitors. According to news reports the fee for the features will be ‘tens of dollars’. Note that in the US TiVo Desktop Plus is USD$24.95. So if they’re including the capabilities of TiVo Desktop Plus in that fee, it doesn’t sound unreasonable. (TiVo Desktop Plus includes the transcoding support needed to load videos onto iPods and other PMPs, transcoding video the other way for the TiVo, etc.)
3. The Sonly PlayTV for the PS3 looks interesting, but saying it is ‘exactly like TiVo’ is ridiculous. Based on everything Sony has released regarding the PlayTV, it is a very limited DVR device. And it is not usable while you’re using the PS3 for something else – like gaming. It lacks most of the features of TiVo – even without the broadband add-ons. It is an interesting add-on, but it is not a full-featured DVR solution.
4. I’ve seen geeks in the US make the same mistakes I’m reading here. Which isn’t surprising given Gizmodo’s audience. This is aimed at the general market, not ubergeeks. If building your own DVR is an option for you – you’re not in the target market. It is that simple. Geeks always want all the bells and whistles – I’m a geek too – but the general market looks for solid products that are easy to use. Seven is going to be pouring millions into promoting TiVo during the Olympics, that’ll give it a big boost.
5. As for TiVo vs. the iPhone. The only thing they really compete for are consumer dollars. That’s not a huge concern. As for press coverage – have you seen the number of articles already? the press is fickle – unless you launch within a couple of days of another major product it doesn’t really matter. Perhaps that’s why they did the press launch today, to get the stories out there before the iPhone launch.
BTW, the ‘TiVo’ link at the bottom of the article is broken. You typo’d ‘com’ as ‘vom’.
Why would I get this for $700????? There are only 3 things a week worth watching and it won’t let me skip the ads like my PVR.
Also, I wonder if it will suggest crappy shows from Channel Seven despite me never watching anything on that channel?
I had a series 1 in the US, with DirectTV it was the only way to sort the signal out of 400+ channels of noise.
The aussie Tivo will only work with 5 FTA channels (not even IR extend cable/satellite boxes like the US versions). It may offer internet downloads for an undisclosed additional fee in a market that has already accepted monthly bandwidth caps lower than most SD movies.
Really? Is this the best you guys could do? seriously?
very disappointing.
I had high hopes for Tivo but $700 is way too expensive for something that will only be able to record from 5 channels… where do Seven get 15 channels from? all the HD channels pretty much show the same rubbish as the other channels. If i could connect it to a foxtel box i would consider it but as it look, no way. And adding extra undisclosed fees is really bad
A certain Failure, channel 7.