10% of E* have DVR?

[NThomas76207]

I read somewhere on Echostar's homepage that over 1,000,000 subscribers have DVR units? I think that's great! :) But i am thinking that TiVo will have to go Chapter 11 on us. is there any talk about DISH getting TiVo in 2007 when DirecTV's contract is up? What about Gemstar's Guide+ Gold? I had that with my RCA DTV along with Basic Cable and I loved that EPG.

[Steve Mehs]

Welcome to DBSTalk, Nick :hi:

Why do you think TiVo has to go bankrupt? TiVo isn't going anywhere. Dish Network has the most DVRs in circulation, but that doesn't mean TiVo is going to die. TiVo Inc is facing a lot of challenges as is ReplayTV trying to get people to adapt to new technology. Dish DVRs and the DirecTiVos provide consumers with a satellite receiver with a built in DVR, which is more convenient. TiVo did a great thing by aligning themselves with DirecTV.

I doubt very much Dish Network could get TiVo to write the software for their DVRs. 1) Charlie is too cheap to pay the licensing fees 2) The original DishPlayer fiasco and 3) the industry is moving toward home brew DVRs. It looks like DirecTV will have their own true in house DVR, but still offer the DirecTiVo as a choice.

Also that million mark includes DVRs that are no longer active. I myself have two Dish 508s that I no longer use since I switched to DirecTV and the DirecTiVo a few months ago. Quite a few people have left Dish for many different reasons, many who had DVRs, many of which are no longer active.

[Jacob S]

Perhaps Tivo will try to add more functionality to their receivers to make them more attractive and to compete with the competition.

[Steve Mehs]

Besides Caller ID, approx recording time remaining and a browse banner I don't see anything else major TiVo is lacking when it comes to competing with DishDVRs. And if you want to step into the world of TiVo hacks and modifications there is much much more functionality with a TiVo then just about any other DVR. ReplayTV and standalone Tivos are the only DVRs on the market with advanced networking and digital media options. If the DirecTiVo had the same software version 4.0 as the standalones have the DTiVo would be an all in one digital media box.

[Hall]

3) the industry is moving toward home brew DVRs. It looks like DirecTV will have their own true in house DVR That is almost certain to happen but how much incentive will people have to go with the "real" TiVo ?? DTV will push their "house" model much more and only the hard-core people will request the TiVos.

[omnibus]

I am a customer who jumped on the Dish bandwagon quite a few years ago when the original dishplayers were introduced.

I then bailed out because of myriad hardware and software problems.

I recently bailed out of DirecTV because of programming and customer service issues.

Now I'm back in the Dish software failure spiral with the "guide" button reset problem.
I even tried cable but was disappointed in the analog picture quality on my big screen.

Somebody's got to get it right sooner or later.........don't they?

[Uncle Fukka]

Cable's DVRs seem to be stable. dish and direcTV should be caught up soon.

[SAEMike]

Tivo's only real asset, now that many companies are making DVR's is its brand name. With DirecTV already planning "non-brand name" (if you will) DVR's and most people referring to their DVR, regardless of who makes it, a "Tivo" I think Tivo is in big trouble. I don't think the brand is as valuable as it once was.

Losing out on a huge group of subscribers that would have come with DirecTV and losing a niche in the business, as it were, with name based recording (We'll see how functional and similar Dish's NBR is when it is finally released) I think Tivo could be headed for some rough waters.

[Bob Haller]

Cable's DVRs seem to be stable. dish and direcTV should be caught up soon.

Does anyone think E will have stable software, that is not requiring reboots, fixes and work arounds?

I remember when satellite tv was the leader, now they are playing catch up:(

[jmbrooks]

I remember when satellite tv was the leader, now they are playing catch up:(
Are you kidding??

I live in a medium size, fairly affluent city and if you want DVR capability or HDTV, then satellite TV is the only game in town

[Randy_B]

Over the years my household can account for 5 of those million.

I think Tivo's future lies in licensing its software and services rather than building boxes. Perhaps Tivo "inside" DVD recorders will be a home run? Tivo is also gaining momentum in selling the stats/habits of its viewers. A recent article I read (Wired, Aug ed.) indicated that Nielsen is somewhat concerned over Tivo's potential to fine tune the stats it can garner to target specific demographics. Whatever they do, it is clear that Tivo boxes alone will not keep them afloat.