They Have Thrown the Gauntlet
As I mentioned here and later in an update, I have what may be called a love-hate relationship with my Tivo.
Well, it just turned to pure hate.
I am a firm believer that technological progress advances society, allowing its members to do more with less -- to apply a given technology properly should extract greater benefit using fewer resources. Tivo and other DVR machines time-shift television programming in exactly the same way that VCRs do, by recording the content and giving the viewer added flexibility in when that content can be viewed. Instead of magnetic tape as the medium of storage, the DVRs digitize the content and use hardware made ubiquitious with the advent of the PC. Given the expandability of a hard drive, especially versus a tape cassette, the DVR technology greatly expands the ability of users to time-shift broadcast and cable content by providing a centralized expanded storage device.
However, to slave the machine to a fixed operating platform and to subsequently require subscription service to access any functionality smacks to me of monopoly. Imagine if Ford not only sold cars that required the purchase of Ford fuel, but sued any fuel manufacturer who tried to make alternatives available!
At the time I considered mine, though, there was no other machine available to perform Tivo functions on a television. So I early-adopted, bit the bullet on the subscription service overhead, and bought the machine. I had to admit, for a limited-time, I was happy to pay a bit.
My discontent with the company providing that service, however, was further picqued the other day when a friend bought a non-Tivo DVR. He already has a Toshiba with Tivo, and wanted a second DVR. Why not try something new?
Well, it turns out, there are lots of reasons.
Since he has yet to get the new machine running, and therefore has yet to compile a full laundery list of reasons, let me focus on one simple example.
Let's say you are watching a DVD or tape video, and need to answer the phone/door/call of nature. One can, as you are well aware, push the "Pause" button, freezing the content play until you get back and are ready to watch. Tivos do one better. Pushing "Pause" on live television instantly activates the recording function, freezing the screen and capturing content for up to a half hour. It's pretty nifty.
So here's my friend, setting up the new machine, trying the "pause" function he has has so grown to love on his Tivo machine.
And it doesn't work.
Some research in the voluminous manual revealed a circuitous and, to me, unnecessary set of primary maneauvers that would initiate such a recording; but it was a frustrating change from the simple Pause Button.
Why?
I suspect and am willing to bet Tivo patented the live pause.
You see, the pause button has been around so long with tape machines and DVDs it has become what is termed in the patent lingo "public domain" (I used to work for a patent and trademark attorney) and therefore "obvious to those in the industry."
Not so with a DVR. Even though in many ways it functions exactly like several similar devices, its relative novelty as an appliance free from tape or discs gave the corporate whores at the top the food chain the ability to patent the live pause function, forcing manufacturers unable or unwilling to submit to Tivo's monopolistic practices to develop circuitous hardware activation protocols to avoid litigation.
Dave (my buddy with both the non- and Tivo DVRs), when we were kvetchin' about the monthly fees, suggested I do as he and simply obtain a lifetime subscription for my machine. It's something I've been thinking about doing anyway.
You see, when you bought one of the machines in the past, you had to make a choice before you hooked it up to the TV.
1) Do nothing. If you do nothing and leave the machine connected to the TV, it will turn itself on, interrupt your viewing, and suggest that you contact the Tivo subscription website right now. (My first Tivo, borrowed from a friend, had an "off" button. Hit "off" and the thing would wait approximately 30 seconds and then start the whole thing over again. Newer models cannot be turned "off" at all.)
2) Purchase a yearly supscription. At the time I borrowed my friend's box, that seemed like quite a hefty commitment.
3) Purchase a lifetime subscription for the machine. If a year was too much, why would I want to pay for his box?
4) Purchase a monthly subscription. That's was my option. It seemed like a good way to get to know if the machine was worth the effort of keeping and maintaining.
So today, I called.
Tivo no longer offers lifetime subscriptions.
That's right, folks, not only are you asked to pay hundreds of dollars for a machine, you MUST pay an additional fee if you want ANY useage from that machine. Those fees (of course) add up to an additional $150/year -- an amount equal to what I paid for the machine!
Needless to say, I was a bit shocked that the option, something I regarded as the ultimate in kudos to let a company know that you have in them faith and wish them well enough to give them a large lump sum, has been discontinued.
It was discontinued March 15, but they let folks grandfather past the deadline to April 15. Meaning I missed it by a few fucking days.
I tried not to be hard with Andrew, the Alabama cube farm animal that took my call originally, and did in fact attempt to reinforce that I was not angry with him and that he could stop apologizing -- hell, I would send him flowers if I could -- but the dick hole manager that pretty much told me I was SOL really did nothing for Tivo, nothing at all. That guy was such a prick I blocked out his name.
So here's the situation.
Remember what happened to Ma Bell? To Microsoft? What is happening to Apple as we speak? There is and there will rightly continue to be a very real backlash against companies that defiantly operate as monopolies.
Prick Manager informed me that if I attempt to "open up" a machine and get "Tivo service" without a subscription, that I would be committing a crime analogous to tampering with a cable box.
He is so wrong.
He and the company for which he "works" are deliberately confusing any given Tivo machine for the Tivo service paid for with the subscription fee. The service allows the machines to call their service centers, download software updates -- note I did not say "upgrades" -- and download programming information for the content service local to the given machine. I have few ethical qualms with the service itself (more on that can be found in the original bitch and moan); I do take issue with the fact that no alternate means are available by which a machine owner may utilize the machine without subscription.
Folks, I intend to make those means available.
I am proud to announce a new Live Journal Community, open_source_dvr, dedicated to:
. . . improving the functionality of Digital Video Recorders by providing an alternate, open-source operating system to better utilize existing and future hardware.
For starters, the community will be a sounding board and ad hoc research nexus investigating the feasibility of reprogramming and liberating DVR machines. Once the technical and legal hurdles have been cleared, I intend to seed a practical experimentation program to develop and perfect the technology.
I have not at this time budgeted how much will be required for a beta launch and development program; that will depend upon a critical mass of participants and enthusiasm.
I noted above my belief in the real benefit technology has to society. When I said "to do more with less," I meant that literally. Given the overhead of the required subscription service and the unavailability of an alternative -- even an alternative that offers stripped-down, VCR-like functionality -- Tivo offers not less cost to the consumer but, over the life of the average machine, much, much more.
Do the math. Tivo charges $12.95 per month for their service. To date, I have subscribed for 17 months. I intend to keep a DVR around the house as long as I live.
Were I to divert the cash amount to development that would have been pissed away in subscriptions, perhaps brought more folks into the fold of the community that feel the same way, and then amortize those combined costs over the life of, say, me, and make the means to do the very same thing available to anyone interested, I think that I would not only get my money's worth from the project, but would make a whole bunch of people very, very happy.
And that's why I'm doing this. If this is something in which you would be interested in participating, or if you know folks with similar inclinations, I encourage you to spread the word about this new community, and thank you for reading.