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- meshman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+32"The Ultimate DVR Features:"
I've had one of these for more than 5 years. It's called hooking up a PC to your TV. It contains all the features listed in the article. - opnickc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28Sorry to hijack, but here's the full article (I think it's going down)
The DVR of the future
On Thursday I said that Media Extender’s will have a short life span and here is the reason. Not so far in the future, maybe within 3-5 years we will have one enabling device that will do absolutely everything. No longer will we have several black boxes of circuit boards all connected together by a mish mash of cables, we’ll have one device: The Ultimate DVR.
The Ultimate DVR Features:
1. Record TV and schedule recordings
2. Smart recording where the DVR chooses the best shows for you to watch based on what you watch, the actors you like etc.
3. An all in-one recordable HD DVD and Blu-ray drive.
4. Fast forward and rewind live TV
5. Ability to receive to OTA broadcasts and IPTV broadcasts
6. Ability to play all media from any PC in the house over a home network
7. A built in browser for internet surfing
8. A built podcast/vodcast aggregator so you can subscribe to online radio and TV shows
9. Ability to send live TV, recorded TV, and video from anywhere on your network, over the internet, so you can watch TV anywhere (like a Slingbox).
10. A built in smart TV guide that highlights shows of interest to you and also connects you to related internet video.
11. An instant recommendation feature that tells you the best thing to watch right now (a recording, a live TV show, an on-demand show, or a vodcast), you can specify genre.
12. A unified search which searches media on your home network, recorded shows, TV schedule, online video and vodcasts.
13. A video on demand service where you can rent and buy movies online direct from your TV and save them to you DVR.
14. Ability to upload your videos and recordings to a website to share with other people who use that DVR.
15. Integration with popular Portable Media Players (PMPs) so you can take video on the move.
16. Ability to control any PC on your home network and view that PC as if you are using it.
17. An in-built games console for playing games, you can play games online and buy and download games online through your TV.
18. A hefty hard-drive with the ability to use Network Attached Storage or hard drives on other PCs if you need to.
Can you think of anything else to add? - Wolfie351, on 10/12/2007, -0/+174. Fast forward and rewind live TV
Wow, sports betting would take on a whole new level if you could fast forward live TV - Ahnteis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13The only thing stopping HTPCs from recording HD cable is the cable companies refusal to sell cablecard2 PCI cards.
- KeithBarrett, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14Sure sounds a lot like MythTV, so I guess the future was a long time ago
- Wolfie351, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Yes, you can get HDTV off cable without renting their box...QAM
And, Tivo can't do squat compared to HTPC systems - DanCMH, on 10/12/2007, -3/+134. Fast forward and rewind live TV
Of course to utilize the fast forward feature the box will need to be strapped to the top of a DeLorean doing at least 88 miles per hour... - AceTracer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13So MythTV can record HDTV off cable now?
By the way, TiVo does most of these things already. - kingkilr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Yes, the FCC mandates that your cable provider must provide a Box with Firewire upon your request, MythTV can record off firewire.
- rheaume, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9"This looks a lot like what Microsoft and Sony are doing"
How is Sony trying to do this? - belly917, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@acetracer
if we're going to be technical.. recording HDTV from a cable provider wasn't specifically listed. Besides, don't blame mythtv for the artificial restrictions that your cable company is forcing on your service.
Also, show me a tivo or cable/dish supplied DVR that can do at least all of the following:
6. Ability to play all media from any PC in the house over a home network
8. A built podcast/vodcast aggregator so you can subscribe to online radio and TV shows
9. Ability to send live TV, recorded TV, and video from anywhere on your network, over the internet, so you can watch TV anywhere (like a Slingbox).
17. An in-built games console for playing games, you can play games online and buy and download games online through your TV.
18. A hefty hard-drive with the ability to use Network Attached Storage or hard drives on other PCs if you need to. - Mootabolife, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Why not build the damn DVR into the TV with an upgradeable HD and get it over with.
- gharding, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6So.. basically what my current HTPC does now? Awesome. I'm the future!
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I know you're being a smartass, but "fast forward live TV" means you can fast forward *up to the present*, after you've rewound/paused.
If you can rewind, then of course you can fast forward. Rewind on its own isn't much good, is it? - niradg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4is there anything listed there that you can't do with a Home Theater PC? Whether you use MythTV or Windows MCE, i think just about everything on that list is doable in some fashion.
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I see a Tivo "glitch" maybe 3 times a year, and I've been using the same series one box for ages. That makes it a hell of a lot more reliable than your average windows PC... Sounds like you've got a ***** unit from a ***** manufacturer, or something.
- davidlow, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Oh puhleeease! Microsoft and Sony? They're both wishlist companies. They have a history of talking about how wonderful the future is just before releasing some crippled advertainment product. Each new feature on their list is implemented by adding a menu option or a button and then looking us in the eye and saying, "Tadaa!"
- dcmjzero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3agreed. this is not a hardware problem (unless you are talking about hdtv), it is a software and drm problem. THIS COULD BE DONE RIGHT NOW, but whoever tried to market it would be sued out of existence for violating patents and/or facilitating piracy.
on the whole hdtv thing, cable cards are not allowed in computers (unless they bend over backwards ala sony). once again, fears of piracy. - wjglenn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The real problem is that many people (myself included) would much rather have components. I want my DVR to be a DVR. I want my games console to be a games console. And I want my DVD player to be a DVD player.
When my DVD breaks, I don't want to be out my whole entertainment center to get it repaired. I want to repair the DVD player or just buy a new one. When new components come out, I want to be able to buy a new component instead of a new all-in-one system. And god forbid they build it into the television. Talk about having all your eggs in one basket.
I like many of the ideas on the list, but I really don't want an all-in-one device unless (like a computer) it's easy for me to build it myself and upgrade it when I need to. - golgo13, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5No digg, this looks like a bunch of "features" someone vomited-up without actually thinking about things or knowing what's out there.
"Smart recording where the DVR chooses the best shows for you to watch based on what you watch, the actors you like etc." No thanks, how about we compare what other people, who have similar tastes are watching, and make suggestions based on that.
"Ability to play all media from any PC in the house over a home network" Nah, how about the ability to move content over to my box. I already have one computer on, why add 5 to that equation?
"An instant recommendation feature that tells you the best thing to watch right now (a recording, a live TV show, an on-demand show, or a vodcast), you can specify genre." Ok, this actually sounds pretty cool. It really looks like this idea is repeated three different times in three different ways.
"A unified search which searches media on your home network, recorded shows, TV schedule, online video and vodcasts." I don't understand this idea at all. I don't want my porn popping up by accident. I'd really just prefer the ability to move media to the box as I choose. I can't see needing a search function, and it seems pretty out of the bounds of what I want from a media server.
"Ability to upload your videos and recordings to a website to share with other people who use that DVR." Hello, do you really want to add some sort of virtual propriety to the system? How about, the ability to upload any media I choose to a web site to share with other people.
"Ability to control any PC on your home network and view that PC as if you are using it." What would be the point? If I'm remotely controlling a computer in my own home, through my T.V. and media server, then I'm already not watching television.
I built a MythTV and love it, but if I have to see another person mention, "my MythTV already does this," one more time I'm going to vomit my own list of things MythTV can't or doesn't do well or at all. - IMustBeEmo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@merreborn,
Maybe normal TiVos work better than DirecTivos? Because our DirecTivo, and this is the eighth one mind you, is always glitching, constantly has problems, and many times it's as slow as a dancing sloth. - rasterbator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I do not think the device needs a hefty hard drive. It needs enough temporary storage. The home server would need the hard drive space, but it would need to be like a modular RAID, so that you could add space quickly and easily.
- whiledo, on 03/25/2009, -0/+3@kingkilr
I remember looking this up from a while back. I'm pretty sure they weren't required to output any channels on firewire other than the "must carry" channels - so no Discovery, Comedy Central, HBO. But you could get ABC-HD, CBS-HD, etc. - surfing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+219. A Wii like remote.
- fortressgame, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4hate to promote microsoft but you can pretty much do this all with windows media center edition, and i understand vista too.
what you can't do today could be coded onto it since it seems to be open and easy to do. - GamerzCorner, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6This looks a lot like what Microsoft and Sony are doing. They already do a lot of the things listed on the wish list and a majority of the ones they don't have are currently in development. I hope to see this come along sooner than later!
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@belly917
Tivo actually has at least partial support for all those features, as of series two. You can play video off your PC, via the network. You can watch podcasts. It's got some rudimentary gaming. And you can move video from it to your PC with "TivoToGo": http://www.tivo.com/4.9.4.1.asp
There's certainly ample room for improvement, but tivo 2/3 can do a hell of a lot. - whiledo, on 03/25/2009, -0/+2@dcmjzero
I don't think it's accurate to say it could be done right now (implying it's just a problem of cracking the DRM). They wouldn't even bother outputting the encrypted signal on the firewire port, only the unencrypted ones.
Or am I missing something in your post? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's kind of like what Tivo could do if they didn't have their balls in a regulatory vice.
- grgt1994, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That's a nice wish list there. Problem is, this is the opposite of the actual trend in A/V and entertainment gear. The more likely scenario is that the DVR of the future will be far less featured than TiVo of today. And the other devices will become more limited in scope and function, meaning we will actually need more, not fewer devices. Finally, the dream of erasing the mess of cables will be supplanted by the reality of constantly evolving DRM crippled technologies necessitating a series of different types of ports just to assure we can connect all this "must have" gear.
Can't wait. - yoshihama, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@ rasterbator
If this 'box' has all of these features, wouldn't it seem that it IS the home server, and would therefore need the huge hard drive space? - loganhid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1''Fast forward and rewind live TV''
fast forward LIVE tv? - SomaSynth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Some people call this DVR of the future a 'computer'.
- skeeve, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3agreed. Plus you're guaranteed the ability to upgrade whenever you want for free. There's open-source (or hacked ;-) ) ways to do all the TiVo/downloading/uploading/slingboxing/gaming etc for free. Basically the hardware is going to be maybe a little more (less if you choose say gaming to not be so important), and all the software is free and you can use whatever combination of the two you prefer... And you can even get the micro-ATX pc's that look like a cable box or dvd-player or whatever so it won't look weird in your living room.
- rooke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Am I the only one who after getting; rid of junk, the stuff that could never work right, and stuff I would never have a need for; left with 10 of the 18? By the way... my 10 are
1. 4. 5. 6. 8. 9. 13. 15. 17. 18. - mutwirik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Can you think of anything else to add?"
19. Fetch beer from the fridge - jesterselv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wishful thinking but far fetching at best. Dugg Down, the like alludes to an existing device in the works. Something like this will never see the light of day for several reasons including Proprietary technologies who wont license out without heavy fees, and pointless add on's like HD-DVD AND Blu-ray? Why? Whats the point in that? If you have mega storage on your machine, why do you need a physical copy?
- topnotchnet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1slingcatcher
xbmc - Ductapemaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Number 18 will probably not happen anytime soon...allowing data to be stored externally would never happen unless the box was open source. However, a large hard drive is always a hope!
- deanc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yep (to the person who mentioned cable card access being the issue), trust me from personal experience the cable companies and cablelabs (the licensing consortium) are lying thieving snakes and the fcc is nothing but a toothless dog.
I say this from experience after trying to negotiate a license with cablelabs for the cablecard interface.
I’m dieing to know how Tivo finally got through but with the new Chilla standard being rolled out it’s going to be redundant anyway. http://www.Cognation.net/Cablecard3 if you really must check out the project that I killed over this apathetic issue.
There’s also some stuff on my blog about it. http://www.collins.net.pr/blog
Cheers,
Dean - Fire4Effect, on 10/12/2007, -0/+119. Completely crippled by DRM.
- Mast3rDigg3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah cool can't wait to see that remote
- MaxxOwens, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1user error? I have 5 DTV Tivos and everyone works perfectly... never had a problem with one... or could be something environmental, like dirty power that toast your boxes...
- Leiterfluid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Really?
Fast forward live TV? You can do that, huh?
With an all-in-one blu-ray/HD-DVD drive?
Ass. - wayne287, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The interface is the real issue. Sure some PC solutions can do most of these things, but only geeks can use them. Anyone that has used a real Tivo knows that an elegant interface can take you a long way. So, as the article implied, the software and the integration still have a long way to go, but we can only hope.
- joeyjohns, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0very cool
- mangoaltoids, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Uh they already have something that does all that. It's called a computer.
- gesturemaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Thanks! Nothing particular, but still interesting for me.
- mvannatter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Unbelievable rubbish....waste of time!
- spivack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Is this something that is really in development, or just some guy's dream machine? I have a Media Center PC, and an XBOX 360, and for the most part, my system can do most of what's listed...
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