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Category: HDTV Recorders

Comcast, TiVo, and… PayPal?

June 14, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Attention: QVC Shoppers! Open up those home equity credit lines because shopping online is about to get faster and easier! On Tuesday, Scott Dunlap, vice president of emerging opportunities with PayPal, announced a new partnership with Comcast and TiVo. What could a cable giant, a DVR maker, and an online payment processor possibly do together? Let you buy stuff directly from your television, that's what! This means that you'll be able...

Best Buy Breaks More Bad News

April 4, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

The fourth quarter of every year for consumer electronic retailers is like the rainy season for farmers; it's a make-or-break time of year when you have to compensate for the slower sales from the other three quarters. So it was like the Dust Bowl when Best Buy posted a $1.7 billion loss. This is not quite as bad as it might seem, because their fiscal year ends on March 3, so this...

More Homes Are Hooked Up

March 28, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

A new report from The Diffusion Group (TDG) updates the company's research on broadband in U.S. homes. One interesting point is that about eight out of every 10 homes with broadband Internet connections now have home networks. This is presumably driven by the consumers' interest in connecting more devices to the Internet than before. [Credit: TDG] Perhaps the most interesting development, however, is the location of those home network routers. TDG's research...

The Power of Aggregated Data

February 20, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

What do people really watch when they watch the SuperBowl? Thanks to the new world of connected entertainment systems, TiVo has a very good idea. By monitoring an anonymous sample of 41,666 households equipped with TiVo DVRs, the company can compile a map of "live and same-day" viewing of content that was watched at "play" speed on the systems. And guess what? People really do like the SuperBowl commercials. According...

How Much Time-Shifting Do We Really Do?

February 7, 2012 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

The good old VHS recorder started something that Tivo took to a higher level, and the result has shaken the video broadcast industry to its very foundations. Or has it? Conventional wisdom says that U.S. television viewing households hate commercials. It says that they use digital video recorders (DVRs) so that they can skip over the advertisements. It says that this time-shifting of viewing has a negative impact on the...

TiVo and DISH Bury the Hatchet

May 3, 2011 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

TiVo was one of the first two companies to come out with digital video recorders (DVR) and the one to eventually dominate the market and kill off the video cassette recorders (VCR). (They will not be missed!) But then the consumers rapidly shifted from over-the-air television to subscription service with cable or satellite. TiVo deftly stepped into the new market, putting its technology into the subscription service set top boxes....

CEA Offers Individual Memberships

March 22, 2011 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

The Consumer Electronics Association hosts a little event in Las Vegas every January called the "Consumer Electronics Show," better known by its initials: CES. The original intent was to hold a trade show for electronics dealers, such as home stereos and televisions. Then the corporate side of the computer market got boring and Comdex went away, so the slack was picked up by CES and it became the biggest personal...

Tough Times for CE Retailers

February 8, 2011 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

Some chains are expanding, some are standing still, some are pulling back, and some are just plain going away. In the last category, the final shoe has dropped and Ultimate Electronics has asked the bankruptcy court for permission to throw in the towel. The company has not been able to secure credit for new inventory, and plans to sell off the remaining product to raise cash and pay off its...

Microsoft Sues TiVo; So What?

January 25, 2011 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

The story is breaking that Microsoft has sued TiVo for alleged patent infringements. What fascinates me is that so many industry pundits are ready to jump in with an explanation of the suit and its implications for the two companies and their markets. Here's what I think we know for sure about this lawsuit: We'll probably never know the story behind it. I checked in with a couple of my...

HDCP Code Cracked

September 16, 2010 | Author: Muneeb Mannan

FOX News has reported confirmation by Intel that the High Definition Copy Protection (HDCP) code has been cracked. This code is designed to protect digital content such as high-definition Blu-ray movies, so that digitally-identical copies cannot be made from a commercial disc. The HDMI digital connections include HDCP support, for example. According to the reports, this development is not likely to result in an explosion of pirated BD movies hitting...