Apple-TV just got totally out done by Tivo.
Tivo, Amazon unveil download deal
This is a total shellacking. I said from the get go that TV needed DVR capabilities, and now there is a DVR with a movie rental download service for $1.99 per movie. How many movies does on watch more than once usually anyway? I'm sure a bunch are gong to argue that TV is still better, but hardware wise. I don't think so. Tivo series 3 is an HD DVR with MOvie download capabilities. I'm wondering what Apple will do with TV 2nd generation system, because this one IMO still sucks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by By Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service
Owners of Tivo’s popular digital video recorders (DVR) will soon be able to download films and television shows for rental and purchase from Amazon.com, the two companies announced Wednesday.
“Amazon Unbox on Tivo” is an extension of Amazon Unbox, the online retailer’s digital download service launched in September. Neither company indicated a launch date for the service, except to indicate that it was now available for beta testing.
Tivo owners must have a Series 2 or Series 3 DVR, an Amazon.com account, and a broadband connection to use the service. Tivo said about 1.5 million of its machines are enabled to use it.
Episodes of television programs will sell for $1.99 each, with films priced between $9.99 and $14.99. Films can be rented for $1.99. A record of all purchases will be kept both on the DVR and in the user’s Amazon.com, account, the company said.
Amazon said content would be available from film and television studios including CBS, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Owners of Tivo’s popular digital video recorders (DVR) will soon be able to download films and television shows for rental and purchase from Amazon.com, the two companies announced Wednesday.
“Amazon Unbox on Tivo” is an extension of Amazon Unbox, the online retailer’s digital download service launched in September. Neither company indicated a launch date for the service, except to indicate that it was now available for beta testing.
Tivo owners must have a Series 2 or Series 3 DVR, an Amazon.com account, and a broadband connection to use the service. Tivo said about 1.5 million of its machines are enabled to use it.
Episodes of television programs will sell for $1.99 each, with films priced between $9.99 and $14.99. Films can be rented for $1.99. A record of all purchases will be kept both on the DVR and in the user’s Amazon.com, account, the company said.
Amazon said content would be available from film and television studios including CBS, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment.
This is a total shellacking. I said from the get go that TV needed DVR capabilities, and now there is a DVR with a movie rental download service for $1.99 per movie. How many movies does on watch more than once usually anyway? I'm sure a bunch are gong to argue that TV is still better, but hardware wise. I don't think so. Tivo series 3 is an HD DVR with MOvie download capabilities. I'm wondering what Apple will do with TV 2nd generation system, because this one IMO still sucks.
Comments
The $1.99 rental is nice, and I'd like to see Apple implement it for movies and TV shows. Otherwise, it seems like a very different type of service: Can you display your photos and play your music through it?
Yes! iTunes songs in the demo. I'm sure those are imported, and not bought from iTMS, but there is TiViTunes which is a utility which will publish (export) your iTunes playlists so that TiVo can play them.
http://www.tivo.com/1.0.demo.asp
IMO Apple should have bought tivo. They were cheap. Probably still are, and they have the best DVR Menu, and remote.
OK, that is cool. Does it work with a wireless network?
Yes! watch and lisen to the old demo. It's all there.
Fist WalMart announces a video service with all 6 major studios. Makes the iTunes deal with 1 studio look pale in comparison.
Now Tivo is taking the wind out of the Apple TV.
Can Apple match this, or are they falling a step behind?
What kind of deals has Amazon made with the movie studios for downloadable content?
I'm not sure but I think they have more than Apple.
Apple is really under pressure here. This makes 2 announcements today that really put Apple in the "need to catch up" position.
Fist WalMart announces a video service with all 6 major studios. Makes the iTunes deal with 1 studio look pale in comparison.
Now Tivo is taking the wind out of the Apple TV.
Can Apple match this, or are they falling a step behind?
Everyone in here knows I saw this coming. AppleTV just wasn't that exciting of a hardware product IMO, and I was very vocal about it. Tivo is 3 Generations ahead of Apple TV now. They will probably try and strike up a deal with Wallmart too, and really become the service to have. Apple should have bought them up, or had a better product the first time around. But buying Tivo would have put them in a better spot because Tivo has a name that people know, and that would have made for some serious speculation from reporters, and also the fact that everyone that has a Tivo swears by them. My DVR is a Scientific Atlanta, but my Cable company, cox, is going to start using the Tivo software and menu systems in all their new boxes because users demanded it. That should happen sometime within the next two months.
I'm sure Apple wanted the Wal-Mart deal to happen. Now Apple is free to do what it wants without complaint from Wal-Mart. Apple likely has a better plan for future execution.
Tivo and Amazon. Tivo has far less mind share in the general market that the iPod. Apple can leverage the iPod name in favor of Apple TV. And Amazon. Amazons movie service was panned by most of the tech industry as seriously bad. Few people in the general market even know it exists. Given the few people who own Tivo's and the fewer people who use Amazon movie downloads, I don't think this is much of a threat.
I agree though that Apple should work with others to add services to Apple TV. At this point its impossible to say they are not.
And as far as the Tivo interface being used by cable operator set-top boxes (which is how the vast majority of DVR owners actually come to have them): so what? Do you think cable operators are going to let you use Amazon downloads instead of their own video on demand services?
Just offering stuff doesn't make it a success.
Huge surprise, at that point digital downloads of TV content took off.
So of course they go with Walmart first. I mean, it makes perfect sense: look at the Walmart shopper demographic, then look at the broadband using demographic with the tech savy and hardware to get into downloading feature films instead of renting DVDs.
Yep, that's a match made in heaven.
Actually, if I could download American Idol (has to be in real time, so the wife and kids get a chance to vote before bedtime), High Stakes Poker, and Anthony Bordain from apple, then I would drop DirecTv and just use Apple period.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/19/vid...markets06.html
Agreed. Did we all suddenly get amnesia regarding the suckitude of "Unbox"? You know, the indifferent to clunky UI, the onerous terms of service, being forced to download the proprietary player that calls home to keep tabs on your doings and which can decided to stop playing your purchased content if it decides you're up to no good?
And as far as the Tivo interface being used by cable operator set-top boxes (which is how the vast majority of DVR owners actually come to have them): so what? Do you think cable operators are going to let you use Amazon downloads instead of their own video on demand services?
Just offering stuff doesn't make it a success.
Have you used Unbox? Personally I don't regularly use Unbox or iTunes for video downloads because unless I can view the media on my home theatre it's useless to me. I have used both services just to check them out and I don't think the Unbox service is bad at all. I was definitely going to purchase an AppleTV until I saw this announcement.
Unbox + Tivo gives me:
1) Larger selection of content
2) Higher resolution videos. (Does iTunes do 5.1 channel sound?)
3) Remote Purchase...I can go on Amazon.com ANYWHERE and the videos will be ready for me when I get home. For that feature I'm willing to have a piece of software running on my comp and I'm not at all worried about security issues with Amazon.com. Sounds like a red herring to me.
4) Ability to play my music wirelessly over my home network using an on-screen UI. This was a big selling point for AppleTV for me...but Tivo does it too apparently.
5) Best-of-breed DVR functionality.
Also, for me personally the Unbox video downloads are blazing fast. They don't offer "streaming" but the downloads are so fast for me I can start a movie about 15 minutes after starting a download and watch it as it downloads.
So basically it does everything the AppleTV does, plus I get best-of-breed DVR, with higher resolution videos and larger selection, for cheaper (Series 2 tivo is $229)? Come on...you'd have to be blind not to see that this is simply a better offering than AppleTV *at this point*.
Have you used Unbox? Personally I don't regularly use Unbox or iTunes for video downloads because unless I can view the media on my home theatre it's useless to me. I have used both services just to check them out and I don't think the Unbox service is bad at all. I was definitely going to purchase an AppleTV until I saw this announcement.
Unbox + Tivo gives me:
1) Larger selection of content
2) Higher resolution videos. (Does iTunes do 5.1 channel sound?)
3) Remote Purchase...I can go on Amazon.com ANYWHERE and the videos will be ready for me when I get home. For that feature I'm willing to have a piece of software running on my comp and I'm not at all worried about security issues with Amazon.com. Sounds like a red herring to me.
4) Ability to play my music wirelessly over my home network using an on-screen UI. This was a big selling point for AppleTV for me...but Tivo does it too apparently.
5) Best-of-breed DVR functionality.
Also, for me personally the Unbox video downloads are blazing fast. They don't offer "streaming" but the downloads are so fast for me I can start a movie about 15 minutes after starting a download and watch it as it downloads.
So basically it does everything the AppleTV does, plus I get best-of-breed DVR, with higher resolution videos and larger selection, for cheaper (Series 2 tivo is $229)? Come on...you'd have to be blind not to see that this is simply a better offering than AppleTV *at this point*.
Wow, your first post is....... an ad for the new Amazon/Tivo download service. Within hours of its announcement.
So do they pay you cash or is it just discounts on services?
1. Will it output composite or s-video?
2. Will it operate without paying the DVR tax? (i.e. the monthly fee)
3. What does a standalone Tivo cost?
4. Can I transfer movies and photos from my Mac to the Tivo?
Oh, and as far as the Walmart deal: as usual the studios are clueless. They did the same thing with TV content, trying to do it themselves, making deals with random providers, pretty much just wallowing around in the weeds until they (it would appear grudgingly) put their stuff up at the iTunes Store. ...
The studios have their problems, but they are not clueless. It is just that when you don't stay in Mom's basement, you get different clues. Wal-Mart controls substantial segments of the entertainment dollar. Sam Walton's baby is the largest retailer of DVDs in the country. Every video game on the market has been approved by Wal-Mart and no video game goes on sale anywhere in any store unless Wal-Mart gives its approval.
Get the idea? The studios run afoul of Wal-Mart at their own risk. I expect more to sign-up with the iTMS as time goes on. Now that NBC-Universal has Jeff Zucker at the helm, things should speed up substantially.
Questions about this Tivo box:
1. Will it output composite or s-video?
2. Will it operate without paying the DVR tax? (i.e. the monthly fee)
3. What does a standalone Tivo cost?
4. Can I transfer movies and photos from my Mac to the Tivo?
http://www.tivo.com/1.0.demo.asp
For crissakes man. Is it that hard?