TiVo Buries the VCR 210
Biul drolly writes "Apparently, TiVo's marketing department had difficulty with figurative speech in school." Specifically, News.com reports that TiVo held a mock funeral for the VCR this week. From the article: "While the death of VCRs and the VHS format has been long expected, it may be a bit premature to announce its arrival. Some 97 million households still have at least one VCR, according to the International Recording Media Association. However, TiVo's stunt does point out how fragile the VCR market is. Panasonic and Toshiba still make VCRs, as do lesser-known companies such as Lite-On, a Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer that sells its recorders through Wal-Mart Stores. But several manufactures have quit making VCRs. Brian Lucas, a spokesman for Best Buy, said that the retailer carries less than 10 models of standalone VCRs now. Ten years ago, it carried more than two dozen."
And TiVo will be buried by... (Score:3, Insightful)
Marketting garbage for future technology (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh-huh. That's certainly a guarded comment (designed to make the death of the VCR look like it will occur much sooner then it will), how many models of VCR-included technology does the retailer have?
The amount of models isn't even that important, it's how many are being sold (and if they've made them last longer, even that isn't as important, although I doubt that they've improved it's longevity somehow).
The amount of people using alternate technologies to VCR's, while it's increased, is far from dominant in any market. And I'd hardly say that the VCR market is fragile. While VCRs with content are becoming less and less common, blank VCRs are still the most common (along with cheapest and easiest) method of recording content off the television. And Tivo can't expect to lead (or even be a major player) in the next generation of recording technology if they continue their trend of putting content disseminators before their customers.
In summary, the article twists facts to make VCRs look like they're going to become extinct much sooner then they actually will, and Tivo will need a HELL of a lot more publicity stunts if they continue with their current trend of kowtowing to content disseminators and hurting their customers.
it works.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I doubt those figures. (Score:5, Insightful)
My parents are finally decomissioning one of their two Betamax machines. Under both their TVs, they've had a VHS and a Beta for, well, decades. I bought them a DVD player for their anniversary two years ago, and they use it all the time, but it doesn't mean that they're just going to toss the VCR. Heck, they still get broadcast TV over a roof-top antenna!
For them to move to a new technology, it takes a pretty significant push. For them to actually ditch the old, it's got to be even greater. And with our aging population, I'll bet there are plenty of people--at least 97 million of them--who are more than happy to hold on to their old technology.
Parents? What about me, actually? I rarely use my VCR, but I still have it, and it works great for the rare occasions that I do record anything for later viewing. I sincerely doubt that I'll ever buy TiVo. However, I'd be happy to buy a non-subscription-based (i.e. per transaction) downloadable video rental and purchase system like Apple is doing with iTunes Video.
Videos, TV shows, podcasts, news headlines, sports highlights, political commentary. There's no reason why there should not be a huge market for a wide variety of downloadable content that traditionally would have gone over broadcast or cable.
They're not taking my VCR away! (Score:5, Insightful)
Explain to me again, why is the VCR dead?
VHS is dead (Score:3, Insightful)
I think quite a large potential market here is the hybrid system (VHS/DVD player), which is what my mother bought because she was afraid of DVDs. Nowadays she rents DVDs only, if the movie is on VHS she is cautious to rent it because she knows how bad the quality will (most likely) be.
Our school has also readily adopted DVDs and purchased a bunch of Macs for video editing and DVD burning, although I personally prefer an XP machine with Adobe Encore, it's a sign of the times.
Although I personally prefer to get my movies delivered direct through my Bittorrent and P2P.
Re:I doubt those figures. (Score:4, Insightful)
Right. And I'm assuming most/everyone you know is either very technically minded or has a lot of money. Because I doubt very much that a DVD recorder is the norm in America, with most people having a home theater PC (what do you mean by that?).
Over here in Australia the norm is a DVD and a VCR, with some people having a home theater big screen (although it isn't common by any stretch of the imagination). I imagine that America has a lot more DVR's (the only one I know of being sold in Australia is a proprietry one developed by a cable company that may or may not work with normal tv or other cable companies), I can't see DVD recorders being the norm. I know Australia's normally a little behind America, but I doubt it's that far behind.
DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Hubris (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And TiVo will be buried by... (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh well back to downloading torrents.....
Re:They're not taking my VCR away! (Score:3, Insightful)
You must be joking. Scratched DVDs can be resurfaced inexpensively, but a damaged VHS tape is damaged forever unless you want to send it off to some forensic lab. And have you ever had a damaged/dirty VCR "eat" your tape? Impossible with DVDs.
DVD the true killer. (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, I simply couldn't live without my ReplayTV and Moxi DVRs!
-Jim
http://gmailtips.com/ [gmailtips.com]
http://jimstips.com/ [jimstips.com]
It wasn't a TiVo (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I doubt those figures. (Score:4, Insightful)
Ah, yes. The reliable statistical technique of a *not remotely random sample*.
has at least a DVD player in their home, most actually having a DVD recorder
Then "everybody you know" isn't remotely representative. "Most people" don't have a DVD recorder in their home, if by "DVD recorder" you mean a standalone device, and not just a recordable DVD drive in their PC.
of some form and most having a home theater PC.
And "most people" still don't have a "home theater PC".
VHS died years ago.
Oh, this is even more clueless. It's not that VHS is *now* dead.... it's that VHS died *years ago*.
Yes, everyone stopped using VHS in 2001 because standalone DVD recorders were so widely available and cheap back then.
I'm not American, nor am I familiar with the intricacies of the American market. Bearing this in mind, I can still confidently say that your assertion that "VHS died years ago" is complete garbage.
Amongst your very niche-y, cliquey, enclosed group of early-adopting, tech-obsessed friends, perhaps. But Tivo, despite its fanatical following, was (and still is) dwarfed by VHS usage.
Of course, VHS users are likely to be less serious tech-fans/TV-viewers, and thus aren't as "prominent" or "fashionable"; but I can quite confidently tell you that despite all the fuss over PVRs and recordable DVD in the past few years, both those technologies were still relatively niche products. Only *now* are they getting to the point where they will replace VHS.
Don't even think about pointing out the obvious; that DVD players are ubiquitous, and have almost killed off the pre-recorded VHS market (possible exception being childrens' stuff). Of course they are, and of course it has.
You were discussing the *death* of VHS, and until recently there has been no competition for *recording* material.
I think we're at the point now where VHS really *will* be eaten alive by a combination of DVD recorders (the most obvious replacement for VHS recording), and PVRs (the most *suitable* replacement for what VHS is still used for- time-shifting; most people don't want to keep the stuff they watch, so removing the hassle of changing media and keeping it all in one place is what they *really* want- trust me).
For example, my local supermarket now sells a basic PVR with integrated "Freeview" (terrestrial digital) tuner for UK £99 (about US $170). If I hadn't already had a Freeview tuner, or if I'd been into time-shifting enough to make it worthwhile, I'd have snapped it up.
I predicted in early 2004 that Christmas 2005 would be the "tipping point" when PVRs (not DVD recorders so much) would put the final nail in the coffin of VHS by taking over its remaining use. PVRs, I guessed, would be the runaway success this Christmas that DVD players were 3 or so years ago.
Well, I'm not 100% sure if I was right about Christmas, but if the tipping point isn't right now, I'm still confident it'll be in the next 4-6 months.
Old news...in the UK at least (Score:3, Insightful)
The bigger story is how mutiple brands of hard disk recorders (whether Sky+ bought with your digital satellite service or standalone units) and, to a lesser extent, DVD recorders are rapidly replacing VHS. I've found that DVD recorders offer little more than VHS recorders really - whilst you tend to have a higher quality picture and random access, it's also slower to actually start recording on a DVD recorder and the media is, ironically, less reliable than VHS (very susceptible to scratches for instance).
Whilst Tivo is right that hard disk recorders are ushering in the death of VHS, they've got a lot of competition, particularly outside the US, where Tivo seems to have no presence at all now. Also, don't forget Net downloading, which doesn't require an overpriced "Windows Media PC" to do it either.
Re:And TiVo will be buried by... (Score:2, Insightful)
Unless the content can be enlarged to tv-size (and there are very large televisions out there ;) But let's say your average sized one) with no degredation (well, no quality-loss that a human can perceive anyway), I can't see the Itunes Video Store taking off.
At some point, the content will be TV-sized with no loss of quality. Bandwidth and storage sizes are increasing at an exponential rate (see this [useit.com] and this [sciam.com]). In five or ten years, I'd be surprised if cheap, extremely high-resolution TV shows and movies weren't avaliable for download, possibly even through the TV itself. Apple iTV, coming soon to a shop near you!
Re:And TiVo will be buried by... (Score:3, Insightful)