TiVo added to DVD recorders

[tygrus2000]

June 25 — Pioneer Electronics is hoping to raise the profile of digital video recording services by adding TiVo’s service to its line of DVD recorders. The Long Beach, Calif.-based electronics arm of Tokyo’s Pioneer announced Wednesday two new DVD recorders that incorporate TiVo’s digital video recorder (DVR) service.


THE DEVICES WILL be available in the fall and will allow consumers to pause TV programs and schedule recording onto a hard drive as well as record shows onto DVD-R (DVD-recordable) and DVD-RW (DVD-rewritable) discs.

The drives are among the first from a major manufacturer to offer DVR- and DVD-recording capabilities and are expected to boost consumer interest in digital video recording. DVR services, though popular among subscribers, have not seen the success that many expected early on. Now, however, the service is beginning to catch on with consumers. DVD recorders are one of the more popular consumer electronics devices in the market, and as prices come down, demand is expected to grow.
Worldwide shipments of DVD recorders reached 1.5 million in 2002 and should increase to more than 11 million in 2005, according to research firm In-Stat/MDR. Shipments are expected to rise significantly as manufacturers begin to add DVR features to their products.


Pioneer’s new DVR-810H DVD recorder comes with an 80GB drive and costs $1,199, while the DVR-57H has a 120GB drive and is priced at $1,800. Both will include the TiVo basic service, which does not require a monthly fee for the DVR service but does allow consumers to upgrade to the full TiVo service so they can access a 14-day program guide among other features. The devices come with a 181-channel cable TV tuner, and consumers will be able to transfer content on VCR tapes to DVD-R or DVD-RW discs by connecting a VCR via analog inputs to the recorder.
“At these prices, they aren’t making a play for the mass market,” said Greg Ireland, an analyst with research firm IDC. “However, this is an indication of a trend where DVR can be added to other products to distinguish one company’s product from another’s.”

Pioneer rivals Toshiba and Sony Electronics also have licensed TiVo’s service and technology and have been developing products that use the DVR service.
In related news, TiVo announced that carmaker Chrysler will air content promoting its new 2004 Crossfire vehicle on the TiVo service. Potential consumers will be able to request more information on the sports coupe and schedule a recording of five short films featuring the car. The content will be available on recorders using the TiVo service starting July 8 to July 22.

[tygrus2000]

Why can companies make devices and software that supposedly perform illegal acts and they never get touched. It always the user that gets targeted for some reason.

Tygrus

[oldfart13]

Since Tivo is not available outside the USA, what good is this to me in Canada??

I'd settle for the 002H if it can control an external box like a satellite receiver or a digital cable decoder...

[thayne]

You know why DVR's haven't taken off???? They cost too much!

$1,199, yeah right! I could build a kick ass PC that will do exactly the same thing, plus play games, surf, email, etc, etc....

[Craig Tucker]

Since Tivo is not available outside the USA, what good is this to me in Canada??

I'd settle for the 002H if it can control an external box like a satellite receiver or a digital cable decoder...

Not quite

At the moment TiVo is only available in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In the UK it was officially launched in October 2000 and it currently available from most branches of Dixons or Currys, as well as places such as John Lewis and some independent electrical retailers as well.

[sammie]

@ Tygrus - Actually it's not true that companies get away with it. Sonic Blue was sued into bankruptcy for supporting network availability of recorded material and a commercial skip button(ok, other things at work but...) The movie companies are not at all happy about this direction and that is one of the things that has delayed digital and HDTV roll outs. Movie and other content owners are threatening to withold content until either such devices are banned or are fitted with copy protection. One of the big targets has been"hacked" TiVos which have network cards and make files available to the network. I know other commercial products are getting close to this, but it was a really big deal for a while that this was possible and even more so that TiVo while not encouraging it was certainly smiling and looking the other way and if anything making the Bashing (bad pun) of the units if anything easier.

[SHS]

I wouldn't touch this thing even if where give to me free I'm beating there going change money for each disk you record ho and off there rocker any way only fools will buy this BS.

[oldfart13]

You know why DVR's haven't taken off???? They cost too much!

$1,199, yeah right! I could build a kick ass PC that will do exactly the same thing, plus play games, surf, email, etc, etc....

Pioneer is an elite brand. For cheap DVRs, check brands like Apex and RCA. Even Panasonic standalones have come way down in the past 2 years. People buying standalone DVD recorders are doing so to replace their VHS equipment. They probably also have computers. That's what I'm trying to do, get away from the VHS decks I have (no more room for tapes, as I have over 5,000 now) and get into a more compact format for the future. Also, most people are not as technically inclined as yourself and can't build things. Programming for devices must be as simple as possible for the general public.

At the moment TiVo is only available in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In the UK it was officially launched in October 2000 and it currently available from most branches of Dixons or Currys, as well as places such as John Lewis and some independent electrical retailers as well.

Still doesn't help me in Canada. You'd think with our close proximity to the US, they'd market such things but there are a lot of things available just 40 miles from me (I'm that close to the US border) that will never be available in this country. And the Japanese are no help either since they are marketing many items that should be modified for use outside of Japan but for whatever reason are not. The control of external boxes in these standalone DVD recorders is a pet peeve of many people. Hard to believe that the VCR I bought 6 months ago for $30 can do it, but the almost $2,000 CAD Pioneer DVD recorder can't! What's wrong with that picture???