Microsoft unleashes their TiVo killer

January 8, 2001 2:26 PM

Microsoft unleashes their TiVo killer and it looks like it has everything you could ever want in a personal video recorder. Two tuners so you can tape one thing and watch another, DSS, 35 hours of recording time, and webtv/email functionality. Is it too much or will TiVo owners want these increased features?
posted by mathowie (15 comments total)

It looks as though it's completely linked to DirecTV service, which could hinder it's acceptance. (certainly by me at least)

Not to mention the li'l copyright to WebTV Networks Inc. I'm forced to shudder at that name. :-)
posted by cCranium at 2:31 PM on January 8, 2001

Looks like their OnMouseOut status adjustors aren't working correctly. As I glanced at my status bar while pointing at nothing, I saw "What is UltimateTV?". Guess they aren't sure either...
posted by pnevares at 2:44 PM on January 8, 2001

ultimatetv.com used to be a very useful (to me atleast, when I was working in TV) resource for TV news, jobs, and research. What happened to it?
posted by LeiaS at 2:55 PM on January 8, 2001

Ah, the dot-com fallout. :)
Wasn't log ago when www.ultimatetv.com was a TV portal and listings site.

No way I'm getting DirecTV, tho'. When are these things going to drop to $299?
posted by teradome at 3:00 PM on January 8, 2001

I don't like DirectTV, too evil. heh.
So far, I like dishplayer the most.
posted by tiaka at 3:01 PM on January 8, 2001

The big question - how will its sound effects compare with TiVo's?
posted by gluechunk at 3:16 PM on January 8, 2001

Turned my Tivo sounds off months ago - waaaaayyy too annoying.

I've also found that Tivo has spoiled me - I find myself looking for the pause/rewind buttons while listening to NPR on the radio on the drive home - as in "wait, what did she just say?". I'm always bummed when I realize that it's not my Tivo, just a lousy car stereo ;)

posted by kokogiak at 3:26 PM on January 8, 2001

I have the Philips DirecTV reciever with integrated TiVo, and it's pretty damn cool. If nothing else, this new entry by Microsoft should spur TiVo to release the software update to activate the second damn tuner already. Of course, I guess maybe they'd also like to roll out the 2.0 software to all the older TiVo users first.
posted by kindall at 3:30 PM on January 8, 2001

No ethernet port. That's a dealbreaker for me.
posted by dandot at 3:48 PM on January 8, 2001

Yeah, that second tuner is the killer app for digital record devices. But for that, TiVo would be nearly perfect.
posted by norm at 4:28 PM on January 8, 2001

It has two USB ports with planned support for DSL modems (future software update)...
posted by tomalak at 4:43 PM on January 8, 2001

LeiaS: The old UltimateTV is now Zap2It
posted by owillis at 5:33 PM on January 8, 2001

The second tuner isn't that big of a deal - the only real need is to be able to record two programs at the same time. You can already record one show and watch a different one using the TV or VCR tuners.. See what you really need is to add a DVD burner so you can record onto a DVD and get rid of the VCR completely.

What we also need is an authorized hard drive upgrade.
posted by rich at 8:06 AM on January 9, 2001

Thanks, owillis!
posted by LeiaS at 8:32 AM on January 9, 2001